# Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Alright, I've been meaning to try my hand at a Story Hour for a while now...so, here it is. This will be based on a very long running Star Wars(d6 to d20) game. I'm going to incorporate a good amount of the character's backgrounds into the telling of the story, and the first part will mostly be from just one character before meeting the others.

The game is set AFTER the Battle of Endor, and while running it I did my best to keep it to the timline set by the novels and comics. The start of this is a couple of years earlier, but gives background on what's going on in the galaxy at the time. I'll post pictures of the PCs, stats, etc as things move along. Here's the actual cast of PCs:

*Raan Maxwell:* The story will mostly be told through his eyes. He is a young human Scout/Soldier. He's also the character that goes through the most name changes, so right now he's listed as his 'first' name. Raan is mostly a commando, though he trained as a pilot. He has a lightsaber as his only connection to his past.

*Shadow:* She is a two meter tall Alraxian Soldier/Force Adept. Alraxians are a homebrew race of feline shapeshifters from the Unknown Regions. She's an assassin with very little knowledge of her people or her past, but holds a deep hatred of the Empire for being used by them for many years.

*Titus Voort:* An human Soldier/Sniper. He is an ex-Imperial sniper not so much running from his past as doing his best to ignore it. He hides among a group of mercenaries, none of which actually know his Imperial past. He is also a former Emperor's Hand.

*Jen Zaarin:* Another human, she is a Tech Specialist working for the New Republic as a scientist. Zaarin is the only non-military voice among the group, and is usually the one to give a more practical point of view on things beyond the others 'move in, kill, then ask questions'.

Added onto that there are many many NPCs all through this. So now, we begin with Raan's background, as most of this is told from his point of view.

Character stats can be found HERE 

Also, newly attached is a 'cover image' of sorts with everyone on it. And one character twice. 

_Disclaimer: All Alraxians and their worlds, except for Jyren, are not my creation and I do not claim them to be. They are the property of their copyright holder._

*Prologue: Been Here, Haven’t Done That*

   My name isn’t important. You’ll undoubtedly know it be the end of this, anyway. Simply put, if I told you my name now, I’m not sure it’d be the correct one. What I can tell you is that I grew up in the Outer Rim. I traveled from planet to planet as I could, with no real knowledge of any home or family. I didn’t know anything before the age of seven, and even then I could be wrong. When I did stop moving around so much, I found myself on Corellia. It was a good place to live if you were a kid with no past. I wasn’t the first to grow up in that, and no doubt I wouldn’t be the last. As I grew up, I learned to pilot. It was more from necessity than a real want, but I eventually found I had a natural talent for it. 

   This, in turn, led me to the Rebel Alliance. By that time, the Emperor had already been killed. In fact, it was many years after that had occurred. However, the Alliance was still fighting the strong remains of the Empire. It was a tough fight, and the Alliance had only managed to slowly make their way Coreward. Corellia had always been a strange place for the war. The Alliance held a strong presence, the Empire held jurisdiction, and CorSec held the peace. With the Empire spread out fighting the Alliance, the Empire’s presence on the planet had weakened. It was In this environment that I found the Alliance. I was only fifteen at the time. They took me in as no one had before, and allowed me to work as a tech’s assistant for a few years.

   When I was seventeen, one of the officers confronted me about an item I always had with me. At first, it was assumed that this was a tool and I encouraged this as much as I could. But with the galaxy as it was, someone eventually pinpointed what it was. A lightsaber. I had to explain to the officer why he shouldn’t take it off of me. And I did tell him the truth. It was the only connection to my family that I had, something that had been with me for as long as I could remember. I knew how to use it, yes, but I wasn’t any Jedi as the officer had seemed to hope for...even though I was a kid. Once these questions were pacified, and I somehow managed to convince them to let me keep the weapon, I got a promotion of sorts. They needed pilots for transport ships to load up supplies for an assault that was to occur on the Imperial capital on Coruscant. I was taught to fly the bulk freighters, and given a position as co-pilot of the Ascension. This also meant I was trained to use a blaster, and I found that the skills I had learned to survive on the streets came in handy with things like that.

   We made two successful transport runs before I was given another promotion. Now eighteen, even I was amazed at being inducted into Starfighter Command as an Ensign. But they needed pilots. And they took anyone that could fly. I was Ensign Raan Maxwell. This is where the story truly began. I won’t say my story, because I simply record it. Many others played a part in it.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter One: The Young Fight the Wars*

	The hangar was amazing. At least forty starfighters everywhere. X-Wings, Y-Wings, A-Wings, and B-Wings. Raan looked around with a feeling of awe and amazement. There were pilots and techs everywhere.

“Hey, kid! Keep up!” that was the voice of Commander Tsun. It was the deep and slightly scratchy voice of a human who’d flown a B-Wing at Endor and led countless starfighter assaults in the past years. Now, he was in charge of a nameless training squadron. The squadron that Raan had just arrived to join.

“Oh?” Raan turned away from staring across the hangar to look to the Commander. Smiling sheepishly, the young human nodded and started back after Tsun. Quietly, he said, “Sorry.”

“Sorry, sir,” Tsun corrected, but in a kind way, “You’ll get used to it.”

Raan gave the hangar one last glance as they entered a lift tube in the Mon Calamari cruiser, Intrepid. He wasn’t sure if the Commander was referring to using ‘sir’ or seeing the hangar. Probably both. They stood in the lift tube in relative silence for only a moment, then the Commander spoke up, “I didn’t know they let kids your age into Starfighter Command.”

Going slightly red and looking worried, Raan managed a shrug. He ran a hand through his unruly brown hair, which was slightly covering his face on the right side, and managed to find his voice, “I uh...I flew bulk transports into Borlieas and Balmorra...”

“I didn’t say that I didn’t think you had any experience,” Command Tsun said with a smile on his face, “I was barely older than you when I joined up anyhow. There’s a couple others in the squadron your age, but most are older still.”

Barely managing a nod, Raan simply did his best not to look as amazed and overwhelmed as he was. The lift tube stopped, and the Commander led Raan down the long and very populated corridors of the ship. It was strangely muggy and humid all through the ship, but Raan had been told of this before. Apparently, the Mon Calamari kept the ships at their own comfort level, especially since the command consoles were still built for them. This was merely something other species got used to, and never anything beyond an annoyance. Raan found it somewhat refreshing compared to the stark nothingness that most ships’ air filters produced.

They eventually arrived in a small, amphitheater-shaped briefing room. There were ten others dressed in civilian clothing seated there, and a blank nothing on the screen in behind the stage. All eyes fell on Raan as he entered, and he went red quickly. The others all smiled and a couple of them laughed, but even Raan could tell they’d all been through this at one point recently. As Commander Tsun walked down the steps to the stage in the front of the room, Raan continued to stand looking slightly lost. 

“Oh, c’mon and sit down, will you?” a human female, about Raan’s age from what he could tell, said from not too far away. She had shoulder length brown hair, and wore a grey jacket with the sleeves rolled up. Even her trousers were rolled up. It took a moment before it clicked in Raan’s mind that this was because of the humidity.

As it dawned on him that he was still standing, Raan made an ‘oops’ noise and quickly took a seat next to her. She patted his shoulder some, a grin on her face and in her eyes, which Raan noticed were a bright green, “We were all terrified for those first few seconds. Can’t imagine what its like being the last of us though,” she moved the hand out in front of him, “Elizabeth Mare.”

Raan sat there looking amazed at how friendly she was. No one had ever really just started talking to him without accusing him of stealing or ordering him around before. Friends were never a priority. He’d never even thought that he’d meet people that could become friends in a starfighter squadron. Carefully, he took her hand and shook it, speaking in a bit more steady a voice than he had before, “Raan Maxwell.”

Before anything else could be said, the lights dimmed, the viewscreen came on, and Commander Tsun began the training course.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter Two: First Kill, First Death*


They spent three months training. Simulator runs were the most common occurrence for the first month, but soon after they were each supplied with our own X-Wing and R-Unit and the real training began. The squadron even got a name. They were now pilots of Zephyr Squadron. It was an interesting name, and all of the members took to it well. All of them were assigned permanent wingmates and uniforms. Raan would have been overwhelmed by it all if he hadn’t been so engrossed in it. He was Zephyr Five, and his wingmate, Zephyr Six, was Elizabeth Mare. The two had developed a good friendship in the time, as had all of the wingmate pairs. They all could work together as a squadron, but when it came down to it, you relied on your wingmate to always help out when you needed it. 

The assault on Coruscant was nearing, now in the final stages of planning. It was decided that the first real mission for Zephyr squadron was flying fighter escort for an assault on the strongly defended planet of Kuat. Kuat was far enough from Coruscant to be a good diversion, and was only planned as a hit and fade attempt with a few troop transports(that would be empty) to feign a stronger assault. A good plan, but a dangerous test for a rookie squadron. Thankfully for the Zephyrs, a squadron of experienced Y-Wing pilots would also be participating.

Raan sat alone in the cockpit of his X-Wing, looking at the long blue tunnel of hyperspace around him. Idly, he checked the chrono. Two minutes until leaving hyperspace. The one thing he hated about hyperspace jumps was how alone he felt. Isolated. He smiled slightly to himself at the thought, glancing around and up to see R5-P8, or ‘Plate’, sitting in his slot in the X-Wing. Alright, not so alone. But it still would have been nice to be able to talk to someone...especially Mare.

From their friendly talks, he’d learned she was the daughter of rather modest family of farmers from Naboo. Being a heavily controlled Imperial world, the fact that the family had Rebel sympathies was kept quiet. Like most children of farmers, Mare grew up wanting to see the stars, and left Naboo at the first chance she could. At nineteen, she hadn’t been gone long, but had quickly found her way to the Alliance, working as a courier between some of the Core worlds and the Alliance command ships for a short time. She was then invited into Starfighter Command, and inducted into Zephyr squadron with the other ten of them.

It was amazing to Raan how thinking about Mare caused the time to pass so quickly. Plate made a few beeping noises, and he looked to the chrono to see it was just about time to revert to realspace. Taking a deep breath, not sure what he would see once reverting back, Raan watched the chrono intently. It hit zero. Reaching over, he pulled back the hyperspace levers and the blue tunnel faded into stars...stars and a large, industrious looking planet. Surrounding the planet, which Raan knew to be Kuat, were hundreds of kilometers of shipyards. Kuat was where the Imperial Star Destroyers were built, among other large capital ships for the Empire.

The comm beeped, and Commander Tsun’s voice followed it, “Zephyr One here, the rest of you kids alive?”

There was a chorus of ‘yes, sir’s and other acknowledgments from the members of the squadron before a new voice came through. It was hard to tell separate voices through the crackling comm, but they had all gotten used to it in the second month, “This is Blackmoon One, good to hear you Zephyr’s made it okay. Base One will be here in another minute. Until then, you know what to do.”

The comm cut off, replaced by Tsun again, “Just a reminder, Zephyrs, we’re flying fighter screen for the bombers. Stick with your wingmate and no heroics, that especially goes for Rulae and Marin. You two hear me?”

“Yes, sir,” replied the voice of Rulae Nok, Zephyr Eleven, a Duros with a passion for the spotlight. He was a good pilot, but had a way of trying to do things that were well beyond even his abilities, and at the same time dragging his wingmate, Marin Essenu, a Mon Calamari female, down with him.

As the squadron continued closer to the planet and the surrounding shipyards, the pilots opened the S-Foils on the X-Wings and charged the weapons. This came in response to the group of signals coming around the planet. In just a matter of minutes, they identified an Imperial Star Destroyer, an older Victory Star Destroyer, and a small Carrack Cruiser. This defense force was quickly answered by the Mon Calamari Cruiser Intrepid reverting back to realspace not far behind the two squadrons. With the Intrepid was the rest of the attack force, consisting of two Nebulon-B Frigates, four Assault Transports(two of which had only two pilots aboard and were to be used as decoys), and three small Corellian Gunships. 

The comm crackled with these new arrivals, “Zephyr and Blackmoon Squadrons, this is Base One. We are moving into position for the attack, proceed with the operation. You are clear to attack.”

“Zephyr One, this is Blackmoon One,” came the voice of the commander of the Y-Wing squadron, “We’re breaking off to begin our runs on the shipyards. We’re picking up fighter signals launching from the planet and the defense fleet. Think you can handle them and keep us covered?”

Commander Tsun almost laughed slightly, “That’s what we’re here for, Blackmoon One. Begin your runs and we’ll be there to keep those fighters off of you,” the comm clicked slightly, a noise to indicate the Commander was switching to the Zephyr’s private comm channel, “You heard them, kids. Break off into your pairs and engage the fighters. Ignore the ones coming from the planet for now, focus on the ones launching from the attack ships. And keep your eyes open for any stationary defenses.”

The channel was then filled with the double clicking of comms, a sign to acknowledge the orders Tsun had just given. Raan double clicked his comm, checking his sensor screen and picking up the fighters coming in. He banked the X-Wing off to a more direct course to them. He caught sight of Mare following suit, off to his starboard side. Angling the shields to double front power, Raan held his breath.

The comm was strangely silent and the world outside the X-Wing empty for what seemed like an eternity. Nothing happened. Then, space lit up. The capital ships had gotten into range and were beginning their bombardment of each other. Bright red and green lights streaked across the space over his X-Wing, and Raan found it was almost unnerving. This was it...the first real combat. The first real live fire engagement. And deep down, he knew they wouldn’t all go home.

“Stick with me, Five,” Mare’s voice came over the comm just as his droid beeped something. Checking the range, he realized what it was. Now not only the capital ships were firing, but the fighters were in range. Raan saw so many green flashes streak towards him and those around him that he was sure they would all die. But at the same time, he and the others let loose a barrage of return fire, weaving through the blasts. There was a bright flash far to Raan’s port side, and a screen that was cut off.

One of the Zephyr’s was gone already. Two more flashes, but these were from the TIEs ahead of them. Raan quickly realized that there was a TIE directly in front of him, coming in firing. Reacting with an almost unnatural speed, he pulled hard to port, firing off a stint of laser fire as he did so. The last of the shots managed to catch the TIE directly in the cockpit, and scoring Raan’s first kill. Strangely, he wasn’t proud of it. Besides, there wasn’t time to be. 

Another scream was cut off through the comm, and another of the Zephyrs was gone. The two waves of fighters having past each other, Raan quickly evened out his shields started to pull the X-Wing around towards the TIEs again. Through the current chaos that was coming through the comm channel, he called out, “Six? Six you still with me?”

“Same place I’ll always be, Five,” Mare responded, but Raan didn’t have the time to look to see if he could find her. He was sliding around and dodging laser fire all over, amazed at how truly chaotic the fight was. Raan switched his weapon’s to linked fire, coming up behind a TIE and firing off all four of the lasers in one flick of the trigger. The caught the TIE in the solar panel as it tried to dodge, sending it into a long death spin towards the now much closer shipyards. As he pulled around past the dimming flames, two quick flashes of green went over his cockpit. Raan cursed, but then saw a bright flash and heard Mare’s cheer as she hit the TIE behind Raan.

“Thanks, Six,” Raan breathed a sigh of relief and brought his X-Wing through a long loop, weaving through the laser fire of two TIEs that were trying to get behind him. Quickly, he cut the thrusters and watched as first Mare’s X-Wing shot past him, then the two TIEs did the same, except seemingly panicked in trying to avoid a collision. Raan put power back to the thrusters and did his best to catch up to the TIEs, which were now trying to get a shot on Mare, who was making her way much closer to the shipyards. As he brought his targeting reticle around, firing off a stuttered blast of the lasers and missing, he noticed that it was possible to see Blackmoon’s Y-Wings starting their bombing runs on the shipyards. 

Most of the proton bombs and torpedoes they fired were aimed at a half-constructed Star Destroyer, deep within the floating mess of metal that formed the shipyards. There were bursts of green light all around the shipyards, indicating that there were in fact a large amount of stationary defenses in place. Raan caught sight of two small flashes, and instinct told him that two of the Y-Wings were gone. 

This was quickly followed up by an interruption in the chaotic chatter across the comm channel by Blackmoon One, “Zephyrs! Where the sith are you? We could use that cover about now!”

Raan could tell that Mare was moving that direction already, and he heard Commander Tsun responded that they were tied up at the moment but would try to get there as quickly as possible. Cursing to himself again, Raan took his focus back to the TIEs in front of him(and behind Mare, which was the important part at the moment). He slipped around a large piece of an empty shipdock, coming down from above at the two TIEs and letting off another burst of stuttered fire. This time, the blasts caught one of them. It hit the TIE to the left on the solar panel, sending it spinning in towards the second before they both burst into a cloud of quickly diminishing flame.

“We’re even now!” Raan called out, a grin on his face as he leveled out the X-Wing next to Mare’s and they continued on towards the Y-Wings. His sensors picked up two ships approached from behind, but the IFF screen identified them as Zephyrs Eleven and Twelve. There was no word from them, but it seemed that they had also manage to break away from the chaotic dogfight to move in to help Blackmoon out. That would be the Duros, Rulae, and his Mon Calamari Wingmate, Marin. 

Approaching the shipyard that the Y-Wings were attacking, Raan found himself pointing out all of the turrets and defense installations that were giving Blackmoon so many problems. So far, there didn’t seem to be any fighters. Before he could say anything, however, Mare’s voice came across the comm, “We should try and hit as many of those laser batteries before they catch sight of us.”

“You mean use Blackmoon as bait?” that was the watery sounding voice of Marin.

Rulae spoke up sounding confident, “The two of us will take out the ones on the far side of the destroyer if you two can handle the ones closest.”

“We’ll do what we can,” Raan responded, angling the X-Wing up. The shipywards themselves were large cylinders  with hollowed insides. There were many holes and long lines of emptiness between the outer walls which allowed smaller ships to pass through. From the looks of the laser blasts, most of the turrets were on the upper sections of the outer walls, able to fire inward and outward. Currently, they were all aiming in towards the Y-Wings which were making strafing runs across the front of the Star Destroyer. Raan and the other three X-Wings were coming in from the side, making it easier to pick off the turrets.

Zephyr Eleven and Twelve angled down, looking to go under the cylinder and come around on the other side to catch the opposite sides’ turrets. At the same time, Mare and Raan were already letting off bursts of fire at the turrets on the closest side. Four were gone before the others moved to directly fire on the new arrivals. Doing their best to still fire on the turrets, the two of them wove in and out of the oncoming fire in different directions, trying to make it as difficult as possible to get a hit on them, despite the fact that there were at least five bearing on each of them.

Both of them managed to get through the hole in the cylinder, now inside the actual dock and able to see the extent of the damage done by the Y-Wings. They had done a serious job, but were having to avoid most of their runs to stay out of the way of the turret fire that nearly blanketed the inside. Inside now, and realizing how small it actually was, Raan did his best to loop around to come at the turrets on the far end before they could come to bear on him. As he did so, the comm channel was drowned out by a loud cry that was cut off. A sound they were all getting far too used to. Before anyone could call out to identify who that had been, another cry...but this one wasn’t cut off, indicating that the speaker hadn’t been destroyed, “My port thrusters are out and I can’t get out of this spin! Ejection seat is jammed!”

It was Rulae’s voice. This was quickly followed by his Mon Calamari wingmate speaking, but in a rushed and almost panicked way that Raan had never heard before, “Five, Six, is there anyway you can get to us? Eleven’s spinning towards the planet and he’s going to either hit the atmosphere or another shipdock! I’m trying to hit the turrets before they can fire on him again! Is there anyway you an help out?!”

“How can he be helped?!” Raan called out, pulling just over a turret’s fire before sending his own return fire, which hit but didn’t destroy it, “Its not as if I can dock with him in this thing! And I’ve kind of got my hands full at the moment!”

Raan watched his sensor screen as Mare’s X-Wing looped around to head towards where Eleven and Twelve were, “Stay here, Five! I’ll do what I can!”

As she pulled away, Raan managed to send a few more blasts into the same turret, destroying it and giving him and chance to loop around to follow her, “You’re insane! You’ll get killed on your own!”

And for some reason, they went after Eleven’s signal with no idea how to get him out. Raan had figured that the Duros was already dead, but part of him couldn’t accept that. He knew that he could do something...it was just a matter of what, how, and if he’d get a court martial afterwards.


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## Stone Angel

Nice stuff I can't wait for more.


The Seraph of Earth and Stone


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 3: The Cold of Space*

“Eleven, does your flight suit’s life support system work?”  Raan asked as he pulled his X-Wing as parallel as possible to the tumbling Zephyr Eleven. The other X-Wing was in a near uncontrollable spin, tumbling and spinning as it was pulled in towards Kuat. Not far being Raan’s X-Wing, was Zephyr Six doing her best to provide cover from fighters that were trying to get to their position from the planet below. From the last trajectory readings, they had five minutes before the fighters arrived. 

“Y-yes, but I can’t eject! So what good is my suit?!” cried the Duros, Rulae. He was still panicked, and when the cockpit of the X-Wing came into view, the blue-skinned alien was nearly flailing around trying to find something to do to get out.

Raan pulled the face cover from his flight suit on and started working on overwriting his X-Wing’s ejection system,“I’ve got an idea, Eleven, just seal your flight suit!” he then switched the comm to a direct link with Mare’s X-Wing, “I’m going to need you to cover me as best as you can. Send a message back to Base One and tell them that Five and Eleven have gone EVA.”

“What are you talking about?!” Mare sounded like she was talking to someone that had lost their mind, and in a way, she was grounded in thinking that, “There’s no way he can get out of that! The best we can do is cover him from the fighters coming in!”

Raan finished with his altering of the X-Wing’s systems, and did his best to match his speed with Zephyr Eleven. He closed his eyes, then said, “Plate, get the X-Wing back if you can,” then he hit the switch to open the canopy. Normally, this was impossible without firing the ejection seat, but he had overridden the system to let it work. The pressure quickly escaped the cockpit, and Raan felt his suit holding its pressure. It could keep him alive in out there for just under an hour. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be out in it that long.

With the canopy completely open, Raan looked up to the tumbling Zephyr Eleven. Part of him felt the spin, and he closed his eyes and just...let instinct take over. When his timing felt right, he opened his eyes and pushed off. It was an impossibly eerie silence and he floated towards Eleven’s cockpit. In only a few seconds, he caught onto the section of the nose just below the canopy, hitting it surprisingly hard. He looked up to see Rulae with a shocked look on his face, large eyes wider than Raan knew possible for a Duros. As he gripped onto the edge of the canopy, Raan’s free hand pointed towards the section of the flight suit covering his face. It took a moment, but Rulae got the idea and pulled his own on, still looking very confused.

Mentally counting down the time left until the TIEs arrived from the planet, Raan then moved his hand down to his belt. Unhooking the lightsaber that rested there(in a small holster that looked more fit for a blaster), he pulled himself up to a better position and activated it. There was no snap-hiss from the blade, but the bright blue-green blade now extended from the hilt in his hand. This made Rulae’s eyes widen even more in surprise. But not as much as what Raan did next. He took the lightsaber out, and made one last look to Rulae. That’s when Raan drove the lightsaber blade through the canopy of the X-Wing.

It was in the front section, and not only cut through the canopy but also destroyed a section of the consoles and sensor screens. He then pulled the lightsaber across the front of the canopy, cutting a long line. With that, he made sure not to catch any of Rulae with the blade(despite the fact that the Duros was pressed against the seat so hard that he was nearly melting into it) and cut up along the canopy to continue with the box. Two more long cuts, and a near close call with the top of Rulae’s head, and the hole was finished. Rulae got the idea, and undid his restraints. In the moment that Raan pulled back and deactivated the lightsaber, Rulae punched the piece of canopy out into space. Raan finished getting the lightsaber back on his belt, then reached down and helped to pull out the pilot.

Once Rulae was out, Raan kicked off of the X-Wing, making sure to time the push so that they wouldn’t be hit by the ship as it continued its doomed tumble into Kuat’s atmosphere. Rulae was still looking shocked by the events as they floated away from the ship, but Raan’s attention was around them. He could see Mare’s X-Wing pulling off to intercept the TIEs from the planet. With here were three other X-Wings that had gotten over to help. Raan turned the other direction to see that Plate had followed orders and was flying his X-Wing back to the Intrepid. But the most wonderful thing he could see was approaching them. One of the four transports was coming their direction, avoiding the shipdock with the unfinished Star Destroyer.

A sudden feeling of exhaustion passed over Raan, and he finally allowed himself to calm down. It was strange. He knew that he was fine in his suit, and that neither his or Rulae’s suits were torn...but he felt light headed. Probably from the adrenaline and the impact of what he’d just done, Raan’s eyes closed and he simply faded into blackness.


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## ragboy

Excellent start! Keep it coming.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 4: If We Only Knew the Future*

Raan’s head hurt. No...that wasn’t just it. His legs hurt...arms hurt...as his mind slowly worked through things, he decided that the answer was simple. He hurt. He could hear vague and distant voices around him, though it was impossible to identify whose they were or what was being said. Slowly, he managed to half open a single eye. The world around him was blurry and white. Wait...no, it suddenly shifted to a pale fleshy colour with brown everywhere. His eyes focused again, and he could see two green circles staring down at him.

“Mr. Insanity is awake,” Mare said as she slowly came into focus. Raan opened his other eye and blinked a few times. After his head stopped spinning, he opened his mouth and managed an ‘ugh’ but nothing more. Mare’s face moved back some, no longer covering his view of the white medical room around him.

After another pathetic groans, he turned his head to see the others in the room. Three people in white just as white as the walls, two were human and the other...Raan squinted his eyes and figured the third was a Mon Calamari. There was also a blue skinned humanoid figure with large red eyes that Raan identified as the Duros he had pulled out of the X-Wing. Next to him was a tall human who eventually came into focus as Commander Tsun.

Not really giving Raan more time to recover, the Commander took a step over and eyed him, “Just because I told Rulae and Marin no heroics doesn’t mean that didn’t go for the rest of you.”

There was the slightest hint of a grin tugging at Tsun’s face, but Raan managed to look worried, “Um...sorry, sir?”

That got a soft laugh from both Mare and Rulae, but Tsun held a mostly straight face and shook his head, “No apologies on this one. You made it out alive, Rulae made it out alive. That doesn’t mean you should try a stunt like that again, but it does mean I’ve managed to keep you out of any disciplinary action for that.”

“Yes, that was very hard to talk your superiors into, wasn’t it, Commander?” Mare asked with a strangely sarcastic tone. The mood was much lighter than Raan would have expected. Mare laughed to herself and grinned again, “‘One of my pilots left his ship in the middle of space, used a lightsaber to cut another of the pilots out, and got both of them away alive. And to make it even better, his X-Wing wasn’t damaged.’ Honestly I think it at least deserves giving him a good mental check up.”

That time the Commander did laugh, turning to Mare and nodding, “You know they actually want to promote him for that stunt?” Tsun turned to give Raan a mock glare, “One mission and now he’s a Lieutenant.”

“So you’re against these heroics because we’ll all outrank you before you have a chance to pull one of your own?” Rulae asked, leaning against the wall with a large grin on his face. Of course, with how Duros’ faces were built, all grins were large on them.

Tsun smiled but his expression went neutral as he turned back to Raan, patting him on the shoulder, “All jokes aside, good job. You missed the debriefing, but that’ll slide since you’ve been unconscious. Just don’t make a habit of it and get some rest.”

The Commander then turned and left the medical ward. Rulae watched him go before stepping over and nodding slowly, “Thanks for what you did out there, Raan. If it wasn’t for you, I’d have made it half the squadron lost.”

Half the squadron? Five were already gone?! Raan’s mind raced through this and before he could ask anything else Rulae had also left. This left Raan to turn to Mare with a bewildered look on his face, not sure what to say. What was one life when compared to five? Standing in the medical room not a minute ago was over half of the remainder of the Zephyrs...

“Hey, its not your fault,” Mare said, easily reading the expression on his face. Through the months of training together, she’d learned to read him well. Sitting on the bed next to him with a concerned look she shrugged, “We all know the risks of what we do. Rulae’s right...it could have been worse. He was as good as dead out there...and with what you did...” she trailed off, looking off to the opposite wall. She was silent, then finally said quietly, looking to him out of the corner of her eye, “Nearly had to add you to that number.”

There was something in the way she said that...the look that Raan’s still somewhat out of focus eyes could pick up. His instincts told him there was more than was obvious. Before he could comment, however, Mare’s expression returned to the usual smile and she patted his leg, “Just get some rest. And next time you go EV, check your oxygen, first.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 5: Of Times Long Gone*

His hair was longer now, the fringe coming down to his nose on the right side of his face. On the other side, the hair was swept back, though it was gathering at his neckline. His once young face was marred by experiences of war and suffering. It was obvious he was still young, but the years were truly shown in the eyes. There was something heavy and pained deep within them that anyone could see. No longer was the bright orange flight suit worn, or the grey and red-piped formal uniform. It had been replaced by a utilitarian brow jumpsuit with a high collar. Something that made its wearer even more of a mess to look at, as it was covered in smudges and what looked like burn marks. No one asked why there was no record of his existence anywhere in the galaxy for the past three standard years. No one asked what had happened to a young Lieutenant that spent only three months with the New Republic Spec Force. Even they had given up on trying to track him.

Even Akan didn’t remember why he’d run from that life anymore. It had been so long since his time as a pilot which soon after was followed by a short stint as a commando. But those days were gone. Those memories buried, hidden away so that he could no longer feel the hurt. The name Raan was even gone from his memory. It was the last to go, but the quickest to fade once discarded. He could not remember his past, so latched onto the last three years of his life as Akan Tavos. 

The life in the military was long gone, but the skills remained. Akan’s subconscious had its own way of keeping these in his mind as only natural aptitude. Nothing he was trained in. He trained as a Jedi Knight. Learning from old texts he had uncovered just two years earlier while wandering the depths of Coruscant. Like many things, he didn’t remember the details of how he found them, or even where. He just knew that he had them. Part of him, somewhere at least, knew how dangerous it was to learn in his condition. Though his conscious mind would never admit or accept the deep pain and scars buried within, Akan’s subconscious knew they were there and did its best to protect him from it. It had only succeeded to a finite point. The pain was connected to his emotions, and if emotions grew to strong...dangerous things were likely to occur and his control was lost. Akan knew it had happened at least once, though he knew not why.

He currently stood alone on the primary bridge of a retrofitted Carrack Cruiser. It was not his, but owned mutually between all of the mercenaries. Of which, he was one. They were called Ansion’s Claws. Ansion was the Verpine who had formed the rag-tag but very effective group of mercenaries. They were not ruthless and cruel as many in the profession, but at the same time weren’t about to work for no profit. Divided into four divisions, Akan was the leader of Division Three. Currently, they were in hyperspace on their way to the planet Endor, of which they had been called to check a science installation out. Apparently, the New Republic had lost contact with a small installation on the planet’s forest moon, and as the conflict with the Chiss Grand Admiral Thrawn had just ended, they did not have the resources to spare.

“Um...sir?” the voice was that of T’an Vissar, a small Chadra-Fan who was one of the youngest members of the Claws and was part of Division One(where all recruits started out before being placed in one of the other three).

Akan turned around from looking out the viewport to look to T’an. In a voice that held a bit of ice, but was as kind as he could manage in these days, he said, “Don’t call me sir. What is it?”

“Uh...” T’an glanced at his feet looking worried, but then took a deep breath, and his squeaky voice kept its composure, “Ansion wanted you to report to the briefing room for a uh...meeting.”

“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” Akan said, nodding to the small creature and starting to look back to the blue tunnel ahead. He felt something then, a slight hint of something in the Force from the direction of T’an. A strange smile crept onto Akan’s face, though the Chadra-Fan couldn’t see it, “You wanted to ask me something, T’an?”

A feeling of panic rippled through the Force as T’an was still getting used to the fact that Akan was a Force user. The others had already learned that he’d pick up on things like that, but it always unnerved the new recruits.  T’an quickly composed himself, and asked his question, “Why do you um..stay up here? I thought the secondary bridge was all that was needed to pilot the ship...”

Ah. That one. He’d been asked that a few times already. Akan turned around and started over towards T’an and the exit to the bridge, “Its quiet here. Empty. And there’s truly an amazing view of the stars from here. Sometime when you’ve got nothing else to do, just come up here by yourself and watch it.”

Without another word, he left T’an to the empty primary bridge and went to the turbolift. He would be somewhat late to the meeting, but they were used to it and always waited on the important things.


----------



## threshel

Nicely done, I dig it.

J


----------



## ledded

Ragboy, Threshel, I'm gonna have to start just following you guys around, I keep finding you at all the good new story hours 

Nice work so far, I'm liking it quite a bit.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Glad to see people are actually reading/liking this! More to come probably later tonight, but until then...just got around to throwing up some links to a couple of images of some of the characters.

They're over in the RG thread that's linked in the first post.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter Six: Shadows of the Past:*

The meeting room was much like the rest of the ship. It was obviously designed with Imperial aesthetics in mind, and had been given a good pale blue paint job to hide the boring grey it used to be. It was a large, cylindrical shaped room with a long oval desk in the center. At one end was the entrance to the room, and the other a large holoscreen. There was also a holoprojecter in the center of the table that hadn’t worked for two and a half years.

Akan Tavos sat back in the high-backed chair on one side of the table. He sat close to the far end, looking over towards where Ansion stood near the holoscreen. The insectoid Verpine looked like a two meter tall stick with green colored chitin layers of plating. His two long arms had only two fingers and an opposable thumb, and many a time Akan wondered how the Verpine had ever come up with the name “Claw” for his group, as Ansion’s hands were much closer to stubs. Ansion’s large black eyes looked across the room as the two antenna down the back of his head twitched slightly. They did that when he was nervous or feeling agitated.

There were four others in the room not including Ansion and Akan. Looking around, Akan identified all of them except one. The three he knew were the other Division leaders. Across from him was Sorak Tallone, a tall Trandoshan who led Division Two. Next to Tallone was a Rodian with one good eye, the other covered by an eyepatch. His name was Eslick Seero, but they all called him Patch because of his refusal to have his eye replaced. Patch was the leader of Division One, and the one who had to deal with most all the new recruits. Across from Patch and to Akan’s left was the leader of Division Four. Her name was Elona D’ares, and she was a grey skinned Duros with a mean streak. It was joked, quietly and far away from Elona, that she was grey because she’d scared her skin color away.

Akan’s eyes then fell on the one he didn’t recognize. She sat on the other side of Elona, and was seemingly staring off into no where. Akan was fairly sure that it was a she, but this was mostly in the face structure than...anywhere else. She wasn’t human, but at the same time, was very close. The only real indications that she wasn’t human was that her ears looked wrong, and were in the wrong place. The sat close to the top of her head, and were feline. Her skin was also an almost mocha color, and her hair was white except for a long black streak down the center. She glanced to him, and Akan noticed that her eyes had a feline quality to them. A strange, silvery color with a vertical slit down the center. She then turned away, though her ear turned slightly towards him still. Something that caught Akan as odd was that she looked to have ‘extra’ muscles. This was easy to see as she was earing a form fitting white and blue tunic with a simple jacket over it. There was something else too...something he couldn’t pinpoint. A feeling in the Force, or his memory...or both.

Before he could further inspect this unknown creature, Ansion spoke up. In his usual scratchy yet somehow insect sounding voice, the leader of the Claws indicated to the map of the Endor system that had appeared on the wall’s holoscreen, “But now you all know where we’re going. We will arrive in the Endor system in less than a standard hour, and then we should be in orbit around the forest moon within the next thirty standard minutes.”

The map zoomed in on the green planet, and a red box appeared over a small section near the northern end of the planet, “This is where the New Republic’s science installation is. It is suspected that those stationed there fled for an unknown reason. This is based on a communication that was sent out three days before we were contacted. In this, the leader of the installation’s security team requested that help be sent. He spoke of something attacking the installation, and said they were going to attempt to hide in the forest. Because it is still a dangerous planet, we will be sending two Divisions down to secure a perimeter of the installation itself, while the other two will explore the surrounding area for any sign of life. Divisions One and Four will form the perimeter, while Two and Three will search the area.”

“Ansion,” only Tallone spoke in that nasal sounding voice that his Rodian vocal cords produce, “What about the installation itself? Are we to ignore it?”

The Verpine shook his head, “No. I will be leading Division Three in their search of the surrounding area, and this will free up Tavos to use his own...talents for such a search.”

At this, Akan simply nodded. It wasn’t the first time he’d gone in alone to check an area. It was easier with no one else...besides, the last time that he’d done that with assistance...well, that was one of those moments his memory didn’t allow to come through.

“But you won’t be going alone, Tavos,” Ansion said, interrupting Akan’s thoughts and putting a confused expression on his face. He paused, putting pieces together just as the Verpine explained. One long fingered hand extended towards the creature that Akan didn’t recognize...or rather, wasn’t sure he recognized, “This is Shadow. She has skills that will...compliment yours in the search of the facility. I do not expect there to be any problems with this arrangement.”

Great. Not only was he not going alone, but it was with someone that he had on idea about. Before he could express his feelings on the matter, the holoscreen shut off and Ansion waved them out, “Get your Divisions ready to move. Akan, you and Shadow go to the hangar and prep the Y-Wing. And at least exchange a hello.”

The meeting broke up, and Akan just sighed. As he stood up, he noticed that Shadow had not moved except to look up at him. That’s when he noticed two other things about her...the first was that she had a long tail with the same color markings as he shoulder length hair, and the second was in her eyes. Something young and...innocent almost. But it was masked by another thing. A coldness he knew all to well from his own life. Raising an eyebrow at this, and the feeling he was getting through the Force that he couldn’t seem to interpret, Akan motioned for her to follow and shrugged his shoulders, “C’mon...”

She got up and followed him like a droid. No words. Very fluid movements. Somehow, this disturbed Akan in a way he’d never felt before. There was something wrong with this...woman? Girl? Female? Shadow...compliment his skills? What was that supposed to mean. Mentally kicking himself for getting annoyed and arrogant about this, he gave up and just went to the hangar.


----------



## ragboy

ledded said:
			
		

> Ragboy, Threshel, I'm gonna have to start just following you guys around, I keep finding you at all the good new story hours
> 
> Nice work so far, I'm liking it quite a bit.



I'm a sucker for a good Star Wars story... which is weird since I haven't liked the couple of Star Wars books I've picked up over the years. So far, I like this one because it takes the starwars-iverse and tells a compelling story without feeling like it's written inside a 'sacred bubble' of canon. 

Keep it up man!

*/hijack - ledded! When are you guys going to play WWGO again? --hijack/*


----------



## ledded

ragboy said:
			
		

> I'm a sucker for a good Star Wars story... which is weird since I haven't liked the couple of Star Wars books I've picked up over the years. So far, I like this one because it takes the starwars-iverse and tells a compelling story without feeling like it's written inside a 'sacred bubble' of canon.
> 
> Keep it up man!



That's the same thing I think I like so far here, the very same thing I think I told Ragboy in his SH.  You own the tale while still making it fit into Star Wars, which if most of the Star Wars books I've picked up are an indicator, is apparently quite difficult  .  And anyway, Ankh-Morpork Guard, your handle was enough to get me to take a look, those are some of my favorite Pratchett books.  Keep up the good work.



> */hijack - ledded! When are you guys going to play WWGO again? --hijack/*



Tonight, and baby are they in for it.  I'm tired of all this 'survive to laugh at the dangers stuff'.  The gloves are off   (sorry for the hijack Ankh-Morpork Guard).


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

ledded said:
			
		

> You own the tale while still making it fit into Star Wars, which if most of the Star Wars books I've picked up are an indicator, is apparently quite difficult  .




You wouldn't believe how right you are. I know when this game started we all tried to do our best to fit it in where it wouldn't contradict timelines or anything. It mostly worked, though a few little things popped up here and there.



> And anyway, Ankh-Morpork Guard, your handle was enough to get me to take a look, those are some of my favorite Pratchett books.  Keep up the good work.




Ha! Knew the username was good for something. Apparently it was once mentioned in a Knights of the Dinner Table in something talking about creative usernames.  

Glad to see people are actually reading this! I was doing this more for myself than anything(well, and the PCs in the game, though they probably won't get to see it until it gets farther along)

Another update coming(most likely) tonight...just have to get around to working on it.


----------



## ragboy

Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> You wouldn't believe how right you are. I know when this game started we all tried to do our best to fit it in where it wouldn't contradict timelines or anything. It mostly worked, though a few little things popped up here and there.



I just take the tact that I could care less about the details of the Star Wars arc. I mean, my characters aren't going to give Darth Vader a wedgie or anything, but I keep the overall arc and make the details my own (while avoiding, as much as I can, the main characters of GL's story). 



			
				Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> Glad to see people are actually reading this! I was doing this more for myself than anything(well, and the PCs in the game, though they probably won't get to see it until it gets farther along)



I've found that two things motivate me to write more: Reading a great story hour and seeing feedback on your own. It's amazing how much it motivates you when people start begging!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter Seven: Questions Without Answers*

The most interesting thing about this Carrack Cruiser was the fact that it had a large hangar bay. Most Carracks, at most, had clamps on the underbelly to hold a fighter or two. This one, however, had a huge portion, that was once devoted to crew quarters and extra cargo, turned into a functional hangar bay able to hold the four assault transports(one per Division) and a couple of fighters. One of these was Akan’s Y-Wing. The Y-Wing was older than the Carrack, most likely, but had a fresh paint job with green and black(the Claw’s colors) painted across it to give it the new ship look. That look died away once you were anywhere close.

Akan was currently checking the fuel and making sure the built in R3 unit(which had so many memory wipes it could do nothing but its primary function) was doing alright. Behind him, leaning against one of the sublight engines, stood Shadow. She had her arms folded across her chest and was watching him with a critical eye. She looked like a droid collecting data. Sighing as he climbed up to reconfigure a few systems in the cockpit, Akan called over his shoulder, “Do you just plan to stand there or are you going to help out?”

He heard movement, and a moment later she was up on the ship next to him, an inquisitive look on her face. Akan glared as she just sat there and grumbled, “Can you even speak?!”

“Yes,” she said in a calm, controlled voice, “What do you require assistance with?”

Still giving her the same look, Akan pointed towards the rear-facing gunner seat, “Configure the systems so you’re comfortable with them. Just make sure I still have access to the weapons systems.”

Carefully, and with a strange look on her face, Shadow nodded and sat down in the seat. For a long moment, she stared at the controls. Then, she looked up to him and asked, “How?”

Oh. Great. Just wonderful. Akan sighed again, and then spent the next half hour teaching Shadow the basics of the controls. From the sound of it, she picked up on it quickly...but she had no idea what was what before he’d shown her. Strange...Ansion usually made sure everyone of the Claws had at least some piloting skills. By the time Akan had finished going over the basics, they were in orbit around Endor. Great. Now there wasn’t anymore time for preparation.

The members of the other Divisions were already loading up into the other transports, and in a few moments Ansion found the two of them. The Verpine’s antenna twitched, and he tilted his head, “Are you prepared?”

“As good as I can be...” Akan mumbled, hopping down and stepping over to Ansion, speaking in a lowered voice, “What the hell is this girl?”

For the first time, Akan watched as Ansion shrugged, “I do not know of her species. However, she has skills much like yours...and you have shown ah...dangerous tendencies on the last missions alone. I believe she will do well to keep up with you.”

“You don’t trust me?” Akan looked genuinely hurt, a confused look on his face.

The Verpine shook his head, patting Akan on he shoulder, “No...no...it is not that, Tavos. We worry about you. We trust you. If we didn’t, you wouldn’t be in charge of Division Three, and you wouldn’t be allowed to carry that,” Ansion indicated to the ‘holster’ that held Akan’s lightsaber, “But that is where we worry. We don’t need the senses you have to know you’re dealing with a lot. Its not healthy for you to bottle all that up...especially being in command. Talk to someone,” Ansion glanced back to the Y-Wing’s cockpit, where Shadow was sitting and poking buttons carefully, “All I can tell you is she was used by the Empire. Its all I know. An assassin...much like you once told me you were.”

“I never did anything like that,” Akan said flatly, his conscious mind being honest. However, Ansion could remember when he’d first met the young human, and how...desperate he had been. Desperate to get away from a life he had blinded himself from.

“Fine...” Ansion stepped off towards Division Three’s assault transport, “Do a good job down there. Our sensors picked up life readings all over the area, so many we couldn’t pinpoint them. Keep your eyes open, alright?”

“I always do,” Akan said as he turned and headed to the Y-Wing. He climbed up the ladder, then pulled it into its section inside the cockpit. Dropping down into the pilot’s seat, he closed the canopy and glanced over his shoulder as the Y-Wing’s engines started to warm up and the systems come online.

There was something...something...Akan felt it. Couldn’t be...no...could it? He looked at the side of Shadow’s head, and his mind slowly worked out that strange feeling. It was...”You’re Force Sensitive, aren’t you?” he asked.

Shadow turned her head to give him a look as best was possible in how the seats were situated. She nodded slowly, “Yes. Does this disturb you?”

Strange question. The engines were online, and Akan started the starfighter moving up and then slowly out into space. He’d wait until at least two of the other transports landed before even going into orbit, “Disturb me? No...just surprising,” But there was something else he felt. A feeling of...deja vu? Similar. Akan could swear he’d seen her before somewhere...or at least, something like her. But he couldn’t put his finger on where or when, and when he tried to, he saw the face of a human girl. She was probably only a couple years younger than him...bright green eyes, shining brown hair, and an amazing smile on her face. Pain suddenly shot through him, and he quickly pushed the images away.

Behind him, Akan heard Shadow move to turn her head to see what had happened. She had obviously felt the pain. She said nothing, though, and simply turned back to facing the consoles in front of her and waiting to land. This human was odd...


----------



## Sidekick

AMG I'm reading too.  I know nothing about Star Wars d20 but this story makes for a good read.

keep it comin!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter Eight: Into the Unknown*

Trees everywhere. How the assault transports had found room to set down eluded Akan at the moment, though he knew they had landed and were already going about their assigned tasks. Through the trees, he could see the science facility, but couldn’t find enough room to actually bring the Y-Wing down. Shadow had pointed out one spot, but it was off towards the transport for Division Two, which was just too far away. They had argued on this point for a good two minutes, which surprised Akan because of how strongly Shadow was speaking. She just couldn’t comprehend why anyone didn’t see the obvious position that she held. 

Finally giving up, Akan growled for her to shut up and he centered the Y-Wing just above a small clearing that was in the front of the installation. There was room on the ground to land, but the trees had bent and arched inwards. Grumbling to himself, he told Shadow to hold on and brought the ship down anyway. There were cracks, scraping noises, and Shadow yelling at him for being a fool, but they made it down in one piece. To the ship’s right side was now the sprawling installation, a dull grey series of sharp corners and straight lines that stood out far too easily within the green and natural forest.

Akan hit the switch to open the canopy, and pulled on his comlink as it opened. The comlink was military issue, a headset which left the hands free. He clicked it on, and then finished powering down the ship, “We’re down, Insect. Heading in now.”

“Alright, Sword” Ansion voice replied, sounding even stranger through the mechanical comlink, “We’ve caught signs of Imperial activity around here, so keep your eyes open.”

“Understood,” Akan said as he climbed out and then hopped down to the ground. Shadow was already down, inspecting something on the ground near the entrance to the installation. He walked over and looked down. Footprints. The ground was somewhat soft here...but not enough so that it would be easy for them to remain.

Catching onto his thoughts, Shadow stood up and said simply, “Boots. Imperial issue from the markings.”

“How do you know that?” Akan asked sounding genuinely surprised and giving the tracks a closer look just in case.

“I’ve worn them before,” Shadow then stepped over to the entrance and began to examine the large, closed blast door. Worn them before? That either implied a good amount or simply meant she’d killed Imperials and stolen the footwear...or both. Not time for that now...

Akan moved over and watched her struggle with the door. She gave him an emotionless look and said flatly, “They have been sealed. Someone’s in there. I can’t slice the code, though.”

“I can do better,” Akan responded, reaching to his belt and getting his lightsaber out. Slice in, eh? A bit of a literal point of view, but it would work if the door wasn’t too thick. He ignited the lightsaber and felt a strange comfort from the snap-hiss and the sudden blue-green light. He then planted his feet, and jammed the blade deep into the door. It took nearly five minutes for him to cut through completely, and then it was only a small hole that both of them had to squeeze through to get inside.

The walls of the interior looked much the same as the outside...greys and greys. Blocks, straight lines, and few actual curves. Ahead of them, the corridor went straight for about thirty or so meters before it hit a T shaped turn. Lightsaber still activated, Akan switched it to his left hand, still just as able to defend with it there. He then pulled out his blaster and gave Shadow a look. She had seemed somewhat surprised by the lightsaber at first, but was now focused on the job at hand. Her once blue skin-tight suit was now a grey colour that matched that of the walls. Interesting...though her face, hair, and tail were easy to see, the rest of her was just that much harder to notice. In her hand was a small vibroblade.

Almost like they’d worked together their entire lives, both of them moved slowly towards the end of the corridor. Shadow was against the right side, looking ready to literally pounce at a moment’s notice...her tail was even twitching slightly as were her ears. On the left side, lightsaber in front of him, was Akan. He took one careful step at a time, blaster ready in his right hand as they moved. The low hum of the lightsaber was drowned out by noises from the walls. A deep rumbling noise that sounded similar to large power generators that weren’t working all that well. With his sense of hearing thus drowned out, Akan moved onto other...more reliable senses.

He reached out with the Force, now only a few steps away from the corner. Nothing...except that strong feeling from Shadow again. Ignoring that and trying to focus, he let his mind flow outwards, trying to see if there was anyone...He gave Shadow a look. She simply nodded to him. The feeling got across.

At the exact same moment, they both spun around the corner to face the opposite directions. Akan had his blaster outwards and his lightsaber off to his side. The corridor in front of him was...the reason for the noise. Five or six worker droids were doing repairs to a faulty power generator. He could tell it was faulty from the flames that one of the droids was putting out. Akan turned around again, seeing that Shadow was against the wall again, moving towards a door at the end of the corridor.

Deactivating the lightsaber and sliding it back into its holster on his belt, Akan caught up to her and they both stood a safe distance from the door. He could feel life on the other side...how many, he wasn’t sure. Shadow seemed to have the same kind of focus, but he knew she wasn’t using the force. He would be able to feel that. Instead, she seemed to be...watching. Listening. No doubt her ears were very sensitive. Carefully, he stepped forward towards the door, blaster ready. When Akan was sure that Shadow was ready also, he hit the switch and pivoted around the corner to see inside, blaster out in front of him.

The room was trashed, consoles and tables smashed and scattered in pieces across the floor. Searching through something was a human. He wore an olive green uniform of an Imperial Officer. He was bent down digging through a pile of metal, and didn’t seem to have heard the door open. Silently, Akan walked over to him, avoiding anything that would make noise under his feet. Just a few steps away, he placed his blaster against the back of the officer’s head, “Fr–“

”Don’t move,” the modulated voice of a stormtrooper said from behind him, “Drop the blaster and step away from the Captain.”

Damn. Caught at his own game...and by a stormtrooper of all people! Part of him wondered where Shadow was and why there hadn’t been a similar order direct towards her. Slowly though, he did as the stormtrooper had ordered. Jyren could hear more movement, and was sure that there were now at least two others. He let the blaster drop to the ground, and held his hands out just slightly. Close enough that he could get the saber with one quick movement...

“Hands on your head,” said a second trooper with a slightly deeper voice. Almost old and grizzled if stormtroopers ever got that way. Somehow, Akan doubted that. This was when he’d have to act...it would be tough, but he knew that he could...

A growl cut off his thoughts. Loud and sounding like one of the larger feline predators. There was a cry from one of the stormtroopers, and a noise of slashing, blaster fire, and more growling and screaming. The officer in front of Akan had started to get up, drawing his small blaster in the process. Not one to let an opportunity disappear, Akan quickly pulled out his lightsaber, and started swinging it in a long arc towards the officer. It activated halfway through the arc, cleanly dividing the Imperial into two. Akan’s momentum spun him around on his right foot to see a closed door with three stormtroopers sprawled out in front of it. Scratch marks and bite marks all along their armor...and through it. Sitting there in front of them, was a large panther-like creature. It was white furred, with a long black stripe all the way own its body. It tilted its head to him, then Akan’s brain hurt. 

The creature...changed. It was impossible to describe exactly what he watched, but in a few moments, Shadow was standing in front of him. She had a strange, predatory grin on her face. That grin was not something that would comfort anyone. Akan had seen a lot in a short twenty one years, but this was something new. His mouth was wide open, and she stepped over, tilting her head in the same way the panther creature had, “Close your mouth or you might swallow a bug,” that grin still on her face, Shadow spun around and started towards the door the stormtroopers were dead in front of. Over her shoulder, she called back, “And if we’re here to get information on why those scientists left, I’d suggest you not kill the officers.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter Nine: Starfighters Aren't Made for Passengers*

The two of them had moved unobstructed through the installation for a what seemed like an eternity. The place was big. They had exchanged no words since hiding the bodies of the stormtroopers and the officer. Currently, they were standing on either side of a large access door to some research labs. Akan had felt many people on the other side, and Shadow, apparently, could hear some talking. After a few moments, she looked over to him and spoke quietly, “They have two scientists locked up in a food storage room past this lab...they still don’t know anyone’s here, and said something about a search of the area.”

“Good ears,” Akan mumbled, not really meaning for her to hear him say that ut realizing the irony in that thought almost immediately, “We aren’t here to save any captives, just figure out what’s going on.”

“I’m getting them out one way or another,” Shadow said, a hint of a growl in her voice. There was something about that Akan obviously had missed.

Instead of arguing the point, he simply put out a hand to signal she wait, and tapped the comm on his ear. In a short moment, he heard Ansion’s voice, “We’re a bit busy right now, you think you can wait to call at a better time?”

Akan grinned slightly, hearing the Verpine speaking like that was always funny, because the way his vocal cords were, sarcasm always sounded somewhat...childlike was they best way Akan could describe it, “Just telling you that we’re going to be coming back with some guests if all goes well. Shadow here wants us to get some captives out.”

“You deal with them,” Ansion said after a long pause and other loud noises, “We’ve got enough trouble out here with an Imperial transport that just landed that you’ll have to get out on your own. We’re not pulling out of here yet, but you’ve got about half an hour before we jump this rock. If you aren’t back on the Claw by then, well you’ll have to catch up on your own.”

“We’ll be there,” Akan responded, looking to Shadow and relaying the information he’d gotten. 

She gave him a strange look, “What do the Imperial want with a science station way out here?”

“We’ll figure that out later...lets just do what we’re here to get payed for and go,” he said, nodding to the door and bringing his blaster up slightly, “Right now, the New Republic wants to know what happened, and the only way to that is through this door.”

Shadow got the idea, and put her hand over the switch to open the door. She gave him a look to make sure he was ready, and when he nodded, she opened the door. Akan quickly moved in, blaster raised and ready. The room was huge. The ceiling was domed with a transparasteel so that the trees on the outside could be easily seen. It almost looked like the room was once a hangar that had been converted to some other use, as there were two large bay doors and the many tables, desks, and consoles looked to be more recently installed. In the center of the room, there were at least six stormtroopers and four officers. Immediately upon his entering, the Imperials reacted.

Even if he hadn’t had his blaster pistol out, he’d probably have been greeted with the shots from the troopers that quickly moved in his direction. However, he might have at least had a chance for them to question him. But that wasn’t the case. Letting off three quick shots of his own, Akan dove and rolled behind a larger circular console off to his right. Blaster shots flew off past him and burned the other side of it. He quickly put the blaster back in the holster and got the lightsaber back out. Range? No. But the intimidation factor was always worth it.

Before he moved, he heard someone yell, “Another one!!” then blaster fire followed. Well, Shadow had moved in. Akan glanced to the side to see her, vibroblade in hand, duck and jump in an interesting pattern before she, too was pinned behind a console. She had, however, gotten closer than he had. Alright, no more spectator. The snap-hiss of the lightsaber cut off the voice of one of the officers who had just started to say something about being under arrest. They could probably see just the tip of the blue-green blade above the console, which made Akan grin even more. Letting the mood sit for just a few seconds longer, he got to his feet and spun around to face the Imperials. All but one of the officers were out of sight...Akan hadn’t heard any doors opening or closing, so he assumed they’d gone of and hid or were sneaking around. There were enough consoles and other large devices for that to be easy to do.

At seeing him, the six stormtroopers turned back to fire on him in a more panicked fashion. Most of the shots went wide, but Akan caught more the one on his lightsaber, sending them back at the stormtroopers who had quickly gotten the idea that it might be smart to spread out. One blaster bolt he even managed to send back to the faceplate of a stormtrooper, sending him sprawling onto his back, a puff of smoke now rising from the helmet. Shadow then took advantage of the situation, and with all the attention currently on Akan, she hopped up and over her cover, diving onto a stormtrooper and pinning him down. Her vibroblade was dug deep into the man’s unarmored neck, and then the others realized they’d have to divide their attention.

While they backed away, three of the troopers turned their weapons back onto Shadow, sending a barrage of blaster fire at her. The officer had also drawn his blaster pistol and fired at the feline creature. She had no trouble finding more cover, a large mainframe looking block that was placed close by. But when she rounded it, she found another of the officers. The Imperial was more surprised than Shadow, and let off a stray shot in panic that went past her ear, singing the fur slightly. She growled at that, and dug the vibroblade into the officer’s stomach, which caused him to cry out in pain before crumbling to the ground. Not dead, but close and wishing he was. 

Akan had stayed in the open to keep as much of the attention on him as possible. However, two of the stormtroopers were moving slowly around to get to Shadow. The other two were still firing on him, and the officer who was in the open quickly moved behind a large holoprojecter that was the centerpiece to the room. 

“Watch yourself, two coming around your way,” Akan ‘said’, sending the message to Shadow through the Force. He wasn’t sure if she’d gotten it, or even understood, but it was the best he had at this point. With a quick, upward sweep of the saber, he deflected two of incoming blaster shots at once, one of them flying back and catching a stormtrooper in the chest plate. He crumbled back onto the holoprojecter, and as Akan slowly started to move forward, still deflecting shots from the other trooper still focusing on him. When a short break in the constant blaster fire came up, he switched hands with his lightsaber, and drew his blaster pistol, letting off a shot at the trooper in the same motion. It hit dead center on the trooper and he crashed back against a small console. Deactivating his lightsaber, Akan fired off another shot, this time at one of the troopers that had gone after Shadow.

He missed by a good distance, but in a moment he saw a foot contact with the trooper’s helmet, and before he could fall, a vibroblade was inserted into his neck. Akan couldn’t see the other trooper, but assumed that Shadow had already dealt with him. That left...three officers. One was still behind the holoprojector, firing madly at Shadow. Akan ran over so he could get a sight on the man, and flipped a switch on his blaster pistol. He was heard, and the officer turned to get one shot off before the blue stun blast hit him and he collapsed.

Shadow was nearly already on top of the man, and she gave Akan a strange look before he motioned around, “Still three others.”

“Two,” Shadow corrected, her ears swiveling to catch something. She growled a little and looked towards the far wall, which did not have a large hangar door, “Door just closed...”

“This one will be out for a while, we’ll pick him up on the way back,” Akan commented, currently working out how to get three people into a Y-Wing. The officer could easily fit into the cargo compartment...but if they got one of the captives to bring back? The cockpit was going to be cramped...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 10: And Then There Were Three...*

“Yes, its locked,” Akan growled over his shoulder, “If it wasn’t, it’d be open and we wouldn’t still be standing here!”

They had left the large hangar and followed a long corridor to a sealed door. Well sealed. Shadow said they were going the right direction, saying she could smell the two officers who had gotten away. Akan, not in the mood to start another argument, simply took her word on it and put his attention to the door. It had been five minutes of attempting to open the door the conventional way before he cursed and got his lightsaber out. 

As he cut through the door, Akan noticed that Shadow was looking at him as if he were some idiotic fool. He glared at her for a moment and went back to ‘opening’ the door. After cutting a box shaped hole, he kicked it in and saw that the next room actually looked to be more than a junk pile. There were active computer consoles all along the walls and a few chairs scattered around a small holoscreen on the opposite wall. However, the room was empty. 

Lightsaber still in hand and activated, Akan carefully stepped into the room. Of course, Shadow had already slipped through before him. He was starting to get used to that by now, and she had started moving towards one of the other two doors. Looking to a console, Akan raised an eyebrow and waived for Shadow to hold on. He examined then deactivated his lightsaber and grabbed a spare datapad that was off on the side. Sliding it into the console, he copied all of the files onto the datapad. Logs mostly, but some of it was about whatever the facility was working on.

Satisfied now, he pocketed the datapad and walked over to Shadow, who was waiting with her arms folded across her chest. Her tail stopped swishing across the ground and then, without a word, she turned to he door. Akan was behind her this time, and when she opened the door he was glad for it. It slid open and Shadow was left face to face with the white helmet of a stormtrooper. Both of them stood still in a moment of shock, but Shadow reacted first. Her vibroblade still out, she thrust it up into the trooper’s side, where the armor didn’t cover, and then punched him hard so he fell onto his back. Behind him in the small were two other troopers who were scrambling for their weapons. The first had no luck, as Shadow pounced him and her vibroblade did its work silently. The second managed to get his drawn before Akan put a blaster bolt into his helmet. He collapsed against the wall and knocked a small desk over in the process.

Akan then stepped into the room properly, seeing that off to the far end were three barred doors. He nodded to Shadow, who got the idea and stepped over to them. As he caught up, he managed to notice that the stormtrooper Shadow had pounced had long claw marks across his chest plate...could she have? At this point, Akan wasn’t about to throw the concept out the window. Attention back on the moment, he walked straight over to the door that Shadow was flanking. Instead of doing the same, he just kicked it hard, bending the metal inwards and proving that it was on some kind of hinges. The second time he kicked it, the door went down, and Akan found himself looking at a small storage room with boxes of food and rations. But why station three troopers to guard rations? They weren’t anywhere near that good tasting...

“Hello?!” ah, that answered that. At least one of the storage closets was being used as a makeshift cell mostly likely. Akan then walked over to where he’d heard the voice...female, human most likely. The third door down. He then opened it to a punch in the chest.

Shadow started diving forward, assuming a threat, but Akan’s arm was extended to hold her back. He had been right. It was a woman...a woman with a strong right arm from the feel of it. She had shoulder length blonde hair and two bright blue eyes. She wore a simple brown tunic with green piping and the New Republic insignia on the shoulders. One of the scientists. Noticing he wasn’t in any Imperial uniform, she smiled apologetically, “Sorry about that.”

Akan managed to return the smile, holding his chest slightly, “Oh, don’t worry about it...I get that all the time. You’re one of the scientists?”

She nodded, looking over his shoulder to Shadow, who was tilting her head around and looking even more feline than usual with the way her neck bent. The scientist’s attention then turned back to Akan, and she extended a hand, “Um...yes, yes. Jen Zaarin.”

“Akan Tavos,” he said shaking her hand, he then nodded over his shoulder, “This is Shadow. We were here to find out what happened to you scientists...”

Zaarin smiled again and seemed to lose a large amount of tension, “You’re with the New Republic, then?”

A short flash of something passed across Akan’s face. He’d never been asked that before and somehow it...hurt. As quickly as it had come, it was gone, and he said distantly, “When they pay enough. Look, we’re not here to slaughter Imperials...are there any other scientists left in here?”

“Not that I know of,” Jen said, having caught his expression but ignoring it for the moment, “The rest of them got out on our shuttle or fled into the forest.”

“Then we can leave now,” Akan said, turning the other direction and starting to leave without another word. Shadow waited for Zaarin to move onward, and fell into step behind the woman. Forget the other officers, they now had an Imperial officer(or would have) and one of the scientists. That was enough to find out what happened and get the money. No more need for killing. When they reached the large room again, Akan picked up the still unconscious officer and started on their way out, Shadow leading the way just in case.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 11: Cramped Starfighters*

“We’re about to head up,” Akan called into the comm as they looked outside, noting that the Y-Wing was untouched and the area around it looked empty enough.

Ansion’s voice replied over the comm, “Division Two and Four are already heading to the Claw. One’s about to lift off and we’re nearly to our ship. They’re up there getting ready for hyperspace as soon as we’re all in. At least an Star Destroyer’s worth of ground troops here. They’re looking for something and we’re just in the way.”

Akan took another careful look across the tree line beyond the Y-Wing, then behind him to Zaarin. She was watching Shadow, who knelt on the other side of the entrance and looked like a predator just ready to pounce. Zaarin caught Akan’s eye and he just shrugged, then tapped the comm again, “We’ve got one of their officers. Hopefully can figure out what they’re so crazy about. Then get paid...” he trailed off a moment, glancing to Jen and lowering his voice, “This is more than I bargained for, anyway.”

“Agreed,” Ansion responded a few moments later, “Get back to the ship and we’ll figure things out from there.”

The comm clicked on the other end, and Akan turned to the others, “Looks clear to me. Probably should get out of here before any more Imperials arrive.”

Shadow simply nodded and picked up the officer, who she’d been handed and had done much better carrying him anyway. It seemed like no matter what, she was better than Akan was. As a Jedi, he knew this was stupid and everyone had their own strengths...but something about it still bothered him. Shaking off the feeling he turned back to Zaarin, who nodded as he got up and followed suit.

Blaster ready, Akan carefully moved to the Y-Wing. Nothing shot at him...good. Heading to the underside of the cockpit, he flipped a switch that opened up the very small cargo compartment. Being part of the cockpit, it had minimal life support systems for some reason. Convenient for moments like this. Shadow was behind him, and stuffed the body of the officer into the compartment before it was closed. Not only would he wake up with a horrible migraine, but his neck was going to ache too. 

Climbing up onto the nose of the ship, he opened the canopy and looked back to Shadow and Zaarin. Someone was going to be riding this a friend...Akan began to voice this, but Shadow...changed. It was as disturbing as before, but somehow he almost expected it. Now, on the ground in front of the Y-Wing where she had stood, there was a small creature that looked much like she had been before. Feline...much like a Corellian sand panther, but with a mane along its back to the tail. Except this time she was smaller. Almost the right size to rest on his shoulder.

Zaarin stared in amazement and Akan managed a shrug, “Pick her up and hand her to me. Looks like you ride in the back with...” he waved his hand vaguely to what he was pretty sure was Shadow. Before Jen had the chance to actually pick the feline up, Shadow bent back and hopped up onto the Y-Wing with one leap. Impressive.

She then padded over and hopped into the gunner’s seat, waiting with a very impatient look on her ‘face’. Akan shrugged to Zaarin, and knelt down a little, extending his arm down to help her up. She took his hand and he managed to get her up onto the nose. Quietly, he said, “Look, I don’t know either. Lets just get out of here first, hm?”

Slowly, Jen nodded and climbed into the rear-facing gunner’s seat with Shadow sitting in her lap. Akan started to turn to get into the pilot’s chair but something...a quick flash shot through his mind. A second later he heard the sound of a blaster firing....far off, only one shot. With the warning from the Force, he was already moving to his left, rolling off to the side and nearly off the Y-Wing. But no...somehow the Force was wrong. He dove...into the shot, which caught him hard in the right shoulder. The pain pinned him to the metal plate next to the canopy, and as he could smell the charred flesh from the shot only one thought ran through his mind. How could that have hit him? It wasn’t aimed at him...but where he dodged to. That didn’t make sense...

But this wasn’t the time to lay still. Someone was out there that was most likely the best shot in the galaxy. And the canopy was open..leaving Zaarin and Shadow in the open. Akan’s mind forced his eyes to open and as he turned his head, he saw a red flash that coincided with the sound of the blaster shot again. Off in the trees...just to the east of the installation. This time when he rolled to the front of the nose, with the canopy behind him and providing at least minimal cover, the blaster shot hit the Y-Wing where he had been lying. Great. Not waiting for another shot, he got to his knees and climbed over the fixed part of the canopy into the pilot’s chair, “The second the power’s up fire the ion cannons into the trees back behind us!” he growled painfully, “It’ll at least scare him off!”

Zaarin was currently in the process of holding Shadow down, who was madly trying to get out and most likely go kill the shooter. No time for that, at least Zaarin understood. The first thing he did as the Y-Wing warmed up was to close the canopy. It would only provide protection for one or two shots, but it was more than nothing. More shots started ringing out at them. No longer just single...and Akan glanced to the tree line to see stormtroopers coming out of nearly everywhere. Ansion wasn’t kidding about there being a Star Destroyer’s worth on the planet...

With the Y-Wing warmed up, he immediately cut on the repulsorlifts and started getting them airborne. The ion cannon wasn’t firing...why?

“I said shoot, dammit!” Akan growled through gritted teeth as he tried to ignore the pain in his right arm. That was no easy task, of course.

Zaarin’s voice sounded panicked when she cried back to him, “I don’t know how! I don’t fly! I’m a scientist!”

“Typical!” he then cursed to himself and fired the main cannons at the trees as they got over them. Two came toppling down, but Akan didn’t give time to see the effects of the shots beyond that. They were still being shot at, and though the Y-Wing had strong armor when compared to personal weapons, lucky shots were still to be worried about. Looking across the blue sky of the planet, Akan caught sight of two Imperial Sentinel-class Landing Shuttles. One was still on the ground, but the other was just pulling out of the trees about ten or so kilometers out. At the same time, up in orbit, he could see the underbelly of a Star Destroyer. Great.

“Claw, we’re just on our way up,” he called into the comm channel that was disturbingly silent, “Can you hold on for just a few more minutes?”

There was a long pause before he heard the voice of one of the members of the Claw’s bridge crew, “Div Three just got in and we’re trying to outrun that Star Destroyer. Get up here before they get to us or meet us at these coords.”

A line of hyperspace coordinates were transmitted to him, and he kept them on the screen despite not planning on using them. Cutting the sublight engines on, the Y-Wing was sent shooting off into the atmosphere. Sensors showed that the Sentinel shuttle was following. With its weapons compliment, if it got in range they were most likely going to end up as more wreckage for the orbit of Endor. Then something started beeping.

“What’s that?!” Zaarin called out, trying to look around to see.

Akan cut off the alarm and watched the blue fade into the blackness of space. Not very far to the starboard side of the Y-Wing was the Star Destroyer...closing fast. Off to the port side, there was a small silhouette that could only be the Claw pulling away from the planet. But those weren’t the reason for the alarms, “TIEs on their way. Interceptors. Fast...we can’t outrun them,” he activated the comm, “Claw, get out of here. We’ll meet you at the destination.”

“Affirmative,” replied the same voice as before, “Good luck.”

“You, too,” Akan cut off the comm and put the engines to full. Just had to get out of the planet’s gravity well and then make a quick jump before going to the actual coordinates, “Zaarin, can you plot a hyperspace course to some system close?”

“Um...yes,” she sounded a bit unsure, but the ‘yes’ was nice.

“Do it fast, and tell me the second its done,” he was speaking in short, quick tones that were in no way friendly. This wasn’t the time to think about anything but hopeful survival. At least he’d never had to ask for an interesting life. Instead, he sometimes just wanted a day where nothing at all happened. The Force at least owed him that much.

Apparently, the Force didn’t agree. Another beeping sound started and Akan cursed as he tried to bring the fighter into enough turns so that whoever was currently trying to lock on(most likely the Sentinel which was still back behind him) would at least have some trouble. Y-Wings were not meant for speed, maneuvering, or anything really beyond bombing, assault, and support. Slow and bulky...and old. 

Suddenly the cockpit was going crazy with alarms. Missile fired...behind them. The sentinel. Jen let out a yelp(as she could most likely see it coming towards them), and Akan started pulling the Y-Wing into maneuvers it was never meant to handle. It growled an argument but managed the corkscrew dive anyway, the concussion missile followed suit as best it could, but when Akan cut the thrusts off completely and pulled up just a few degrees, he held his breath. Not a second later, he watched the red missile shoot past, only a few meters from impacting the craft.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he put the engines back to full and diverted as much of the weapon’s power to the engines to get even more out of them. He gave one quick glance over his shoulder to Zaarin, “How’s it coming?!”

“...its ready!” She said almost too loudly. Good. The Interceptors were just reaching firing range, and the alarms were going crazy as multiple ships began firing on them. Not taking prisoners, obviously. 

“Hold on and pray!” Akan called out, angling the ship in the correct direction and pulled the hyperspace levers. The lines of the stars pulled back slowly, so slowly that Akan was sure that they’d get hit just as they were leaving. But then, they shot forward and a tunnel of blue surrounded the cockpit of the ship. Allowing himself another sigh, Akan slumped back into the seat and said quietly, “You had better be worth all this trouble, Zaarin.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 12: Glimpse of the Past*

It was a two minute jump to the middle of no where. Nothing followed them, and so they were soon off on their way to meet up with the Claw. It would be an hour and a half stuck in the confines of the cockpit. Shadow had fallen asleep in Jen’s lap, and Akan had all but forgotten about the officer stuck in the cargo hold. He had closed his eyes and just rested for what seemed like most of the flight, but he heard Jen say...something. Eyes opened again with a sigh, he glanced at the chrono on the HUD. Still forty minutes left...

“What did you say?” Akan asked over his shoulder in a strangely quiet voice. With the only noise being the hum of the hyperdrive, it was louder than even he’d expected.

He heard Jen shifting slightly, “You’re a Jedi?”

Ah...small talk. At least it would pass time, “I try.”

“Then you...fought against the Empire?” she was referring to the Galactic Civil War, no doubt. 

Memories slipped back through his protected mind...short flashes of flying his X-Wing. Mission briefings...infiltrating an Imperial base...somehow, they didn’t hurt like he’d worried. But perhaps that was because of the absence of the most painful ones. Slowly, he nodded, “A lifetime ago.”

There was a long pause as she seemed to think about what else to say. After a moment, he noticed another sound...quiet, but constant. Purring. He tried to look over his shoulder but couldn’t see. Zaarin caught onto what he was doing, “Do you know what she is?”

Akan shrugged, then remembered she couldn’t see that, “No. I just met her a few minutes before heading down to the planet.”

“Oh...” Jen looked out at the tunnel of hyperspace that was cascading away from her, “You said you were sent to find out what happened?”

“Don’t...not now,” Akan closed his eyes again, “Save it for Ansion. He knows the details...I just do the covert work. Not too well, obviously.”

She laughed slightly at that, and somehow that surprised him. He hadn’t meant that as a joke. Her tone changed to that of curiosity, “You talk like you’re an old man, you know that?”

Again, he shrugged. This time, though, he grinned at the natural reaction. He glanced up and out of the canopy through the fringe of his dark brown hair and opened his eyes, “Sometimes people grow up too soon.”

He’d just said that. He didn’t even understand it, or realize the truth of it. It just...came out. Jen had raised an eyebrow at that, her hand that was scratching at the feline’s ear stopped for just a moment, which got a quiet ‘rowr’ out of the sleeping creature, “How’s the wound?”

“It will heal,” Akan looked back down and to the deep black mark on his right shoulder. He could move the arm, but it hurt far too much to be worth it. The shot had hit hard, but something was still wrong. It should have killed him where it hit. Not just burned and scarred. 

Another long silence grew out of his thoughts. The purring noise had started up again, and Akan couldn’t help but grin very slightly at that. Shadow was a strange creature...silent and business minded from what he could figure, but then when she was like that. So much like a child. Ansion had been right...despite how much better at everything she seemed to be, Shadow’s skills complimented Akan’s very well. Suddenly he heard a noise...clicking. Something opened.

There was a small compartment in the back section that used to hold personal belongings...”Who’s this?” Jen’s voice asked. That compartment was empty last he remembered. Maybe someone else put something in there. It was technically his Y-Wing, but the others used it from time to time.

“Who’s what?” Akan asked, looking over his shoulder to see what she was talking about.

Jen had moved some but he still couldn’t get around to see it, and she hadn’t handed it to him, “The girl in this holo. The other actually looks like you...younger though.”

“What are you...” he trailed off as he managed to catch a glimpse of the small holo in her hand. At once he knew it, and he felt a deep pain returning. Something that had stayed hidden for so long that it had only gotten worse, never being given a chance to heal. Tears welled up in his eyes but Akan fought them back. It was himself...Raan...and Mare. Both wore their flight suits and it looked like they were about to leave. There was a distracted smile on his face, and Mare had almost the same look. Three years ago...

His mouth opened to say something, but no words came out, only a croaked noise. He took in a deep breath and tried again, barely managing the words, “A friend...”

Not any kind of fool, Jen noticed the reaction the holo had caused. She quickly put it down, and asked in a careful voice, “What’s wrong?”

Memories slowly came back. Part of it was ironic to him...the void within him returned within the void of hyperspace. He closed his eyes and rested his face in one and, “She...I...she died.”

There was a long silence, and he heard Jen shift again, hearing her voice closer to the seat now, “I’m sorry...”

“Don’t apologize,” Akan’s voice was strangely harsh, not at all comforting coming from one who was supposed to be a Jedi.

“How...long ago?” Jen asked, seemingly choosing her words carefully. Part of him wondered if she was just prying, but Akan was smart enough to know she was trying to help. Why...he didn’t know. But somehow it felt good to at least speak of it. 

He reached a hand back over his shoulder, open and waiting for her to hand the holo to him, “Three years.”

Jen placed the holo in his hand and he pulled it back to look at it. He was so young then...a lifetime ago was right. That boy in the holo was no longer alive. He’d been replaced by someone who ran the risk of destroying himself even more. A Jedi with such deep pain was dangerous. To himself more than anything. Jen’s voice interrupted his thoughts, “I didn’t know they allowed people so young to be pilots...”

“They were desperate,” Akan said, not able to fight back the grin that the statement had always gotten to his face, “And we...I was good enough that age didn’t matter.”

“There are other things in here...” Jen’s voice was accompanied by her rummaging. Somehow, this didn’t bother Akan. It should...she was going through his memories as it were. Painful memories, at that...ones that he had gone through great lengths to forget. Maybe time had healed them more than he’d thought...no. No. Nothing could heal it.

“The...the datapad is her diary,” Akan said very quietly, a hand reaching up to touch the holo gently, “The other is a holo from her home. After...,” something in him couldn’t let him say the words that he knew were true. So instead, he just continued on anyway, “After, I held onto her things. It was all she had...and they would have just gotten rid of it.”

He reached back over again, handing Jen the holo of the two young pilots. She took the holo, but her hand held his for a long moment. It was...strange. Gently, she squeezed his hand, “I lost all of my family and friends on Alderaan. I know how you feel.”

A sudden emotion, so close to rage it was almost tangible welled up within Akan. He jerked his hand away and looked to the chrono. It had reached zero. They were there. He reached for the hyperdrive switch, and pulled them back. They reverted back to realspace, and there sat the Claw, in he middle of the blackness of no where.

“You have no idea,” Akan said low and dangerously, “The only way you could know how I feel is if you fired that blast that destroyed the planet.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 13: Similar Histories*

Akan didn’t speak anymore after that, and upon arriving on the Claw, he’d quickly left without even a word to Ansion. The Verpine greeted Jen with what was most likely his species’ equivalent of a smile, motioning towards the turbolift on the other end of the hangar, “If you wouldn’t mind coming this way...I wasn’t planning on any kind of debriefing, but I didn’t plan on being shot at. I assume you don’t mind me asking questions?”

Jen smiled and started towards the turbolift. It felt good to be out of the cramped cockpit of that Y-Wing, “Of course not.”

She gave one last glance back to Shadow, who was now in her humanoid form and pulling the unconscious Imperial Officer out of the cargo hold. Jen noticed that Shadow seemed to take a strange delight in the thud sound that the Officer made when he slammed into the deck below. Then, for a short moment, she looked off towards the far end towards the turbolift that Akan had left towards. Part of her wanted to talk with him more...but the way he sounded was enough to show it wasn’t a good idea.

Her attention soon turned back towards the moment at hand, and did her best to run through some old tension relief techniques she’d learned while younger. Before she knew it, Ansion had led her into the large meeting room of the ship, and it was strange how empty it looked with only two people in it. 

The Verpine motioned to a chair and then to a set of drinks on the table, “Have a seat and a drink. Its not the best stuff in the galaxy, but we get a hold of what we can.”

“Thank you,” Jen nodded and took a glass, tasting the liquid carefully. It was strong...very strong. Probably some kind of Corellian Ale. Of course, the other scientists back at the facility kept things much more dangerous than that, so it didn’t phase her much.

Ansion had a seat across from her at the table and stretched just slightly, his long slender limbs moving awkwardly with the motion, “First, I’ll tell you why we appeared at such an out of the way planet as Endor. The New Republic contacted me a few standard days ago. They said that one of their small, but important science facilities had essentially disappeared. Comms didn’t only not reply, but nothing could be sent in to be recieved. Transmitters on devices shut down...etc etc. Apparently, the High Command was worried that the research you were doing would fall into Imperial hands. They didn’t say it directly, but I’ve worked with people long enough to learn to tell things like that. It took prying and lowering of my price, but I managed to get the information on what it was you were doing down there...” he paused a moment to give her a long look, “Now what I want to know from you is fairly simple. You may not even know it. But how is it that the Empire found out about your genetic work?”

Jen wasn’t very surprised that Ansion knew what they had been doing on the planet. He had said himself that he’d had to work to get it, and he was right about that. For the New Republic to give information to a mercenary, they must have trusted him. She then thought about his question, and shrugged, “I don’t know. The obvious answer is a spy...or someone in the facility itself. But I don’t know. My job isn’t to deal with things like that.”

“Well, we didn’t exactly expect our job to end up like it did,” Ansion said a bit cryptically, but he still had a generally positive tone, “We’re currently on our way to Coruscant. There we’ll drop you off and have a quick meeting with some of the higher ups...I think we’re entitled to some details on this one.”

Nodding, Jen smiled and said, “May I ask you a question...?”

“About Akan, I assume?” he was good. Of course, dealing with people as much as he did probably made that a necessity. 

She nodded and sat back in the chair some, “You know about his...past yes?”

“I know a little,” the Verpine said, nodding slowly, “I found him when he was about eighteen. He’d been working with New Republic Spec Force on a joint operation with us. It was an search and destroy mission inside an Imperial base out on Duros. It was a disaster. We freed an Imperial prisoner who ended up being an Officer during the Civil War who’d been put there by some power hungry Moff after the Emperor was killed. The Officer thanked us by killing three of us...Akan tried to deal with him, but had as little luck as the rest of us. Somehow we got away...but that boy was never the same. He didn’t even remember his name after that...” Ansion shrugged, “I felt bad about it, and took him in. I managed to learn a lot from him in small bits. Things he claimed were dreams...too detailed, however. I’ve been looking for a way to help him out for a long while...it finally presented itself a couple of days ago.”

Jen thought on this, and then raised an eyebrow, “You’re talking about that...Shadow creature?”

“The New Republic Intelligence should get you on their side,” Ansion grinned as best a Verpine could, “Yes. She’s much like him. Except she found us. There’s something buried within her, too. Her old friend, a smuggler named Max. He used to work with us so I knew of her. After he died, I tracked her down and asked her to join up with us. She obviously had no where else to go, and joined up with us. Akan and Shadow...its strange, but they’ve got very similar histories. I’m hoping they’ll work out their pasts so that they aren’t such a danger to everyone else.”

“But Shadow didn’t seem very...” Jen trailed off, thinking about it and realizing how dangerous the idea of being able to change one’s form could be. Slowly, she nodded and looked down at the table, “I’ll gladly help if I can. I owe you that much.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 14: Friendly Fight*

Aboard the Claw, a large amount of the old quarters space had been converted into a single room. It was empty. The size of five large quarters, the room now served as a place for sparring. It happened little, but was a place that Akan found he could rest his mind and let things work themselves out. So now he sat near the center of the room, not focusing on anything but his shoulder.

That blaster had to have been set on a lower power for the first shot. It didn’t hurt anymore...but the placement should have killed him instantly. And the second shot had burned a deep mark in the Y-Wing, so either it was a second weapon or the power was toned down. Either way...it didn’t make sense. Whoever had fired the first shot was impossibly good, predicting movements long before they occurred. But that still didn’t explain why the shot was such a low power. 

“Your sulk like this a lot?” a voice asked from behind him. He’d not heard the door open, so it surprised him slightly.

Akan glanced over his shoulder to see Shadow standing with her arms crossed over her chest. She was wearing that body suit again and her tail swished very slightly. He then started to get up, “Need something?”

Shadow’s footsteps were light, but he could hear her walking closer, “Need to work my muscles. Care to let out my frustration?”

“Your frustration?” Akan responded with a raised eyebrow, turning around and giving her a bored look, “But its been a while since I’ve gotten any practice.”

“Anything goes,” she said with a grin growing on her face as she stretched some. She caught onto a stray thought and her grin grew, “Anything means anything.”

For the first time in a very long time, a smile grew on Akan’s face. Interesting. Obviously, she trusted her own skills to keep her from getting killed, but at the same time she had to have trusted his. Or...or she was just so arrogant that it didn’t matter. Or both. He cracked his knuckles and gave her a look, planting his feet and standing in a fairly basic combat stance he’d learned in Spec Force(the fact that he could think of it that way was amazing, but he somehow didn’t grasp onto that much). 

Shadow arched her back and stretched like a big cat, a few things popping as she did so, and then shook her head. There was a predatory look growing on her face that he’d seen before. Somehow he was starting to worry. Of course, he wasn’t given much chance to. Thankfully, he’d at least seen her fighting some, so he had a slight idea of what she was about to do.

Which was actually very simple. In every definition of the word, she pounced at him. What he hadn’t expected was to see claws. Akan stepped to the side and ducked a swipe at his face. Surely she wouldn’t actually hit him with claws like that...Again, she gave him no time to think. Once she had a stable footing, Shadow spun around with a punch to his stomach. He caught her arm, but her other hand got his, and she tossed him over her shoulder and to the ground.

Akan hit with a loud thud and a grunt...and a pop from his spine. She was strong, too. Wonderful. Before she had a chance to bring her knee down onto his chest, Akan managed to roll out of the way. He got himself up onto his feet in time to twist to the side, out of the way of Shadow’s claws far too close to his waist. She really wasn’t playing around. Or rather, she was...but played rough. He wasn’t even getting a chance to swing at her, just dodging, ducking, and getting out of the way as best he could. Thankfully, he was calm enough to use the Force to attempt at least a little sensing of her actions. It was the only way he was avoiding a majority of those strikes. 

Then, when he ducked out of the way and started to the left, he got surprised. She must have anticipated what that, as he met with a knee to the face. Akan yelped as he was sent onto his back again. Trying to ignore the pain, he felt himself being caught up in adrenaline and the Force itself. Time seemed to slow down...Shadow was moving still, bringing a clawed hand down in a slash towards his shoulder. Not completely aware of what he was doing, he reacted.

In one swift movement, he rolled to the side and got the lightsaber off of his belt. As her claws got close, he brought the lightsaber upu and activated it mid swing. The snap-hiss of the blade sounded through the room just a second before a loud cry of pain from Shadow. Akan was still moving, getting to his feet and to a defensive stance before he actually saw what had happened. Shadow stood looking surprised, her right arm was missing the bottom third of it, which was cleanly cut on the ground. Strangely enough, she had a smile on her face. A toothy, dangerous one, but a smile none the less.

She slowly turned to him, and Akan watched as her arm literally regrew itself. In a matter of seconds, she was back to ‘normal’. Akan couldn’t help but be amazed at how...handy that talent was. But it had obviously still hurt, so it had its limits...they stood studying each other for a long time. Akan with his lightsaber still activated and glowing a bright blue-green in front of him. Shadow with a grin on her face and claws still out, she stood in a ready to pounce way. She was twitching slightly, ready to move.

Catching the still surprised look on his face, her grin grew, “I did say...anything goes.” That’s when she lunged at him again.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 15: The Past Influences the Future*

Akan was still mostly on the defensive, using the lightsaber to ward Shadow back when she got too close. It had become an interesting game of feinting and trying to figure out what exactly the other would do. It was strange, but Akan found himself...enjoying it. Shadow would not hesitate to cut him open, but at the same time, she wasn’t too afraid of his lightsaber. She could reform her arm, but it had obviously caused a great deal of pain and effort. Which was probably the reason she was being so cautious.

With a quick move, Shadow started towards his left side. Akan brought his lightsaber over in front of him to keep her back. She was, however, anticipating this, and pushed off her foot to roll around and under his blade, bringing in a claw towards his stomach. He did his best to pull back and swing the lightsaber around to ward her off, but she was simply too fast. The claws dug deep into his right side and dragged across his side as she moved around behind him. The pain shot up through him, and he gritted his teeth as Akan he followed her move, pivoting around on one foot and slashing across with the saber.

Staying low, Shadow avoided the cut and then pulled back to a safer position. Akan took a step back also, trying to use the Force to calm himself and ignore the pain. He was not a healer, and gave a glance down to the four long marks that dug through the brown jacket he wore. There was red blood seeping out, and he decided it was best to not look to that anymore. When he looked back, Shadow was licking her claws clean, and seemingly enjoying it far too much. Steadying himself, Akan watched as she finished and then watched him with an even more dangerous eye, “Tastes good...”

Oh. Great. If she wasn’t worrying enough before, this just topped it. Not giving him a chance to respond, however, she dove at him again. She moved towards his right side again, and he managed to get the lightsaber up and in front of him in time, which caused Shadow to pull back. He wasn’t going to win this one...but why wasn’t he stopping? This worried him, as he rarely took such risks. But something about Shadow...and the air in general. It was intoxicating really. He may get hurt worse, but in the end he’d be fine...and this was well worth it.

As Akan was bringing his lightsaber back into a more neutral defensive position, Shadow came at him quickly. Surprised by this, he tried spinning the blade around to force her back again. This didn’t work, as she had moved in a way to get his wrists. Shadow pulled his arms up, then kicked him in the stomach. He grunted painfully and his grip loosened on the lightsaber. She twisted his wrists around and pulled his arms to the side, sending the lightsaber off to the ground a good distance away. Once it hit, it deactivated. Of course, Akan only knew this from the sound, as his attention was on Shadow. He managed to kick her in the side, but it did little good as she quickly returned it with a knee to his injured side.

Akan let out a painful yelp but managed to stay up. Too quickly for him to react, Shadow pulled his arms around and flung him face first into the wall. The thud was loud and probably not indicative as to how painful it actually was to hit the solid durasteel. But she only had one hand on his wrists now. Ignoring the pain as best he could(and it was getting much more difficult), Akan twisted one arm free and sent a fist into Shadow’s face. Though he didn’t hit too hard, it sent her back enough to give him a chance. With the small second that was granted to him, he dove across the room towards the lightsaber. He rolled over to it, picking it up and getting to his feet. There were a few red marks on the floor now from where his still bloodied side had hit.

He took no notice of this, and ignited the lightsaber again. Akan’s looked beat up, defeated, and generally terrible, but he held the lightsaber in an effort that made it look like he was fighting for his life. Maybe he was...something deep within him was growing. As he stood there, he could see things he’d only slowly started to allow back into his memory. A situation long ago, much like this one...Coruscant, during the invasion. He and Mare had gotten to the ground, and were moving in to take out one of the control towers that relayed orders to the planetary and orbital batteries. They barely succeeded, but he’d failed at what he felt was his real job. She was killed in the escape after they’d made it into their X-Wings. Akan hadn’t thought to check to make sure the rest of the personnel of the station were gone. She’d died that day because of his oversight.

Once long ago, he’d convinced himself that those actions had earned him death. That was the day Raan Maxwell disappeared, and Akan Tavos came into being. But that wasn’t right...he was still who he’d always been, and made the same mistakes. Shadow could see something in him now, something she’d not seen before. His eyes looked more blank, and his focus had obviously faded. Or rather, changed. Something was more determined and dangerous than before.

A smile crept onto his face, and he spoke in a low voice, “You’re easing up. C’mon...” he motioned towards him with his lightsaber, “Finish this.”

It was the way he said it. If Shadow had known him for longer, the older instincts within her would not have been so quick to take over. She wouldn’t have grinned. But instead, she just allowed herself to react. When he finished his words, Shadow was already moving. Akan brought his lightsaber in a dangerous swing towards her, but she literally jumped over him completely. Once landing behind him, she growled and kicked him to the ground. A moment later, she’d pounced on him, claws digging into Akan’s upper back. He let out a cry of pain, but was pinned and couldn’t move. Then, without thinking at all, Shadow wrapped her claws around his neck and dug them in. Akan’s body shook violently for a moment, and then went still. Blood flowed out across the floor. He no longer moved.

Suddenly, Shadow’s mind caught up with her actions. At first she panicked. He was dead. She’d killed before...many many times. Killing wasn’t any problem. But he’d...he wasn’t...why had he asked her to kill him? Why had she listened?! That human was so...stupid. Yet...yet she couldn’t just leave it at this. Her mind hadn’t even thought of what others would say about Akan being dead like this. Instead, she worried more about herself. A past of cold killing was behind her, and it was no time to return to that. It would never be that time. But he was dead...

Something in her sparked. There was something she could do...but it was dangerous for both and would have to be one immediately. It could already be too late. But...she had to try. Shadow’s mind realized the consequences of what this meant if she went through with it. No longer a single life. Two lives. But this was her fault for not controlling herself. She had to fix it. And she would. Shadow then closed her eyes, and concentrated. Hopefully it would work...


----------



## freedoms_edge

Niiiiiiiiiice Cliffhanger! THE best star wars story hour i've read so far, keep up the excellent work!


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Thanks! Only problem with cliffhangers is that I update every day...so it doesn't last too long. But great to know people are reading and liking this!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 16: Just When You Thought It Couldn't Get Any Stranger...*

Ow. Ow said it all for Akan. Ow pretty much described the extent of his existence for the last...the last long time. How long? Wait...the last moment he remembered was Shadow’s claws digging into his neck, then nothing. Then...this. But ow. Why ow? Why anything? That was...death wasn’t it? One shouldn’t feel anything after that. Or...should they? Honestly, how would you know? Sure, there were stories of Force spirits, but Akan doubted they existed in a state of ‘ow’. So again, the question of why ‘ow’ returned to his...mind? Thoughts. Yes, thoughts.

[You’re going to have to move or we’ll be stuck like this...] a voice said. It was in his mind....he’d heard a voice similar to that before, only not in his mind. Thoughts. Whatever. [Its your mind, you are alive you know.] the voice interrupted his thoughts again. So he was alive again, and now completely crazy. Hearing voices. Wonderful. But...Akan could feel other voices. Distant and strange, like thoughts that weren’t his own. He latched onto one for a moment and got an image.

The training room. Blood was still on the floor and wall in places, but the focus was on...a body, face first on the floor.. Off to the side of the body was a pile of clothes. His clothes. Wait...that body...it looked like Shadow’s yet...male looking. And the hair. And...and...the arm moved. Akan could have sworn he did that. Then the image faded and he was left in the nothing of wondering what the Sith was going on.

[I’ll explain after we’re completely separated] the voice said again. That voice. He pinned it. Shadow’s. But why in his mind? Too many why’s. [Our tails are still connected...I can’t do that part on my own.]

Huh...? He felt something in his mind....Shadow. She was searching something out. She found it, and he felt a strange energy growing from where there had been nothing. He could...feel his body again. But it was different. Stronger. Bigger, too. And something...his thoughts trailed down, and he found a series of muscles and bones that had never been there before. That...shouldn’t be there. He moved them.

[Hey! Stop playing with the our tails and move forward!] Akan hadn’t realized he’d been moving that muscle for a few...minutes. It was strangely entertaining. That was awkward. He seemed like he was getting distracted much more easily. Wait. Focus. Task at hand. Tail. Right. But why ‘our tails’? Wait...stuck. He let his min travel farther down, and it all got even more fuzzy. Stuck! Tails were...fused? Connected? Stuck! Why? Not another why...FOCUS! Move. Alright. Forward.

He did. Carefully and with eyes still closed. One arm moved up, and dragged him across the floor while the other did the same. As he did this, he could hear...feel, just generally know that Shadow was doing the same thing in the other direction. Then, it was gone. Well, not completely, but the part of him that somehow understood what was going on figured that the ‘stuck’ problem was solved. He stopped moving. Feeling was ‘returning’ in a way to his entire body, and he was noticing many differences that he’d last checked. Mostly, this was along the lines of muscles that were never there before. 

He heard movement and shifted his ear towards it. What? Shifted his ear? How did he...? Hmm...there was another new muscle. And the ears were...different. He could hear better, and was surprised at how much louder the ship was. He twisted the ear the other direction to see if it worked. It did. Another sound behind him, and Akan quickly moved his ear to listen. Shadow. How did he know? He could feel her thoughts, and knew she was moving.

[You’ll get used to the link...can you say anything?] Akan heard Shadow ask him as she stopped moving. Say anything...?

[How’m I s’posed to talk? Everythings all...all...] suddenly Akan realized that was his ‘voice’. He’d just thought about it...at her. In a way. Not in any way that much different from the Force, but...he could tell he wasn’t using that for this communication. He just thought at her.

Akan then felt a hand on his shoulder, then heard Shadow’s actual voice, “It’ll probably be very...um...confusing for a while. Can you open your eyes at all or speak?”

Akan did manage to turn his head so his nose wasn’t crushed on the floor. Or at least, he was pretty sure that was what he’d done. But eyes opening was somehow very hard to do. As was working the mouth at all. [What...happened?]

“Well,” Shadow’s hand left his shoulder, and Akan could feel her thoughts race through how to explain things. She tried sending images, but it did nothing but confuse him more. Realizing this, she sighed and tried explaining it as best she could in words, “You um...I...got a little a carried away. You kind of...well...”

[You killed me?!] Akan’s mind had caught on to that much, and though it had made sense considering, it was still shocking and insane in more than one way.

“No! Yes...well...” her voice became accusing, “You told me to! Argh...look, that’s not the point. Just listen because this is um...important. Before you were completely...gone, I sort of made you a new...well...you.”

Again, this was confirming what he was slowly figuring out on his own(with the help of her thoughts), but hearing it was just more to add on to the current feeling of chaos. [How in the Force did you do that?!]

“Not in the Force...” Shadow trailed off, obviously not catching the expression and taking it literally, “Listen it’s a technique of my...our species.”

[Our species?!] alright, now it was going to far.

He felt a strange emotion from Shadow then. Almost like she was hiding behind a wall and talking quietly around it with large amounts of things in the way to deflect any attacks that were sure to come, “Um...yes? We’re the um...same now. I didn’t...I mean, it was the only way! And...and I didn’t mean for things to get so crazy and I...it was the only way...”

There was a silence. Obviously, she expected him to murder her at this point. Then, he broke the silence. He had spent the time doing a mix of thinking and figuring out how to get his mouth to work. Akan managed it, and his voice even sounded different. This was because he was talking through sharper, slightly longer teeth, “...its okay...”

That got a surprised reaction out of her. Akan could feel Shadow’s mind racing trying to figure out what to do. She’d expected a much harsher reaction. Carefully, she said, “Um...you need to know. We’re essentially the uh...same person now.”

[Its why we can...talk like this] she continued in his mind, which surprised him but at the same time was somehow normal already. [The big thing is that um...well, we’ll live as long as each other, really.] Shadow suddenly noticed that made little sense, and tried again. [What I mean is that...well, when one of us dies the other will too...so we’re kind of stuck in that. But it was the only way...]

Taking this all in, Akan finally managed to get an eye open. He was, in fact, face first on the floor. Shadow was sitting crossed legged on a brown pile of what were most likely his clothes. She was wearing her usual skin-tight suit, but it was smaller than usual. No longer did it cover her entire body(minus feet, hands, and head), but started just above her knees and ended a little below her neck with short ‘sleeves’ on her arms. It also looked...different in a way. Less colour to it.

“My morphsuit was...strained,” she trailed off and he watched her reach over to him. She put her hand on his back, but it felt different, “It split itself, so you have one too. Its sometimes hard to tell you’re wearing it...but it won’t hurt you. Both of them will grow back in time, but they’ll be...small for a while,” she caught onto another thought of his, “Yes, they’re alive. Not intelligent, but alive. Now, its really designed to give you something to wear when you morph....but you should wear it all the time because of the cold.”

Morph? Wait...she meant. But he didn’t know how. Maybe it was simple? No...not right now. Focus. Some things still confused him. [Can you...help me up?]

Shadow nodded and as Akan strained muscles that had never been used before(which was odd in its own right), she helped to pull him to his feet. He nearly fell onto her, but Shadow held him up as he got used to the balance difference.

“Tail for balance...” she said quietly, still sounding slightly worried like she expected him to kill her at any moment.

He managed a nod, but wasn’t sure how to use said tail for said balance. So he just let things happened. In a few minutes, he’d worked it out, and was able to stand up, mostly, straight. There was a large mirror on the far side of the training room, which was a remnant of the old quarters that had never been removed. Shadow caught onto his thoughts, and helped him to walk over to it.

When he got to it, his mind finished computing everything and put the last pieces together. There stood Shadow, looking the same as usual. Not too tall, shoulder length white hair with a black stripe down the center, two feline ears and purple eyes with feline pupils, long tail, and her smaller morphsuit. But next to her, was what Akan knew to be himself but still wasn’t sure of. 

He was about the same height as before, but it was obvious he had newer muscles in most places. Of course, the skin tight morphsuit probably helped that some, but it would have been noticeable either way. His hair was about the same length as before, scruffy as usual, but...white like Shadow’s. Except no black stripe. Well, there was a stripe but it was a metallic blue colour. He decided not to ask where that came from. He realized the reason his hair looked so much scruffier was the fact that he no longer had human ears to keep it back more. His ears were now up higher on his head, and feline like Shadow’s. His eyes, too had the same slit...but they were the same blue colour as before. More of an ice blue than the colour of his stripe. His skin was darker, like hers was. In fact, exactly the same colour...almost no surprise. He opened his mouth to confirm that his teeth were in fact much sharper, then looked down. Flicked that muscle that had never been there...a tail flicked, with the same white/blue markings as his hair. Okay...um...

[Now what...?] he asked, not sure if his voice would have managed the confusion that was finally settling.

Shadow looked at him in the mirror, then up at him. She had an arm holding him up still, and it was strange how she was so much...different than before. She managed a shrug, then a grin appeared on her face. Not the dangerous grin from before, but a more friendly one. It almost looked out of place, “Your guess is as good as mine...but um, probably should tell Ansion. And well..welcome back as an Alraxian.”

Alraxian. So now he knew the species name. From Raan the young pilot...to Akan the mercenary Jedi...to...an Alraxian. No knew name. He’d died enough. Reborn was an understatement. A grin started growing on his face. Never had he ever needed to ask for an interesting life. Now, he got to live a second interesting one.


----------



## ledded

Wow.  Now *that* was some good stuff.  I'm off to find my socks, where the last few updates just rocked them off into the other room.

Very, very nice.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 17: We Never Get a Break*

After taking forever to get back to his quarters(with Shadow’s help still), Akan had sat down and tried not to think too much. Shadow had gone off to...explain things as best she could. Hopefully it would be better than what she’d explained to him. For a long time, he simply stared at the wall, letting his mind slowly go over everything and get used to...things. He found that while he was stronger, faster, and generally better at most things...simple things distracted him. Especially moving objects. Fast moving ones. He had found the strength to not pounce and maul anything that did that, but it was still slightly disturbing.

Akan brought his hand up to look at it for a long time. Exactly the same as before...a little bigger, but human like. Not padded or anything else like that. But there was something...he thought about it, and in a moment claws extended. That was strange...they didn’t come OUT of the hand so much as...the hand became the claws. He thought about it a moment, and when the claws faded back to his hand, he’d figured it out. Morphing. Simple, yes...but that’s the only thing that could explain it. 

Next, he found himself looking up at the hair in front of his face. White. Well, no...the hair that was over his the side of his face was the blue colour, though he could see a hint of the white in the corner of his eyes. Akan turned to look over his shoulder, down at the tail. He moved it, and found himself a bit too fascinated by that movement. Somehow, he had a feeling that pouncing and mauling one’s own tail was not a good idea. 

His attention then turned to the morphsuit he wore. It was a blueish colour. Strange how blues kept coming up. There was probably a reason for that, as Akan had decided that coincidences did not exist at this point. The suit clung to him comfortably, but he still felt somewhat cold. An odd cold, as he’d never felt the ship to be that cold before. The temperature in his room had been turned up significantly, and that had helped. He sighed, and looked to his brown jacket and trousers sitting next to him on the bed. They would probably still fit, but the matter of tail and trousers was paramount in his mind. He attempted this anyway, finding that the jacket itself was no trouble, and still quiet comfortable(if not a little tight across the chest). The trousers, however, took some work, but he managed to find a comfortable place for them. Stupid tail. 

A knock at the door made him jump. And when he did that, it nearly sent him into the ceiling head first. Calm. Calm...okay. Just the door. Just the door, “Um...come in?”

The door slid open and Jen Zaarin stood there. She looked somewhat surprised, but obviously she’d been told what had happened. She ran a hand through her hair nervously and managed a smile, “I’m not here to uh...stare or anything. Shadow said what happened, but Ansion. He wanted you to know what was going on.”

“Oh! Oh, right,” Akan nodded and stepped over to the small desk and had a seat. He motioned for her to come in. Jen did so, and had a seat on the bed. 

There was an awkward silence, then she spoke up, “We’re not going to Coruscant...Ansion spoke with the New Republic and he got some information.  He seemed very adamant to find the Imperials who attacked us, and with the Republic’s help, they’ve tracked them down to an old Imperial outpost on Naboo. The planet’s still mostly under Imperial control...an Ansion’s got us heading that direction.”

Naboo. Mare’s home. He’d never been there before. Interesting how some things turned out. Akan did his best to keep his focus on what she had said, though, “We lost a good amount of friends on Endor. He doesn’t like losing people.”

Jen nodded, her eyes more on the floor than anything. That was really all she had to tell him. The silence was annoying, and she broke it with a fairly stupid question, “How do you...feel?”

“I’m alright...I guess...” he trailed off, almost grinning. How was he supposed to feel? Akan looked over to Jen, “Don’t really know what I’m supposed to do. I mean...I’m still me. Mostly.”

Again, she nodded, obviously not sure what to say. She’d not known him for long, but to have him now being all...different suddenly was enough to confuse anyone. Without really saying anything, Jen started to get up and leave.

Upon noticing this, Akan blurted out a question that had just popped into his head, “You’re staying with us?”

That stopped her. It was an innocent question, really, but it was more in the way he’d said it. She was smart enough to know that it came from the fact that she knew about his past. From what Ansion had said, Akan never talked about it. The fact that he talked about it with her was another thing. She had to choose her words carefully, but she did nod, “My job with the New Republic is pretty much over with. They didn’t say that I was needed anywhere else...so I guess I’m staying for a while.”

Without giving him a chance to say anything else, she left. Akan looked to the desk and sighed. Everything was all strange. Why had he said that? Sure, she was nice and good at listening, but even he had recognized the way he’d spoken. She’d obviously taken it as him being interested in her. But no...that wasn’t it. It was more like a child asking a parent not to leave. But he’d not even meant to...why? Everything was so...

[Technically, we’re children...] Shadow’s ‘voice’ interrupted his thoughts.

AH! She’d been listening? Well, okay, he’d listened in when she was talking with Ansion and such. Her thoughts were interesting, but he hadn’t expected she was paying so much attention to his to pick up things like that. [Children...?]

Her ‘voice’ sounded strangely sheepish. [Um...yeah. One of those things I forgot to tell you...]

[One of?!] he stood up to go find her. [Where are you anyway?]

[On the way to you, actually...need to clear up some things before we arrive.]

She did...feel closer. He could figure that from a mix of the Force and their, for lack of a better word, Link. Its what she’d called it, and worked well enough. Akan wondered how long it would be before they arrived. Naboo was a good distance from Endor. Probably a day...though depending on when they’d changed routes, it could be a matter of hours. There would likely be a meeting before arrival to go over what was going to happen, so Akan let worries about that slip out of his mind. There were enough worries at this point. He closed his eyes and let the Force assist in calming himself as he waited for Shadow.


----------



## DethStryke

Well I am officially hooked. The story alone reads wonderfully.

Is this still all considered "background" or have you broken into things that happened in actual role play?

If it is the latter, I would have loved to see the Shadow & Raan's players RPing the "I have a tail!/stop playing with our tail!" interaction!

I was laughing out loud at work with that part! I'm also getting ramped up to run my own D20 SW games. The feel of this storyline so far mirrors what I have in mind pretty closely. Kind of a Cyberpunk 2020/ShadowRun version of SW.

Btw, watch out for your posting style of every day. I'm sure alot of people, including myself, are loving the great story and bountiful updates, but you may put more than a few people through horrible withdrawal if you miss a few days!!!


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

DethStryke said:
			
		

> Is this still all considered "background" or have you broken into things that happened in actual role play?




The actual game started with the Endor raid, however a few things have been changed to fit a better story telling. Its really hard for even me to tell anymore, as after we worked together to put it into a more story format anyway. It wasn't very coherent though, so that's my excuse for writing it now(and the fact that there were some REALLY crazy things in the original game that just needed to be changed for the story)



> If it is the latter, I would have loved to see the Shadow & Raan's players RPing the "I have a tail!/stop playing with our tail!" interaction!




That was a mix of RPing and working it together. We had an interesting style of running things, where I would trade of GMing with one other. We both knew the general direction of things, but would trade off every few sessions and run a part of things to get it moving. During the whole tail thing, that was me as the PC for Raan/Akan/Whatever(Yes, he does end up having one more name, but its that FINAL one...still a while until that one, though).

And while I love that, my favorite is what became a running "You KILLED me!" comment every so often.



> Btw, watch out for your posting style of every day. I'm sure alot of people, including myself, are loving the great story and bountiful updates, but you may put more than a few people through horrible withdrawal if you miss a few days!!!




Don't worry, I won't miss too much, and if I do, I'll warn ahead of time.  I've got a good amount of time on my hands, so I usually end up just writing one part at a time, then post it. Probably should start on tommorrows(wait, its 12AM...), err, today's soon.

And a little note: We HAVE encountered the 4th PC mentioned in the first post already. Voort will officially join up later and add to the insanity.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 18: The Mind is a Fragile Thing*

For once, Akan was early to the meeting. Despite his long talk with Shadow, and how much it truly caught his interest, he just wanted to relax some and pretend things were mostly normal. No one else was there yet, so he had a little time to mentally go over everything. Of all the things she’d told him, one stuck in his mind the most. All of his life, he’d lived on names that he’d created for himself. Since he’d never known his parents, Akan simply decided on a name that fit him. Raan Maxwell fit well for a long time, but then he changed. He changed so much that the name no longer was him. So he became Akan Tavos. But now...

Shadow was not her actual name. It was a call sign she’d picked up ‘cycles ago’ as she’d put it. Her real name was Marix BlueIce. She had not gone by that name for as long as she could remember(in fact, she’d spoken of it as if it were more of a dream). Because of this, she had literally ordered him to still use the name ‘Shadow’, as that was who she was. But now...

Now, Akan was her ‘Nothlit’. The word meant nothing to him, but it was the term she used to refer to the body she had created, and him on occasion. And as her Nothlit, he was in all respects her equal. This meant that he was now apart of the same Clan. BlueIce. Interesting that it was another ‘blue’...three at least, four counting the morphsuit. Akan BlueIce. One day he’d find a stable name. Obviously, today had not been that day. In fact, it wasn’t the day for a stable anything.

He couldn’t help but grin at that. Shadow had explained morphing to him, but he’d not grasped it well. The idea of forcing his cells to become something they weren’t felt painful just thinking about it. According to her, it was painful without proper training. Apparently, she planned to train him. Wonderful. He’d not had a say in this, either. But he’d not fought this decision, as a small part of him was strongly interested by it. This, of course, was the same part of his mind that had to be told not to pounce Shadow’s tail when it swished, so it wasn’t to be trusted.

The most interesting thing she had spoke of was the Force, itself. She’d almost been preaching to him more than suggesting the ideas she had. According to Shadow, her people saw no definite distinction between the ‘Dark Side’ and the ‘Light Side’ of the Force. To them, it was simply the Force. Magick. You could not have one without the other, so one must learn to balance both within themselves. She told him that she would be watching him carefully, as he was close to offsetting this balance with too much Light. She wouldn’t have cared if not for their new connection. It could effect each of them. Which brought her into a delicate discussion about pain. The Link they shared was a great advantage, but held the weakness that pain was transferred across it. Not as bad as the pain that was felt directly, but an echo of sorts. She’d demonstrated this be digging her claws into her own arm. Akan had cringed, feeling a strange shadow-pain in his own arm.

It was something to keep in mind, of course. One of many things. The foremost being ‘Don’t die, because then we’ll both die’. This was quickly answered with ‘Well, don’t kill me again!’. It then had devolved into the tossing of insults, but never going so far as violence. They were only...half serious. Being able to know the other’s thoughts so clearly made it much easier to see the truth about the other. Some of the things were strange, but all they really picked up without trying was to surface thoughts. Anything else would have to be worked on...and Akan was in no way going to do that...yet. Shadow, however, had taken great interest in his mind. It was odd because Akan could feel her ‘looking’ through things. 

And then, the others entered the meeting room. No Shadow this time, just the normal five of them. Ansion and the four Division leaders. Of course, all of them gave Akan a long look, but said nothing about what had happened. In a few moments, after some general small talk amongst them, Ansion quieted them down and motioned to the holoscreen. On it, was an image of the green planet, Naboo. One section was marked with a red square, as were two sections in space.

Ansion pointed to the two marked off sections in space, “According to the latest reports from the New Republic have two fleet groups placed in orbit around Naboo. The only planets that have this kind of security are Kuat, Bastion, and the other major planets. This indicates that there is something serious occurring on the planet. The section there on the planet itself is the Imperial garrison. It has grown considerably in the last year, and has more than just the New Republic worried. Now, you all know how much I hate losing good people...but we may lose a lot in this.”

The female Duros, Elona,  looked to Ansion with a critical eye, “In what? You are doing your best to avoid telling us exactly what is going on.”

Sighing and nodding, Ansion closed his large eyes a moment, “We’re going to work with the New Republic in assaulting the planet. We will arrive about ten minutes after the Republic’s fleet has. They will engage the first fleet and attempt to also attract the attention of the second. We will exit hyperspace and move directly to the planet. Once the assault transports have launched, the Claw will leave. There is simply no way for this ship to survive out there. This means that once we’re done, we’ll be getting out with the Republic. Our destination is the garrison, of course. However, I will again be taking Division Three and leading them in an assault on a nearby city as a diversion. Division Two will also provide a diversionary assault, and their efforts will be aided by a Republic ground team that should already be down by the time we get there.”

The map zoomed in to a large complex, the Imperial garrison. Ansion allowed them all a moment to look it over, and then said, “Division One will land on the north side and begin their assault there. Four will take the east. The south will be taken by another group of Republic soldiers. And the west...Akan, Shadow, and Zaarin are going that way.”

“Wait wait wait,” Akan raised his hand, “Jen? She’s no good in a fight.”

“Yes, but our goal is to find out what is going on there,” Ansion said simply, “And once that is known, decide whether it needs to be taken out or not. Zaarin can assist with computer codes, and determining what is happening. You and Shadow should think of yourselves as he bodyguards.”

Ahh, fun. Not that he considered it babysitting...but, well, it was as close as he’d been to that in a long time. [You’re not the only one.] AH! Shadow was listening in...he’d have to get used to that. And probably mention something to Akan. [Awww, its not like I won’t find out anyway.]

Akan sighed a little too loudly, and got some looks. [Do you mind?]

[Yes] Shadow responded simply. Of course, Ansion had gone on talking again, and was explaining that there were many troopers stationed at the garrison. It went on with generally pointless details(to Akan at least), and they left to get ready.

No break. No rest. Off they went again. But this time, Akan understood Shadow much better. Perhaps that would help them out. But taking Jen along...he didn’t like the idea of having to worry about one life, but he was stuck with two lives now. Jen just added a third. Akan stretched some, finding that he was doing the same cat-like stretch that he’d found amusing from Shadow. Damn! How was he supposed to focus like this? How was he even supposed to fight? Hearing Shadow’s thoughts was distracting even when he wasn’t trying. But having her digging through his just made it even worse. Did she plan to do that the whole time?!

[Yes] came the same response as before. He got the feeling that she was just fascinated by humans, and had never had a chance to really learn so much about them. Damn! Why did it have to be Akan?!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 19: Not-So-Rough Landings*

Chaos didn’t exactly describe the scene around Naboo well enough. At least the Y-Wing and the three of them aboard were fine. Akan was piloting as before, Jen in the gunner’s seat, and Shadow(in her kitten like form again) purring quietly at getting an ear scratch in Jen’s lap. Filling the viewport in front of him was the planet Naboo. But that wasn’t the source of the chaos. The source was far to the left side of the planet, where three very large fleets were engaged. The New Republic had sent a considerable force against the planet, catching the Imperials off guard. This meant that both of the defense fleets responded immediately, as did the fighters on the ground. To add to the chaos, word had gotten out on the planet, and riots were breaking out.

The people of Naboo were never friends to the Empire, but such a strong hold had been taken on the planet that the people had simply lived with it. There was nothing they could do. Of course, now they could. Many New Republic ships had come down near major cities, taking out Imperial garrisons and forces. Akan had thought this was more of a hit and fade move at first, but now he realized it was a full blown planetary assault. Which meant he’d have to get his job done quickly. The Empire would do its best to get anything important off the planet, even if they succeeded in driving off the Republic. Ahead of him, the four assault transports from the Claw were diving in to their respective points on the planet. The Claw was already retreating out of the planet’s gravity well and preparing for hyperspace.

So far, so good. Which meant it was going to get very bad soon. As the ship dove through Naboo’s atmosphere, Akan’s sensors locked onto the garrison they were to get into. Strangely enough, it was easy to see. This was because of the green lights that were shooting up into the sky from it. Turbolaser batteries. That was overkill. Thankfully, they weren’t good at hitting starfighters(even slow Y-Wings). The assault transports were what had to worry.

“Going to have to make a run and take some of the ground forces out before landing,” Akan said in a strangely calm voice over his shoulder. This was strange because the entire flight he’d been fidgeting, whimpering, and whining about the seats not being designed for tails.

He soon spotted their side of the station(which was almost as big as a city, itself), and noted it was only occupied by two blazing turbolasers. The Republic forces already on the ground on the other sides were keeping most of the troops occupied. Good. Or bad, since that was yet another thing to go wrong. Before leaving, Akan had switched the systems so that he had weapons control locked forward. This meant that the ion cannon could no longer fire as a turret, but at least he didn’t have to worry about Jen or Shadow breaking anything.

[HEY! I can shoot things!] Shadow responded to his thoughts.

He simply sent her a mental growl and let the targeting reticle on his HUD slowly come to bear on one of the turbolasers. The second it locked on, the turbolaser spun around to start firing at him. They hadn’t detected such a small fighter coming in(as his was the only fighter to come into the atmosphere and they had been looking for assault ships). As the turbolaser fired shots over and around the Y-Wing, Akan shot off a single proton torpedo. The ship shook slightly from the force of the blue streak now leaving it, a testament to the age of the Y-Wing.

In a few more seconds, the torpedo impacted with the large battery, destroying it in a bright flash. Alright, so that was probably overkill. Akan couldn’t help but grin a little as he started to level out the ship. The other battery had taken notice of him, and was bearing its two turrets on the Y-Wing as he switched to the lasers. Dropping to an almost dangerously low altitude(which just happened to be below the firing arc of the battery), Akan held in the trigger. Bright red blasts shot out at the battery, impacting it one after another until it shattered in a flash. Quickly, Akan pulled the Y-Wing up and out of the way, starting in a long loop to get them into a position to land.

Through all of this, he’d not noticed the fact that Jen was clinging to the seat. She wasn’t a fighter...and being in a starfighter and being shot at pulling the stunts he had was more than enough to make anyone nervous. The fact that she could only see the aftermath(and the turbolaser shots flying PAST them) made it worse. Shadow on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying the excitement, though Akan could feel that she’d rather be out there having ‘fun’ instead of sitting around. But then again...ear scratch. That single action had pretty much made her useless to the world.

In a few more moments, the Y-Wing was down. As the canopy opened and Akan got out, he heard a whimpering noise from Shadow. He glanced back to see Jen had gotten up and was also climbing out. This, according to Shadow’s thoughts, was bad because ear scratch had stopped. Then something changed, and he looked to see the ‘usual’ Shadow also climbing out looking like nothing had happened. Akan was on the grass covered ground first, and helped Jen down. He was going to help Shadow, but she had hopped down gracefully and was looking to the complex in front of them with interest. It wasn’t all that different from the one on Endor, except that it was much more obviously Imperial. The flags, markings, and general no-fun straight lines everywhere did that. There was a single entrance, a small single door almost hidden in between two of the buildings and a wall.

Shadow and Akan exchanged looks, and without a word(they didn’t need them anymore, anyway) started towards it. Jen had drawn her small blaster pistol and followed them. The quiet was unnerving her some. She found it odd that Akan was so quiet. Maybe that was because of all the changes recently. He did have a lot to think about. But now wasn’t the time for this. She had a job to do...even if it wasn’t her place on the battlefield.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 20: One Day You Won't Be So Lucky*

The garrison was proving to be very much true to its namesake. It seemed like no matter where they went, there would be at least a small group of Imperials. This would normally have annoyed Akan...but something was different. He felt...felt...playful wasn’t the right word, but it was probably the closest thing there was to it. Currently, they stood within a small room, where Jen was searching through the files on the computer. He and Shadow simply stood around waiting, but Akan caught a hint of a grin on her face.

“What?” he asked, sounding worried because he could tell he was the cause of that grin.

Her grin grew suddenly, and she fought back a laugh, “You! Its funny watching you trying to fight back being so constantly happy.”

Akan realized that he had been fighting back a smile on his face, but he still wasn’t sure why, “Is this another thing you ‘forgot’ to tell me about?”

Shadow laughed this time, “Awww, you just like being depressed all the time. Poor little jai...”

He glared at her. Of course, a very small part of him felt he should pounce and maul her, but Akan had the self control to know that this was not the time. He’d get her for that later.

[Hah! No you won’t!] she ‘said’, easily catching onto his thoughts.

Akan didn’t get a chance to respond. Jen let out a sigh and turned from the computer, “There’s not much here. Nothing at all to indicate any kind of research of secret project. Only thing that they seem to be keeping protected is an officer.”

“Well, that’s something to look into,” Akan said with a raised eyebrow, “Can you find out anymore than that?”

Jen took a moment to search through files, then nodded and said over her shoulder, “Being held in a lower level of the garrison. Apparently, its off limits to all but a select few in the base.”

That even got Shadow’s attention. Breaking into things that she was supposed to be in seemed to peak her interest. Or at least, that was what Akan figured from the thoughts he was getting. Akan couldn’t help the grin, feeling strangely good about all of this, “I guess three more can be added to that list. Where to?”

Jen looked over the computer more, than turned it off and pointed to a door on the other side, “First left, then room on the right. Should be a turbolift beyond that.”

Shadow was already moving to the door. Akan was going to mention that she should be careful, but then he realized he didn’t have to say it. She knew he was thinking it, so she knew it. That train of thought caused him a slight headache. There was such a thing as being too young for insanity. Akan believed he currently fell into the category, but the galaxy decided otherwise...as usual.

When Shadow opened the door, they found themselves looking down a long hallway with a strangely large amount of white. The white was not the walls, but at least ten stormtroopers aiming rifles at the door. Behind them, was the olive green of an Imperial Officer’s uniform. From that distance, they heard a haughty and far-too-proud-of-himself voice, “Move and die.”

[You think they’ll shoot us for breathing?] Shadow asked, mentally grinning in Akan’s direction. She really was enjoying the ability to share her wit with the universe...or rather, with Akan. He just ignored her and looked ahead to the troopers. He had an idea. It was basic, stupid, and if it worked would cause many good stories to tell over some Corellian Ale. Oh, why not?

Akan dove to the door. No, he dove to the side of the door. At that moment, the stormtroopers opened fire, blaster shots from the rifles streaking in towards the open door. Suddenly, though, the door was no long open. Sounds of the bolts hitting the now-closed door rang out. Akan looked to the other two, grinning with his hand on the door switch. Both of them were giving him a look that showed they, too, were ready to fall to the floor laughing. He took this time to shrug, “I don’t think they’ll just stand there and shoot at the door. And I don’t think that trick will work again. Um...probably should get some cover and wait for them.”

Jen nodded and moved around behind one of the large desks on the opposite side of the room from the door. She had her small blaster pistol drawn and rested it over the desk, waiting. Akan knew that his lightsaber would most likely cause more annoyance in such a tight situation, so he moved back next to Jen and got out his own blaster. While Shadow did have a blaster pistol, she had decided long ago that it wasn’t as useful a weapon as she was. So, she stood on the left wall next to the door. Her vibroblade was drawn and ready, and on her free hand her claws were extended.

They all listened(though Shadow and Akan had better ears and could therefore hear it much more clearly) as the troopers came up to the door and prepared themselves. There was the usual long pause where both sides were obviously trying to either outwit the others or just weren’t sure if they were doing the right thing. Then, the door slid open. Akan and Jen didn’t even wait to see if anyone was in front, and both pulled the triggers on their blasters, letting out a volley of red shots. At the same time, the stormtroopers had obviously had the same plan. Shots streaked inwards, impacting against the wall behind them, the floor, and the computers. Some got close, but both sides were just shooting blind because of the wall of red that had developed from all the shooting. Then they saw a small concussion grenade roll into the room. That was not good.

Somehow, between the volleys of blaster fire, Shadow managed to roll through, pick up the grenade, and toss it back before getting to more cover. The only drawback to this was singed tail-fur. And while this was a horrible fate, indeed, it could have been much much worse. There was a short pause in the blaster fire as the stormtroopers scattered from the grenade. Akan caught sight of three of them being taken down from shots that he and Jen were still sending, then there was a flash and a loud explosion. His ears flattened against his head and he couldn’t help but whimper slightly at the noise. No shots were came back at them. Carefully, Akan got up and looked through the clearing smoke. Well, that was quick work.

A single blaster shot suddenly rang through the corridor. Akan started to move, but was moving too late. It caught him hard in the chest, sending him to the floor on his back. Jen quickly responded with a few shots from her small pistol, and she watched the Officer who had fired on Akan drop after taking at least one shot to the face. She then looked and saw Akan on the ground groaning painfully. Strangely, she noticed Shadow was cringing too.

Before Jen could ask why, Shadow quickly moved over to Akan and said tiredly, “New lesson for you. Think about the wound closing...think about it. Let it happen. Your body should know what to do.”

Akan whimpered and found the pain hard to think through. However, he managed to and found the burn mark on his chest faded(well, on his skin at least, the brown jacket was still blackened). The pain faded, and Akan looked up at her with an amazed face that was shared by Jen. Shadow half grinned, “Complete morphing is hard to do without training...but simple things like that are normal. You just have to focus enough.”

“Uh-huh...” Akan mumbled, getting up as best he could, “Still burns...”

“It should fade,” Shadow said as she moved to look down the corridor that was littered with bodies and debris from the explosion. She turned back to the other two and motioned down the corridor, “We need to keep moving.”

Jen was helping Akan up, and as they started down the corridor, asked quietly, “You...um...okay?”

Akan managed a slow nod, “Yeah...well, physically. Mentally I could have sworn that what just happened couldn’t have happened.”

“I know what you mean,” Jen said with a slight grin.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 21: The Plot Thickens...again...*

“We took the wrong left,” Jen said flatly, standing with the other two in a small room that was once most likely a closet.

“How could we have taken the wrong left?!” Akan growled, having had this argument when they’d past two left corridors that were right next to each other. He and Shadow had said one way felt right, but Jen had insisted on the other. By rule of voting(and the fact that Shadow and Akan were bigger, stronger, and didn’t like being wrong or lost) they went with Akan and Shadow’s way. This, after many turns, led them to three small offices that were empty, and the closet.

“Obviously you two were wrong!” Jen said harshly, turning and starting back the way they’d come.

Akan grumbled something under his breath and stalked after her. Then he realized Shadow hadn’t followed, “Hold on...where’s Shady?”

Shady? Ah, why not. Jen seemed to take notice of the name and instead stopped and looked around. The two of them searched some, and Akan found that he could feel Shadow’s mind but she was...he couldn’t figure out where exactly she was. Then, from the back of the closet, a door slid open to a turbolift. Within it, was Shadow, a huge grin on her face an standing with her hands on her hips, “You two coming or not?”

Akan managed a ‘hah, I was right’ noise and strutted back to the turbolift. Jen didn’t care as much about being right as the other two, and simply followed, not bringing it up so as not to encourage the two of them. They were like children. Very annoying children that made you wonder why the parents had let them live more than three months. Once in the turbolift, the door closed and it started down. They didn’t seem to have much control where it went, but assumed it simply only went to one place.

The turbolift stopped, and Akan stepped in the front. Shadow stood behind him, and next to her, Jen had readied her blaster pistol. The door slid open, and they found themselves looking into a large, circular room. There was an outer section around it, with the inner section separated by pillars and a few computer consoles. It was a strangely disturbing design, and the soft red lighting didn’t help at all. Seeing no one, Akan carefully stepped into the room, moving to the side to see into around a pillar and into the center.

It was worrying. Everything felt wrong. The Force itself was oppressive. The center of the inner section of the room held a slightly raised section on the floor, and on that was a large metal sheet. It was humanoid shaped, and had obviously held someone. Torture? Maybe, but there was no other evidence. It looked more like some form of a prison complex. Very high security. Akan took another small step, and then noted that there were restraints on the metal. They were broken.

[Something is watching us...] Shadow ‘said’ in a strangely quiet voice in his mind.

Akan nodded slowly, and took one more step, nearing the center section. [Keep Jen in the turbolift if you can.]

Then a smell started to rise. A strong one. Something he knew but didn’t know...his nose was obviously more sensitive than before, and he knew what this was but couldn’t seem to put a name to it. [I smell fresh blood...] Shadow answered his thoughts. This was confirmed by a small amount of blood he could see on the floor. Fresh was right.

As Akan took another step, this time pacing him at the edge of the center of the room, he got the lightsaber off of his belt. Everything in him was telling him something was very wrong about this place. Shadow was right...something was watching. But something else was there. Something searching their minds. But Akan could see nothing. But other senses were more acute in this body...

His ear suddenly caught a sound off to the far left. Quiet, but as he heard the noise of metal being torn from something else, the Force sent a quick, almost violent warning. Akan reacted without thinking, finding himself spinning towards the sound and activating his lightsaber. The snap-hiss echoed throughout the disturbingly quiet room, and the second that he had gotten the blue-green blade into the usual defensive position in front of him, a large sheet of metal(most likely from the wall) was sliced cleanly in two and fell past him

Recovering from the shock, Akan was suddenly hit by a strong fist. It wasn’t physical. It was the Force itself. He grunted painfully as he slammed into him like a wall strapped to a landspeeder, sending him into one of the pillars hard, and then to the ground. He could hear Shadow whimper from the pain, but then he heard a noise he hadn’t expected.

Jen yelled out, “SHADOW!”

Akan felt Shadow’s movements distantly, turning to react to a threat that Jen had seen. Suddenly, a wave of pain shot through Akan from his head. He felt like passing out, but managed to stay conscious. Shadow didn’t. He heard her thud as she slammed into the floor Akan’s head was spinning as he heard Jen yell something else, then another loud thud. In blurred vision, he saw a dark cloaked figure move into the turbolift. It was holding...Shadow. He could tell because his arm ached from the way she was being dragged. Jen had been thrown out of the turbolift, and he could see her just barely, crumbled on the ground against a pillar.

Before he could do anything, the turbolift door closed. He heard it leave. Whoever it was had gone, and taken Shadow with him. Starting to get up to go after them, Akan suddenly realized he still could feel the same person watching him. The attacker wasn’t the one watching them? Or rather...he was better at hiding. On his feet again, Akan got his lightsaber up in front of him and carefully looked around the room. He could...hear breathing. It was Jen’s though. If there was someone else, he couldn’t tell beyond the feeling through the Force.

Slowly, his brain came to the conclusion that there was only one way to do this. It was stupid and simple. For some reason, he grinned and then just said, “I know someone’s there...come out.”

He heard movement from the right side. Quickly, Akan turned and faced that direction to show he could tell where the other was. Then, from a section in the wall, he saw a humanoid figure step out. The figure was a little taller than he was, and was wearing a very clean cut uniform. In the red light, it took a moment for Akan to realize it was the olive green of an Imperial Officer. But something...Akan could feel the man strongly in the Force. A voice spoke, sharp and obviously that of a man in the military, “You’re a Jedi.”

Akan forced back a grin. Same old answer wouldn’t work in a stand off, so he held his stance, “Yes. Who was that?”

“His name is Sadrak,” the voice responded flatly.

Something was still bothering Akan. He put his finger on it, and asked, “You were hiding from him?”

“He would have found me if not for you,” the voice sounded strangely happy. When the man took a step forward into clearer light, Akan saw the face of a seasoned warrior. He wasn’t old, but had the look of a man fighting all his life. He didn’t look like the average Officer who was there because of family connections and wealth. This man showed in his stature that he had earned his position. It seemed that the man got a clearer view of Akan, too, as a look of surprised washed over the Imperial’s face, “Alrax...”

“You know what I am?” Akan asked, for some reason lowering his lightsaber slightly and looking just as surprised. Somehow, he didn’t notice the fact that he’d truly accepted no longer being human so easily.

The surprise left the Imperial’s face, and it became one of determination. He looked to his left, and extended an arm. Akan watched suddenly as a small object shot towards the Imperial’s hand. The Force. That couldn’t be good...and that object...

With the small object in his hands, the Imperial started moving forward. A moment later, the object was easily identified by a snap-hiss and a blade of pale orange light extending from it. Akan quickly brought his lightsaber up and caught the Imperial’s blade high. How did he have a lightsaber?!

The two of them stood there, blades locked high for what seemed like an eternity. They were studying the other’s features. Reading. Learning. And the Imperial seemed amazed to at what he was seeing. Suddenly, he pulled back from the deadlock and brought a swing to Akan’s right side. Akan parried the blade and countered with an attack of his own aimed at the man’s legs. The Imperial jumped over the sweeping blue-green blade and landed a few meters away. He gave no time for Akan to recover, diving in with the blade swinging up. Again, Akan parried the attack, but found himself having to step back as the Imperial swung the lightsaber more frantically and dangerously. Each time, Akan had managed to get his blade in the right place just in time, but it wasn’t going to stay that way forever.

Yet again, a stupid idea came to mind. Two so far had worked. So he’d try his luck with a third. As the Imperial’s orange blade swung in from the left at neck level, Akan brought his blade into a position to parry it easily. But the second before they made contact, he deactivated his own lightsaber and ducked. Pulled around by the momentum of the swing, the Imperial was left open for a half second. Just long enough for Akan to punch him hard in the stomach. The man stumbled back after losing his breath, and Akan gave him no chance to attack again. With the Imperial’s lightsaber off to the side in a horrible position for defense, Akan planted a strong punch to the man’s face.

He was sent sprawling against the center of the circular room. The lightsaber fell out of his hand and rolled to the other side. Akan had started to move to get in the way, but the Imperial wasn’t moving anymore. Unconscious. Akan let out a long sigh of relief and put his lightsaber on his belt as he went to Jen. Yet again, that was a fight he shouldn’t have been able to win. Last time he’d been involved in one of those, Shadow had killed him. This time...this time he’d pulled a cheap trick to stay alive.

Whatever works was not the motto of most Jedi, but then again, Akan was not exactly the most exemplary example of a Jedi. Getting over to Jen, he knelt down beside her and helped her to sit up. She was conscious and a little dazed, but thanked him and told him what happened. He had seen it(and felt it) enough to not need the reminder, but let her speak it anyway. Once she’d finished, he explained the later half of the encounter.

Doing her usual ‘are you alright’ drilling of questions at him, Jen looked to the body of the Imperial, “What do we do?”

Akan sighed heavily and helped Jen to get to her feet, “We put him in the cargo compartment like that last one. Then we get Shadow.”

“But what if...” Jen started to say something, but Akan cut her off.

“If she dies, you’ll know. I’ll die too,” he had said it sharply and almost bitterly as he walked over to get the Imperial, “But she’s...distant. Moving away. Far away,” once he’d lifted up the Imperial and gotten the man’s lightsaber(can’t just leave those lying around), he looked up to the ceiling, “She’s already off the planet.”

“I...” Jen was probably about to apologize, though she wasn’t all that sure why. Instead, she stopped herself and got the turbolift open.

“We’ll get her back,” Akan said strongly as he stepped into the turbolift with her, “And I’ve got the feeling we have the key to tracking whoever took her down in this man.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 22: Plans Within Plans*

Problems started quickly, once they’d arrived aboard the Republic Nebulon-B Frigate that was to get them out of Naboo and back to the Claw. The troubles centered around the Imperial Akan had stuffed into the cargo compartment(amazing how much use that was getting). The Republic wanted to keep him for interrogation, and no matter what Akan said, they wouldn’t let him in to talk. Akan had thought to try pulling ‘rank’ on them, but the problem that he’d left long ago(and under a different name) was quickly dwarfed by the fact that he was a species none of them had seen before. If that didn’t kill a lie, nothing would, because Alraxians were easy to notice. Especially since(as far as Akan knew) there were only two of them.

Two...Shadow. He had to find her. Not just out of the selfish reason of continuing to live, but...she was his partner. They did work well together. And she was...a good friend despite the fact that they’d only known each other for a short time. They had ‘talked’ through the Link a good amount, learning about each other and truly becoming friends. And now...she was gone. Part of him felt like it was his fault. He’d lost Mare years before, and now...another. But Shadow wasn’t dead.

Jen put a hand on his shoulder, noticing the expression on his face, “You said it yourself...we’ll get her back.”

“Yeah...” Akan said, looking around the small tapcafe within the frigate, “But I can’t...I can’t feel her there anymore. Or rather, she’s distant. Too distant. I don’t think she’s conscious either.”

“Its only been a few hours,” Jen said, trying to be helpful and feeling a little more than useless, “Whoever took her can’t have gotten too far away.”

Akan nodded, but didn’t believe it for a second, “We’ll never find her without the Imperial. I thought about that place down there...and started to wonder. What if that Imperial we brought back was the one held in that room?”

Jen raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean? I would think it was the person who got away with Shadow.”

Shaking his head, Akan closed his eyes to remember it, “He told me he was hiding from the other. And I got a look at his wrists before getting him out of the Y-Wing. Burned. Ankles are probably the same.”

Slowly, Jen’s face started to show her realization of what Akan was saying, “You mean...that you think that entire garrison was just to hold one man?”

‘I’ve seen the Empire do crazier things,” Akan said shrugging, “And it all fits.”

“No,” Jen ran a hand through her hair, “No it doesn’t. Why did he attack you if he was the one being held?”

Alright, so Akan hadn’t thought that far. He shrugged again, looking down to the table, “I don’t know...but he looked like he wasn’t going to attack me until he saw who...wait, no...what I am.”

“The lightsaber does attract attention,” Jen said with a grin on her face.

“No, I mean me,” he pointed to himself, “He mentioned Jedi, but it was how I looked that seemed to set him off.”

“Strange,” Jen admitted.

Akan sighed and thought of his next words carefully. When he spoke, he kept his voice low, “The only way to find Shadow is to talk with that Imperial. The Republic isn’t going to let us talk with him...so...”

Jen’s eyes widened slightly, and she suddenly lowered her voice too, “You can’t break him out! I mean...well, even if you could, you’d have the New Republic on your tail everywhere!”

“It’s the only way,” Akan said with a slow nod, “They’ll just take him off somewhere and he’ll rot in a Republic cell. There’s something about that Imperial...he knows something.”

“You’re insane,” Jen said, again grinning a little.

“And you’re going to help me,” Akan said with a short laugh.

So, they were going to break an Imperial Officer held in a high security cell within a Republic Frigate out. Then, they were going to fly away, and hope to the Force that Akan was right. This would mean not going back to the Claw, though...it would endanger them if he tried to get back there. On his own. No. On their own. He and Jen would do this...and hopefully this Imperial would shed some light onto what was going on without attempting to kill Akan again.

A foolish hope, probably, but without hope, life got depressing fast.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 23: Unique Idiocy*

Jen had complained at him for five minutes. She was going to go along with this, of course, but wanted to make it very clear that she thought Akan was being a complete idiot. He understood this, and was trying to alleviate her fears. Most of them along the lines of ‘we’ll get shot’. In fact, all of them. Some involved getting shot later...but still, that was getting shot nonetheless. 

The Frigate had just left hyperspace and was finishing up the transfer of Ansion’s personnel over to the Claw. Akan figured this was about the right time, so he and Jen were walking down the long corridor to the ‘cell’ where the Imperial was being kept. It wasn’t as much a cell, rather a well guarded small room. Technically, well guarded meant two armed men at the door. This was really only to prevent the Imperial from leaving. No one could possibly be stupid enough to attempt to break him out.

No one, except Akan Ta...BlueIce. As they approached the door, Akan was glad to see that the only others visible in the corridor were the two guards. They wore simple vests and held large blaster pistols. Whatever conversation the two of them were having quickly stopped as they noticed he and Jen. Once he got close enough, Akan stepped over to the guard on the far side. Jen knew the plan. Hopefully she’d stick to it...

“Mind if I talk to the guy in there?” Akan asked innocently.

Both guards gave him one of those ‘are you stupid?’ looks that would have made Akan smile if he was as stupid as they seemed to think. The guard he stood in front of spoke flatly, “Not unless you’ve got some authorization.”

“Oh,” Akan smiled suddenly, “Good! I’ve got some right here.”

He then drew his blaster pistol fired a stun bolt at the guard. The blue rings covered the guard and he collapsed to the floor. At the same time, the other guard was drawing his weapon and opening his mouth to call for help. It was cut off by another stun bolt. This one from Jen’s blaster. Akan couldn’t help a smile as the second guard fell, “Thank you.”

“Lets get this over with,” she said, putting the blaster away. Akan nodded and knelt next to one of the guards. He shuffled trough the man’s chest pocket and pulled out a small card. It should unlock the door from the inside. When Akan stood up, Jen was reaching over and hit the switch to open the door. It slid open and revealed a room just barely larger than a storage closet. There was a small cot, and a desk that looked like it had been put together by Ewoks.

Sitting on the cot, the Imperial turned his head tiredly and gave them a slow look. He’d been about to say something then realized who was standing there. His mouth reformed new words, “You...”

“Listen,” Akan raised his hands to show he wasn’t going to attack, “You know where that man went with my friend?”

The Imperial nodded after a moment. His eyes widened slightly as realization dawned on him, “You’re breaking me out?”

“Only if you’ll help me,” said Akan, glancing back down the corridor and seeing no one still, “But you have to decide now. Don’t even think of betraying me, because she,” he nodded to Jen, who smiled to the Imperial, “She will shoot you. Are you in?”

The Imperial took no time to think about it. He nodded and started to get up, but Akan put up a hand to stop him and kicked in one of the guards, “Put on that. They’ll figure out you’re gone quickly, but that’ll at least give us some time.”

The man nodded and Jen and Akan waited. When the door closed again, Jen was grinning. Akan knew why. She might shoot that man, but not in the way Akan had threatened. It would be a stun shot. If it was normal bolt, it would be aimed at his foot and probably miss anyway.

“You realize that was the oldest line in the galaxy, don’t you?” Jen asked. Huh? What was she talking about?

“What do you mean?” Akan asked, genuinely confused. So maybe he was wrong in what she was grinning about.

She laughed and did her best imitation of Akan’s voice, “Good! I’ve got it right here.”

Akan couldn’t help but smile at that, shaking his head and shrugging, “He left it wide open. I had to. It was just too tempting to not say that.”

Jen was about to say something when the door opened and the Imperial stepped out wearing the guard’s uniform. In his hands was his olive green officer’s uniform. Akan sighed, but just told the man to hide it as best he could. They then made their way to the hangar. Once there, they had to explain that there were some things that the Imperial had that were left in the Y-Wing, and that’s why the guard was with them. Akan was going to give him the things before they left. Thankfully, it had worked and the hangar itself was fairly empty. The Y-Wing was also in an out of the way section that would provide at least some cover.

Suddenly, Akan winced. He’d forgotten to tell the Imperial an important detail. Carefully, he said over his shoulder, “Forgot to tell you something...important...”

“I don’t like this,” he responded slowly.

Akan grinned nervously, “We have a Y-Wing...and there’s not enough room...you’ll have to uh...ride in the cargo section.”

“What?!” thankfully, he kept his voice low with that one.	

“We can turn around now and go back if you want,” Jen said before Akan knew how to respond. Whew. At least one of them was a quick thinker.

They walked around to the Y-Wing, and Akan moved to get the cargo compartment open, “Its cramped but we’ll take a short jump and then find a better ride.”

With a heavy sigh, the Imperial stepped over and climbed in the very small, cramped space. His last words were, “I’ve killed men for less than this.”

Then, Akan closed it and grimaced. Jen smiled and patted his shoulder, “That went well.”

They climbed up and got into the Y-Wing, getting clearance from the docking control to leave. He did not, however, contact the Claw. As they started to leave the small hangar of the frigate, Jen was preparing jump coordinates to a nearby system. Hopefully it wasn’t too long, because an irrate Imperial Officer like that man was not something Akan wanted to deal with after being cramped in the cockpit. There was something ironic in that, but he ignored it.

Just as the Y-Wing was pulling out of the hangar, the comm beeped and a voice came on, “Y-Wing! Return to the Frigate immediately!!”

“Great, they caught on already,” Akan cursed and quickly set the engines to full throttle, diverting as much as he could from the weapons systems. They rocketed out into space and Akan quickly started weaving as he knew they’d try to get a tractor beam lock on them. He glanced over his shoulder to Jen, “Get those coords quickly!”

“Power down your engines!” the voice called out over the comm, “If you do not comply we will be forced to fire.”

Yeah, yeah. They were always ‘forced’ to fire. On the HUD, a set of coordinates and a bearing appeared. Good, Jen had gotten it done. He started pulling the Y-Wing around when the frigate below lit up. Bright red blasts of energy shot up at them. That was not good. Nebulon-Bs, like Lancer Frigates, had been designed by the Empire as anti-starfighter ships. Their targeting systems were specifically designed to target small, faster ships. Y-Wings weren’t exactly the fastest, but a frigate like the one below them was better at aiming at such a ship than say, a Star Destroyer. A few shots missed, but suddenly the ship rocked violently. Akan cursed and called back to Jen, “Shields are out! Hitting it now...”

As he reached for the hyperspace lever, another of the frigate’s laser cannons fired and scored a hit. Where exactly the hit landed, Akan didn’t know, but there was a loud explosion, frying of systems within the cockpit, and they started to roll. The biggest problem was that Akan was already pulling the hyperspace lever...and from what happened next, he knew the system wasn’t damaged.

The stars extended, and they shot out into hyperspace. Except the roll had pulled them into a different bearing. Akan had no idea where they were going. Jen had cried out but a sudden silence engulfed the cockpit as they both realized the danger of what had just happened. Neither even thought about the fact that the Imperial in the cargo compartment(which was on the underbelly of the cockpit) could be dead. What worried them was that they were blindly flying through hyperspace. They could easily fly through a star, planet, or some object.

In a disturbingly calm voice, Jen said, “I’ll...try to figure out our trajectory...”

“Yeah...” Akan said with a slow nod as he went to figuring out the extent of the damage...not that it would matter if they didn’t make it out of hyperspace, “Yeah, you do that.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 24: Never Trust the Empire*

“Pull us out of hyperspace in two minutes...” Jen said quietly, that eerie calm still consuming the cockpit, “Should come out in open space...then make another jump to any place near.”

“Right...” Akan was feeling slightly worried still, but they hadn’t died yet, and it’d been five long minutes, “At least we know the hyperdrive isn’t damaged. But I think the sublight engines are dead, if not on their last life. We’ll find out the hard way. Hopefully that’s the only trouble.”

They were silent after that, and Akan simply watched the chrono counting down. He shifted slightly in the seat, moving his tail out of the way again. Why did it have to be so damned sensitive, anyway?! One day he’d have to actually take time to figure out small details like that, as they continually drove him crazy. Somehow, though, he doubted he’d get the time to do that for a while now.

The chrono was nearing zero, and Akan glanced over his shoulder to Jen. Neither of them were going to say goodbyes or similar, but they were thinking it. If Jen’s calculations were wrong, they could easily revert to realspace through a star, or worse. And there was a good chance she was wrong, as there had only been a short second between being shot off course and the jump to lightspeed. The navcomputer had fried itself trying to comprehend what had happened, and that helped even less. Part of him wanted to close his eyes when he reached to the lever, but Akan wanted to see what appeared in front of them, even if only for a split second.

The chrono reach zero. Slowly, Akan pulled the hyperspace levers back. The blue tunnel around them faded, and the stars reverted back to their places. The ship shook violently, but beyond that...Jen had been right. Deep space, no planets, or objects around. Both of them let out long sighs of relief, and Akan quickly went to rechecking the damage. Sublight engines were at half power. The hit was low on the deflector shield(which had already been taken out), so now there wasn’t even a chance of the shield being able to recharge.

As he did his best to reroute a little more power to the engines, he heard Jen’s voice, “We’re somewhere out beyond the sector and close to...Malastare.”

“Malastare, eh?” Akan thought about it a moment, then couldn’t help a smile, “Right near the Hydian Way...can you plot us a course there and then along to...I dunno, isn’t Sluis Van down that direction?”

There was a moment where Jen was going over maps, “Yes...we’ll have to make a couple jumps though. Sluis Van’s on the Rimma Trade Route. You sure about that, though? Isn’t Sluis Van occupied by the Empire?”

“What isn’t these das?” he replied, turning the Y-Wing towards the bearing that the navcomputer was starting to feed to the HUD, “At least there we can be fairly sure of getting a new ship. Can probably get some average money for this old piece of junk.”

The journey was fairly long, but thankfully travel across hyperspace routes was faster than trying to make your own. Akan had slept, and figured that Jen had done the same. He awoke to the beeping of the navcomputer and reverted the ship to realspace. A fair distance away was the large pale blue of the planet Sluis Van. A few grey marks could be seen orbiting the planet. The shipyards...Imperial shipyards. Thankfully, the entire planet wasn’t covered in troops. After convincing the docking authority in one of the smaller merchant cities that they were having engine trouble(which was true), that they were just planning to stay a short time(another truth), that they were also in the market for a new ship(three truths), and they wouldn’t cause any trouble(Akan didn’t believe this one himself), they were given clearance to land.

The nice part about the docks was that each ship had a nice, large area that could locked. The problem with this was that the man who’d approached them at the docks wanted a lot of money for it. Akan had given in, too exhausted to concentrate and use the Force to convince the man to be a little more friendly, and just paid him the extra hundred credits for the lock code. Once that was done, Akan locked the door as Jen got the poor Imperial out of the cargo compartment.

The man fell out cursing. You couldn’t blame him, really. Jen explained what had happened when he had tried yelling and cursing more, and eventually he calmed down. Though he had no weapon, Akan was still worried about this Imperial. It was in the eyes and the way he stood. Dangerous. His last encounter with this man did nothing but help the ‘dangerous’ feeling.

“Captain Titus Voort,” the Imperial said when asked his name. Funnily enough, Akan didn’t care, it was Jen who’d asked it. Akan would have been happy calling him scum, sithspawn, or any number of colorful names that seemed to fit the mane very well.

“Alright, Voort,” Akan said stepping over and leaning against the Y-Wing, “We just finished our end of the deal. Now your turn. I think my questions can be summed up simply. What the Sith was going on at Naboo and where did that freak take my friend?!”

Akan was getting annoyed more, because he knew he should be able to still feel Shadow there. Somehow, though, he couldn’t. Shadow had explained the distance didn’t matter with their Link. It would always be there and always be very strong. But why was it silent? She couldn’t still be unconscious. She couldn’t be dead. Then what could she be? He sighed and just looked to the Voort to answer.

Voort had obviously been thinking about what to say, when realization came over him, “Ah ha! Thought I recognized you. You’re a little taller, but I’d know that anywhere!”

That what? Akan glanced at where the Imperial was pointing. He was pointing to Akan’s shoulder, with the burn mark from the blaster shot that had hit him on Endor. Why would he be...? Realization then his Akan, “You’re the one that shot me?!”

“Would have killed you, too,” Voort went on with a shrug, “Shot got glanced off by something.”

Akan had the look that Jen was quickly learning to recognize. He was going to kill this Voort. It was in the glare, and the flattening of the ears. She put her hand up, “Look, let’s just get to business, okay?’

Somehow, that calmed Akan some. His tail still swished across the ground slightly, and his ears were still mostly flat, but he didn’t look ready to pounce and maul anymore. Voort couldn’t help an almost cruel smile and said, “Sadrak would have taken her to his secondary base. It was where he was going to take me. I believe its somewhere out in the Garek system not far from the Corporate Sector.”

That was too easy. Far too easy. Akan raised an eyebrow, “You’re so open. Why is that, Imperial?” he said the last word slowly and as if it were the worst curse in the books. In his mind, it sure was up there.

Voort shot him a venomous look for only a short second, “I want him dead. And I always keep my word. Now, our deal is finished.”

The Force suddenly went crazy. Akan glanced to his left, where the warning had come from, and then realized that there was one very large piece of the wall flying at he and Jen. He dove to the ground, pulling Jen down with him and it slammed into the Y-Wing. Great, that’ll take at least another hundred credits off the worth. It would probably fetch barely enough to get a used blaster, by now. 

Akan was getting up and starting towards Voort, who had began running to the door. He reached for his blaster, and aimed to the Imperial, but was suddenly hit in the back of his head with another piece of dock. Akan fell face first into the metal ground of the dock. Before he blacked out, he caught sight of Voort moving back their direction. He also remembered why he never liked or trusted any Imperials. Especially ones that were so willing to ‘help’.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 25: Of Dreams and Earscratches*

“Oh c’mon, you coward! Why not another run?” Mare punched Raan playfully in the shoulder.

Raan batted her hand away, grumbling something as they left the simulators, “Don’t you think you’ve kicked my ass enough already?”

She just laughed, this time patting his shoulder, “Aww, don’t like losing?”

“I’ve got no problem losing,” Raan said in a high and mighty tone, “I just don’t like watching both my wingmates turn and shoot at me along with the enemies.”

That got Mare laughing even more, “You never saw it coming! Ahh, what I would have paid to see the look on your face.”

“I should kill you for that,” he grumbled in response, rounding the corner towards the turbolift.

“But you didn’t,” she waved a finger grinning still, “I killed you.”

Once in the turbolift, Raan noticed things were...off. Raan? Wait...Mare’s dead. Isn’t she? The thought clicked things into place, and suddenly he could see the small defense platform on Coruscant. The two of them were running as fast as they could to get out before the charges detonated. He and Mare climbed into their respective X-Wings and were already heading up before the canopy was down thanks to the astromechs.

“Hurry it up!” Mare’s voice sounded over the comm in his helmet.

Raan glanced over to her X-Wing, which was already starting towards the atmosphere, “I’m coming! I’m coming!”

As he started to catch up, something he hadn’t anticipated occurred. Turbolaser fire. From the planet. He yelled a warning and pulled his X-Wing to the side, using his instincts to quicken his reactions and feel where the right place to go was. For the first time in his life, he saw something. It was...like a flash of what was about to happen. He had only a moment to comprehend it, and when he did, yelled out over the comm, not even caring about call signs or encryptions, “LIZ! EJECT!”

Raan’s eyes watched the world in slow motion then. He could see the large green blast shooting upwards. Just as it impacted with Mare’s X-Wing, penetrating the shield and hitting the hull. Over the comm, he heard Mare starting to say something, but it was cut off as he watched the X-Wing tear apart in a ball of flame. There was no scream, no sound beyond what she had tried to say.

Akan’s eyes shot open and his had his mouth open in a silent yell, though no sound came out. Slowly things caught up with him, and his vision cleared, though the image of Mare’s X-Wing burnings to pieces was still etched clearly in his mind. Jen was sitting on her knees next to him, looking surprised. She then asked the question she already knew the answer to, “You alright?”

And to keep in with the correct answer, Akan lied, “Yeah...I’m fine...” he trailed off to look around, seeing that they were still in the dock. Next to him was a small puddle of blue liquid. Blood? His? BLUE?! Not another blue...he was getting tired of this whole color scheme to his life, “What happened?”

Jen shrugged and helped him to sit up, “Voort knocked you out...got his lightsaber...and then left.”

Now it was Akan’s turn for the stupid question, “Are you alright?”

Even though Jen’s response was the same as Akan’s, she wasn’t lying, “I’m fine...he...didn’t do anything to me. Just walked past me and then left.”

Akan raised an eyebrow at that, but didn’t say anything. Instead, he focused on trying to focus. Mainly stopping the world from rotating slightly. It worked after a few moments, and he managed a weak smile, “You know, I’m really bad at this kind of stuff.”

“You do have a habit of getting your butt kicked,” Jen acknowledged, patting his shoulder. He cringed slightly at the words, remembering what he’d...dreamed? So similar it was scary.

“Well, we don’t really need him anymore,” Akan lied, getting to his feet and checking that he had everything.

“You mean you know the system he was talking about?” Jen asked with a look that showed she knew he had no idea.

Akan managed a weak shrug, “Well...I know where the Corporate Sector is. Start there, work out. Simple.”

Jen just stood there with her hands on her hips giving him that look that would make anyone admit they were complete idiots. He smiled and shrugged again, “Look, we need to either get a new ship or fix this one. Currently, I’m thinking that a new ship would take less time and...somehow, be less expensive.”

Seeing the expression on his face, Jen immediately caught onto his next thought. It wasn’t hard, he was easy to read, “And you want me to do the talking?”

Again, he smiled, “Why not? I can stand back and look menacing!”

She just shook her head, “You realize you look like a big cat, yes? That’s not menacing.”

“Yes it is!” he managed a growl and to unsheathe his claws, “Grr! See, menacing!”

An evil grin passed across Jen’s face, and she idly stepped over to him. Akan kept his ‘menacing’ look, but watched her curiously. She reached up to his head, finding a spot right behind his ear, and scratching gently. Akan’s mind melted. He found himself leaning his head towards her hand and...a sound started. Purring. He was purring. Loud, and somehow similar to a growl, but obviously purring.

Suddenly, she stopped, laughed at his pathetic whimper, and started towards the exit to the dock. Over her shoulder, she called to him, “Very menacing.”

“That wasn’t fair!” Akan yelled back, doing his best to catch up, part of his mind wondering how to get her to do that again, “I wasn’t ready! Do it again! I’ll stay menacing this time! I mean it!”

She gave him a look, laughed again, and left the dock. She was doing the perfect imitation of one who had such a ‘menacing’ pet as a bodyguard. She just ignored him. This of course, was driving him crazy as they walked through the streets of the large city and they tried to find a good dealer.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 26: Deals and Mistakes*

It had taken nearly two hours of wandering the streets of the city, but they finally found someone who was both interested in buying a beat up Y-Wing and willing to sell a larger ship. The ship in question was an older Lambda-class shuttle, commonly used as Imperial transport ships. They weren’t combat ships, and this particular one had its weapons removed, and some cargo area reduced for better crew quarters and a better hyperdrive. The ships were good quality, and Akan had encouraged Jen to go for it. Of course, he was being ‘menacing’ so he’d had to find an interesting way to do that. His thinking failed, and he ‘cheated’, using the Force to send her the message directly.

Jen showed no hint in her expression that she’d heard him, as that might give away to the man she was sitting across from that the big pet was more than just a bodyguard. She had pulled her hair back and was attempting to be much more stiff of a negotiator than she was with things like this. The way she did this was easier than she’d expected. Jen simply thought about buying the ship as she would a project she deeply believe in. She figured this was why the man was giving in and allowing her to negotiate for lower prices. She sounded like she really was good at this.

“One ten,” Jen said, leaning back in her chair at the small outdoor tapcafe and giving the older looking man across from her a long look.”

He had demanded to be called ‘Slick’, stating that this was what everyone knew him by. From the look of the people around him, even if they had any idea who he was, they didn’t care. Jen humored him. Slick was probably in his early fifties, and how exactly he’d picked up this Lambda shuttle was kept just as quiet as to why their Y-Wing was in such bad shape. He was examining her expression, “One twenty. She’s a good ship.”

“One ten,” Jen repeated, waving a hand in the air, “Good ship or not. Its well used, doesn’t even have an ion cannon, and really it should be ninety. The Y-Wing’s worth at least that much, but I’m willing to let it go for less. If you’re smart enough to see a good deal that is.”

Talk like that and you had any good salesman interested. They hated being shown up, and especially hated missing out on a good deal. Slick obviously knew it was a good deal and was just trying to get more for his money. There was that long, calculating silence between them before Slick finally nodded, “Deal. One ten.”

When he extended his hand across the small table, Jen knew he wasn’t requesting her to shake it. He wanted the money. So, she handed him a credit chip. This, he examined for a long moment, and before he spoke, she raised a hand, “One ten is on that chip. You can check it if you like. Now, what are the codes to the ship?”

Slick sighed and dug through his pockets before pulling out a small datacard. As he did this, Akan reached over Jen’s shoulder and handed her a similar card, which held the codes to the hangar the Y-Wing was in. They’d cleaned it out already, and were carrying the very small amount of equipment in two packs. Or rather, Akan was carrying them.

The two of them exchanged datacards, checked them, and Slick then disappeared without even a ‘thank you’. Once he was out of sight, Akan took the seat across from Jen and finished looking over the information on the card, “Private hangar not far from here,” he grinned suddenly and looked over to her, “You’re good at that fast talking.”

Jen shrugged. What could she say? She honestly didn’t know where she’d gotten it from. It was just something she’d needed to do, so she’d focused and done it. She couldn’t help a small smile and eventually nodded, “You know what the best part of it is?”

Akan tilted his head slightly, “Hm?”

She was surprised. Of all people, she’d have expected him to have caught on to it first. Her smile became a grin, “Remember the docking officer? We only paid half of those fees. We’re supposed to pay the other half when we leave.”

Slowly, Akan’s face formed into a devious grin. He started to laugh, “You’d be a great politician with the way you make people forget things like that,” Akan suddenly went silent, and Jen got worried until she realized he had thought of something else, “Where did you get a hundred and ten thousand credits? I thought we said we’d split the cost.”

Oh. That. She laughed this time, shaking her head, “My treat. Well, no. Think of it as the New Republic’s treat. It was the last payment of commission money to the facility on Endor. We used it to buy supplies...the Imperials arrived about three weeks before the next supply ship and I just had a hold of it.”

Akan smiled but didn’t say anything for a while. From the look of it, he was thinking about what to do. Jen was doing the same. The thing that was getting her the most was that Imperial, Voort. He’d just walked by like she didn’t even exist. Arguably, that was a good thing, but it was still strange. Still, Akan had said that Voort had sounded like he’d recognized Akan’s species. As far as Jen(and Akan for that matter) knew, he and Shadow were the only two of their kind in the galaxy. It was now more likely this was wrong. Hmm...she let her thoughts run on and then asked, “You said Voort called you something when he saw you, right?”

“Hm? Oh!” Akan nodded and welcomed himself back into reality, “Yeah...Alrax.”

“Shortened version of Alraxian?” Jen suggested, not completely believing it herself.

Akan shrugged, “I dunno...the way he said it made it seem like it was a name.”

“So he knew another Alraxian?”

Again, Akan shrugged, “It seems that way.”	

Jen leaned forward and gave Akan a very serious look, “And you just let him walk away knowing what you are, and likely, what you can do?”

Slowly, what Jen had said dawned on him. Jen watched it creep onto his face before he cursed and kicked the table. The table nearly impaled her, but thankfully he caught it, his anger suddenly gone and a sheepish look on his face now. He was obviously still getting used to the strength of the body. He then just sighed, “One thing at a time...lets get that shuttle, get out of here, and get Shadow.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 27: Spacious Ships*

“I almost feel guilty,” Akan commented over his shoulder as he finished the final checks on the shuttle’s systems and started warming it up to leave.

Jen had been looking at the other areas, and had barely heard him, “What?”

“Oh nothing,” he turned and flipped a few switches and the main lights came on, “Just that this is probably worth a good deal more than we paid for it.”

The lambda shuttle was in a small private hangar off on the other side of the city. They had walked for a good distance, and then just given up and hired an aircab to get them to the place. Night was falling by the time they’d gotten there, and Akan wasn’t completely comfortable with seeing the ship in such low light. That had a habit of hiding battle scars. However, he was surprised to find that he could see as well, if not better, in the dark than he could in the light. So he’d taken extra time to inspect the exterior of the ship, too. Jen had taken to looking over the interior, telling him that there was one fairly large sized quarters and two smaller ones. Apparently, she had claimed the large one as payment for being the one to actually pay for the ship. The fact that it was the New Republic’s credits was not brought up. Akan wasn’t stupid.

He switched on the repulsorlifts and slowly, the ship started upwards. Jen eventually came over and sat in the copilot’s chair next to him. Honestly, this was much better than the Y-Wing. Not only was it more spacious, but it was almost surprising to see such a nice view out of the much larger and more open viewport. As the ship pulled up and out of the hangar, they got a good view of the city. Most of the buildings were smaller, but in the distance was the larger public docking bays where the old Y-Wing was. Part of Akan was going to miss that ship...the part that for some reason enjoyed not being able to stretch.

Putting his focus ahead, he angled the ship upwards and looked to the sky above, seeing a few glints of spaceships and a single large spacedock. Still getting familiar with the controls, Akan remembered to reach over in front of Jen and hit the switch to bring the two folded wings out and down to give the lambda its inverter Y look. Ironic how he went from one Y to another...just like those damned blues. Even the walls in the ship was a light metallic blue colour. Almost close to his stripe. Jen had commented that his stripe was shiny, though.

Shiny? How was he supposed to take that? Oh, yes, well I make sure of that every day. I pride myself in my shiny stripe. How was it shiny anyway? Akan was going to drill Shadow full of a thousand questions once he got her back. Cutting off the repulsorlift engines and switching to the sublight engines, Akan felt a slight shudder as the older shuttle started on its way out of the planet’s atmosphere. The silence was starting to unnerve Akan, and though he liked the sound that the sublight engines emitted, it was getting worrying.

“You have the course plotted?” he asked pathetically.

“It’ll be a day and a half trip to the Corporate Sector,” responded Jen with a nod. 

No, it wasn’t the silence that was bothering him. It was something else. Almost like something in the back of his mind telling him to focus on it. Akan brought the ship to the correct bearing and then switched the chrono on. He stood up and started to head back to the quarters, “You think you can pull those levers when that hits zero and get us into hyperspace?”

Jen looked at him, noticing something was bothering him, but nodded and slid over into the pilot’s chair. Akan left the cockpit’s door open and simply wandered back into the room that was off to the side. Finding the small, but adequate bed, he sat down on it and let his mind go. What was that? His mind flowed through a thousand thoughts, most of which he didn’t understand. But then...something. Something that was wrong. Not him, but near. A feeling. The link? Shadow? No...closer. The planet? Sluis Van? No...the Imperials hadn’t taken notice. Imperials...

Voort. Voort. Akan had felt it before. First on Endor when he’d been shot by the underpowered blaster...a shot that shouldn’t have been able to hit him. Then, on Naboo after Shadow had gone...the first time was too late. The second, nearly so. But why now? He couldn’t possibly have...

Voort. Akan slowly opened his eyes and stood up. What was it about that man? He found himself unhooking the lightsaber from his belt, almost surprised at himself. But he didn’t stop. That...feeling was growing. Too late...just in time...warning? Voort. Voort had been a captive within that base on Naboo...yet he was an Imperial. A captive among his own? Why? What did ‘Alrax’ really mean? It all came down to Voort. Every thread, lead back to him. Why? Warning...

Akan hadn’t realized that he’d walked into the main section of the ship. Still acting more on auto than thought, he closed the door to the cockpit, not giving Jen a chance to say anything. As he turned back, the sight of a human man in an Imperial uniform didn’t surprise Akan at all. He looked over the man, noting the short, cropped hair and sharp features of Voort’s face. He was likely in his late twenties...but the eyes. Always, with every warrior, it was the eyes. Akan had it. Shadow even had it. But Voort had it to an extreme. His eyes didn’t show pain and death...simply hatred. Akan could almost see light red flecks in the man’s eyes. From the look on Voort’s face, he was studying Akan in much the same way.

The major difference was that Voort didn’t hold anything. In Akan’s right hand, resting against his leg, was the lightsaber hilt. Despite the fact that they both stood casually, that was a vital piece in the puzzle. To Akan, it meant one of two things. Either he had the upper hand, or Voort did, and was hiding his advantage. Behind him and past the closed door, Akan could hear Jen moving. Through the Force, he sent her a firm message. ‘Stay where you are.’

He knew she heard it. And from the sound of things, she listened. Akan’s attention never waved from Voort, however. Eventually, one of them would have to speak. For the second time, he took the initiative, “You could have stayed behind and saved us both a lot of trouble.”

Voort simply nodded, speaking in the same slow, dangerous tones that Akan was, “I have unfinished business with Sadrak.”

“You have unfinished business with me,” Akan corrected.

Again, Voort nodded, “It is not as vital as Sadrak. I offer a truce, Jedi.”

He was speaking honestly. Akan could feel it. But still, one could speak the truth and hide layers of lies within it to make it truth, “How can I trust that?”

“The pact of one warrior to another.”

Akan watched Voort’s eyes...again, truth. His voice conveyed a strong sense of honor in those words. Slowly, Akan tried something else, “Why Sadrak?”

There was silence for a long time as Voort just watched him. There was no actual show of surprise, but the feeling through the Force was almost that. Eventually, the Imperial said, “He killed my wife.”

“And you shot me,” Akan growled, still not liking being shot. He didn’t close his eyes, but let out a calming breath and spoke in a calmer tone, “And once our business with Sadrak is completed?”

Voort wasn’t dumb enough to have missed the word ‘our’ in that. He knew then that it was Akan’s way of accepting the ‘truce’. A tiny hint of a smile crept onto the Imperial’s face, “Then we can complete ours.”

Slowly, Voort took two steps forward, now nearly in the center of the room. He reached out with his right hand, extending it towards Akan and waiting in a very dignified manner. Akan placed the lightsaber back on his belt(slowly, of course), then took two steps forward. Extending his own hand, he gripped Voort’s tightly. His own grip was much stronger than the Human’s, but Voort showed no sign of pain when Akan shook his hand.

They were still eyeing each other though....like predator and prey. But both were the predator, and both were the prey. Waiting for one slip. Just one...small slip. Then, it would end. But Sadrak first.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 28: Interesting Times*

Over the course of the trip, Akan didn’t sleep. Voort didn’t either. The two of them never left each other’s sight. Jen hadn’t been happy about the arrangement, but hadn’t argued it much. Besides, what were they going to do now? Stop and kick him off? It wasn’t worth the trouble. So Akan took advantage of this time to learn about his enemy. Both of them. He learned about Voort through his questions about Sadrak, focusing on how the Imperial...no, ex-Imperial(Voort insisted on that, and Akan didn’t doubt him for some reason), answered the questions and the words he used.

Apparently, Sadrak had been one of the Emperor’s many Inquisitors. Force Sensitive maniacs who were experts in torture and interrogation. All of them were dangerous, but most were assumed dead. When the Emperor was killed, many of the Inquisitors and others that had the Emperor’s ear, simply fought amongst themselves for power and control over the Empire. Sadrak had not. He simply disappeared. Or at least, for a time. Not long after the New Republic’s taking of Coruscant, Sadrak resurfaced. He was in the Mid Rim this time, working with a large compliment of Imperial scientists and a fleet. He had spent his years in seclusion developing his power and control over the Dark Side. He had, according to Voort, uncovered many ancient artifacts that the Emperor had kept hidden on an out of the way planet. This planet was left unnamed, to the annoyance of many who had flocked to Sadrak to steal his secrets.	

“I don’t know what exactly he had found or what he was doing,” Voort said, sitting across from Akan in the main cabin of the shuttle.

For a long moment, Akan watched the man to see if he could detect a hint of a lie. But he didn’t, “How did you get involved with Sadrak?”

At first, Voort looked like he wouldn’t answer. However, a strange trust was growing between the two of them, and he sat back almost casually, “I was the Emperor’s Hand. He trained me personally after I was pulled out of the normal ranks of the Army. After he died, I stuck myself back into the Army. Of all the Inquisitors, the Emperor distrusted Sadrak the most. I watched Sadrak for years before Endor...and after. I didn’t like that he’d disappeared, and tracked him down. Once he showed up again, I managed to work myself into his force.”

Interesting...Akan listened to how Voort spoke of the events, but found this last part, especially the way Voort’s voice had changed, the most interesting of it all. A question begged asking, and Akan wasn’t about to let it go, “Why were you a prisoner?”

Obviously, Voort had expected this, “The Emperor trained my well...but Sadrak was no fool. I underestimated him, and he used his...talents to break me,” a hand came up to his forehead, and he tapped it gently, “Your memories. Fears...he uses them to break you. So I was living two lives. One, I was just as my troops knew me...the best shot in the Empire, loyal to fault. But inside, I tried to stop myself. Sadrak used me...my body acted without my mind.”

“It had to be more complicated than that,” Akan said, trying to think things out and learn as much about this Sadrak as he could, “Breaking a man is one thing...but forcing his body to act without his mind is another.”

Nodding, Voort said, “The artifact he found that he prized so greatly. A poison. An ancient poison developed by the Sith. The Emperor kept a single vial of it, but even he feared using it. It twists the mind, changes it...changes the person.”

“I’m assuming he developed more than just that vial...” Akan said quietly, more to the side than anything.

“Much more,” Voort responded with another nod, “Usually, its effects are permanent. However, my body’s immune system was able to fight it off...so he had to keep me locked up and restrained most of the time”

Slowly, Akan took all of this in. Sith poison. This Dark Sider Sadrak was producing Sith poison, which twisted the subject to evil itself. Voort didn’t need to say it, the message was conveyed easily. But why so much? What did he plan to do? Spreading it would only do so much...there was more to this.

“Did he only research into producing more of this poison?” Akan asked after going through a thousand thoughts. 

“No,” Voort’s answered confirmed Akan’s fear. But why was that bothering him? Voort continued on that thought, “The majority of the scientists were doing genetic research. Continuing a project started by Yssane Isard.”

Akan knew that name, “Director of Imperial Intelligence. They called her, Iceheart...” 

“Among other things,” responded Voort, “He took this project of her’s, a cloning project, and took it to a new level. He discovered me and began torturing me before I could discover what advancements he made. Before that, I was the main security advisor for the project. I was there at every stage...”

Slowly, Akan’s mind caught onto ebbs in the Force. All coming from this Voort. Something...he latched onto one. Focused. Then, it hit him. Akan found his tail twitching slightly at the realization, “Alrax.”

“Despite everything we did to her...all the torture she endured, she tried to kill me,” Voort sounded nostalgic, obviously leaving out some important details, “I don’t know what happened to her. However, I never thought that I would see another of her kind.”

So he did recognize Akan’s species. Akan started to open his mouth to say something, but no words came out. Voort interpreted this differently than Akan would have expected, “You came looking for her? She...confided much in me. It was strange, but she became like a sister to me. I wanted to protect her from what we did. She told me about your people. I promise you, that Sadrak knows none of it. The details of your home,” he touched his forehead, “I have kept them safe.”

Still, Akan didn’t know what to say. So many questions...Voort didn’t know that Akan wasn’t actually Alraxian. Or rather, had only been one for a matter of days. Voort was still seeing this as something else, and his voice took on an almost comforting tone, “If I knew where your Empress-to-be was, I would take you to her. It is a debt I owe her...but...only Sadrak really knows.”

Empress-to-be?! They were doing genetic research on an Alraxian Princess? Akan didn’t even know where the Alraxian home planet was, and now he was told that he had an Empress-to-be out there. An Empire? Not THE Empire, but an Empire. Where though? Anything of size worth calling an Empire would be known. Wild Space, maybe? But that was small, and called Wild Space for a reason. Hyperspace routes were unreliable and impossibly dangerous. Alright then...the Unknown Regions. They’re huge. Easily could fit an Empire. Alright, calm...don’t show this Imperial you have no idea what he’s talking about. Akan kept a composed face, “I didn’t think you Imperials cared about debts.”

Voort shook his head, “I honor those who deserve it. Alrax...she became a friend in those strange days. I regret what we did to her. But please, tell me something. When she spoke with me of the Force, she told me that though they have the ancient weapons, they have their own traditions in the Force. No Jedi. How is it that you are trained as one?”

Another piece of information to take in. Alraxians didn’t have Jedi...what did they have, then? He mentally shrugged and tried a mostly honest answer, “I taught myself.”

Nodding, Voort found a smile growing on his face, “Interesting days these are. An ex-Imperial and an Alraxian Jedi.”

Akan couldn’t help but agree, “Yes, well we can settle which one is right after we get Sadrak. Should arrive in another hour.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 29: Swamps, Tails, and Princesses*

The Garek system was one of the many uninhabitable places in the galaxy. The double star at the center of the system orbited dangerous close to itself, and would likely destroy itself within the next few thousand years. The readings on the shuttle’s sensors showed that if any of the planets were remotely close to sustaining life, it was the fifth planet in the system. Akan wanted to argue with the computer, as Garek V looked like a large pile of green mush placed together in a sphere. Part of him was sure he could smell the place even from orbit.

“Covered in swamps,” Jen confirmed his suspicions as she looked over another of the sensor screens, then down to the planet below.

Voort was sitting behind them, though Akan had an eye on him at all times. As Akan brought the ship down through the atmosphere(which was as thick as the swamps below), he found himself looking around with a sigh, “Can you scan for anything remotely solid to set down on?”

Jen had started to comply, but when the viewport cleared, Voort pointed to a place off in the distance, “There.”

Akan looked. Jen looked. They continued looking. Then, they looked to each other. Gaining no new knowledge, they both turned back to Voort. He pointed again, “There’s a patch in the trees there.”

Oh, wonderful, the man could see solid ground through mush. This just got better by the minute. However, Akan didn’t argue, and the shuttle flew towards the spot. As they got closer, Jen scanned it and found that yes, Voort was right. Also, not too far off was something metal. No too far off in the terms of the sensor was kilometers. This meant a nice long trudge through the swamps to get there.

They set down on the small section between trees, vines, and other things that Akan worried about. Voort and Jen left to get their equipment, and Akan finished powering down the shuttle. A vine suddenly fell on the viewport. Akan jumped and nearly yelped in surprise. Composing himself, he tilted forward and looked up to see movement in the trees. He glared and grumbled, “Just bought it and the natives are already putting dents in it.”

He sighed and got up, finding the two others talking about something he had no interest in. Akan simply got the boarding ramp down, and nearly gagged at the smell. Voort and Jen seemed to notice it was bad, but didn’t seem to have it as bad as he did. Wonderful thing these Alraxian noses were. He and Voort started down the ramp at about the same time, and as Akan looked down at the mucky ground below, he sighed again, “Look, I’m just getting my friend out and leaving. If you want off, you leave when we leave. Understand?”

Voort raised an eyebrow as his foot tested the soft, but still supportive moss covered ground, “Selfish for a Jedi. However, I understand.”

Then, the man started leading the way through knee high swamp gunk. Jen gave Akan a weary look and Akan returned it, trying to keep his tail above the water but finding it strangely difficult. Soon he just gave up and decided to worry about getting that stuff out of his tail fur later. They were all very glad to have long and fairly heavy trousers and boots on, as it kept the actual swamp off of them. Instead, they just felt the heavy weight of it all far too close to their skin.

“Well, if this doesn’t keep visitors out, I don’t know what would,” Jen commented. There was no grin on her face, and it was apparent she was being very serious. Akan could only nod as they continued the long walk. It was uneventful except for an incident where Akan swore something bit his tail. He had screamed like a child(which, after some reminding, he technically was) and the rest of the walk through the ‘water’ he was holding his tail in his hands. It was a strange sight to see Voort laugh at that, especially since Akan was still expecting the man to turn and murder him in a second. The uneasy truce was still just as uneasy before, both of them simply kept it hidden. Voort was better at this than Akan. Much better.

Slowly, the water level lowered and the land rose. Akan didn’t give a look to his trousers, not wanting to see the colour or any live things still attached. As they got to more ‘land’, trees grew denser and not far off, a light grey gleam could be seen. The building. Now, they slowed their pace. Voort started moving to one side, and Akan found himself moving to the other. Jen, not completely sure what she should do, followed Voort(who was closer). As they approached, they saw the building was in fact just a large opening in the ground. There was a central door large enough for a landspeeder, though that made Akan wonder how anyone could get use from a speeder in this environment. 

After they stood without moving for a while, watching to see if there were any defenses, Voort moved. He started towards the door almost casually. Now, he did have a blaster in hand, but it was the way he walked. Jen looked over to Akan, who shrugged and followed. Jen caught up, giving them both a somewhat lost look, though she said nothing. When Voort got to the door, he simply hit the switch. It opened. Somehow, this didn’t surprise Akan. Why lock anything on a planet like this? It wasn’t on many charts anyway.

Carefully, Akan followed Voort into the dimly lit corridor. It was a stairwell. Long and very steep. Akan made a comment about watching where you step as Jen stepped in and closed the door. A good distance down, they could see the floor evened out. Voort and Akan simply headed down, as there was no other way to go. When they got to the even floor, they discovered that two halls went left and right, but the stairwell also continued down. Voort had started to go down, but Akan caught the Imperial’s shoulder, “Wait.”

Something was...there. No. Left? Yes. What? Alive. Dim though...Sadrak? Maybe. But...

[Akan...?] the ‘voice’ in his mind was low and weak sounding. It confirmed where his thoughts were leading to. Shadow.

[Where are you?] Akan asked, feeling it out anyway. Left corridor. The link was not as strong as it had been before, but it was there. Without a word to the others, Akan took his lightsaber in hand and moved quickly to the left. Voort had started to say something, but Akan didn’t hear it. He also heard no response from Shadow. That was worrying. 

Akan followed the corridor a for a while, then found that it went two directions. Still empty though. Trying to feel for Shadow, his thoughts were interrupted by Voort, “Sadrak knows we’re here.”

“What do you mean?” Jen asked, sounding worried.

“Your young friend here is leading us to a trap,” commented Voort a little too loudly as Akan started to the right this time, following his instincts. Yes, it probably was a trap, but did it matter? Nope. He was going to get Shadow out and leave. Part of him knew he should deal with Sadrak...but, Voort wanted to do that. Akan wasn’t about to stop him. It’d get the Imperial out of his hair.

Rounding one more corner, Akan found himself in a large room. The walls were a slate grey, and there was a large amount of equipment scattered across tables and desktops. On the far side, the room turned into more of a lab, with containers, sealed objects, and equipment that Jen probably recognized. Then, Akan’s eyes saw Shadow. In the far corner, on the floor with something covering her face. He could see her ears out of the metallic looking ‘hood’, but noticed she wasn’t moving at all. Nothing was holding her down. But also, no one else was there. Akan didn’t like that.

He stepped towards her, and Voort growled something about him being a fool. Akan ignored him, going to Shadow anyway. Jen was following closely, but her attention was on the equipment. Much of it was similar to what she’d worked with on Endor. That worried her. Most of the things on Endor were simply theoretical, but this looked like someone was actually toying with living creatures. She couldn’t help but shudder at the thought. 

Voort had stayed back. This was obviously an elaborate set up. Sadrak had known that this...boy would come for his friend. But had he expected Voort to follow? He wouldn’t put it past Sadrak. This was a moment that required caution and checking for any kind of trap. But the boy simply walked over to the figure on the other side of the room like nothing was wrong at all. He was going to get them all killed. Voort could tell the boy was idealistic. That was most likely the root of the problem. For some reason, most people thought that being idealistic meant you didn’t have to use your brain at all.

When Akan made it over to Shadow, he knelt in front of her and noticed she seemed to be in a strange coma-like state. Breathing...slowly. Heartbeat...wait...he put his head to her chest and listened. Two heartbeats. Hmmm..For the first time, Akan put his hand over his own chest. Two heartbeats. Okay. Two hearts. So maybe that was normal. How had he missed that?! Not important right now. Akan took a closer look at the ‘hood’ of sorts over Shadow. It covered her mouth, nose, and eyes effectively, but curved around her head to leave room for her ears. He knew it was dangerous to attempt without really checking, but Akan carefully removed the hood from her head. 

Nothing happened once it was off. No explosion like he’d for some reason expected. What he did notice was that Shadow had a long scar across her face. It hadn’t been there last he knew...Carefully, he shook her, “Shady. Wake up.”

Her eyes did open slowly, two silver circles watching him carefully. Her ears moved, and her mouth opened. Nothing came out. She closed her eyes, mentally focused, and tried again. But she didn’t get a chance, as a voice from behind all of them laughed, “Ahhh, so easy to predict.”

Akan, Jen and Voort all turned around to see a man wearing all black(Akan wondered when evil people would get with the times and get away from such a cliche). He had a hood pulled back from a heavy robe, and looked to be near human. Two deep, cruel red eyes watched them from a disturbingly young face. It had to be Sadrak, but usually those devoted to the Dark Side saw their bodies ravaged...this man, though. He was young looking, and attractive. No in any way what one would expect from an Imperial Inquisitor. Sadrak smiled and opened his arms, “An amazing development here, Titus! Our little pet has made herself a friend!”

Akan couldn’t help a low growl that escaped him as he watched the man. Shadow was still only barely aware of things around her, and he was doing his best to hold her up straight. Jen had stepped back and gotten slightly in front of both Akan and Shadow. She had her blaster up and Akan found it interesting that she was actually taking on a very protective role suddenly. Voort had a hand on his lightsaber, and watched Sadrak with a careful eye. At Sadrak’s words, he turned and looked to the Alraxian that Akan had unmasked. She looked so similar to Alrax...but, no. She was different. Her hair was too short. Her body that of a child’s...the scar.

Then, realization dawned on him, though he didn’t speak it. Instead, he focused on what had been said about this Akan, “What are you talking about?”

Again, Sadrak laughed, “Oh, yes, I forgot! You were locked up by the time we’d learned of that little trick! The animals have another interesting trait...they can make a body out of their own for another. Did you actually think that another of those animals came looking for her?!”

Something was still wrong. Voort could feel Sadrak probing through his mnd(as could the others), but he couldn’t feel Sadrak. It was like...he wasn’t there. Voort pulled out his blaster, then fired a shot. It went through the former Inquisitor. Hologram? No...there would need to be a projector.

Another long laugh from Sadrak’s image, “You think I’m that stupid, Titus? Oh, no, I’m no where near that dreadful planet. Do you think you could bring that animal to me? I did not have time to finish the tests before I learned of your approach.”

Again, Akan growled, louder and more threatening. Honestly, he didn’t know where it was coming from. It kind of just happened.  Sadrak’s eyes fell on him, “How does it feel to be an animal, boy? It is so good to know there are two of you now. We really must meet. You don’t want her to get too far ahead of you, now do you?” he smiled again, and then looked over all of them, “I am sorry, but I must go. Pressing matters, you understand, Titus. But don’t worry, you didn’t travel all the way out there for nothing. I did leave some toys for you! I do hope we are able to meet boy, and please, if you survive, bring Three with you! She just has a few more things left!”

Three? Who...? Shadow. Three, though? The image of Sadrak faded, and when Voort turned and looked around the walls for weapons or explosives or anything...he found nothing. Akan started to his feet, and Shadow, who was waking up some, said nothing as she regained her own balance and remembered all that was going on. She was going to say something when Jen turned towards the hallway, “I hear footsteps.”

“Loud ones...” Akan commented, hearing the approached of many heavy footsteps.

“We need to get out of here,” Titus said, starting towards the hallway, “We can figure out what’s going on after we’re gone.”

We. We. Again with the ‘we’. Of course, Akan was thinking it too. The business with Sadrak was still not over...so whatever had to be done about Voort 
would have to wait. Too many unanswered questions. When he looked to Shadow, she nodded towards the hallway. [Thanks for coming...but lets try to survive this before I ask you what’s going on, okay?]

Akan nodded, as he, Jen, and Shadow came up next to Voort. The footsteps were nearing as they also approached the corner. Not boots. Too heavy. Stormtroopers? No. Then what? Whatever it was, it was no friendly. Akan had his lightsaber drawn and activated, blue green blade ready in front of them as the steps got closer. Voort had followed suit, holding his own orange blade out. Jen was behind them with her blaster pistol. Shadow had mentally composed herself, and was ready to pounce. After that hood being on her head, she was ready to maul something. And that something was about to be in front of her.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 30: Turbolasers and Blasters*

It was almost like Akan, Voort and Shadow were shoving each other out of the way to get in front. Jen had no problem with fighting, but the three of them(especially Shadow after being comatose) seemed far too eager. Only a few steps behind them, she caught sight of the source of the footsteps at about the same time. In that short second it took to round the corner, they stood facing six stormtroopers. Six...two meter tall stormtroopers with very large repeating rifles aimed at them. There was a very long stand off, with Akan, Voort, and Shadow staring down the long barrels of the repeating blaster rifles. At least Akan and Voort had lightsabers up and in front of them, but Shadow had nothing. Not even her usual knife.

Then, it was like something in the air just clicked. Voort, on the left, ducked low and sent his lightsaber thrusting towards one of the troopers. One the right, Shadow also ducked low, claws unsheathing as she dove towards a hole in the armor plating. With both of the other two next to him ducking, Akan brought his lightsaber across in a long horizontal arc. In that flash of movement, the first three of the troopers were down(and all of them in at least two pieces). The other three were farther back, and started backing as their blaster rifles started firing. Jen dropped to her knees against the wall, aiming up over Voort and firing her blaster pistol. Voort and Akan were then both up and deflecting blaster fire, and Jen watched Shadow draw Akan’s blaster pistol dropping back behind him and using him for cover as she fired the pistol. Jen moved over behind Shadow, also firing her pistol. Their shots downed two of the troopers, and in a moment Voort’s lightsaber took of the head of the last one.

Akan took a moment to stand there, then glanced back over his shoulder. Shadow stood up and slipped the blaster back into the holster on his belt, and Jen also stood up, shrugging. He couldn’t help a grin, and lowered the lightsaber, “You’re welcome.”

The floor shook. No, not just the floor. The building shook. Instinctively, they all looked up. They saw nothing but the ceiling. Then, following second instincts, they looked down. Nope, the floor was fine. While the others were trying to figure out what happened, Voort started down the corridor, “Come on.”

“What was that, though?!” Akan asked, jogging to catch up.

Shadow and Jen were there in a moment, and they all had a tough time holding their balance when the building shook again. Jen looked around her and then to Akan as they rounded the second corner, “You can stay and find out if you want.”

“No, he can’t,” Shadow growled, in no mood for sarcasm.

The got back to the stairwell, and Akan took a look down. He could see pieces of the ceiling on the stairs, “What’s down there anyway?”

“I don’t know, and don’t plan to find out,” Shadow commented as she was already starting up the stairs. Akan sighed and followed, now behind Voort and running next to Jen. The building shook a third time...above. Right above them, too. A large piece of the ceiling came down over Akan and Jen, but there wasn’t anywhere to move to. Both of them simply continued trying to move forward without falling on their faces, and just before it reached them, the panel was forced back and tumbled down the stairs. Akan glanced up to see Voort nod to him, and then continued upwards.

Jen seemed to be alright, as she was moving up again. Akan decided catching up was a good idea. But that sound...there it was again. From above, this time slamming into a section of the ceiling far behind them. He glanced back a moment then up to the others, “I really hope my hearing’s just toying with me!”

“It isn’t,” Voort called back as he reached the door, “Those are turbolasers!”

Akan glanced up again, “Are we worth all this trouble?!”

No one answered, but when the door was opened, a hail of blaster fire shot out towards them. The four of them quickly dove to the sides, with the only damage to them being singed hairs and tail fur. Jen looked over to Akan, “Apparently, we are worth this much trouble.”

All eyes were then on Shadow. She noticed this, and just shrugged, “I didn’t do anything! This isn’t my fault!”

Blaster shots were still coming through the door as they all tried to work a way out of this. Akan sighed, “I saw about ten or so stormtroopers.”

“There’s more then just ten out there,” Voort commented, trying to get a look out the open door but not finding a long enough break in the barrage to warrant the risk of sticking his head out.

[What were they doing to you anyway?!] Akan asked over their link. He could have spoken it, but being on opposite sides of the door made it annoying to yell over the blaster fire.

He did see Shadow give him an almost glare. [I don’t know! You saw! They had one of those damned hoods!]

Akan was about to ask what the hood was when there was a loud explosion outside. The blaster fire stopped. No, it didn’t. It just wasn’t coming in through the door. The sounds of the shots could still be heard. The four of them exchanged confused looks, and Voort took this time to look outside. The troopers and other soldiers were all looking up, firing their rifles into the sky at something he couldn’t see. But he could hear it. They all could. It was like nothing they’d ever heard before. Well, no, Shadow recognized it. However, she wasn’t sure she could believe her ears at this point. Akan glanced outside to see what was going on, and looked just in time to see two large blue blasts unlike anything he’d ever seen slam into the ground, sending pieces of swamp, troopers, and trees everywhere.

Before anything could be said, the two of them watched something coming down through the trees. Jen was now looking over Akan’s shoulder, but Shadow sat back. She was afraid of what that was...if she was right, it didn’t exactly mean good things for her. In fact, it was probably going to be bad for all of them...but especially her. And Akan. But mostly her.

The only way Akan could think to describe the thing that had landed was like a smaller, more...almost organic looking Mon Calamari cruiser. It was about the size of a YT-1300 transport, but had long swept back wings coming from the nose. In the sky in the distance, he could see another, similar craft with shorter wings. However, the one in the sky looked much larger, at least the size of a Star Destroyer. And it was in the atmosphere...

Then, Shadow, Akan, and Voort suddenly looked up. The Force had triggered something in the three of them. Something...there was the sound of another turbolaser blast. Voort had grabbed Jen and got out of the building. Shadow was moving too, outside in time to see the green bolt slam into the roof of the entrance to the building. Debris scattered everywhere as the roar of the explosion temporarily deafened all of them. Jen and Voort were on the ground not far away. Shadow hit the ground and glanced back to Akan to see a large chunk of the building coming down on him before he got out. He had continued moving somehow, but the rest of the building came down. A good amount of it on him.

The dust cleared and they all heard another noise. Looking up into the sky, they could see the faint silhouette of a small Star Destroyer(most likely a Victory class). In a short explosion, the large ship tore apart. Shadow knew what had happened, but neither Jen nor Voort had seen the blue energy blasts from the strange ship in the atmosphere that had impacted the Star Destroyer so far away. Her head hurt...back hurt. Everything hurt. Akan wasn’t dead, but he felt unconscious and from the feelings running through Shadow’s legs, his were probably broken. As were a few other places along the spine and important areas. 

Ignoring the fact that the larger ship was starting to move their direction and come down to the swamp to land, Shadow ran over to dig Akan out and force him to remorph before it killed the both of them. Jen and Voort, however, had their eyes on the ship that was already on the ground. A ‘hatch’ of sorts had opened like an iris. There wasn’t any bright light inside, but they could see an outline of a large humanoid figure coming out.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 31: Family...Who Needs It?*

Jen watched the larger ship coming down not far off, noting how strange it looked. She’d never even heard of anything remotely similar..Voort was standing up now, and he had said something to get her attention on the approaching...four figures. Each of them were well over two meters tall, holding large weapons that seemed to cover the arm more than being held. As Jen stood up, she noticed a near shocked expression on Voort’s face. She followed his gaze to the nearest of those approaching, and her face soon mimicked Voort’s.

They were Alraxian. If the ears, tail, and generally feline features didn’t give it away, the skin tight suits they wore did. Though these suits were covered with larger plates that looked like armor of sorts, they didn’t seem to be in any way hampered by it. The four of them raised their weapons and simply aimed them at the two humans. They did not speak, but watched them with a close eye. Behind them, more were coming off of the smaller ship. All of them had the similar weapons, and to Voort’s trained eye, he could tell they were creating a very secure perimeter around the area. Why? No. The real question was why were they here in the first place. 

Shadow wasn’t paying them any attention. She was pulling large pieces of metal off of where Akan was, and tossing them aside. When she pulled one piece off, she felt a sudden pain in her leg. Oops...must have cut him. Ah well, he probably wouldn’t notice at this point anyway. After some more digging, she managed to see the leg...and the cut. Oops. So it had nearly took his leg completely off. He could remorph it...again. From the look of it, he had attempted to remorph his limbs and injuries, but had passed out before finishing.

By the time Shadow had him mostly uncovered and was pulling him out, she saw that there were about seven of the guards around her. Those palace guards had never liked her...always looking for an excuse to shoot her. Now, though, they seemed genuinely surprised to see her pulling an unknown Alraxian out of the debris. Something clicked in one of the guard’s minds, and he quickly turned and ran towards where the larger ship had landed. Shadow sighed as she watched him return with at least ten other Alraxians. Not soldiers though. Redstars. Medics. Three of them pushed her aside, quickly moving to Akan and treating him. The others were poking and prodding her. It took Shadow a moment to realize they weren’t just checking her for wounds, but weapons.

“I’m fine! Leave me alone!” she growled in her native tongue, which she hadn’t spoke for so many cycles she’d nearly forgotten what it sounded like. When she pushed the Redstars back, the guards raised their weapons and looked about ready to shoot. As usual. Amazing how things could return to normal after so long.

One of the guards, who had reddish tabby markings along his hair and tail, gave her a stern look, “The Empress comes.”

In that short sentence, he’d explained that if she made any sudden moves, even the twitch of an ear, she would be killed. Shadow knew that she could easily take one of the guards by herself...maybe even two or three. But not the entire compliment of guards aboard the two ships that had nearly emptied themselves onto the swamps of Garek V. It wasn’t long before she could see the Empress and Emperor. The Empress was tall and thin, with long black and grey hair. She had the stature of a healer, not a warrior. However, the stern look on her face showed she wasn’t about to be taken advantage of by anyone. Next to her, the Emperor wore a much softer expression. He was slightly shorter, and had thick silvery-grey hair. When he caught sight of Shadow, she saw him smile.

They passed the guards and the Redstars stepped aside. For a long moment, the two just stood staring at Shadow. Then, the Empress turned to Akan(who had been helped as best as the Redstars could, and would just have to regain consciousness). She nodded to her husband before stepping over and kneeling down next to the blue-striped Alraxian. Shadow was watching her when she was suddenly surprised. The Emperor stepped over and wrapped his arms around her in a tight bear hug. She made an ‘umph’ noise and stood there feeling awkward. He spoke in Alraxian, “Oh, I missed you, little girl.”

She kept her hands firmly at her sides, and spoke through gritted teeth, “I’m not short.”

He laughed and patted her shoulder, pulling back to give her a look over. He had a big smile on his face when he glanced past her to Akan. Then, he whispered to her, “You know, your mother did the same thing for me the day before she asked me to be the Emperor.”

Shadow’s mind took a moment to process that, but when she did, a shocked look came onto her face and she nearly shrieked. She pushed him away and looked up at him with a glare, ‘I...! He...! I didn’t...! You!!!”

With another laugh, her father just hugged her again, “Whatever you say, Miss Ice Heart.”

When Akan’s eyes opened slowly, he found himself looking up into two kind and soften purple eyes. He could see black hair and a smile on a face, but his vision was still blurry. Feeling someone lifting him up slightly, he heard a voice speak. It wasn’t in any language he recognized. As his eyes focused, he realized he was being held up by an Alraxian...an Alraxian?! Huh?! How...?

The woman’s smiled grew and she tried speak again, this time in Basic, “You will be alright. How do you feel?”

“Ah..uh...um...” Akan looked around, seeing many Alraxians all over the place. In the distance, he could see Jen and Voort watching with a confused interest, and up close...well, a big Alraxian was hugging Shadow and she looked panicked. He turned back to the woman holding him up and managed a lost look on his face, “Feel um...uh...”

She laughed and patted his back, “I am sorry we did not arrive sooner. It was only recently that I learned of my daughter’s location. I must admit...I am surprised she has a Nothlit now.”

Akan opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. Daughter. Nothlit...him. Shadow’s mother?! Shadow even had a mother? 
[Of course I have a mother! We all do! No matter how much we try to get them to go away!] Shadow’s voice cut into his thoughts.

Slowly, Akan looked over towards Shadow. He could see a resemblance. But...mother?! Hell, he hadn’t even been sure there were any more Alraxians beyond himself and Shadow. Now there were hundreds of them. And parents, too! After she helped him to his feet, the Empress looked to both of them, “I am sorry, but we cannot stay. We learned that you were here...but did not realize certain...” her glance fell onto Akan, “...certain things. I must speak with you privately if you will give me the chance.”

For a moment, Akan saw Shadow giving him a ‘help!’ look, but she nodded and the mother and daughter walked off(with all of the guards following). The Emperor watched them go, then turned to Akan, smiling proudly he spoke in Basic, “Soo...what do you think of my daughter?”

That caught Akan off guard. Was he saying what it sounded like he was saying?! Akan saw the grin on the Emperor’s face. Yes, he was saying that. All that Akan managed as an answer was a steady stream of ‘uh’ ‘um’ and nervous laughter.

This brought another laugh to the Emperor, who extended his hand to Akan. When Akan took it, the man shook his strongly, “Call me Cole. Or dad. Either works. You’re name is...?”

Dad?! This was just getting worse and worse every second. For the first time in his life, Akan suddenly didn’t want a family or parents, or anything similar. When he opened his mouth this time, Akan managed to speak, “I’m uh...Akan...”

“Well, Akan,” Cole said putting an arm around his shoulder and leading him towards the smaller ship, “I’d really like to get to know you better right now, but we don’t have that much time. Just do me a favor and keep my daughter safe, will you?”

“Ah..um..okay?” Akan tried, noticing just how much taller that Cole was.

“Good good,” Cole patted his shoulder, “Next time we talk I expect a full report. I also expect you to be able to speak properly.”

After Akan nodded, Cole patted him on the shoulder again and walked off. As Akan stood there in a dazed confusion, the guards and Alraxians walked off to the ships. It was only five or so minutes and Jen, Voort, Akan, and Shadow were alone again. Shadow had walked over looking worried, but wasn’t saying anything. Akan had a feeling he knew about how she felt. Jen and Voort, though, were even more lost. They’d been kept far away from any actual speaking.

So of course, Jen asked, “What in the Force just happened?!”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 32: Shared History*

It was an hour later. They had returned to the shuttle and were in hyperspace on their way to, of all places, Corellia. Shadow had insisted on it, and after much argument over the why, Akan simply gave in and plotted the coordinates. Once they were safely on their way, Akan, Voort, and Jen sat Shadow down to get some explanations.

Shadow had the look of one who was on trial, and in a sense, she was. Voort was angry that he’d been treated like an inferior. To that, Shadow simply shrugged and told him that he was. Jen was more angry that she’d just not been allowed to ask any questions. Apparently, when she’d tried asking one of the guards something, they’d put the gun far too close to her face. Akan was just wondering what all was going on.

“They...apparently have been searching for me since I left,” Shadow said with a sigh, “Mother knew why I left...exile is the closest there is, but only a few know the truth.”

For a moment, her eyes flashed that silver colour again, then faded back to a softer blue, “Among our people...some children are born with silver eyes. They are the Tam-Day-U. For as long as I know, young children with silver eyes are taken away and trained as assassins...or worse. To the people of the Empire, we are the black sheep of the race. To have the Empress’ daughter and heir born as a Tam-Day-U would have been a horrible blow. So my eyes were...altered to hide that. However, as must happen to all Tam-Day-U, I left to train with the rest of my kind at the right age. After my...last mission, I left. I did not expect to be followed, ever.”

She sighed and looked to the floor, almost ashamed, “Sadrak discovered Imperial records on Alraxians. They were not detailed, as the scout ship was quickly chased away, however they learned some of our history. Mother is afraid he may be trying to...to bring the Darkwings back.”

When Shadow looked up, she noticed that none of them had any idea what she meant. Giving a slightly desperate look, she tried to explain, “Thousands of cycles ago, our people were exposed to a...a...poison. It morphed them...no, not a morph. Changed. Evil creatures. Impossibly dangerous and evil. The war against them lasted for ages. If Sadrak is attempting to attempt another Darkwing War...”

She trailed off and Akan picked up on the stray thoughts. He sighed and spoke quietly, “Not taking over the galaxy, but simply exterminating it.”

Taking all of it in, Jen looked to Shadow, studying the Alraxian for a long moment, “Why Corellia?”

Shadow thought about how to explain it, then said, “My ship is there. I left him there cycles ago.”

“Him?” Jen asked, finally able to find a good point to bring up the subject of ships.

For the first time since they’d left the Garek system, a smile crept onto Shadow’s face, “Our ships are living creatures. Kanyaks. You saw Ferina and Eledanic on that planet...I had to leave Loki behind on Corellia a few cycles ago.”

“We need to find Sadrak,” Voort said flatly. He had been listening intently to all of this, but it all simply put his focus more firmly where it had already been. A detour to Corellia was foolish and would simply waste time. Sadrak needed to be eliminated. If he was allowed more time to enjoy his own peace, he would end up killing more families.

“Why don’t your people just attack Sadrak?” asked Jen, stating a question that was in all of their minds except for Shadow’s.

Shadow just shook her head, “If he has the ability to recreate the poison, then it is suicide to send an army of Alraxians against him.”

One more big, obvious question left. Akan fielded it, “Where is Sadrak anyway?”

At this, Shadow shrugged and made an almost pathetic whimper. Though she said nothing to the others, she looked to Akan apologetically. [I...don’t know.]

There was a long silence where they all thought about the things that had happened and what had to be done. Then, Voort spoke up in a strangely calm voice, “I know where he is.”

The three others suddenly turned to Voort with an expectant look. None of them knew what to say, though Akan was preparing to call the man an idiot, he held back. Mainly because Shadow had caught that thought and told him to shut up for now. She knew, as well as Voort, that bickering between them was not going to do anything but help Sadrak. Voort didn’t want to explain what he was going to have to. He had known Shadow looked familiar, but now he could pinpoint it. It caused a stinging pain in him similar to what he felt when his wife was killed.

He took a deep breath, and ended the silence, “I’ll admit it...I am not a good person. I’ve killed so many simply for killing. I learned to use the Force from the Emperor himself. But I am still human, and I still feel all of the emotions there are,” with his prelude done, he looked up to Shadow to speak the rest of it, “A few years after Endor, I found myself in the service of Ysanne Isard. At the time, I didn’t know who Sadrak was, but now I know he was directing her project from a distance. Obviously waiting for the right time to step in. I was the head of security for this project. From what I was told in he initial briefing, they had captured a young creature of which we’d never seen before. She claimed to be called an Alraxian. She swore that she would kill us for this, and after long hours of us ignoring this, she told us that others would come after her. As time passed, I...I grew to be her friend. I do not know exactly how, I just know that I pitied her. I hated the tests that I watched performed on her...I hated seeing her treated like an object.”

Shadow stared at him, searching for something she couldn’t find. Akan could feel her mind trying to break through something...something she wasn’t even sure existed. Her mouth opened, and she managed to speak, “But...I’ve never met you before.”

Jen also looked confused, and asked pointedly, “What was this project?”

“Cloning,” Voort said, answering both of the females with that one word, “Isard was making an army of assassins. Almost like living droids. Loyal to a fault. The perfect weapon. First, they had to learn this new species’ genetic makeup. They found an...interesting trait in the growth cycle.”

At this, Shadow nodded, “Children for twenty cycles...then, an adult. No long transition, just one sudden change.”

Voort also nodded, “About a seventy standard year long childhood. At first, they attempted to create clones of the same age. It...didn’t work. The knowledge to do that for such an unknown species wasn’t there. So, they tried a younger age. With less variables to deal with, they succeeded. Eventually, it was discovered how to create older clones. By this time, many of the younger ones were sent out on missions, testing their efficiency. Not long before Sadrak had me arrested...one of the clones failed to return.”

Slowly, Shadow took this in. She knew what it meant. It explained the large gap in her memory...why she could remember leaving Loki on Corellia, and then working for the Hutts what felt like only a day later. But...a clone? A clone could never be accepted in the Empire. They were horrible mockeries of life. And she was one?! How could she do anything?! Her family obviously didn’t know, they wouldn’t have come to assist her! But...Marix. The real Marix. Wasn’t she an adult before?

“Marix should have been an adult by now!” she blurted out, finding it strange to hear her own name like that.

Voort hung his head, “She was kept in stasis to stop that. If they haven’t move the facility, and I doubt they have...we should go to Coruscant.”

“Coruscant?” Akan was even surprised by this one.

Again, Voort nodded, “Deep within the lower levels. The perfect place for such a facility.”

Shadow stood up and walked off to one of the small quarters without a word. Akan stood up, giving the other two a long look, then followed her. He found her sitting on the bed(in what was actually supposed to be his quarters), staring blankly at the wall. When he entered, she took no notice. He stood there watching her, feeling out her thoughts and picking out a particular one that was dragging her down.

“You aren’t just a copy,” Akan said quietly, stepping over towards the bed.

She glanced up at him, the silver completely gone from her eyes, “You’ve seen through the link what our people believe about clones.”

Sitting next to her on the bed, Akan nodded, “But you’re an individual...you broke away,” he smiled slightly, “If you want proof. Look at me.”

There was no reaction for a long time, then she nodded, a smile almost tugging at the edge of her face, “Mother said you were cute.”

“What was with them, anyway?” Akan asked, doing his absolute best to ignore what had just been said.

The smile on Shadow’s face turned into a grin, “One of those things I didn’t mention...you’re a BlueIce now. By all rights, you’re a member of the Empire, and their son.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 33: Tails of Balance*

Corellia was a well populated planet, but thankfully Shadow had directed them to a smaller city near the northern coast of the largest continent. Apparently, the place was a haven for smugglers and thieves. But this was Corellia. No matter what CorSec did to keep them away, the smuggles an thieves were everywhere. The city itself was small only compared to the capital of Coronet. Of course, most anything that wasn’t Coruscant was smaller than Coronet, so it wasn’t the best comparison.

After they’d exited hyperspace, an argument had started. Voort argued they should go to Coruscant immediately. Even Jen agreed with him. Akan did to a point, but part of him was pulled to agree with Shadow in getting her ship. Of course, that was a large amount due to curiosity. With the vote essentially tied on what to do, Akan offered a suggestion. Drop Shadow and him off and then they could meet on Coruscant. This had the advantage of not having to be anywhere near Voort, who had been getting on Akan’s nerves more and more lately. However, leaving Jen with him...strangely, though, she didn’t seem to have problem with it. Apparently she trusted the Imperial. Or rather, former Imperial as Voort had insisted multiple times.

Having set down outside the city, the plan was to just drop the two Alraxians of and leave. Currently, they stood in at the edge of the ramp, and Akan gave the grass below a careful look. It’d been a very long time since he’d been back on Corellia. Shadow had already said her goodbye and good luck, and was waiting at the bottom of the ramp impatiently. Akan looked to Voort, who was wearing his Imperial uniform minus the patches and insignia. Giving the ex-Imperial a fairly dirty look, Akan said simply, “After this is over...”

Eventually, Voort nodded, but there was a hesitation in it. Akan didn’t catch it, but Jen, knowing what was being said, did notice. Somehow, it didn’t surprise her. Akan then looked to her, a weak smile on his face, “You be careful.”

To his surprise, Jen stepped over and hugged him. Stepping back after a moment, she nodded, “You, too.”

After standing there for a short moment in a state of confusion, Akan backed down the ramp, then turned and caught up to Shadow. The shuttle started up, and Akan turned back to look in time to watch the two wings folding down as it shot off into the sky. Honestly, Akan had never understood people that well. So, as was usual for most males, he understood women even less than most. This, of course, caused a fairly constant state of confusion when dealing with others.

“Close your mouth before you choke on a bug,” Shadow commented, a grin on her face as she started walking towards the city not too far off.

Akan glared at her for a moment, but then just gave up and followed. As they approached the city, he found that he was starting to get a feeling like they were being watched. When he had been about to say something, Shadow shook her head. [Don’t talk about it.]

[Aren’t we going to be noticed?] Akan asked worriedly, watching an airspeeder fly not too far over them. [I meant, the New Republic’s probably got people looking for me. And I’m a bit...well, easy to notice in a crowd. Especially on Corellia.]

She didn’t stop, but she did turn to give him an accusing glare. [You didn’t tell me you’re wanted now.]

[I thought you were smart enough to pick that up.] he responded flatly, watching a few people carefully as they started into the streets of the city. They both got some looks, but with the myriad of species in the galaxy, and the fact that Alraxians were fairly similar to at least one, meant they didn’t stand out too much. People were content to go about their business, anyway. Akan did make sure not to run into anyone, though, as that was never a good thing. Seemed like everyone in these smuggler cities took things like that personally. Following Shadow through the slowly gathering crowd of people, Akan realized he had no idea where they were actually going. [Um...so where’s this ship of yours?]

Shadow glanced over her shoulder a moment to make sure he was still keeping up, then nodded ahead. [An old warehouse. My old...friend used to own it.]

Eventually, Akan did managed to catch sight of the building she was talking about. It wasn’t that old, actually. Well, not in terms of any of the buildings around the city, but he’d expected a run down and beat up building. Instead, he saw a large, well painted and generally pristine look to it. There was a very small feeling in the back of his mind though. Something bothering him.

[We’re being followed.] Shadow ‘said’, confirming his thoughts.

Instinctively, Akan found his hand moved to rest over his blaster pistol. Thankfully, his jacket concealed the weapon and would hopefully not tip off anyone watching them. He did his best to reach out with the Force, trying to find the source of those following them. It didn’t take long. Determined minds were usually easy to pick out. At least three or four of them...

He noticed Shadow drop back next to him. Using Akan as a bit of cover, she glanced over his shoulder. It looked like she was looking to him, and to add to this, she said, “Aren’t you hungry? Its been hours since any decent meal.”

He didn’t answer, but that was because she’d faced forward again and ‘spoke’ through the link. [Two Humans, a Trandoshan, and a Mon Calamari. One of the Humans has a New Republic uniform on.]

[Let me guess, one of the others is wearing CorSec colours?] Akan asked sounding annoyed. He hated being right...especially when it was about being easy to notice.

Shadow didn’t respond, but he took that to be a ‘yes’, which did feel right. Sometimes even words through the link weren’t needed to understand. This was still odd, but Akan was finding it easy to get used to. It was amazing how things worked when you had a fairly certain idea what the other person was thinking. Honestly, Akan should have mentioned something about the New Republic most likely being on the look out for him earlier, but he hadn’t thought they’d be traveling anywhere near the Core Worlds anytime soon. One day he was going to learn to stop anticipating actions, as he was nearly always wrong about things in the long term.

[There’s a break in the crowd up ahead of us.] Shadow interrupted his thoughts with her’s, [When we get there, break and run as fast as you can to the warehouse.]

Alright. That wasn’t the best plan, but it was more than he’d come up with up to that point, so Akan decided to go with it. There was obviously more to what Shadow was planning than just running. He couldn’t pick it up though, only subtle hints that there was more. Once they reached the break in the crowd, Akan didn’t even glance over his shoulder. Instead, he took off running. He heard someone yell, “HEY! STOP!” behind him, and then people cursing as they were pushed aside by the four who were most likely right on his tail now. Approaching the warehouse, he noted there was no entrance on the side where he was running to. Cursing, Akan turned and started as fast as he could to get around through a small alley.

Hearing blaster shots behind him, he watched as a few red bolts hit the wall in front of him just before rounding the corner. Out of habit, he glanced behind him. This was when Akan realized Shadow wasn’t with him. In fact, he realized she hadn’t even run...turning forward, he climbed over a low durasteel wall and continued to get around the large building. Akan could still hear the men behind him, but they were slower and having trouble on the wall.

[No time for questions] Shadow’s voice suddenly said in his mind, [Just do what I tell you. Get a mental image of you. How you were as a Human. Focus on it. Focus as hard as you can and make it be. Okay?]

Akan glanced over his shoulder again, seeing a human in CorSec green helping the Mon Calamari over the wall. Forgetting that Shadow couldn’t see, he simply nodded at what she’d said. Focus...him. Rounding the corner, he started across the back of the warehouse, looking for a door of some kind as he ran and tried to think all at the same time. Focus...he put together a mental image of what he remembered looking like. Not tall...somewhat average build, tanned skin. Less scruffy brown hair...no tail, normal ears. Once he had it, he held onto the image, and did as she said. Make it be? How? Well, it had sounded a lot like many of the things in using the Force...so...he tried using that line of thinking to do whatever it was.

A sudden pain shot through his body. Overcome with surprise, he nearly tripped and fell flat on his face, but somehow Akan managed to keep running. The pain ended after a few moments, and Akan suddenly found it was much harder to keep his balance. He stumbled slightly, noticing that he wasn’t even running as fast. His vision was a bit less focused to...and he couldn’t hear those footsteps behind him. They had to be there. They wouldn’t have just stopped after he got around the corner, would they? A slightly dizzy moment hit him, and Akan finally lost his balance. Stumbling to the ground, Akan fell flat onto his face on the hard, paved ground. Pain shot through his face an arm(which he’d landed on awkwardly), and before he could get up, suddenly felt himself being dragged away from the warehouse.

A somewhat familiar voice said, “Gods, your even heavy like this.”

He was dragged into a second alley behind the warehouse, and when rolled over, he looked up into the face of a young human girl. She looked about nineteen or twenty, with short, jet black hair and two soft blue eyes. It took him a moment to realize the girl was wearing the same clothes Shadow had been. That’s about when he realized the hair of his fringe was brown.

“No tail makes it hard to balance,” she said simply, looking out down to he warehouse, obviously looking for the men who’d been after Akan, “You really shouldn’t do other things while morphing until you’re used to it.”

“Huh...?” Akan asked, realizing his voice sounded...different. After a moment, he looked down at himself. Skin was a lot lighter than before. Still tan, but, not the dark mocha colour as before, “What happened?!”

Shadow patted his head idly, “Your first lesson in morphing. Going to have to find a better time to teach you, though. And next time you fall, please land on your back.”

He watched as she rubbed her face, and Akan realized that was where sharp pain continued to be on his own face. Putting his hand up to it, he felt a little blood. Akan pulled his hand back and looked at the blood. Red. More normal at least. Akan managed an apologetic look, but Shadow shook her head, “Just remorph that. Do it the same way you did the first time. There were at least five or six more waiting to pick us up, so I figure we’ll wait here until its clear.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 34: An Excuse to Die*

“After Alderaan was destroyed, I did what most of us who were off planet did,” Jen said, looking out the viewport of the shuttle and into the blue of hyperspace, “I joined the Rebellion. But I wasn’t a fighter...I helped with more of the technical things. I was actually at the Battle of Endor aboard one of the smaller ships as part of a technical crew.”

Voort, sitting in the pilot’s seat of the shuttle, had a somewhat sullen look to his face, “I was on the ground at Endor. When things started turning bad, I ordered my unit off the ground and we pulled out with one of the retreating Victory Destroyers.”

There was a long, strangely uneasy silence between them. It had been about an hour in hyperspace so far, and the trip would only be another hour at most. They hadn’t left the cockpit for some reason, simply talking about the past. There was one question Jen had continually avoided, but she found herself unable to continue without asking it. Carefully, she said, “Do you...regret your time with the Empire?”

Voort looked to her a moment, studying her face and then slowly shook his head, “I should. Any decent human would considering the things I did...but somehow, I don’t. It was my job. My duty. I killed because it was my job to do so...” he trailed off, and then noticed a near horrified expression on Jen’s face, “I’m not heartless. Just because I don’t regret it, doesn’t mean I don’t remember it. I have a small datapad with the names of every one of my confirmed kills in it. Family, history, even a picture. One hundred and twenty eight of them. I believe that was the only way for me to keep my humanity...”

Jen’s expression seemed to soften, but she still looked worried and in a way, afraid. She chose her next words carefully, “You...had a wife?”

A smile tugged at the edges of Voort’s face, but he kept it under control, “Her name was Calina. The day she was killed by Sadrak...that was the day I realized that the Empire had truly fallen. My Emperor respected me...he treated me with dignity and did the same for my wife. But Sadrak...we’re all pawns and toys to him.”

A very surprised look was currently on Jen’s face, “Respect? Dignity? Are you sure we’re talking about the same Emperor here? That man was evil incarnate.”

“You say that like I’m not,” responded Voort flatly, looking out into hyperspace and closing his eyes, “I am not a good person. I never was. I’m not doing all of this out of any other reason beyond revenge. Don’t start thinking otherwise.”

Jen sighed and nodded, sitting back in her chair and also closing her eyes. Part of her had hoped that Voort was more...more...more human maybe. She wasn’t sure how to explain it. However there was still something there in him that she could see. He looked...tired. No, exhausted. But not from lack of sleep. More a general exhaustion about him than anything. After she started to feel like the silence was making her uneasy, she tried another topic, “So how do we plan to get clearance to land?”

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Voort commented, opening his eyes again and checking the chrono, “They get a large amount of civilian traffic these days, so what’s one more?”

It made sense. Still, there were other things, “If he’s on Coruscant, wouldn’t he have been noticed by now?”

“Not if he’s n the lower levels,” Voort responded, shaking his head, “So much down there even the Empire stopped caring. Except for a few projects, of course. Don’t have any idea where most of them are, but I do remember where Isard ran her project.”

“Didn’t she escape Coruscant in a Super Star Destroyer not long after the New Republic took the planet?” Jen asked, obviously worried that what they were looking for wasn’t even on the planet anymore.

“She didn’t keep this project anywhere near the Lusankya,” Voort said, noting the chrono still indicated they had a good amount of time left, “It was too dangerous to keep the clones so close to all of those prisoners. The less everyone knew the better. She kept the cloning project in a small facility far below the city itself off in the industrial district.”

After that, they spoke little for the remainder of the trip. It was about half an hour later that the small shuttle was starting through the atmosphere of Coruscant. They’d gotten clearance to land on a platform near the center of the old Imperial Center section of the planet stretching city. That meant a long trip to the industrial district, but Voort didn’t seem to care. One thing he was having to count on was that the New Republic didn’t think he was stupid enough to actually go to their capital after escaping from one of their ships barely a day before. It was likely that the faces of Jen, Akan, and Voort were all over the place by now, but unlikely that the large amount of people on Coruscant would have seen them, or would care if they did. It was all a matter of avoiding security.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Akan and Shadow?” Jen asked after they’d set down and the ship had been powered down.

Voort had been ready to leave, but gave in to this. It was probably a good idea, “We’ll wait a day. They have the comm frequency for the shuttle. If they don’t contact us within a day, I’m going after Sadrak without them.”

The way he kept it as such a personal task to go after Sadrak no longer surprised Jen. What did surprise her, though, was her response to him, “If you go, I go.”

The expression on Voort’s face changed slightly, and he raised an eyebrow, “I thought you weren’t a fighter.”

“You’re right that Sadrak needs to be dealt with,” she admitted, shrugging as she spoke, “And besides, I’d like to know the man who plans to kill Akan after all of this.”

Voort’s expression again changed, this time to that old exhausted look, “That kid is the one who wants that to happen.”

“What do you mean?” asked Jen, not understanding what he had said. She hadn’t actually expected any response out of him in the first place.

The former Imperial gave her a serious look, “He reminds me a lot of myself when Calina died. Whether he realizes or not, I can see it in him. He’s looking for a way to die. An excuse to die.”

Biting her lip, Jen did her best to hold back what she’d been about to say. But why not? Akan hadn’t told her not to speak of it with anyone else. Besides, here was someone with a very similar past, and the fact that Voort had seen himself in Akan said even more. Carefully, Jen spoke, “He...he was very close to someone who was killed in the attack on Coruscant.”

Slowly, Voort turned back towards her, a curious expression crossing his face, “He was with the New Republic?”

She nodded, “From what he told me, at least. He’s got a deep...hatred for the Empire. Doesn’t speak about it, but its easy to see.”

Nodding, Voort said, “War has a habit of taking the ones we love the most.”

Jen opened her mouth to say something, but then decided against it. He was right. She’d lost her entire family on Alderaan and most of her friends. Akan had lost Mare. Voort had lost Calina. Shadow had lost...well, Jen wasn’t sure what Shadow had lost, but it was something they were most likely going to find out. A slow realization came over her, and she opened her mouth to speak again, “You...you’re not going to kill him, are you?”

This time, Voort did smile, but it wasn’t comforting at all, “No. I won’t.”

“Because you’re looking for an excuse to die,” Jen said, quoting the Imperial’s own words.

Again, Voort nodded, “But not until after I’ve killed Sadrak.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 35: No More Surprises*

Shadow and Akan waited for nearly twenty minutes in the alley. Akan had gotten used to being Human again...which was odd, because one never thought that they’d have to get used to being themself in such a way. The biggest problem was balance. He’d never really understood how a tail assisted in this, but it obviously was something he’d gotten used to, as without it he was stumbling and pretty much unable to run. Shadow, who had adapted quickly, but she was used to this kind of thing somehow, had been forced to help him walk. 

If anyone had been around to see, they would have most likely gotten a holo of it and displayed it in some local news as some kind of joke. Even part of Akan wanted to see what it looked like. Though he was smaller as a Human, Shadow was, too. In fact, the top of her head only reached just under his nose. This small, somewhat thin human girl with jet black hair and an uncomfortable look on her face was doing her absolute best to help a taller human who looked a good four or five years her senior. This was, of course, wrong, as she was nearly three times his actual age, but it didn’t detract from how she looked.

About halfway into the walk across the street to the entrance into the large warehouse, Akan starting walking on his own. He did his best not to look awkward, but decided to just try and walk and not care about how it looked. This proved a good strategy, as not thinking about it and just doing it seemed to be the best way. When they reached the entrance, Shadow punched in a short numeric code into a small console next to the door. A light went blue, and the door slid open. She stepped in, and Akan followed, looking around and not completely sure what to expect.

The interior was a large, open area. There was only one thing within it. A large, soft black and brown colored...ship? Had to be. It looked very similar in shape to the smaller one that they had seen on Garek V. The same, long, swept back wings that seemed to come off of the nose. However, these also looked to meld back into the large shape of the ship near the rear. Overall, the ship was teardrop shaped, tapering to a soft point at what he assumed was the rear. It was about eighty to ninety meters long in total. Akan hadn’t realized how large the warehouse was...of course, when he was running around, he wasn’t exactly measuring things or timing himself.

As Akan stood there looked over the large ship, Shadow walked over and put her hand on a section lower to the ground. [Loki...] when Akan heard her voice in his mind, he was sure she was speaking to him. He opened his mouth to ask what she was doing when something strange happened. Again. One day he’d make a list so he could just check things off instead of remembering them all.

[Marix?] another voice. Not Shadow’s. Now his. But masculine, somehow. It ‘sounded’ like a human about Akan’s age, with a somewhat more childlike tone to it.

Akan was walking over some and saw a smile on Shadow’s face. A real smile. It wasn’t like her grin that could make the Emperor wet his robe. [I’m back, Loki. I’m sorry for leaving you behind for so long...we’ve got things to do, though! Mind if I explain on the way?]

There was the equivalent of a ‘hmm’ sound in their minds, and then a small iris shaped hatch opened not too far from where Shadow stood. She looked back to Akan, and motioned for him to follow. The inside of Loki was generally ship like. Not the usual metal colours, but the same colours as his exterior. His? Well, from what Akan could figure, Loki was technically a he. Shadow showed Akan to a fairly large room with a nice sized bed and closet, but seemed distracted. She was speaking with Loki. Akan could hear it, but was tuning it out for the time as she was just explaining who he was, why she’d taken so long, and what they were going to do. Akan simply took this time to inspect the room. The bed was impossibly comfortable, feeling like it almost molded to him wherever he moved to.

[It does.] a cheery voice interrupted his thoughts. Not Shadow. Shadow’s voice would never be described as ‘cheery’. It was Loki, who had decided to be curious about this new person.

[Oh...um...anything I should know about?] Akan asked, not really sure of the kind of things one would talk with a ship about anyway. Especially one that had been in a warehouse for a while.

Another ‘hmm’ noise spread through Akan’s mind before Loki ‘spoke’ again, “Well...there’s extra clothes in the closet? Oh, but those are Marix’s. She probably wouldn’t want you messing with them.]

[Uh-huh...] Akan looked at the closet, then started over towards the door, which did the whole iris opening thing again as he stepped close an out into the long corridor. [Was that her room?]

[Ah...um...her room is next to yours.] Loki commented, doing a bad job at dodging the question.

Akan just ignored it, and followed a few directions to the cockpit. There were four large, Alraxian sized seats in front of a wide, unobstructed viewport. Lights, switches, and a few glowing things littered the area, and Akan was surprised that he found himself able to recognize a good amount of it. Strange...

“You might want to morph back,” Shadow commented from the front right seat, looking back over it. She was Alraxian again, and Akan was surprised to see she was about his height now. He hadn’t actually realized that last time he’d been...human. Again, an odd thought and one he was trying to avoid.

Taking a seat next to her, Akan shrugged. He didn’t mind being human. Once he’d gotten used to the no-tail thing, the ‘I’m not as strong’ thing wasn’t nearly as hard to deal with. He watched as Shadow was working out some controls. A small control yoke protruded from the ‘console’ in front of her, and in a moment, it lit up. She gave him a look, that dangerous grin on her face, “Hold on.”

Then, Loki started moving. Up. Straight up. Of course, there was a warehouse in the way. Akan wasn’t going to ask how Loki had been gotten INTO the warehouse, but he knew right away how she planned to get him out. After a loud crashing noise, a groan from Loki about being too rough, and a laugh from Shadow about Loki being a wimp, they were flying upwards into the atmosphere. After that, they soon entered hyperspace. It didn’t surprise Akan, as little did anymore. However, what did surprise him was that from the chrono on their time to Coruscant, Loki’s hyperdrive had to be at least twice as good as most. It was half the time he’d expected for the trip...

“Alright, time for work!” Shadow announced almost too happily. She got up out of her chair, grabbing Akan and starting to literally drag him down the corridors, “Going to teach you how to morph properly.”

“In just over an hour?” Akan asked, sounding both worried and surprised.

Again, that dangerous grin appeared on Shadow’s face, “Better learn quick.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 36: Towards the Light*

The day of waiting for Akan and Shadow came and went. True to his word, Voort was preparing to leave at dawn the next day. Jen had sat by the comm for a long while, hoping to hear something. Voort had waited an extra hour to appease her, but once they’d continued to hear nothing at all he’d said only once that he was leaving. Jen sighed, but got her blaster and a couple other things together anyway. She’d said she would go...and she was going to.

After getting an air cab to a smaller, but tightly populated area of the planet, Voort found a fast and inconspicious airspeeder to ‘borrow’ for the time being. Jen sat back in the small speeder, looking over the mess that was Coruscant. After the invasion of the planet, many of the buildings had been destroyed and clean up efforts had lasted for so long that many people forgot exactly how things were damaged. Though most of that was done with now, the more industrial areas weren’t nearly as crucial to be completely perfect. So, as the speeder passed out of the main city and along the smaller(but still very high up in relation to the planet’s actual surface) buildings of the industrial district, Jen started to worry slightly about being noticed. There wasn’t anything out there but them.

As they passed over a large conduit of sorts, Voort started to bring the speeder down. Voort seemed lost in his own thought, not paying attention to anything but his flying. Honestly, Jen couldn’t blame him. She watched out the viewport, trying not to think and just let herself be calm. She had no idea what she was really getting into here. She was just along for the ride...why, though? She didn’t know. All she did know was that she was going, and there wasn’t any turning back.

The speeder was turned onto its side as they dove down below the first level of the small buildings. Jen looked around, seeing how tight this really was. Voort had slowed down the speeder to more easily make it through many of the turns he was taking. How was he navigating like this, though? There were no landmarks of any sorts...memory, then? A good memory, obviously.

“Punch into the comm unit ‘four seven five alpha nine’” Voort said, suddenly interrupting her thoughts. Jen jumped slightly, then put in the number sequence with a smile on her face. She was getting nervous about this. She hadn’t even really had to deal with a long tension like this...its why she enjoyed being a scientist. Not a minute after she’d put in the code, a small hangar bay door not far in front of them opened. Inside, it was empty.

Jen raised an eyebrow at that, “He didn’t change the codes?”

“Oh, he probably did,” Voort said as he slowed the speeder and set it down, “But we’ve still got about twenty levels to descend. This was an old private hangar I used that Isard and Sadrak had no idea was so close to them. If they did, it wouldn’t still be here.”

He got up, and exited the airspeeder, looking around the small, dark, and long unused hangar. When Jen had caught up behind him, he started over to a turbolift, “This used to go all the way down...somehow I doubt it still does.”

Nodding, Jen stepped into the turbolift him and...waited. It was about the only thing one could do on such a long journey down. She wanted to say something about Akan and Shadow, but wasn’t sure that was the best thing at this point. Voort looked distant then, focused on something she wasn’t aware of. Part of her felt out of place in all of this. Voort had reason to go after Sadrak. Shadow especially did. Akan well...he seemed to be in the same ship as Jen at this point. Just going along with the others. Though, to Akan, it was likely that he’d go out of his way to get rid of an Imperial like Sadrak.

With a fairly loud noise, the turbolift came to a halt. Voort looked around a moment, then to Jen, “It took us all the way down...”

Jen took that as a bad thing, and drew her blaster pistol before standing out of the way of the door. Voort had his lightsaber in hand as he did the same. Then, the door slid open, revealing a long, dark corridor with a few emergency lights here and there. Empty. Eerie, too. Slowly, Voort stepped out into the hallway. He motioned for Jen to follow. Jen stepped out into the darkness, keeping close to Voort as they moved one step at a time. 

They moved like this for what seemed like an eternity, turning corners and all the while Jen expecting something to jump out at them. Nothing did. Somehow, that made it even more worrisome. They didn’t speak at all, partly from worry that it might alert anyone to their presence. Voort knew that if Sadrak was here(which he was suspecting more so with each step), he was already aware of them. Jen didn’t know this, and didn’t need to. But she’d soon know they weren’t completely alone. If the light at the far end of the corridor didn’t tell that to Jen, nothing would.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Next Chapter to come later today...probably tonight as it will(hopefully) be a long one. Just noting here that attached to the first post is now a 'Cover Image' for the Story Hour.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

((Change of plans...going with multiple smaller updates for this one.))

*Chapter 37: Laughter in the Dark*

The light seemed to grow as the they approached. It wasn’t a trick of the eye. In fact, the light level was increasing. Jen was gripping her small blaster pistol tightly, a bit worried at the echoing noise of their footsteps. It was unnerving. Without a doorway to the room they approached, it was easy to see how large it was. Along the back wall was a set of tables, consoles, and large tubes. The ceiling was domed, at least twenty meters above them. At the center of the room, Jen looked all around her. The light level cast a strange white glow over everything, especially the tubes that seemed to line all of the walls.

Voort was still moving forward, slowly and cautiously. He stepped down five or six small stairs towards the end of the room, looking at a console near the wall. Approaching it, he noticed that someone had stopped in the middle of their work. A genetic structure was on the screen. Stopped, though...why? No, not stopped. Showing off. Titus turned around to see Sadrak standing behind Jen at the large open entrance to the room. He was wearing a heavy looking red and black set of armor. Or at least, clothes styled like armor.

“Ahh, Titus,” Sadrak smiled, the voice behind her causing Jen to nearly jump out of her skin, stepping back closer to the steps and aiming her pistol at him. The black haired man chuckled as a disturbing glow seemed to grow out of his eyes, “Now now. Patience. We can’t start the show without your pets.”

Voort had started moving forward, and it was obvious he was about to activate the lightsaber and attack. He didn’t get far enough to even hit the lightsaber’s switch. Sadrak’s arms was extended, and the lightsaber shot out of Voort’s hands. Sadrak caught it, inspected it a moment with an amused look on his face, then simply tossed it off to the side. There was a silence as the three of them stood waiting for one of them to move. But nothing came of it. In a moment, Sadrak’s smile returned and he tilted his head to the side, “Ah, good. A little late, but they’ve made it.”

The Inquisitor stepped to the side to allow Jen and Voort a better view. Sure enough, Shadow and Akan could be seen making their way towards them. When they caught sight of the situation, they stopped. Akan looked to be reaching for his lightsaber, but Sadrak easily put a stop to that, using the Force to yank the hilt of the weapon into his grip. After another amused inspection, Sadrak tossed the weapon away. When Sadrak reached down and pulled a small weapon from a holster on his belt, Jen and Akan both did the same thing. Jen fired her blaster pistol at Sadrak. Akan took another moment, seeing as he had to draw the weapon, but also fired. Sadrak simply held up his hand, both blasts absorbing in a bright flash.

A sudden invisible fist slammed into Jen, sending her sprawling back and down the steps. Voort had tried to stop her from falling, but did no good. When he moved towards Sadrak, another wall of nothing hit him, forcing the man hard against the back wall before he collapsed to the ground. Sadrak smiled, and turned to the two Alraxians, “Now that they won’t be a problem. Let us get this underway, shall we?”

In a flash of movement, Shadow started at Sadrak. She was half through a morph when Sadrak raised the weapon, and fired it. But not blaster shot rang out. Instead, a short wisp of air, and a gasp from Shadow as something hit her. She tumbled to the ground, body never finishing the morph and instead reverting back to her Alraxian form. Akan felt a sharp pain through his...mind. Not body. Then, nothing. It was like the link completely disappeared. Not like before with her so far away...but truly gone. He tried to run to her to do something, but an invisible force slammed him to the side into the wall.

With a quiet laugh from Sadrak, Akan felt blackness cover him.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 38: The Darkwing*

When Akan’s eyes opened, he found he was looking up into the blurry form of...skin tone. Human skin tone. After a moment, he realized he was looking up at someone. His head was resting in someone’s lap, and in a moment his eyes focused enough for him to realize it was Jen. She wasn’t paying him any attention beyond that, though. She seemed to be watching something else...

A scream of pain mixed with a curse caught his attention. Turning his head slowly, he looked over to see a blurred form on the floor up higher than he was...it took a moment for Akan to figure he was down a small set of stairs. Behind the figure on the floor was a larger one, dressed in striking reds and black. Sadrak...where were Voort and Shadow? Another scream of pain and the first figure shifted across the floor. Shadow’s voice...that answered one question. Akan could feel Voort near, though he wasn’t in sight. Both answered then.

“Oh, good!” that was Sadrak. He had that happy ‘I’m doing evil and you can’t do a thing about it’ voice. Of course, that usually was the point where everything went wrong for the person speaking. This time, however, it didn’t. In fact, there wasn’t a thing that could be done. Not yet, at least. Akan was still having trouble moving. Sadrak had paused in speaking to allow Shadow another scream of pain, “Good to see you’re awake, boy. Just in time for your lesson in Alraxian history. Its about time you learned about your kind, isn’t it?”

Jen moved slightly, looking down to Akan. She looked a bit surprised to see him awake. There was a large bruise on her forehead and she looked about how he felt. Akan managed a weak smile, but it wasn’t returned. He didn’t blame her, either. Sighing, she turned to her left for a moment, then back to Sadrak. Voort...Akan tried looking that direction, but couldn’t bend his neck without it hurting too much. Instead, he just turned back to Sadrak, trying to conserve and gather what little strength he had left.

Shadow rolled over screaming again, this time down on her hands and knees and gritting her teeth, biting into her lip. Blue blood could be seen very slightly across her face. Sadrak took a step to the side and motioned to her, “Now, it’s a little slow but don’t worry the next ones will be simpler. Here is your first lesson in Alraxian history,” he paused to allow Shadow another scream, this time mixed with a disturbing growl, “Many thousands of years ago, not long after the first Sith discovered hyperdrive technology, they traveled into the Unknown Regions. Eventually, they ran into an interesting race of people. Alraxians. But they were dangerous creatures. Able to...change their shape. The Alraxians had a highly advanced civilization. Now, they were already using many of the biotechnology they use now. Something that intrigued the Sith. However, the Sith failed in multiple attempts to simply destroy the Alraxians and take what they knew. So...after forming a flimsy and overall fake alliance with a species known as the Mrrakesh, a rival species to the Alraxians, the Sith captured a single Alraxian. After years of testing and toying...they found a way to take advantage of the Alraxian’s ability to morph, as they called it,” another loud growl, turning into a more dangerous sound as it echoed from Shadow, “The Sith created a new creature from the Alraxians. But this first new creature escaped...the Sith were killed, as were the Mrrakesh who assisted them. The story after that...” he motioned to Shadow, who was convulsing violently, “After that, it is told by the Alraxian history. A great war...the greatest war the galaxy ever knew, and yet...no one in this part of the galaxy has any idea about it.  The Darkwing Wars...” Sadrak smiled manically, “Now, I bring back the greatest weapon this galaxy has ever known.”

And right on cue, Shadow let out another mixed roar and scream. She tipped forward some, and in a loud and extremely painful sounding rip, two huge back wings erupted in an explosion of pain and blood from Shadow’s back. They were amazingly huge...leathery with black feathers along them. As she roared in pain again, her entire body seemed to rip apart. Or rather...explode from the inside. Her arms grew larger, and sharp claws exploded out from the palms. The same leathery texture spread across her body as her legs bent backwards in a horrible crack. Her legs grew into more powerful talons, and in a moment, her face extended into a long, black muzzle with impossibly sharp teeth and a row of plates down the spine.

Slowly, it pulled herself up onto all four, wings flaring out as the creature sniffed the air and emitted a low growl. It looked to Sadrak a moment, and he motioned towards the exit, saying to the others, “My new Darkwing. Now...before we all play, let me show you what I mean by weapon.”

Again, he motioned towards the exit. The Darkwing growled again, but picked itself up and shot out down the large hallway, flying at lightning speed. A small holo image appeared in the center of the room, to which Sadrak motioned to proudly, “Give it a few moments, and we shall see the handiwork. Then...” he turned to Akan, smiling horribly with those two white eyes, “...then, you die.”

Akan wanted to do something. Anything. But he couldn’t move. Paralyzed with shock. Fear. Everything. Consuming him in a horrible realization of what was occurring. He looked up to Jen, who turned to look at him, a similarly helpless and horrified expression on her face. Carefully, she rested a hand on his cheek, running it up through his hair a moment and stopping just over one of his ears. For a moment, she had thought about scratching his ear to try to make at least someone feel better. But she didn’t...just let her hand rest there. It provided no comfort for either of them. Only that they were both still alive. She looked to her side at Voort, who had regained consciousness in time to see the Darkwing transformation. He looked back to Jen, a strange neutral expression on his face. But he radiated hatred for Sadrak. They all did. But none of them could move...only watching the holo image displaying a largely populated residential district of Coruscant.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 39: One Final Light*

Hundreds of people could be seen along the main street. Walking here and there, some standing near a balcony speaking, others simply taking in the sights of Coruscant. So oblivious to everything around them. The image flickered slightly, and a few of the people stopped, looking up beyond the image’s border. Slowly, more people seemed to take notice of whatever it was. A few of them, obviously the smarter ones in the crowd, ran. Of course, they weren’t that smart, as they ran in all different directions. This caused more people to run, chaos spreading quickly among all of the people within the view. 

In a moment, a black form swooped down from the upper quadrant of the screen. It came down on a group of at least five people, tearing apart two of them with its legs as it landed, and clawing and biting at the rest. People scattered as the Darkwing tore a path of death through them, killing anything in its path. It was only a few moments before the walkway was filled only with bodies, blood, and the Darkwing. Within the talons of the Darkwing, was a small form.

Jen closed her eyes, not wanting to continue seeing it. Akan found himself unable to look away. Even Voort was stunned at the carnage. In the distance, airspeeders could be seen streaking across the sky towards the Darkwing. But that really didn’t matter anymore. In the foreground, it became clear what the form in the Darkwing’s talons was. A child. Human. No older than seven standard years. In one horrifying moment, easily topping all of the gore and pain up to that point, the Darkwing tore the child apart. Jen hadn’t watched...but the sound was impossible to miss, even from the distance that the holorecorder likely was at. She cringed as Voort and Akan did. It was a reaction that didn’t truly sum up any of their feelings on it, but somehow it was all they could manage. Of course, Sadrak was giggling like a happy child. Ironic and even more painful considering.

The Inquisitor smiled again, and Akan felt a ripple through the Force. Then, the holo image cut off, and Sadrak turned back to them, “A suitable demonstration, I believe.  Now, the creature will return soon. Before that however, let us finish things.

By now, Akan had sat up. As Sadrak stepped over towards them, standing just at the top of the steps, Voort and Akan exchanged glanced. If you can, go at him now Akan sent through the Force. It was likely that Sadrak would detect the ripple that it caused, but not the details. That was all the mattered at this point. Voort’s answer to Akan wasn’t a nod, or a word. In a quick motion, the former Imperial was up on his feet, arm extended towards Sadrak. A bolt of blue lightning shot out from Voort’s hand towards the Inquisitor. Jen gasped slightly at that, but Akan wasn’t surprised. He was surprised, however, at Sadrak’s quick reaction of drawing a lightsaber from his belt and activating it just in time to catch Voort’s lightning on a bright red blade.

Voort had done the perfect thing, though. Not paying anymore attention to it, Akan got up and ran towards the side of the room, up the steps and past Sadrak. Of course, Sadrak took notice of this, and with a free hand, directed a large desk in Akan’s direction. Akan hit the ground in time for it to fly over, and the distraction this had caused to Sadrak had given Jen time to get to her feet and fumble to get her blaster pistol off the ground. Sure, it probably wouldn’t do much, but it would be one more thing for Sadrak to have to deal with. Voort was moving to. Holding the stream of lightning, he moved to the side and up the steps slowly. Sadrak was having to multitask so much that it was no problem for Voort to get past him and work towards where his lightsaber had been tossed to.

His eyes caught onto the metal hilt behind a large tube. Voort stopped throwing the force lightning at Sadrak, and instead reached out with the Force to pull his lightsaber to him. This moment left him defenseless, and Sadrak should have easily been able to attack him. But again, he was dealing with three. The moment Voort had stopped his attack, Jen had started her’s, a stream of blaster fire from over a chair she’d gotten behind. Sadrak had been forced to turn away from Voort and focus on deflecting the shots from Jen. When Voort had retrieved his lightsaber, a snap-hiss of the blade activating got Sadrak’s attention just in time to catch a low swing towards his knees. Jen stopped her firing, watching as the orange blade collided with the red blade in a blinding flurry. 

By then, Akan had gotten to his feet again and retrieved his own weapon. As Sadrak parried a high swing from Voort, a second snap-hiss sounded behind him. The Inquisitor reached in time to spin around, parrying Akan’s blue-green blade. Jen watched in amazement as Sadrak parried blow after blow, from both behind him and in front of him, even managing to push an attack on both Voort and Akan every few seconds. But beyond them, Jen saw movement. The Darkwing was back. She stood up completely and tried to get a shot, but couldn’t aim beyond the three with lightsabers. Instead, she managed to yell a warning. All three of them turned. But Sadrak and Voort quickly went at it again, with Sadrak pushing Voort slowly down the steps. Akan back off, turning to face the Darkwing which was very obviously flying straight at him. He bent down slightly, holding the blue-green blade up in front of him and not wanting to have to use it. But there wasn’t going to be a choice. And there wasn’t any time.

Suddenly, the Darkwing was upon him, attempting a quick fly by while slashing at the Jedi with a sharp talon. Akan ducked and rolled low, swinging his lightsaber overhead and lopping off part of the feathered right wing. But the Darkwing managed to take a good section of Akan’s side with it. He didn’t get up from the roll, and the Darkwing spun around to land not far from him. Now, standing in such a way to block Jen’s view. Voort and Sadrak were too tightly engaged in a fierce sword fight to have time to even glance away anymore, each managing to just barely stay alive by quick parries and dodges.

Over the Darkwing, Jen caught sight of the blue-green blade again. Akan had stood up. She watched it move slowly to the right. Soon, the Darkwing moved to the side, opposite him, growling and watching for the right moment to strike. Somehow, through the clash of the two lightsabers, Jen heard Akan speaking, “Shadow...don’t do this...come on....”

But it got no response. Simply the same low growl. Akan risked a glance to the others. Jen watched him take a deep breath. Something changed within him. She could...feel it as well as see it. The lightsaber in his hand deactivated. Jen was about to call out to him when the Darkwing pounced. Jen saw the black form consume Akan’s, but not before a small, metallic shape flew across the air and landed not far from her. Akan’s lightsaber. He’d thrown it to her. I save her, or I die with her. Kill Sadrak. His voice rang through her mind. 

Jen had never used a lightsaber before. In fact, she’d never use a knife...even for cooking. It was never something she was any good at. But now...she had to. Holstering her blaster, Jen ran over and picked up Akan’s blade. She took one last look to the form of the Darkwing, seeing the mass was struggling with something, then look to Voort. He was pushed back into the wall, though still defending himself well. Jen took a deep breath, thumbed the activation switch on the lightsaber, and charged at Sadrak’s back.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 40: Light of the Force*

Akan had managed to throw the lightsaber as he was diving the other direction. He didn’t have time to see where it landed, as the second it was out of his hand the black clawed arm of the Darkwing was slashing down at him. Thankfully, he had been already moving, and rolled across the hard durasteel floor out of the way. Of course, the Darkwing was intelligent enough to not simply attack once and wait for him to recover. As he was getting to his feet, it was diving towards him again, this time with its large jaws open. Akan somehow managed to pull to the side, out of the way of the loud snap that could have easily included him. 

The problem though, was that he’d moved out of the way of the jaws only to connect with a claw that was also slashing out at him. Akan’s eyes widened as he felt four claws dig deep into his gut, throwing him back towards the hallway. As he slid across the ground, Akan did his best to focus on remorphing as Shadow had taught him to. But it was harder to do when a huge black creature was about to land on you, taloned feet first. Quickly prioritizing, Akan decided to just live with the pain and move. He rolled to the side as the Darkwing landed where he’d been, talons digging deep into the durasteel and causing Akan to cringe at what could easily have been him.

Drawing on the Force as he did his best to get to his feet, Akan attempted a quick distraction to give him at least a moment of time. Behind the Darkwing, a figure appeared. It was him, but human. Holding up his lightsaber in a defensive stance and looking ready. The Darkwing had been suddenly confused by this, and spun around to pounce the illusion. It went through the illusion, hitting the floor in surprise. Akan had only that single moment he’d wanted. Why he wanted it, he hadn’t been sure of. Then he knew. Distantly...part of him could still feel Shadow. Somewhere in there. In a way he’d never imagined, Akan found himself drawing the Force in and around him. As he did this, he took the lapse in the Darkwing’s defenses to pounce on it. Landing on its back, between the wings, he gripped tightly and continued drawing as much of the Force into him as he possible could. A small white glow starting around him as the Darkwing thrashed around to get him off, but unable to do so.

Voort was too busy to take any notice of the Darkwing beyond a black blur moving quickly beyond Sadrak. He was doing well at keeping Sadrak’s blows away, but it was nearly impossible to get his own attacks in between. He parried a high swing towards his neck, attempting his own strike towards Sadrak’s leg. The Inquisitor caught the blade easily, taking a strong step forward as his red blade swept across empty air. Voort had ducked low, pulling back down the steps and took the short second to swing up at Sadrak’s lower torso. Sadrak twisted out of the way, swinging his lightsaber in a vertical circle to keep Voort back as he came down on even ground with Voort.

Another flurry of strikes consumed the two of them, red and orange blades colliding up, down, to the sides, and sometimes only catching air or a table in the way. All the while, Voort found himself slowly backing up from Sadrak’s heavy strikes which were nearly always combined with strong steps to push Voort back even more. After managing a series of quick and almost lucky defensive moves, Voort hit something. Not with his saber...with his back. A horrified expression flashed across his face for a millisecond, still long enough for Sadrak to see it and smile. Somehow, though, Voort was managing to defend himself, even placing a strong kick to the Inquisitor’s stomach to give him a little more room. Despite this, though, Voort knew he was in trouble. Sadrak was simply attacking too strongly, and no matter how dangerous Voort was with his weapon, Sadrak was even more so.

Suddenly, over Sadrak’s shoulder, Voort caught sight of a blue-green blade moving quickly. He didn’t have time to see anymore detail beyond blonde hair before catching the red blade far too close to his face. Jen closed in, and Sadrak started to turn what looked to have been too late. But Voort didn’t see what happened. Just seconds before Jen’s blade reached Sadrak, a blinding flash of light overtook the entire room. Not only did it seem to blind them all in a hot white colour, but it radiated with a feeling Voort knew well. The Force. He had not taken notice of the small glow growing over Sadrak’s other shoulder. From the black of the Darkwing, a purifying white had grown slowly at first. Then, in that sudden flash, consumed the Darkwing. There was an explosion of energy itself, and the blinding white spread out across the room in a second flash.

It lasted for what seemed like an eternity, but was likely only a matter of seconds. Vision slowly returned, and the world looked disturbingly different. Across from Voort, stood Jen, holding the blue-green lightsaber down and off to her left, the ending arc of her swing. On the floor in front of them, Sadrak’s clothes and lightsaber hilt could be seen. Jen’s eyes were wide open, though they were still trying to focus after the light. Slowly, she looked up to Voort, who still had his blade up from where Sadrak’s last strike had left from. Jen opened her mouth, asking quietly the question that was in his own mind, “What happened...?”

Voort found himself staring at the remains of Sadrak. Something was still wrong. He wasn’t there...yet...Voort could feel him still. Faintly. Distantly...moving. Not dead? How? Well...they hadn’t seen it. Hadn’t seen it. The light. What was that?! Without answering Jen, he looked beyond her to where the black Darkwing had been. He saw nothing. Lowering his weapon and deactivating it, Voort motioned beyond Jen. She raised an eyebrow, deactivating Akan’s weapon and turning to see the same absence of Darkwing.

Jen had started walking towards the steps and up to see what had happened first, with Voort not far behind her. She hadn’t even gotten to the top when she saw Akan. He was sitting with his back against the far corner of the room, blue colored blood smeared across his face and body. He looked a horrible mess, as did everything around him. But nothing looked as bad as what he held. Resting back in his arms, sprawled out and looking so torn up it was near impossible to recognize, was Shadow. She wore nothing but Akan’s jacket, and pieces of her morphsuit could be seen scattered across the floor. Her hair was singed in a few places, with scratches and cuts and bruises all over her. She was draped across Akan, eyes closed and in no way looking alive. But Akan seemed to take no notice of that, or of Jen and Voort who’d simply stopped their approach.

In the disturbing silence that had overcome the room in the last few moments, the two humans could hear Akan speaking quietly, “Come on, Shady...I know you’re in there...” his face seemed slightly glazed over a moment, a look Jen had come to recognize as the two Alraxians using their telepathic link. After it passed, a dismayed expression came over his face again, “Please...I’m not supposed to be here with you...remember? Its either both of us or neither of us...not just one. Please...”

Jen wanted to do something, but found herself unable to. Her mouth had opened, but no words came out. All she could do was watch. All of them watched Shadow, though Akan still had not noticed the other two. There was another long, eerie silence. Jen didn’t see when Shadow’s eyes half opened, looking up to Akan in a dazed way. She did see, though, when Shadow slowly reached a hand up to Akan. Shadow’s hand found Akan’s fringe, pawing at it almost playfully. Akan couldn’t help but laugh, a smile coming over him as Shadow continue idly playing with the fringe of his hair.

The same smile had come over Jen’s face, and she turned to see even Voort was smiling. She poked the former Imperial gently, speaking quietly, “Thought you Imperials didn’t have hearts.”

Voort’s smile grew and he laughed quietly, “Thought you scientists didn’t know how to fight.”


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 40: Crash Course*

It was nearly ten minutes until Akan noticed Jen and Voort. He looked up to the other two, who had simply stood their, consumed in their thoughts. Shadow still seemed dazed and not all there, weakly attempting a pounce at his hair when he moved his head up to look to the humans. Akan had an exhausted smile on his face, but the slowly faded as his eyes fell on Voort. The former Imperial met the young Alraxian’s gaze, both knowing what was to come but thinking two different things of it.

Jen soon realized the silent exchange between the two of them, and opened her mouth to say something. But Voort spoke first, “We should leave...” he trailed off a moment, and then started walking to the exit, “Sadrak isn’t dead.”

What he said wasn’t the real surprise. It was the order he’d chosen to say things. Jen had expected that his first statement would be on the fate of Sadrak, then it would have concluded the flimsy alliance of sorts between the Imperial and Akan. But instead, Voort had chosen to use the word ‘we’ again, and in an almost friendly tone. This had obviously caught Akan off guard at first, but when the second words were spoken, he simply nodded. In no way did it occur to Akan that perhaps Voort simply didn’t want to fight him.

Akan had turned down to look to Shadow again, the glazed look crossing over his face as he ‘spoke’ with her. With a sigh, he stood up slowly, picking her up as best he could. Managing a weak shrug to the two others, he said quietly, “She’s not exactly...herself yet.”

“What did you do?” Jen asked, stepping over to him and noting the amount of blood and cuts all over the two Alraxians.

Again, Akan shrugged, falling into step next to Jen and just a few steps behind Voort, “I...I dunno. I just drew the Force in...around me...and let it out.”

Over his shoulder, Voort said, “Its an ancient technique. Drawing upon the raw energy of the Light Side and releasing it. Palpatine...once mentioned it to me in passing. It simply purges the Dark from the target.”

“Then Sadrak should be dead,” Jen stated a little too confidently.

But even Akan shook his head. It had take a moment, but he could feel that Sadrak still lived. Not physically...but that was not the only way to live. But this wasn’t the time for dealing with Sadrak. Voort knew this easily, knowing that they would have to regroup and rethink everything they had assumed. Akan was still too consumed with what had happened to Shadow to care much about a bodiless Sadrak. The link was back...as strong as ever, and he’d been amazed at how used to it he’d gotten in such a short time. Jen was simply exhausted. Emotionally as well as physically. At least they were all alive...all of them. Even Voort.

Voort didn’t say anything on the matter of Sadrak, knowing it wasn’t anything that could be dealt with now. And staying here was likely a bad idea. He glanced over his shoulder to look at Akan, “How did you find this place?”

The Alraxian shrugged yet again, carefully so that he didn’t drop Shadow, “Loki took us down right on top of this place...Shadow said it felt right. I could feel something nearby, so we just explored until finding these tunnels.”

“That’s a good amount of luck...” Voort said, raising an eyebrow.

Rounding a corner, towards where the turbolift had been, Akan said, “I honestly don’t know. Shadow said she was feeling pulled here...so we both followed and then...then..” he trailed off, looking down to the still dazed Shadow in his arms.

As they approached the turbolift, Jen and Voort caught sight of a large hole in the wall to the left. Akan smiled and nodded to it, “This is where I get off. You two want to come with us?”

Voort had started to answer when there was a noise from the turbolift. The door opened. All three of them turned to look at the door. Four or so men in New Republic Security uniforms had blasters aimed. Not at the three, but just out in general. As there always was in the surprise of such a situation, both sides stood silent for a few long seconds. Then, the lead Security officer called out, “Don’t move!!”

Jen was the second to move, turning back to Akan, she said firmly, “Go.”

When he’d started to protest, trying to tell them to come with him, Voort shoved Akan(who nearly dropped Shadow) to the hole that had been cut with Akan’s lightsaber upon entering earlier, growling to the Alraxian, “Get out of here! You’ve done your heroics for the day!”

Akan had no real choice but to comply, running along the makeshift tunnel he and Shadow had made on their way in. He looked up, seeing where Loki had been crashed in through the higher levels of the district. With one last glance back to the main corridor, Akan could see bright red flashes. Hopefully Voort would get Jen out of there alive. Hopefully? No...no he would. Akan wasn’t sure of why he knew that, but there was something different. Looking down again to Shadow he couldn’t help a very slight smile. Many things were different.

It took nearly half an hour to climb up with Shadow in his arms, but he managed it. Loki had gotten slightly wedged in a few of the buildings he’d come crashing through, and when they’d first left him, Shadow had said not to worry about it until they were leaving. Well, they were leaving, and Akan was worrying about it.

[Loki, open up] Akan called, making the final step up onto the same level as the large ship. He felt a curious mind exploring his own, found something, and suddenly pulled back afraid. Akan knew what Loki had found. [She’s alright. We just need to get out of here...]

Loki said nothing, simply opening the hatch not far in front of Akan. He stepped in and started towards Shadow’s quarters. [Can you fly without me?]

It was an idea, at least. Really, Loki was alive...so, to Akan at least, it made sense that he wouldn’t necessarily need a pilot. Loki was silent while Akan made his way through the corridors, but then his voice said. [I can...but I haven’t in a very long time.]

[Look, I don’t know how to fly you.] Akan admitted as he stepped into Shadow’s quarters, noting the utilitarian emptiness about it. A room that looked like it never lived in that room. Arguably, Shadow hadn’t. But Akan could at least feel most of her memories out...and the emptiness fit her personality. It seemed that everything not considered ‘essential’ was simply useless to her. Ah well...carefully, Akan lay her down on the bed, trying his best to keep the jacket over her. Not as much to cover her(as, for some reason that should have been strange considering his age, the fact of her without clothes didn’t seem to be anything to worry about), but to keep her warm. She was shivering a good amount, and that reminded Akan what she’d told him about Alraxians. They required very warm temperatures, and without a morphsuit, it was likely they would freeze to death on most planets that humans considered temperate. So, he did his best to get Shadow under the large blankets of the bed.

All that time, Loki has still been silent, probably trying to figure out what to do. Finally, the ship said. [I’ll...try. But there are many ships above us...]

Akan sighed. Expected. Really, four Security officers out this far all on their own? Not likely. Carefully, he ran a hand over Shadow’s forehead. She’d fallen asleep during the trip to Loki. Closing his eyes, Akan turned and started towards Loki’s cockpit. [Hold on then. I’m coming up. You’re going to have to give me a crash course in flying you.]

A strange whimpering noise sounded through Akan’s mind. [I don’t want to crash again if I don’t have to.]


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 41: Last Thoughts*

“Why again didn’t we go with Akan?” Jen asked idly as the turbolift traveled up to where the airspeeder had been left. It wasn’t much trouble getting past the few guards that had come down the turbolift, but the current worry was about how many were in the hangar.

Voort gave her a sideways glance, “Why didn’t we go? Why didn’t you go?”

There was a short silence as Jen had to think about that, then shrugged, “Someone has to make sure you don’t run off with my ship.”

“Your ship?” asked Voort with a slight grin on his face.

Jen laughed, “You think we stole that shuttle? Or worse, you think Akan actually bought it?!”

Voort’s only response was a smile, but that quickly faded when he looked up to the level indicator just above the door. Noting how close they were to the hangar, he stepped back against the wall and got ready to thumb on the lightsaber. Jen followed suit, backing up as much as was possible and holding her small blaster pistol up and ready. The two of them exchanged glances as the turbolift came to a halt, and the door slid open.

Voort didn’t stand still. The second the door was open, he ignited the orange lightsaber and moved in. Even if it had been empty, the move was a safe one. But, of course, it wasn’t empty. There were two other airspeeders in the hangar, larger transports that could hold at least ten men each, not including any pilots. With four of the Security officers having been dealt with already, that left at least sixteen others. And, with a quick look over as he moved in, Voort confirmed this number. Sixteen security officers of various species and sex all spun and trained their guns on Voort, who had stopped in his tracks upon realizing that rushing in was not a good idea.

“Lower your weapon!” yelled at least two of them. One voice was more obvious, being a Mon Calamari and sounding slightly fishy. Voort simply planted his feet and felt for Jen with the Force. Hopefully she was smart enough to stay as hidden as she could. If they thought it was only him...

Another of the security officers, a Sullustan, took a small step forward, his blaster rifle trained carefully on Voort, “I’ve seen his face before, sir!”

A human male with light brown hair tilted his head and also took a step forward, “It’s the escaped Imperial!”

Great. Now they’d identified him. Almost a little too convenient in Voort’s opinion. Extremely convenient. Of course, the next moment was one that Voort had anticipated. The security officers fired their blasters. Voort quickly backed to the turbolift again, using the lightsaber as best he could for defense, but mostly relying on his own instincts and reflexes. As he backed up, he called over his shoulder, “Maybe we should have gone with Akan!”

“It’s a little late for that now!” Jen replied, reaching out around the open turbolift door and firing off the best amount of covering power she could manage with such a small weapon. A couple of the guards quickly took notice of her, and Jen had to duck back against to avoid the blaster shots that were getting far too close.

Voort was back enough that he had one foot in the turbolift, “If its too late for that then I think we’re in trouble!”

Jen managed to reach over his shoulder and fire a few more shots, “You know, you are a lot like Akan. About as perceptive, if anything.”

“I try,” Voort commented before stepping completely into the lift and shutting the door. Blaster shots rang against it and he let out a sigh. With a serious look coming over his face, he looked to her, “We’ve got probably half a minute to figure out a plan.”

“You’re the soldier,” Jen said, pushing him back with her blaster, a slight grin on her face.

Voort smiled and shrugged, “You’re the thinker.”

“This may be one of those times where brawn is better than brains,” admitted Jen, the grin leaving her expression.

“Well,” Voort shifted to face the door, lightsaber still active in his hand, “Lets get to that speeder and get out of here.”

Jen took that as a signal of ‘let’s go’ and hit the switch for the door. Voort stepped out again, now face to face with three of the security officers. He didn’t give them a chance. In that frozen moment of surprise that had locked their bodies, Voort swung the saber in a long, horizontal arc. The three had no chance to even move, easily cleaved in two. Jen was surprised by the lack of emotion on Voort’s face, but yet again she had to remind herself that this man was...as he’d said ‘not a good person’.

As Voort started running to their speeder, Jen watched as the other security officers opened fire on him. Taking a deep breath, Jen stepped out behind him, firing her blaster pistol to those on her left as she ran as fast as she could. They were both moving fast enough to avoid being shot, as the security officers had obviously not expected them to come out running like they did. Of course, Jen wasn’t exactly hitting with her shots either, but it wasn’t like she got paid to shoot things. As far as she knew, these New Republic security officers were paid to shoot...and, from the looks of it, badly. The funny part was that these were the same people who’d commented on the inaccuracy and bad training that stormtroopers were given. Amazing how things eventually came full circle.

Voort got to the speeder, quickly hitting the switch to open up the main hatch. He ducked down behind the speeder, deactivating the lightsaber as it wasn’t really doing him any good anyway. Jen was right behind him, firing still as she ran and immediately jumped into the speeder. Voort waited a moment for at least a short break in the fire before also getting in, shutting the hatch and trying to ignore how the sound of the blasters hitting the speeder.

“This thing can’t possibly hold up to all that,” Jen commented as Voort started up the speeder and they shot off into the maze of tight buildings ahead.

Voort said nothing, simply doing his best to bring the speeder up and hoping that it would take enough time for the others to get going to give them a good head start. After nearly slamming into a building, Voort angled the ship up and they soon were out into the only ‘open’ air in Coruscant. Of course, it currently was littered with a very large amount of ships. X-Wings, Combat Airspeeders, and even a few older Z-95s criss-crossed the sky around them. Surprised by this, Voort quickly brought the speeder back down lower, hoping to not get noticed. Not likely.

Laser blasts hit around them, and Jen looked up and behind them to see two of the Z-95s angling around behind them, two lasers firing wildly at them. She said nothing, as the expression on Voort’s face seemed to warn against any kind of sarcasm or stating of the obvious. But as Voort wove the speeder back and forth to avoid the shots, something not far behind them exploded. It wasn’t a normal explosion...more like a huge crashing. Jen managed to catch sight of something coming out of a large hole in the tops of the industrial level. It looked similar to the Alraxian ships on Garek V, only a bit smaller and more streamlined. She mentioned this to Voort (albeit frantically), who spun the speeder to the side so they could at least see better.

As the ship shot out of the crack, blue energy blasts extended out from it at awkward intervals, and for the first few moments, fired wildly. Then, finally, it connected with one of the Z-95s after the airspeeder. Jen gave Voort a strange look, who said, “Well, he’s out. We don’t have time to watch this show.”

Jen only nodded as Voort pulled the speeder back into an angle to bring them to their shuttle. She got one last look at Loki, already up in the atmosphere and fading from sight. Akan and Shadow had made it. But what about Voort and herself? It was unlikely they’d even get to the shuttle. In fact, it was even more unlikely they’d make it to the main city district, as the fighters and other speeders were all starting to converge on them with Loki gone. Jen and Voort simply exchanged silent looks, saying nothing but both thinking the same things.

In the silence penetrated only by the laser blasts of their pursuers, the two of them only looked forward, though their thoughts rested years and years behind them as they ran through their lives. For Voort, it was not the first time it had occurred, and he knew where his thoughts would rest. On his lost wife...their unborn child...but strangely, they also found other things. Other people. Just as Jen’s did. Her family...but then, more recent events. More recent people. Things she wouldn’t have expected an would have doubted had it not been such a lost situation.


----------



## Kangaxx

I wandered over here a couple days ago from the Rokugan game, and I'm glad I did.  Awesome story, keep it coming.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Kangaxx said:
			
		

> I wandered over here a couple days ago from the Rokugan game, and I'm glad I did.  Awesome story, keep it coming.



 I knew that sig line would work eventually.  Thanks!

Note on the game: This is actually where the first adventure ENDED. I don't even remember now why we decided to end it on a 'we're all screwed' type of moment, but it somehow worked at the time. It was also only ever intended to be a one off thing, but everyone got into the characters so much that we decided to keep it going. Of course, it also got a lot crazier(well, the characters did) after this point.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Part II, Chapter 42: Yelling at the Ship*

[Did you not say that you were a pilot?] Loki’s voice inquired for the sixth time. Akan was sitting in the cockpit, frantically trying to figure out how things worked. He’d managed the weapons, and that had been the first time Loki had asked about his piloting skills. Mainly because the shots were so wide that it was like a small child was pressing button randomly. Which...technically, was what Akan was doing. But at least he was figuring things out as he was going along. Proof in that lay in the Z-95 he’d managed to shoot down. Well...no, the Z-95 that somehow managed to fly into the shot from the random button and switch pulling. But Akan was going to take credit for it as skill either way...especially with the ship actually questioning his ability. This was why no one ever wanted a ship that could talk.

“Yes, I’m a pilot!” Akan growled under his breath as he looked out the viewport, seeing the soft blue of the sky fading into the black of space, “Just not a you pilot...a normal pilot!”

[I am not normal?] hearing that, Akan sighed. Over their short conversations, Akan had figured out that Loki saw nothing wrong about being alive and being a ship. He did, however, not understand that other ships weren’t like him. It was the metal thing that got to him the most, but despite that he still believed them to be alive. Obviously, no one had ever told him otherwise, and he still wasn’t in much of a mood to believe Akan.

Not answering the question, Akan simply started reaching out for Voort and Jen again. It took a moment, but he found them, sending them a silent message. When you make it out, meet us at...oh, I don’t know. Endor. That’s out of the way enough.

Even in his mind he was rambling at this point. Looking over the maze of switches, buttons, and dials, Akan threw up his hands, “How the hells do I plot a hyperspace course?!”

[Um...you could ask nicely?] Loki said, almost sounding a bit timid and as if he was talking from behind a very large shield to deflect any further yelling at him.

For a long while as Loki wove through the mess orbiting Coruscant, Akan glared at the interior of the ship. Shadow had explained that, like she and Akan, Loki was still a child. The ship sure acted like one a good amount of the time. So did Shadow...well, only when she thought no one was looking. Akan did his best to calm himself down, and spoke a bit more quietly, “Do you know where Endor is?”

The ship suddenly shook violently, and Akan knew the source of that. Looking over what to what Akan had figured to be the equivalent of the scanner, he identified a small picket ship after them. Not too far ahead, moving in to cut them off, was a larger Strike Cruiser. That was not good.

Loki quickly interrupted Akan’s worrying. [Big green moon with lots of trees far away from here?]

“That’s one way to describe it,” Akan commented after rolling his eyes. His worrying soon came back as the Strike Cruiser began to open fire on them, “Um...Loki. I don’t know how strong your shields and hull are, but don’t you think that maneuvering while you plot that course is a very good idea?”

[Oh! Of course! Sorry, I’m just not used to doing everything myself] and then they took a sudden dive to avoid the barrage coming at them from both directions. Akan was doing his best to ignore the insult the ship had probably not even intended, trying to just hold on and pray that Loki could multitask well enough. As they fell away an out of Coruscant’s gravity well, other ships began to bear in on them. Starfighters mostly, and Akan soon was back to pressing the buttons that activated the weapons. He didn’t hit anything, but was pretty sure it scared the other pilots enough to keep them off of Loki. Then the ship shook again, more violently. Loki’s voice returned to Akan’s mind [You know how strong the shields are now...they’re gone.]

“Two shots?!” Akan yelped in panic, wondering if there was any chance of actually getting off of this dream and appearing back in reality with his nice X-Wing...the squardon...Mare...wait, where had that come from? He’d never before even though of returning to that. Strange...but, not the time. Loki was screaming, too.

[They hurt! I’m trying to avoid them but those little ships are making it even more distracting! You could at least shoot better!]

“I’m trying, dammit!”

[So am I!]

[Will you two just shut up and get us out of here in one piece?!] at that voice, both Loki and Akan froze. Well, Akan did, Loki mentally froze, while he continued his maneuvering to avoid being hit more. If they could have, the two of them would have exchanged panicked expressions, and run off to hide, teaming up to find the best spot.

Loki’s ‘voice’ was a near whisper in Akan’s mind. [She’s really cranky when she wakes up...]

[Damn right, I am!] Shadow’s mental voice growled again, and Akan could feel she was getting up and coming towards the cockpit.

Quietly, Akan whispered, “Loki...I think she heard you. Please...please just get us into hyperspace so there’s only one thing trying us at a time.”

At that, the stars extended, and they shot out into hyperspace. Good timing, really. Akan sighed with relief, but Loki’s voice sounded just as worried. [You should hide.]

[I’ll find him.] Shadow’s cut in.

“She will,” Akan admitted, standing up and starting out of the cockpit, only to run right into Shadow. Because he was bigger than her, and she was still a little weak and tired, it sent her to the floor. Shadow made a whimpering noise and Akan felt a quick pain in his tail. She’d landed on her’s....not a pleasant feeling. With a pathetic apology, he reached a hand down to help her up.

Shadow batted his hand out of the way and stood up by herself. When she looked beyond Akan, Shadow noted they were already into hyperspace. Slowly, she seemed to calm down, and Akan could feel the annoyance she felt from being woken up to yelling fade. Her expression softened, and she simply nodded to him, speaking in a much more quiet, almost timid voice, “Th...thank you.”

Akan shuffled his feet slightly, looking to the floor, “You’re...you’re alright?”

“I’m...alright now,” Shadow said carefully, looking off to the side before surprising the both of them and stepping forward to hug Akan. When her mind caught up with her actions, she pulled back quickly, entire body becoming a slight red colour, even her hair. Another interesting aspect of Alraxians. Strong emotions had a habit of affecting skin coloration. She stared at the floor intently, “Thank you.”

Akan just nodded, not completely sure what to do. Finally, he managed to turn back to Loki’s cockpit and speak, “We’re uh...on our way to Endor. I thought it’d be a good place to just...rest for a while. There’s enough uncharted land down there.”

Stepping over to the pilot’s chair, Shadow checked over all the systems and nodded, “It’s a good idea...” she then turned to look up, a smile slowly growing on her face, “Good to know you and Loki get along well.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 43: Some Days Never End*

“Yes!” Voort growled as he wove the smoking airspeeder between two of the larger buildings at the edge of the city district, “Yes! I said we’re going to jump!”

“You’re insane!” Jen cried, having to yell over the sound of the laser blasts behind them and the fire on the back of the speeder.

In the distance, the folded wings of the shuttle on its platform could be seen. There wasn’t much time left for arguing, and Jen knew Voort was right. There was no way they’d have time to slow down and land the speeder without getting themselves killed. So...jump onto the platform and get the ship up and running and hope that it doesn’t get shot to pieces before lifting off. Again, unlikely.

“I can slow the fall with the Force,” Voort said, his voice growing strangely calm as they neared the shuttle more and more.

Jen was undoing the crash webbing over her and took a deep breath, “I thought they wanted to arrest us, not kill us.”

“Priorities can change,” replied Voort, hitting a few switches and undoing his own restraints, “We’ll pass in a way to need to go out your side. You go first, I’ll hold onto your hand and then slow us both.”

“They’ll see us jump,” grumbled Jen, taking Voort hand anyway and edging towards the side of the closed hatch.

Voort shrugged, “Hopefully it will surprise them so much that it’ll buy us more time.”

Another shot then hit the ship, shaking it violently. The biggest problem was how they were now shaking...not the fact that there were multiple other explosions in the back of the speeder. The ship was rocking so that the sides were moving up and down in such a way that ever few seconds, Jen lost sight of what was below her. Talk about a leap of faith...she glanced over her should to Voort, who nodded but said nothing.

Jen took one deep breath, then hit the switch for the hatch. It opened upwards, sending a huge rush of air caused by their tremendous speed to slam into Jen. She was surprised for only a moment, and then just jumped, not even having heard Voort yelling for her to go because of the roar of the wind. They were probably about thirty meters above the platform. Which meant another few...hundred meters to the ground below if they missed. But it was too late now, they were falling. Voort had pulled her back and grabbed onto her, and looked to be in a state of deep focus. He was...and they weren’t slowing. Jen got no chance to look back, but could hear the roar of the starfighters shoot past them, which was soon drowned out by a very loud explosion. The airspeeder.

The whole time, she was simply watching the platform below, rising up at a very alarming rate. Luckily, it looked like they were going to miss slamming into the shuttle and becoming a nice smear on the ship. Though Jen was starting to think they were just going to make a smear on the platform next to the ship. Then, finally, she felt something. It was like a large wall almost, surrounding them and pushing against the fall. As the force of the resisting push increased, Voort did his best to roll them around so he was under her, meaning he would take the brunt of the fall.  Of course, now they were both facing upwards, not able to tell how close the platform was anymore. But they were slowing...hopefully it would be–

Jen’s thoughts were quickly cut off by the hard and extremely painful thud of landing on Voort who’d hit the platform less than a second before her. Pain shot through her spine, then neck, head, and entire body as she rolled across the platform. Her vision was blurry by the time she’d come to a stop, and when a hand grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet, she had trouble standing. Not just from dizziness, but also from the pain the fall had caused. But she didn’t fell all of it...shock hid most of that for the time being.

From what she could tell from the speed she was being pulled along, Voort was in about the same state. Except he seemed to have more willpower than she did. Before she knew it, Jen found herself inside the shuttle’s main cabin being placed not so gently into one of the seats. As her vision and awareness returned, she started to wonder which bones she’d broken. Left leg at least...the shuttle rocked. A laser blast. But it didn’t detonate. Which meant Voort had gotten the ship online and brought the shields up. Not a moment later, the hum of the repulsorlift engines sounded through the hull. 

Feeling the ship beginning to rise up, Jen did her best to stand up and got to the cockpit as best as she could. Flopping down in the co-pilot’s chair, Jen watched the skyline of Coruscant fall below them. Voort had said something, but she didn’t hear it. She could barely hear much beyond the sound of the sublight engines, which had kicked in and were sending them out of the atmosphere of Coruscant. They were still being pursued, though Jen’s only notice of this was through the soft rocking of the shuttle as its shields were damaged. Thankfully, the shields were very strong. Though at the same time, Voort wasn’t at all a bad pilot, maneuvering the ship safely out of the way through the few things that the shuttle could manage. The debris and many ships in orbit around Coruscant was dizzying. 

Jen caught sight of more than one capital starship angling towards them, with many other smaller ships doing the same. Her head was still spinning and the adrenaline was slowing down, pain and exhaustion returning in its place. She looked to Voort, deep in focus as he tried to keep them alive, and opened her mouth to say something. No words came out, though, and the blackness she’d been fighting back for the last few minutes finally consumed her.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 44: Reflection*

Three months passed. Fast or slow, Akan didn’t take notice. Endor was strangely calm...or at least, the part they’d landed and pretty much camped out in was. Most of the time Akan had spent learning. Delving deeper into the Force, Shadow teaching him how to morph properly, ‘lessons’ in those other things about Alraxians that Shadow kept forgetting to mention, and even sparring. This, of course, was Shadow’s favorite, and she encouraged it as much as possible...though it never reached the point of their first sparring match. The one he’d not forget. Really, it was hard to forget death.

Shadow hadn’t spoken much at all about the Darkwing incident, and this in no way bothered Akan. Just thinking the word sent a chill up his spine. She had spent a good amount of time speaking with Loki, catching up as it were. Even Akan found himself just talking with Loki for hours at a time. It was interesting to hear the ship’s perspective on life and really anything else.

But despite the calm and rest they got, Akan never slept well. There had been no word from Voort or Jen the entire time. Akan had once mentioned going back to Coruscant not long after they’d first arrived on Endor, but Shadow quickly shot this down and Akan had to agree. They were fugitives now. That had been confirmed after Akan managed to link up to the holonet, and found the four of them listed with fairly high bounties. Thankfully, no one had any idea where Akan and Shadow were. The fact that the bounty was still up for Jen and Voort suggested they’d made it out alive, but Akan hadn’t been able to check it since that first month. To him, it meant the two of them had made it off Coruscant, but beyond that, they were off the scanners of the galaxy.

Sighing, Akan stepped around one of the larger trees, glad for the relative warmth of the forest moon. It meant he could wear a pair of trousers and the morphsuit and be nice and comfortable. Shadow only wore her morphsuit, and Akan had attempted that, but found it was just too awkward. He felt like he was walking around without anything on. This, he’ learned, was no trouble with Alraxians, as there weren’t the same stigmas against going without clothes due to the very young members of the species being all...fur covered. Shadow, still a child despite everything, had some of these old instincts wired into her.

Shadow...something...his mind went crazy. Not only the Force, but the link too. Thankfully, he’d learned to recognize that feeling in the past months. Quickly, he dove to the ground, hearing a loud crack against one of the trees next to him. Rolling to his feet, Akan bent low and looked at Shadow’s foot mark in the tree trunk. She wasn’t in as much of a playful mood this time...again, the feeling exploded in his mind. This time, Akan didn’t move, but planted his feet and put up his arms where the Force told him to. It was exactly where it needed to be. Shadow’s foot connected with his arms, and he slid back in the moss covered ground from the force of it.

She landed on the ground softly and only for enough time to push off again, diving at him with claws extended. Akan ducked enough that her extended arms went high, and he reached up to grab her wrists. Getting a good grip, his own claws extended into her wrists. A shadow pain shot through him but he had learned to deal with it in minor instances or if he was prepared. Using Shadow’s momentum, he pulled her around and over him, throwing her to the ground face first. She hit hard, a few small rocks and sticks adding to the bad landing, and as she attempted to get up, Akan was on her. His knee dug hard into her spine, and he held her down with an almost casual move.

Shadow struggled, but got nowhere. After a few moments, she sighed, stopped moving, and grumbled, “That wasn’t any fun.”

“Not in the mood today,” Akan said quietly, getting up and idly walking down the small path more. She wouldn’t have wanted his help getting up anyway. He’d learned to simply not offer. After a short walk, he found himself in front of a small, but fairly deep creek that was a good source for water and baths(as Loki had none). Akan sat down on the bank, letting his legs hang into the water and ignoring the heaviness that the trousers accumulated from the water. Despite his body’s aversion to cold, the cool water felt good. Soothing was probably the correct word.

[What’s bothering you this time?] Shadow’s voice invaded his thoughts as she approached from too far away to talk. She seemed to enjoy using the link more than her actual voice anyway. [Voort and Jen, again?]

His tail flicked slightly, getting a little dirt in it which would drive him crazy later. [No...just remembering what today is.]

“Oh?” Shadow asked as she plopped down next to him, kicking at the calm water to entertain herself, “What is today?”

Akan hung his head a moment, looking at his reflection in the water, yet against seeing how much he’d changed since the day should even matter. But for some reason, he still remembered it, and it still mattered. Slowly, he said, “Mare would be twenty two today.”

Shadow stopped kicking at the water. She knew about him and Mare. Or at least, how he’d seen it and from that, Shadow learned yet again that humans were both crazy and stupid. Especially when it came to emotions. Mostly, she dismissed it as a male thing, but that was most likely because Shadow had not had such intimate access to a female mind as she did with Akan’s. One thing she did know, however, was that she wasn’t good with this. She tried an old standby that had worked before, “Max never told me how old he was...”

Max. Akan had learned a lot about him in the last few months. He had been her smuggling partner for years. A human, from her description likely middle aged, with the usual roguish qualities that most smugglers had. But despite that, he was genuinely a good man. Shadow remembered him much like a father, teaching her about things she’d never experienced. Mostly emotions. As an assassin for so long, she knew nothing beyond what was necessary for her mission. But he’d died, killed by a group of Imperials who’d busted negotiations for shipment of gems. Shadow escaped, and not a month later found Ansion.

Akan had simply nodded at what she’d said, knowing that Shadow meant well just didn’t know what to do. He turned to her and attempted a smile, but failed, “I truly miss those days.”

Now he was getting even more depressive...Shadow knew that wasn’t a good thing. But yet again, she wasn’t sure what to do. Ah ha! She had an idea. An evil grin(well, all her grins were evil) appeared on her face, and she put a hand on his back, “Always one good thing to clear memories of the past!”

Then, she pushed him into the water. Sure, it was okay to be slightly cold on the legs, but being dunked like that. Akan yelped in surprise but was cut off when he went other. When Akan resurfaced, his blue stripe was shining brightly and there was a scowl on his face as Shadow laughed. Distracted as she was, she didn’t have a chance to defend herself when Akan reached up, grabbed her, and yanked her into the water, making sure to dunk her and smiling proudly before she pulled him under and dunked him again.

Moods changed quickly with Alraxians. Akan had gotten used to it only to a point...and the playfulness just was something one had to deal with. No matter how cold the water was, it satisfying to know Shadow was suffering as much as he was...even though she could hold her breath much longer than he could without cheating. In this case, that meant morphing.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 45: To Endor...yet again*

Arik Landau had served in the Imperial Navy for longer than he could remember. Considering he had felt old for at least ten years now, that was a long time. He sighed and ran a hand through his slightly grey hair, stepping over to look out a viewport, seeing the endless tunnel that was hyperspace. Such a common sight, yet the galaxy seemed to have forgotten the amazement that had once come with such travel. Children still felt it. Landau wished he did. To him, though, it had grown to be the calm before the storm.

For the first time in his life, Landau was glad to have left the Empire. He’d seen too many young men die. He’d been the one to send too many of them to those deaths. He’d ordered the deaths of too many innocents. Not once in his life had he truly accepted the Emperor’s New Order. Yet still, he’d served as the perfect example of an Imperial Naval Officer. Now, he wondered why. The why had always been there, yet he’d managed to bury it with his strong sense of duty. But the more men that died, the more ‘inferiors’ killed, the more that the question of why had grown more and more. When he finally had become fed up with the lack of an answer, he left the Navy.

So now he stood in a small Lambda-shuttle, with another former Imperial Officer and an Alderaanian native. By both, he should have hated. Yet they had come to him for assistance. Landau always repaid his debts, and he owed his life to Titus Voort. So he had no real choice other than to provide what the man had asked for. A ship. Navigation charts. Latest New Republic warrants. The last of which, Landau had gone through much trouble to get a hold of, and finding Voort’s name up fairly high on it, he decided to go with them if only to find out what his old friend had done to anger the New Republic so much.

“It’s a miracle you don’t have every bounty hunter in the galaxy after you,” Landau commented, turning to look over to Voort, who was sitting in one of the bucket seats in the small main cabin. The woman, Jen Zaarin (interesting that she held the same name as one of the Grand Admirals, however no relation was likely, as the Grand Admiral had not been an Alderaanian), sat next to Voort, her blonde hair a mess and a look of pure exhaustion on her face.

Voort just shrugged, “Obviously, the bounty hunters are smarter than they look.”

Landau just nodded, tugging at the collar of his grey tunic, “You should have come to me earlier, Titus.”

“It was hard enough finding you,” Voort commented with a grin on his face, “You’re better at hiding that I’d have thought.”

“All you had to do was exactly what you did,” responded Landau, “Just leave that message on the old comm frequency. You know I’m always looking for an excuse not to sit around.”

“Even back in the old days you hated it,” Voort said, laughing shortly.

“Yes, well, those days ended for both of us,” Landau’s voice changed to a more somber tone, “Never thought I’d be going back to Endor though. What could you possibly want to do on that rock?”

“Hopefully,” Jen spoke up, sounding just as tired as she looked, “Hopefully there are friends waiting for us.”

Voort nodded, but Landau was the one to speak, “Those two you told me about, I assume. You think Sadrak is still looking for them?”

“I doubt it,” Voort said.

Jen gave him a stern look, “I don’t.”

“Either way,” Voort glanced to Jen a moment, “They need to know where he is.”

Landau sighed and stepped over to look through the empty cockpit and the viewport again, speaking over his shoulder, “You mean, where we think Sadrak is.”

The sound of Voort standing up was one that was hard to identify unless you had years of experience. It was not as much a sound really, as a lack of sound where one should have been. Landau could identify easily, and Jen was getting good at that also. Voort took a couple steps over to the other side of the cabin, saying, “Its out of the way, lightly populated, and off most of the charts. Not only that, but according to his file, its his home.”

“Files can be altered,” that was Jen. Strange though, as she had agreed with Voort on the matter up until that point. Though she was right, files could be altered.

“Not these files,” Voort said a little too arrogantly, “They were part of the Emperor’s private records. He gave them to me when I was assigned to watch Sadrak.”

Jen nodded, a smile slowly creeping onto her face, “I just don’t like deserts.”

Landau sighed again, nodding. He didn’t either. Without a word, he stepped into the cockpit and had a seat in the pilot’s chair. Noting the chronometer he leaned back and closed his eyes. The planet Arranis. It was a small world not all that far from Endor, bordering the Unknown Regions. About the same time as the start of the Endor project, Arranis had been used as a garrison planet. It was not rich in natural resources, simply in land. A never ending desert that some would liken to Tatooine. Those who did so, had never been to Arranis. The planet was three times as hot and dry as Tatooine. There was not even enough moisture for vaporators to pick up, and specially designed equipment could barely get enough for drinking water. Among those who knew of Arranis, and that number was few, it was synonymous with hell. And if the planet wasn’t bad enough, the natives were vicious. Landau had served there for three months before being transferred to a Star Destroyer at Endor. In that time, he’d learned that the natives could not be dealt with peacefully, and he’d tried many times. Out of that brutal, bloodthirsty environment, Sadrak had come.

Honestly, it explained a great deal about the Inquisitor.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 46: Another Adventure*

[You’re sure its them?] Akan asked, running through the trees to get back to Loki. He’d been wandering the forest attempting to get into trouble. His childish efforts to get into trouble soon devolved into plotting how to cause trouble, but this was cut off by the fact that there was no one around to notice beyond Shadow, who would help him, and Loki had gone on talking about someone broadcasting a message.

Shadow was already back to Loki, having gotten the message and calmed the somewhat panicked Loki who’d liked being all hidden in the trees. [Akan, I think I know Voort’s voice by now. Yes, its them.]

Well, if Akan had worried about Shadow after the Darkwing incident, it was hard to tell if anything was wrong with her. She was back to her usual cold, barely filled with emotion, yet childlike when she thought no one was looking self. Akan was also finding himself getting back to whatever normal would be, though he found himself dwelling more and more on the past. Why, he wasn’t sure, but it was causing him to be jumpy and Shadow was getting annoyed with him more easily than usual.

[Where are you?!] Shadow’s voice sounded distracted [Loki’s ready to go already and if you don’t pick it up we’re leaving without you.]

Akan could see Loki, and noted that while the hatch was open and waiting on him, the general air was that of a ‘let’s go let’s go let’s go!!!!’. As he got to the ship, stepping in and taking a breath as the hatch sealed, he looked around. [What’s the rush?]

Before Shadow responded, they’d started to lift off of the ground, trees and other branches that had grown over Loki in the last months snapping easily. Akan started towards the cockpit and he was halfway there by the time Shadow said anything. [Sadrak’s alive.]

The would have stopped Akan dead in his tracks if he’d not expected it. But Shadow was the only one who didn’t actually know, and having assumed him dead, she’d not picked up on any of Akan’s thoughts on the matter. Of course, she was trying to ignore most of his thoughts anyway because they made no sense to her at all. He said nothing and simply continued to the cockpit. When he got there, he climbed into what had soon become ‘his’ seat on the left side(which was one of those things that bothered him for some reason, as he’d been used to most pilots sitting on the left of the ship and he wasn’t piloting...) and looked to Shadow, “I assume they know where he is.”

Shadow nodded, her attention out the viewport as the moon’s atmosphere faded away into the blackness of space. Not too far above them, the gas giant of Endor could be seen, and Akan just hoped they wouldn’t be in orbit too long. There were stories about the forest moon’s orbit where the Emperor had been killed, and Akan wasn’t one to test the truth of them. Turning his attention away from the dead of space, he caught sight of a metallic glint. As they got closer, Akan identified it as a Lambda-class shuttle. His. Well...Jen’s, but Akan had been present at the buying of it and had lost his Y-Wing in the process. He claimed the left wing, at least.

A voice came over the comm, sounding strange. Akan quickly realized it was because Loki was alive, all of his systems were just slightly different. In the case of the comm, the normal crackling and distorted voice was non-existent, instead sounding much more fluid and watery. Because of that, it took Akan a moment to recognize Voort’s voice, “Transmitting the coordinates to the planet now.”

Akan turned to Shadow again, “I don’t even get a hello?”

He received a glare from Shadow, and she’d opened her mouth to say something when Jen’s voice interrupted, “Hello, Akan.”

At that, he smiled proudly. [Ha.]

[Shut up.] Shadow’s glare intensified to the point where anyone that wasn’t made of the same stuff she was(literally), wouldn’t have survived the burning pain from it. Quickly realizing it was having no effect on him, Shadow gave him a mental punch(which actually hurt somehow) and turned back to the viewport. When Voort’s voice sounded on the comm again, Jen could be heard laughing quietly to herself behind him, “We’ll meet you there. Its better to explain all of this in person, anyway.”

Then the comm shut off. Voort was as military as ever, it seemed. After only a few minutes, the shuttle turned, and shot off into hyperspace. So much for the ‘how are you?’ that went with the ‘hello’. Akan sighed and leaned back. When his eyes closed, he allowed his mind to wander and before he knew it, they were in hyperspace and on their way. He had a feeling that when Voort and Jen met up with them(if it ever happened, of course), that they’d at least talk about what had happened before jumping off into another adventure. But then again, he’d forgotten to think about both Voort and Shadow.

[She doesn’t mean to be like that all the time, Akan] Loki said interrupting his train of thoughts and even figuring out where it was leading. The ship wasn’t a Force user in that sense, just very good at figuring out people. Especially, Akan, it seemed.

“Shut up, Loki,” Shadow grumbled, also leaning back in her seat.

[You know I’m right.] the ship responded, a little too quickly if it had been anyone else. But Shadow wasn’t one to claw at her own ship until it cried.

She just looked up at the ship and then closed her own eyes. Unlike Akan, she didn’t let her mind wander. Honestly, she had no idea how to. All her life, she’d been perfectly controlled, no emotion or action coming through that wasn’t planned ahead. It was how she had been brought up. It was impossible to be any other way when you were a real killer. But she wasn’t brought up that way...she was a clone. She wasn’t Marix BlueIce. She was Shadow...Alrax...both worked, as they fit who she was. Slowly, her controlled thoughts started wandering without her realizing it as she started to wonder if her family knew. If they did, they wouldn’t have let her live...

Slowly, she opened her eyes and turned to Akan. He was asleep. Sitting up, Shadow sighed and tried to relax. What of him? Everything would have been just fine if she’d not given him that body. But now...could they really justify killing her now? Maybe they did know...but clones were never allowed to live long enough to have their own Nothlit. She’d complicated matters far too much. The worst part of it all was that she was fairly sure she wouldn’t be allowed to live. It wasn’t as if they could just undo what she’d done for Akan. So now, despite how hard she’d tried to escape it, she was back to being a killer. 

To make all of that worse, Sadrak was still alive...as was the Darkwing. Buried. Something that strong could not be killed, and barely controlled. Shadow struggled to keep it down and had a little success. But every few nights she’d not allowed herself to sleep for the worry that it might come back. And yet again, her thoughts returned to Akan. He should have just killed the Darkwing. It was the only way he could have done so and lived. But, of course, he was idealistic and always thought people could be saved. Turning her head, Shadow glared at him again. 

[I’m glad you’re okay.] Loki’s voice made her jump slightly, but it calmed her thoughts and a smile slowly grew on her face. At least, no matter what, she had Loki.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 47: Rough Landing*

Arranis sat in the blackness of space, orbiting its nearby blue star. Three of the four moons could be seen, misshapen rocks that was long ago Arranis’ sister planet. Technically, they orbited Arranis III, though since it was the only habitable planet in the system, it was normally referred to as Arranis. The tan colored planet held no clouds in its sky, only long and winding tracks of different colored sands and rocks could be seen. Within the largest of the rocky regions was the small, Imperial Garrison town of Haladin. However, it was no longer the home to that Imperial Garrison that once was the back door to Endor. Now, the only occupants of the town, and the planet as a whole, were the two native peoples. 

One, the true natives to the planet, were a small in number species of reptilian humanoids calling themselves Topsiders. It was assumed they call themselves that because of their refusal to hide from the sun and natural predators of the planet below ground shelters that the other inhabitants of the planet used. The Narani were near humans, likely to have once been colonists in the early days of the Old Republic. Both groups coexisted well, simply ignoring each other and trading when it was required.

Landau had explained all of this to both Voort and Jen, also trying to explain to them how important is that the understand the most important thing about Arranis. The lack of water. It was worth more on Arranis than a Corusca Gem would gather on any of the Core Worlds. There was just enough to live on, but that kept the numbers of both groups very low. When the Empire had set up their garrison, they had brought a huge supply of water...which was quickly raided. As were the subsequent supplies of water. No matter how well it was guarded, the natives managed to get to it. Landau expected this kind of treatment the second they landed, no matter where it was. Because of the lack of traffic to the planet, a single ship would be an easy sight, and considering the last encounters with offworlders, they would be expected to have a good amount of water on the ship.

“We’ll head close to Haladin,” explained Landau as he brought the shuttle closer to the planet’s atmosphere, “There’s a good amount of valleys and such near there, so we should be at least mostly hidden.”

Voort was sitting next to him, watching the sensor readings with interest. Behind Voort, at the small comm station, sat Jen, who was relaying the information Landau was giving them to Shadow in Loki not far behind them. Landau figured that if Sadrak had returned, he’d first go to Haladin. Even though it was no longer under Imperial control, it was the only real organized city on the entire planet and was perfect for making one’s presence known among the natives. Voort failed to mention to Landau that Sadrak probably didn’t have a physical body, but either way, Landau assumption was likely correct.

So the first leg of their hunt had started. Voort found it interesting how set on it Jen had been. She was fairly pacifistic, though liberal with that as Alderaanians were, yet she seemed more set on finding Sadrak than he did. Even after a short talk with Akan, he’d sounded set on finding Sadrak and dealing with him. Of course, this didn’t mean Voort was against finding the Inquisitor, he was simply surprised at the two other’s reactions. Especially Jen’s.

All of their thoughts were cut short by an alarm that went off in the shuttle’s cockpit. Voort cursed and said, “Something’s getting a lock on us!”

“Haladin had turbolaser batteries on the ground,” Landau said, starting to weave the shuttle through maneuvers that were never meant to be made with it, especially within the ever growing gravity of the planet’s atmosphere.

“You forgot to mention this, why?” Jen asked flatly from the comm seat, strapping in and holding on at the same time. She was also avoiding looking out the currently spinning viewport. Landau was a good pilot, yes, but even the best pilot pulling these maneuvers with an aging inertial compensator such as the one in the shuttle would have trouble not getting sick.

“They were in pieces!” Landau growled. In a moment, bright green bolts of turbolaser fire could be seen rising up from a section of the dark rocky region below. The desert itself was directly below them as the shuttle dove at a near ninety degree angle, with the rocky regions that were the source of the turbolaser fire able to be seen through the upper section of the cockpit’s viewport. The shuttle suddenly pulled hard up, leveling off slightly and narrowly avoiding another barrage of fire.

“Friendly greeting,” Voort grumbled, holding on and trying to pinpoint where Haladin was. He could see some metallic glints within a valley, and at least four or five sources of the turbolasers surrounding it. They were expected. Or, someone was and they’d gotten caught up in it. Unlikely. Landau maybe? No...Voort knew he could trust Arik. So the best assumption to make at this point was that Sadrak knew someone was coming.

Then, as they got close enough to see more detail in Haladin, the inevitable occurred. The three of them had been expecting it, so there was a disturbingly eerie lack of emotion when they took the first hit. It was dead on, and completely knocked out the shields. Luckily, if you could call it that, at least two of the batteries had taken aim and were firing on Loki instead of their small shuttle. 

Landau had managed to keep control of the shuttle, this time pulling it to the side in a roll, trying to come in towards Haladin closer to the eastern edge where the rocks met with the desert. He managed to maneuver around three more close shots when they were hit again. The left wing, Akan’s wing, took the hit, sending the ship into a spin and knocking off the wing completely. There was no way to keep control of the ship in the spin they’d managed, and all Landau could do was try to keep them from hitting any rocks. Voort was out cold, having hit his head hard on the console next to him. Jen was watching the spinning mess outside the viewport. It was impossible to tell what was what, except for when the sky came into view, a small dark shape could be seen briefly. Loki.

“Hold on!” Landau said, stating the obvious thing to do in such a situation. Jen had no chance to respond or even to grip the console in front of her tighter. There was a sudden, extremely violent impact from the back end of the ship, which was followed by two more and a roll. By the time Jen distantly heard a third explosion above her, she could feel blood on her forehead. It didn’t last long, as another violent shock occurred, sending her head into the console and pulling her into blackness.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 48: One Thing at a Time*

“You could have explained how these things work!” Akan growled as Loki attempted to pull up. Yet again, he was doing the ‘press buttons that are probably weapons and hope’ routine. Except this time, it worked even less than before. They weren’t even firing this time, and Shadow said it was something to do with how the power was being routed to keep them alive. Keeping them alive apparently meant wild maneuvering and Akan wishing he could pilot because he was much better at this than Shadow was. Shadow was getting ready to yell something at him, but a loud explosion that rocked their ship could be heard. But it wasn’t Loki. As Loki pulled through a tight roll, Akan caught sight of the Lambda-shuttle spinning in a fiery mess before slamming hard into the sand below.

Sand was thrown up so it was impossible to tell the damage that was caused by the impact. However, Akan could still feel...something. So at least something was alive. Though, it could just as well be a native creature in the general area that had managed a lucky escape. But there wasn’t time to pay attention to that. Now, all of the turbolasers took aim on Loki, and hits on them were easily distinguished by painful sounds from Loki and the shaking of the ship itself.

“Hang on, Loki!” Shadow said through clenched teeth, trying to bring them down low over the rocks at the edge of the sand. It managed to keep three of the turbolasers blocked by higher rocks, but another two still had good sights on them. This was made apparent by a hard hit to Loki’s aft region, getting another mental yelp from the ship which was suddenly muffled and cut off when two more shots hit. The lack of restraints had surprised Akan, and now he was holding on to the edge of the chair tightly, claws digging in a little. Amazingly, when Loki’s nose caught a rock and they tumbled into a violent roll through a cloud of sand, the claws in the seat actually helped keep him in place.

Loki made no noises at all, and Akan assumed that the ship was unconscious. It didn’t cross his mind that it may not be possible FOR a ship to be unconscious. The continued jolts from what were likely rocks went on for another three minutes when they finally hit something large and hard in front of them. With that last jolt, they stopped. It was then that Akan’s equilibrium caught up with him, and he realized Loki was firmly dug in on his side. There was a long, strange silence before a yelp from Shadow and a ripping noise from both seats. The first noise was Shadow’s claws losing their grip, and the second was Akan’s losing their’s as Shadow fell onto him, sending him out of his seat and pinned against the consoles that were at one point, on the wall. Akan managed a whimper from hitting his head, but after having the finer points of morphing ground into him by Shadow(especially since she hated him getting hurt and letting it linger because she had to feel it linger), he remorphed the cuts and simply whimpered at the crushing mass of Shadow that was pinning him to consoles that were not designed for comfort.

Shadow made a grumbling noise, and got up. Of course, she got up by pushing down on Akan, getting a curse and a kick(which missed) out of him. She did her best to step on the less sensitive consoles, finding a section of the wall outside the cockpit that felt safe to stand on. [Loki...?]

Nothing responded.

When Akan got up, he noticed the lights and such were all out. He followed her to the hallway and said, “I think he’s out...”

Shadow just nodded, starting towards the hatch, which she knew was going to be buried from how they’d landed. Akan followed her quietly, then said, “I think we hit in the rocks instead of the desert.”

Shadow nodded again as she knelt next to the hatch that was now at her feet, “The last hit sent Loki spinning towards a canyon. I think we found the end of it.”

The hatch irised open to sand. Lots of sand. Shadow and Akan sighed at the same time. She looked to him, but said nothing. He knew she was going to do...and what he’d have to do. Shadow changed noticeably, her shape becoming hard to distinguish as she shrunk down to the same feline form she had used many times. She’d called it an Alarix. Distant cousins to Alraxians. Akan was starting to get tired of all the naming conventions being so similar, but that wasn’t nearly as annoying as the blue motif which, surprisingly, had not shown up in at least a month.

The large cat like creature padded to him, pawed at his leg, then turned back and started digging through the sand. Apparently, Alarix were very good at digging. As Shadow soon demonstrated. Though after a good sized tunnel was made, she padded back over to him, growled, and pawed more roughly. She wanted help.

[Damn right, I want help.] Shadow’s voice grumbled before going back to the digging. Akan sighed, and gave up on his procrastinating. He had no problem with basic remorphing of injuries and such, but something still bothered him about not being...well...him. Even though, of course, he hadn’t been himself as he was born for a while now. Sure, Shadow had taught him how to do it, and he was good at it, but he didn’t like it. Was it really surprising to want to stay in one body? To Shadow, apparently it was.

So, he was soon right next to her, a second feline with the metallic blue stripe assisting in the digging and trying to ignore the strange smells and such that the more sensitive nose was picking up. Thankfully, Shadow had nearly finished on her own, so it took only another few minutes to get to the surface. Akan was immediately morphing back to himself as he climbed out of the hole and dusted himself off. She was right. There were in a large canyon, rocks all around a random cliffs everywhere. After being growled out for attempting to help Shadow out, he stood back and looked to Loki. The ship looked as bad as the general area. Long scratches, almost painful to look at, twisted across Loki’s hull. Across the ground itself, many small pebbles and rocks were scattered. That finished the explanation of how many rocks they’d hit.

Shadow made a whimpering noise as she inspected Loki. Akan, however, was looking down the path they’d plowed through while trying to ignore the large black scorch marks near Loki’s aft. Off on the horizon, he could see a large amount of sand still in the air. It was impossible to tell if that was from the shuttle or Loki’s crash. He sighed and turned back to Shadow. One thing at a time.

“Will he be alright?” asked Akan, knowing Shadow knew to which ‘he’ was referred to.

Stepping back, Shadow gave Akan a strange look. Worry, “I don’t know...”

Akan just nodded slowly, “I’ll help where I can if you explain things.”

She picked up on his other thoughts easily, “Jen, Voort, and that Landau...”

“Will have to worry about themselves for now,” finished Akan as he looked over Loki one last time. It was a choice between friends, and he had chosen Loki. Not because Loki was worth any more than the three humans, but because Voort would likely be able to take care of the rest of them. This all depended on the fact that they were alive, but Akan did his best to completely ignore that variable for the time being.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 49: Friendly Natives*

After a long half hour of work, Akan had given up. Of course, he didn’t mention this to Shadow, who was still diligently cross...well, not cross wiring as much as cross veining. Yet, all they ever got out of Loki was a dispassionate moan. Then, back to the nothing. Shadow was getting more annoyed at the lack of anything working. After finishing with what Shadow said were some neural cords(which worried Akan to touch), Akan wandered off to gather a couple of things. Namely, blaster and lightsaber. Of course, the once easy walk back to the room was now extremely complicated along the walls. The worst part was that his room was now the floor, so he had to open the door, and jump down to the opposite wall.

At least he had it better than Shadow. She would have to climb up into her room, and considering the width(now height) of the corridor, that would have been an interesting sight for someone of her height. He wasn’t stupid enough to mention that one to her, though. Akan had been surprised to find the furniture all in the same place, but then realized that Shadow mentioned it was attached. So, he pulled on the belt, jacket(not that it was cold), and then looked up. He looked up and cursed.

The first problem was one that was simple. The room was very large, putting the hatch a good distance above him. That could be solved by climbing onto the front section of the upright bed, which he did to find that a good jump would get him up to the right height. That is, if only the hatch hadn’t closed. That was the second problem. A small part of him was laughing at the situation, but the rest of him was doing its best to ignore that and find a way to open the hatch. He’d jumped once, slipped off the bed frame on his horrible landing, and fallen back against the ‘floor’ head first.

There was a pause as the dizziness subsided, then Shadow’s voice suddenly sounded in his mind. [What did you just do?!]

Akan cursed again. He should have thought of that, too. Obviously, she’d felt the fall, and she didn’t ‘sound’ too happy about that either. Very carefully, he ‘said’. [Just...um...can you come back here and give me a little help?]

[I’m busy.] Shadow replied with a good amount of venom. Which meant she was probably doing something she thought would work. For what? The tenth or so time now.

Akan sighed and got to his feet, shaking his head and then carefully climbing back onto the bedframe. [We can’t do anything for Loki right now. He’s alive. We need to go find Jen and the others.]

[Fine...] Shadow sounded more reasonable than he’d expected. For a moment, Akan latched onto part of a thought that Shadow had fought back. She was going to add something to that...but no, he couldn’t figure out what. He also wasn’t going to ask, as Shadow had gotten annoyed at him asking questions like that lately.

In another minute, the hatch above him opened, and Shadow’s head looked down at him. The grin on her face was nearly concealed by her hair, but she was glad it was short enough so he could see the stupidity of the situation from her eyes. Which he could. Which made her grin more. There was a long silence, then, finally, Shadow smiled and reached an arm down, “You’re an idiot.”

He growled, but said nothing. Carefully, he jumped, hoping he wouldn’t have to come back down at attempt another landing. Thankfully, grabbed onto her arm, and she pulled him up. Once he was on his feet again, he gave Shadow a curious look, “You didn’t let me fall.”

That got a shrug out of her, “It hurt enough the first time.”

Then, she walked off towards the hatch and their makeshift tunnel. Akan stood there for a long moment, knowing something was wrong with what she’d just said but not able to pinpoint it. She rounded a corner when he realized what it was, and kicked the ‘wall’. [You were outside the whole time!]

In the distance, beyond the corner Shadow cackled. Akan allowed his instincts to get the better of him, and charged. Her head glanced around the corner just in time to see Akan about to round it. She yelped, turned and sprinted towards the hatch. It was still open, and the sand was strong enough here to hold the tunnel they’d dug out earlier, so she had no trouble sprinting out into it. Akan was right behind her. In fact, he was so close behind her that the second she stopped, he plowed through her and flattened her into the sand.

She cursed and pushed him off, but didn’t get a chance to sit up. The reason she had stopped had moved closer, and was now holding large, outdated looking blaster rifles aimed at the two of them. Akan followed the barrel of the blaster to the holder, noting they were all roughly Shadow’s height, wearing heavy wrapped robes and cloths that were as dull colored as the planet looked from orbit. Under the heavy hoods, masks covered their faces, though there was a transparent section over the eyes. Akan noticed that the transparent material became opaque when their heads turned so that the sun was in the way, but as they were mostly looking down the barrels of their blaster rifles, eyes were easy to see.

One of the figures spoke, muffled and in a language Akan didn’t recognize. He also couldn’t figure out which one of them had spoke. Another responded, and one of the blasters motioned towards Shadow. Akan and Shadow exchanged glances. [I don’t know what they’re saying but I don’t like the pointing of weapons at my face...]

[So we’re done just laying here, then?] Shadow responded, sounding happy and like a kid that just got a new toy.

Akan allowed the robed figures a few more moments to speak, but then two more blaster rifles were aimed at him. The voices were also sounding more hostile, and the general tone of things was getting worse. Akan was going tell Shadow to wait another moment, but the quick, almost hard to notice, image shot through his mind. One of the blaster rifles fired. As quick as it had came, it disappeared and Akan knew it was meant. There wasn’t time to say anything, and he instead rolled to the left, a blast bolt sending the sand, where his head had been, up in a cloud. He was getting to his feet when he heard another shot, and caught sight of Shadow also moving. As his hand went for his lightsaber, there was a painful sounding crack from behind him, and he took no time to see Shadow cracking the neck of one of the figures.

An arm grabbed his own, stopping him from drawing the weapon on his belt. His other hand grabbed the arm, and he tossed the attacker over him and to the ground. The butt of a blaster caught him across the face a moment later, and before he could recover from the blow, a strong fist slammed into his spine.

Shadow, on the other hand, was having no trouble at all. The second she’d rolled out of the way of the shot, she dug her claws into a an ankle then pulled the body down onto another. She flipped back, landing on her feet behind two others. Spinning around, Shadow caught a hand thrusting at her with a long, sharp knife. Twisting the wrist, there was a sudden crack and the knife fell to the sand. Another came at her from the second figure, and she reacted by pulling the figure she still held into the path of the knife. The blade thrust into the back of the figure’s neck, and Shadow ignored the red mess in the face mask. She pushed up off the now dead figure’s shoulders, landing gracefully behind the knife holder. Her opponent was quick, almost as fast as she was, and reacted by spinning around and sending the knife in towards her neck.

Her arm came up and she pivoted to the side, parrying the strike as best one could do without a weapon, which was impressive. But no one was keeping count, especially when Shadow was too busy again pivoting, this time away from a kick and returning with her own. The side of her foot caught the figure across the head, shattering the mask and sending the figure into the sand. Shadow took no notice, instead turning to see two others bearing down on Akan. He was on his knees, and took a hard blow to the face from a knee. Feeling the echo of the pain, Shadow winced and dove forward, claws extended. The figure was surprised, and was therefore easy to take down while digging her claws into its neck. By the time she was getting ready to move to the last, Akan had remorphed the broken nose(which was odd to see the blue colored blood on the sand with no source left) and swept the feet of the last figure out from under him. Before Akan could stop her, Shadow pounced and killed the figure.

Sighing and letting the adrenaline rush fade, Akan stood and looked over the bodies around them, “Should have left one alive to figure out what was going on.”

“It would have been pointless,” Shadow commented, almost sounding like a droid, “We could not understand them and could not have gathered any information,” a pause, then her voice returned more to normal, “You should be more careful.”

“Hand to hand combat isn’t my speciality,” Akan said with a weak smile, “I’d suggest we bury these bodies in the sand just in case anyone else drops by.”

Shadow nodded, and the two of them got to work.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 50: Desert Showoffs*

The attackers had been human. Or at least, extremely similar. Akan couldn’t tell any physical differences, but then again, he wasn’t an expert on species. To add to that, all of the attackers had been bloodied enough that it was even harder to tell, especially the one that had taken a foot to the face, then claws to the neck. It had been a mess to move it. After kicking over the last of the sand to cover the blood on the ground, Akan turned to Shadow, “The shuttle’s going to have hit a long way back there.”

Shadow nodded slowly, looking back to Loki for a long moment and then to the streak in the sand created by the crash, “Lets get this over with...I don’t like leaving Loki alone.”

Starting forward, Akan looked along the canyon that they’d assisted in carving. On the left, the rock wall went up at least thirty meters, but likely even more than that, with many jagged sections, smaller cliff faces, and cave formations. To the right, it fluctuated more, from even higher than the opposite cliff face to a few large boulders scattered around. This went on for a good while, almost to the horizon, before the wall on the right completely opened up into the desert. Normally, Akan would have been complaining about the intensity of the sun. Of course, ‘normally’ meant ‘if he was human’. His Alraxian body was strangely comfortable in the heat, but it was the sand and lack of moisture in the air that bothered him instead.

Shadow was ignoring it, the only focus on keeping her tail above the ground so it didn’t drag in the sand. That would just be one more thing to deal with. She was busy with wondering why they’d been attacked. No, actually, that one was easy. They were attacked because it was their luck. Then, they’d been tracked, and attacked again simply because it was their luck. It had nothing to do with the Force. Both the Force and luck existed together, with the former having a habit of screwing up the fun that the latter always had. For some reason, though, luck was managing to keep the Force out of any situations concerning herself and Akan.

She blamed him. It was the noble, self sacrificing Jedi thing. She was trained in the use of the Force, sure, but no foolish distinctions that weakened the mind. Dark...light...it didn’t matter. All of it was the Force. Balance was the important thing, and when one only held Light, one was not balanced. Seeing how unbalanced Akan was in regard to both the Force and his mental state in the last few months, Shadow felt justified in placing the blame on him. Not only that, but he was such an easy target and he had a habit of squirming under pressure. Far too entertaining.

It took an hour to reach the actual dunes of the desert that grew out of the rocks. Shadow had taken a seat on a rock, waiting on Akan. He was showing off, though his excuse was ‘trying to see the shuttle’. But the way he’d climbed up the rocks was showing off. No one jumped and flipped around like that unless they were trying to get attention. He was up a good fifteen meters up, standing in one of those poses that the old holodramas would use for the hero. Shadow had only seen a couple of them, but attributed his stance to more of the comedies, and was waiting for the moment when he slipped, tumbled down, and landed with a good ‘thud’ in the sand. Sure, she’d feel it, but the laugh would be well worth it.

Finally, he climbed down, but much slower and carefully. He didn’t fall, and after watching him for a minute, Shadow got bored again. He could have come out here and played around on his own. She had things to do with Loki. Giving Akan a glare as he walked over, she turned it into what he’d started to call ‘The Look’. Apparently, it could burn a hole in durasteel if one wasn’t ready for it. She’d used it to unnerve people for as long as she could remember. But for some reason, Akan had gotten good at ignoring it. That didn’t stop her from trying.

“There’s a dark patch off on the horizon,” he said, pointing and completely ignoring her expression, “We can make it in about an hour and a half if we keep up the same pace.”

Shadow nodded and hopped off the rock to her feet, stretching a little once on the ground. After a moment, she looked off to the bleak, sand covered planet ahead of them, “You could have done this yourself.”

The two of them started walking at the same time, and Shadow nearly stopped dead in her tracks when he responded to her comment, “If there’s anymore of the natives out there, I don’t think I can take them alone.”

Now, Akan wasn’t nearly as arrogant about his abilities as she was, but he’d never once admitted to needing her help. At that, Shadow grinned. That was, in her mind, a victory. And by her count, it was about five to two, with her in the lead.

“You’re still keeping count?” Akan asked over his shoulder, catching onto those thoughts easily.

Grinning still, Shadow nodded and said, “Of course. Just have to prove to you why you should be listening to me. Especially since you’ve forgotten something very important.”

“Oh?” he raised an eyebrow as they stepped across the top of the first of the dunes, relatively small in comparison to the ones they’d soon be walking over. Hm. Forgotten something. Blaster. Lightsaber. Clothes. Shadow.

“I am NOT a possession, thank you very much,” she growled as he allowed his thoughts to be ‘heard’ easily. Of course, he ignored her and kept thinking. Shadow. Her clothes. Her brain. Her—, “You forgot your own brain, Jedi boy. We’re wandering out into the middle of a desert without water. Didn’t that cross your mind?”

Akan stopped, nearly slipping on the softening sand, “Oops...”

“Damn, right, ‘oops’,” Shadow snapped, fighting back a grin for as long as she could before he saw it.

“What?!” he looked ready to turn and go back. In fact, he was. How could he be so stupid to have forgotten water of all things?

That evil grin grew on her face and she laughed, “You didn’t think of it because you don’t need it. Not human, remember? The deserts uncomfortable, sure, but this walk will be nothing.”

“I hate you,” Akan grumbled under his breath, glaring as best he could manage at the moment.

“Hmm...you know, I don’t like the idea of walking all this way anymore,” her grin didn’t fade, “I have an idea.”

He rolled his eyes, “Should I worry?”

As he was finishing the last word, she turned and ran. It wasn’t nearly as fast as on solid ground, as the sand was too soft to truly run at full speed, but it was still fast. [Race ya!]

[Cheating!!!] the Alraxian competitive spirit appeared out of no where in Akan, and he found himself charging after her into the desert. All the while, he was not thinking about the fact that though he and Shadow wouldn’t need water, it was going to be tough on the three humans. If they were alive. They’d find out soon, and the problem was going to be a difficult one. With three weak humans, it would be an even longer trip back. The depressing part is it would be easier if they didn’t find anyone. But then...what would they do?


----------



## Kangaxx

I'm amazed by the frequency with which you update this SH.  It's great being able to come here and find something new everyday.  I'd ask how you have the time, but I used to live in Gainesville, so I know how little there is to do in that city.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Kangaxx said:
			
		

> I'm amazed by the frequency with which you update this SH.  It's great being able to come here and find something new everyday.  I'd ask how you have the time, but I used to live in Gainesville, so I know how little there is to do in that city.



 Truthfully, I have no life at the moment. Working on GETTING one, but that won't slow down the updates. Funny, I used to live up in the Atlanta area...9 years. Must be a common move.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 51: Awakening Imperials*

Slowly, the blurred vision began to focus. Head hurt. Badly. It could be lived with, though. Arm likely broken. Legs alright. A few bruises. Voort blinked a few times, his eyes finally managing to focus through the daze. The shuttle was a mess. He couldn’t tell exactly how bad things were at the moment, but could feel a strong, and hot, wind that suggested at least one hole in the hull.

He was on his back, still in the pilot’s chair. It had been ripped out of its position and now rested against what the had been the ceiling. It was now the floor, and the transparent viewport had been shattered in multiple places, allowing a small amount of the sand beneath to coat the interior. Voort unstrapped the crash webbing, glad he’d strapped in and surprised he’d taken so little injuries. The rest of the cockpit was empty, though the door to the main cabin was open. Slowly standing up, Voort looked to the mess that was the cabin and found the hull breach. There were many, and some small fires that were burning themselves out. The cabin itself was only half the length it should have been, torn apart at an angle from the impact. The bright sun poured in through a large open gash through the hull, and Voort climbed up out onto the sand above.

The ship was buried to a point, and it was hard to tell how deep. Outside the ship, next to one of the large wings of the shuttle that had torn off, stood Landau. He was facing the other direction, looking off towards the rock formations to the north. The man looked in about as bad shape as Voort was in, and at the sound of movement, turned to see Voort, “Sorry I left you there...didn’t want to move you. Couldn’t tell how badly you were hurt.”

Voort nodded, understanding Landau’s decision. It was the correct one, and Voort took that moment to snap his shoulder back into place. It hurt, but one had to learn to deal with pain. A question came to his mind suddenly, “Where’s Jen?”

Landau sighed, wiping a red streak of blood from his forehead, “There are tracks leading to the rocks there. When I woke up, she was gone.”

“You didn’t go after her?” asked Voort sounding annoyed.

The other man shook his head, “Wasn’t going to leave you here to bake.”

Emotion drained for Voort face, and he simply nodded again, “It is hot out here.”

At that, Voort unsnapped the jacket he wore to get a little air. Annoyingly, the air wasn’t anything but more hot. From the look of Landau, he’d already attempted this and failed. Voort was glad he hadn’t worn the cloak. Though it was comfortable on other planets, it would have just helped to cook him here. The problem of not having it was that it revealing the weapons on his belt. The blaster pistol was no surprise, but Landau gave a long look to the large metallic cylinder. Voort ignore this as best he could, then looked towards the rocks again, “The tracks go that direction?”

“I followed them for a short while, but didn’t go to far,” Landau commented as the two of them started walking, “The tracks were well covered, but after a short time on this planet you learn to notice things like that. Boots. Which means it was Narani.”

“Why would they take her?” Voort asked after crossing the first dune. It was going to be a long way, and he was already feeling dehydrated.

Landau shrugged, “I’m surprised we’re still alive. They should have killed us.”

“Obviously, they had better things to do,” grumbled Voort, hating this long trek already. Nothing made sense.

“There’s movement off in the distance,” Landau said, interrupting the start of Voort’s thoughts. Arik pointed off towards their left, near a somewhat closer outcropping of the rocks. Of course, closer was still very near the horizon. Stopping on top of the second dune, Voort looked closely. There was movement. He knelt down to make himself at least a little harder to see, though the colors he wore would make him easy to spot no matter what.

Landau knelt beside him, pulling out a pair of electrobinoculars from the small pack of salvaged equipment he’d gathered while Voort was still unconscious. He focused them, then made a confused look, “Well, those aren’t Narani...don’t know what they are.”

Voort took the binoculars when Landau offered them, and zoomed in. The image was obvious. Alraxians. At first, he’d only seen Akan, looking tired but walking in a way that showed he was bored. About ten paces ahead of Akan, Shadow looked like she was sulking. Almost like a child told that play time was over. A grin grew on Voort’s face. That was probably what had happened.

He handed the electrobinoculars back to Landau and stood up, “Looks like the two of them made it out alright.”

“So that’s what they look like...” Landau commented to himself as Voort started down the dune to cut off the two Alraxians. Catching up, Landau raised an eyebrow, “You know how easily we can get lost out here, yes?”

Voort just nodded, “Think about this. We were shot down on approach without a word. Then, Jen was taken by a group who had to be waiting on us. Couldn’t have been unconscious for more than half an hour.”

“We were expected then?” Landau asked.

That got a shrug out of Voort, “It would seem that way. If not us, someone else was...but that still doesn’t explain why they took Jen. Or even where.”

“That one’s easy,” said Landau, motioning back towards the rock formations, “The Narani are the ones who took over Haladin after the Empire pulled out.”

“And Sadrak was one of them...” Voort said, thinking out loud as he tried to figure things out, “Just why Jen? And how did they know she was here? They had to be waiting nearby. Its Sadrak’s style to leave people alive to set a trap, so it hints at him being here like we expected...but...”

“But it goes back to the same thing,” Landau finished as the started on their fourth dune, hoping the two Alraxians would spot them so they didn’t have to walk the whole way and back, “How did he know we were coming?”

“Well, whatever it is, I know it wasn’t you,” Voort commented, alleviating a small fear in the back of Landau’s mind, “But that makes it even more complicated. I already don’t like this.”

At that, Landau laughed and patted his friend on the back, “Now you know how I felt when I was stationed here all those years ago. Consider this my revenge.”

“For what?” Voort asked, a smile creeping onto his face, “I only recommended you needed a better command than aboard a small Victory Destroyer.”

Landau scowled, “I had assumed I’d get an Imperial class after that, but no, they put me in charge of this rock. I’m so glad you made that recommendation.”

It was Voort’s time to laugh, but it was short and almost forced, as there was too much else on his mind, “You’re right, you do deserve revenge. Just next time, how about taking that revenge on a planet with some water? The dry air is getting to me already.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 52: Out of the Sand*

Akan had spotted the two former Imperials from a good distance off. Shadow confirmed who it was, or at least, she confirmed that it was Voort and likely the man named Landau. Upon meeting up, they exchanged greetings(which were short) and then, the inevitable question was asked by Akan.

“Where’s Jen?” he sounded like he already knew the answer to it, though.

Voort shook his head, “Don’t know. Landau said the Narani took her.”

“Violent robed people?” Shadow asked, shifting her weight and looking bored at just standing still.

Landau gave them a confused look, confirming the description was correct. Akan shrugged, “A group of them were waiting outside of Loki.”

At that, Voort just nodded and motion towards the rocks formations, “Tracks lead back in the direction of Haladin.”

“Well then,” Akan said, stepping past Voort towards where the man was pointing, “Onward.”

He didn’t think about the effect of the planet’s conditions on the two humans. It wasn’t noticeable in either of their appearances, and even if it was, the fact that Akan(and Shadow for that matter) was quiet comfortable despite the dry air meant that the thought that it was hard to survive with didn’t even cross his mind. Neither Voort nor Landau felt bad enough to comment on it, so they simply followed, with Landau eventually taking the lead as he knew which direction was the correct one.

After three dunes, fatigue was showing on Landau’s face. He didn’t speak of it, but it was obvious in his expression and the way he moved. Even Voort was showing signs of fatigue, though he was much better at masking the effects of it. Shadow could tell, though Akan wasn’t paying enough attention to. Somehow, he’d come to terms that this Dark Sider and man still loyal to the Emperor was not currently a threat. But it was bothering him. Voort was, no matter what, an evil person. He did not have anyone else’s best interests at heart other than his own. Akan had no idea how wrong he was, but the truth in his mind grew stronger with each passing moment. But now was not the time.

Suddenly, as Akan took a step over the dune and was ready to start down the opposite side, the sand around them exploded into the air. But not an explosion of flames. In the reversed rain of sand, dark brown robes could be seen shooting upwards out of the sand. In a quick moment, the sand was falling back to the ground and the four of them were surrounded by at least fifteen of the robed Narani. Akan would have already been attacking them if they’d been armed as the last ones they’d encountered. Instead of knives, though, these Narani aimed weapons. Not blasters...more likely, advanced slugthrowers. They looked about one step behind the leap to blaster technology. In other words, primitive, but still very dangerous.

Shadow was moving, but when she latched onto his thoughts, she froze. Not because she couldn’t handle them...but because they had slugthrowers. Which meant they fire a physical projectile. As advanced as the slugthrowers looked, it was a safe assumption that the ammunition was a metal. Next to cold, that was one of the most dangerous things to an Alraxian. In fact, it was the reason all of their technology was organic and not metallic as much of the rest of the galaxy’s. Yet again, one of those things she’d not told Akan, and he didn’t pick up on it this time either. Voort had his hand on the lightsaber at his belt, but was also frozen in place, not out of shock but waiting for the right moment. They hadn’t shot...so they wanted to at least speak for a short time.

Landau had been so close to the explosion of sand that he’d been sent to the ground on his backside. Currently, he looked up into the barrel of a slugthrower. Following it, his eyes met with a pair of dark green ones behind the visor. The silence continued for a moment, and then the one who Landau was watching spoke. Not in the strange tongue, but in Basic, even sounding like he had a hint of a Kuati accent, “Arik?”

It was muffled behind the mask, but Landau recognized it. All eyes were on him at this point, and he tilted his head. Another long silence, then Landau’s mind connected the voice, though muffled, with a face. He looked closer at the eyes behind the visor. Then, “Hansen?”

At that, the robed figure threw back his...no, her hood. Either that, or it was a man with long, wavy brunette hair. When the hood went back, the visor tinted to black to protect the wearer’s eyes from the intense sunlight. Two straps were undone from the back of her head, and pulled the mask and visor off. Which then confirmed that this Narani was female. She looked surprised, paused a moment, then reached down to pull Landau to his feet, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t think you’d ever come back!”

Akan and Shadow exchanged looks, stepping closer with a ‘safety in numbers’ feeling running through both of their minds. Not that they didn’t trust Landau, but there were far too many coincidences occurring on this planet far too close to their arrival. Akan then caught sight of Voort. The man had a surprised look on his face, though he was fighting it back.

The woman seemed to notice this, and her eyes widened, “Titus, you too? Its been even longer!”

“Ten years,” Voort commented quietly, looking to the other Narani who had lowered their weapons. This, of course, did not mean he wasn’t ready to draw his lightsaber at a moment’s notice.

Landau looked around, not feeling comfortable out in the open. Hansen seemed to catch onto this, and motioned back towards where Loki had gone down, “We should get out of the open. I’ll explain things there.”

Landau and Voort nodded, and then followed her and the Narani without a single question. Akan and Shadow were weary of this, not liking the lack of explanations but eventually followed anyway.

[Keep your eyes open.] Shadow ‘said’ quietly, even though no one else would hear it.

Akan just nodded, saying nothing and watching the way these Narani moved. Quickly, yet in a way that they were walking in one another foot prints. One of them took up the back, covering the tracks as best as possible while keeping up with the group. So they hid...from what? Things were making less and less sense as time passed. Or rather, it made sense to everyone except Akan.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 53: Those Left Behind*

Her name was Annika Hansen. Neither she, nor the fifteen among her group were actually Narani. They were former Imperials all. According to her, not long after the Battle of Endor, the a large group of Narani assaulted Haladin. Those with her were the only ones who managed to get out alive. They had managed to get a hold of Narani robes and equipment, disguising themselves as the desert people and have simply lived posing as a Narani tribe since then. As the tribes had little contact among each other most of the time, it was not hard to simply stay in the caves and live. No one ever spoke of leaving the planet, simply surviving.

That explained how she’d known Landau, as they had both served on the planet together. Hansen as his second in command until Landau left. It didn’t explain Voort, though. Once this question was brought up, Hansen explained that they’d graduated from the Academy in the same class. She had been a good friend of his wife, who was a civilian, and through Hansen, the two had met. So, in the small cave network among the larger rocks just south of where Haladin was reported to be, the three Imperials talked of old times. This left Akan and Shadow feeling awkward.

First, they were the only non-humans among the group. Getting stared at drove them crazy to the point where they found a nice, quiet place, morphed human, and got no looks other beyond ‘you’re the new people’ after that. Well, except from those that had seen them before, and both Akan and Shadow just shrugged at the questions of their current appearance. Shadow was having trouble as a human. Lack of tail was causing her balance problems, so she had taken to leaning against the wall for assistance...not that she’d admit it. Akan had been forced to argue with her to convince her to morph human, noting that it would be harder for them to be noticed by anyone after them if they weren’t Alraxian. Once she’d finally morphed, only to shut him up, she’d been amazed by the immense heat of the place.

Akan was ignoring the heat, trying to listen to the three Imperials talking and keeping an eye on the people who would walk back and forth. He didn’t feel comfortable in this place...the Empire had fallen, yes, but these people were still Imperials. Only Landau truly considered himself no longer among the Empire. Even Voort, despite his speaking otherwise, was still loyal to the long dead Emperor. 

“And you think its Sadrak?” Hansen asked, looking to Voort. Akan had missed most of what they’d said, but it was something to do with more organized movement by the Narani and crude starships that were being built in the city.

Landau was the one to nod, “It fits.”

“You said you killed him, didn’t you?” asked Hansen, her eyes still on Voort.

He just shrugged, “There are ways he could have escaped that fate. And I’d not put any of them past him. Nor would I put it past him to have made it here and be working towards getting some of his power back.”

The three of them went on babbling about something when Shadow poked Akan in the arm. He glanced to her, and she ‘said’. [Look over towards the hallway over there.]

She didn’t point, but rather mentally pushed him in that direction. Around the corner, he could see the two guards that were there the entire time. The two men were standing around facing the other direction, talking among each other about nothing in particular. But it was past the man to the right that Shadow was pointing Akan towards. He’d never have noticed if she’d not done that. A face could be seen between the wall and the guard. Small, probably kneeling against the wall opposite the guard. Akan looked closely, identifying the face as that of a girl probably a year or so younger than him. Strange...that would mean she was a child when Haladin was assaulted if his time sense was correct.

The girl’s eyes widened a moment, and then she was gone. Akan looked back to Shadow, raising an eyebrow. [Spying on us?]

[On you.] Shadow corrected quickly.

[What do you mean?]

Shadow shrugged. [She was only watching you.]

Akan was about to respond, but a man walked into the room, still covered in robes and taking off the face mask. Hansen caught sight of him and quickly stood up, stopping the conversation she was having with Voort and Landau, “What are you doing here, Caars? You should be in Haladin.”

“I’m sorry, Annika,” the man Caars shook his head, looking exhausted, “Don’t worry, the rest are still there. But there was news too important to risk being intercepted.”

Hansen nodded, but looked worried suddenly, “What is it?”

Not taking notice of either Voort or Landau, Caars said quickly, “A group of scouts returned from one of the downed ships two hours before I left. They arrived with a woman. One of the passengers aboard the shuttle that went down.”

Voort, Landau, and Akan all exchanged looks, and moved enough to look like they were all going to speak at once. But Shadow beat the three of them to it, saying simply, “When do we leave?”

Hansen, for the first time, really looked to the two false humans standing on the opposite wall. She seemed to be ignoring them and acting like they didn’t exist. It annoyed Akan, because he’d seen it before from Imperials. The way they treated non-humans. But what was this prejudiced Imperial to do now that the non-humans wore human skin? At that, he couldn’t help but smile.

But Annika’s mind was working on other things, and she quickly said, “Caars, get yourself some rest. Once you’re rested, we’re going back with you.”

The man nodded, seemed to relax, and left the room. Silence hung in the air for a long while. Eventually, Voort spoke, “We’ll need a holo of the city layout.”

“And anything else you’ve got,” Akan added, stepping over to the small table for the first time. Shadow didn’t follow him, but she did move slightly closer and seem to pay more attention as the six of them started working on a plan to get into the city. Honestly, it was suicide. To Akan, that just mean more fun.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 54: Haladin*

After six hours, Caars was ready to go. All of them were given the robes to wear, and Akan found it interesting that under the main heavy robe was a light almost leather-like material. Spread out along the material were small cooling units. The mask also had this, and a water pack was hidden underneath the robes near the belt with a tube connected to the face mask. Something was bothering Akan, though. On their way to Arranis, Landau had emphasized that there was less water on this planet than Tatooine...yet, it seemed like there was no problem at all getting a hold of it. Again, something was missing in the chain.

Without any words spoken, they had left the small cave and began the navigation of the rocks, ledges, and sharp drop offs that led to Haladin. Though they didn’t speak, Shadow was constantly complaining(mentally) about still being human. She’d not fallen over at all, but the thing she was complaining about the most was being the shortest. Eventually, it just devolved into her thinking in a language Akan didn’t understand. Strangely entertaining to listen to while trudging through such horrid terrain.

Caars led them through pathways that led up to the highest of the rock faces. The paths wound back and forth as they slowly rose upwards. From a distance, they would be impossible to see. Even up close, Akan had a little trouble keeping on the actual path and not falling off and having that wonderful fall down the jagged surface to the next ledge about forty meters below. But thankfully, they were reaching a ledge that Akan had figure was the ‘top’ as it were.

He was soon proved right, though taking up the back of the group with Shadow meant that everyone else knew first. The rock ledge did level off into a huge plateau that expanded to the horizon. Well, not all the way. The horizon was quickly cut off by the risings of a large stone wall with buildings that topped it within. The architecture was strangely similar to that of Tatooine, or perhaps it was just the sand blasted color of the wall that gave that effect. The turbolaser batteries were easy things to see, though most of them were well defended again rocks or in small valleys that cut through the top of the plateau. The designer of Haladin’s defenses was an extremely intelligent tactician. It looked so much more open to attack than it really was...of course, the designer did not seem to expect an attack from the ground. Evident from the report of how the city was lost, and the ease of their approach.

“Stay close, stay quiet, and don’t attract attention,” Hansen commented over her shoulder as they approached.

“Where are we going, exactly?” Landau asked.

Caars was the one to respond, albeit quietly through the mask, “A safe house of sorts. Get updates there on where the woman is, then go from there.”

Akan and Voort both ended that in the minds with a simple, ‘but not with Caars’. Not that they didn’t trust him, but he had nothing to do with this. Though Akan didn’t exactly care about Hansen going, she knew the planet and Landau trusted her. Somehow, Akan felt he could trust the man. Unlike Voort, Landau had an aura about him that just showed him to be an honest man. No matter how many times he tried to convince himself that the Empire was full of evil men, someone like Landau would show up and prove that it was like anything else. People fought for the Empire for the same reasons people fought for the Rebellion. For a great many, that was family. Landau was like that.

Upon entering the opening in the wall that was the entrance to the town, they were all surprised. Well, except for Hansen and Caars. But the others had expected to at least see guards. Nothing. Sure, there were people walking here and there, some speaking next to buildings or conducting whatever kind of business they did. None of the humans they passed wore the heavy robes or masks. Instead, they wore light, comfortable looking clothing. In fact, the city itself was much more modern looking on the inside. Consoles against buildings, older landspeeders and even a couple of airspeeders were parked in a local garage that they walked by. There were no buildings that seemed to indicate a central defensive structure as had been expected, and the only way Voort had identified the old Imperial garrison building was a sand blasted and faded insignia.

About three blocks from that building, Caars led them to a small building that looked like a good place for a shop, considering the market stands that were all along the street side. They entered the building, and Hansen waited until last to step in and make sure the door was locked. Once that was done, Caars removed his hood and mask. The others followed suit, looking around the small room that was only decorated by a faded green coat of paint and beat up chairs. Caars motioned for them to sit, which Landau, Hansen, and Shadow did. Akan had thought about it, but Shadow had taken the seat he’d been eyeing. He knew she did it on purpose.

[There’s still sand in my hair...] she grumbled one last complaint out and dusted herself off.

Caars walked over to console near the wall and accessed some information. Voort found himself checking the room. Not noticeably, but he was looking over every inch in a casual way...just in case. Akan had noticed it, but said nothing. Even if he didn’t trust Voort, checking for any kind of listening devices or anything similar was a good idea.

“There’s a report of an airspeeder being prepared to leave to the deep desert in an hour,” Caars said over his shoulder.

“This is unusual?” Voort asked, running an idle hand along the rough textured wall.

Landau was the one to answer that, “Two things wrong with it, if you ask me.”

“Anything interesting?” Shadow asked, sounding bored though she was obviously trying to find some kind of entertainment out of it.

“First, other than the random Topsider settlement, there’s nothing out in the deep desert,” Landau commented, giving Shadow a look and obviously trying to alleviate her boredom, “Second, the sand always gave us trouble with any kind of airspeeder. We brought them down at first, but the intakes got clogged too easily. Combat landspeeders never had the problem, but it was pointless to go exploring out there.”

At that, Caars nodded, “We’ve gotten reports for the last few weeks of more activity out in the deep desert.”

Akan and Voort exchanged looks, thinking the same thing. Sadrak. This time, it was Akan’s turn to ask a question, “Where’s she being held at the moment?”

Caars turned back to the console, then said over his shoulder, “The old Imperial detention center. There’s only two cells left in there...looks like they’ll be moving her soon.”

Shadow was the first one to stand up and start towards the door, “Well, what are we waiting for?!” quickly she pulled the mask back on and got the hood up, “Lets go! I’ve had it with all this talking!”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 55: Flashy Heroics*

“What do you mean stand guard?!” Shadow asked in the most annoyed voice she could manage as a human and through the mask. It was strangely funny because her voice was higher than usual and she didn’t seem to notice. When Akan grinned, she somehow knew and backhanded him hard in the chest. [Shut up, Jedi Boy.]

There was no answer to Shadow’s question beyond Voort saying swiftly, “Just do it.”

Then, the three former Imperials stepped into the Garrison leaving the two not-so-humans to stand around annoyed and amused. Well, only Akan was amused. Shadow, obviously, was not. More standing around. More boredom. More of this damned planet that was already getting on her nerves. Forget all of this. Loki needed help. As best as a human could manage, she growled under the mask. And the being human just didn’t help. Too many things were just wrong. She felt weak, slow, and half blind. All of which were true when compared to her Alraxian body.

The two of them were spared the fun that was already occurring inside. The door had opened to a short hallway, which then led to a single guard room. This was occupied by a middle aged Narani who was wearing what looked to be half of an Imperial uniform with other random pieces of clothing with it. Landau was the only one not annoyed by this, but it did not change any actions. The moment of their entrance, the Narani’s eyes widened, and he nearly fell back in his chair trying to get to his feet while drawing a blaster from under the desk. He managed to get as far as leaning back before Hansen put a blaster shot into his face.

“You had slugthrowers earlier,” Voort commented as he searched the man’s body and got out a small keycard.

Hansen nodded as she moved to the door on the other end of the room which led to the cells, “They’re common outside of Haladin. Here most of the blasters are from the old armory.”

“Lightly defended in here,” Landau thought aloud, remembering the days when the small detention building was guarded by at least five men.

Again, Hansen nodded. Voort was moving over and slid the keycard into the slot. When the door opened, Hansen said, “They don’t get many prisoners. Its easier to just kill someone and make a mistake than try to hold them.”

“Wonderful way of thinking,” sounded a voice from inside the now open door, “Glad they make exceptions.”

Voort smiled and stepped in, seeing a room with two large doors on the opposite walls. The doors each had holes cut out of them, through which one, Jen’s face could be seen. Despite her lighthearted words, Jen looked terrible. Even only being able to see her face, that fact was obvious. There were cuts and bruises along her forehead, and her left eye was only half open. Managing a smile, Voort stepped over and got the door open. This revealed Jen to be worse off than expected.

The main thing that caught his attention was her leg. There was a long, crude brace strapped to it. Broken. That meant they’d be slowed down, and getting out was going to be trouble. Jen noticed his expression and shrugged weakly. She noticed Hansen, and the two women’s eyes met. Something there bothered Jen. What exactly it was, and if it was even anything beyond paranoia.

The moment passed when Voort helped her to walk, albeit slowly, out towards the main guard room. Greetings where exchanged quickly, and it was decided to leave anything more to once they were out. The plan meant that they weren’t going back to Caars’ safe house, but all the way back to Hansen’s base. Voort had decided that Jen could be carried when the rocks got steep if they needed to move quickly. He didn’t mention this, though, noticing something about the way Jen looked at him that said she was fine and if he tried anything she’d injure him.

When Landau made it to the exit and reached for switch, he suddenly stayed his hand. When Hansen started to bark at him to keep going, he waved for her to keep quiet. They all followed the signal, more out of curiosity than anything. It took only a moment after they all went silent for the reason Landau didn’t open the door to be apparent. A low, constant hum could be heard outside. To Voort and Jen, the sound was obvious. Landau had stopped out of surprise, not actually identifying the noise. Hansen was in much the same boat.

It was the hum of a lightsaber. But it wasn’t as constant as it sounded at first. The sound changed in pitch every few seconds. Again, Voort and Jen recognized this. Movement. The two exchanged glances, and Voort started forward, “Trouble,” was all he said.

Landau reached an arm out to push the other man back, “If its trouble we’re safest in here until its passed.”

“I can help him,” Voort said flatly.

“The less of us they notice, the better,” answered Hansen, also keeping Voort back. He sighed, but nodded. Jen was going to need all the help she could get, whether she wanted it or not, in their now ruined escape. Or at least, it sure felt ruined. A quick in and out with no flashy heroics was the plan. Voort hoped that Akan hadn’t fallen victim to said flashy heroics.

It was ironic that Voort blamed the current situation on Akan. Sure, he’d activated the lightsaber and drawn the attention of near twenty people. But most of them scattered. And besides, it was Shadow’s fault. If she hadn’t cursed in her native tongue, they wouldn’t have been noticed by the passerby as anything but two Narani. But no...Shadow was complaining about being human again, and she’s spoken a curse out loud and in a language that these people wouldn’t have known.

At the accusing comment(or at least, it sounded that way, neither Akan nor Shadow actually understood it) from the passerby, Shadow had knocked the Narani out. She had failed to remember that there were many other people all around them. She also didn’t know how very out of character that was. These were both quickly proved as facts when those that did not scatter brandished either knives, blasters, or an interesting combination of the two while yelling the Narani word for ‘offworlder!’. Again, neither Akan nor Shadow knew that was the word, but it had to be that or something similar from the context and tone.

And that was the point when Voort’s blame on Akan could be considered correct. He reacted to the brandishing of weapons without thinking that it wouldn’t be a good idea to respond in kind. By the time Akan had realized this, his lightsaber had already been drawn from underneath the heavy robes, and the blue-green light of the blade was illuminating the hood and relfecting off the visor to create a strange mix of black and transparent sections. The noise heard inside the door was that of Akan moving back and forth...swaying in anticipation for the first move to be made.

[I’m going to draw them away.] he said to Shadow in the moment of inaction. [Disable anyone that stays behind and get out of here.]

Shadow had thought to respond to that, but the idea was a sound one...for once. As long as he didn’t get them killed. That’s when Akan made what would have been considered a rash move if it hadn’t been planned. He charged the nearest of the Narani. Plowing over the surprised man after arranging a meeting between the butt of the lightsaber and the Narani’s face, Akan ran down the street. He stayed in sight, but kept close enough to the walls of buildings that the blaster shots caught that instead of him.

It worked. In fact, it worked better than Akan had expected. The Narani had been so outraged and surprised by the sight of an unknown in their own garb killing one of their own that they’d ignored Shadow and charged down the street after Akan. Shadow started to go after them, but instead did what needed to be done. She opened the door to the garrison, seeing a very surprised Landau.

“No time to explain!” Shadow said quickly through the mask, “Just come on!”

She grabbed Landau’s arm and started sprinting towards the way they’d entered. Hansen was right behind them, not asking for an explanation as it didn’t sound like she was going to get it anyway Voort put an arm around Jen and helped her to keep up. As they ran, Jen called out to Shadow, “Where’s Akan?!”

Shadow just glanced over her shoulder, and made an annoyed look. Sure, it could only be seen in her eyes, but Voort picked up on it. He glanced to Shadow, following around a corner and grumbled, “Flashy heroics.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 56: Through the Streets*

Akan had only rounded two corners when he’d started having second thoughts. After being cut off by ten more Narani and having to quickly turn around at the third corner, barely managing to slip past his original pursuers to another street, he started having third thoughts. They had been shooting at him for the first leg of the run, but had quickly stopped as Akan found more populated areas to run into. But after that third corner, he’d found that the word must have gotten around to get out of the area. It was empty. In fact, it opened up into a huge, wide open market area. He’d not planned on falling into the horrible and usually fatal cliche of stopping in the exact center of the market, but Akan had present with no choice.

Well, there was another choice. That was to plow through a group of twenty other Narani who were aiming weapons at him. Seemed like all of Haladin had gotten annoyed of his killing of just one of them. Akan would have admired that if he wasn’t the one who they were stalking. When he came to a stop in the center, he brought up the lightsaber and thumbed the activation switch again. The snap-hiss and sudden appearance of the blade caused most of the Narani to jump back slightly. This gave Akan a good twenty meter distance between him and the now large circle. So, very slowly, Akan found himself circling in his position so that none of them had a long look at his back. During the run, he’d already pulled the hood down so that he had better peripheral vision, an was glad for it now.

The mask still on, his vision was limited just a little more than normal. It was acceptable though, and the mask was keeping his sand filled dark brown hair out of his eyes. Part of him wished he couldn’t see the current situation though. The Narani were not moving in to enclose him further. They didn’t need to. Seeing as there were well over thirty of them, most with rifles aimed on him, getting any closer was not required to just shoot him. But they were hesitating. Akan could only assume the lightsaber was what bought him time.

But there was a feeling growing among them that Akan could detect. The surprise the weapon had caused was quickly fading, and they were going to act. Akan’s mind raced in those few seconds he had before one of them was going to forget that there were comrades on the opposite side and fire. Not really even thinking, just letting the Force guide his actions. It had gotten him out of worse things before...Akan found himself drawing upon the Force, weaving it around and under him. His eyes only half open as he concentrated on the timing, Akan heard the first shot of a slugthrower ring out as an impossibly loud noise when compared to a blaster. It nearly broke his concentration, but he used that moment to release the energy he’d collected.

In a flash of movement, Akan was no longer where he’d been, and a Narani opposite the one who’d fired was on the ground, the shot having caught him in the heart. The only Narani that managed to see what actually happened were the two that Akan had leaped over. Their eyes followed the blur of motion up and over them, landing behind them, running for a few steps before performing another amazing leap to bring Akan on top of the nearest building. By the time Akan landed on the building, the other Narani had caught sight of him. More loud shots from slugthrowers sounded, nearly catching Akan’s arm as he turned to run out of sight.

Leaping from one building to the next, over the short alleyways between them, Akan ran as fast as he could in whatever direction he was going. With his spinning around in the circle, he’d quickly lost track of the direction he’d come from. The lightsaber had once again been deactivated, though he still held it tightly in his right hand. Though his legs were aching horribly from the continuous run with only that short break, Akan didn’t seem to be noticing how exhausted he was. He found out the hard way.

It was the fourth leap to another building, and Akan hadn’t judged it well. His left foot caught the edge of the roof as he was coming down, and his run was ended with a hard, face first meeting with the roof of a building. He didn’t roll, but slid on his face against the sand covered and coarse roof of the building. There had been a very loud crack when his face had hit, and sharp pains ran through the skin along his brow and disturbingly close to his right eye. Despite the sudden wave of fatigue that overran him when he’d fallen, Akan was on his feet again as quickly as he’d stopped sliding.

Pain shot through the palm of his hands when he pushed himself up, and he looked down to see the sharp pieces of his shattered visor all across the roof. He could now see through a strange mix of tinted visor that was cracked and destroyed in so many places that he was half blind from the intense sunlight. Nearing the edge of the building and preparing another jump, Akan realized he’d dropped his lightsaber. Spinning around and easily seeing the metal cylinder off near the left side, he reached out with the Force and pulled it to his hand. He caught it easily in his right hand, ignoring the sudden pain from the impact, turned and jumped across to the next, much larger building.

Akan made this jump with no trouble, but nearly slipped from a misplaced foot on an uneven patch of the roof. Keeping his footing somehow, Akan realized the problem at this point was that he was letting the pain get to him. That problem, currently, was mixed with the blood trickling into his eyes from the cuts the shattered visor had made. While he continued his run across the roof, Akan remorphed the injuries on his face and hands, glad to feel the pain subside. Annoyingly, this didn’t cause blood that was already out to disappear, so he still had to deal with that.

But quick thinking was about to be required again. The line of buildings was about to end in an intersection of streets. Sure, he could try for another very long jump, but they’d likely still be looking on the roofs for him. He managed to get a quick look over the street before jumping down, and was glad to see it was empty. Reaching the edge of the building, Akan came down to the sand covered street hard, stumbling and not able to keep his footing. Yet again, Akan’s face met with the ground underneath him, this time getting sand in the mask and his eyes. Yet again, though, he didn’t let the fall stop him. At least this time he’d been more ready for it.

Shaking his head to get the sand away as he stood up again, Akan looked to his left. Why he didn’t look to his right, he didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. He simply saw the left street was clear, and tore off in that direction, not looking back to see if anyone was anywhere near him. With the planet’s sun having been directly above them the entire time, he still had no idea what direction he was running in. But he did see the wall around the city. He was running right towards it...that meant he needed to turn at the next intersection and hope to go in the right direction for getting out of Haladin. But when Akan got close to the intersection, he saw that a door to a building directly in front of him was open. Standing in the door was a figure. Not aiming a weapon. Not looking ready to kill him. But motioning towards him. Frantically motioning for him to enter as he approached. If he’d not seen that, it was unlikely that his body would have given in to the exhaustion that was consuming every muscle.

However, his mind saw a place to rest. There was no warning through the Force. His mind was just as tired as his legs and aching body to second guess this. Everything just shut down two steps out from the doorway. The figure saw this, and moved in to try and slow Akan’s third fall. He didn’t have a chance to enjoy it, though, as his vision had blurred and head was spinning so much from the non-stop run that Akan finally let himself go. Mid fall, Akan blacked out.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 57: One Found, Another Lost*

“We cannot go back,” Hansen said flatly. By now, the group had made it out of the city and to the path leading down from the plateau. Though they had not been spotted by anyone, and made it without any trouble, they had heard slugthrowers firing. When the sound stopped, worrying over what had happened started. It was quickly put to an end when Shadow pointed out she wasn’t dead. She did not add, however, that if Akan landed on his face one more time she was going to make his face hurt much harder when he got back.

Jen took one more look at the walls of Haladin before allowing Voort to help her onward. Shadow was right. If she was doing fine, it was proof that Akan was okay. She did not mention going back for Akan again, and simply did her best to make it down the steep slope of the path through the rocks. The splint on her leg, though crude, did its job perfectly. Shadow, Hansen, and Landau were moving quickly, but not so fast that it was impossible for Jen to keep up. Voort was part of that, but not all of it.

They were silent for the rest of the way back to the protected cave network that Hansen’s people lived in. Jen did notice that every so often Shadow’s expression would glaze over very slightly. A subtle hint that she was trying to speak with Akan. Jen didn’t completely understand how, but had noticed that expression on Shadow’s face before. Voort did take some time to explain what was going on, emphasizing that Hansen was someone they could trust.

Jen didn’t keep track of time well enough to know how long they had taken before finally arriving. She did know that it had been well over an hour, at least, and she was tired. Not having to say anything about this, Hansen indicated a room for each of them(something that wasn’t important upon their first arrival). Voort helped Jen to the bed, and once she’d sat down, she thanked him and asked, “Are we going to go back?”

He shrugged, “I doubt it will be easy to get back into the city now,” quickly, and almost awkwardly, Voort changed the subject, “Are you alright?”

It had been the first time he’d actually opened up and asked a question like that with that kind of tone. Nodding, Jen dusted herself off some and tried to forget about the bruises and scratches, “There’s something out in the desert.”

“Sadrak?” Voort asked, taking a seat next to her.

Jen shook her head, “Maybe, but I think there’s something else. Those...people are almost afraid of what it is. It seems like they’re doing everything out of fear.”

At this, Voort raised an eyebrow, “You think its worth checking out?”

This time, Jen nodded, “I’ve just got a feeling about it...can’t really explain it. Almost like...”

“...like something’s calling to you?” Voort suggested.

Jen eyes widened slightly at Voort’s words. Exactly what she’d hesitated to say. Again, she nodded slowly, “Exactly like that.”

Voort took a moment to think about this, and a hint of a smile crept onto his face, “Get some rest first. I’ll talk with Hansen and see what we can figure out.”

He then stood up, starting to leave. But he was stopped when Jen caught his arm. Turning around to ask what it was, Voort found that Jen was standing in front of him again. She smiled and embraced him. This wasn’t as much of a surprise as it should have been. Neither of them moved for a long time, but Voort eventually pulled back, “Get some rest, Jen.”

Slowly, Jen stepped away and sat down on the bed again. As Voort left the room, he heard her say, “Thank you.” very quietly.

Voort found his mind was strangely blank as he walked off towards the main room where he expected Hansen and Landau to be. He passed a few of the other former Imperials, finding that he still looked at them that way. Imperials. Honestly, he’d given up that life many years ago, but continued living it out of some strange nostalgia. Ever since Calina had died, the light had just left his life. He’d embraced the darkness even more than before, and now found himself feeling the true effects of it. It had eroded his family, his friends...his life. But now...maybe, just maybe, the light was back. Dim, yes, but light. He would not be sure until the situation with Akan was finalized. Hopefully, not in either of their deaths. He hoped for the light, but wasn’t sure he could reach for it anymore for fear of losing it again.

Finding Landau, Hansen, and even Shadow in that main room. Shadow was leaning back in an older looking chair with her eyes closed. She didn’t look asleep, but was somewhere near it. Upon seeing Voort, Landau said, “They sent out a team to the shuttle wreckage to salvage what they could.”

Voort took a seat and thought about this, remembering the things that were on board, “Hopefully there’s still something there to salvage.”

A silence then came over the table as the more important topic was avoided by all of them. Hansen was the first one to broach the subject, speaking carefully so as not to gather any ill feelings, “We can’t go back to Haladin.”

Both Voort and Landau had expected this, and nodded slowly. Landau was the next to speak, asking carefully, not sure if Shadow was listening, “So what do we do about the boy?”

Another silence. Landau risked a glance to Shadow, who had not moved. Or at least, he didn’t see that her ear had turned ever so slightly towards them to listen easier. Next it was Voort’s turn to speak, “There’s nothing we can do. What he did was stupid, but I think he knew that,” the man paused and closed his eyes a moment, “He is resourceful, though. Jen mentioned that she believes there is something else out in the desert besides Sadrak.”

“You think we should go and see for ourselves,” Hansen commented, knowing how Voort thought and correct in her assumption. She thought about this, and eventually said, “We’ve got an older landspeeder with modified intakes that don’t have trouble with the sand. It can seat four.”

Thus, the next problem. Hansen would have to go, as she knew the terrain well. Landau was just as experienced, and had good eyes for such a scouting job. Voort wanted to go, and saw no reason why he shouldn’t. But Jen was injured, and it probably wasn’t a good idea for her to travel.

“Take Jen with you,” Shadow said suddenly, not having moved and still showing no signs of really paying attention to anything they were talking about. Slowly, she opened her right eye and gave Voort a casual look, “I’ll go get Jedi boy out of whatever mess he’s gotten into.”

Hansen started to protest, but Voort waved her silent, saying instead, “Good luck.”

“I’ll need it,” Shadow grumbled as she leaned forward and then got to her feet. She started towards the exit, then paused and ran a hand through her hair, “Do me a favor. Next time Akan tries to show off or do his heroic ‘I’m a Jedi’ thing, hit him. Alright?”

Voort laughed, “Only if I can do the same to you, animal.”

For some reason, she laughed too, “I’ll keep that in mind, Imperial.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 58: Ghost of the Past*

Many times, Akan had awoken after blacking out. It was something one got used to in the profession that he had pursued. Not pilot, but commando. Usually, capture was a common thing, and that meant either a stun blast or a hard hit to the back of the head. It was common that one awoke in a daze, head spinning and vision blurry. Rarely did one awake as Akan was. Comfortably was the best word for it.

Sure, his vision was blurred, but it focused very quickly. He tried to move, and found the aching muscles of his body protested vigorously. So, he sighed, and just went back to laying on his back and looking up to a bleak and boring ceiling. His head was resting on a soft pillow, and the bed(it had to be a bed) was just as comfortable. Again, not something one expected after the events that led up to his previous memories.

“I was wondering when you were going to wake up,” a voice said from off on the other side of the room. Akan turned his head very carefully, trying to ignore the muscles that even remorphing couldn’t convince to stop hurting. When he did managed to get his head to the side, he saw that the room he was in was a combination kitchen, bedroom, and living room. Akan had never actually seen a true ‘one room’ apartment before, but this one sure qualified as such. Sitting over at the single table in the room, giving him a curious look, was someone he’d seen before.

Of course, at first his brain only registered the person as a young human woman with long, dark brown hair. In fact, for a quick moment Akan swore he was looking at Elizabeth Mare. When his brain caught up and processed the information his eyes had taken in, he recognized her as the girl who had been watching him back in the cave. Figuring this out, Akan suddenly worried she was a spy or something worse. But why the comfort, and why wasn’t he dead?

Finding his voice, Akan asked the most obvious question, “Who are you?”

The girl smiled warmly, again it was hauntingly similar to how Akan remember Mare looked. Thankfully, her voice sounded different...or maybe just younger, “My name is Shira. I was supposed to...keep an eye on you.”

“Really?” Akan asked, not sounding the least bit interested despite the fact that he was, “Who wanted you to do that?”

Shira paused, went a little red and turned to stare at the floor. Akan wasn’t sure how to interpret this, and was glad that he didn’t have to. A moment later, she turned back and said carefully, “My...um...I mean Annika.”

Hansen. Hmm. Something was still wrong here. Why would Hansen keep an eye on him? Really, Shadow was much more worrying of the two of them. Unconsciously, he braced himself to get hit. It didn’t come, and Akan found himself feeling at a loss of what to do without the usual retaliation. Under his breath, he grumbled, “Been around Shadow too long...”

“What?” Shira asked, head tilted to the side slightly.

Not having meant for her to hear, Akan quickly waved his hand, “Nothing...you were about to say something else. What was it?”

Again, Shira’s face went red. She didn’t look away this time. Seemingly ignoring the color in her cheeks, she said quietly, “I...asked her if it was alright.”

That wasn’t the answer to the question Akan had asked, though it was going to be his next question. Akan took a moment to study her again, both with the Force and other senses. Satisfied that she truly didn’t have any ill intent, Akan tried again, “No...you said ‘my’ and then changed your words.”

“Oh!” somehow, Shira seemed relieved by this question and said with an awkward smile, “I was very young when we were driven out of Haladin. My mother was...killed. Annika raised me. I uh...sometimes call her mother without thinking about it.”

At that, Akan couldn’t help but smile. An interesting thing considering what he’d just run out of. That’s when he realized he was only wearing the cooling suit that was worn under the heavy robe. Looking around quickly, Akan saw what could only be his robe hanging against the door. What surprised him were the many small circular holes and tears he didn’t recognize from before. Thinking about it, Akan realized where they had come from. A grin suddenly grew on his face. Somehow, it felt like it was an honor to have been shot at and missed that much. And he’d only been in range for a matter of seconds.

“What?” Shira asked, turning to follow his gaze and not really understanding what was causing him to hold back laughter.

Again, he said, “Nothing. Don’t worry about it,” Akan then paused and let his mind focus. It was only Shira here...no one else. It had obviously been some time since he’d fallen unconscious, and the others were likely out of Haladin. If they weren’t, Akan had a feeling he’d have found out the hard way. His mind then found its next course of action to be taken, and he sat up(with a cringe, of course), saying, “I need to get back.”

Shira shook her head, “Haladin’s gone crazy since your now famous escape. The Narani are crawling all over looking for you and the others.”

“The others...” Akan trailed off, then, “Did they get out?”

Nodding, Shira motioned to a small comlink resting on the kitchen unit, “Annika told me they used your diversion to get out and I was supposed to look out for you. That’s when I opened my door.”

“Amazing luck,” mumbled Akan under his breath, slowly turning and stretching to get his human muscles used to moving again after the strain they’d been put through, “So am I just suppose to sit here and wait until things die down?”

Nervously, Shira bit her lower lip and managed a slow nod, “Its not...safe out there right now. They haven’t gotten to searching private homes yet, and we shouldn’t give them any reason to.”

Sighing, Akan looked around the small room. Very small. And he was stuck here. Again, he looked to Shira. So much like Mare...too much. In his life, he’d learned that there was no such thing as a coincidence. Everything happened for a reason. Everything. He’d even convinced himself that Mare’s death had occurred for a reason, though he had no idea what and the very thought of any reason for that hurt deeply. But why was Shira such a mirror image of a long dead friend? And why the hells was he stuck here?

Grumbling, Akan got to his feet and started towards his robe.

“What are you doing?” Shira asked, turning in the chair and nearly getting to her feet.

As he pulled on the patchy robe, Akan gave her a strangely cold look, “I’m leaving. You can come with me if you want to get back, but I’m not going to wait on you.”

That was a lie. He knew it. There was no way he was going to leave this girl behind. He’d failed Mare once already, years earlier. This was not Mare, yet part of him was sure there was something important about this. So, whether he liked it or not, he was not going to let Shira get killed. The other part of him should have been intelligent enough to realizing how dangerous of a situation he was setting up for himself for the second time in his life. Especially since the first had nearly driven him to the dark side and destroyed his mental state so much that he’d assumed a completely new life.

But Akan was too caught up in the moment to think. If Shadow was there, she’d have finished that with an ‘as usual’.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 59: Seek and Find and Stuck*

He was ignoring her. That was the only explanation for the silence. Sure, he’d been unconscious but Shadow could feel his mind was working on overdrive. If he wasn’t ignoring her, she’d have commented about how overdrive for his mind was low performance for the average Ewok. But he still wasn’t listening. That made it yet another comment wasted. And she’d come up with a lot of them by now. Why?! She growled to herself.

Shadow had gotten tired of her human body barely five minutes after leaving the cave. No one was watching her, so she ditched the mask and morphed. Problems arose from this, as the cooling suit was not designed for Alraxians. This caused two problems. The first, and most important to her, was the lack of tail space. The sudden pain that stabbed through her when the tail was remorphed in such an enclosed space was far too much to deal with. Thankfully, no one was around to see her collapse and whimper before finally cutting a makeshift hole in the one piece tunic.

With the pain gone, she’d finally been able to breathe normally, which led her to realize the second problem. The cooling units within the suit were freezing her. Far too cold. In fact, with the pain gone she could barely feel anything but the ice cold against the morphsuit. And considering how thin that way, it might as well have been a layer of ice on her skin. Somehow, she managed to get the cooling suit off. As she recovered and wrapped the robe around her for extra warmth, Shadow did not allow reason to escape her. She buried the cooling suit so that it wouldn’t be found, and then had stated up the rocky path again.

By now, she stood at the brink of the plateau, looking over it very carefully. Guards. Too many to deal with and still get in unnoticed. Her eyes looked around for any sign of native life to copy, but found nothing. Beyond these Narani, there was no sign of life on the rock. Not like Endor...such an amazing planet. So full of life. And color. At least Arranis was warm...

Alright, no native life to morph to. No way to just walk in. The option left was a stupid one. Ducking down, Shadow grinned. It would work. She saw no native life anywhere in the sky. No ships. No speeders. No nothing. Perfect. At first, she thought about discarding the robe, but decided that she had the training to morph that too. It would be helpful once inside. So, with her usual focus, her body changed. Where the Alraxian child had been, a small bird, native to most of the planets in the Core Worlds now stood, testing its wings. Nothing in the sky. Which meant no reason to look up. Which also meant she could fly in without any trouble if she did it right. And she was going to do it right.

In a flash of movement that the guards simply dismissed as a trick of the light(besides, what else could it be?), Shadow was in the sky, flying up and over the city of Haladin. Flying was truly an amazing thing to do, and one she had to force herself not to be distracted by. So as her small, avian body focused itself on staying airborne, Shadow’s conscious mind reached out. It was an interesting mix between the Force and her link to Akan. Finding him through the link took no time at all, as he was always there, consciously or not. Using the feelings of annoyance, loneliness, and a strange sense of impending worry through the link, Shadow used that to accent her search with the Force itself. And then she had him. Or maybe he had her. He certainly ‘spoke’ first.

[Late as usual.] sounded his voice through her mind.

Shadow just send him an annoyed feeling before latching onto his mind like a small blip on a ship’s scanner. [You need to stop trying to show off.]

[It worked, didn’t it?]

Again, Shadow sent him that annoyed feeling, keeping a good altitude and getting ready for a straight dive down into what felt like an empty alleyway. [That’s debatable.]

There was a pause and Shadow felt Akan’s mind working on something that was likely important. Hopefully he wouldn’t screw that up. Again, his voice sounded through her mind. [Was just about to leave...but I think we’ll stay put until you get here. Where are you?]

Shadow ignored this question, and latched onto a vital word in what he’d said. [We...?]

Another pause, this time Shadow felt an awkward and momentary panic from Akan. He composed himself and managed a fairly ‘normal’ response. [That girl from back in the cave...she uh...helped a little.]

[Right...] Shadow would have grinned if she could, even if Akan wasn’t able to see it. She did send him the mental equivalent of the expression, which worked very well as it just made you feel someone was grinning at you and you couldn’t see them. A thousand times worse than having the feeling of being watched. For a long moment, Shadow focused on Akan even stronger. He shone like a beacon on a moonless night when she tried to find him hard enough.

Carefully, Shadow circled above the building she could feel him in, and took a good overview of the area. He was on the complete opposite side of the town as the entrance they had used, but there was an entrance right near. The plateau looked like it went on for a long distance in the other direction, though, not just dropping off like on the ‘front’ side. Waiting until the street cleared, Shadow dove down. She landed between the back of the building and the large wall, already morphing back the second she was out of sight.

Shadow landed, heavy robe still comfortably wrapped around her Alraxian body. She checked the robe again, and made sure everything was where it should be. Pulling the hood up and making sure it masked her features, Shadow stepped around and casually out onto the street. There were a few people walking, but no one took notice of another heavy robe. She stepped to the door and simply ‘said’. [Open it.]

[You know, if the door opens next to you, you’ll never live this down.] Akan commented almost deviously.

But, thankfully, the door in front of her did open. A wave of fear and doubt shot through her, though, as the face meeting Shadow’s was not Akan. It was a girl. The fear passed as quickly as it appeared, and Shadow stepped in to see Akan sitting on a bed opposite the door. He was still human, and when she pulled back her hood, a slight gasp was heard from Shira. This was because she hadn’t expected it(considering she’d only seen either of them as humans) and the door hadn’t finished closing.

Shadow’s cold look silenced any questions. After Shira slowly moved to sit down, Shadow’s eyes turned on Akan, “She complicates things.”

“So you’re saying three of us are stuck here, now?” asked Akan, raising an eyebrow and obviously bating her.

At that, Shadow shook her head, “It will just take thinking.”

“Thinking?” Akan sounded genuinely surprised, “I thought all of your plans involved rushing in blindly.”

“I only do that to make you feel more intelligent,” she shot back.

Akan was getting ready to say something, but Shira cut in, asking, “So...do you two plan to argue like children or are you going to think up a way to get out of here?”

Silence ensued as the two of them turned glares on Shira. Of course, they knew she was right, so eventually calmed and started thinking. Shadow still didn’t completely trust Shira, but Akan seemed to be doing his naive Jedi trustworthiness act(though it wasn’t really an act as much as a state of being for him, it seemed). So, she would just keep an eye on this girl. And an ear. Possibly a few claws if it was necessary. Eventually, Akan said, “I think we’re going to have to do this the old fashioned way.”

Shadow already knew what he was thinking, as she had started helping his ideas along as soon as they’d become apparent through the link. Shira had began to ask a question as to what he meant, but Shadow cut in with a nod and said, “I don’t like it, but you’re right. Unless she stays.”

Talking like Shira wasn’t even in the room. Normal Shadow. She honestly didn’t care at this point, more than a bit annoyed that the girl was making this much more complicated because of her lack of ability to morph. Looking to Shadow, the girl shook her head, “If you two leave, I should go with you. I can’t get to Caars’ place without drawing too much attention.”

Expected. So, the hard way. Shadow sighed and closed her eyes, “Then we get out as one. Where are the landspeeders kept?”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 60: Contact*

“This is just too much ground to cover,” Voort commented after their third stop through the exploration of the desert. It was not, according to Hansen, the deep desert yet. In fact, that was well beyond the bleak horizon. Sand. Spreading out in all directions. They had stopped each time at a rock outcropping. According to Hansen, natural caves provided the best cover and were common sites for small communities. She failed to mention until much later that they should also be watching the ground closely. Watching for small, almost miniature dunes. Those were signs of an ‘opening’ down to a Topsider community. Most of which were below ground, though many of the males resided in the caves of Narani who had been driven off.

Hansen, who was standing up on a larger rock, trying to examine the rest of the outcropping for any kind of cave. Seeing none, she sighed and allowed herself to nod, “There is still much ground to cover.”

Another sigh came from Landau. He was sitting on top of the canopy of the landspeeder, allowing his backside to burn on the metal but not really minding it all the much. Once you got used to the heat, it really wasn’t all that bad. His eyes were on the distant horizon ahead of them, watching as the star that Arranis orbited began its long and slow fall below the horizon. Over his shoulder, he said, “We’ll want to be getting back soon.”

Stepping down from her perch, Hansen nodded with a look of dismay across her face, “Yes...”

Jen, who was standing next to Voort and pondering the lack of wildlife. There should be at least something, as the Topsiders were apparently native. That meant that life had once developed here. But where was the rest of it? It seemed highly unlikely that all of the reptilian creatures that Topsiders evolved from had simply disappeared. Then what? All of them evolved? Again, unlikely. Somehow, Jen had a feeling that this was an important link in a chain she knew nothing about. Hearing the new discussion on heading back, Jen raised an eyebrow, “I thought we had a ways to go?”

“We do,” said Hansen, passing by Voort and Jen and moving back to the speeder, “But night in the desert here is dangerous.”

“I get the feeling it isn’t just the drop in temperature,” Voort said quietly to Jen as a side comment.

Jen smiled at this, but stayed silent. Hearing his friend’s comment, Landau also smiled and climbed down off of the speeder, “Topsiders do their hunting at night.”

Despite not having encountered the reptilian natives of Arranis yet, the constant worries about the Topsiders were enough for even Voort to want to avoid them if possible. Not needing any more encouragement, he stepped down and walked over to the speeder. Jen followed, and in a matter of minutes they were all back in the speeder. Hansen had the engines powered up and they were off, turning back to the west where the larger rock formations were. Where their temporary home was.

After only a few minutes traveling across the slowly darkening desert, Jen began to feel a strange...almost pushing at her mind. It was subtle, but in no way gentle. Almost...searching, but more like prying. Hunting even. Carefully, she tugged on Voort’s sleeve gently. Leaning close, she whispered, “I...there’s something...”

Voort just nodded, speaking even quieter, “Push it out of your mind. Focus on something else and he will go.”

He. The moment that she heard the word, she thought the name. A twinge of pain shot through her mind before she managed to push the thought away with another. At first, Jen found herself thinking of home. Alderaan. So many years ago. At a time like this, smiling was almost out of place, but a small smile did creep onto her face. But despite the pain the memories would bring when she allowed, if she simply remembered the look on her sister’s face the day she’d been married. Strangely, though, her thoughts wandered. From that, she saw friends. Some long dead, but she felt not reason to grieve, simply glad to see their faces at least once more. But one face...one face she stared at for a long time.

Opening her mouth to say something, Jen was surprised to be at a loss for words. Voort saw this, and raised an eyebrow. She tried again, barely managing to speak, “You...you were the one on Mon Calamari.”

A strange look suddenly washed over Voort. A mix of pain, remembrance, and something else she couldn’t pinpoint. And then a realization came over him, too, as she remember her face from ten years earlier, “The scientist that got away...”

“You were Talon,” Jen said, remembering the massacre at the research facility she’d been stationed at on Mon Calamari during the Rebellion. Wiped out by what was at first assumed to be a larger Imperial Commando force, but was soon discovered to be the act of a single Imperial. This discovery came from the fact that two more facilities were lost in much the same way soon after. Talon was that Imperial. And Voort was Talon. No wonder she’d felt a strange sense of familiarity upon seeing him. The day her friends had been killed, she’d hid in a locker, and stared through the slits straight into his face. She was sure he knew she was there...but he simply left. Why...?

“You reminded me of my wife,” Voort said very quietly.

Nothing else was spoken on this. What could be said? He’d killed many of her friends, and that was only a matter of years after her family and other friends were killed on Alderaan. It had seemed like a perfect one two punch...and here was the man who delivered the second. And yet...there was a feeling there that shouldn’t have been. Something she couldn’t completely explain just yet, but part of her worried about what it could mean. Or even if it was a good thing.

The speeder stopped. That snapped Jen and Voort back into the reality around them. The sun had set, leaving a large black with only slight blues from the light of the small moon hanging in the sky. No question had to be asked as to why they’d stopped. It was plainly obvious. A large group of humanoid shapes stood in the way. In fact, they were now surrounding the speeder completely. Part of Voort thought that they should just plow on through, but the large build of the creatures warned against that. It was likely they’d manage to cause damage to the speeder before it got away.

“Topsiders,” Landau said, already getting his blaster pistol out and very thankful for the close canopy of the speeder.

“A large group,” added Hansen, glancing back to Voort and Jen.

Voort sat forward, carefully examining the long blades in many of the now noticeably reptilian creatures. If the powerful tails didn’t give that away , the lizard like heads sure did. Even in the low light. But the blades were what had Voort’s attention. Half meter...no, at least meter long swords of a metal he couldn’t identify in the low light. Just as he was about to comment on an possible course of action, one of the Topsiders, dead center, stepped forward.

It...no, he stopped directly in front of the speeder’s nose. The Topsider had a large, sand colored tone to its scales. He wore what looked to be a lighter version of the Narani’s robe, minus the hood. Tilting his head slightly, the two eyes could be seen focusing to try to see through the viewport. As they all sat waiting, the Topsider spoke in a harsh, strained Basic, “You will sssstep out of thisss machine, Narani.”

All of them exchanged glances. It was agreed upon that this was a bad idea. However, so was staying inside. None of them thought that debating the point that they were not Narani was a good idea. Thankfully, only Hansen wore robes that would make her look like the Narani. The others had forgone the robes while traveling in the relative comfort of the speeder. So...they opened the canopy.

At the movement, all of the topsiders jumped, a low hissing sound heard from all of them. Well, except the one that had spoken. The fact that neither Hansen nor Landau had ever known a Topsider to speak Basic was another major point being avoided. Though they all stepped out, weapons were raised and aimed. Hansen’s at the Topsider standing closest, while Jen and Landau simply had weapons out in a more defensive position. Voort, though, only kept a hand at his belt. Every single one of them, save Voort and the lead Topsider, looked ready to pounce and kill at the slightest signal.

The two that stood still, however, were carefully watching each other as only predators could. The Topsider tilted its head, examining Voort in a very careful fashion. In a moment, he extended a clawed hand towards Voort, “You...you are not Narani...”

“No. I’m not,” Voort responded, flatly and dangerously. The advantage was in his hands, if only because the Topsider showed surprise and Voort an eerie calm. Even the other Topsiders saw this. All weapons lowered, as it quickly became obvious that neither Voort or this Topsider(despite the sign of surprise) were to be trifled with.

“You...you not hunt ussss?” another question, though this time not nearly as surprised when compared to the Topsider’s first words. The creature was connecting and thinking. Far beyond the limits that Landau had described them. Obviously, these Topsiders were not all stupid brutes.

Voort’s tone, though, did not change, still holding the same cold air to it, “We do not.”

And then, in that moment when all the built up tension seemed to be ready to fade away, something snapped. Or rather, someone. From behind Voort, a Topsider hissed something in a strange language. A second later, there was a chorus of yells, and then they all charged. He and the lead Topsider exchanged last glances before both raised their weapons and charged each other. There was no choice left now.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 61: It Never Seems to Get Better*

There is a saying that pertains to the best laid plans of mice and men. For some reason, this excludes felines and reptiles. Currently, in two locations across Arranis at nearly the exact same moment, three of those types of creatures were finding that their well laid plans were most definitely crumbling. While in the middle of the desert under the dim moonlight, the humans and reptiles did what they could to salvage their lives from a costly and foolish mistake, within the walled city of Haladin, a pair felines were having a similar problem.

All had gone well as they got to a landspeeder to leave the city with, when something just snapped, not unlike what occurred in the desert. It was hard to figure out exactly what it was that went wrong, but there were likely a number of factors. Major ones included the shredded and hole-ridden condition of Akan’s robe, the fact that Shadow refused to morph back to human, and the three unconscious bodies now strewn across the ground in front of the speeder. They’d asked a question in a language Shadow didn’t understand, and before Shira had a chance to answer it, weapons were drawn. Shadow reacted by knocking them out, but there hadn’t been time to hide the bodies before more arrived.

Now, the three of them were crouched behind a low wall, ten meters from the speeder. A short distance that they were tempted to make a break for, if not for the group of angry Narani who were firing slugthrowers at them.

“I didn’t see anyone else!!” Shadow growled at Akan as he fired his blaster over the wall, not really doing anything but trying to keep the Narani back.

Akan just glared at her, crouching down carefully and trying to find a way out of this. They’d be in a lot of trouble if the Narani came around from behind them. Shira, who had drawn a small slugthrower pistol fired off a couple of shots in the direction of their attackers before ducking back behind the wall. Accusingly, she looked to Shadow, “I was about to tell them that they were invading our privacy and insulting our honor! They would have left us!”

Shadow’s glare was icy cold, though she said nothing to the girl. Akan ducked back down below the wall and cursed as a shot skimmed right off the top, nearly taking some of his hair with it. With a relieved look on his face, he turned his attention to the two females who looked about ready to murder each other. Or rather, Shadow would skin Shira. No question about that. Raising his blaster and getting ready to fire another volley, he said to them, “Will you two stop bickering and figure out how we get to that speeder?!”

After only getting off two shots, Akan was dragged back down under the cover by Shadow. She gave him a ‘you’re an idiot’ look and ‘said’. [Give me the blaster. Then stand up, draw attention, and do what you’re best at.]

Akan paused a moment, but handed her the weapon and figured out what she was saying. He unhooked the lightsaber from his belt and looked to Shira, “Stay with Shadow.”

Then, he pivoted up to his feet and activated the blue-green lightsaber. All the shots started turning on him, and he rolled to the side to give the other two a good amount of room as he did what he was best at: Getting shot at. If his shredded robe didn’t prove that, then nothing in the galaxy could. It was no problem at all deflecting the shots from the slugthrowers. These Narani were definitely good marksman, but the speed of the weapons was much less than that of a blaster, giving Akan even more time to allow the Force to guide his lightsaber.

Through their link, Akan relayed the positions of where the Narani were. It was problematic, as they were using the speeder and garage for cover. Shadow seemed to be working something out, and every few seconds she sprayed the area with blaster fire, as Shira did with her slugthrower. It kept the Narani on their toes and forced them to deal with Akan now directly in front of them(which played havoc with their cover) and the two others firing from off to the side. As Akan continued to move, attempting to get even more attention by slowly moving forward, Shadow grabbed Shira’s arm.

The girl gave Shadow a confused look, and Shadow said sharply, “Five more steps, and we run to the speeder. Understand?”

Shira nodded, then turned to fire off two more shots. She sighed when she turned back, sitting back against the wall. Out of ammunition. Shira had fired off so many shots she’d lost count, and hearing that sudden ‘click’ was horrible. At least Shadow...no, Akan’s blaster was still firing without trouble.

Akan took the steps.

By the time Shira noticed this, Shadow had already jumped over the wall and was charging in with the blaster blazing. Shira spun around and got to her feet, following and noticing that Akan was only a few meters from the speeder now. The Narani had mostly fled behind the garage itself, though a couple of foolish ones had stayed in the garage itself. They quickly received blaster bolts from Shadow. This did not, however, stop the others from shooting once they’d gotten to more cover. Akan was now standing on the opposite side of the speeder, though, keeping the shots from getting to either Shira or Shadow, behind him.

The two of them got in, and Shira started up the speeder while Shadow tugged at Akan, “Get in!”

Because there was no cover over the speeder, all Akan had to do was step back and then hop into the back section while watching where his lightsaber was. He managed to turn around, sitting up and turning back to face the Narani who continued to fire on them. He continue to deflect the shots just as Shira cut the main engines on, and they shot forward and out of Haladin.

The sudden motion had sent Akan to the side, nearly falling off the back of the speeder in the process. The lightsaber was deactivated by reflex, and it was a good thing as Akan’s face would have contacted the blade if it was still there. Pulling himself back down to the seat, Akan gave one last look to the dim lights of the city, then turned back to the night ahead of them.

The speeder wobbled slightly for a moment, and Shadow spun around to look at Akan as if it was his fault. Managing a weak shrug, he turned his attention to Shira. She looked...well, no it was hard to tell in the dark, but she did look pale. Pale. Strange. Then he noticed her robe looked darker on her shoulder.

“Shadow can you pilot this thing?” Akan asked, moving over and getting ready to drag Shira into the back.

[I can try...where are we going, all knowing one?] Shadow asked in a far too casual manner considering the situation they’d just gotten out of.

[Anywhere but Haladin.] replied Akan as he reached over and, to Shira’s surprise, pulled her up and over into the back of the speeder with him. This was easy because he’d taken the time to return to his stronger Alraxian form. That was a second surprise from Shira, but it quickly passed as he pulled the robe off her shoulder, “You should have mention you were hit.”

She just shrugged, “Its not bad.”

“Its bad enough,” Akan commented with a shiver, realizing the sudden drop in temperature. In fact, his body was feeling more uncomfortable that usual. Trying to ignore this, Akan did his best to tend to the Shira’s wound. Quickly, he found that she could do much better herself, and he was soon just holding the robe while she cleaned the blood off herself.

Shadow’s voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts. [Human again...we’ll freeze without the morphsuits.]

As she ‘said’ that, Akan noticed that the dark shape that was Shadow shrunk slightly, and the white hair became fully black. Waiting until Shira wasn’t looking, Akan followed suit and was back to his human body after only a few minutes. Sure, it was his...but he was getting used to being Alraxian and all this changing was getting to him.

“There should be a small cave somewhere near one of the larger rocks,” Shira commented.

Neither Akan nor Shadow had to mention that there were a lot of rocks that qualified as ‘large’. And then, Akan heard a noise which horrified him. It was not something that one usually worried about while in a landspeeder, but considering where they’d just left, it was most definitely something to worry about. It was the distinctive sound of a turbolaser battery firing.

And not half a second later, the ground behind the speeder erupted in a shower of sand, rock, and flame. Shadow had barely enough time to react, pulling the speeder to the side enough that instead of flipping back over front, it went into a roll. The strength of the repulsor units within the speeder itself was not enough to hold them in as they usually did, and the three of them were thrown to the ground as the speeder slammed into a rock not twenty meters away. None of them had stopped moving when a second shot from the turbolaser battery was heard, but Akan had been too disoriented and hit a rock hard before getting a chance to truly identify it.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 62: Orange Blades*

The Topsiders had gotten very close to Voort before his aura of calm suddenly exploded in movement. All at once, the five reptiles were bringing own heavy swords towards him, but suddenly, in a blinding flash of movement that even a droid couldn’t detect, they were all on the ground in at least two pieces. In the center of the body ring, looking over his shoulder to another group of Topsiders who had halted there advance out of shock, was Voort. His dull grey eyes seemed tinted in a soft orange, but that was not from within but without. In his right hand, held back and up after the strong swing that had killed five Topsiders at once, was a lightsaber with an orange blade extending from both ends.

Suddenly, the calm moment was gone and Voort charged the second group of Topsiders. Cleaving easily through two of the lead Topsiders, a third and forth both managed to finish their swings. Of course, in both cases Voort was out of the way, spinning to the side and between the blades, while his lightsaber killed both of the attackers when he moved out of the position. Quickly ducking down out of the way of a horizontal swing from one of the remaining Topsiders, Voort rose up and brought the primary blade up in a vertical slice, slicing the reptile into two neat pieces. Before the body could collapse, Voort’s opposite blade cut the Topsider into fourths, which in turn killed a second Topsider just to his left.

As Voort was a blur of motion, single handedly massacring more than half of the Topsiders, the other three humans were having trouble. Specifically with the Topsider’s apparent leader. Like Voort, this Topsider was a machine with his sword, slicing left and right and taking a few chunks of Jen’s hair as she barely managed to move out of the way. The only way Jen had avoided the third strike was that Hansen’s slugthrower rifle had been fired, and the bullet had by chance hit the Topsider’s arm. This sent the swing off to the left, but there was no other noticeable effect in the Topsider beyond an angry hiss. From the way the Topsider dove at Jen again, it looked like the slugthrower shot had done nothing at all beyond put a small hole in his arm.

Somehow, Jen managed to sidestep out of the way of a downward strike meant to double the amount of Jen currently occupying the desert. And though she got out of the way of that, she back into the landspeeder. Jen had only a millisecond to wish for another shot from Hansen or even Landau, but from the sounds around her, they were dealing with the remaining Topsiders. This gave her only another millisecond to sight the sharp Topsider’s blade catch the moonlight and shine brightly as it cleaved through the air down at her. Reacting, almost feeling as if something was forcing her to react rather that her actually doing it herself, Jen spun to the left. She could feel both the rush of air from the blade and the shock that accompanied the loud crash when it dug into the landspeeder.

It took a full two seconds for the Topsider to pry his blade out of the speeder’s hull, and this was exactly enough time for Jen to get completely to her feet and away from the speeder. However, by the time she’d raised the blaster pistol to fire on him, the Topsider was swinging at her. The surprise was that she didn’t get sliced into two. Instead, the butt of the hilt smacked her hard across the face, sending Jen hard into the sand below and leaving her with a near concussion. Through blurred and shifting vision, Jen caught sight of the Topsider stand over her and bring the blade down in a stabbing motion. It was not like many holodramas where the villain made a quick speech to tell the victim something, even if it was only “Now you die” before the blade was dropped. Instead, the second the Topsider was there, the blade was falling. But, something that happened commonly in holodramas occurred in front of Jen’s still confused eyes.

A sudden, hard nothing slammed into the Topsider, sending the reptile sprawling over her and landing hard on the ground at Jen’s side. The dark night suddenly exploded with an unearthly blue. But the blue was not from a star, or a glowrod, or anything that was anything recognizable to Jen. Instead, it was an arc. Arcing over her and slamming into the Topsider next to her. It coursed through the thrashing body for a long moment, before a voice that Jen would later identify as Landau yelled, “Hold, Captain! Hold!”

And then...it stopped. There was one last, vague noise off to Jen’s left. A humming sound. Constant, and waving slightly every few moments. But then, with a strange reverse snap-hiss sound, the hum disappeared, and only the sound of a groan remained. Slowly, as the world around her stopped its wavering and began to come back into focus, Jen turned her head to find that the source of the groaning was the Topsider.

Footsteps approached from two sides, one pair stopping right next to her before kneeling down. Jen turned her head and managed a smile. Even in the dim light, she could tell it was Voort. He carefully helped her to sit up, resting a hand on her cheek and finding that her jaw was not, in fact, broken.

“Why did you stop him?” snapped the sharp voice of Hansen, who had holstered her weapon and was looking down at the half-alive Topsider, “This thing should die.”

“Landau was right,” Voort said slowly, calmly, “I got carried away. This one should not die.”

Nodding in agreement, Landau knelt down next to the Topsider and looked into the two large, dazed eyes, “It was about to negotiate before one of the others got jumpy.”

Hansen said nothing, but made an annoyed scoff and stepped over to the landspeeder, busying herself with nothing until the others got to the speeder and they could leave. While Voort made sure that Jen was alright, not speaking at all of his actions, Landau studied the reptilian creature laying on his back in the cold sand. The Topsider was breathing in a labored fashion, and upon noticing that he was being examined, spoke raspily, “You not...kill me...”

“No,” Landau answered in a neutral voice.

Slowly, the Topsider’s head looked to Voort, Jen, then back to Landau, “Why...?”

“You are not as savage as you want us to believe,” came the second answer from Landau, not completely answering the question but coming very close to it. For Voort, it was a good explanation. But when the Topsider said nothing, Landau tried a simpler question, “Why did you stop us?”

This, the Topsider had no problem in responding to, “Narani hunt ussss for him. Come at sssunssset and killsss usss and our homesss.”

Voort and Jen exchanged looks, both thinking one simple work. Sadrak. Yet another thread woven through that man. But why kill the Topsiders? What good would that do? Landau had never seen any evidence of them being any more than a strong hunting species that when avoided, coexistence became possible. So why provoke them? It didn’t add up. Unless...

“They’re a threat to Sadrak,” Jen said quietly, saying what the two men were just coming to the conclusion of. But that led to a thousand other questions. Thankfully, those could be answered later. Here was an interesting thing. Something that Sadrak felt threatened by. That was indeed rare, and not something one should just toss away.

“What are you called?” it was Voort’s turn to speak, asking a question that was phrased oddly. Only Jen took notice of this, though.

The Topsider turned its lizard skull towards Voort, looking up at the man for a long moment before speaking, “I am Trker-Hon. I wasss...leader of my clan. However they...”

“They made a foolish choice,” Voort finished for Trker.

There was a nod from the Topsider, “Yesss. I apologize for my actionsss, but I could not jussst leave you to killsss my clanmatesss.”

Jen reached over and helped to get Trker-Hon to sit up, which surprised all of them. Quietly, she said, “No apology is necessary.”

“You are a ssstrong warrior, female,” Trker commented upon realizing who it was he was speaking to.

Even Jen couldn’t help a smile at that. There was a short pause between them all before Voort started to pull Jen to her feet, “We can speak once we get out of the dark.”

Trker-Hon nodded, “Yesss. It isss likely that Narani will be sssearching for prey sssoon.”

“Then we go now,” Landau said as he helped the Topsider up and to the speeder. This was a leader among those that Sadrak feared. Somehow, it felt like this Trker-Hon should be their enemy, too. Yet...despite the savage appearance, an intelligence was there. And a cunning. Yet despite all of it, the males of the species lived these barbaric lives. Was Trker-Hon just unique in his intelligence? Did it even matter? Too many question...too late at night.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 63: Left Behind*

“She’s dead.”

The words were short, simple, and straight to the point. This marked the second occasion Akan had spoken those words. If Shadow had heard him the first time he’d spoken that, she’d worry. When he had been the one to tell Rulae and Marin, the only two other Zephyrs that survived the Coruscant assault, that Mare was dead, there had been an eerie lack of anything in his voice. He’d just said them, with no emotion beyond a wide empty nothing behind them. But this time...this time he remembered. 

In seeing Shira’s body lying there in the sand among the wreckage of the speeder, there was something that had never been possible with Mare. Here, he saw a body. He could see the burns and the bruises and the cuts. With Mare, it had been easy without having to see that. But now...now this brought back long past thoughts. Things he’d sworn he’d gotten over, but had really only buried beneath another life. Here, in Shira, he’d let Mare down again. In this girl he’d never truly known, he’d failed a second time. If he’d just left with Shadow, or even been flying the thing instead of worrying about wounds he could do nothing about, she’d still be alive.

“We have to go,” Shadow said in a voice that showed she didn’t completely know what to do. Akan was kneeling down and hand a hand over Shira’s neck, wishing for a pulse but knowing that nothing could be done. There would be no miracle. No saving grace like he had recieved. For the first time, Akan wondered if he even deserved it.

Carefully, Shadow put a hand on his shoulder, “We can’t take her with us.”

Akan managed a nod, barely able to fight back the tears attempting to escape, “I know.”

When he didn’t move, Shadow pulled him to his feet slowly. Akan was acting strange, and his thoughts were well shielded from her. Whether that was on purpose or not, she couldn’t tell. Either way, she didn’t know how to deal with this other than to get out and leave time to grieve for when they could be sure it was safe to stop. Now was not that time. Though the turbolaser had only fired twice, it was likely that there would be a group sent out to make sure the three of them were dead. These Narani were not stupid. Shadow knew though, that the second they only found one body, they would scour the area. The farther she and Akan were, the better.

With Akan on his feet, Shadow started moving off to the left, not the direction they had been going. Hopefully they weren’t leaving too many easy to follow tracks...she was almost dragging Akan for the first short leg, though when she’d picked up the pace to more of a slow run, he had no problem keeping up. Good. They couldn’t bring Shira’s body because it was dead weight, and this was no time for Akan to take on those qualities. As they passed by a series of large rocks, Shadow noticed that Akan had stopped. Great.

“C’mon,” she growled, not sounding so threatening with her higher pitched human voice.

He didn’t seem to take notice, turning and looking back. Very quietly, Shadow heard him say, “We can’t just leave her body like that...”

That was it. Something in Shadow just...snapped. When a strong arm grabbed Akan and spun him around, he found himself looking at an Alraxian Shadow again. She was glaring, looking very angry, and said dangerously, “Do you want to end up like that? Because I don’t,” a claw extended, poking him roughly in the chest, “And because I don’t want to end up like that, you aren’t allowed to.”

Akan simply looked at her in the same depressed expression that had seemed to overcome him, “I could carry her body.”

As he said this, he turned and started to attempt walking back towards the wreckage that was now shining gently off near the horizon in the moonlight. This time, Shadow’s claws dug into his shoulder when she roughly pulled him back, “No, Akan! There is nothing we can do.”

“Yes there is!” he yelled at her sounding like a child who was losing an argument. In this case, that wasn’t all that far from the truth.

“Fine, then!” Shadow threw him to the ground, her tail swishing against the sand in annoyance, “Go back and get us killed.”

Then, she spun around and stormed off. Akan watched her for a long time before finally getting to his feet. Shadow didn’t seem to know how to be anything more than an emotionless killer. He looked over his shoulder back to the landspeeder wreck. His eyes traced over the horizon as he found himself seeing the past. Simple flashes of times long gone. Why did they have to end? And even if they did have to end...why like that? Why like this? There was something wrong with the galaxy. Something wrong with the Force. If there was some great plan, Akan couldn’t see it. For the first time, he found himself doubting the Force itself, but only for a short moment.

When it had passed, he made a decision. To him, it was not the right one. Head turning back towards the silhouetted figure of Shadow ahead of him(from which he could feel her cold, but she was doing a good job ignoring it), Akan started after her. Slowly at first, but eventually he broke out into a run. This was because of...something. A feeling. The Narani were searching and getting close...or at least, something was getting close. Either way, being found was not likely to be a good idea.


----------



## Dakkareth

Woah, that's some fast updating. I like it


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 64: Sneaking Off*

Voort stood at the entrance to the cave, looking out across the sands of the planet. Somewhere out there, among the endless desert, was Sadrak. He could feel it. Yet something was wrong with this planet. Something that would look small from a distance, but became glaringly obvious once one got to the actual place. But what exactly it was that was wrong was impossible to determine, only that something was wrong. Unnatural perhaps was a better word. Desert planets were in no way uncommon in the galaxy, and many of them were very similar to Arranis. But something else permeated the world beyond its outer shell.

They had been back for a full hour now. Hansen was inside interrogating Trker-Hon, with Landau making sure it was nothing like the more stereotypical Imperial interrogations. He would keep it civil. Jen had gone to rest, exhausted from the activity. Nothing was said about her injured leg, which had proved to be no problem at all when the time came for her to move. Healed quickly...too quickly. Another oddity that would need to be checked out when the time came.

But that time was not now. There was no sign of either Akan or Shadow, and to add to that, Hansen had mentioned that a girl named Shira was also gone. The last would not have been worried about, except that there had been no word from her for far too long. Whether the incidents were connected, Voort didn’t know. It was possible that both Akan and Shadow were captured or killed while in Haladin. They were both very resourceful, but impaired judgement was playing around with the both of them. Akan should not have stayed in Haladin on his own, and Shadow should not have gone back alone.

It would be easy to simply forget about them. After all, it was just some animal and a kid who thought he was a Jedi. But no...that was not Voort anymore. Maybe years ago he would have truly believed that, but times had changed. He had changed. He saw this change in him reflected through Landau, who had always been a good man at heart. But Hansen. She was not a bad person, but she clung to ideals that were dead. Most of these former Imperials within the cave network clung to them. Not too long ago, these would have been Voort’s comrades. Now, though, they were simply there. 

Voort’s thoughts stopped when he heard movement behind him. It took only a moment to identify who it was. He’d learned the pattern of walking and movement already. Without turning around, he said quietly, “Are you feeling better?”

Stepping over next to him and looking out over the desert, Jen nodded, “He’s gone again.”

Turning down to look at the rocks below, Voort allowed himself a gentler expression, “Good. The rest helped?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Voort noticed Jen smile, “I didn’t rest.”

“Worried about the kids?” ventured Voort, finally turning to look at her.

She just shrugged, “More worried about you.”

With that short sentence, Jen had brought up a conversation they’d had(although quietly) while returning in the landspeeder. His mood darkened and he allowed himself a long sigh, “I’ve warned you before.”

“You have,” Jen agreed, giving him a concerned, almost motherly look, “But that’s doesn’t change things”

“It does,” he said flatly, not looking her in the eye and avoiding her gaze altogether, “You know well enough by now what I am.”

At that, Voort was surprised by Jen’s actions. She stepped in front of him and carefully rested a hand on his cheek, a strangely kind expression on her face, “You aren’t all bad, Titus. There’s light in there.”

“Only in memories,” answered Voort, stepping to the side and looking up the large cliff face.

This did not deter Jen. In the same voice, she said, “You know that’s not true.”

Voort wanted to say something. He truly wanted to agree with her, or even disagree with her. But for some reason, he simply couldn’t find the right words for anything. There was a long, strangely comfortable silence between them before Voort finally found some words that would work. Even if they did completely change the subject.

“We will need both of them if we’re going to confront Sadrak again.”

Jen was not surprised by the sudden change of subject, and simply moved along with it. It wasn’t hard to read where Voort’s thoughts were going, and the months they’d spent together had only assisted this, “Right now, though?”

“Can you think of a better time?” he answered her question with another equally valid one.

She couldn’t help but agree, allowing a quick glance back into the cave, “Alone?”

“We’ll be back by nightfall.”

At that, Jen couldn’t hold back a short laugh, “The sun hasn’t even come up yet.”

Voort allowed himself a grin, “Then we’d better get going.”

There was a short pause where Jen wondered if Voort was really being serious. When he turned and walked into the cave without another word, she was sure of it. Truthfully, the first thing one would think he’d do after speaking those words was to jump down and head off. But really, that would be stupid without any kind of defense. A smile on her face, Jen did her best to make her self hard to notice before sneaking off to get her things.


----------



## freedoms_edge

Crazy amount of updating, but thats just keeping me more and more hooked!

Loved the change of pace in the last one, switched from non-stop 
gut-pounding action to a very personal, reflective moment between two of the characters. Voort is fantastic, an incredibly deep character - soooo many levels, tho Jen seems to have spotted every single one of them!

Please please please keep more of this coming!


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

freedoms_edge said:
			
		

> Crazy amount of updating, but thats just keeping me more and more hooked!




Goood...goood. My evil plot continues. 



> Loved the change of pace in the last one, switched from non-stop
> gut-pounding action to a very personal, reflective moment between two of the characters. Voort is fantastic, an incredibly deep character - soooo many levels, tho Jen seems to have spotted every single one of them!




Honestly, I've had to up the action for this section. The first part really was non-stop go mode from one thing to another, but once we got to Arranis things slowed down to almost a crawl. Not that it was BAD, lots of RPing and such, but it got a little strange as they needed to be dealing with something that was being avoided.

Funny that you like Voort. I never liked him that much. Don't know why, actually. I'm doing my best to not let it show in the writing, and I guess its working. What can I say, Akan was(well, is) so much of myself that some of his dislike for Voort snuck into me.



> Please please please keep more of this coming!




Working on today's update right now. Glad you like it.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 65: Distracting Games*

“They didn’t track us,” Shadow commented quietly, more to quiet the question Akan had been about to ask than to make either of them feel better. Akan had his mouth half open to speak when she’d said that, so he closed his mouth and looked a bit useless. What was the point of communication if she always answered questions before he asked them?

He paused for a moment...when she didn’t respond to that mental question, Akan smiled to himself. At least some thoughts didn’t seep through all the time. Privacy had at first seemed impossible with the link, but the longer it had been around, the better the both of them had gotten at keeping things to themselves...even if only for short periods of time.

They had found a cave. Only ten or so meters deep and plainly obvious to anyone approaching. But it was shelter. Shadow had insisted on staying Alraxian, meaning that the cold night was causing extreme problems for her. Akan had given her his jacket and tattered robe, but it wasn’t doing nearly as good as it would have with most other species. Of course, most other species didn’t have their body and brain shut down in below tropical temperatures. Though the morphsuit was still small, it was at least keeping her warm enough to not pass out. Despite all the problems, she showed no sign of discomfort. Physically, at least.

Besides, she was still annoyed with Akan. He was far too human for his own good. Thankfully, he had not insisted on going back to get the girl’s body anymore, but she could tell he was mentally tearing himself apart for it. The reason for this was beyond her comprehension. To Shadow, death occurred and one dealt with it accordingly. In Alraxian society, the birth of a child was a time of mourning, as that was another soul that would have to die. A death, then, was a happy occasion as the person joined with the Force. She had accepted that nearly every other species in the galaxy did not believe this way, but at least it rarely impaired their judgement as it had done with Akan. Ironically, Shadow was ignoring her own reaction when her good friend and partner Max was killed. Something like that would ruin her argument against Akan, so it was best to be ignored.

Akan was sitting back against the rocks, looking out into the dark night beyond the cave. He allowed the Force to calm him as best as possible, but it was not enough. Calm was, sadly, not everything. If it was, there would be nice, long moments in the galaxy where everything stopping going wrong. Closing his eyes, Akan tried to get the images of two deaths out of his mind. Yes, he’d lost many friends and killed many enemies, but these two were different. Both were avoidable, should not have happened, and did happen because of his own negligence.

Quietly, trying to get his mind off of things, he asked, “How are we going to get back?”

At that, Shadow shrugged, thinking about it a moment, “We’re not here to just sit around and do nothing with those Imperials. You and I could handle Sadrak on our own.”

“We could?” Akan raised an eyebrow, sounding genuinely surprised at that boast.

Shadow paused, then tried saying it another way, “I don’t like this place. The sooner we deal with Sadrak, the sooner we can get Loki back into shape and the sooner I can...”

When she trailed off into silence, Akan tried to latch onto any thoughts that would perhaps hint at what she had nearly said. He had found slight images, flashes really, and a few things he didn’t understand, but nothing helpful. Then there was only one way to try. He asked, “Sooner you can what?”

Biting her lower lip, Shadow looked off into nothing. He deserved to know...he was tied to her now. But how to explain anymore? It wasn’t anything she was sure of...sighing, she showed a sign of confusion that was strange on her face, “I...am not the real Marix BlueIce. You know that already. I have all of her memories up to her leaving Alrax Prime, but then there’s a blank. Where it ends is when I met Max on Nar Shadaa. I...” frantically, she searched for words, “I know a little of it...the Empire used me. I was an assassin for them, not all that different from the real Marix was on Prime. I don’t know why I stopped, I don’t even remember why I was doing it. Voort said he was there...he knew the real Marix. On Coruscant. I think she’s still alive.”

Akan pondered this a short moment, then said, “We already saw Sadrak’s facility, though.”

“Voort said it was Isard who was first in charge,” Shadow pointed out in her usual deadpan voice, “There’s so much on that planet. The lower levels of even the main city district have never really been mapped out. I just...know something’s down there. I have to find her. I don’t know why...I just need to.”

There was silence for a few minutes as neither of them really knew what to say. Akan eventually managed a nod, understand her desire to find out more but not able to comprehend the details. Perhaps that was how it was for Shadow. No wonder it was such a driving need to know. A strange, almost out of place thought appeared in his mind. It wasn’t right for his current mood, but wouldn’t go away.

Easily noticing it, Shadow’s mood changed and she grinned, “You’re right.”

“What?” Akan hadn’t realized she was paying attention to that thought, and looked sheepish suddenly.

Shadow’s grin grew, “You’re right.”

“I’m exhausted,” he attempted a feeble lie.

“Oh, come on,” she said, getting up and tossing him the robe, “It’d be fun.”

“Everything’s fun to you,” mumbled Akan under his breath, though he was pulling the robe on anyway.

The grin became that usual dangerous one and she couldn’t help a nod, “So you going to keep avoiding it or are you ready to get moving?”

Finally, Akan allowed himself a grin as he got to his feet, “Fine. You win. But we don’t even know which direction to go.”

“That’s the fun of it,” Shadow pointed out, idly walking over to the edge of the cave and peering out, “Its been a while since I’ve had a good hunt.”

Akan laughed and stepped over next to her, stretching some and looking at the moon that was still high up above them, “I’ll remember that hunt to an Alraxian means run around blindly.”

Turning, Shadow cuffed him in the shoulder not too gently, “Bah!”

And then, they started out across the plateau. Walking quietly and quickly, the two of them kept eyes and ears alert enough that between the two of them nothing would get close without one of them knowing. Shadow would be first, of course, as Alraxians were just had better senses that humans did. This did not bother Akan, simply giving him a challenge to find things before she did. It took only a few minutes before this developed into a mean spirited game between the two of them, of which neither of them were doing all that well(even though Shadow would never admit to losing).

However, this left both of them too distracted to notice a threat from within. Both of them could feel the force that seemed to hover around them, following and prying, but neither gave it any notice. Simply thinking that it was the other’s thoughts attempting to cheat by using the link.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 66: Daylight's Coming*

It would be daylight soon. Jen wasn’t sure if she preferred the cool night to the hot day. Both were far to extreme for her taste. It was humorous, though, that the heavy robes worked for both weather just perfectly. She had been surprised that Voort had decided not to go directly to Haladin. But now, standing near the edge of the plateau far to the west and looking to the distant lights, she was glad they weren’t going there. Turbolaser blasts were seen about ten minutes earlier, aimed low and outside the city. Thankfully, not in their direction.

Voort had explained he was just following instincts by taking this ‘long way around’ Haladin. At first, Jen had been a bit worried by this, but after seeing the turbolaser fire and rush of activity near the city, she decided that Voort’s instincts were good to follow. They had not spoken much at all, as carrying packs while trying to stay out of sight was taking most of their focus and lighthearted conversation just didn’t seem right. So they walked in relative silence.

That is, until of course they caught sight of movement coming their direction. Voort identified it as a landspeeder, which Jen soon agreed on. The fact that they could identify the object coming towards them was worrying because it meant whoever was inside probably knew they were there. They took the precaution of dropping low behind some smaller rocks anyway, hoping. Or at least, Jen was hoping. Voort was looking determined and ready to do what was necessary.

Her heart sank when the speeder stopped. It was probably only forty or so meters ahead of them and was not enclosed like the one Hansen had. Instead, this older model was open to the air, which seemed like a bad idea on a planet like this. But then again, this was more the time to worry about the two getting out of the speeder than the pros and cons of the mechanical design. Not two getting out...well, there were two, but they were quickly joined by another three. All five of them wore what Jen had come to recognize as the usual Narani robes. From a distance, it was impossible to tell the sex of the individual. Not unlike stories of Tusken Raiders on Tatooine. However, unlike the Tuskens, these Narani were most definitely human, and the robes were not nearly as tightly rapped or expansive. Three of the five carried large rifles, while the other two were holding smaller pistol sized weapons. Slugthrowers, from what Jen could tell. Or at least, they didn’t look like any blaster she’d ever seen.

As the five Narani slowly began to spread out, looking around and obviously trying to find the two of them, Voort reached over and squeezed her arm gently. Jen turned her attention to him, and he motioned towards the speeder. When she raised an eyebrow, he motioned again. She managed another glance around the rock, noting that two of the Narani were heading their direction. And then she figured out what he was trying to tell her. None of the Narani were close to the speeder. A grin grew on her face as she thought about it, and nodded to Voort.

He smiled and quietly unhooked the large lightsaber hilt from his belt. As he did this, Jen got out her blaster pistol and got ready to run. His only signal came in the form of his movement. By the time Jen was on her feet and raising her blaster, Voort had already activated both ends of his lightsaber, bathing the area in a soft orange glow. One of the Narani started to yell, but was cut off. Literally. Well, at least his head was. A back swing from the other end of the saber took down the Narani’s companion. All the while, both of them were running to the speeder.

Of course, this did not in any way go unnoticed by the three others. Yelling was heard and one of them knelt to the ground, stabilizing their large rifle from that position. He fired off two quick shots, one landing all too close to Jen’s foot and sending a spout of sand up into her eyes and face. So that’s why they wore the masks...The second shot hit the rock behind them, digging in deep instead of deflecting off. Jen fired off a shot of her own, but the blaster bolt veered off to the side(nearly hitting Voort who was slightly ahead of her).

The two remaining Narani were firing also, many of their shots landing far too close. Jen felt at least one shot graze her shoulder and tear the robe, and did her best to return fire while keeping her balance. Voort had already deactivated his lightsaber, and in a quick jump was in the speeder, ducking down low to avoid the shots now coming his way. Jen was right behind him, climbing into the back of the speeder instead of trying to crawl over him. Two shots rang off the speeder’s hull next to her, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin. Instead, she ducked down behind the low cover that the speeder provided while still being open air. The second she was down, Voort had the speeder rocketing off. Jen managed to look over, seeing the Narani fade away to the horizon. Deciding a last shot at them was pointless, she allowed her body to relax, and slumped down in the seat.

“We’re not out of this yet,” Voort said, motioning to a small comm unit near the controls. The thing was going crazy, and when he switched the volume on, Narani could be heard speaking their native tongue frantically. While neither of them could actually understand what was being said, both got the idea. The Narani knew they had stolen a speeder, which meant they’d probably be pursued...or worse. The thought of the turbolasers came to Jen’s mind just as Voort said over his shoulder, “Scanners are picking up three objects coming at us.”

Pointing off towards the distant city, he did his best to keep the focus on avoiding the larger rocks that would end this escape very quickly. Glad she hadn’t put it away, Jen raised her blaster pistol after looking to the scanner. She reoriented herself in the speeder, not even asking what needed to be done. As the sun slowly crept up over the horizon, Jen caught sight of three objects catching the predawn light. Holding on as best she could and getting ready to fire her blaster, Jen knew that she was more a distraction than anything. It would be up to Voort to pull this off.

A very small part of her mind wished Akan was there. Voort was a good shot, and a vicious fighter, but Akan was a pilot. And it was piloting skill they were seriously going to need in the next few minutes. She hoped Voort could do it.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 67: Dark, Light, and a Little In Between*

It was slow, constant, and growing. The sun was up, just barely above the horizon, when it came to both of their attention. As the sun slowly rose, so did the...presence. No, that wasn’t right. Or maybe it was. Partly, at least. Neither Shadow nor Akan would speak with each other about it, but they both knew it was there. Where, though? Everywhere? No. No, it was concentrated. Following them? Maybe...

Akan’s eyes traced the horizon ahead, noting that they had walked the entire length of the plateau. The drop off was in the distance ahead of them, and then the horizon was even farther off, looking below the plateau’s edge in a strange way. They were not followed. There was nothing around them. No rocks. No caves. Just sand. Sand, air, an Alraxian, and a Human. And then...that thing. Feeling. Whatever it was. Nearly tangible around them. An invisible cloud of thick malevolency. Or perhaps just...no, malevolent was right. When Akan’s mind latched onto that description, Shadow caught his eye.

She said nothing, but the feeling was clear. That line of thought was dangerous. If he was right, and most likely he was, then identifying it would simply lead to fearing it...then feeding it. This was all theory, but Akan understood the Force well enough to know the dangers of the Dark Side. How it fed off the fear, turning it into a force more easily manipulated. But this...this was beyond anything he’d ever felt. Beyond even Voort. Beyond Sadrak...

It was not, however, the Force. Shadow was sure of that. Dark Side, Light Side, the Force was all encompassing, but it did not feel like this. The Force bound everything together, but it did not do this. It did not probe. Search. Hunt. Stalk. The Force had no intelligence driving it. The Force simply was. This was different. Any probing she attempted was easily...deflected. But not I any way she’d ever felt. She knew enough about the galaxy to know that the Force was not the only great power in the universe. But that knowledge did not explain this. Or did it?

Her mind started working in overdrive, connecting small instances that she had simply passed off as nothing. For the last seven or so hours, she’d seen flashes. Short, quick, but memorable in the way that one would never want to remember them despite them being burned into one’s mind. Most often, she saw the face of the child she’d...murdered. No, the Darkwing had done it. But she...she was the Darkwing. All of those people. All of them dead. Murdered, not just dead. Not assassinated. They should not have been killed...she should not have been alive. Why had Akan not killed her when he had the chance? The one time she could have died without taking him with her, and he’d not done the job. Why?!

She growled suddenly, reaching over and throwing Akan to the ground. He yelped in surprise, rolling across the sand to his feet ready to ask her what had gotten into her. He had no chance to ask this. By the time he’d gotten his head up, the tangible cloud of nothing around them suddenly imploded in on...Shadow. There was a painful scream from her, and the robe and morphsuit she wore was suddenly torn apart by two large, Darkwing like wings that didn’t morph so much as explode from her back. When she fell to the ground on all four, crying out in pain with blue colored blood coating the sand around her, Akan found himself suddenly terrified.

The Darkwing was coming back. He’d failed. Again. First Mare, killing her with his own carelessness. Then Shira, murdering her because he was too concerned about things he couldn’t deal with. Now Shadow...becoming that horrible thing again. It shouldn’t be possible, but then again, he never got things right. He’d just delayed the inevitable. What next? He couldn’t fight her. Not again. And then there was Jen...left with that bastard Voort. Akan should never have allowed her to get involved, never allowed things to come to this point. Her death would likely be more painful than any of the others...the worst. And all because of Akan.

He let out a noise that, if he’d been Alraxian, would have been a growl. Instead it sounded awkward and much more forced than it was. His eyes opened from the visions running through his mind, and with his teeth gritted he looked to Shadow. But he saw nothing like the Darkwing. As his mind was composing itself, bringing back rational thought and pushing back those that would kill him, he watched something more disturbing occur to Shadow. Her mind was...all wrong. Split. Literally. He could hear two sets of thoughts. One set loud, violent...angry. Murderous. The other...too quiet to tell. And then, as the louder thoughts seemed to gain more and more force over the quieter ones, the wings on her back started to rise.

And with them, rose another body. Out of her. Out of her?! But that was the only explanation. It was similar to what one would have seen when she had first created his Alraxian body, except instead of a small formless mass becoming two, here were two forms becoming...two. There were cracks, painful noises, and groans, but all came from the Shadow that now lay face down in the sand. She looked exactly the same as always, though her skin was much paler and she was completely unconscious. The other though...the other stood up, stretching new arms and legs, wings flaring slightly as they were gotten used to.

On her, the black stripe was much blacker than before. Her entire complection was darker. Build was stronger. Her hands ended in long, extremely sharp claws. Slowly, this dark Shadow turned to Akan, radiating that feeling that had once been in the air. From inside Shadow then?! But no, it was in the air before! It had to have been! She was stepping forward, ignoring the other Shadow on the ground and simply moving towards Akan with a horribly dangerous fanged grin on her face. 

Somehow, Akan managed to scramble to his feet and back away as the dark Shadow continued her simple approach. Seeing he was afraid, her grin grew and she extended a single clawed hand towards him in a disturbing and almost friendly gesture. She spoke, although in an almost twisted voice when compared to Shadow’s, “You know you can’t run from me.”

“S-S-Shadow...” Akan couldn’t believe he found his voice, speaking as best he could as he also somehow got the lightsaber off of his belt, “Stay back!!”

The radiating menace grew slightly and she growled violently, “I am not Shadow! I am Dark! Shadow was a fool! She tried to balance forces that could not be balanced! Now come...you will join me. You cannot run.”

It was amazing that Akan managed to grasp what Dark was saying. Despite the chaos, he suddenly found himself trying to calm. Calm was the key. Dark and light. Everyone fought with them internally...that force they’d felt. Malevolence. Dark. Trying to manipulate them? Him? Her? Who?!

As she spoke, though, her speed was increasing slowly. Akan didn’t know when he’d activated the lightsaber, but he found that his speed was increasing too, backing away quickly with the blue-green blade in front of him and shaking with his hands, “No! Get back!”

The smile simply grew on her face as she continued to approach, “Come, now. It will not hurt. And the more you fight, the more you give him strength.”

Him. That word triggered a sudden flash of more of those thoughts. More of the death. More of it his fault...more of it...no! No! The effort he was taking to fight back the onslaught of anguish had him stopping in his tracks. This was not a good idea, but by the time Akan realized he’d stopped moving, Dark was nearly on him. He had a short second to attempt swinging the lightsaber at her(and truthfully, he was amazed he could attack Shadow, no matter if she called herself Dark or whatever). This was too late, though. Dark’s upped arm slamming into his hands holding the weapon, crushing his fingers and forcing him to lose his grip. The lightsaber flew off to the side and Akan stumbled back slightly. The same instant that the weapon hit the sand and deactivated, Dark’s other hand curled into a fist and rose up towards Akan’s chest.

It did not, however, impact. In fact, it hurt a thousand times worse than any punch ever could. Her fist moved inside him. Deep inside. Akan felt her tighten on something...not an organ or anything physical. But something not truly there. Something science could never measure. It was him. It was everything that made him who he was. It was his soul. His spirit. His Core, as Alraxians called it. Dark’s hand grasped his Core tightly, ripping at it in a way that was much less physical as it should have been. Akan’s screams of pain suddenly ended when she wrenched her arm out. He fell back onto the ground hard, eyes closing a moment as something felt...wrong. Wholly wrong. When his eyes opened, this was confirmed.

Standing there facing the other direction, he did not see Dark. He saw...a figure slightly taller than Dark, with much the same complection. The figure had the same wings, but the hair was shorter, scruffier, and just a bit lighter. When the figure glanced over its shoulder at him, Akan looked into his own face. This would not have been such a disturbing experience if he hadn’t know that he was not looking into a mirror. If he hadn’t known that his face was never that cruel or pained looking. His own Dark smiled suddenly, revealing those same fangs as his two Alraxian ears flattened.

“Leave them,” spoke Shadow’s Dark flatly. She turned and started a slow walk towards the edge of the plateau. Akan’s Dark seemed to hover over him a long moment, then kicked Akan hard in the side before turning and following. By the time Akan managed to get to his feet, for some reason thinking he would go after the two Darks, he could see the two figures above the ground off on the horizon. In the air...so those wings weren’t just for show.

But the pain was...distant still. Still trying to comprehend what had happened, Akan suddenly realized that the other Shadow was still there. He scrambled over to her and pulled her up off of her face. Dusting the sand off of her, Akan tried to mentally push her to wake up. As usual, it worked. But not like usual, he didn’t receive a fist.

Instead, she just opened her pale purple colored eyes slowly. In a soft, very timid voice, Shadow spoke, “A...Akan...?”

He nodded, hoping she could at least see straight, “What...what just happened?”

“She’s gone...” Shadow said quietly, in a voice he’d never heard from her before. It was one filled with relief, “She’s finally gone. They’re both gone...”

Akan helped Shadow to sit up straight, then said, “I hope its not what I think it is.”

She just smiled, a genuine smile for once, “Finally...that horrible creature is gone from me,” she smiled suddenly and said, “From you, too...”

“Shadow...” Akan trailed off, wanting to say that it was likely that this was not a good thing. That it was likely that this would be causing far more problems than they already had. And the fact that if what he thought had happened, had really happened, he should be feeling different. But he didn’t. 

Shadow shook her head, “Call me Light. Shadow is a blend of both Light and Dark...that isn’t possible to exist. It is better now.”

That confirmed it. Something was wrong with this. Very wrong. Akan had known Shadow had always been balancing two uneven forces. It wasn’t her fault, and something she couldn’t seem to deal with for long. That...whatever had preyed on it. Expanded it. Then lived through it. It had attempted the same with Akan, but no matter how many mental troubles he had, he was much more stable than Shadow ever was. He was much more balanced...so much so that his ‘dark’ and ‘light’ did not divide as much as blend into one another. Shadow had split...but Akan. What had happened? He still felt the same. Still felt all those things he probably shouldn’t be feeling...what did that mean for his other? The other had seemed to be very ‘dark’ compared to him. Yet...he was the same.

When Akan got Sha...no, Light to her feet, he walked over and got his lightsaber. He did not, however, put it back on his belt. He looked to Light and motioned for her to follow him as he started towards the plateau. She followed without saying much until her mind worked out where he was going. Quickly, she grabbed his arm and tried holding him back with a strange lack of strength, “No! Leave them! They won’t come back!”

Akan shook his head. For the first time, he’d really have to be the one to make the decisions. No more reactions based on Shadow. He took a deep breath, and gave her a serious look that indicated to her that little at all had changed with him, “They will. You would, wouldn’t you?”

She paused to think about this, and her mood dropped suddenly. That proved he was right. Quietly, she said to the ground, “I don’t want to.”

“We have to,” Akan said firmly. Light looked back to him, and seeing the determination in him, stopped fighting. Again, nothing like she should have. No longer stubborn. Too easily giving in...avoiding confrontations. As Akan started towards the cliff face again, for the first time he found himself wanting Shadow back. The real Shadow. Not this Light. This wasn’t Shadow...but what did that mean for him? And how was he supposed to fix all of this? Pushing these questions out of his mind, he focused on the best thing possible. He focused on what he’d do. And that’s how he began his first real hunt.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 68: And its Only Our Second Date*

The ground flew past beneath them at an incredible speed. They were up high enough that sand was not causing any problems. It had taken only a couple of minutes, and now the two Darks were so far beyond the plateau that it wasn’t even a speck in the distance. Good. This would be sufficient for the moment.

Dark stopped, wings flaring out and then keeping her up. Akan’s Dark, who she still thought of as Akan, stopped a moment later, giving her a confused look that did not go with the rest of him. She picked up on why immediately, and said simply, “We have more important things to do than waste time with them.”

He studied her for a long moment, obviously trying to figure out if he could challenge her. She could kill him easily, and he soon realized this, and simply nodded. Dark smiled to herself at this acknowledgment of superiority, and turned towards the West. There. Distant...but strong. Calling still. Calling to them. Just as it had been before. She and Akan exchanged short looks, both knowing where they needed to go. There was no choice, really. Not yet. But soon...

In the now dawn  light of the sky, the two dark figures flying across were easy to see. However, one had to be looking. And currently, neither Jen, Voort, or the Narani within the three speeders after them were paying any attention to the sky. Two of the speeders were directly behind them, having as much trouble as Jen was with lining up shots. The ground was getting rockier and more uneven as Voort was slowly being forced towards the edge of the plateau by the third speeder. Jen was doing her best to fire off shots behind them, then to the left to keep all of the Narani down. This was not doing well, though, as it was currently about five shooting on them compared to Jen being the only one to return fire.

Voort was ducked down low, barely able to see over the protective screen of a viewport as he wove around the larger rocks that the repulsorlifts would not have helped them to get over. This constant sliding around was causing Jen as much trouble as the Narani were. Thankfully, the two speeders behind them were having the most trouble with their shots. This allowed Jen to reached over the right side of the open speeder and fire off a few shots at the third speeder.

They only impacted the side of it, and she immediately had to duck down to avoid the return fire from three slugthrowers. There were a few loud ding sounds against the hull, though she also heard a few whiz over through the air. They were all missing, but Jen knew that these Narani had a much better chance of getting in that one lucky shot if only because of their number. Most people didn’t like odds, but this was one of those times that odds were very likely to catch up with a person if they weren’t careful.

That’s when the pilot of the third speeder attempted something that Jen had been waiting on. He tried to slide the speeder in to close the distance between them Voort managed to catch sight of this maneuver, and also saw that this was timed exactly when there was a large rock wall to the left side. No way to pull away...

“Hold on!” he called over his shoulder and hit the tried redirecting a little more power from the senors to the engines. Jen felt them gain a bit more speed, but when she looked up over the side, saw that it had done them no good. The other speeder slammed into them, jerking them to the side. In that moment, both Jen and the three Narani leaned over the sides to fire at point blank range. Jen got a shot off that hit the Narani aiming for Voort, and managed to duck back down as the speeder’s pulled away from each other and the two Narani took shots at her.

She’d definitely lost a few hairs from those shots. Voort’s mind was racing as fast as the speeders were. Currently, he was trying to keep up with the distance to the edge of the plateau, which they were being driven towards. He could easily slow down and head the other direction, but it was likely that they were expecting that. So...do exactly what they wouldn’t expect. As the rocks started to level out again, Voort allowed his eyes to dart across the interior of the speeder. His eyes caught sight of what he was looking for. With a free hand, he reached over and pulled the small box over to him. He tossed it over into the back with Jen, “Open that and see what’s in it!”

Jen fired off two more shots to keep the closest speeder back, then dropped down to do what he’d said. The box opened easily, revealing a small collapsible tent, a pair of medpacs, a grappling spike launcher, and two glowrods. She relayed this to Voort, who then told her to get out the grappling spike launcher and attach it to her blaster. Not liking where this was going, Jen did this anyway and ignored the fact that the launcher was nearly bigger than her small blaster.

By the time she’d gotten it out, Voort had done something that surprised everyone except him. He pulled the speeder hard to the left, now speeding straight off the edge of the plateau. Voort then hit a couple of switches, and jumped over into the back of the speeder with Jen. The Narani were too busy reorienting themselves to continue firing for the short moment. He took the gun from Jen, handing her the box and giving her a long look. Neither of them said anything, but Jen quickly wrapped an arm around him.

How she knew what he’d planned to do was simply instinct. It was crazy...insane...and would work. And besides, it was too late to turn back. Literally. They were no longer running a half meter above the ground. The speeder had shot off of the plateau, and because the repulsorlifts could not handle this height, they were plummeting. Quickly, knowing that the distance down would not be far, Voort jumped out of the speeder with Jen hanging on. He immediately fired the grappling spike towards the cliff face. It latched in somewhere not far away, and the cable suddenly tightened. Voort managed to hang on despite the violent jerk. He payed no attention to the speeder now below them, focusing on the quickly approaching rock wall.

Knowing it would hurt, but having no other choice, Voort extended his legs towards the wall. Then they hit. Or rather, Voort’s legs did. He cringed from the shock of pain and nearly lost his grip on Jen from the force of the stop. Slowly, he allowed his legs to fall down to a more relaxed position. He allowed a glance to the cliff top above, but it was Jen’s voice that got his attention.

“...and how are we supposed to get down from here?”

It was a valid question. In fact, he’d expected for some reason that there would be a ledge near. There wasn’t. Instead, there was still a long drop below. Thinking about this, he knew of only one option, “Let the box drop...if it doesn’t make it, oh well...we’re going to have to climb the old fashioned way.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 69: Tales of Dark and Light*

Two Alraxians stood in the middle of the desert. One, slightly taller than the other, was looking off towards the west while running a hand through its hair. The other sat on the dune, looking the other direction. Akan was getting tired of this. Not the walking into no where. That actually wasn’t all that bad once you got to ignoring the sand...of which he was trying to ignore was coating his tail. No, the real problem was Sha-...Light. Whatever her name was this day. Suddenly, he was glad that he’d gotten a completely different life through his name change. At least then he hadn’t left people confused.

Truthfully, the name thing was just a small annoyance. It was her attitude that was really driving him crazy. The only reason they were standing...no, he was standing, she was sitting and sulking. But the only reason for this stop was her claim of being tired. He knew that wasn’t completely true. The link showed that, even if it was slightly strange. From what he’d managed to figure out in the past two hours, the link was still there. It was with Light as strongly as usual, but he could still feel Dark...distantly, but there. It was what he was following not very successfully. This, of course, was avoiding that very awkward feeling that he knew was his other self. That wasn’t the best thing to think about, as it brought far too many questions that just plain hurt.

So instead, Akan had decided that he was following the feeling from Dark. Which...he was. Technically. He sighed and looked back to Light. She was ignoring him...or trying. And failing. Badly. Every few moments she’d look over her shoulder covertly, but each time he saw. She wasn’t in any way good at this. Yet again, he wanted Shadow back. What was he supposed to do now? This wasn’t an equal to his wit anymore! This was just...just...some terrified little girl. If he’d known more, Akan would have found this an interesting look into who Shadow(and by default, Marix) really was. But he didn’t. Not now, at least.

“Break’s over,” he said sounding more annoyed than he really was. Light made a whimpering noise, but had figured out not to fight with this. Or maybe she just didn’t want to fight him. Probably both. Either way, it just plain didn’t feel right.

Light was soon on her feet, dusting herself off and following Akan down the dunes and across this endless desert. Behind them, the plateau was long gone from view. It had only been two hours, but Akan had managed to keep a very fast pace, and Light had been forced to keep up with him or be left behind. From what he could tell, the Darks were too far ahead to catch up with anytime soon, but they were going somewhere. Somewhere with a purpose. And despite everything, this just felt important. Part of that was likely the fact that Akan wanted to get the two of them...no, four of them, back to normal. How to do that, he didn’t know. But Light did. She was, however, refusing to speak of it at all. Every single time he brought it up, she started getting panicky and impossible to speak with. He thought about bringing it up again, but quickly decided that would have to wait.

His eyes soon caught sight of movement. In the distance...faint, but definitely movement. What it was, though, he could tell. Not yet. But he’d soon find out. And he wasn’t going to like it. How he knew this, Akan wasn’t sure...it was just the feeling. This feeling of impending annoyance. Whatever this was, he’d be kicking himself about it.

...if only Akan knew the real irony in that thought.

* * * *​

“You will go and bring them to me.”

Dark looked at the hooded figure, examining the nothing within closely. So this was that nameless thing...interesting. Her curiosity was not satisfied, however. It was obvious that this figure was powerful. Immensely so. She would not be able to challenge him yet...it would take time, and it would take the assistance of her pet. Whether she liked it or not, this Akan was going to be necessary in this equation. Hopefully he wouldn’t get any ideas. So far, he’d been smart enough to listen to her, but it was likely he’d start pushing her limits soon.

Carefully, she looked over her shoulder to where her Akan stood. He looked annoyed. But he was keeping his mouth shut. Good. Dark turned her attention back to the hooded figure across the room from her and said simply, “You wish both of them?”

There was the slightest of movements to indicate a nod. A feeling raised in the air, and both Dark and her Akan recognized this as their dismissal. The two turned and left the chamber without a word. But once the door had closed, and they started down one of the long hallways, her Akan growled a curse and said, “Why are we doing what that freak says?”

At that, Dark couldn’t help a smile. He was too predictable. Though it was interesting that he did not seem to see anything wrong with doing what she said. Good. Waiting until after one of those strange guards passed by, she said, “It will serve us. Besides, it is time for you to prove yourself.”

That got a smile out of him. He interpreted what she’d meant perfectly, though stated it anyway, “You will allow me to face him?”

“Yes,” Dark said with a simple nod, “Bring my Light back, as He wishes. As for your own. Do what you will. But do not fail. He will tolerate that less than I.”

Her Akan nodded as they finally started towards the outside, “Then you will find the human woman?”

Dark did not respond until they’d reached the desert again. Such an interesting planet. Her wings twitched slightly in anticipation, and she looked off across the sands. Feeling. Reaching out...finding. Not even looking to her Akan, Dark said simply, “It will not be hard to find her. It will be interesting to learn what he wishes with her, though.”

Without giving her Akan a chance to respond, Dark’s powerful wings took her into the air, and she shot off into the distance. For a long while, he just stood there watching. Thinking. But no, it was not his place to think of these things. He had a job to do. Perhaps once he’d killed his Light and returned with Dark’s then he would be awarded the respect he deserved. If not...well, if not it was likely he would not live very much longer.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 70: Never Again*

There was a first time for everything. There was also a last time. This was going to be both for Jen. Sure, she’d nearly finished the climb down, but it would be the last time she’d ever do anything like this even if she did live through it. Voort didn’t seem to be having all that much trouble, but then again, he was a soldier. Good at this kind of thing...roughing and such. No matter how hard she tried, she’d always be a scientist. Sure, she could fight, even pilot some, but Jen was truly in her environment in a lab.

Perhaps that was why she had felt so out of place the last few months. But this was not the time to reminisce. This was the time to focus on not falling to one’s death. And, thankfully, she soon no longer had to worry about it. Her feet found sand below them, and Jen couldn’t help a smile as she stepped back from the rock face. There was a smell in the air, though...turning around, she saw the source of it. The landspeeder. Well, what was left of it. The thing had taken a nosedive straight into the sand at such a speed that the repulsorlifts didn’t have a chance to do anything about it. Behind her, Jen heard Voort step down from the rock face before saying, “Looks to me like the long way was worth it.”

A grin appeared on Jen’s face and she turned to look to Voort, “Worth it or not, you owe me.”

“Oh, I do?” he raised an eyebrow, fighting back a grin, “Why is that?”

She poked him not too gently in the chest, “Just tallying up all those near death experiences I’ve had since being around you when compared to before.”

Voort couldn’t help a short laugh at that, “I’m almost afraid to ask what the count’s up to.”

“At least five now,” Jen said with that grin still there. To his surprise, she then stepped closer and kissed him gently on the cheek. Quietly, she spoke into his ear, “...and life’s never been more interesting.”

“Well, you’re welcome,” Voort responded with a smile, “Hopefully these experiences continue to only be near death.”

“I trust you,” she said quietly, stepping back some before looking up to the cliff above. Thankfully, there was nothing looking back down. She was about to ask where they should start moving to next, but was silenced when Voort put a hand over her mouth. She gave him a confused look, but noticed he was looking past her. Keeping quiet, she turned to follow his gaze.

It took a long moment to identify what it was, but soon the thing that had caught his attention was obvious. There was something near the horizon. No...above it. Moving. The movement was hard to detect but the fact that it was slowly moving higher and becoming easier to identify proved that it was moving towards them. And quickly. Very quickly. She looked to Voort, speaking quietly, “I haven’t seen any native life here...or anything that flies.”

“Yeah...” Voort moved to stand in front of Jen, drawing his lightsaber as Jen got out her blaster pistol again. From one thing to another, it seemed. Interesting, though, that while she still considered herself a scientist, Jen was starting to react like a warrior. Of course, there was very little on this planet that had proved to be friendly to strangers so far. With the track record as bad as it already was, even the most peace loving pacifists in the galaxy would start picking up blasters and shooting at anything that moved.

Voort’s thumb was resting on the lightsaber’s activation switch., ready to activate the weapon in half a second. This feeling was growing. It was similar to Sadrak, but there was something else much different. Not stronger, but just as deadly. That, Voort managed to figure, was the approaching thing. A single minded hate. He could understand this only because it reminded him of himself, years ago. It was almost like this planet had a way of bringing out one’s past in one form or another. This did not bother Voort, though, as he’d dealt with his past long ago. It was his future that was in doubt.

“Jen,” he said quietly, watching the thing getting closer and closer, “Be careful. This isn’t like the Narani...”

She simply nodded, worried at the feeling she was also picking up on. It was strange as Jen had no way of explaining it. Her mind tried to, so many ways, but there was no scientific way to explain a feeling. Especially on like this. Hate. Anger...rage? All of it and more. Built up like a small projectile shooting their direction. But something was wrong. The feeling was closer than the object...much closer.

Something just clicked in her mind, and Jen found herself reacting. Quickly, and without yet understanding why, Jen dove to the side and rolled across the sand. When she looked back Jen caught sight of a figure there. Or rather an arm with long claws that was exactly where she’d been. Her eyes followed the hand back across the dark colored arm, then realized she was staring at a strange image of Shadow. Shadow with wings, that is. Black wings...like the Darkwing but Alraxian.

A sudden snap-hiss that Jen recognized as a lightsaber blade igniting cut off her thoughts. In a flash of movement, Voort spun around, one end of the lightsaber activated and cutting horizontally towards this strange Shadow. But Shadow reacted just as quickly again, jumping back and out of the way before pushing off with her feet on the rock face behind her. Voort was bringing his lightsaber around to swing at her as she dove forward, but was much slower than Shadow. The claws latched onto his wrists, digging in deep and forcing him to let go of the weapon. Her free hand backhanded him hard across the jaw, and just as her claw relinquished its grip on his writs, Shadow spun around to kick him across the face.

By the time Voort was down on the ground, Shadow was bearing down on Jen. The woman attempted to raise her blaster to fire, not even thinking that this was Shadow but simply trying to stop whatever was happening. She did not, however, have a chance to even get the blaster up all the way. Shadow’s foot kicked her arm hard, sending the small blaster sliding across the sand and far out of reach. Trying to ignore the pain in her arm, Jen next attempted to crawl back enough to get to her feet and do...something. Anything. What, exactly, would be decided in the moment.

But she did not even get a chance to do this. Shadow’s clawed hand shot down and grabbed Jen’s neck. With a strength that surprised the human, Shadow lifted her to her feet and then stared her in the fact. For what seemed like too long, Jen looked into two dead looking, red and silvery eyes. Those were not Shadow’s. Then what was this thing?! What was it do–

Her thoughts were cut off by a quick hit to the back of her head that Shadow delivered. Jen’s world plummeted into blackness. Dark smiled and threw the woman over her shoulder. As she turned to leave, Dark heard a sudden movement behind her. That was Voort, no doubt. She turned around and extended an arm, catching the man in a similar way that she had grabbed Jen. By the neck. Except with him, she was much rougher, not trying to avoid killing him. Instead, she allowed her claws to dig in ever so slightly to extend the pain. Grey eyes looked into red-grey eyes for a short while, and Dark said simply, “You die today, human scum.”

Then, Voort kneed her hard in the stomach. Her arrogance at his ability to retaliate had provided an amply opening. Though as Dark stumbled back, her claws raked across his neck. Not enough to kill him, but enough to leave scars. He didn’t take the time to think about them though. Of course, Dark didn’t take the time to worry about him anymore. Deciding he was more trouble than he was worth, she turned, and took to the sky. Voort had gotten to his lightsaber, activating the primary end of it and turned around just as Dark was flying off. In a desperate attempt to do anything, he hurled the saber at her.

Dark was too fast, though, and already too far away. The orange blade fell to the ground, deactivating as it hit the sand, and Voort watched in horror as Shadow...no, that wasn’t Shadow. As whoever that was flew off with Jen. Taking her deep into the desert. To Sadrak. Knowledge of things like that was something Voort had learned not to question years earlier. He simply accepted that it was the truth, and acted on it. Pushing aside grief and worry, Voort moved to get his lightsaber before starting the long trek across the sand. He would track them. The trail left in the Force was too strong for anyone to miss.

Voort was not going to lose now. For the first time in years, he could feel light returning to his life. He’d be damned if it was going to be taken away again. He’d be damned if he was going to lose Jen the way he lost Calina and his daughter. Never again.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 71: Questions and Mirrors*

The movement that Akan had seen faded into nothing, and he paid it no more attention. This was his first mistake, but not one to become apparent yet. Instead, he turned his attention to Light. There was something else bothering him. She knew much more about what was going on that she was saying, or even allowing to be hinted at. Yet he could feel it. Continuing the slow march over another dune, Akan grabbed her arm so she couldn’t drop back like she’d done so many other times, “What is going on here?”

Light tried doing the same thing from before. She shuffled her feet and stared intently at the sand, but because of his grip on her arm, was nearly pulled down onto her face. Stumbling to keep up on her feet, Light looked to Akan with a confused expression, wondering why he was trying to fight with her. At least, that’s how she saw it.

Akan stopped, turned and looked her straight in the eyes, “Tell me what’s happened, or I leave you here.”

For a quick second, Akan could tell that she was going to attempt her usual dodging of the subject, but with that glare he was giving her it was near impossible to not melt and hide. He’d learned it from Shadow. He’d learned it well. Quietly, Light said, “I...its...she...”

Sighing, Akan lessened the glare, “Slow down, and just explain it. I know it won’t make sense, but I need to know what’s happened here beyond what I think.”

She nodded slowly, trying again, “She...Shadow, was not balanced. Or...she was too balanced. Or..no! No she wasn’t balanced! This wouldn’t have happened otherwise!” pausing, Light realized that Akan had no idea what she was talking about. Biting her lip, Light tried a third time from a different angle, “The Force. Light and Dark...yes?”

Akan nodded.

“They balance each other,” she went on, “You can’t have one without the other. When one becomes to strong, things go wrong. But two things like that can’t balance themselves on their own. They’re too much at odds...wanting more power over the other. So there’s a third that holds the balance. Keeps them together whether they like it or not. Light...Dark...and the Shadow between.”

Part of Akan wanted to argue this, knowing how much against the teachings of the Jedi these words were. She had essentially said that the Force could not exist without the Dark Side, while Jedi all had a strong belief that the Dark Side was evil and should be destroyed. But if Light was correct, then destroying the Dark Side would in turn destroy the Light Side. No Jedi would ever believe this...but somehow, Akan found it to be true.

Seeing he wasn’t going to say anything, Light continued, “It’s the same with living beings. Light...Dark...and a little in between. Imbalance is different in living beings, though, as it does not result in the same kind of destruction. But...with...her...um...me...sort of...the training that Alraxian Tam-Day-U receive blended with whatever the Imperials did to...Marix. It...it did something. Maybe its more a side effect of the cloning technique. But she was always...I mean, I was always. We...were always at odds within one. And something. I don’t know...something happened. Split it.”

“But why me, too?!” Akan threw up his hands and glared in the general direction of the sky above. Amazingly enough, that all made sense to him, except for the fact of himself. If he’d thought about it for only a second, he’d have known, but Akan was angry at the universe.

So, Light explained it, “You’re part of her...me...us.”

Akan couldn’t help a growl at that, “I really got myself into more than I bargained for...” he sighed and tried to calm himself, “But why am I me? Why not split like you?”

She shrugged, “Bodies are the same, minds are close but still different. Maybe that’s it?”

“But then what is that other me?” Akan asked, suddenly noticing that movement off on the horizon again. He watched it over her shoulder but did his best to look like he was still paying attention to what she was saying. Which he was...distractedly.

Light shrugged again, but at least tried suggesting, “He could still be Dark...but likely more balanced and sane.”

Akan had started to think of a response to that. It was going to be sarcastic, flat, and generally out of place in the serious conversation. However, his mind clicked with the movement and he made another comment, equally bad but much more serious, “We can ask me...here I come.”

Turning around to see, Light only got a quick glance at the black object streaking just above the sand towards them. Her eyes weren’t able to focus because Akan forced her to the side, knowing she wasn’t going to be any good in a fight. And this didn’t like a friendly hello. Didn’t feel like it either.

Akan had time to also dive to the side just as his Dark shot past where he’d stood, claws extended and slashing at thin air. Hopping to his feet, Akan looked to the back of his Dark, grinning, “I always thought I’d look good with wings. The black leather is a little too stylish, though. You think about changing that?”

His Dark just spun around and growled a curse, diving at him again. Akan had no trouble spinning to the side out of the way of the Dark’s strike. Two more strikes aimed at him were again easily dodged. Akan was understanding why it was easy. He was fighting himself. He knew his actions...he knew his weaknesses. And the interesting part was that his Dark seemed to be showing these weaknesses very strongly. Not thinking before its next attack, giving time to tell where it would be placed, and then two slow on the recovery.  But Akan was getting arrogant, a trait that everyone had and always came back to bite one in the tail.

In Akan’s case, it didn’t bite him, or reach his tail. Instead, it took the form of his Dark’s fist, and impacted hard with the left side of his face. Sprawling back onto the sand below, Akan was surprised that he wasn’t having to dodge another attack while he was on his feet. In fact, his Dark wasn’t even there. A yelp was heard from Light. Damn! By the time Akan made it to his feet, his Dark had grabbed Light and was starting to take to the sky. Akan ran. He ran as fast as he could to reach his Dark before he was out of reach.

And he made it. A hand grabbed onto his Dark’s ankle, and Akan was able to yank the flying Alraxian down onto the sand. This also got a second yelp from Light, who’d been fallen on and was panicked. His Dark growled and kicked back at Akan, forcing him back and having to let go of the ankle. Quickly getting back to his feet, and dragging Light up with him, Akan’s Dark attempted to run forward again before taking to the sky again.

“You’ve already got one of her, you don’t need two!” Akan called out and charged forward again. This time, though, he didn’t reach his Dark in time. The winged Akan was in the sky, well out of reach and flying at an amazing speed. Damn...Akan ran. Again. Thinking all the while. Well, not thinking as much as his mind was racing insanely for anything that might stop his Dark. He was nearly to the point of throwing sand...but not yet. There was another option.

Continuing to run and watching as his Dark was quickly pulling away, Akan drew his blaster from its holster and fired. The bolt was too slow. A first, most likely. It flew off behind hid Dark, and before Akan could fire again, his Dark was just too far away. Fatigue suddenly washed over him, and Akan dropped to his knees. Tiredly, he holstered the weapon and looked to the figure disappearing far off on the horizon. No choice but to follow. Again. But this time speed truly was important. Who knew what the Darks were planning. But why just her? Why leave Akan? That’s what worried him.

Slowly, he got up to his feet and started in the direction his Dark had gone. This planet was really starting to annoy him. Not one good rest. Not one. Being unconscious did not count. He’d been running too much. And here he was, running again. Chasing the horizon. One day, he was going to stop trying to be such a hero all the time. One day, he’d stop trying to help anyone at his own expense. One day, he’d die. Akan truly hoped it wouldn’t be today. He was only twenty two, and there were far too many questions about his life that had already happened. Before he died, he wanted those answered. And Shadow could. Not Light. Not Dark. Shadow. So he put more strength into his run to get her back and put his mind at ease.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 73: We Fight Together*

Eventually, no matter where one lives in the galaxy, they will encounter something that someone will label as a coincidence. Chance. Just a stroke of luck. Some people simply accept this as such. Chance. But others won’t. Akan fell into the latter group. Only twenty two or so standard years of living, and he didn’t believe in coincidence. He’d seen far too much otherwise. And no, it was not his strength in the Force that encouraged that belief. If it was, he’d make a perfect Jedi Knight. But instead, he simply knew that some things were meant to happen. Certain things were easier to accept than others. For instance, Akan knew that Shadow killing him was not simple bad luck. It had happened for a reason. That reason, he didn’t yet know. And he likely wouldn’t until he also accepted that Mare had not died from his own bad luck and bad thinking.

But currently, Akan was applying this thought pattern to the situation presenting itself to him. The situation was in the form of a person. Voort. Voort had found him. Coincidence? In a desert of this size? No way. Even if you believed in that kind of thing, it was a stretch. So, the first thing Akan said when he saw the tired looking human was, “What in the name of the Sith are you doing out here?”

Strangely, that got a smile out of Voort, even if it looked slightly forced, “Probably the same reason you are.”

Strangely, Akan found himself nodding at that. A moment later he knew why. Pulses through the Force helped him to figure out the course of events. Most notably, he could see Dark, “Where is she?”

“Which one?” Voort asked simply.

Honestly, Akan didn’t know who he was asking about. Probably both Jen and Dark. Definitely both. Strange that he hadn’t even thought about that when he’d asked it. Silencing the strange stream of tangent thoughts, Akan looked back to Voort, “You saw Dark, then.”

“Cliched name, but I assume you’re talking about the winged Shadow,” commented Voort. He looked distracted. In fact, he was. He hadn’t stopped following that trail left in the Force, and was starting to walk along with it anyway.

Akan caught up with him and tried to think of something productive to add. He couldn’t. It was another thing that was so odd. They’d exchanged only a few words, yet both knew the situation perfectly after that. While Akan was slightly suspicious of this, Voort was simply focused on the task at hand. 

They walked in silence for near an hour before Voort finally spoke, “We’re a lot more similar than you think.”

That caught Akan off guard. Not because the comment was out of no where, but because it was exactly what he’d been thinking about. He’d studied this Imperial and was finding himself worrying that he was so much like him. Akan knew that Voort was a killer. Akan also knew that he wasn’t any better when things got right down to it. In fact, Akan was arguably worse. His three months with New Republic Spec Force, though short, were very active. He’d taken every mission that could possibly have come his way just to always be doing something. To forget the pain. But it had only helped him to develop a stronger hatred for Imperials, and the day he’d quit and left completely was when he’d realized how much he enjoyed killing them.

“I never enjoyed my kills,” Voort said, chiming in on Akan’s thoughts again. However, he’d said it before Akan had finished thinking. Not reading his thoughts, simply having parallel thoughts. Warriors think alike. The former Imperial looked Akan in the face as they walked across the endless sand, “But they weren’t faceless either. I still have the datapad with all of their names and profiles. Family. Age. Everything. I keep it with me to remind myself that they aren’t cruel and horrible people. Simply the enemy.”

It was almost as if Voort was just talking to himself. Akan was continually not saying anything, just amazed at the man’s words. At how...how compassionate he sounded. Yet this man had worked as the Emperor’s personal assassin. A perfect sniper. A user of the Dark Side of the Force. Evil in every definition. Yet...yet Akan found that he, himself, was more of an evil person. Voort had done what he thought was right. He had fought for the side he believed was the correct one. Akan...Akan had been like that. But something happened to him when Mare was killed. Perhaps its why relationships are discouraged within the military. Perhaps its why the militaries rarely recruit such young pilots. But they had. And that day that Mare was killed Akan had made two decisions. He’d decided that her death was the fault of him for being careless, and the fault of the Empire for all the suffering it had caused. He’d decided that day that everyone who’d caused her death was going to die. And he was going to do it. That was why he’d joined Spec Force. It was the best way to kill Imperials. And once they were dead...he could deal with the other one at fault.

He’d never reached that point. He realized his mistakes and messed himself up even more by completely cutting himself off from his past and burying all of those dangerous emotions deep. Here, though, was an Imperial who was everything Akan should have been. This man had lost his wife and daughter and had somehow come out of it strong. Akan could not imagine that kind of strength.

Voort suddenly broke off Akan’s train of thought by reaching through his robes and pulling out two small objects. Datapads. Switching one of them on, he held it out so Akan could see it. On the datapad was an image Akan knew far too well. It was that holo of him and Mare the day she’d died. Flight suits on, chaos of the hangar behind them. A strange mix of emotions ran through Akan when Voort said, “Jen told me that you were very close with this girl.”

For a moment, Akan found himself growing extremely angry. It felt like Voort had been digging in places he shouldn’t have been. But the moment passed as quickly as it had appeared and Akan just nodded. He couldn’t find any words. If Jen had told him about it, there was a reason. And Akan trust her judgement.

“She’s very beautiful,” Voort said quietly.

Akan’s tail twitched at that. He fought back a tear unsuccessfully, and managed a small nod. Finding his voice, Akan spoke towards the sand, “Was.”

Seeing the effect this had on Akan, Voort switched off the datapad and replaced it with the second one he’d gotten. Switching that one on, Akan looked over to see another holo. It was of a woman. Probably in her mid twenties. She had shoulder length red hair, bright green eyes, and one of the most genuine smiles Akan had ever seen. Standing with an arm around the woman was what had to have been a young Voort. He wore the olive green Imperial officer’s uniform, yet it only held the rankings of a newly enlisted Cadet.

“Your wife?” Akan asked carefully, not wanting to provoke and kind of anger from Voort. This was foolish, as he knew by now that Titus Voort was not one to act like a child. Akan was the child.

Smiling, Voort nodded, “Yes. I keep this with me. It’s a reminder of times long gone.”

Akan couldn’t help a slight smile, himself, and spoke very quietly, “She’s beautiful.”

“Yes. She is,” responded Voort, and Akan didn’t miss that Voort had said ‘is’ and not ‘was’. He’d not corrected Akan. He’d not been insulted. He’d not done anything that Akan would have done...or had done.

Voort then withdrew the datapad back into the folds of his robe. He switched the first datapad to his other hand, then reached over and held it in front of Akan, saying, “We both fight for lost love. Don’t let it kill you. Let it strengthen you,” Akan listened to the man’s words and found himself taking the datapad. He put it in a jacket pocket and was surprised to see Voort pull out a third datapad. The former Imperial then placed this in front of Akan, “They’re still with us. They always will be. She’ll always watch over you.”

Akan then took the second datapad, finding that Voort’s words were strongly affecting him. Akan stopped walking to look at the datapad. He had never actually looked at the contents before, and was surprised to find that it was already switched on. It was Mare’s diary. The other thing he’d kept. And the page that the document was on read:

“Sometimes I wish that I could wait to love him. Wait until we get out of this war. Wait until we both know we’ll be alive. But I can’t. Its so hard to live with, going out and flying with him as my wing. Hopefully one day we can look back at how insecure I am and laugh. But I’m worried we won’t be able to. I’m worried this will be it. I just wish I could have said more. Done more. He’s so much more fragile than he likes to admit. So much more afraid. I can’t stop worrying about what he might do if I die. There’s something in him that’s dangerous. He can hold it back...but something like that might trigger it. I don’t want him to become some kind of killer. He’s capable of it...I wish I knew why. Then I could help him. But I can’t. It’s the one thing I can’t do for him. The one thing I’ll never be able to do for him. Someone out there should be able to. I just wish it was me... 

Maybe after this battle I can ask him to resign his commission with me. He’d do it, though I don’t he’d ever think of it himself. Yes. I’ll ask him when we get back.”

The entry was dated three hours before the assault on Coruscant. It was the last entry. Slowly, Akan closed the datapad and put it away. He stood there in the middle of the desert for a long moment with his face buried in the palm of his hand, not even trying to fight back the tears anymore. He’d made all those mistakes after she’d died. And all those mistakes were an insult to her. When Akan finally opened his eyes again and looked forward, Voort was three dunes beyond him. Slowly, Akan began to understand what the man had shown him and why. So he followed Voort. He was far enough behind, though, to have never seen the tears on Voort’s face. And by the time Akan caught up, any evidence was gone.

They’d had their time to grieve. Now it was time to move on. Time to deal with what had to be dealt with. In the distance, the small black structure that was coming into view showed Akan the future. It was time to make Mare proud of him. He’d done exactly what she’d feared he would. How right she’d been...but no more. He couldn’t die anymore. He wasn’t allowed to. Akan wasn’t allowed to, because Shadow wasn’t allowed to. The importance of that was still not completely apparent to him.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 74: Strange Forces at Work*

Dark stood outside of the complex, watching the horizon for any sign of her Akan. He was taking his time. He should have returned by now. She knew he hadn’t failed...then it was likely he was simply trying to prove something. Idiot. Obviously, he knew that she still had use for him and wouldn’t get rid of him, allowing a certain level of defiance. This did not, however, account for the fact that this creature they were serving may not take it so lightly. And if her pet got himself killed like that, she’d be stuck. Dark growled to herself, kicking at Jen’s body which was laying in the sand at her feet.

Truthfully, Dark had not reported the woman’s capture yet. In fact, she’d been standing outside(and in one of the blind spots for the scanners) since arriving ten minutes earlier. She’d simply dropped Jen’s body onto the sand and waited. He was taking more than just his sweet time. She growled again, and took a short look back towards the entrance to the complex. No guards still. And she couldn’t feel that wandering menace either. Silence. Emptiness. A strange thing near this place. He was up to something...

But that wouldn’t matter if her pet got them both killed. More trouble than he was worth. She reached out through the remnant of the link between them and said. [If I have to come out there and get you, you’re going to regret it.]

She didn’t get a response. No surprise. He’d likely at least speed up. But there was something else. A distant feeling...two of them. Dark soon identified them as the two Lights. That presented a problem. If she could feel them through the link like that, then it was likely they could hear her. Which meant...

Outwardly, Dark cursed and kicked at Jen’s unconscious body again. A moment later, she detected an amused feeling through the link. This was quickly followed by her Akan’s voice. [Not very smart. Now they know where you are. You shouldn’t be so arrogant all the time.]

That idiot! Accusing her of arrogance while giving away his own position in the process! He was inviting trouble! Dark paused a moment in her thoughts. He was inviting trouble...literally. She’d made a mistake in assuming that the link was simply dead, but he’d figured it out. He couldn’t possibly be stupid enough to chastise her and make the same mistake. So there was a reason behind it...yes. But what? Think...feel. There. A trap? Yes...he was feeling vindictive at having to run from himself. Amusing.

Amusing, but stupid. He’d lost once and that meant he could screw up again. Dark growled to herself for the third time and picked up Jen. Tossing the unconscious human over her shoulder, Dark took to the sky and shot off towards her Akan. After she helped him not get himself killed she was going to bring him as close to death as was possible. He was playing games when they shouldn’t be played.

* * * *​ 
“So you’re telling me you’re standing right over there?” Voort asked, sounding a little sarcastic though he was being completely serious. More trying to analyze the situation than anything. They were laying down behind a dune, with Akan peeking over the top to look at an object they’d seen flying across the sky. It had stopped, and then dropped down. They had done the same. With a short argument, Akan had pointed out that his Alraxian eyes were better, meaning he should be the one to have a look.

He crawled back down the dune and looked to Voort with a nod, “Yes. Sort of. I already explained that. But yes, I’m over there. So is Shad...um...Light. I think he knows I’m here.”

“And then why is he just standing there?” asked Voort as he thought about stepping up to have a look for himself. Soon...but not yet.

Akan was thinking. He opened his mouth and attempted to explain something, “Well. If it was me...and it is. Then...I’d be angry for having gotten my tail whipped by myself. And I’d probably not be thinking straight, so I’d be putting priorities all wrong,” he paused a moment to make sure Voort was keeping up. Akan wasn’t even completely understanding all of what he was saying anymore, “I bet I’m standing there waiting for me to come out so I can get some revenge.”

Voort raised an eyebrow, “Not very Jedi like.”

“But very me like,” Akan commented. That got a slow nod from Voort. Smiling, Akan looked back to the top of the dune, “But we’ve got an advantage here.”

“Me,” responded Voort, idly waving the blaster pistol that he was now carrying.

Akan nodded, “Exactly. Or at least, I hope. Hopefully I’m too blinded by annoyance to try seeing if I’m alone or not.”

“You could just say ‘he’ instead of all those I’s, Akan,” Voort said, finally pointing out something that had been bothering the both of them for the last twenty minutes. At that, Akan grinned and shrugged. Without another word, Akan stood up and started over the dune. Voort carefully made his way over to the left side of the dune before finding a spot where he could watch carefully from. A spot where he’d also be able to attack from if necessary.

Casually, Akan walked over the dune towards his other. He had a smile on his face, though that was sharply contrasted by the scowl on the winged Akan’s face. That Alraxian really needed to learn to control his emotions more. His Dark allowed Akan to get within about ten paces before he spoke up, “What took you so long?”

Akan just smiled and shrugged, “Oh, you know how I am. Always late. Too cautious...annoying.”

His Dark simply glared. Then, Akan heard something. It was from where the link should have been. He...heard a voice. Distant and not very clear. But it was a voice. And it was familiar. Akan’s eyes widened when he realized he could hear Dark’s voice through the link. A moment later, he heard his own Dark’s response. Akan was just about to make a sarcastic and rude comment when his Dark rushed forward.

Akan was thrown to the sand below, his Dark pinning him and clawing at his chest. When one of the claws raked across Akan’s chest, he caught sight of a slight hint of pain in his Dark’s face. Interesting. Kicking his Dark off and to the side, Akan rolled away and got to his feet. He quickly remorphed the wound and said, “You know as little as I do about this. For all we know, killing me could kill you.”

“It could be worse,” his Dark said flatly, charging again. This time, Akan grabbed his Dark’s wrist and threw the winged version of himself onto his back. It could be worse. Those words. Something about them was much more important than it had seemed at first. Akan no longer found himself wanting to die...yet those words from his Dark showed the difference between them. All of his failure within this one. Not aggression like with Shadow...but failure. This Dark would not beat him. It wasn’t possible. Physically, maybe, but not mentally. 

Suddenly, Akan found himself feeling sorry for his Dark. When those feelings were balanced with others, they were bearable. But alone? That was something he couldn’t imagine. And before Akan could speak up, knowing that at least saying something would help, there was a flash of movement. Coupled with this, an arm impacted with Akan’s chest, sending him sprawling across the sand. He looked up in surprise, attempting to get his breath back and saw Dark. Not his...but the Dark. She was much more dangerous, and he knew why now.

Over her shoulder, Dark growled, “Get back with both of them, NOW!”

It was strange to see Akan’s Dark cower like that. But then again, anyone would have cowered at the coldness in that voice. Even Sadrak, probably. As Akan’s Dark scrambled to pick up both Light and the body of Jen(which Akan had not seen Dark even drop), Dark took a few steps towards Akan. She looked down at him, tilting her head curiously and holding a disturbing half smile on her face. Quietly, and far too calmly, she said to him, “You know I can’t kill you...but then again, you also know that death would be a release from pain. And we can’t have that, can we?”

Akan had a quick second before Dark did to hear and see Voort. This second had given Voort just enough time to get to his feet, start running, and fire off one shot. The shot caught Dark in the back, sending her to the sand next to Akan. One last glance towards Voort showed that he was actually running toward’s Akan’s Dark. This meant that Akan had another job. Not even getting to his feet, Akan moved enough to deliver a strong kick to Dark’s jaw. A moment later, Akan was getting to his feet and drawing his lightsaber. The second he thumbed the activation switch at the blade appeared, Dark was up and had gotten a hold of his wrist.

It was no real fight over dominance of the saber. Dark was simply stronger than he was. So when she kicked Akan back and tore the weapon from his grip, Akan had been ready for it. He had been kicked back close to Voort, who was just running past towards Akan’s Dark. Voort took a quick look at the situation, and did something Akan wasn’t ready for. The former Imperial tossed his double bladed lightsaber to Akan, said nothing, and continued his run to stop Akan’s Dark, who was just picking up Light.

Akan didn’t take any time to think, he simply activated one of the orange blades just in time to deflect a vicious strike from Dark. He spun around and blocked another quick strike, this one aimed towards his lower torso. She wasn’t playing around. In fact, despite her comment on not killing him, she seemed bent on making sure he existed in more than just two bodies. Akan was finding it strange to wield the much larger hilt of Voort’s weapon, but was doing his best to not let that effect his defense. Defense. For once, he was on the defense and not trying anything else. All he had to do was by Voort time, and then get out.

But Dark would likely detect such a ruse. So Akan found an opening, and pressed his own attack. He swung the orange blade across towards Dark’s shoulder. She parried this easily, but her spin which was quickly followed by an attack showed an interesting advantage to Akan. She was slower because of the two large wings. A grin appeared on Akan’s face and he parried two more quick strikes before taking advantage of this. Attacking in a way that would seem foolish to anyone else, Akan swung the blade up and towards Dark’s side. She wasn’t there, but when she moved to spin out of the way of his strike, her wing found its way to his blade. There was a loud scream of pain, and Dark quickly dropped Akan’s lightsaber. This surprised Akan, but not as much as her next reaction. In a flash, her fist slammed into Akan’s face, and then Dark was gone.

He’d blinked and cringed from the pain...and then his eyes had opened to emptiness. Akan turned to the other sound, seeing Voort. The man had taken two more shots at Akan’s Dark, who had by now dropped both Light and Jen and was nearly running. Whatever Voort had done...wait, no. Voort had done nothing but shoot at him. Then, why?! Suddenly, in a quick blur of movement, Akan’s Dark was plucked off the sand and two dark blurs shot off towards...towards no where.

Akan watched in disbelief, then turned to Voort. The man looked back and shrugged, “That was too easy.”

Walking over to look to both Jen and Light, Akan nodded, “They were going to win.”

“But they just dropped and ran,” Voort finished, kneeling down next to Jen and wiping the sand off of her face.	

Akan sighed and looked around, unsure of what to do. He bit his lower lip for a moment, then walked over to Light. She was half awake, starting to sit up, and looking dazed. Akan stepped over and helped her to her feet, then looked back to Voort, “Think we can worry about it later and just get out of this desert? I could use a rest.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 75: Well Earned Rest*

At first, they’d tried to simply follow their path back. Neither Voort nor Akan could really reorient themselves after everything happened, so they wandered in a direction they’d hoped was right. Maybe it was, but the growing heat of the new day was starting to wear down on all of them. Voort seemed the most able to hide it, though he was still looking tired. Jen, who was doing better after regaining consciousness, was still feeling beat up and truly needed a long break from life. Akan hadn’t had a break for the well over thirty standard hours, and he was having trouble walking straight. Even though his Alraxian body was stronger than that of a human, he’d also not eaten much. The constant remorphing he’d had to do had used up even more energy, and the lack of enough food was just causing more troubles. Light seemed to be the wildcard of the group, though. She had not spoken at all. She’d not really done anything but start walking when they did. It would have worried Akan if he wasn’t so exhausted already. Instead, it just confused him.

But they hadn’t made it far when it had been decided that they were simply going to have to stop. This was possible, not because they found shelter. Actually, they tried looking, but failed miserably. They couldn’t see any kind of rock formation anywhere. Just sand. Thankfully, though, Voort had been intelligent enough to bring the survival kit from the speeder before going after Dark and Jen. The kit contained a tent. It was a small tent, but could provide room for two of them. Currently, Akan and Jen were passed out in the tent. Well, Akan was passed out. Jen was more resting with her eyes closed and trying not to laugh at the strange noises that Akan would make ever few minutes. Mostly they were noises one would expect from a much smaller animal. Obviously a feline one. But coming from something so much larger, it was humorous. Especially the purring sound. That was the rarest one, but something Jen was going to taunt him about when he was conscious again. 

Voort sat next to the side of the tent that was currently shielded from direct sunlight. He’d had his rest already, and was both on watch and thinking. Ten minutes earlier, he’d attempted to use the emergency comm to get contact with Hansen and Landau, but after trying nearly fifty different frequencies, there was no response. Obviously, he was going to try again later, but right now he was watching Light. The Alraxian girl a good thirty meters away, sitting on top of a dune and watching nothing in particular. As she was facing the other direction, he couldn’t actually tell what she was doing. Though he could see her tail swish across the sand every few moments. 

Only a few years ago he would have hated her just for having that tail. Alraxians were so close to human. Take away the ears and the tail, and they would look just like well tanned humans. Yet that tail...the ears...even the different eye shape and sharper teeth. All of that made them inferior. Different. Evil, even. It was Marix who had taught him how wrong that was. She hadn’t even tried. It was simply being around her that had shown her to be so very similar to him. To all of them. In fact, she’d even expressed the same disdain for humans that he’d learned for non-humans. Or at least, he’d thought it was disdain. Eventually Voort had learned that it was more like a form of pity. To Alraxians, humans were a very violent and volatile race of being who needed to be cared for. Almost like pets. Almost.

That had been barely a year before Calina had died. It had been a very happy time in his life. Even Marix had expressed a want to see his daughter when she was born. But that day never came. Calina had been killed just a month before she was due. Marix had then been moved to another location, and Voort found himself alone. But now things were changing. Hopefully, for the better. And despite being able to show Akan how similar the two of them were, Voort could still tell that the young would-be Jedi held a hatred for him. Hatred was the only word for it. Perhaps Akan would attempt to go through with their ‘deal’ once Sadrak was gone. Voort didn’t care anymore. He wouldn’t go through with it. He had at least one reason not to die now. At least one reason to hang on. So if he had to kill Akan, so be it. But that would likely just ruin everything Voort had changed. He’d be back to the same person he’d fought to lose. It would be a no win situation. There was a way out of it, but it was up to Akan to decided on his own. That boy would have to grow up on his own.

The comm beeped. Voort nearly jumped in surprise, but kept his composure and picked the small device up. He hit the switch and heard a familiar voice, “Titus? Titus are you there?”

“I hear you, Arik,” Voort said, smiling to himself and glad to hear the voice of his old friend.

Landau sounded relieved, “We picked up your transmission but it was too broken up. Sounds clear now, though. Where are you?”

Trying not to laugh, Voort looked up. Then all around. Then back to the ground, “Landau, I think I’ve finally found the middle of no where.”

“That bad?” asked Landau, a bit of amusement in his voice.

“It could be humid and raining,” commented Voort as he stood up and looked over towards Light again, “You think you can come pick us up?”

A pause. A long pause. Then, “If you keep the comm on I should be able to trace it.”

“You’d better come alone,” Voort said, starting to walk towards Light slowly, “All four of us are here and the speeder will probably be cramped.”

“Right,” another pause. Then, “I can’t say how long it’ll be but I’ll get out there as soon as I can.”

“Thank, Arik.”

There was no pause this time. Instead, Landau said quickly, “Titus.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t ever try that stunt again.”

This time, Voort did laugh, “What’s wrong with running off in the night?”

“What’s wrong is that you left me behind,” Landau said, a bit of a laugh in his own voice, “But I’ll deal with your insubordination later. Landau, out.”

The comm did not click off. Voort also didn’t switch his off. It was going to have to stay on. Thankfully, there shouldn’t be any other use for it out here. He pocketed the comlink and stopped his walk a few steps behind Light. Her ear turned towards him slightly, but she made no other acknowledgment to his presence. For a short while he just stood there, looking across the open nothing. But then, he said quietly, “Landau’s on his way to pick us up.”

Slowly, Light nodded.

“You don’t talk anymore?” he asked, stepping over and sitting next to her.

Light sighed and spoke quietly, “Akan’s right.”

Voort had no idea what she was talking about. All that Akan had said to him was explaining what had happened to the best of his knowledge. There was nothing that needed to be ‘right’. So this had to be something else. Time to ask the obvious question, “Right about what?”

She looked over at him like he hadn’t even heard what she’d said. Or at least like he wasn’t listening. For the first time, Voort said in Shadow a lot of Marix. He’d always seen Shadow as a much more violent Marix, but here...here he could see at least a mirror of the original. But there was too much fear. And her voice was so timid that it almost seemed like she was afraid of getting yelled at. But she must have seen something in him, as Light looked back to the sand which she’d been idly drawing little faces in and said, “Can’t go on like this.”

“Like what?” Voort asked this question already knowing what she meant. However, it was probably a good thing for her to say it herself and really accept it.

“I...” Light erased one of the faces and started drawing a little Alraxian, “I have to be whole again...even if...if I don’t want to be. Akan, too.”

Hearing this, Voort simply nodded. He thought for a moment about what would be the best way to respond, then said carefully, “I know how hard it is. But I can’t help you with this, Marix...not this time.”

It was strange, he’d not even realized he’d called her Marix. Light had noticed, though. She looked up from her little drawing and gave him an almost shocked face. She was obviously about to ask something, but she stopped after opening her mouth. Closing her eyes, Light tried something else, “Please?”

Her eyes had opened again and she was giving him that big eyed look that small children used. It was genuine, but didn’t change the fact that there was nothing he could do. He sighed and put a hand on her shoulder, “No. I can’t.”

“Why...?” she was nearly begging with only that one word.

Voort shook his head, hating that he was having to say this but knowing it was right, “I’m sorry. I can’t help you anymore. You have to do that yourself.”

He then pulled his hand away and stood up. Voort looked down at Light’s drawing one last time, smiling at the small grinning face. It was childish, but strangely relieving. He turned and started to walk back to the tent, deciding to get some rest. He’d only taken a few steps when Light suddenly called to him, “You would have made a good father, Titus.”

That wasn’t Light’s voice. It was too...too. How could she have known? The clones didn’t have those memories. Yet. Yet Light did. When Voort turned back to say something, Light had already turned back and gone back to her drawing in the sand. Standing there and not knowing what to think, Voort just stared at the Alraxian girl’s back. Those were Marix’s words. The last words she’d said to him that lifetime ago. She’d known they were going to be her last words to him. But how was it possible that Light knew? She hadn’t done anything with the Force. She’d just...changed suddenly. And now she was back to being the child. The clone. Sighing, Voort turned back and tried to clear his mind.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 76: Morale Boosting*

“The Topsiders say that a dark power is growing out in the desert,” Landau said as he piloted the speeder across the sands. He’d arrived quickly, finding them without any trouble and being told to ask no questions. Even though they were all rested, talking of the day’s events was just not going to happen.

Voort, who was sitting next to Landau, couldn’t help a slight chuckle, “Yes, well I agree with them. Any actual details beyond beliefs though?”

Landau just shrugged, “Not much that’s useful. Hansen sent out a squad to find some information in Haladin, but that place is a mess. I believe she was also planning on sending out a few groups to search the desert and find the other Topsider settlements.”

“Dangerous work,” commented Voort idly, not really wanting to think too much on any of the implications at the moment.

All that Landau did was nod, noticing that his friend seemed distracted. There would likely be a better time to speak of these things later. There would also be a time to yell at Voort for disappearing like he did. But then again, Landau couldn’t really blame him. He’d plotted doing the same thing. In fact, if Hansen hadn’t caught him taking the speeder, Landau would have slipped out unnoticed. Not that he needed to, but he just found himself not thinking about any hierarchy of command these days.

Sitting in the back of the speeder, Akan was crushed between both Jen and Light. This would normally have not been a problem. Of course, Jen was acting strangely happy and taking every chance she could to tease him. To make matters worse, Light was assisting.

“I do not do that!” Akan growled under his breath, staring intently at the floor and trying to ignore the two of them.

“Awww,” Jen laughed and patted his shoulder, “Its okay, Akan. It was easier to rest with that purring. Kind of cute, actually.”

“I don’t purr.”

“Actually,” Light raised a hand and smiled, “Its quite common. You probably do...especially in your sleep.”

Akan shot her a glare. Wasn’t she supposed to be nice? Dark should be the malicious and cruel one! This wasn’t fair, “Are you sure you’re the ‘good’ one?”

Light just smiled. It was so similar to the worrying smile that Shadow was an expert at. So similar that Akan started worrying. Jen squeezed his shoulder a bit roughly, “Its nothing to be ashamed of. Though I really don’t think you should run in with your lightsaber and do that. It might not be all that intimidating.”

Akan’s glare quickly shifted to his left, intensifying when he focused on the proudly grinning Jen. Her grin grew suddenly, and Akan didn’t realize why until a half second later. A hand was resting on top of his head. It was Light’s hand, and it was resting just behind his right ear. Quietly, she said, “If you like the sound, all you have to do is this...”

And then she started scratching his ear. Akan attempted to curse, attempted to yell some kind of protest...even attempted to move. But nothing happened. His body just froze up and a single sound came out of him. Purring. He’d have cursed if it hadn’t felt so good. In fact, he did start cursing...but that was only after they’d arrived and he’d realized what they’d done to him. Sure it felt good...very good...yes...very good...NO! No. That was cheating. That wasn’t fair play. In fact, it was down right cruel...even though...it was kind of nice...and...NO.

Gritting his teeth, Akan forced Jen out of the speeder so he could escape. The mood changed the second they were out of the speeder, though. Hansen was there with a few of the other former Imperials. She walked over to Landau and said, “Still no word from Shira.”

A sudden knife of pain shot through Akan. He looked over to Light, who met his glance carefully. She said nothing, but nodded. Right. This was his job. Carefully, Akan interrupted Landau’s response, “Shira’s dead.”

Silence. Shocked silence.

Alright...so maybe that wasn’t the best way to breach the subject. In fact, it was likely the worst. Oops. Again, Akan exchanged looks with Light. This time, she looked just as shocked as everyone else. Not as much at the news, but at how plainly he’d said that. Again. Oops. Akan bit his lip and tried again, “She...I met up with her in Haladin. Ligh...Shadow found us and we made a break for it. We got out of the city, but our speeder took a hit. She...she didn’t make it.”

That was better. Of course, it also left out those minor, yet very important details, that put the fault on him. This was probably a good thing, as only Akan really blamed himself. Light knew it was just what happened, and would have occurred no matter what. But Akan was still not being reasonable. Hansen looked at him carefully for a long moment, and managed a slow nod. The woman then turned and walked off swiftly. The silence continued for what Akan felt was far too long. Hating all of that attention on him, he also turned and left. Except he walked out into the desert and found a good rock to sit on and sulk. Back to old times so quickly.

Voort sighed and looked to Jen. She shrugged, and looked back towards where Akan had gone. Still, no one else moved. Finally, Landau spoke up, “Perhaps...perhaps we should leave others to their grieving. In the mean time, we should plan our attack on Haladin.”

That got some surprised looks. He’d not said a thing about any attack on Haladin before. The grin on Landau’s face showed that it was intentional. When he started off, of course the others followed him. More out of curiosity than anything. They found their way to that same large ‘briefing’ room to find Trker-Hon sitting there and curiously toying with a mug. Upon seeing them enter, he stood and bowed politely.

Greetings and hellos were exchanged and the four of them sat down. Landau did not sit. Instead, he stood behind one of the chairs and smiled, “Trker-Hon and I have been talking for the last few hours of the possibility of an attack on Haladin.”

“To what end?” Voort asked casually. He did seem interested, at least.

The Topsider fielded this question, “The ssssettlement issss conssssumed and overrun with Hissss influence.”

“Sadrak,” Jen clarified, though none of them actually needed to say it. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Sadrak was behind all of this, and that there were a thousand things going on that they didn’t yet know about...and likely would not enjoy learning about.

“Yes,” Landau said with a nod, “The Topsiders were never any trouble at all when I was in charge here. We coexisted by simply ignoring each other. But Sadrak has pushed these Narani into a more militant role. Raids go out every day to destroy Topsider settlements. Though not all of the Narani are within Haladin, I believe clearing up that city will give the Topsiders the strength and morale to achieve the more important objective.”

Voort eyes widened slightly as he realized what all of this was really about, “A full scale attack on Sadrak. You know where he is.”

Again, Landau nodded, “Yes. You were close to his complex, actually. We captured three Narani spies who were attempting to infiltrate this cave. Hansen...interrogated them and we found a series of maps within their equipment that they had attempted to destroy.”

“Are you actually proposing a full scale assault of both Haladin and Sadrak’s complex?” Voort asked, knowing that this was completely foolish. Landau wasn’t telling him something...either that, or Landau had grown senile too young, “There’s not nearly enough of us for both attacks. I doubt there’s enough for even one.”

“One thing at a time, Titus,” commented Landau with a smile. He motioned to the Topsider who was sitting back and looking generally pleased with himself, “With all the personnel here combined with Trker-Hon’s remaining tribe, we have enough to take Haladin. As for Sadrak...”

The Topsider picked up as Landau trailed off, “Once my people ssssee our sssstrength, they will join ussss for any cause. There are hundredsss upon thousssands more Topsidersss more than there are Narani.”

Voort thought about this for a long time, then commented, “It still sounds too easy.”

“Trust me, Titus, it only sounds that way,” Landau said flatly. He then finally took a seat, looking to Light who was still silent, though paying close attention, “We’ll need to take out those turbolaser batteries before the main forces actually get into Haladin. Then, its good old fashioned urban warfare until we push em out.”

Jen looked to Voort, who shrugged, “Its workable.”

“Its doable,” Landau corrected, leaning back and saying, “But we’re going to have to do it soon. Hopefully, by tomorrow, we’ll be prepared to move on Haladin.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 77: Light Before Fight*

Hansen had returned to the briefing table a few minutes later. Light had left and returned with Akan, deciding that he was going to need to know what was going on. Though he still sulked and acted uncooperative, he payed attention when Landau and Voort went over the plan. The overall plan was simple, really. Hansen would lead half of the former Imperials in an attack on the north side of the city. At the same time, Trker-Hon would attack the south with the other half. While this occurred, Voort and Jen would infiltrate the turbolaser batteries and destroy them with some charges that were in the section of the cave network that was essentially an armory. Just after the two larger forces attacked Haladin, Akan, Light, and Landau would covertly enter the sneak into the city from the east, and disable the communications center. This was a small building near the hangar and the old Imperial Garrison.

The key was in the timing. Voort and Jen would have to take out the turbolasers soon enough that the two forces could attack without trouble, but not so soon that the Narani had warning. And Akan, Light, and Landau would have to wait until most of the city was split to sneak in. If they didn’t wait long enough, they’d run into more trouble that they could deal with. Landau was right, though...it was doable. Well, doable if you ignore the fact that they were likely outnumbered 10 to 1. But even if the odds were to be believed, they just made things more interesting.

So now was that long wait. All of them were used to it save two...Jen and Light. Jen was a scientist, and while she knew what it felt like to wait on something important, she’d never had this disturbingly long wait before you walked out to what was possibly going to be your death. The mood of it all was what bothered her. It was as if nothing was wrong and it was just a normal day. Through the hallways, people were talking and laughing an enjoying themselves. It just didn’t make sense to her. Of course, that was normal. If you’d never experienced it before, you couldn’t truly understand the moment when it came. Light was in a similar situation, but all together different. Sure, as Shadow she obviously knew her way around in a fight. But there was a very large different between a mercenary killer and a soldier. Sure, it was similar to Akan’s background, but he had military training and formal briefings behind it. She simply...did it. But the harder part was that it wasn’t Light that had done it. It was Shadow. And Light was very literally only half a person. Yes, she knew of these experiences, but only distantly. With the imbalance within Shadow, her Light was very limited in experience. Especially of these kind. Which meant there was only one option...she followed Akan around like a lost child. Seeing as she was both lost and a child, Akan didn’t really mind.

“There’s still something bothering me,” he said over his shoulder to Light. They were currently sitting on a ledge outside, though Akan was happily leaning over the side while Light seemed to be clinging to the wall. The only response she made was a barely inaudible ‘hm?’ noise. Akan looked back to her and said, “Why did the Darks just run off like they did? It doesn’t make sense.”

Light stared at him like he’d just spoken the most evil thing in the galaxy. To her, obviously, he had. But she calmed herself and thought on that, “Perhaps...they...she...is afraid of something?”

“That doesn’t explain it,” Akan said, standing up and looking out over the sands again, “They had a tremendous advantage. I’m not even to the point of asking why they were taking both you and Jen. But why did they leave when they were winning?”

Again, Light stopped to think. After a few moments, and the sun slowly beginning to drop towards the horizon, she said, “You feel it, too. There’s something strong out there. What if...what if that thing is Sadrak?”

“It doesn’t feel like him, though,” Akan answered quickly, trying to shoot down any idea that the growing fear he was feeling was actually Sadrak. He knew how Sadrak felt in the Force by now...but this was different. Stronger. Much more dangerous. Almost like he’d imagined the Emperor being, “Licking their wounds and waiting for a better chance to strike, then?”

Light nodded slowly. She pursed her lips, wanting to say something but deciding against it. She didn’t have to say it. Both of them could feel her Dark in their minds. Distant but watching...listening. It was why they weren’t using the link. Dark was going to come back. She wasn’t going to fail a second time, either. There just wasn’t any way to beat her. Light was not her equal...and whatever powerful force in the desert was happily taking advantage of this. Then how to end it? Akan decided the best thing to do was to ask, “Is there...any way to be whole again?”

An awkward working for an awkward situation, but Light understood. He knew she did when her first reaction was to violently shake her head. When she caught his look at that, Light sighed and nodded, “Its like...morphing. Both minds have to be calm. Both bodies calm. Then, one simply steps into the other. The bodies should recognize each other and merge.”

“Sounds fanciful,” Akan commented, looking now back to the entrance to the cave and wondering what to do.

Light’s words, however, surprised him, “So does the Force. You know...my...no...our people. They do not call it the Force. Or at least, that is not the common term. It is called Magik. And that is a very correct term.”

Interesting. Light was timid and quiet most of the time, but there were a lot of inner workings going on deep within. Not really sure how to respond, Akan simply nodded and then stepped back into the hallway to find some more food. Catching this thought, Light found herself smiling and quickly followed. They passed by Jen and Voort, who stood in a small alcove off to the side. Of course, the two Alraxians were now too focused on food to notice the humans.

Jen smiled at seeing the two of them pass by, “They both look better.”

Voort nodded and leaned back against the wall, “Yes, they do. Are you feeling any better?”

Quick change of subject. But that didn’t remove the smile from Jen’s face, “I do. How about you?”

So they would just continually hedge around subjects, now. Voort grinned but didn’t answer her question. She knew the answer and was simply dodging other questions just as he was. But it wasn’t helping anything, and Voort didn’t want to go into the fight with question left unanswered. He didn’t think he’d die, but he knew there was that chance. No matter how good he was, there was someone better out there. Perhaps that person was a Narani. Perhaps not, but the possibility was still there. However, when he spoke, words came out that he hadn’t meant to say, “Do you think you can keep up out there?”

Jen seemed caught off guard by the question, obviously expecting something else. She did manage a nod however, though the smile weakened, “We’ll be all right out there. I’ll do what I can to help out, maybe even learn a thing or two.”

Nodding, Voort mentally kicked himself for saying that. It was almost insulting to her. Of course she couldn’t keep up, but she’d try. And that was all that really mattered. She’d do her best, and it would be good enough. Besides, Voort would slow down enough so that she wouldn’t be left behind. Setting explosives wasn’t the hard part...the hard part would be avoiding sight. But no. No, not now. Think about that later. There were more important things now.

He opened his mouth to speak again, but no words came out. Of all things, he was acting like a teenager. Like a kid. Mentally, he grinned. Like Akan. So, he composed his thoughts and attempted this again. Like an adult, “Jen. I...I used to always fight alone so that I didn’t have to talk with anyone else like this. But if...if anything happens to either of us, we both have to continue on. We can’t stop until Sadrak is dead.”

That wasn’t what he’d meant to say. It was close, yes, but not right. Jen knew this immediately. She nodded slowly at his words, then surprised him by reacting as if he’d said what he’d meant to. She embraced him tightly, and whispered, “I love you, too.”

Voort couldn’t help a smile, bringing his own arms around her and glad that she understood. Of all times for both of them to admit how they felt, they had chosen this day. It could have easily been earlier for both of them if they’d allowed it. Yet Voort had still worried of the past. Yes, he’d gotten over the death of his wife and moved on, but there was the fear or it occurring again. Of losing Jen. He couldn’t face it, so hid from it. And Jen...Jen just didn’t know what to do. Things had moved to fast and she’d only recently had time to sit and thing. What she’d spoken was the conclusion she’d come to.

A slightly devious grin appeared on Jen’s face as she looked up to him, “You know what this means, don’t you, Titus?”

The only response Voort made was a raised eyebrow and a slightly confused look. This got a short laugh out of Jen before she kissed him lightly, “It means no more acting like you’re a horrible person.”

That got a laugh from him, and he returned the kiss, “You’ve brought light back into my life, Jen. Besides, you always know when I’m lying to you.”

It was a nice moment of levity to get rid of the tension before the attack. Perhaps it was sudden, but both of them had truly been waiting to get that out. Of course, now that it was out, what were they supposed to do? But that wasn’t important. What was important, was that there was currently twelve hours left until they had to leave. Twelve hours of calm time before facing death. Jen smiled at the thought. But a strange thought intruded into her mind. She found herself worrying about, of all things, Akan and Light. At a time like this, she wasn’t even thinking about Voort. Or at least, not for those short few seconds. But it was still important to remember for later. In the morning...yes, she’d have a talk with them in the morning.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 78: Who Gets the Medal?*

The wait ended sooner than any of them had really expected. Not that anything happened, but time simply seemed to speed up. It was not long at all before the everyone was suited up and checking weapons. By this time, though, Voort and Jen had already left. Hansen had given them a datapad with the locations of the turbolaser batteries on them. It also contained a map of Haladin, itself, but hopefully they’d not need to use it. Any reason why they’d need it were not in either of their thoughts at the moment, though. Both of them were focused on the task at hand. No surprise for Voort, but Jen was showing a somewhat unusual determination.

Only the third day on Arranis and they knew the area well. The two of them easily climbed the winding path up the plateau. Once at the top, Voort used the electrobinoculars to first check the city’s defenses. It looked generally calm, though there were a few more guards walking around looking bored. He then took the map from Jen and compared it to their position. Figuring out where exactly they were in relation to the nearest turbolaser, he pointed his electrobinoculars in that direction. And there it was. Hidden in a small hole in the ground, with only the top half and the two barrels extended up to the sky. A few moments later, he’d pinpointed three others and made sure Jen knew exactly where they were.

Now came the decision that both of them new was going to have to be made. Voort pulled back under the cover of the path and gave Jen a very serious look, “We need to do this quickly.”

She nodded, glancing over towards Haladin and then kneeling back down behind their cover, “Give me half the explosives and copy that map onto another datapad.”

Voort did as she had asked, handing her six charges in a small sack and then a copied datapad, “You sure you can do this on your own?”

“Don’t have much of a choice, do we?” she grinned slightly, tossing the pack gently over her shoulder. Sure, the charges weren’t active, but they were still worrying.

After resealing his own equipment, Voort managed a smile, “Go east and we’ll meet on the other side.”

“So how much do I get if I blow up my six before you get yours?” Jen asked mischievously, settling back in a position that looked like Shadow when she was prepared to pounce.

Laughing shortly, Voort said, “Respect. And a medal.”

Jen smiled and then kissed him. After what seemed like an eternity, she pulled back and started towards the other direction. Before he was out of earshot, though, she said, “I’m going to hold you to that medal.”

And then, Voort watched her walk off. Or rather, sneak off. His smile slowly faded, and his mind turned to the task at hand. She’d be fine. So would he. It was the others that were going to have more trouble. Not that Voort was going to let them have all the fun once they’d taken out the turbolasers, but he’d deal with that hurdle once reaching it. Now, though, he turned and headed off across the plateau towards the first turbolaser he’d spotted. Twelve turbolasers in total. One of the charges, placed correctly, should easily be enough. There wasn’t going to be time to check, though, as once activated, each charge would have a three minute timer. Hopefully, by the time one was destroyed, the second charge was already placed and the Voort would be moving to the third.

When Voort was close enough to see the turbolaser with his naked eye, he slowed down. It was only a few hours after dawn, and the growing light was still something to be cautious about. One thing they didn’t know was whether or not each turbolaser had guards or crews that were there. They were close enough to the city that it wouldn’t have been trouble to station the gunners in Haladin and move them to the weapons when it was necessary, but it was always easier to leave a team right at the spot. Or at least...in theory it was. Theory never seemed to account for boredom.

After a quick yet careful look through the electrobinoculars, Voort is both relieved and slightly more worried to see no one around the turbolaser. Standing around wasn’t going to do any good. It looked clear enough, and even if there were guards, he was going to have to approach. So, he moved in. Quickly and low to the ground, Voort ran across the sand in plain sight of anyone that was on the wall or even walking past the entrance to Haladin. Despite the large distance, a moving object was easy to detect on such a dead world. But he made it to the hole with the turbolaser unhindered, and quickly slid down the slop to the base of the weapon. Looking around, he could see some footprints in the ground off to the left.

Voort did his best to silence any movements he made, which he also limited. Those prints had to be recent. And they only went to the large weapon. He looked up the height of the turbolaser battery...as big as most of the houses within Haladin. Despite the fact that they wouldn’t be able to see him where he was, sound was still a possibility. That made it tough to plant the charge. But carefully, Voort withdrew the cylindrical object from the sack and placed it close to the base. It stuck with a noise that he felt was far too loud, but he was probably being oversensitive. Waiting just a second to make sure there was no response, Voort then turned the activation switch. It beeped once, quietly this time, and then was silent. One down.

Doing his best to remain silent, Voort carefully stepped around to the other side of the turbolaser and climbed up the hole it was placed in. He stared for a moment at the side of the weapon, knowing that it would be easy for any gunner to spot him from inside if they were looking. But nothing happened...so obviously, they weren’t. Not wanting to risk this, Voort ran to the nearest cover he could find an reoriented himself. Looking over the small map again, he knelt behind a small rock and then found the next turbolaser. It was a good distance off, but he’d be there before the three minutes was up. Easily.

So he ran for it. At least near this side there were more smaller rocks and boulders to provide at least limited cover. But he was running, so the cover really didn’t do a thing for him. And then something happened he had not anticipated. There was an explosion. Loud...behind him. But there should still have been another minute on that!! He spun around, stopping his run to see the turbolaser still in tact. What?! Wait...he caught a flash in the left sight of his eye, just barely. Quickly turning to see, Voort watched a flame extending into black smoke. Then he laughed. Loudly. And turned back to his run to the next turbolaser. Jen was already ahead of him. She was probably gloating at this point, too.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 79: Apologies*

“The turbolaser batteries have been taken out and we’re starting the attack. Wait five minutes then head in,” Hansen’s voice sounded over the comlink. Landau simply nodded to that, not speaking to her but instead just cutting off the comlink. He looked back to the two Alraxians, somewhat curious about the two of them. He didn’t need to relay the information, as they’d both heard.

Sitting behind the large rock was becoming uncomfortable for all of them. Landau noticed that Light was continually shifting around and looking jittery. Akan was in a state of calm, just staring ahead and waiting. Seeing as he was used to this kind of mission, Landau assumed this was how the young man prepared mentally. Young Man. He smiled slightly at that. Akan was still young. Interesting that Light had explained earlier that she was twenty cycles old. Apparently, that translated to roughly sixty standard years. She was older than Landau was by eighteen years. And yet...to her people, she was a child. But that didn’t interest him as much as Akan’s age. Light had explained that by normal Alraxian standards, he was still an infant. Young man was even a stretch. Landau had teased the boy about this, and was actually surprised at the good natured attitude with which Akan had responded. He seemed to be strangely calm and light hearted while mentally preparing himself.

Landau always encouraged that among his men, yet was always surprised to see it among others. It made him feel safe. Despite that, he was worried. More about Light. All that twitching and fidgeting showed a nervousness and annoyance that would only cause trouble. Quietly, he asked, “Are you alright?”

Slowly, Light’s two bright eyes raised to him, showing a somewhat terrified expression. She shook her head and almost clung to the sand itself. Akan sighed and finally seemed to be paying attention to the things happening around him. He looked to Light, then back to Landau, saying, “She’s afraid it’s a trap.”

“That’s not everything,” Landau pointed out, not completely a fool to anyone’s moods.

Akan nodded, “She’s not Shadow. She has no will to fight...no want to fight. But at the same time, she refused to be left behind.”

Turning a curious look to Light, Landau said, “You’re talking about her like she’s not sitting right next to you.”

Akan just shrugged. But that seemed to get Light’s attention again, and she managed to speak, “He’s right. I won’t get in the way. I can still help...I’m not useless.”

She then trailed off repeating her last words a few times, and both Landau and Akan exchanged looks. No words needed to be said on that. Light had problems. Serious problems. But really, she was half a person. It made sense to have problems. At least Akan was more balanced and only seemed to have fits of trouble every so often. He could control it. Or at least...Landau thought he could. Hoped. One unstable mind was enough to deal with. Two, though. Landau wouldn’t be able to deal with that. Hopefully Akan could keep himself together through this.

So they went back to silence. Thinking to themselves and listening to the distant pops and explosions from the firefight beyond. Only a few more minutes, and the three of them would break into Haladin and capture it themselves. Insane. Yet perfect. Narani were not tacticians, and that’s how Landau knew this would work. Should work. Probably...no. No doubts now. Too late for that. Either it worked, or they died. There wasn’t an in between. Oh how long it had been since he’d felt this. Sending people to their deaths. Slowly, Landau looked back over to Akan. He’d sent boys to their death younger than this one sitting here in front of him. In fact, Akan would have been considered an ‘old man’ among the troops . Under Landau’s command, the average age of the real soldiers was twenty. He never counted the officers, as most of them simply got their position because of their family. Few ever worked for it. Landau had been one to work up the ranks, and he respected the common soldier so much more for it.

His thoughts were wandering. Focus. Landau checked the chrono. Seeing the time on it, he stood up and looked to the two Alraxians, “Lets go.”

When the two of them got up, Landau pulled out his extra blaster pistol. A small hold out kind, but a weapon none the less. He then handed it to Light, nearly have to force it into her hands. She’d tried refusing to take it, but it was Akan who’d spoken up, “Just take it. If anything to protect yourself.”

She’d given in, and they started a quick run across the sands of the plateau towards the walls of the city. Landau had the lead only because he knew exactly where the communications center was. Or at least, had been. There was so much heavy equipment that moving it would be insane, so hopefully it was still there. He’d not told this to anyone else, of course. Off on both sides of the city, they could see flashes of shots from slugthrowers and a few blasters here and there. It looked chaotic on both ends. Which was good. Very good.

Reaching the wall without encountering anyone, the three of them moved swiftly to the nearest opening to a small street. Akan was the first to move around the corner, seeing no one and then signaled to the other two. Landau stepped around and took the lead again with Light keeping right behind. Both Akan and Landau were keeping eyes everywhere. Each alley they passed, they looked down, while at the same time not neglecting to watch the street ahead. All empty. So far, still doing well. So far, the plan was working. So far.

So far ended quickly. And instead of running straight into a group of Narani like they’d expected to be the scenario, they simply passed a street and then heard shots. A moment later, sand was flying up behind them and a couple of buildings had new dents in them. Akan grabbed Light and yanked her around to the other side of them, knowing that he being in front was not going to be a good thing. The three of them moved against one of the buildings next to the intersection, with Akan reaching around ever few moments to fire off a few shots to keep the Narani from approaching. After his first barrage, quickly answered with a barrage from slugthrowers, Akan said, “About six of them. I think they’re as surprised as we are.”

He paused to turn the corner and fire a few more shots. When he pulled back around the corner, a couple of shots came far too close, and Landau looked at yet another hole in the Alraxian’s cloak. That thing was going to be tatters soon. Akan didn’t seem to take notice, just continuing what he had been saying without a change in his tone, “Take Light and get to the comm center. I’ll stay back and keep them away.”

“We’re not splitting up,” Landau said firmly. Akan didn’t answer right away, instead turning the corner to fire a few more shots.

Pulling back again, Akan managed a nod, “Agreed. I’ll keep behind you a good distance but make sure you’re still in sight.”

As more shots pocketed the sand and corner of the building, Landau nodded and took Light’s arm. She seemed surprise by the tightness of the grip, but did her best to keep up as he started running across the open street they’d originally been moving down. They rounded a corner down a smaller street, with Landau looking back to see that both the area behind them was clear and Akan was catching up. He was moving. Slowly, though, and not really paying attention to the two of them. So much like Voort when it came to fighting. Landau turned his focus back to the street in front of him just as Light made a noise of surprise.

Four Narani rounded the corner and froze. They were running and nearly fell over to stop. The second passed, and Landau had just a half second to pull himself an Light into a small break between two of the buildings. Slugthrower shots pocketed the side of the building, puffs of dust and rock flying out and getting in their eyes. Landau now had a problem. Light was on the outside, and there was barely enough room for him to reach around her and fire. He managed it, but only by placing his arm across her nose. She’d complained, and he pulled back behind the cover.

“You have to do this!” he growled as they both heard the Narani’s footsteps approaching. It was easy to hear, especially considering the short distance between them already. For too long, Light did nothing. Too long was only thirty seconds, but that was far more than enough time for the Narani to get to them. When she finally did turn the corner, she was face to face with them. Light recieved a hit to the face from the butt of one of the guns. A crack sounded from her jaw as she stumbled back, squeezing the blaster’s trigger and firing it into the sand. A tower of sand shot up, blinding all of them. Landau pushed Light to the side so he could stand out and punched the nearest figure. He fell to the ground, and as Landau trained his weapon on another figure through the clearing sand, he heard the sound of a slugthrower fire. One of the Narani had manage to get a shot of. A second later, there was a scream from Light, and Landau watched her collapse to the ground. Quickly firing off two more shots, Landau dropped another of the Narani before connecting his elbow with a third. The fourth turned on him and swung a heavy punch, but Landau ducked and slammed his fist into the Narani’s stomach. A moment later, he kicked the humanoid to the ground and fired the blaster. It was not cruel to kill him. The others were unconscious, but that one would have easily trained his weapon on Landau a second later.

Adrenaline still rushing through his veins, Landau turned to the painful moaning and screaming from Light. She was on the ground, clinging her left leg which had a small hole in it. Blue colored blood was covering the sand and her arm as she rolled from side to side, claws digging into her own leg as she screamed. He panicked slightly, but knelt down and put a hand over her mouth to at least quiet her some, “Can’t you fix that?!”

Through a muffled yell of pain, she shook her head violently. Metal. It was metal. If she tried to remorph it, the metal would spread through her veins and simply kill her. It was nearly impossible to resist the urge to attempt remorphing the wound, but she somehow kept the willpower to stop herself from attempting anything. Just that feeling of the bullet in her was enough to cause her to scream. But the fact that she was having to endure pain. Such horrible pain. Alraxians were so used to simply shrugging off even the worst of injuries that when confronted with real pain, it was obvious that they didn’t know what to do.

Neither did Landau. He didn’t understand why she didn’t fix it. He didn’t understand why she wouldn’t stop yelling through his hand. He made a quick decision, and picked her up, getting her on one leg and saying, “We can’t stay here. Just two more blocks. Can you make it?”

Light made another yelling noise into his hand but clung to him as best she could. Of course, she also bit into his hand, causing him a large amount of pain from her sharp teeth. Somehow, Landau ignored this and moved as fast as he could with her. Thankfully, in the short time it took to run/limp to the comm center, they encountered no other Narani. Landau took a deep breath and did his best to keep his blaster ready while still holding up Light with his other hand.

Then, he pressed the door’s switch. It slid open to a small entrance room. Behind a desk facing the other direction was a young man, who immediately spun around to say something. His mouth opened, but he recieved a blaster bolt to the chest for his trouble. Landau helped Light into the room and sat her down in the chair that the man had fallen out of. She was still squiring and wrenching around painfully, though her screams were dulled to grunts and other strange noises. For a moment, he kept his hand over her mouth, “Sit here. I’ll clear the rest of the building then get back. But you have to be silent. Okay?”

Her teeth let go of his hand, a relief for Landau as he now tried to ignore that pain, and Light nodded violently. When he pulled his hand away, she was biting her lip roughly, blood seeping out from her lower lip. But it muffled the sound, and she was definitely more concerned with the wound in her leg. Small...but impossibly painful. Landau nodded to her, then moved over to the single other door. Hitting the switch, the door opened up to a small hallway that should lead to a few technical rooms and access chambers, but most importantly, the relay command center. That would be the door at the end of the hall. No even paying attention to the others, Landau ran to the end of the hallway.

He didn’t wait at all once he’d reached the end, hitting the switch and looking into the large, console filled circular room. Sitting at two of the stations were Narani. They spun around, and the first received the same treatment as the ‘guard’ at the entrance. He got a blaster bolt to the upper torso which sent him to the floor. The second Narani reached for a small slugthrower pistol, picking it up and managing to squeeze off a shot. Landau ducked and rolled(feeling a bit of pain and knowing he was getting too old for all of this) out of the way, then fired a return shot. It missed, but instead hit the console. A flash of sparks and a small fire made the Narani yelp in pain and jump back, falling to the floor and making himself an easy target for Landau’s next shot. Ignoring the ache, Landau fired six more times. Once at each of the consoles, easily destroyed them and taking out the main relay. He looked across the walls and found a small hatch, which he opened to find a series of wires. Those should be the main power lines. Reaching in with a black gloved hand, Landau ripped them out with ease.

The lights went out. Emergency lights came on. All the sounds of the workings in the building stopped. They’d done it. Now it was up to the others.

But there was still chaos within the street. Akan was running back to catch up and find more cover when a sudden pain racked through his left leg. Cringing and nearly crying out himself, Akan stumbled to the ground and felt the familiar sand of Haladin’s ground. This place was cursed. But no. He’d not been shot! The Narani weren’t even around the corner yet. They...they...he heard screaming. Loud screaming. Shadow. No! Light. Light. Hurt? Leg. By the Force it still hurt. A pain like he’d never felt, especially through the link. Why so strong?! And why wasn’t it going away? She wasn’t remorphing!! Why not?!

He couldn’t move. Or rather, moving that leg caused extreme pain through his leg. This was not a good time for the link to decide to strengthen like that. Especially because the five Narani were just coming around the corner. Gritting his teeth and doing his best to ignore the pain, Akan fired a wild barrage of blaster shots in the general direction of his pursuers. Surprised by this, they quickly ducked back behind the corner for cover, giving Akan a short few moments to attempt crawling. On his right side and using every bit of willpower he could to keep moving, Akan crawled towards a stacking of crates against a far wall. It would be sufficient to hide behind. But he was moving too slow. This was quickly proved to be fact when he heard slugthrowers fire. At first, they went straight over him. The Narani were shooting blindly and hadn’t actually seen him fall. Good. No. It would have been good if they hadn’t looked. But they did. Two shots his the sand right next to him, and Akan felt the sand burn his skin as the bullets dug in far too close. Again, Akan fired wildly with his blaster to keep them back, this time not able to hold back a painful groan as he continued his panicked crawl.

It couldn’t be remorphed. It wasn’t him. It was Light...but it wouldn’t stop hurting! He’d never felt anything like this before. He’d been shot without being shot. Akan did not stop firing with his blaster pistol, crawling forward as best he could and getting within only a few meters when the impossible happened. Akan died a little more on the inside when his blaster suddenly clicked and then made a disturbingly pained groan. Almost sounded like him. The grip was getting warm too. The power pack had overloaded! Sithspit! Not having the energy to curse out loud, he growled violently and did the best thing he could. Akan threw the now useless blaster pistol at the wall. A Narani had turned the corner at hearing the stop in fire, only to be hit in the face with the blaster. Akan would have found this hilarious if he’d been watching...and if he’d not been in extreme pain.

But somehow, this strange attack had surprised the other Narani enough to give him time to get behind the crates. He slumped back against the crates, one hand undoing the lightsaber from his belt and activating the blade. They knew where he was already, so he might as well keep the weapon up for when they came after him. His other hand, though, was down on his leg where the shadowed pain continued to pulse through his leg. Growling painfully again, Akan called out to Light. [Dammit!! What happened?!]

Light’s ‘voice’ sounded just as pained as his. [Metal! Get it out of me!! GET IT OUT!!!]

Alright. She was worse off than he was. Holding the lightsaber in his hand and knowing the Narani were going to catch up in a matter of seconds, Akan wondered what to do. The pain was too much to get up. He couldn’t fight. He was stuck. For the first time in his life, he was facing death. And it was far more painful than he’d ever expected. He’d also never expected to not be shot and hurt like this. Damn those archaic weapons. But things were going to get worse. Akan had failed to notice the slight hint of attention within the link. The Darks had heard. This extremely dangerous turn of events for Akan had just been alerted to the Darks. And they weren’t just going to give this advantage up.

If Akan had known they were soon approaching, he would have just deactivated the lightsaber and let the Narani kill him then and there. But he didn’t. All he knew was that the Narani were moving towards him slowly. They knew he was injured. They could hear his groans and growls out of pain. They could see the tip of the blue-green lightsaber over the crates. They knew, just as he did, that the lightsaber would do him no good without him being able to move. Akan’s rushing mind stopped. He found nothing. Nothing at all. So he simply turned and watched the blank section of the street that would soon be Narani. Moving the lightsaber in front of him, he closed his eyes and said very quietly, “I’m sorry, Shadow. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

A tear rolled down his cheek as he opened his eyes to the flash of a slugthrower barely five meters away.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 80: Nothing's Ever Easy*

Not far away, sitting at the foot of the plateau, were the Darks. Or rather, Dark was sitting. Her Akan was being grilled and yelled at. This had continued for nearly all of the night, and nearly ended in her tearing him apart. He had been intelligent enough to mention the fact that she still needed him, and Dark had then taken a seat and gone silent. That had lasted for hours. It had at first seemed like she was asleep, but subtle movements and reactions to his movements proved otherwise.

And then, just as the sunlight began creeping across the sands, Dark suddenly spoke up, “He is looking for us.”

Seeing that her eyes were closed, nodding was a useless response. Instead, her Akan simply looked towards her. Thinking about this, she was right. He would not speak, though, as she was not in the mood for his comments at this point, and he wasn’t in the mood to tempt fate anymore than he’d already done.

“If you had just taken her straight to Him we would not be in this,” she said with a growl on her voice, “It is time for you to stop your childish mood swings. You are mine. You already know that we only do what He wishes for a short time, but planning to stab me in the back once He is gone is not wise.”

She did not have to open her eyes to know he had a surprised look on her face. He’d not thought himself to be so easy to read. Fine. Things would just have to be rethought and worked out again. But more carefully. And...

“You will not attempt anything foolish,” Dark snapped, easily picking up on his thoughts, “There are more important things than fighting amongst each other. He will find us soon enough. Running from His sight has only temporarily protected us, and when He sees the failure, I won’t be able to protect either of us.”

At least he knew she wasn’t going to kill him. Of course, he would still have to stay alert and make sure he proved his use. If he didn’t, Dark would likely get rid of him anyway. But something was different. Distant and reaching around...likely Him. The two of them withdrew their minds and did their best to hide. It was cowardly, but all they could do at the moment. Dark still did not completely understand His strength, and would not dare challenge him until then. Degrading, yes, but required for now. Perhaps at least her Akan would learn from this, and understand his place.

The moment passed. No. No He was still searching. But something interrupted it. A strange pain ran up through both of the Darks’ left legs. It was not anymore than a simple stinging. This had Dark’s eyes opening. She looked to her Akan and the two exchanged curious looks without saying anything. Nothing needed to be said. The distant link that they shared with the Lights was obviously the source of the pain. But for them to feel it, even just as a sting, meant that it would have been excruciatingly painful on the other end. A moment later, they heard the distant voices speaking over the link, and Dark found herself smiling.

She stood up and flexed her muscles. Looking to her Akan, Dark said, “They are nearby. You have a chance to redeem yourself. Get her. Bring her to Him. I will find the human.”

At that, he nodded. For a moment, it had looked like he would speak, but instead his wings moved and quickly pulled him into the air and over the plateau. Dark smiled. Perhaps he was not so useless. It was too early to tell, but if he succeeded this time, she would know. Without another thought, she allowed herself to reach out for the human woman. Carefully, though, as not to attract His attention in the process.

* * * *​

The last turbolaser battery exploded off across the plateau, and Jen smiled. Two minutes too late. She wasn’t going to point out to Voort that she’d picked the section where the turbolasers were closer together. That was his own fault for not running to that side first. Carefully, she knelt behind a rock and waited on him. He was on his way to where she was, and then they were going to move in towards the city and help where they could. Hopefully. She hadn’t really paid any attention to the fighting, but from the short glances Jen had managed, it looked to be...well, a fight.

Not being a military strategist, Jen wasn’t sure how to interpret the flashes and dots that were likely people. So she instead sat facing the other direction, blaster in hand and mind still racing. The adrenaline rush was subsiding, and her mind was starting to wander. Such an interesting turn of events. She’d felt strongly about Voort for longer than she had liked to admit. The three months they’d spent running from the New Republic in the Outer Rim had been an interesting time. This had been the Imperial agent who had not infiltrated but simply walked into the science facility on Mon Calamari with blaster blazing. He’d killed everyone there except for her, and he had even known she was there. They’d met eyes despite the fact she had been hiding, and yet Voort had just left. Perhaps he hadn’t actually seen her. Jen had asked him about it, but he never gave a response. All of her friends, though...killed. Just like at Alderaan. And yet today, that didn’t seem to matter anymore.

Jen couldn’t help a smile. Enemy one day...friend the next. Then...then a little more. An interesting galaxy. Her mind was wrenched back to the present at the sound of movement not far behind her. Carefully, Jen readied her blaster and waited. It should be Voort, but one couldn’t be too careful. One thing she wouldn’t do was just give herself away...just in case it wasn’t him. Slowly, she leaned around the side of the rock and caught sight of Voort. He nearly ran into her, surprised at the sudden appearance of her head. Thankfully, he didn’t plow over her and instead knelt down beside her.

He was breathing hard, though a smile was still on his face. Before he got a chance to say anything, though, Jen grinned, “Got the medal yet?”

Voort laughed, “Demanding. Think you can wait until all this is over with?”

“Changing the deal isn’t going to get you anywhere,” she said with a slightly dangerous look. But jokes and light hearted comments seemed to fade away, and Jen asked, “Where to from here?”

Taking a look back towards the city, Voort said, “Things are going alright. Hansen’s troops have drawn out a large amount of Narani. I haven’t heard anything from the others.”

Jen wasn’t sure if he meant Trker-Hon and the other Imperials or the Alraxians and Landau. Either way, it didn’t really matter that much. She nodded at his words and turned to look towards the city, saying, “Is there anything we can do?”

“If you’re up to it, we can head into the city and try to clean up there,” Voort suggested idly. Jen nodded, and the two of them got to their feet. She followed him in the fast sprint across the open plains towards the wall. Finding a break in the wall was tough, as this was the one side not open. Noticing that they were going to have to get too close to either of the large firefights, Voort suggested they climb it. Easier said than done. The wall was six meters high. That was the first problem. The second was that it was relatively smooth, and the only hand and footholds would be cracks and breaks that were barely worth mentioning.

Noticing the look on her face, Voort tried another suggestion, “Alright. I lift you up and you get over...then I’ll climb.”

That wasn’t much better, but it would have to do. It was an interesting exercise climbing up onto his shoulders. Balancing as best she could against the wall, Jen looked up. Still at least another three or so meters. There was no way she could jump that high. Looking back down to Voort, Jen commented, “Maybe we should have saved one of the charges.”

Resisting the urge to laugh, Voort just did his best to maintain his balance. It was too high up for her, and climbing that would be too tough for Jen. So what should she do? Voort knew. He knew but wasn’t sure how to express it to her. Something he’d meant to mention for the last few weeks, but had avoided even more than how he felt about her. Carefully, he said, “Jen. Listen. Calm your mind. Don’t think. Let everything flow away...then...just jump. Don’t think about jumping. Don’t think about making it. Just make it.”

Strange. Jen raised an eyebrow and wasn’t sure what to say to him. She had no idea what he was telling her to do. That didn’t make sense. Or maybe it made too much sense. Jen quieted her mind as best she could and decided that they didn’t really have another option. A few deep breaths later, Jen found her eyes closing slightly as she focused on....on what? Nothing. Everything. The wall. Focused on the wall. Without even really knowing she’d moved, Jen jumped. When her eyes opened again, she was half up the top, pulling herself completely over and looking down to a rooftop not far away.

She managed a quick glance down to see Voort smiling up to her. He motioned for her to get out of the way as he began a slow climb up. Jen found her mind was trying to comprehend what had just happened. But the wall itself was not that much to stand on, so she soon decided hat there was something more important than rational thought. Currently, moving. She dropped down to the rooftop below and surveyed the streets. Empty. A few moments later, Voort was next to her. He looked tired. For good reason, of course. That was a long climb and he’d managed it quickly. Distantly, the sound of slugthrowers firing was everywhere. But Voort’s ears pinpointed the ones near the center of the city.

“Come on,” he took her arm and moved to jump to the street below. But something stopped him. A ripple in the Force. Strong. Familiar. Voort looked to Jen, and she had strange look of fear on her face. So she had noticed it. Probably couldn’t understand it, though. Not that he did. Not that...wait. There. A violent streak was heading right for them, and without even thinking about it, Voort jumped down and dragged Jen with him. He hit the ground rolling, and Jen had done the same though not by instinct. Quickly getting to his feet, Voort looked up to see that the top section of the building where they stood had claw marks across it.

Jen gave him a panicked look, and he grabbed her arm again. Without a word, he ran down a small alleyway and hoped that Dark couldn’t follow. He knew she was. He knew she was close...and she could wait. But he also knew that standing around was worse than at least trying to run. Well, at least the first half had gone right.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 81: Pain and Family*

Something was wrong. In the silence that Landau had created in the comm building, he’d still been able to hear Light making pained noises. But it stopped. Suddenly. At first, he hadn’t even realized it was gone. But the second his mind caught up with the complete silence, he turned and ran back down towards the first room. The door opened and he had his blaster pistol raised to fire at anyone who’d approached. But no. No one else...just Light and the body of the Narani.

Landau looked from the dead Narani back to Light. She was sitting in the chair, head tilted over the back in an awkward position and arms limp at her sides. She was moving. Not shifting violently or holding her leg from pain. Her chest wasn’t even rising and falling from breathing. Dead?! Quickly, Landau holstered his blaster and moved over to the Alraxian. The wound on her leg was still seeping oddly colored blood(well, odd to a human. Alraxians would find red blood just as odd). He moved her from the chair onto the desk, laying Light on her back and trying to figure out what to do. Her eyes were closed. No signs of life. Still bleeding. Wait. Maybe. On instinct, he rested his ear over where a heart would be in a human. There was a sound. No. There were two sounds. Beating. A heartbeat. Still alive. Two heartbeats.

So Alraxians had two hearts. Interesting. But that didn’t help right now. For all he knew, she was dead and her hearts didn’t know it yet. But how had she died?! She hadn’t lost enough blood for it to have killed her. There were no other wounds. Nothing. There was no one else there. Her hearts were still beating but she wasn’t breathing. Or was she? Did Alraxians even need to breathe? Landau allowed himself an exhausted sigh. He was working himself up with too many unknowns. Though he was no doctor, one picked up a few things while working in the service of any military. He moved over and looked her face over just in case. No bruises or marks. Not even a mark from where one of the Narani’s guns had cuffed her jaw.

And then she made a noise. Landau nearly jumped out of his skin and clung to the ceiling at the sudden intake of breath. Light’s back arched slightly before falling limp again, but she was breathing now. Doing his best to slow his own breathing(and heart), Landau stood back slightly. So it seems like he couldn’t do anything. But she was alive. Or maybe she just had some very odd nerve spasms. But no, that had been breathing. Was breathing. Still was breathing. And heartbeat. And...no, nothing else. Dead otherwise.

As he wondered what he should do, Light’s eyes opened slowly. She had a strange expression on her face as she took in her surroundings, seemingly taking no notice of the still bleeding wound in her leg. Of the metal still there. Of her body trying to remorph the wound...which would kill her much more painfully than the enduring of the shot. Her eyes found Landau. Forcing her voice out, she said, “Get the metal out of my leg. Please.”

Landau stared at her blankly for a moment. Something in her eyes was off. A glazed look. Almost like she wasn’t completely paying attention to him at the moment. He moved to her leg anyway, looking at the small hole and not really sure what to do. Get the metal out? When he’d picked up a knife from the Narani, Light had twitched out of the way. Metal. No metal. Then how to get that out?

“Shoot it,” Light said quietly, not sounding like herself and having to force the words out, “Burn the skin and pull the metal out.”

How could she ask anyone to do that? Oh, shoot me to save me. Really sounded wise. But then again, what other option was there? Against all reason, Landau drew his blaster pistol again. He closed his eyes after placing the blaster barrel against the wound. The scream of pain from Light easily drowned out the echo of the blaster shot. Somehow, all she did was wrench to the side and claw at the table. As she did this, Landau opened his eyes to look at the wound. Black. All black...somewhat burnt in now, and he could see part of the metal bullet. But still couldn’t reach it. When he placed the blaster barrel to her leg again, Light stopped her moving. Again, her scream of pain silenced any other noise at the shot. But this time, her scream had been muffled by biting her open lip open. Despite all effort otherwise, tears streamed down her face and she forced herself not to remorph the agony in her leg. Landau looked again. Still no good. One more. After that, he wasn’t going to be able to stomach another shot. The smell of burnt flesh was already nauseating enough.

The third shot recieved no noise from Light. It was the most unnerving of all to simply hear the blaster shot, but she wrenched even more against the claws in the table this time. Landau tried not to look at her face, and tossed his blaster pistol into the chair. Looking at the now large open and scorched wound, he found the metal bullet. Forcing his own eyes to stay open, he reached into the mess of black scorched flesh and blue blood to pull out the bullet. Somehow, he managed it, and the second it was out, he watched an equally disturbing scene. Light’s leg reformed in front of his eyes. While he knew that this was possible, seeing it in such horrid detail was even more sickening.

For a short moment afterwards, there was silence. Then, against anything that would normally be heard from Shadow, Light cried. Her body shook as she wept from the intense pain now only a horrible memory. But so vivid. Alraxians were too weak to endure such pain for so long. If not for Shadow’s history, Light would have remorphed the leg and watched her body become consumed with the metal as it killed her slowly. But she’d lived. Somehow. It was the first time Shadow, in any form, had ever wept. But it was warranted, and though Light could be seen as weak, Landau knew that it took immense strength to endure all of that pain. As she continued to weep, her body shook and she curled up on herself slightly.

Landau sighed and sat in the chair next to her on the table. Carefully, he reached over and rested an arm on her shoulder. It wasn’t much, but it was all he could think to do. Older than he was, but she was child. A child alone in the galaxy that had just undergone an impossibly traumatic experience. When she curled up a little more and seemed to calm slightly though still crying quietly, Landau found himself suddenly wondering why he’d never had children. There had been chances...yet...he’d never thought of it. Not until he sat there in the exact center of a vicious battle comforting a non-human child. These wars shouldn’t be fought by such children. It wasn’t fair to them. The soldiers should all be experienced men. They shouldn’t be old enough to be Landau’s children. He shouldn’t have had to always feel like he was losing a child.

Through her sobbing, Light managed to speak quietly, “Akan. We have to get him. Have to go back.”

Landau couldn’t help a smile. So she wasn’t all that alone. Children needed family. Everyone needed family. Perhaps his worry for her lack of family was misplaced. As she sat up and composed herself, wiping the tears from her face and trying to look like nothing had ever happened, Landau was glad that she had someone to relate to. Despite the age difference between herself and Akan...they were the same now. Something Landau couldn’t do. He could only ever be a father for her, never even a friend. But he didn’t mind. And standing up to help her to her feet, Landau felt pride at the knowledge that Light had more strength than she liked to show.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

((Little later on the update, but I think its worth it.))

*Chapter 82: All That is Wrong With Me*

She wasn’t trying to hide anymore. No more of the toying around. Perhaps it had been enjoyable at first, but obviously she was beyond that. Jen and Voort were attempting to hide in a small divide between two buildings. They’d run through alleyways to reach a section near the center of the city before Dark’s swooping strikes stopped. The second that he could no longer hear the rushes of air over them, Voort quickly pulled Jen into the tight divide between a small storage facility and what was probably a house of sorts. Dark had stopped playing and was now hunting.

For a moment, he looked over to Jen. She taken a scratch along her back, but it was only superficial. At least, she insisted that it was. Voort wasn’t so sure, but knew that this wasn’t the time to worry about that, especially since it wasn’t slowing her down at all. Reaching out with the Force, Voort noticed many fluctuations. Dark was near. Above them? Possibly. But something else...also close. Pain. Pain and fear. It radiated off towards where the center of the city was. Focus on the moment. Do not let the mind wander when you are being hunted.

He focused. And found her. Grabbing Jen’s arm, he dragged her out and into the street. Running as fast as they could, it was obvious that Jen could feel Dark was hunting them, too. A flash. Reacting without a thought, Voort threw Jen to the ground and dropped right next to her. A rush of air flew over them, along with a curse and the sound of sand grating against a hard surface. Getting to his feet as quickly as he’d gone down, Voort got the lightsaber off of his belt and thumbed the activation switch. He hadn’t even looked up to see what was going on in front of him yet. When he finally looked up(only a second later, though it seemed like and eternity), Voort’s eyes were looking past the orange glow of his lightsaber at the finally substantial form of Dark. She was still facing the other direction, a long string of claw marks along the sand where it looked like she’d slowed herself down. Two red-grey eyes glared at him over her shoulder and just between shoulder and one large wing. Neither of them moved. Both waited for the other to show the slightest hint of weakness...fear. But it would not happen. And Jen took advantage in this focus to fire a blaster shot at Dark.

Snapping back into reality, Dark jumped back to avoid the blaster shot. This worked, though she got a singed wing in the process. But it left her attention switched to Jen, giving Voort an easy opening as he ran in, thumbing the second end of the lightsaber on and swinging it in a long horizontal arc. Dark caught sight of the orange blur, jumping up into the air to avoid the slash, planting a kick to Voort’s face in the process. If she had not, the other end of the saber would likely have lopped her leg off. However, Voort stumbled back from the blow and allowed an opening for Dark to land. This did not slow him for more than a half second, and he immediately swung the back end of the lightsaber in an upwards strike at the winged Alraxian. She spun to the side, out of the way and nearly into his strike with the other end of the blade. But somehow, she ducked(including her wings) under just as it reached head height, and then rolled back to her original position when he attempted to bring the weapon back down on her. 

As he readied himself for another swift strike, Dark swept his feet out from under him. Voort fell hard onto his back, and expected that Dark would be on him a second later. She wasn’t. His eyes had closed from the force of the landing, but when he opened him it was just in time to see two blaster shots fire at Dark. The sound actually came a half second later, but that didn’t matter. What did was that Dark had again ignored that she was dealing with two opponents, and nearly got herself shot again. The Alraxian jumped back again, and growled a curse in a language neither of the humans understood. Jen didn’t care. She fired the blaster again. In fact, she didn’t stop firing until Dark took to the sky and flew off.

Finally letting go of the trigger and allowed the weapon to cool, Jen tried to slow her heavy breathing. Voort sat up after deactivating both ends of his lightsaber and looked to her, “Too easy to fight.”

“Half an assassin against a scientist and an Imperial,” Jen commented idly, a grin tugging at the edge of her face, “We’ve got her outnumbered by half a person.”

Getting to his feet, Voort smiled and idly put an arm around Jen’s waist, “Two whole over her. You count as at least one and a half,” when she gave him a curious look, he laughed and explained, “Brains count for more than brawn.”

“No wonder I always beat you,” Jen said, kissing him lightly, “So two medals now?”

After he hooked the lightsaber back onto his belt, Voort shrugged, “Don’t have much of a choice. Come on, we’re not done yet.”

The two of them then followed the streets towards where they’d originally heard the slugthrower shots. Now, though, it was eerily silent(except for the two opposite sides of the city which were still wracked in fighting, of course).

* * * *​

The Narani had been surprised enough to find anyone within the city. They’d been on their way to assist with the assault on the south side, which was progressing the worst. A Topsider leading a group of false-Narani was easily slaughtering them. But running into three enemies within the city had surprised them even more. The fact that two of these were strange alien creatures just added to the surprise. They had reacted like any sensible Narani in the situation. They shot at the three. But they received their greatest surprise when confronting the single attacker that had been holding them back.

They had watched him crawl across to some cover, and took advantage of an apparent injury that none of them had seemingly caused. Moving over to make quick work of this alien, the leader of the group had stood right across from the alien, who was sitting down and holding a blade of light, and aimed his slugthrower. The aiming took a second, as the alien was not moving and provided a simple target, and the Narani fired his slugthrower. This is the point where the surprise came, and one where many would either affirm belief in a greater being or denounce one altogether for the situation. In this case, Akan was on the former side, with the Narani on the latter.

This was because Akan’s mind had reacted despite the pain in his body. The weapon had fired, a bright flash of short flames from the barrel followed by the metal bullet shooting out towards him. His conscious mind had simply watched this, giving in to what he had accepted as his fate. His unconscious, however, was not going to take this kind of crap. As he had not closed his eyes like many people would, Akan had a first hand view of the bullet slowing to a crawl and then stopping all together in mid air not ten centimeters from his heart. Well, his first heart. First heart being the one placed where it was in humans. His mind soon caught up with the situation, and Akan realized that he could feel the bullet. Holding it. Holding it with an invisible hand. With the Force.

It was one of those instances where one had to believe in those children’s stories where everything suddenly worked at just the right moment. If you didn’t believe in those, then what was the explanation for surviving? The will of the Force? Why should it care for a single individual in a small part of the galaxy? But it did. In fact, it cared so much that the horrible pain in his leg had gone. Not faded. Just gone. Suddenly. Akan’s mind was in no shape to grasp any more dramatically amazing moments, and instead he reacted like the good soldier he was.

He cheated. Well, it was only cheating to the Narani who had the half second to watch him jump to his feet before their lives were ended. To Akan, this was not cheating, but taking advantage of the situation. He slowed his breathing and suddenly picked up on a sound behind him. Ears swivelled first, but this was quickly followed by his head and then entire body, ready to pounce. Buried Alraxian instincts were taking hold and he’d likely have simply attacked the source of the sounds if Light was not one of the two. Seeing the other Alraxian, and one so strongly connected to him, the instincts held him in one place. Though the human was seen as a threat, the pause had given Akan enough time to get a grip with instincts and feelings that had never been his before.

He let out a long sigh of relief at seeing Light was alright, and noticed that she looked more like...more like Shadow. It was in the expression. And the feeling radiating off of her. Landau looked slightly worried because of Akan’s first reaction, but calmed at seeing the other Alraxian was alright. As Akan lowered his weapon, even Light smiled though it was Landau that spoke up, “She...said you needed help.”

“I think she already took care of that,” Akan responded sounding like he wasn’t really paying all that much attention to the situation. Taking a couple of steps forward, Akan kept his attention on Light, “You used the link...didn’t you?”

Light’s smile did not fade, and she nodded, “To a point. You were...we were in need of help quickly. I simply encouraged it.”

Nodding, Akan deactivated his lightsaber and allowed his body to relax, “What happened?”

“She was sh--“ Landau was cut off suddenly when Light threw him to the ground. She dove the other way, and Akan found himself also reacting to the sudden warning in the Force. But his reaction was not to move. Instead, he planted his feet firmly and activated his lightsaber again as he brought it through a horizontal swing through where the Force guided him. The source of the warning ducked low under the strike and kicked out at Akan’s midsection. Akan somehow found himself bringing his left arm down in an arc, forcing the leg to the side enough for him to jump back.

Landing and planting his feet again, Akan brought his lightsaber up in the normal defensive position in front of him. His Dark slowly stood up, ignoring both Light and Landau for the moment and simply staring at Akan. The two of them simply looked into each other’s eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Watching. Reading. Knowing. Akan learned much more from this than his Dark did. The moment was broken when Light suddenly raised her blaster to fire at Akan’s Dark. She got her arm halfway up before his Dark extended a arm towards her and a wall slammed into her. Light flew back to the ground, sliding across the sand and trying to catch her breath. Akan somehow ignored this shadowed pain, keeping his focus on his Dark.

“We settle this now,” his Dark said, reaching off to the side with his free hand. A wooden pole ripped that held an awning up in front of a nearby building ripped out of the ground and flew to the Dark’s hand. Catching the meter and a half, small support pole, Akan’s Dark made a flashy show of spinning it that disgusted Akan. Showing off. Overconfidence. First advantage.

Without another moment, his Dark jumped forward, swinging the pole vertically as if it could cut through Akan like a lightsaber. The fact that it was glowing slightly and radiating through the Force made this more likely than in most cases. Reacting quickly, Akan jumped to the side. The pole hit the sand, as did his Dark, landing in a crouched yet still very dangerous position. In one quick motion, the Dark was on his feet and diving towards Akan again. He swung the weapon across for Akan’s neck. Ducking low, Akan had only a half second(with the aid of the Force) to then roll to the side and dodge a vertical strike that followed. The roll brought him to his feet with enough time to see a second horizontal strike fluidly following, and Akan used the Force to assist in his jump back. Landing easily a few meters away, Akan decided to play with his Dark.

Just as his Dark renewed a fierce series of attacks by diving in again, Akan deactivated his lightsaber and simply held the hilt as he dodged. Everywhere that his Dark attacked, Akan had been only milliseconds earlier. If not for his knowledge of both himself and the Force, Akan would not have been able to survive. It was energizing to be able to react so quickly, and his Dark was not enjoy this. After a particularly wild thrust that Akan had spun out of the way of, his Dark was amazed that the wide opening in his defense was not taken advantage of. Why had Akan not at least punched him?! He was being toyed with!

Anger flared through the Dark’s eyes as his attacks grew more swift, violent, and nearly more accurate. The tattered cloak that Akan wore was soon becoming the target for all of the strikes, piecing shedding off of it as if a blade was cutting it. Either it was mimicking a blade somehow, or his Dark was truly striking with momentous force. Perhaps both. Three more strikes, perfectly implemented and easily should have taken Akan down. But no. He turned left to avoid the first, feeling the rush of air and energy across his face and simply letting it energize him more, ducked low to dodge the second strike for his neck, then jumped back to avoid the last and most anger driven of the strikes. Akan had landed on one foot by the time his Dark was diving in with an attack. Akan jumped back again, and his Dark followed with another swift strike from his own movement. To Landau, it looked like Akan was dancing around and showing off. One foot to the next, landing just within reach to draw his Dark in for another failed strike.

Again. Again. Again. Again and again Akan and his Dark seemed to glide across the sand itself as one led the other in circles around the street. Walls of buildings gained strong dents and even the ground itself was gaining new uneven sections. Swing after swing, every single time, Akan’s Dark failed to hit. Each time he met with air, or something that wasn’t his target, watching as Akan slid back and beckoned him on. A growl grew in the Dark’s throat as he drew the Force into him more and more. Strengthening him and driving his body on and on just to catch up with himself. He caught up by such a minuscule amount of time that it was not measurable, yet it was enough to have Akan using more effort. Diving in again, his Dark swung harder than ever, trying with all his might just to take his own head off. Akan ducked low again, losing a few hairs, then pulled back just as the Force-empowered weapon shattered the corner of a building. Akan didn’t even get one foot down before his Dark was jumping at him again. The weapon flew in a strong downward arc with the Dark’s arms, and Akan felt it rush past him as he moved to the side of his opponent. Two more times, he managed near misses.

And then he surprised his Dark. Without even thinking about it, Akan planted his feet after pulling to the side and brought up his arms. His Dark was moving so fast and reacting to the pattern so much that he’d not heard the snap-hiss of the lightsaber blade. His makeshift weapon collided with the lightsaber and held there, in one piece only because of the Force itself. The Dark’s momentum had been froze by the sudden and violent impact. Akan grinned at seeing the surprised look on his Dark’s face, and again took advantage of the situation. Pushing his opponent back, Akan swung his lightsaber low, more as a threat than an actual attack. His Dark jumped over the strike, sending his own at Akan’s midsection. Akan didn’t catch the weapon with his blade, but instead used the force of his own momentum to bat the weapon to the side, spinning around completely for another strike that his Dark barely managed to stop. The two of them exchanged an impossible fast series of blows, all of them being caught just seconds before serious damage would have been done. Akan’s Dark realized he was being pushed back. Nearly stuck against a wall, he did his best to find a way out.

He found it. Quickly deflecting a strike from Akan’s lightsaber, his Dark held the two weapons together and forced them up over their heads, holding them there as if they were struggling for control. Knowing he could handle his own strength, Akan’s Dark let go of his weapon with one hand. His free hand gathered strength from the Force, and Akan had only a moment’s notice before a hard wall of nothing threw him back a good ten meters. But he didn’t fall on his back or face. Reacting with the primal Alraxian instincts that had nearly grasped him earlier, Akan slid across the sand on his feet, one clawed hand gripping the ground and slowing him. Watching the sand below him come to a stop, Akan looked up to his Dark and grinned.

That stopped his Dark’s imminent attack. Instead of moving, the Dark stood there looking surprised. That was enough time for Akan to say just loud enough for his Dark to hear, “My turn.”

The comment was enough to provoke Akan’s Dark. Akan knew this since he knew that would easily insight his own rage. Blindly, his Dark dove forward and cried a curse, swinging his makeshift weapon down at where Akan was. Or rather, had been. The weapon struck the ground hard, cutting into the rock below the sand enough to lodge it in for a short second. That short second was all that Akan had needed. Before his Dark had any chance to figure out where he’d gone, there was a blue-green blade resting just a centimeter from his neck. Akan was behind him. Somehow, he’d used the blind rage to sneak behind the Dark and now he had brought a sudden stop to the fight. His Dark froze, breathing carefully though still holding the weapon that was stuck in the ground. Quietly, Akan said into his Dark’s ear, “You know you can’t beat yourself when you’re filled with rage. Fight with your emotions and you lose. You should know that as well as I do. No more of this. We should be one again.”

Just as Akan had started to let his mind flow through the steps that Light had told him to do for merging, his Dark had a moment to take advantage of. An elbow slammed into Akan’s stomach, forcing him back. His Dark ducked at the same time, allowing the lightsaber blade to pass over his head harmlessly. Snapping the pole out of the ground and allowing the Force to flow through it again, his Dark turned around just in time to meet Akan’s strike. And then they were back at it. Swing after swing, each being met by the other. But each time, Akan’s Dark was being moved back. Being pushed harder. And getting angrier all the while. Akan’s words were torturing him as much as his failure to land a single blow. Trying a repeat tactic of what had worked before, the Dark forced Akan’s blade up above them. Akan’s Dark got his hand out and just as he was letting the Force lose, Akan also took a hand off his own weapon. The arm batted his Dark’s away, and the Force strike sent the crates that Akan had once hid behind smashing into the building behind them. Weapons still in the air and held together, Akan brought his hand back across and slugged his Dark hard across the face. The Dark stumbled back, a shocked look on his face that he’d failed again. Again!! He growled another curse, dropped the weapon, and got into the sky. Akan had not pursued him, and simply watched his Dark fly for the third time. But this time...this time Akan had faced himself and won.

Adrenaline slowly began to subside and the more primitive instincts within him also began to fade away. As he deactivated his lightsaber, Akan looked off to where Landau and Light were. Light looked dazed(and felt it), but she would be okay. Landau had a amazed look on his face. The speed of the fight had made it nearly impossible to follow, and now looking at this Alraxian...boy standing there in the midst of an impossible ruined street, Landau didn’t know what to think. Slowly, Akan started over towards the two of them. When he got close, he knelt down next to Light and smiled, “I’ve faced everything that is wrong with me, and won. You will have to do that before you can accept your own Dark.”

Giving him a worried look, Light simply managed a nod without a word. She was sitting up and it looked like the hit she’d taken wasn’t going to slow her down this time. Landau took a deep breath and said carefully, “We should assist in the fight for the city.”

Akan nodded and once again differed the lead to Landau. The man did not run, feeling too drained at this point. Instead, he led them quickly through the empty streets towards the southern section of the city where Trker-Hon was leading his attack. But Landau found himself wondering why they didn’t just send in Akan. No matter how messed up he seemed at times, he was as good a fighter as Voort. Those two could have cleaned the town of any Narani easily. Dangerous strength. And despite everything he knew about Voort, Landau worried about that strength in Akan’s hands more. Sometimes, there was such a thing as too young. Especially for power.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 83: Student in the Force*

By the time Landau, Akan, and Light had reached the south entrance to Haladin, they met with the Imperials and Trker-Hon. The Narani they’d been fighting were already all dead, or had fled. As the remaining troops spread out to clean out the rest of the city, the Topsider notified the others that he was leaving. When questioned, he said that he was leaving to rally the stronger of the Topsider tribes together so that this attack would gain even more attention among the reptiles of the planet.

Though in the north, Hansen’s force had encountered stronger resistance, they were also soon within the city and assisted in the clean out of the city. It did not take long for the Imperials to recapture the main garrison. Word spread through the Imperials until it reached those in command that a meeting was to be held there. Akan, Landau, and Light arrived at the garrison first, assisting with the clean up of the mess within. It took a while, but soon the main room was passable at first glance. As long as one ignored the blaster scorches on the walls. But that didn’t matter anymore. They’d succeeded. Jen and Voort arrived not long after, with the former in a strangely good mood. She had quickly embraced Akan upon seeing him, nearly squeezing what little energy was left out of him. The others laughed at this, but Light was soon treated to the same greeting and that got a smile on Akan’s face. Stepping to the side, he gave Voort a quick glance, “What’s with her?”

“She beat me,” Voort said flatly, though there was a grin tugging at the edge of his face.

Akan just raised an eyebrow, not asking anymore and deciding that it wasn’t a bad thing. Small talk ensued for a few minutes until Hansen arrived, and then all of them took a seat and things were summed up. Losses were minimal on both sides. Most of the Narani had simply taken off when their slugthrower ammunition had run out. Most of the casualties had occurred within the city itself from Narani hiding in houses and buildings. But the city was secure(or at least as secure as it would be) and they had done what they’d set out to do. Easily, too. No one put aside the thought that it was a little too easy.

The situation within the city was better than they’d expected. There were four operable landspeeders and two higher altitude airspeeders within the small garage. Weapons were strewn throughout the city, and though they were all slugthrowers, one couldn’t complain too much. None of the Narani had surrendered, though. It was not surprising, but Akan had at least expected one or two to back down and allow themselves to be captured. They didn’t. Those that didn’t run, either allowed themselves to be killed, went down in a blaze of fire, or took their own lives. It was disturbing really, and the Force itself even felt like it was shuddering.

The Force. That was an interesting subject brought up once the main topic was behind them.

“He is searching,” Voort said simply.

Light nodded to this, “He knows who is here. And our...my...Dark. The two of them are under his power.”

Akan sat back some and thought on this, “How soon can we attack the facility in the desert?”

It was direct, and almost off topic. But Landau was able to field this without too much trouble, “We need to wait until Trker-Hon gets back to analyze the situation,” he paused, not liking what he was about to say, “It could be a matter of weeks.”

Everyone seemed to accept this with a depressed nod except for Jen. She gave them all a critical look and asked, “Why do we have to wait so long?”

“Too many things to prepare for,” Landau answered, “We’ll be preparing a large ground assault. He has many Narani under his control and I wouldn’t doubt much more. We also have a few spies that should return soon to give us more detailed information. The more we know, the more likely it is that all of us will survive.”

Sighing heavily, Jen nodded. Her eagerness to get this over with was strange for Akan to see. She was changing before his eyes. He’d met her as a quiet scientist who could hold a weapon, and now she was more like a warrior with a good amount of brains to back it. Voort had done that to her, most likely. Again, that anger towards Voort attempted to grow. Akan wasn’t stopping it like he should have, ignoring the fact of his own influence on Jen. It was that damned Imperial. Akan hoped that this would all be over with soon so that he could deal with Voort. The man was a danger to all of them. But still...Voort was necessary for them to survive.

The meeting split up, with everyone going their own ways and working on their own things. Though it wasn’t officially stated, they now had time for a break. Rest. Leisure. As long as eyes and ears were kept alert, what one did was mostly up to them, now. Water and food would be no problem within Haladin, as the city had always been very well stocked. Voort and Jen had slipped outside, walking down the streets to a more quiet and empty area. It was the first section cleared by the troops, so they new it was alright.

Jen was mostly silent, and it was obvious she wanted to say something. Following her eyes, Voort figured it out. He unhooked the large lightsaber from his belt and tossed it to her. Surprised, Jen caught the hilt with both hands. As she looked it over, he said, “You can fee things, can’t you?”

Slowly, and as if she wasn’t completely paying attention to his words as she inspected the weapon, Jen nodded, “Yes.”

“You shouldn’t let a talent like that go to waste,” commented Voort, leaning back against a building and watching her with a smile.

She looked up to him, tilting her head slightly before turning her attention back to the weapon. She hit one of the activation switches, and stared for a long time at the orange blade. Over the soft hum of the lightsaber, Jen asked, “Will you teach me?”

That question had caught Voort off guard. He gave her a surprised look, though didn’t take any time to think on it. Quickly, he said, “No. No, I can’t. I...I would be the worst possible person to teach you about the Force.”

Looking past the orange blade, almost through it, Jen’s face became confused and almost worried, “Why?”

After a heavy sight, Voort just said, “I learned only about darkness. I know only about darkness. I have learned to moderate it, but it is still very dangerous and evil. I...I...” he paused, trailing off and closing his eyes, “I know the horrors of the dark side better than most. I couldn’t bear losing you.”

“But...but if you can...” she trailed off when Voort looked up at her with a strange glare.

It was a look of anger that worried her even more. It faded when he spoke again, “You can’t. You’re my light. That can’t fade. I couldn’t live.”

Slowly, Jen managed a nod. She idly allowed the weapon to swing gently, listening to the hum of the blade and dazzled by the power it seemed to give off, “Then who will?”

Voort thought on this, and eventually said, “Akan knows the light, but he’s...he’s dangerous. He is not stable, and he is only a boy. He needs to grow up more before he takes on even more responsibilities.”

Part of Jen felt she should argue that. Just defend Akan as any good friend would. But no...Voort was right. Akan continued to bury his past and everyone could see how unstable he was. He was a liability to all of them, and no matter how good a friend she was, defending him here was stupid. She did, however, make a decision to attempt to help him. How she’d do that, though, wasn’t on Jen’s mind just yet.

“Shadow,” Voort said, interrupting Jen’s thoughts suddenly, “She could teach you. She is very strong and...and having known Marix, I know you could learn much from her.”

“But she isn’t...”

Smiling, Voort said, “Not Light. I don’t understand all of that, but it isn’t Shadow. This Light is nearly as dangerous as Akan is.”

Voort had looked like he was going to say something else, but the sudden switching off of the lightsaber created a sphere of silence. Neither of them spoke, and Jen simply stepped over to him and handed him the weapon. He took it, but allowed it to drop to the ground when Jen leaned into him and rested her head on his chest. Quietly, she said, “I just want to get off this planet.”

“I know...I know...” Voort spoke more to himself than to her, feeling the same way. Carefully, he brought his arms around her and held her. There were still going to be many more days of fighting and risking life. Voort yearned for the day he could simply live. Yearned for a day that Jen would be safe. Perhaps when Sadrak was finally gone...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

A few notes. This is the point where things really slowed to a crawl. Though we continued our GM switching as usual, it just seemed like things couldn't get moving. I'm going to try condensing it down to the important parts. It was just kind of bad to slow down when everything was reaching that 'we have to do something NOW!' mood.

And one other thing, you can tell who was GMing pretty easily. Whenever you get angsty Akan and problematic things like that, it was usually me. Though that did eventually fade away into better things. Anytime a Star Trek name pops up, it was Voort. I take no credit for his use of Hansen, etc etc. At least I've changed how they look.  The rest of the time its Shadow. She really didn't do all that much GMing until later. Those are the adventures I REALLY want to get to, as it introduces one of my favorite characters. But...that's still a bit of a ways off.

*Chapter 84: Dreams or Visions?*

“How many did you kill?”

Dark looked across the large domed room to the robed figure. Amazingly, He hadn’t murdered either of them yet. The news of their failure was nothing new to Him it seemed, or perhaps He was just waiting for the right time. Or both. Most likely both. It was not a time for fear, and she hoped her Akan would also push it away. In an emotionless voice, she said, “Four hundred at least.”

There was a silence as He thought on this, then the same voice echoed across the room, “I asked only for two. And I asked for them alive.”

So here it was. The question hung in Dark’s mind over whether there was a correct response. Perhaps there was one. And if she did not deliver it, she did not want to imagine the result. At the same time, hesitation was also a response. No time to think. So, Dark just said the first things that came into her mind, “They proved more difficult than we had expected.”

“You were overconfident,” the voice snapped back suddenly, not even taking the time to echo.

Another silence. He expected a response. Dark had nearly hesitated what would have been too long before nodding her head, “Yes. And I underestimated them.”

“So you kill Topsiders as payment?” the tone of the voice had changed again. Almost amused at the direction of the questions it was asking.

“They are a threat,” she responded without even having to think. The decision to kill Topsiders had been one they had made before returning.

“You are not to set foot here again unless you bring the woman,” His tone against changed, and the sound of his voice was so harsh that it sent slight pains through one’s very being. Dark was intelligent enough not to question why her Light was not mentioned. Obviously, Jen was of more importance to him. Why, she did not know, but not was truly not the time to pry.

She nodded, turned and left. Her Akan followed, and she was almost amazed to hear no comment from his mouth this time. So he knew the danger now. Good. He did speak, however, when they had reached the outside again, “So we’re going back now?”

“No,” Dark said with that lack of emotion again. She looked out over the sands and felt the calm that was gathering off near Haladin, “We will give them time to rest. They will get comfortable. Then we will have an advantage.”

“What about your Light?”

A predictable question. He seemed obsessed with Light. Though not as much with his own. Having been beaten constantly and failing worse each time was driving him into a dangerous single-mindedness. Not that Dark wasn’t immune. Yet she saw Jen as simply a target. Her Light though...a disgusting creature which Dark didn’t even care to think about. So they would wait.

Catching one of his stray thoughts, Dark looked to him, “But we do not simply have to sit around. The lizards provide some interesting sport.”

* * * *​

Darkness. No. No there was a small light in the distance. How far away, Akan couldn’t tell. In fact, Akan couldn’t really tell anything. It was all distant...dark...ever extending. He took a few steps forward. The sound of his footsteps on the ground echoed through no where. Though nothing. But they spread into other sounds. Moving. Voices. All indistinct. Slowly growing though...slowly...

Akan turned to the left, hearing a cry. But nothing. That voice was familiar, though...familiar...another cry, behind him. Akan turned again, but this time saw what he assumed to be the source. Standing not far away, Akan saw Voort. He saw Voort standing next to a balcony. Not far from Voort was Jen, looking...well, looking like Jen, of course, but there was something in the eyes that wasn’t right. And then Shadow. Light? No. No. Shadow. She stood back, to Akan’s left, unmoving and looking frozen. There was an expression on her face that he’d never seen before. Fear. True fear. Horror, even.

When Akan opened his mouth to speak, Voort spoke instead. The man sounded defeated in a way Akan had never imagined. There was pain in the voice. True pain. But somehow, Voort sounded controlled, “Please, Jen...please don’t do this...”

But Jen just stared at him with those eyes. Shadow took a step forward, and looked like she was trying to say something. Akan couldn’t feel her mind through the link, which was strange, yet he could tell something was very wrong with her. No words came out, and even if they had, it likely would have been too late. Jen shot a quick look to the two Alraxians, then took a single step back. The step took her over the balcony, and Voort cried out and dove to grab her. He didn’t. Instead, just draped over the balcony, watching down below and not moving at all. Akan turned to see a stunned look on Shadow’s face.

And then Voort stood up. Too quickly. Too calmly. Too...too much unlike Voort. Pivoting easily on one foot, he looked straight to Shadow, ignoring that Akan was even there. The man looked like Akan had never seen him before. The lines across his face seemed darker and longer. His eyes held as much pain as they did a growing anger. It was everything Akan had always worried about in Voort...he’d never truly expected it to happen despite everything. But here it was. Everything. Nothing. Speaking slowly, and in a voice that sounded like that of the dead, Voort said to Shadow, “You killed her.”

Again, Shadow opened her mouth to say something. Anything. But she couldn’t find words. She took a step back. A sign of fear. Panic. For the first time in his life, Akan watched Shadow lose all determination and strength. He watched everything he knew in her fail. And somehow, he just stood there. His body wouldn’t move. Nothing would move! Yes...something would. His eyes turned to see Voort. The man had drawn his lightsaber, and one blade was already ignited. He was charging forward, raising the weapon to strike down at Shadow. And she wasn’t moving. She was standing there staring in horror. Akan wasn’t moving!! He couldn’t! What was going on?! The lightsaber fell, and before it hit anything his vision went white.

A second later, the white flashed away and Akan found himself laying on a bed in the garrison. He cried out suddenly, forcing back the sudden surge of pain that shouldn’t have even been there. A mental pain wracked his body and he found himself unable to stop seeing it. Stop seeing all of it. Over and over it replayed in his mind. And every time he couldn’t move! He just stood there! Again Akan cried out, trying to do anything to move!

Light was the first one to hear him, though it was a mix of the mental pain and his actual voice. She’d been trying to rest when a sudden wave of pain shot across the link. At first she’d thought it was physical, but the moment she heard Akan’s thoughts going crazy and then his cry, she knew otherwise. Quickly, Light got to her feet and ran over to where Akan was supposed to have been sleeping. Light found him on the bed, curled up slightly and clawing at the sheets. His tail was thumping violently against the bed and his body was changing colors slightly. Such a strong effect that his body was changing...that only happened to Alraxians with extremely strong emotions.

She moved over to him, sitting on the bed and putting her hand over his tail to at least stop the violent movement of it. Her other hand came down on his shoulder as his claws tugged at the bed, and Light said as calmly as she could, “Akan-jai...open your eyes. Its alright...its alright...” she saw a sudden image of what must have been his mind and knew that her words weren’t getting through. Light cheated and mentally pushed at him through the link. His eyes opened suddenly, and he looked up at her with fear all over him. She still held his tail down, and tried again, “Its just a dream, Akan-jai...a dream. Calm down...”

“You saw it!” he managed to say, finally calming slightly but still not able to get the image to actually go away.

“It was a dream,” Light repeating, patting his shoulder gently and trying to actually be helpful. Feeling someone else, she turned back to look at the now open entrance. Standing there, looking concerned but cautious, was Jen. Light locked eyes with Jen for a moment, not sure of what to say. The woman nodded at one of her own thoughts, and just stood there. Light sighed and was glad that Akan’s tail had finally stopped moving, “Just a dream.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 85: Only Halfway There*

Landau looked to the setting sun. The day was finally ending, and Haladin had finally been deemed safe. He was standing up on top of one of the buildings, finding that it was the only place to get some peace. Trker-Hon had sent a wired report that three of the five tribes he’d gone to were all dead. He had found them all slaughtered. This worried Landau, as he knew the ferocity of Topsiders. The Topsiders had angered someone. Or just been in the way. Or both. But Trker-Hon would be back in a few days, hopefully with better news.

Running a hand through his hair, Landau wondered what there was to do. They didn’t even know what Sadrak was capable of. They didn’t know his defenses. Nothing. Yet, they planned an attack. Without any information at all. He found himself rethinking the previous plan. A noise behind him turned his attention from the thoughts. It only took a short glance over his shoulder to see Light. She was standing back and looking sheepish. Obviously, she’d been trying not to be seen. Or heard. Lowering her head, Light started to back off and climb back down from the roof.

Hearing a mumbled apology, Landau couldn’t help a smile, “You weren’t disturbing anything.”

Light stopped and shuffled her feet. When Landau made a motion for her to sit, she carefully walked over and had a seat next to him. He gave her a sideways look, asking, “Thought you were going to sleep.”

“Akan couldn’t sleep,” Light answered. In most cases, that wouldn’t have been an answer to the same question, but Landau had gotten used to that kind of answer. He also noticed that Light’s tail was twitching very slightly. Though he wasn’t an expert on Alraxians, Landau knew that such an action wasn’t usually a positive one in felines.

“Something’s bothering you,” he said, not completely sure if it was correct.

Light nodded, then turned to give him a very serious look, “I...Akan...we...” she paused, bit her lip and looked to have given up.

Smiling, Landau said, “Start it slowly and try again.”

After a short sigh, Light tried starting over, “I don’t like it...but...but the Darks have to be dealt with. I don’t want to be part of her again, though.”

“Is there any other way?” asked Landau, not completely following her but doing his best to not slow down her train of thought.

Closing her eyes, Light spoke quietly, “There isn’t.”

Landau only nodded. He looked at the Alraxian and thought on this. Perhaps this wasn’t time for things like that. There were more important things at hand. Carefully, Landau attempted to change the subject, “There’s something I need you to talk to Akan about.”

“Hm?” Light tilted her head and her ears turned more towards him.

“We need to get information on Sadrak’s defenses,” Landau said, looking out towards the sun that was now nearly gone. After allowing the idea to sink into Light’s mind, he continued, “Akan can get in there and get out without drawing attention. Yes?”

Light nodded, “He could. But he...”

When she trailed off and looked down to the ground, Landau turned back to give her a confused look. Perhaps that was not a good point to push. There was something important she wasn’t mentioning, though. He put a hand on her shoulder and stood up. Without another word, Landau left Light to her thoughts. It was time to organize an intelligence gathering effort. This was far more important than anything else at the moment.

It only took an hour to organize a meeting, and the same group gathered in the main briefing room. Akan looked like he’d seen a ghost, with his face looking pale. Though he was trying obviously trying to hide this. Jen and Voort looked to be in relatively good moods. Hansen seemed tired, but one couldn’t blame her. She’d been helping with the clean up efforts in the city that tracking her down to get her to the meeting was a pain all by itself. Light did wander in, though it was a little later than the others and she didn’t look to be paying all that much attention. Probably was going to just listen as she usually did.

Landau explained his thoughts on what needed to be done, and it didn’t take long before all of them were in agreement that some kind of reconnaissance was necessary. Akan had even volunteered to go before any mention of his name. It was almost too quick, really. But Landau didn’t think on this for the time being. Instead, he simply nodded and tossed Akan a small datapad, “That’s got a map with the approximate location of where Sadrak’s facility is.”

As Akan looked it over, the others seemed to be looking to Landau to say something else. All of them except for Light. After feeling a bit uncomfortable from all of the looks, Landau was relieved and at the same time surprised when Light spoke up. It wasn’t just that she did speak up, but it was also what she said that had him surprised, “I’m going, too.”

Even Akan gave her a sideways glance. She returned the look, and said honestly, “You need someone to watch your back.”

There was more than that. Or rather, there were many layers of meaning to her words. Both Akan and Jen had understood all of those levels. And this got a second surprise, as Jen was the next one to speak, “I’ll go with you.”

Everyone stared at her. Even Light. No one said anything. Voort opened his mouth to object, but could see a look in her eyes that he knew not to fight with. Whatever reason she had for wanting to go, it was obviously a good one. The silence continued for too long, and Landau finally said, “Alright. Well, I’d suggest you all get some sleep before leaving.”

And then, they all went their separate ways. Akan had been the only one to stay seated, studying the datapad and looking distracted. As the Alraxian got to his feet and started to leave, Landau caught up and said, “Akan, hold on a moment.”

“Yeah?” he turned around and took a few steps back into the room. For both of them, it was like old times. For Landau, here he was giving orders to a young kid. Orders that could easily get Akan killed. For Akan...he was back on the other side of it. Receiving orders on a situation that he didn’t like, but knew he had no choice. This former Imperial was so much different than anyone he’d ever met. Landau was so much like the commander Akan had served under during his short time in Spec Force. It was hard for him to accept that he respected this man, yet he did.

Allowing the nostalgic moment to pass, Landau said, “You’ll be alright out there?”

Akan seemed caught off guard by this question, and eventually managed a nod, “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Pausing only a moment, Landau decided it was something that needed to be mentioned. This was just too important to send Akan out and leave this kept in the quiet. So, Landau tried to put it carefully, “Light is worried about you. You should know better than anyone that you can’t be distracted when you go into something like this.”

Sighing, Akan managed a nod, “I know. I’ll be alright.”

Landau allowed himself a smile and patted the Alraxian on the shoulder, “Good. Just make sure to take care of those two. I know Voort wouldn’t be too happy if anything happened to Jen.”

“Jen wouldn’t be too happy either,” Akan replied with a grin on his face. He nodded and started to leave, but stopped before exiting the room. He turned and looked back over to Landau, “Thank you.”

“That’s what friends do,” Landau said, watching the boy leave. As Akan walked through the halls to get some more rest, he couldn’t help but think about that. A friend. Landau didn’t think of him as a Rebel or any label like that. Friend. Akan wondered why he couldn’t dispense with negative labels. Or if they were even negative. Clearing his mind, Akan decided that relaxing would be the best thing to do until they were ready to leave. No going in with extra baggage. Especially not with Jen’s life on the line, too. It was already normal for him to risk two lives with his own, but adding a third into that forced him to focus more and not allow his thoughts to get in the way. Or at least, that was the theory.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 86: Backup*

“You’re sure about this?” asked Voort for the third time. Jen was sitting on the small bed within what was now her quarters in the garrison. Voort was not sitting. He was pacing. And it was getting frustrating. He just couldn’t seem to grasp why she would go with Akan and Light.

For the third time, Jen answered the same way, “Yes, I’m sure.”

Stopping his pacing, Voort turned and looked across the room to her, “Look, Jen, you don’t have to do this to prove yourself.”

“I’m not trying to prove anything!” Jen snapped, not meaning to sound so harsh but getting fed up with having to explain this. She sighed and ran through an old calming technique she’d learned from her mother. After a few seconds, she spoke more calmly, “I need to go. I don’t know why...I just know that I have to go.”

Voort’s mood also lightened some, though he was still looking worried and critical of her. A few moments of silences flowed through the room before he said, “Its Akan, isn’t it?”

Jen wasn’t going to say that. He wasn’t prying into her mind, but at the same time, Jen wasn’t doing a good job of hiding her thoughts. She didn’t really know how to, anyway. Not yet. But that was another matter. Putting her mind in the present, Jen allowed herself a nod, carefully choosing her words, “To a point.”

“To a point?” Voort was getting angry this time. Obviously, she’d chosen the wrong words.

Waving a hand to belay any more words she tried to think how to explain it to him. Voort wasn’t an idiot, and he should be able to understand. Or at least, understand better than Jen did, as she wasn’t completely sure of much of anything at this point. Again, she did her best to choose the correct words, “I care about him very much, yes. But Voort, I love you. There’s a difference,” she paused to look at his reaction. His expression softened. Good. Now that it was explained, she continued, “But there’s more. It’s the more that I just can’t pinpoint. I feel that I need to be there. The only way I’ll know why is if I go.”

That got a short laugh out of Voort, and he stepped over to sit next to Jen on the bed, “Spoken like a Jedi. You have been around that kid too long already. I might have to go, too, just to make sure you don’t get all philosophical and idealistic on me.”

Jen smiled warmly, glad that the tension was finally gone, “That almost sounded like an insult.”

“Take it how you like,” he responded with an innocent shrug.

That got a mischievous grin out of her, “I always do.”

* * * *​
It was dark. There was no sign of the planet’s moon tonight, therefore it was a nice pitch black outside. The dim lights of Haladin did little to assist in seeing, but no one seemed to mind. Just being in the city instead of the caves was enough to make anyone happy. Jen was finally making her way to the hangar. She probably should have gone earlier, but Akan or someone would have contacted her if there was any rush to leave. When she found Light sitting on top of the speeder and looking asleep, Jen wondered if Akan was even there.

A loud curse from inside the speeder echoed through the hangar. Nope. He was inside. At the noise, Light’s ear swivelled towards him. Quietly, and still managing to look asleep, Light said, “Yelling at it won’t fix the drive.”

Jen grinned when she saw Akan’s head pop out and glare at Light for a moment, “Its something I learned from you.”

He then disappeared inside the speeder again. Smiling, Jen walked over into the hangar and was surprised at how intense the interior lights were. Light seemed to hear her footsteps, but didn’t show any other form of acknowledgment of Jen’s presence beyond a slightly raised eyebrow. Standing in front of the speeder and leaning on it a little, Jen asked, “So what did he break?”

“I don’t not break anything!” sounded Akan’s voice from inside the speeder.

A hint of a smile appeared on Light’s face, and her eyes finally opened. She looked to her side at nothing, then back to Jen, “He kicked one of the control panels in there when it wouldn’t turn on.”

“Seems to have worked,” Jen commented, stepping around to look into the speeder out of curiosity. Looking in, she saw Akan looking exhausted and annoyed, sprawled out along the front seats and toying with collection of wires from a half opened panel. She leaned her head in a little, and offered, “You shouldn’t mess with any of those. Check the back panel inside. But open it up all the way.”

Akan had jumped at her sudden voice, nearly ripping a few wires in the process. He stopped what he was doing and looked at Jen, “You mean you know how to fix it?”

She smiled, “As well as you know how to break it.”

His ears flattened at that, but he moved out of the way to give Jen room to sit inside. With a bit of an annoyed tone to his voice, Akan grumbled, “It wasn’t working.”

Jen ignored him, and simply opened up the panel. He’d kicked it hard from the look of the dent. It took her about ten minutes, but she got it working again. Akan said nothing for the entire time, just watching her work. Eventually, he managed a thank you and then climbed out to tell Light to get in. As they piled in and Akan took the pilot’s seat again, Jen noticed something odd.

“No lightsaber?” she asked, pointing to the empty spot on Akan’s belt.

He shook his head as the systems switched on, “Shouldn’t need it. Just in and out.”

That short sentence also implied that he didn’t need the two others, either. But at least he didn’t say that directly. In fact, he hadn’t objected once to them going. Sure, it was in his eyes, but not saying anything meant that it wasn’t that horrible of a prospect to him. It was only a few more moments before Akan had them moving off into the desert. 

One thing he failed to mention to either Light or Jen(though Light knew through the link), was that Voort and Landau would be following them just in case. The two of them were going to wait for a few minutes after the speeder had left and then head out in one of the operational airspeeders. It wasn’t that they expected something to go wrong...just that...well, actually, they did expect something to go wrong. Even Landau did. Having a secondary group in the sky and far enough back to help was just playing it smart. There was a time limit placed on how long the operation would last, and if one of the three didn’t respond by them, Voort and Landau were going to move in and see what they could do.

No one mentioned that the two of them might also need backup.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 87: Simple Traps*

“What’s that?” Jen asked, reaching up from the back of the speeder too look at something on the horizon.

“What’s what?” Akan and Light asked in unison, both surveying the quickly moving ground for whatever it was Jen saw. Light caught it first, making an ‘oh’ noise. Akan had asked again what it was, and Jen responded by forcefully turning his head in the correct direction. With a panicked reflex, Akan immediately stopped the speeder, nearly splattering them all in the process.

After they recovered from the shock of the stop, Akan managed to look sheepish before peering across the horizon. There was something. No, that was a smell. A smell? Like what?

“I smell smoke,” Light said. Ah. Smoke. Wait. Smoke?! This was the middle of the desert. There shouldn’t be anything out here but sand. It’d only been ten minutes, and there was still a good distance to their destination. Akan ruled that out as the source.

Noticing that Akan was looking confused, Jen pointed again. In the moonless night, it was harder to spot the plume of smoke. But the stars hinted at its location. But if the stars were being distorted that much, and he could smell it all this way out...big. Why did he feel like stopping?! There was a job to be done.

“We should check it out,” Light said, completely surprising Akan at the statement.

Jen nodded in agreement, starting to climb out. Akan tried to think up a protest, but just couldn’t manage it. Realizing that the two others were already out and he was alone, Akan climbed out of the speeder and looked off to the smoke. It wasn’t thick where they were, but the smell was really bothering him. Obviously, a downside to strong senses. A serious downside. Again, Akan realized he was being left behind. Both Jen and Light were slowly walking towards the source of the smoke.

A small, flickering orange could be seen probably not too far off. Distance was hard to determine, as the lack of moonlight was causing even his Alraxian vision to be distorted. He could see well enough, but the horizon line simply blended into the sky. Catching up with the two others, Akan couldn’t help but get a bad feeling about all of this. Something was just very wrong about a fire in the middle of the uninhabited desert. Stopping to look was probably stupid. Too late, though. And anyway, it didn’t look like any of that would need to be mentioned to Light or Jen, as the two of them were at least looking cautious.

“What’s a fire like that doing out here?” Jen asked no one in particular after they got a little closer. The heat was an indicator of how close more than anything.

Akan just shrugged, looking over the dying flames and really not able to shake that feeling. He was smart enough to know a trap when he saw one, but this just confused him. It had the general feel of a trap...but seemed far too simple. And there was no other indication of trouble beyond that feeling. No matter how much Akan trusted in the Force and its warnings, he couldn’t believe everything. Sometimes it was just simple paranoia. Sometimes.

“Look,” Light pointed to general area of the ground. It took Akan’s eyes a few moments, but he soon realized that it was an object she was pointing at. Large. And...

“That’s not what I think it is,” he mumbled, slowly stepping towards the object.

Jen gave him a confused look, her eyes not able to distinguish anything through the still thickening smoke, “What you think what is?”

“It looks like one,” Light commented, following Akan and peering towards the thing that Jen couldn’t see.

“What looks like one what?!” Jen asked sounding more annoyed this time. Too much ambiguity was getting confusing. Giving up, she caught up with Akan and stopped dead in her tracks. Well, not dead, but quickly at least. Dead was what they were looking at.

“That’s what,” Akan said after motioning towards the burnt and horrible smelling thing.

Staring for a long moment, Jen finally realized what it was. Her eyes widened and she looked around, “Topsider.”

“There are more,” Light said, looking out across the sands. She was right. Akan looked around to see bodies everywhere. Most in many pieces, all severely burnt. He also noticed a few holes in the ground. More like tunnels, probably. Topsider settlement? It fit the description he’d heard from Landau. The flames were finally dying out now, though there were still scattered pockets of orange glow across the sand.

Kneeling down and looking more carefully at the Topsider’s body, Akan did his best to try to look closer, “Smells horrible,” that got a couple of agreeing noises from Jen and Light, but they were both surprised when he reached over to life up the arm of the corpse. He leaned in to look closer(covering his nose and whimpering slightly), then pulled back and looked around with a much more alert expression on his face. His ears were twitching around and his tail swished slightly.

“Couldn’t be,” Light mumbled, suddenly looking just as alert and obviously responding to some private conversation the two Alraxians were having.

“I know those marks as well as you do,” Akan mumbled, stepping towards another body and giving it the same look.

Light followed him closely, sounding slightly panicked when she spoke, “Coincidence!!”

Once he stood up again, Akan gave her a flat look. That got a sight out of Light, and she nodded, “I know...too good to be true...”

“What the hell is going on?!” Jen finally growled, getting far too annoyed with being left out. It was worse than hearing only one side of a comm conversation and knowing you were being talked about on the other end. Akan didn’t seem to hear her, as he was quickly walking past her, grabbing her arm and dragging her with him. Light was keeping up, and Akan eventually let go of Jen’s arm when she pulled away and found herself running along side him. Running to keep up with his fast walking. 

“What is it, Akan?” she asked again, grabbing his arm to get some form of attention beyond being dragged off.

She was looking back to the corpse covered sand behind them when he just said, “I know a trap when I see one. I should just listen to my instincts and not stop. I knew there was something wrong here.”

“What are you talking about?!” this time, Jen grabbed him and forced him to stop. This had Light slam into him, as she was looking off in other directions and wasn’t paying attention. After an apology and some whimpering, Jen grabbed Akan’s shoulders and stared up straight into his eyes, “Tell me what the is going on!”

“The Darks were here,” he said, pulling away and looking nervous, “Recently. Very recently. Probably not far away, and probably on their way back now.”

“You catch on quick!” sounded a voice from back towards the flames. Akan knew his own voice when he heard it, and couldn’t help but sight at the idiotic cliche. So typical of himself. Turning and sending a bored look, Akan looked over towards his Dark.

With a bored tone to his voice, Akan said, “You realize that its much more effective to just sneak up and knock me out. Showing off only causes you problems.”

“Actually,” said a second voice, which Akan identified as Dark, from behind them. He turned to see her standing between them and the speeder, smirking, “This was your chance to show intelligence and surrender. The Topsiders were just there and we were bored.”

Light, Jen, and Akan took time to exchange a series of looks. It was more for effect, showing that they could look just as foolish if they tried. And somehow, it was funny. What surprised all of them was that Light was the one to step forward and speak up, “We’ve decided that we think you should surrender first.”

Not how Akan would have said it, but the general idea was right. Taunting. Revenge. Making fools of one self for no other reason than some strange feeling right before you knew you were likely to get killed. A sound behind them signaled them all to Akan’s Dark moving. In that quick instance, it seemed like a thousand things occurred at once. At hearing the movement, the three of them turned to react, all three drawing blasters and readying them. However, none of them were able to fire. By the time Akan had reached up with his weapon and started to squeeze the trigger, he realized the mistake of turning. The realization came in the form of a hard hit to the back of the head, sending him to the ground in a daze. A second later, Dark got her hands around Jen and yanked the blaster away while starting to drag the struggling woman off. It was a fight Jen knew she couldn’t win, but she fought it anyway. The fight resulted in her being knocked unconscious, of course. Last, Light’s blaster was torn from her hands by Akan’s Dark, who then jammed a fist into her face an picked her up in one swift and awkward motion.

By the time Akan sat up again, ready to fight again, he was alone. He must have been out for at least a few minutes...or at least close to being unconscious. More had happened...that was too quick. How could he have been so stupid? Simple traps are the best. And that one was so simple that it had been sprung and succeeded in a matter of seconds. Not even a fight. Getting to his feet, Akan looked towards where Sadrak’s facility was. Off towards where the Darks had to be going. He would have started that direction right away if Akan hadn’t found the drive system in the speeder was destroyed.

Typical. All that flash and cliched activity was just to distract them. Akan kicked himself for underestimating the Darks. Sighing, he started on that long walk that would have to be made towards the facility. Hopefully, he was going the right direction. There wasn’t much other choice. But then there was a sound. Behind and above him. Of course!

Turning around, Akan watched the old model airspeeder set down. Before it had even set down, Voort was climbing out of one side and marching over to the Alraxian. A look of anger in his eyes, he growled, “What happened?! Where’s Jen?!”

Akan then made the decision to never return to the planet ever again. In fact, sand was going to be off limits for the next few millennia also. This damn place drove everyone crazy one way or another.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 88: Punishments*

When Jen opened her eyes to a blurry haze, she couldn’t help but notice the forceful pressure all around. It wasn’t a physical pressure, and that made it odd for the first few moments as her mind regained consciousness. Once her mind had slowly began its recovery, Jen found herself wishing the pressure was physical. Feeling it on the inside hurt in more than one way, and none of them were pleasant to think about. But her memories were catching up with her, and Jen was no longer worrying about the pressure and instead piecing together where she was.

Floor. Start simply. Her eyes focused and she took in the floor. Strange. She could see herself. It was a well polished golden-like color that reflected like a perfect mirror. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity(though it had barely been a week) she saw herself. Jen first noticed that her once-tidy blonde hair was currently a mess, and also much closer to the color of the sand. Probably because there was a good amount of sand in it. She’d given up on trying to pick it out days ago. A few more moments were spent as she look into her own eyes. The usual blue seemed paler. Or maybe that was because of the bruises and scratches. How that made sense, Jen didn’t know, but there sure were a large amount of marks across her face. Some very definitely more recent than others.

And then the pressure seemed to increase. Cringing, Jen found her mind tracing it to a source. Eyes following her brain’s orders, Jen slowly looked up. It did not take long before she was taking in the view of a large, black robe. Following it up all the way, Jen noticed that she couldn’t actually any face within the heavy black hood. All black. Typical. One day someone would have to teach these self proclaimed evil dictators that other colors might just conceal them better. Really, why not a light brown robe? It would blend perfectly with the sand, while that black would stick out like the orange flight suits that New Republic pilots wore. At least those were so bright because they were designed to assist in being seen. But really, shouldn’t these ‘evil’ people try not to be seen? One day, she’d ask Voort.

“Bring the child before me.”

The voice had definitely come from the hooded figure, though it was less a voice and more a sound. The distinction between the two Jen would never be able to explain, but for the first time she truly knew there was one. Hearing a short amount of movement and then an ‘oof’ noise to her left, Jen turned to look. There she saw Light, exhausted and beaten. It was a strange look on an Alraxian, and one that only could result from not having remorphed any wounds. Jen didn’t completely understand all of the details, but seeing a long scar across Light’s face was worrying enough. The young Alraxian just stared at the ground as a figure kicked her forward more.

After a short silence, the swishing of robes drew Jen’s attention back to the robed figure(who she assumed was Sadrak). The figure had half raised an arm, still concealed within the robe so that it only looked like a creature attempting to raise a small wing and failing. The signal was not wholly unnoticed, and Jen watched as two humanoid figures picked Light up and dragged her to her feet and in front of the robed figure. The two new creatures were humanoid enough, though there was one noticeable difference about them. They had four arms. The lower two arms looked misshapen in places, but were still strong enough to hold up Light.

The Alraxian slowly lifted her head, staring into the black and empty looking hood. Jen could not tell if Light discovered anything new, though, and found herself wondering if anyone cared she was even there. Though being ignored at this point was not altogether a bad thing. Without any warning, there was a sudden flash of movement. It was mixed with a cry of pain from Light, and the only way that Jen had any idea what had happened was from looking to Light. She no longer had a large portion of her right shoulder. Something had simply cut it off. This was morphed back instinctively, and got a short, although very disturbing, laugh from the robed figure.

Without a word or even a signal, Light was thrown back to the ground next to Jen. The two four-armed humanoids looked to the robed figure, and Jen noticed that one of them held a large piece of flesh in a hand. Light’s shoulder...Bowing, the two strange creatures turned and left the large chamber. It was the first time she’d looked across the huge domed room. Only the floor was reflective. The walls were an odd obsidian color, with the domed roof made of the same material. Whatever it was, it emitted an odd feeling.

“Get up.”

Somehow, Jen knew that those words were directed at her. She did not comply with the request, wanting to show any kind of defiance she could to him. But this didn’t matter, as a single strong hand grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her to her feet. By now, Jen knew that clawed grip. Dark. Jen had wondered if that thing was still around. Thing? No, it was part of Shadow...but still. So now forced to stand, though no closer to the robed figure, Jen stared at the black mass. No new insights.

“You were quiet adept in eluding capture.”

Somehow, that felt like a question. The kind of question that answering would likely get oneself killed. So, Jen simply kept her mouth shut and payed attention to the absolute lack of movement in that robe. Perhaps he wasn’t speaking at all? But no, her ears were definitely receiving those sounds from him. Had to be. At the same time, though, she wasn’t in the mood to accept more mystical answers. There were enough of those floating around everywhere on this planet for her liking.

The voice itself had seemed to pause at her thoughts, and continued on when her train of thought had slowed, “You will answer my questions. You are Jen Zaarin of Alderaan?”

At first, Jen decided not to answer and be difficult. This got her a tight squeeze from Dark, with the added effect of claws touching her neck in just that way to show they could easily go much much deeper without killing her. So, Jen gave in and spoke(as nodding would probably hurt), “Yes.”

The figure did not take any time to think on this, simply stating another question the second she’d finished with her answer, “You feel drawn to this place, do you not?”

A pause. A long one. Jen wasn’t sure what kind of question that was. Obviously, he was leading her to some point and just toying with her on the way. But still...she’d not thought about it before, and she did feel drawn to the desert. No one place in particular. Well, no...yes. Yes she did. Here. This was the right place. Why, though? That much did not make sense, though she was surprised to find herself answering already, “Yes.”

That’s when the robe moved slightly, and Jen felt like she was being looked...through. It lasted only a matter of seconds before Dark pulled her around and started taking her to a small opening off on the other side of the room. So this was over. Jen realized that it was not over once they reached the small door.

“You will return once they are placed within the cells. It is time to discuss your breeding.”

Breeding?! What was he talking about? When they exited the room to a long corridor, Jen heard a low growl from Dark. That got a smile from the woman. So he wasn’t speaking to Jen at all. But why was Dark so angry? Tension between them...interesting. As Dark forced her along the corridor, Jen was glad to see Light not far ahead. Light was being held tightly by Akan’s Dark, who stood there looking back with a curious expression. That looked odd on the face she had gotten used to seeing anger on.

No words were exchanged between anyone as Jen was dragged along for a long distance. But then, Akan’s Dark spoke up, speaking as if it was only he and Dark in the room, “What is it? I have done nothing to anger you.”

Dark stopped, tossed Jen against the wall hard and stepped over to her Akan. When Jen’s head stopped spinning, she looked over to see Dark holding up her pet Akan by the neck against the wall. She was growling and looking ready to murder. In a cold as ice voice, she spoke, “Your incompetence has brought its punishment. And it is not yours. I should kill you where you are.”

“But then you would be useless to him,” Akan’s Dark said simply, not even reacting to the tightening hand around his neck. After a moment, Dark simply let go of him, letting him drop.

As she stepped over to force Jen to her feet again, Dark said to her Akan, “I am not breeding stock for him to toy with.”

Interesting. Jen couldn’t help but notice a triumphant smile tugging at the face of Akan’s Dark as she was forced down the corridor again by a very angry Dark.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 89: Long Nights*

“What is wrong with you?” Voort growled, pointing accusingly at Akan as Landau climbed out of the airspeeder with a worried look on his face, “Why did you let them take her?!”

“I didn’t let anyone take either of them!” Akan snapped back, not backing down at this point. The argument had only lasted a couple of minutes, but tempers had already risen dangerously high. Neither of them seemed to care about what was ‘right’ or ‘good’ to do, simply letting anger out in a way that both of them knew was not a good idea.

Voort took a strong step forward, closing the gap between the two of them even more, “You shouldn’t have stopped! Anyone could tell that was a trap!”

“Well, I’m sorry your great mind wasn’t with us,” commented Akan, almost offhand and not really even speaking to Voort at this point.

Landau was trying to get close enough to pull the two of tem apart, knowing in a second where it was going. He was, however, too late. Akan’s sarcastic comment was enough to get a curse out of Voort, followed by a strong punch. It wasn’t any trouble for Akan to catch Voort’s fist, grabbing the man’s wrist and gripping tightly, allowing the threat of claws digging in to be easily seen. Neither of them moved, and Akan said quietly, “I did what I could to protect both of them.”

“Its not your job to protect!” Voort growled, wrenching his hand out from Akan’s grip and swinging at the Alraxian again. Though neither of them were trained in the intricacies of hand-to-hand combat, it was obvious that Voort’s rudimentary training was the straightforward Imperial approach of ‘hit hard’. This was no trouble for Akan’s quick moving and still very strong Alraxian body to dodge, though this time he decided that Voort needed some sense knocked into him. Literally.

The sense came in the form of Akan’s leg, which he swept low to take Voort’s feet out from under him and drop the man to the ground. He may not have been trained for this kind of fighting, but Voort was no fool. He jumped over Akan’s leg, and upon landing(albeit roughly) swung another hard punch at the Alraxian’s face. Having not yet gotten to the point of actually wanting to injure Voort, Akan was not reacting as well as he could have been. The consequence of this was Voort’s fist finding his jaw, and sending the Alraxian to the ground on his backside. Alright. That was it. With a low and dangerous growl, Akan jumped to his feet and dove at that damn Imperial scum.

He did not, however, reach Voort. A blaster shot rang out suddenly, and the sand exploded in front of Akan, stopping him in his tracks. Both of them looked to the source, seeing Landau looking extremely annoyed. In an angry voice that was very unlike anything Akan had ever heard from Landau, the man snapped at the two of them, “Cut it out! You’re acting like a pair of children!”

Neither of them pointed out that at least one of them was a child. Landau knew this and nitpicking things like that was probably not a good idea when the man was aiming a blaster at both of them.

“Akan, you still have a job to do,” Landau continued, sounding more like an Imperial officer than ever before, “Get yourself together and go finish your task. You will simply have to bring Jen and Light back with you.”

Another technicality was not point out. This time, it was the fact that there was a very large chance that Jen and Light would not be at that facility. But again, this didn’t seem like a good idea.

Landau continued without missing a beat, his looking turning to a glare as he watched the young Alraxian, “Do you understand?”

A question. Answer it. Akan didn’t nod, but instead said in a voice he’d not used in a long time, “Yes, sir.”

Without another word, he ran off into the desert. No matter how stupid it seemed, there wasn’t much of another choice. He wasn’t going to get a lift on that airspeeder after that, and arguing was no longer an option. Hopefully it wouldn’t take too long.

Landau then holstered his blaster and stepped over to Voort. His voice was only slightly calmer, “This is why relationships are discouraged among the military.”

Those words seemed to have a profound effect on Voort, and he found himself finally calming. He nodded, and looked off towards Akan who was already a good distance away, “He’s always provoking me.”

“Yes,” Landau just nodded as he started back to the airspeeder, “And he’s also young. You should know well enough by now that you should set an example for the younger troops and be above such actions.”

Again, Voort nodded, “I know. Too much just seems to be happening.”

“That’s not a good excuse,” Landau said flatly. He then stopped his walk and turned to stare straight into Voort’s grey eyes, “You think you’re the only one that cares about Jen? You think you’re the only one she cares about? We all care about her. In fact, we all care about you. Even Akan does, he’s just in a strange position to accept either of us as allies. Don’t you dare ever think that you’re the only one that cares about her. Look at her and Akan.”

Landau paused to let Voort think about it. In a way, this was not exactly a smart thing, as Voort could easily get the wrong idea of what his friend was saying. But Voort did stop to think about it, forcing his jealousy aside to think as rationally as was possible. It was only a few moments before Landau spoke up again, “They are very close. But not how you think they are. Don’t let that destroy your judgement, and don’t even think of acting like you just did again.”

As the two of them climbed back into the airspeeder, Voort found his mind was working things out without notifying him. He hadn’t wanted to get so angry with Akan, but something about how the kid acted just infuriated Voort sometimes. Akan was trying to provoke him, whether conscious or not. That boy still held some stupid resentment, and now Voort was letting it cloud his judgement, too. That was the moment that Voort joined the ranks of the many who had sworn to never return to this horrible planet. The desolation and emptiness seemed to pick at your every being whether you liked it or not.

* * * *​ 
It took Akan about half an hour to find the facility. Obviously, they’d been much closer than he’d originally expected. From what he could see, it was mostly under the sand. One large entrance arched up out of the ground like an oddly shaped dune, and that was where Akan started making his way towards. As he approached, it became obvious that the other dunes, in fact, likely all the sand, was just a thin layer in this place. The facility below ground probably spanned a large distance, and some of the dunes were too rounded to be natural. Even the ground felt harder, and Akan knew by now the difference between walking on durasteel and the sandy ground.

Entering the dimly lit entrance, Akan found it worrying that it was in fact, wide open. No hatch or door. Just an opening. That was a dangerous lack of security. Either he was expected(which wouldn’t be surprising) or they simply didn’t have to worry about people wandering in(which was also very likely). Probably both. Either way, it didn’t make him feel any better. After a short walk down some steep stairs, Akan found himself at a small hallway that extended for a long direction both to his left and right. When he reached out with the Force to try to find the ‘right’ way, he was met with a heavy pressure like a smack in the skull. Retreating back into his mind, Akan wondered if that was from the link or something else. Strange that he couldn’t tell at this point. Either way, if he was hidden before, something knew that he was here now. Damn.

Before deciding which direction to go, Akan heard a noise from the left corridor. Risking only a short glance before ducking back, he caught sight of a dirty robed humanoid figure. The robes covered most all of the figure except for the feet, which were in sandals. Hmm...only one person. It was just too perfect. So perfect that Akan worried for those long moments while the footsteps grew closer and closer. When they reached close enough, Akan spun around the corner, fist swinging hard. He connected with a nose, and got a loud ‘oof!’ noise out of the figure before it dropped to the floor with a heavy thud. The sound echoed for a second longer than Akan was comfortable with, and he quickly dragged the body up to the stairwell and disrobed it. To his surprise, he found that the figure was perfectly human looking except for the fact that it had four arms. Two of the arms didn’t look right, either. The color and shape were a bit...wrong. Somehow, that did not bode well.

No time for this, though. That was one thing to remember, though. He hid the body in a dark corner as best as was possible and then wrapped the horrible smelling robe around him. Pulling the hood up, Akan truly hoped that no one would pay any attention to his boots. Or, hopefully, sandals weren’t standard issue and this particular...thing, was an oddity. Doubtful, though. Happy with the simple disguise, Akan then slipped out into that main corridor. By process of elimination, Akan went the direction that the thing had not come from. How this process of elimination worked was anyone’s guess, but at least he’d made a decision. As he walked through a series of corridors, remembering the path perfectly so he wouldn’t get lost on the way out, Akan noticed that he was definitely following something.

A feeling. A...no, the link. That had to be it. Tracing it through the corridors as it got just slightly stronger with his approach. He did not know that this was also because Light was awakening from unconsciousness, but that didn’t matter. Rounding one more corner, Akan got a surprise. Right there, just a few paces away and getting ready to walk past him, were the two Darks. And even better, they were dragging Jen and Light along with them. Akan did have time to note that his Dark looked strangely happy, while Shadow’s had an extremely angered look on her face. The two(or rather, four) of them plowed past Akan without a word. Ah! He’d almost forgotten about the robe he was wearing. So it was working.

Then something in his mind clicked. Merge. Back to one. How again? Best when unconscious...simply step in. Like morphing. The bodies should accept each other as they’re from the same source. It isn’t difficult as long as the minds accepted each other as one. This only became a problem if too many decisions were made to make each mind independent. Light’s explanation passed through Akan’s mind in that quick second, and he reacted without realizing what he’d done.

He spun around as the Dark’s moved past him, and planted an extremely heavy blow to the back of his Dark’s head. A sound of pain was heard before he dropped Light and collapsed to the floor. Akan did his best to ignore the phantom pain on his own skull, and also tried to ignore the surprised Dark. She looked over her shoulder with a shocked expression in time to see it was already too late. No matter how strange and awkward it seemed, Akan fell into himself. A myriad of thoughts, feelings, and emotions ran through his body in that second, and for a short while he didn’t even realize where he was. Two different sets of memories collided with each other, with details filling themselves in. The minds did not fight one another, and in that short time it took for thing to mesh together, Akan managed a grin. No, a smile. He was whole again, literally.

Dark did nothing as he stood up and looked straight at her. The robe he’d warn had been discarded, and standing before her was the true Akan in his morphsuit. He managed a smile, and said simply, “You still like me now, don’t you?”

That got a reaction from Dark. She growled, dropped a very surprised Jen, and charged him. Akan easily dodged the two quick strikes. The third, though, caught him in the chest and knocked the wind out of him. Stumbling back, Akan instinctively reached for the lightsaber at his belt. Instead, he found nothing. Why had he left that behind?! So instead, he drew his blaster and fired off a shot at Dark. She smacked his hand hard, knocking the weapon off against the wall and then followed up with a strong kick to his face. As his jaw made a disturbingly loud crack, Akan found that he was soon staring straight up at the ceiling. He had expected to be reacting to a pounce from Dark. In fact, Dark had been expecting the same thing.

But something else happened. A strong pressure grew. All four of them knew what it was, and Jen was just getting to her feet only to fall back to her knees. It hurt so much! Almost like someone was squeezing their brains from the inside out...if that made any sense. It lasted long enough that all of them knew a presence had arrived. When the feeling faded, all of them were just feeling too weak to attempt any kind of retaliation against the fifth person to enter the corridor. The black robed figure seemed to watch them all silently for a long while, before speaking in that horrible non-voice.

“You have failed in a task as simple as escorting two captives, animal. Perhaps you are not even worthy of a continued line. I fear they would all be as weak as you.”

Dark managed a weak, but still angered, growl. Light, hearing this mention of breeding for the first time, seemed to react with a strange panic that all of them could see easily. None of them said anything, though. Not that they could have if they wanted to. Jen felt that the eyes within the robe(if there were any) had landed on her as the voice went on.

“It is time to test and see if you truly are what I believe you to be.”

A few moments later, a large group of those strange humanoids were all around, picking them up and holding them firmly to avoid any struggle. As they were dragged away to a distant room, they all heard the voice just as clearly as before.

“Now go and face your greatest fears. Perhaps afterwards, we will discuss your fates.”


----------



## Hammerhead

I just wanted to chime in and say your story hour is pretty cool. I'm really enjoying it; go Voort!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 90: Fear*

It was dark. Very dark. So dark, in fact, that the word did not convey the level of darkness correctly. Akan could not even seen the fringe of hair over his face. He could feel the hair resting on his nose and cheek annoyingly, but could not actually see it. Such a negligible distance and he still couldn’t see anything but black. Not even fluctuations in the black like when one closed their eyes. Just black. It was mentally terrifying, yet the sound of movements was helpful. At least they lessened the lonely feelings.

Probably directly across from him, there was a constant, low growling noise. That would be Dark. One. Movement to his...left? Or was the right? Think! Eyes are still looking forward so that’s definitely right. But what is forward when everything’s black? Who cares! Its left for now. Or was it right...? The movement shuffled again. Left. Definitely left.

“Who is that?” he asked to nothing, not even hearing an echo. Instead, his voice sounded so flat that Akan barely recognized it.

“Akan? Where are you?” that was...Jen’s voice. Had to be. There was another sound from behind him, a slow and slightly shaking breathing. That had to be Light. Half of the way to identify this was through the link, though it was almost as strong as with Dark, making it strangely confusing. It had been enough to separate thoughts that were his Dark’s from his own, but at least that was finally settling into one telling of two events...or...two tellings of...no. No. Do not think of that again. Accept and ignore it.

Akan turned to look towards where he thought he heard Jen’s voice. Other than the sound of his feet moving, he couldn’t tell that he had moved at all. Sounding just as disoriented as he felt, Akan said, “Um...here. Not sure where that is but...I’m here.”

“I think I’ve found a wall,” Jen responded after a few moments.

That confused Akan a little more than he already was, “What do you mean, you think you’ve found a wall?”

“It means that I’m not going to walk along this until it stops being a wall and fall on my backside,” Jen said quickly.

That got a short laugh out of Akan, “Right,” he paused, spun around to look towards the quietly breathing noise ‘behind’ him, “Light? You alive?”

“...‘m here...” sounded her answer, which would have been barely audible if not for that awkward way that sounded traveled without traveling.

“Dark?” Akan asked, not needing to but deciding it was worth it anyway. The growling hadn’t stopped, but simply got a little louder. It was probably the best answer he’d get out of her for now. Alright. So from the sound of it, he was in the center of a room that just might have one wall. Great, “Jen, can you keep talking?”

“About what?” she asked idly.

Akan focused on the sound and carefully walked towards her, “Anything. Just don’t stop talking.”

“Um...well...” Jen continued to make sounds like that, but at least it was something. Akan was finding it slightly difficult to walk without seeing his feet, and nearly tripped a couple of times. By the time Jen had started babbling on about nothing in particular, Akan found a something. Walking with his hand out in front of him had been smart, mainly because it meant he didn’t slam into anything and surprise himself. But it soon because obvious that there might have been a better idea.

“...and it was a strange red color. I’m not really sure why it was — mmph! Nn! Mmphff!” Jen’s talking was cut off when Akan’s hand nearly plowed through her. He stopped in surprise at running into something, but for some reason didn’t move his hand from her face. So, muffled, Jen said, “Moo oor and.”

“What?” Akan was even more confused by that, but then his mind caught up and he quickly did as she ordered. Moving his hand. He took a careful step forward and to the left so as not to walk into her, and then reached out again. Akan was relieved when his hand found a cold metal instead of Jen again. There were worse places he could have put his hand than her face, and no matter the excuse about the dark, he knew it would never be something he’d live down.

“What is this?” Jen finally asked, her voice lower as if she was trying to hide her words from Dark. 

Akan shrugged. It took him a moment to realize that even he could barely tell he’d done that, and found his voice again, “I don’t know...”

“Face your greatest fears,” Light’s voice surprised Akan, as she’d been so silent that he’d not expected her to say anything else. None of them responded to this, but it wasn’t that they didn’t try. Instead, something seemed to hit them. Not as much a literal hit as a mental one, though just as strong. Jen sank to the floor, her eyes closing but that doing nothing to stop the constant flow of images through her mind. Alderaan. Over and over she watched that holovid of the planet’s destruction. Repeating again and again and again. Endlessly intertwining with flashes of her family, all dead because of that one act. One order. Sometimes, other images would find their way in. Images she didn’t recognize, but equally disturbing. The most common was Landau, with a shocked look on his face. But it was gone as quickly as it had come, and she found that she was clinging to herself to try to shake off the images. Make them go away.

The others had similar experiences, though different enough in each case to be equally tormenting. Light saw the Darkwing, replaying the death of that young child in her hands. She saw what could happen if the Darkwing returned, images that were unimaginable in their grotesque and painful details. She also saw, interestingly enough, all of Dark’s deeds. Watching the slaughter of the hundreds of Topsiders. Dark saw the opposite, all of Light’s actions. It was odd that kindness could hurt someone in such a way, but Dark found herself impossibly trapped in hatred for the things she was seeing that it was impossibly horrible to watch them continue. The images that played through Akan’s mind were nothing new to him. He watched Mare die again and again, just as he replayed in his mind before falling asleep, and just as he dreamed of it nearly every single night. Yet despite all of this, it still haunted him. To make matters worse, he saw happier images of the two of them together, only to be torn apart by watching her X-Wing burst into flames.

How long this lasted, none of them could tell. It could have been only a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity. When Akan’s view of the world around him returned to the pitch black nothing, he was amazed to find himself relieved. But this was a tactic of breaking that was simple. Allow a brief period for the subjects to recover, and then attack again. How long would they have? Or would he have? From the sounds of it, the others were still seeing things. Growls and curses from Dark’s direction and whimpering noises and soft cries of pain from Light. Next to him, Akan noticed that Jen had found his arm. Her arms clung to him tightly, and her nails dug into the morphsuit and his arm like claws as she wept and tried to force the images away. But Akan noticed that Jen seemed to calm slowly, her grip on his arm loosening but not going away.

It was a few careful moments before he felt something on his shoulder. When he felt his shoulder getting wet, Akan assumed it was Jen’s face. Not sure what to do, he simply sat there and tried to ignore the fact that he wished he had a shoulder to collapse on. When he spoke, he found himself saying words that he didn’t even believe, “Its alright...its over...don’t think about it...”

“Why do this to us?!” Jen asked into his shoulder. Well, more demanding than asking, but the idea was still there. He had been about to say something equally cliched, but there was a rather loud cry from Dark’s direction. That silenced all of them, especially that there was a scratching noise to accompany the newfound silence.

In a forced, and hate-filled voice, Dark said, “Damn you all...I don’t deserve to be with you weak fools!”

“You’re just as vulnerable,” Akan said, not realizing he’d opened his mouth until it was too late.

Surprisingly, Dark didn’t launch at this insult to kill him. Instead, she simply growled dangerously without another word. It was Jen who spoke next, whispering in hopes that only Akan would hear, “They...they should be like you, shouldn’t they?”

“Like me?” Akan asked, raising an eyebrow that no one could see. Distantly, he was still worrying about the lack of anything and wondering if more torture was waiting them in a few minutes or seconds.

“Whole,” Jen clarified. It then made sense to him, and he nodded. Though she couldn’t see it, Jen could feel the movement, so he figured that words were necessary at this point. Or at least, not to Jen.

He only allowed himself a couple of seconds to compose his thoughts before speaking out louder, “You two can’t keep this up.”

Interestingly enough, this got a growl from both Light and Dark, though Light’s was much less intimidating. He tried again, but this time recieved silence as a response. There wasn’t a chance to push the subject, as a moment later the images returned to all of them. This time though, they were more graphic, painful, and forceful. Akan did not handle them as well as he had before. It was not hard to break the mind of someone who was tearing themselves apart on their own. Though intensified for all of them, it seemed to end sooner than before. Seemed to, at least. Still, time was impossible to tell.

Akan found that he was shaking slightly, hating the images burned in his eyes from the back nothing. As they all slowly recovered from the second assault, Jen found herself feeling strange. It was impossible to describe what was strange, but there was something off. Wrong. Different. Still clinging to Akan, she mumbled a few words that didn’t really make any sense even to her.

Somehow, Akan composed himself and forced the shaking to stop. Inside, he was still losing it, but at least he was showing a stronger ‘side’ to help Jen. Quietly, and stuttering slightly while trying to keep his voice steady, Akan said to her, “It’ll be alright...we’ll get out of here...just hold on a little longer...we’ll get out...”

She didn’t respond. But again, there wasn’t much time before they lapsed into the past and the future and the present all at once. Again and again, seemingly endlessly the cycle continued. Each time, the short pause in the anguish took up seemingly less and less time. It was possible that it was the exact same length of time, only they continued to see the images afterwards for longer periods. Either way, it didn’t change the overall effect. How many times this cycle repeated, they didn’t know. Akan had lost count after seven. Jen lost count after nine. Light hadn’t even been counting, just trying to avoid the inevitable truth of needing to merge with her Dark. This fact was becoming even more torturous than the images. To willingly become one with everything that was wrong with her! And to have no choice! NO! There was a choice! She didn’t have to, and she wouldn’t! Light would not have found it ironic or even funny to know that Dark’s thoughts were similar. Dark, however, was only tempted by the power. Half a living being was just that. Half. Akan had proved to her that being whole was easily stronger. But still...that weak Light would only slow her down.

And then, a light appeared. It was from the center of the square room they sat in. Light was not far at all from Akan, and Dark was directly across from her. Jen clung tightly to him still, though she was looking up towards the newfound light. The room was a small box, probably no larger than fifteen by fifteen meters. On Dark’s side, there were deep claw marks along the walls and ground, along with slight hints at blue blood. Light’s side was more simple. She was curled up against the wall, tail flicking around with no traces of movement other than her tail and her shaking body. Akan and Jen were pretty much in similar shape to Light, though they had been lucky enough to have physical proof of not being alone in the room.

Slowly and carefully, they all stood up. Dark was the only one without shaking feet, but that was probably from force of will more than anything. And maybe the fact that her claws were dug into the wall still. Light inched her way closer to Akan and Jen, not liking how close she’d ended up to her Dark. Both Jen and Akan had managed to steady themselves on their feet without too much trouble. Images still flashed through all of their mind’s occasionally, but thankfully they did not have the same powerful effect as before. And then a door opened. The dark robed figure stood there blocking any exit, looking out from the empty looking hood at the mall.

“See...” Akan said shakily to Jen, “Told you we’d get out of here.”

Jen smiled weakly, and then surprised him. It took her a moment, but she stood up on her toes and kissed him gently on the lips. Setting back down on her feet, she said, “Thank you.”

Even if Akan had been given time to figure out what had just happened, he wouldn’t have succeeded. So perhaps it was a good thing that the dark figure stepped away and many of those four armed monstrosities plowed in to drag them off somewhere else. All of them were too weak to fight back, and were easy to pull down the corridors to wherever it was. And then they were dumped into a small, circular room. No. They all weren’t. Only the Alraxians were. Akan had tried to get to his feet to protest this, but the door had slid closed and he simply fell against it and sighed. 

Jen was carried back to that large, domed room. When she was dropped to the floor in front of the robed figure, she looked up to try to see some kind of detail. Still none. It was driving her mad. The robes were as black as that room had been!

“You feel that...don’t you?”

Feel what?! Jen would have asked that if she could have found her voice. Somehow, she couldn’t speak, though. Her mouth would barely even open. So she was forced to think on those words. Feel that? Feel what...? Jen did notice that something was odd. Almost a split of sorts within her mind. No, not a split. That was more what Akan and Shadow had experienced. This was fundamentally different on a thousand levels. But there was something...something unique. Yes, unique was the best word for it.

“Soon you will be ready.”

And then, she finally saw into that robe. One arm reached out, and a strange hand extended out from the confines of the black. The hand was three fingered and clawed, with rotting greenish colored flesh covering it. The wrist and hand were so thing that it worried her, and she suddenly started wondering if this really was Sadrak. But if not him, then who was it they’d chased all the way out here?! What was it? She was left with this question when a heavy hand of the Force hit her like a wall, dropping her into the most peaceful black Jen had experienced in what seemed like an eternity.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Hammerhead said:
			
		

> I just wanted to chime in and say your story hour is pretty cool. I'm really enjoying it; go Voort!



 Thanks!

But...

...Go Voort?! Bah, you people! What is it about Voort that makes so many people like him? Funny, I didn't like him that much at all during the game itself, but now I'm finding he's great. Not sure WHY though. Thinking about it, don't even know why I(or Akan for that matter) didn't like him in the first place...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 91: Two as One*

The three Alraxians were still recovering from the constant assaults they had endured for however long it had been. They all looked almost as bad as they felt. Dark was slumped back against one wall in the circular room, her eyes wide open and staring at the two others. She couldn’t seem to gather the strength to even glare at them anymore, and simply sat there, wings flattened and generally broken. How had that occurred so easily? Nothing had been done to her and yet her body was exhausted! That bastard! Her Akan...any Akan deserved punishment! Damn them all! She should have simply killed Him when she’d had the chance.

Sitting directly across from Dark was Light. It was slightly amusing to see them keeping as far from each other as possible. Or rather, it would have been if amusement was possible at this point. Light had found a comfortable spot against the wall and curled up tightly, tail flicking slightly every few moments. It wasn’t out of annoyance as much as fear. All of those things she’d been shown could have been easily ignored except for one. Just one stayed with her each time. It was that child. The small child in the Darkwing’s hands that she’d murdered. Somehow nothing else mattered except that child. Not far from Light, sitting off to her left, was Akan. He was sitting in a fairly casual way with his back to the wall, carefully watching these two Shadows. It was interesting how similar they were, yet so completely different. Right here in front of his eyes was that struggle that everyone held within themselves between right and wrong. Yet here, it was personified. It was unreal, but he allowed himself to focus on it anyway. It distracted his mind. Pulled the thoughts away from that avenue they kept trying to take.

Closing his eyes a moment, Akan knew that the fight was pointless. How was he supposed to let go? How was anyone expected to move on? Sure, you could bury it and hide away for years, but eventually it would catch up and you’d have to confront it. But how? When there’d been no chance to say goodbye. When, despite the risks that all knew were there, it was your own fault? Killing a faceless enemy was easy. He was the enemy. He was evil, cruel, horrible. He never should have lived and you were doing the galaxy a favor by killing him. But being responsible for the death of one on your own side? One of those people that you knew were good, righteous, and fighting for the right thing. These people doing everything they could to do what was right, and you were right there helping them. And then, they die because of you. Does that make you the enemy, too? The evil? There’s no grey area...you’re either one or the other. And the good would never kill their friends and allies.

When Akan’s eyes opened again, he looked to Dark again. She caught his eye, and they watched each other for a long time. It was strange to see Shadow in her, but he did. Only short flicks of her in the eyes. It was the way Dark was watching him. That cold, analyzing stare hiding behind it a thousand things that even she didn’t understand. It was amazing to see that Dark was even throwing out a heavy barrier to hide a confused interior. Even she didn’t understand who she was. And she never would. Not like that. Light wouldn’t either. Akan could see that more than anyone. And that’s why he found his voice and spoke.

“You two can’t go on like this.”

That was all he needed to say. It got both of the other’s attention, but not on him. On each other. Dark growled a weak ‘no’, but there was no sound from Light at all. Or at least, not until she looked to Akan and saw the serious look on his face. Something about that proved to her that no matter how much she feared her Dark, she was nothing without it.

“He’s right,” she said quietly, sitting up some and trying to look less afraid than she really was.

Dark managed a glare, pulling back and barring her teeth, “Never.”

This was going to go on for a long time. All of them knew it. Two of them, however, knew that there was a way to change the outcome. Light was the first one to recognize it, obviously knowing herself better than Akan did. In the same calm voice, she just said, “You need strength. You are weak now.”

Again, Dark glared, “You are weak!”

“Yes, I am,” Light said in that matter of fact tone that could drive anyone in the galaxy crazy, “I’m just as weak as you are. But that could be different...”

The way she trailed off was perfect. It was enough to catch Dark’s attention. The one thing she wanted. Power. Power to get out of this place. Power to kill Him. Power to live free of all these humans. Dark was not inherently evil, she simply wanted Power. She wanted the power to achieve what Shadow wanted. It was an odd way of doing things, and it was almost pitiable. But Light knew which buttons to push, and exactly what sequence to do it in.

It may have only been a tiny change in Dark’s expression, but it was easily noticeable. She said nothing, but Light got the message. So, Light continued talking, “You could have more power. You would have it.”

“But I would not be who I am!” Dark suddenly snapped, her entire body jumping forward suddenly. She barely moved, but it was almost as if she’d forced herself to stop the pounce halfway through.

Light did not smile. She wanted to, as that was exactly what needed to be pointed out, but it would only anger Dark more than she needed to be angered. Quietly, emotionlessly, Light responded, “But you are no one. I am no one. Half an Alraxian is not an Alraxian.”

Silence. Long silence. It dragged on until Dark finally spoke, “Do it.”

Light allowed herself a smile this time. Even Akan smiled. Slowly, Light got to her feet. She used the wall to brace herself, finding that her legs were still a bit shaky. Once her tail had assisted with the balancing(an action which Akan still didn’t completely understand), Light stepped over towards Dark. The winged Alraxian had gotten to her feet easily, forcing any signs of struggle back. It was a moment later before the two of them stood face to face. A moment Akan would burn into his memory as something one couldn’t forget. It was like all those old holodrama previews where evil confronted good. Except neither of them were wholly one or the other.

Carefully, both of the Alraxians raised their hands, pressing their palms together. Light took a short moment to look back to Akan, and she smiled. It was the first time he’d seen her happy. Akan couldn’t help a smile of his own, nodding to Dark so that she wouldn’t ruin this. Turning her attention back to Dark, Light started speaking, “Light and Dark. Together as one. Together again as–“

”Shut up!” Dark snapped, though she didn’t move, “Those damned rituals don’t matter! Just get on with it.”

Light didn’t say anything, she simply did what Dark had said. Akan tried to watch. Or rather, he told himself that he’d try. But he couldn’t. It was like seeing that morphing for the first time. Something was inherently wrong with it, and everything in Akan was disturbed by the first few seconds of watching the two bodies begin to melt into one. So, he’d closed his eyes. This was probably worse, as it left the rest up to his imagination, which got a few hints from the link.

And then he heard a voice. A voice so familiar he’d never need to think for half a second to identify it. It was Shadow. Not Light. Not Dark. Shadow. The real Shadow. The voice sounded confused, lost, and slightly annoyed because of this, “What’s going on?!”

Akan opened his eyes and laughed. He couldn’t help laughing. Shadow stood there, completely herself, looking around like she was lost. She had taken only a moment to stare at him, giving him that look that demanded an answer for what he was laughing at. Akan, however, couldn’t seem to stop his laughing.

So Shadow just glared and tried to figure things out on her own. Last thing she remembered they were out in the desert walking and...oh! Slowly, memories from both Light and Dark caught up to her. Shadow took a few minutes to absorb all of it and catch up. Once she’d done so, Shadow walked over and kicked Akan not-too-gently, “Shut up!”

“Ow!” Akan whimpered slightly and held his side, but started to get to his feet anyway, “Good to have you back.”

“Good to be back,” Shadow said, turning to look over the entire room, “So do we get out of here now?”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 92: An Hour Late*

“Its been two hours,” Voort said anxiously, giving Landau a look that showed he wasn’t going to wait any longer. Both of them knew they should have gone in an hour earlier, but Landau was being cautious. Overly cautious in Voort’s opinion.

This time, though, Landau didn’t object. They had set the airspeeder down behind a series of dunes a fair distance off from the entrance to the facility. Whether there was any actual cover or not, neither of them knew. It was one of those things that was best not to think about. Even if they did know, there wasn’t anything that could be done about it. Without a word, Landau casually hit the switch to open the hatch, climbing out just before checking that he had everything he’d need. Voort was out just as quickly, and in a few seconds they were heading towards the only entrance they could see.

* * * *​
Jen slowly found the world returning, a blurred and dizzying experience. Being knocked out was bad enough normally(of which she’d only experienced a few times), but whatever had happened to cause this was much different. As she closed her eyes to try and ignore the blur, she found that her ears still functioned well enough. There was a good amount of movement around her, and the way the sound echoed hinted that she was still in that large, domed chamber. She could hear a rushed voice, though the exact words were indistinct. Well, the reply was clear enough.

“I have what he needs. Kill them both.”

That was Sadrak. Had to be. No other voice compared to that kind of quality. A quiet response was followed by the quick and echoing sounds of footsteps. Jen attempted opening her eyes, and as they focused she caught sight of one of those strange humanoids quickly exiting the chamber. Turning her head slowly, she could see the dark robed figure of Sadrak. He turned also, meeting her gaze with no eyes that she could see. But she could feel them. That was worse.

“It is time we had a talk,” there was a pause long enough for him to walk over towards her, though without seeing the feet under the robe it looked like he was gliding across the well polished floor, “You feel something within you, do you not?”

Jen didn’t answer. But her face betrayed the surprise at hearing that. So he’d caused it? How else would he know? She hadn’t felt anyone sifting through her thoughts, but then again, Jen still wasn’t completely sure what she’d be looking for. Or feeling for. Whatever. Yet again, she wished the Force was as concrete as science was. All this mystical stuff, no matter how true, only served to muddy the waters and confuse everyone. 

“Yes, I know of it,” He said, picking up on her thoughts. That time, she did notice something odd. Like a small string finding its way through places it shouldn’t. She’d not felt that before...but maybe He’d sifted through her mind while she was unconscious? Somehow, Jen doubted that. Even though she couldn’t see anything through the heavy black hood, she knew He was smiling, “But unlike those animals, I did not cause this. This is of its own. An interesting turn of events. But I must ask you...why does she hide? Why will she not speak?”

Something about the way he said that sent strange shockwaves through Jen’s mind. She couldn’t explain it, but it almost felt like whatever else was ‘there’ was being pushed. Provoked even. Yet it hid, and Jen got the feeling whatever ‘it’ was, it was waiting on something. Something. What? What was even going on?! Jen then became the third of the group to swear the planet off. If they all put these experiences together, the only conclusion that could possibly be drawn is that the planet was cursed. Or they were. Or both. Probably both. Or maybe it was just Akan. Ever since she’d met him...on the inside, Jen couldn’t help a smile. She’d tease him about that later.

Strange. That feeling was out of place in this situation. Yet, it was growing. Jen felt good. Strong. Happy, even. Mentally, she tried to trace it, and found that it had its roots within that odd separation of sorts. So ‘it’ was comforting her? Helping her? And hiding at the same time. Why couldn’t the galaxy just make sense for a few minutes?!

A blaster shot rang out suddenly, breaking her out of the trance-like state Jen had fallen into. Her eyes snapped open, and she had just enough time to see a red blaster bolt shoot past Sadrak’s dark robes, singeing a few edges in the process. Rage sounded from beneath the hood in a violent growl of anger as the figure spun to look to the shooter. Standing there and already pulling the trigger for another shot was Voort. Sure, it would be the dramatic thing to wait that extra second for someone to say his name in the breathless way that so many holodramas always did. But there were no cameras on him to capture the moment, so why waste a perfectly good second?

The second shot was aimed perfectly, flying straight out at Sadrak’s midsection. With a quick hand wave(of which Jen got another short view of that strange, almost clawed hand), the blaster bolt collided with nothing. Before a third shot, Sadrak was ‘floating’ back, towards a set of steps on which there was a large almost throne-like chair. Typical egotist. But Sadrak reached it quickly, sitting quickly and pressing a switch. Voort was running forward, aiming another shot when he managed to catch sight of that claw-like finger. Was that really Sadrak?!

When the chair began to descend into the floor, Voort fired wildly, just hoping to hit something. Breaking the chair would have pleased him. No, hitting it would have. But he didn’t. Just before that robed head got down to below the floor, Voort caught sight of a strange glint. An eye. But silvery in the light and nothing like anything he’d ever seen before. The only way he’d seen it was from the careful movement that was caused by Sadrak speaking.

“Another day, Titus. Another day.”

Then he was gone. It was gone. Whatever that was. Voort stood and watched the floor for a long moment, and then turned to Jen. Quickly, he ran over and knelt down beside her, lifting her up and noticing a few new bruises and marks across her face. Jen had an almost forced smile on her face, but leaned into Voort some and said quietly, “You’re late.”

Voort couldn’t help a short laugh, wrapping his arms around her and carefully helping Jen to her feet, “You know I like to wait until the last second.”

Gaining her footing, Jen’s smile changed to a much more genuine one, “You missed that second this time. In fact, I think that second was about an hour ago.”

“I tried telling that to Landau,” Voort responded with a shrug, slowly and carefully helping her to walk towards the exit. He didn’t seem worried that they’d be ambushed for some reason.

“Speaking of Landau,” Jen said, finding the strength to walk on her own but not minding the help at all, “Where is he?”

“Finding the children,” Voort answered her quickly, almost a little too quickly. It was obvious to Jen that something else had happened between him and Akan. She hoped something could be done about that tension. It was not something she wanted to think about, seeing both of them fight. Yet, she still worried it was going to come to that. And Voort wasn’t as innocent as he tried to convince himself of. Jen knew all too well that having seen Akan as a rival of sorts(no matter how untrue that was), Voort had another reason to be angry with the idealistic kid. One day, Jen wondered if she could point out to Voort closely it seemed like he was trying to fight with his own younger self. And Akan seemed to be doing the same thing in reverse, fighting with a possible future self. So alike, they were. Deep down, it was obvious that fear was the motivating factor behind all of it.

The two of them then faded into small talk as Voort navigated the maze of corridors. Amazingly, it looked like he knew where he was going. Jen didn’t take long to figure out that he was following Landau’s comm signal as they’d done before. But why was no one else around? Where were guards? Something wasn’t right. No. Too many things weren’t right.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 93: Threads of Meaning*

While Akan and Shadow had taken nearly ten minutes to find the door, they were having even less success in opening it. It wasn’t so much a door as a piece of the wall that could move. Or rather, would move if activated from the other side. It was one of those times that Akan would have liked a manual override to be more common. But then again, this was a cell of sorts, so why make it easy to get out of? That was about the time that Shadow grabbed him and threw him across the room. He would have yelled at her if the door hadn’t exploded a few seconds afterwards. A figure stood there, and the smoke cleared to reveal Landau, blaster raised.

“Finally!” he exclaimed, allowing his body to relax and lowing the weapon at seeing the two Alraxians getting to their feet.

“You could have knocked!” Akan grumbled, but had a smile on his face and did look thankful enough.

Landau grinned at that remark, shrugging innocently, “After the first five I just gave up and started blowing the doors open.”

“Yes, well thank you for nearly taking me with it,” commented Shadow after dusting herself off. It was then that Landau noticed that she was...herself again. He smiled warmly, but the look from Shadow told him to say nothing for now.

Landau soon started leading the two Alraxians back the way he’d came, which was littered with door pieces from other explosions. There were also a few bodies here and there. When asked about this, Landau couldn’t help a short laugh, “You yelled at me...they uh...shot at me.”

Following him around a corner, and stepping over about five or so bodies, Akan couldn’t help commenting, “Some people just aren’t good shots when they’re disturbed.”

Continuing to lead them through the maze of corridors, Landau was actually glad to have all these bodies. If anything, it was a good way to follow his path back out. And right now, out would be a very good thing. Those humanoids were disturbing to even look at, let alone watch them shoot at you with four blasters. Blasters. They didn’t have slugthrowers like the Narani. These people were well equipped.

It wasn’t long before they ran into Voort and Jen. After barely averting killing each other from surprise, they quickly exchanged greetings and got out. The whole recon mission was over now, even if it had gotten out of hand. Sadrak was gone anyway, and the three previous captives were exhausted(even if Shadow and Akan refused to show it). So they reached the airspeeder, crammed in, and left. The flight itself was silent and uneventful. Jen, Akan, and Shadow were the ones creating the silence in that they were too busy thinking to talk. Reflecting was probably the better word for it. Jen’s thoughts dwelled on Sadrak. Or whatever that thing was...Akan was still seeing those phantom images from that dark room, but at the same time was trying to analyze all that he’d seen within the facility. This had been a recon job, and it wasn’t going to be wasted. Shadow, though, was very divided in her thoughts. Not in the literal division from before, but more in that her mind was trying to be everywhere at once and not doing anything well. It all seemed to come down to one thing though. Humans. There was going to have to be a long talk with Akan, and he probably wasn’t going to like it. But through the link, she could see what he saw, and she knew that this talk was required. Even if he wasn’t Alraxian, someone would have to do it...but she felt that it was her responsibility now.

Upon arrival in Haladin, they were given worrying news. Three of the former Imperials had been killed in attempts to kill Hansen. Why they’d suddenly lashed out at her, no one knew, but everyone was in a state of heightened awareness. Paranoia was another, more accurate word for it that Hansen had refused to use. Upon meeting them, Hansen had started to press them all for some kind of information, but Akan had walked off without a word. Shadow wandered off after him, leaving Jen to tell Hansen that it would have to wait. No explanation was given, and then even Jen wandered off on her own. Voort exchanged looks with Hansen, but just shrugged, “Give them time.”

“We have time,” Landau pointed out, “Unless you’ve heard anything new from our Topsider friends.”

“Nothing,” Hansen said with a sigh as the three former Imperial soldiers walked to the garrison. It would be like old times to talk over a drink. Something none of them had really enjoyed since the war had ended. It was always so much more exciting to have a drink with your comrades right after the adrenaline rush of the battle. But after defeat, it never really could be the same. Thankfully, though, it could be close.

Shadow had followed Akan from a distance, realizing early on that he was trying to lose her. Ha! She was just as good, if not better, at tailing someone as he was. The link just added a cheating element to it, but she didn’t care. Finally, though, she found that he’d stopped diving in and out between alleys and streets. Akan was sitting next to one of the larger entrances to the city, leaning against the wall and looking across to the opposite wall. Shadow had a seat there, making a point to be right in front of his vision so he would have trouble ignoring her. That was not something Akan would miss, even in his moody state. She didn’t need to say that cliched ‘we need to talk’ line, Akan could see it and even feel it.

Because of this, Shadow got right to the point, “You cannot keep doing this.”

Watching her with a strangely neutral expression, Akan asked the stupid question, “Doing what?”

He knew the answer to that. He knew it because she got it from him. He knew it but refused to do anything about it. Somehow, Shadow remained calm only a slight swish of her tail against the sand betraying this outward appearance, “She is dead, Akan. You are alive. You cannot die anymore, because I refuse to die. You continue to act irrationally because of some pathetic hope that what you experienced did not happen. Akan. It happened. You can’t change that. No one can. But you have to move on. You insult the fallen acting like this.”

Akan said nothing. How was he supposed to respond to that, anyway? Well, he did find a way. He growled. It was low, angered, and genuine. When he realized that she wasn’t saying anything else, Akan found himself nearly going crazy. She’d started a lecture to provoke him! Violently, Akan snapped, “She shouldn’t have died!”

“And you shouldn’t have been fighting!” Shadow responded suddenly and sharply, no remorse or pity in her voice at all, “You were a child! You still are a child! Children don’t know how to deal with death! If you can’t deal with death, you have no right to be fighting!”

“I had no choice!” Akan yelled back at her, claws grating at the sand around him as he felt an anger growing.

Shadow did nothing but yell right back, “You refused to see any other choices! You worry so much about the past that you’re ignoring the present! Your actions now are going to get more people killed!”

“Shut up!” growled Akan as he got to his feet, looking like he was ready to storm off like a child who’d lost a fight. Like? No, it was the truth in this instance.

But Shadow was on her feet just as quickly, and the way she stood showed that she wasn’t going to let Akan go anywhere at all, “NO! You be quiet and listen to me! We have done this your way. We have done this the human way. But I am not human. And like it or not, you aren’t either. It is time for your to stop acting like an irrational human child and be an Alraxian like you are. You cannot simply take that body and live your old life! You will listen to ME, now. I gave you that body. It is mine. We do things, MY way now.”

Those words had froze Akan. The cold way she’d spoken them, and the way that each word seemed to allow her another step closer to him. By the time she’d finished speaking, all the anger seemed to be ready to explode as they stood face to face. Well, her nose to Akan’s chin, but he was not stupid enough to mention this discrepancy. Again, he knew she was waiting for some kind of response. Through the link, Akan knew that Shadow expected him to respond like he always had. To run away and hide. But he also knew that if he attempted that, she’d make sure things were worse.

In a cautious voice, Akan asked, “What must I do?”

Akan found it amazing to see all anger disappear from Shadow’s face. It changed to an acceptance and relief. That was what she’d wanted to hear. Shadow took a small step back to lessen the confrontational appearance, and spoke in a much calmer voice, “Mother was meant to ask for your oath to the Alraxian people. She did not, because of your age. But you will have to take this oath sooner than later. So that you don’t embarrass me, you should learn about your people.”

Even Akan was surprised to find himself nodding at this. He didn’t ask about the details of what she’d said, or even about this oath. It wasn’t the time, and Akan knew that he didn’t really have a choice. Part of him also knew that Shadow was right, and that he did need to move on. Hopefully, these would be the first steps that should have been taken three years ago.

“We can start simply,” continued Shadow, motioning out towards the sand and the sun that was starting to rise over the horizon, “Ritual. Come on, I’ll teach you the basics.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 94: Moments of Peace*

It wasn’t until late that day that word finally came from Trker-Hon. A group of four Topsiders arrived at Haladin, and in broken and disjointed Basic, explained the situation. Trker-Hon was expected to return to the city within a week. So many of the nearby settlements had been ravaged by attacks(the Darks, but the Topsiders didn’t know this), that he was having to travel to farther out areas to rally support. Thankfully, though, things sounded like they were going well. There was not even a rough idea of how many Topsides would come, and that worried most of the people within Haladin. Especially because of the new reports from the desert.

The Narani were gathering to that facility. Hundreds had been seen traveling across the desert to that location, and the spies dared not get anywhere close because of the large amount of guards now set up at the base. It was also determined that the four armed humanoids were once Narani, but this was still just a guess. A good one, but a guess in the end. Recovering a body had only done so good, especially considering how bad of shape it had been in.

Akan and Shadow had spent the day on the outer edge of the city. She was teaching him many ancient rituals that reminded Akan of old stories he’d heard. Mostly of lesser developed races that worshiped the Force as magic or a divine entity. Yet, from all he knew about the Alraxians(of which, admittedly, was still very little), they were not a technologically inferior race at all. In fact, they could easily be seen as more advanced. It was just the methods that were different. According to Shadow, because of the danger that metal presented, organic technology was the focus of Alraxians. From the clothes they wore(morphsuits were a good example) to the ships themselves, everything was alive in some way. Some even intelligent species that the Alraxians simply tamed and worked with, like the Kanyak ships which were naturally herbivores that grazed on a planet in the same system as the Alraxian home planet. Yet this race still worshiped the Force in a way. Old ways did not die out like with many older cultures. It would take Akan some time to get used to it, but the principles were very similar to Jedi training. Except for one that worried him.

To the Alraxians, the Force was just the Force. It wasn’t Light, it wasn’t Dark, it just was. To any Jedi, this would have been a heretical thought, and would also cause great worry as it could be seen as leading down the Dark Path. But the Alraxians did not see it that way. It was a whole. You could not have one without the other, and both had their importance in life. Death was as much a part of life as birth, and to simply shun one without the other was unthinkable. When put that way, Akan did understand it, even though it still did feel so foreign. Shadow had tried to push him towards learning to balance the ‘sides’ of the Force, but that was the one thing Akan simply refused to do. He may not have been the best Jedi, but he wasn’t going to tempt himself with what he still saw as the Dark Side. So instead, Shadow taught him what young Alraxian children(of which his age was perfect for comparison) would learn about. Basics of history and daily rituals, along with a little morph technique added in. That was a resource she knew he should be using more than just a scratch-healer.

Jen had sat in the distance, watching them for a while, but eventually wandered back to the garrison to find the others. Akan did need to learn that he wasn’t human anymore, and her hanging around like that probably wouldn’t do anyone any good. She had found Voort with Hansen and Landau, drinking and laughing together. That wasn’t her place, either. So, without really having any problem with it, Jen went to find a place to sit by herself. Time to think was a good thing, as many things were going on that she wasn’t completely sure of.

‘In time...you will know.’

That wasn’t a voice. What was that?! Jen looked around to confirm the fact that she was alone in her room. But no, that voice had ignored her ears and gone straight to the brain. Or maybe it wasn’t from the outside anyway? Where did that thought come from?!

‘You must remain strong.’

There it was again. She sighed and flopped back on the bed, a hand over her face and wondering if she was losing her mind. No. No, that didn’t fit. But...what was that, then? A voice in her head? Didn’t that mean crazy? But no, this just felt different. From that part of her mind that had been giving her a sense of confusion for the last couple of days. It talked? What was it?

‘Who I was, does not matter now. Rest now. All will be answered in time. Remain strong.’

And then it was ‘gone’. Or as gone as a voice in one’s head could be. Jen sighed again and opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling. Somehow, she knew she wasn’t crazy. So that meant something odd was happening...again. After all of this was over, she was going to give both Akan and Voort a good yelling at. Somehow it was there fault. Had to be. Her problems didn’t start until she’d met Akan, and then Voort just added to it. She grinned. Alright, so it wasn’t all that bad.

“Mind if I come in?” Voort’s voice caused Jen’s heart to skip a beat. She’d not been paying attention, and suddenly hearing a real voice after the non-voice was almost too much.

Sitting up, she ran a hand through her sandy hair and shrugged, “You’re allowed, I guess. Thought you were enjoying a drink.”

“I was,” responded Voort, stepping into the room and having a seat on the bed next to her. For a moment, he looked over the small Imperial Insignia that was on the now closed door, then said, “But you think I’d turn in a few moments of peace with you for a drink?”

Jen laughed and poked him, “It wouldn’t surprise me! I remember how the old soldiers used to be.”

“Well, I’m not old yet,” he said with a grin on his face, wrapping an arm around her, “Though I feel it around those two kids.”

Leaning into him some, Jen laughed again, “Kids have a habit of doing that to you...but you know that Shadow’s older than you, right?”

“Sure, go and pick holes in everything I say,” said Voort, sounding defeated and mock sighing.

“Awww...” Jen allowed herself another grin and kissed his cheek, “You do that just fine on your own, you know. Shouldn’t need my help.”

Voort gave her a hurt look, but the smile tugging at his face didn’t do anything to help his case. However, he didn’t say anything to her. Instead, he just leaned in and kissed her. After a few moments, one of them(neither really did remember) called out ‘Lights’ and the room went black.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 95: An Ancient Weapon*

The sun had finally set, and the city of Haladin had its few lights to illuminate the streets. But neither Shadow nor Akan could tell. The dim light was much brighter for their Alraxian eyes, and the sliver of a moon above provided more light than the previous night had held. All in all, they barely noticed that it was night, save for the orange sunset that had just passed. Shadow had finished with what she called the ‘important stuff’, and was actually much calmer now. It wasn’t easy for Akan to continually take orders from her, as she spoke more like a slave owner than a teacher, but he’d gotten used to it. Now though, he stood looking a bit lost. After running him through a battle preparation ritual just as the sun set, Shadow had gone silent. Not really knowing what he was supposed to do, Akan just stood there and tried not to look as awkward as he felt.

[Bored yet?] Shadow’s ‘voice’ made Akan jump, as he had finally gotten used to the silence around them.

Letting out a deep breath and slowing down his breathing, Akan shrugged, “A little.”

“Well then,” she turned to face him, holding that old grin on her face. The one that meant she was planning on getting into trouble. Well, that or she was going to maul you. Sometimes those were so similar it wasn’t worth picking out a distinction. After stretching some, Shadow said, “How about we get to the fun stuff?”

“Fun stuff?” that sounded both interesting and worrying. Probably more of the latter than of the former. But the way she spoke had that happy little child tone to it. If Shadow could ever be described as a ‘happy little child’, of course. Literally being a child didn’t count for her, either.

At his question, Shadow’s grin only got bigger, “Well...its been a while, and I know you’re probably still touchy about it since last time. But then again, its something that’s always good and you enjoy it as much as I do. Besides, with a week or so to prepare, we’ve got lots of time...”

“It’s a lot easier to just say what you mean instead of all those hints,” Akan grumbled, his ears flattening a bit and showing his annoyance.

Seeing the gesture, Shadow couldn’t help a quiet laugh, “How about a little sparring match?”

“When you say ‘little’, you mean ‘dangerous’, yes?” Akan’s voice hadn’t changed, though he did look interested. Sure, she’d killed him last time, but now he had the same advantage that she did. And he knew how she fought. And...and...of course he couldn’t resist.

“Dangerous, little...same thing in the end,” was all Shadow said. She could tell he wanted to do it, but raised a hand suddenly, “One little thing this time. I need to go back to Loki for it, though. You mind waiting here?”

“Don’t take long.”

She grinned, “I’ll just make sure he’s alright and get what I need then be right back!”

Akan didn’t bother to mention that neither of them were completely sure where Loki had gone down. Even when she’d gone out of his sight, he knew that warning her of this was still possible through the link. Yet, Akan stayed silent for some reason. Perhaps she already knew about his thoughts...in fact, she probably did. He was still getting used to the link again, and getting used to the strength of it was bringing that same odd feeling from before. So he waited. At first, he’d just stood there, but that got even more boring quickly. After half an hour, though, he decided that standing around was just wasting time.

Sitting down in the sand(and trying to ignore all of that sand that was all through his tail fur), Akan calmed his mind. It had been too long since he’d simply allowed the Force to flow through him. Yet it felt odd. Different. How, he didn’t know, and it was something he wished to blame on the planet itself. Why that was the first thing to mind, Akan didn’t think about. It just felt right. Something was simply wrong with this planet. Wrong in more ways than the obvious ones. If one didn’t look closely, it would be easy to assume that Sadrak had done something to the very fabric of the planet. Yet in his calm, Akan could feel that Arranis had always been this way. Or similar. Sadrak’s presence was having some effect, yet, but it was not the true reason. But did reason matter? This planet was not right. The Force itself did not flow correctly here. And then Sadrak...in Akan’s brief encounter with the dark robed figure, he knew something was wrong. Perhaps the planet itself had changed Sadrak? Just speculation...or was it? Sometimes it was hard to tell what were thoughts and what was the Force speaking. From that old book he’d found, Akan always remembered one statement. True wisdom came from knowing when it was the Force speaking. The Dark Side was the other path, the path in which one told themselves that every thought was the Force to simply justify their own power.

A sudden tremor caused Akan’s mind to revert quickly to the present. His eyes opened and he saw Shadow. The moon was higher up...how long had it been?! Slowly, Akan traced the tremor back through the link to Shadow. A sort of ‘wake up’ push that was not at all gentle. With everything finally bringing itself back into the moment, Akan started to stand up. Shadow waved for him to stay seated though, and sat in front of him. In her hands, she held a small box. It was wooden, with amazingly intricate carvings all along it. Akan knew the runes that were carved along the top to be the Alraxian language, though he did not know what they said.

Shadow was holding the box very carefully, as if it would break if handled wrong. After tracing her hand across a few of the runes over the top, she said quietly, “Despite what you’ve seen, our people are not war like. I...we are exceptions to the norm. Our Empire is a peaceful one, with only the Mrrakesh to worry about. The have not probed our borders in hundreds of cycles, though. The one dark secret of the Empire are the Tam’day’u. Children born with silver eyes. They are taken away and trained as assassins from a young age. To speak the word in even a private setting is enough to have you cast out of someone’s home forever. But we do have a standing army. It is more a peace keeping force than a true army. They settle border disputes and deal with pirates, both are rare but do occur. But it wasn’t always that way. The Empress once wielded a powerful weapon as a symbol. This was so many cycles ago that even my mother’s grandmother would not have known this time. Yet...we still keep the symbol. Passing it down from mother to daughter, to each heir to protect. My mother...is a healer. She does not care for weapons, so she gave it to me before I left.”

Pausing, Shadow looked to make sure he was paying attention. He was. In fact, Akan looked very caught up in all of this. Ever since she’d chastised him earlier that day, Akan had found himself nearly begging for more information about the Alraxians. Here she was, finally giving some explanation. Shadow couldn’t help a small smile at seeing and feeling his enthusiasm. It was needed, as things would not be easy for him as time went on. But that wasn’t important now.

Forcing those thoughts away, she slid open the top of the box. Akan noticed that it truly was made of wood, then, as even artificial wood plating didn’t splinter like this had in places. Amazing. This box was a relic of an ancient time from a planet that survived in a hidden section of the galaxy. Akan almost didn’t notice when Shadow reached in and pulled out the contents. It was shape he knew well. Cylindrical, shining metal despite its obvious age, and a even more runes inscribed along it.

“A lightsaber...” Akan said quietly, surprise obvious in his eyes. The design was so similar, yet so foreign. It didn’t look as old as it was. Still well polished and shining in the dim light. It was a beautiful weapon, constructed with obvious care and even love. An artist’s work, truly. 

When Akan reached for it, Shadow pulled back and shook her head, “It is only for the Empress. I should not even be touching it, but mother told me to use it if the time came. I feel it has.”

“Shadow...” he trailed off, not sure what to say. After unhooking his own lightsaber from his belt, he looked at his own weapon in a way he never had before. In it, he saw the same care and love in the design. So similar...strangely similar. What artist had crafted this one? His mother? Father? Or perhaps that was all just some illusion he’d cooked up and it was stolen. No...that didn’t feel right. It was in his family somewhere...questions, questions. 

She didn’t seem to here him, slowly putting the box off to the side in the sand. Shadow then got to her feet, and looked down to Akan, “I am not very...proficient with this weapon, but I believe I can provide some challenge.”

Akan grinned and also got to his feet, “That’s the first time I’ve heard even a hint of modesty from you.”

“Fine!” Shadow grinned, suddenly her old playful self again, “We’ll do this the hard way! Best of fifteen, then!”

Both of them took a few steps back and got ready. Akan knew not to expect the usual duel with her. In fact, he had a feeling that the lightsaber would be more of a diversion than actual attack. Either way, it would be fun. Even if they didn’t have a stated prize, the idea of being the winner was just too good to ignore. Planting his feet, Akan thumbed the activation switch on his lightsaber. The usual snap-hiss was accompanied by the same old blue-green blade, illuminating his face and the area around him. It was only a moment later that the same noise sounded from Shadow’s blade, which bathed her in a soft violet light. Ha! Finally, something that wasn’t blue! This was going to be good...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 96: Draw*

By the time Landau had walked out to see what the two Alraxians were doing, they had already finished five ‘rounds’. He’d caught them during a short break, which he soon realized only lasted a minute or so. But at seeing him, both Shadow and Akan had allowed themselves a slightly longer rest. This was provoked by Landau questioning the amount of blue liquid that he’d learned to be blood that was now fairly thick across the sand. Despite this, both Alraxians looked just fine, if not a little tired. They had just laughed and when he realized that he was in the way, Landau stepped back and found a comfortable spot to lean against on Haladin’s wall. And he watched.

To him, it was mostly a series of blue-green and violet lights colliding after bouts of quick motion. As the moon rose in the sky, though, it provided more light and allowed Landau a better view of what was happening. From what he could tell, Shadow was just using the lightsaber to keep Akan occupied, while her free hand(or claw) lashed out at him. The first few ‘rounds’ that Landau watched saw Akan getting beaten fairly quickly, but that didn’t seem to last too long. It wasn’t long at all before the lightsabers were held away or deactivated all together and the fight devolved into old fashioned hand to hand combat. Landau saw that Akan was not nearly as adept at this as Shadow, but he was doing a good job of moving out of the way and taking a few hits without trouble. Of course, through all of this, Landau still wasn’t sure how the two of them were keeping score.

In fact, neither Shadow nor Akan really knew. Every so often, both of them just knew who had lost. That was mostly from a mix of the link feeding emotions between them and the occasional loss of a body part. How long this lasted, even Landau had lost track of. But it was enough for the moon to now be high above them and shining straight down. Both Akan and Shadow were breathing heavily, exhausted but not even thinking of giving up. There was sand all over them, along with the blueish blood and a good amount of bruises and smaller scratches that neither of them bothered to remorph. The original target number had long sense passed.

“Ten all...” Akan said as he calmed his breathing and planted his feet again, “One more?”

Shadow nodded, bringing her own lightsaber up in front of her and looking at him past it, “One more.”

Nothing else needed to be said. Boasting and taunting wasn’t necessary anymore, as they could both feel each other’s thoughts more clearly. Amazing how this fighting had cleared up the link and gotten them both used to the strength of it again. But they just stood there for a few moments, waiting to see if the other would make the first move. Waiting...

Shadow broke first, not able to simply stand there and allow him the chance to catch his breath any longer. With her left foot, she kicked up some sand at Akan, and then pushed off towards him with her right foot. Though the sand bothered his vision somewhat, the lightsaber she held gave away her position. His eyes following the violet blade, Akan easily brought his own weapon to block the strike aimed at his left side. But even as the two blades met in a crash, he still saw movement. This was not the first time she’d done this. As Shadow held their blades up and to the side, she arced inwards and delivered a strong kick towards Akan’s other side.

Having seen this before, Akan had already learned how to hold the blades away and move. This meant he had little trouble slipped to the side, away from her foot, and at the same time batted her lightsaber away. Using his momentum, Akan spun around on one foot, swinging the lightsaber in a long, low arc. Shadow saw this out of the corner of her eye, and quickly leaped up and over Akan and his strike. Landing behind him, she lashed out with her free hand, backhanding him hard across the back of his head. Akan stumbled forward for only a half second, then recovered his footing and reacted to the sudden spark through the Force. His lightsaber went left and low, barely catching Shadow’s blade before it lopped off his ankle. However, he was still facing the other direction and reaching across his own body to hold the blade there, and the awkward angle made it extremely difficult to hold her blade where it was.

Seeing this, Shadow grinned and suddenly pulled her lightsaber away. The force with which Akan had been using to hold the blades steady no longer had any resistance, and Akan’s arm, along with his lightsaber, went high before he could compensate. This provided an easy opening for Shadow, and she took advantage of it by sweeping his feet out from under him. Akan hit the ground face first, but the fall didn’t seem to phase him or slow down his reaction. A forward roll avoided a follow up strike from Shadow’s foot, and easily got him to his feet again, though he was still facing the wrong way. Shadow made an attempt at a similar attack as before, swinging his towards his other side and a little higher with her lightsaber. This time, Akan reacted differently.

Instead of using his own lightsaber to deflect her attack, Akan spun to the side enough to put them only inches apart. The move sent Shadow’s strike past him, and he batted her arm away with his free hand. It also surprised Shadow just enough to give Akan another opening. Pulling around again, he planted a strong kick of his own to her stomach. This time, it was Shadow who ended up on the ground, but Akan didn’t attempt to follow up with a strike. Mainly because Shadow had landed on her hands, and easily flipped up to her feet again, facing him with a grin. He didn’t even notice the same grin on his face as he planted his feet again.

She’d almost won there...almost, though, didn’t cut it. The mental equivalents of taunts flowed through the link, wordless but in no way difficult to translate. It had only been a half second before Shadow dove at him again. Akan sidestepped her charge, avoiding a combined vertical lightsaber strike and high claw slashing. That would have been his face even if he’d blocked the lightsaber. The speed of Shadow’s charge had sent her barreling past him when he’d moved, and Akan had spun around and his arm swept out towards her. In a slightly off balanced spin, Akan’s lightsaber left his hand and flew at Shadow. She had noticed this just as her charge was stopped, and ducked under the flying blade just in time, feeling a few hairs get singed by the weapon. Seeing he was without a weapon, Shadow grinned and went after Akan again. Only a few steps out of reach, she heard the wobbling sound of a spinning lightsaber coming at her.

Her eyes then noticed that while both of Akan’s hands were held in a defensive position, his left hand looked to be directing something. Shadow’s mind realized what was going on just in time. Again, she ducked. This time, she lost a few more hairs and nearly part of her ear. Easily, Akan caught the weapon he’d called back to him, stepping forward and striking down at Shadow. Already coming back up, Shadow didn’t have much trouble getting her own lightsaber above her head to block Akan’s blue-green blade. For a short half-second, the two put all their strength into winning that lightsaber grapple. And then Akan used Shadow’s trick, only altered slightly. She didn’t see him thumb the switch of the lightsaber, but she did have time to watch the blue-green blade of energy sink back into the hilt of the weapon. The energy that Shadow had been using to hold his blade still was suddenly released, and her lightsaber arm went high and out of the way. She wasn’t an idiot, though, and knew how to counter her own trick. Lashing out with her free hand, Shadow’s fist slammed into Akan’s face. Her surprise came when, just as her fist hit him, a knee drove into her gut.

Akan stumbled back from the blow, while Shadow bent forward. Neither of them had a chance to counter, as both had been sent into a short shock from receiving a blow so in time with their own attack. They recovered at the same time, however, and dove at each other. Shadow hadn’t even heard Akan’s lightsaber reactivating. It was a blur of motion as the fight became a swift series of lightsaber strike followed by lightsaber strike, each parried and followed by a series of vicious attacks. Akan was amazed at how fast Shadow was, and despite her lack of intense training with the weapon, her improvising and other skills made up for that. An elbow caught Akan in the cheek, and as the pain shot through him he wondered if it had actually been broken. But no. This wasn’t the time to think. Just react. He did just in time, as Shadow had been spinning around to deliver a lightsaber strike aimed to slice off his legs. Akan’s blade batted her’s away easily, and then he slashed at her with his claws extended. Because she was moving, the sent long gashes across her shoulder and back, and he quickly recieved another fist to the chest as a response. Somehow, Akan didn’t lose his breath, swinging low with his lightsaber.

The blade was caught by Shadow, and they were frozen again in that grapple of strength. Even. So cheating was necessary. So close together, Shadow had no trouble head butting Akan. This got a cry of surprise out of him along with him taking a few unsteady steps back. After letting go of her lightsaber, Shadow charged at Akan again. This time, though, Akan got a new surprise. He’d brought his lightsaber up in an unstable parry to an attack that never came. Instead, Shadow was at his leg, taking him down after biting hard into his leg. The teeth dug in deep, and Akan was brought down by that large panther like creature that he knew was Shadow.

Just as he hit the ground, Akan kicked at her with his other leg. His foot hit Shadow’s torso, getting a pained yelp out of her before she dove to pounce on his chest. Being almost larger than he was, this wasn’t going to take long. Shadow pounced, diving on his chest and holding his body down with heavy clawed paws. Her head dove in for his neck, but she held back, simply resting her teeth on his neck.

[HA!] was all she ‘said’ to him, a strangely loud purring noise emitting from the creature’s throat.

Akan didn’t dare speak, as it would be just the kind of movement to get his neck torn apart. Sure, he could fix it...but it would still hurt. So he replied through the link. [Ha...?]

The way he said it seemed to kick in the rest of Shadow’s senses. Her ears twitched and one turned back towards the low hum that had to be a lightsaber. Still keeping a careful ‘hold’ on his neck, Shadow tilted her head to look back towards the sound. Just over her tail, and positioned in a way to cleave her in two, was Akan’s lightsaber. The purring stopped. For what seemed like an eternity, both of them just waited to see who would give in first. It was Shadow.

She flopped down on him, nearly crushing Akan in the process. Fatigue washed over both of them, and Akan just lay back, deactivating his lightsaber and letting his arm fall down to the sand. By the Force it felt good to just lay down...even though she was laying on him like he was some kind of pillow. Akan then noticed that she was breathing heavily, almost like a panting sound from the feline throat. He didn’t seem to realize he sounded even more winded, but Shadow did.

[...draw?] sounded Shadow’s suddenly exhausted ‘voice’ through the link.

Closing his eyes, Akan felt the adrenaline rush of the fight fade. [Draw.]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 97: Losses*

Akan didn’t completely remember how he got back into the garrison. All he could be sure of was that there had been movement, his legs hurt(well, everything hurt, but legs more so), and he had been placed in an uncomfortable chair before being handed a cup of hot liquid. It took him a few moments to drink some of it, but was glad for the caffeine heavy drink. After a couple more minutes, he saw Landau enter the room, doing his best to carry Shadow. He was half dragging her in the process, and the way her legs scrapped across the ground gave Akan an idea of why his legs hurt. Landau placed her in a chair next to Akan, and the two of them just sat in dazed exhaustion. When Shadow was handed a similar cup of liquid, she didn’t seem to have the energy to pick it up. Her arm reached to the small table in front of them, but never made it. Instead, her head fell to the side, resting on Akan’s shoulder before closing her eyes and going quiet.

Landau couldn’t help a slight smile. He got himself another drink of his own from the food processor before stepping over to Akan, “You alive in there?”

Still not all aware, Akan turned his head to look up at Landau in an awkward motion, but managed a slow nod before taking another sip of his drink. His movements were taking into account the weight on his shoulder, which made them even more awkward as he barely looked like he had the strength to hold himself up. He didn’t even look capable of opening his mouth to speak. Lifting the cup and drinking was the extent of it at this point. Landau had a seat across from the Alraxians, deciding that it was a good idea to at least keep an eye on them. 

After a half hour, Akan seemed more awake and had managed a short worded conversation with Landau. Shadow was still asleep. Well, Landau assumed she was asleep, as it looked like she was just unconscious. If not for the soft movement caused by the slow breathing, he’d have figured her to be dead. The conversation was more questions from Landau, all along the lines of ‘why’ and ‘what were you doing?’ and ‘what were you thinking?’ and even a ‘you call that practice?!’. All of Akan’s answers were simple one or two words, usually yeses and nos, but sometimes more detailed. It seemed like the poor kid’s mind had just left without him. Or maybe he was talking in his sleep.

When the door behind him opened suddenly, Landau nearly jumped out of his skin. Akan just tilted his head to look around the man, and said in that dazed, half-awake voice, “Hi, Jen.”

Jen walked into the room with a smile on her face and a generally happy demeanor all over. Her hair was tied back again, and she wore a lose-fitting tunic that looked to have been scrounged from one of the old lockers. She nodded to Akan, but noticed the completely exhausted features of the two Alraxians. Idly stepping over next to Landau, she raised an eyebrow, “What’s with them?”

“The children were playing,” Landau responded with a grin, “Though Akan swears it was practice, looked to me like they were trying to kill each other.”

Jen laughed, “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

Akan seemed to be ‘waking up’ more, though he didn’t say anything. Jen stepped around the table and passed by the two Alraxians to the food processor. She waited a few moments for some kind of dish that Landau didn’t recognize, then walked back towards the door. On her way, she reached over to Akan and ruffled his hair playfully. His feeble attempt at defense got a laugh out of the two humans, and then Jen was gone. As Akan was grumbling to himself and attempting to ‘fix’ his hair without letting Shadow fall and hit the floor like a brick, Landau grinned.

“That was interesting,” was all he said, and he hadn’t even realized it had been out loud.

Landau realized that, though, when Akan raised an eyebrow, “What...?”

That got a short laugh out of Landau, and he leaned back in the chair. For a moment, he seemed to be making sure that Jen was gone, then just said, “I’d say they did it.”

“Huh...?” Akan’s mind didn’t exactly have the capability to catch the subtleties in any speech just yet. When Landau didn’t respond, it left the poor Alraxian to think for himself. That only took a few moments before realization washed over his tired face, and his eyes widened, “Oh...um...oh!”

* * * *​
The next week passed without any surprises. Scouts left and returned, Topsiders slowly filtered in to show that Trker-Hon was having success, and the two Alraxians continued their ‘practice’ on a near daily basis. When Trker-Hon finally returned, though, things changed. Near five hundred Topsiders had already arrived, and Trker-Hon promised that five times that many were still on their was. Twenty five hundred Topsider warriors. This would have been comforting news if not for the more recent scout reports.

As the days went by, more and more reports came in of defenses being gathered at that desert facility. The amount of creatures that had been seen was impossibly large, and worried the five of them that had gone in there before. Especially considering they’d seen so little within those corridors. Where were all these creatures coming from? But that wasn’t the only question. Another was more basic. What were they? Each scout reported that they were humanoid in general shape, but with four arms and a disfigured body. Heads were more oval shaped with larger eyes than that of a normal human. The curious part was that no Narani were seen at all. It was as if they had simply disappeared into the desert. No one thought that likely, and rumors were spreading about the ‘true’ origin of the creatures. These rumors only flourished when reports of the number of these creatures filtered in. Upwards of ten thousand, possibly even twice that many. It seemed like someone had told Sadrak that there was a ground battle coming, and he wasn’t about to take any chances.

It was the third day before the planned briefing to decide on a planned attack when Landau, Voort, and Jen decided to do their own scouting. They took one of the working airspeeders out, but were forced to set it down farther than they’d originally planned. Patrols were out a good distance, and the three of them couldn’t even get in close enough to see the actual facility. Looking over a dune, though, it wasn’t too much trouble to see the extent of the defenses.

“They’ve built up five or six large walls...” Jen said quietly, noting the large, metal things that stuck out of the sand like unfinished buildings.

Voort nodded, “Break up troop formations and bottle them up to get around. They’re obviously getting ready for a head on attack. I don’t recognize the weapons though.”

“Narani slugthrowers,” Landau responded quietly, pointed to a larger tower that looked like a turret, “Though some of them seem to be on a much larger scale.”

“Horrible weapons,” mumbled Jen, more to herself than anyone else. The other two heard it, and couldn’t help agreeing. It was hard to call a weapon more civilized than another, but most of the galaxy agreed on the brutal nature of slugthrowers. One didn’t have to have an Alraxian aversion to metal to be disgusted and worried by such weapons.

“We should get out of here before we’re spotted,” Landau said, breaking the momentary silence. Voort and Jen nodded in agreement, and they started to sneak back to the airspeeder. When they finally got far enough away to walk upright, Jen caught something odd in Landau’s eye. She wasn’t sure that it was a sight as much as a feeling. One day she’d figure out how to explain these Force things to herself...but it was something. It was odd...wrong...and then...she didn’t know. Voort didn’t seem to notice anything, so Jen decided to ignore it for the moment.

Once they arrived back at the speeder, Voort climbed straight in and started to power up the speeder. As Jen was getting in, she heard Landau’s voice behind her. It was forced, stilted, and not right, “Do not move.”

Jen moved only to turn around and see Landau standing in a strangely forced position with his blaster aimed at her. Though his body was still, she noticed his eyes were darting around, and got this feeling of someone trapped. Trapped?! What was that?

“Arik, what are you–“ Voort went silent when he saw the situation. He was looking around Jen, and obviously did not like this. Knowing Landau for as long as he had though, it was easy for Voort to tell something was wrong. The details were the key...Landau wasn’t left handed, and he knew how to aim a blaster at someone. Why was he holding the weapon in his left hand and looking like he was going to fire from the hip?

“Do. Not. Move.” the voice was even more forced this time, and suddenly something clicked in Jen’s mind. She’d heard that sound before. It was more in an echo in her mind, but that sounded like Sadrak. Similar at least...hidden within Landau’s normal voice. Voort’s mind was also racing, though he was smart enough not to move. This was just like the descriptions he’d heard from Hansen a few days earlier. Men not acting themselves and attempting to kill her.

“Landau...what’s wrong?” Jen was the one to ask that, though it was obvious in the way she said it that Jen already had an idea of her own.

At her words, Landau just stepped closer, an almost droid-like motion without any bending of the knee. This put the blaster barely a half meter from Jen’s stomach. His eyes showed fear and even looked to be pleading, but his voice continued in that wrong way, “You will. You will return to me.”

Me? That wasn’t Landau. If anything confirmed it was Sadrak, those words did. If Jen and Voort could have exchanged knowing looks, they would have. Both of them, though, knew the danger in attempting anything. Neither of them knew enough yet, and even though Landau’s movements were so forced, it was likely he wouldn’t have trouble squeezing the trigger on that blaster pistol. 

When neither of them responded to Landau’s words, he turned slightly. It was just enough to move the blaster from aiming at Jen’s stomach to Voort’s face, “You are not necessary.”

Somehow, Jen saw Landau’s finger making that small motion to pull the trigger on the blaster pistol. Voort was about to dive out of the way, but before he could Jen was reacting. With a strength that amazed all of them, she batted Landau’s wrist to the side, slamming his hand against the speeder. The blaster shot went high, flying off into the sky before Landau could drop the weapon. Landau’s eyes showed panic and fear, but Jen was still reacting. With her free hand, she’d drawn her own blaster and placed it against Landau’s chest.

Voort had just enough time to yell ‘NO!’ before she pulled the trigger. The proximity of the blaster pistol to Landau’s body caused more than just the usual burning scorch mark. Instead, the blaster bolt went straight through him before darting skyward. A horrible smell of ozone and burned flesh covered the area suddenly, and Landau’s body hit the ground face first. Jen’s hand was shaking now, as her mind caught up with her actions. Even Voort was frozen in surprise. That is, until yelling and other voices could be heard in the distance.

They creatures had seen and heard the blaster fire! Damn! Grabbing Jen’s arm, Voort yanked her into the speeder and got them into the sky. Neither of them spoke. Jen sat next to Voort, shaking slightly and staring off into no where. She’d murdered him...no...no it was self defense! Protecting Voort! Landau would have killed him! But...but why had she killed him? Why had she shot?! He had dropped the weapon! He couldn’t have done anything else! Slowly, Jen leaned into Voort’s shoulder, buried her face and wept.

Voort carefully wrapped an arm around her as he piloted the speeder away. He’d lost friends before. He’d lost family. But never like that. Jen had done the right thing...yet, Voort couldn’t help worrying about her. It was possible that he was having more of a dangerous influence on her than he’d have liked. Perhaps she would have been better of with Akan...but no...no it was too late for those thoughts. Just get back. Think then. Talk then. He wouldn’t grieve yet, but Voort wasn’t one to stop Jen. It was her first time really killing someone and seeing their face. That was always a horrible moment, and even worse when that face was a trusted friend.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 98: Planning*

“No! We have to go back!” Shadow yelled, trying to claw out of Akan’s grip to barrel past Voort and Jen, probably mauling them in the process. Akan nearly lost his grip on her, but switch to her arms and did his best to ignore the claws that were now digging into his wrists.

Jen couldn’t speak. She just stayed close to Voort, eyes red from tears. Voort just slowly shook his head, “He’s gone.”

“NO!” again, Shadow wrenched violently against Akan’s hold. That odd glazed expression passed over her face, and Jen knew that Akan had ‘said’ something to her. This was even more evident when Shadow just slumped forward. Akan didn’t let go of her arms, but wasn’t sure what to do. It didn’t look like she was going to murder anyone anymore. Carefully, he let go.

Shadow just brought her arms down and stared blankly at the floor in a state of shock. Akan watched her for a moment, not knowing what to think. He turned to look back to the two humans, and got the same helpless look from Jen. Voort though...he seemed strangely stoic. Akan recognized that, though. He’d been like that himself for a good three years. He also knew that Voort was better at handling himself than Akan was. It was just how Voort dealt with this kind of thing.

They’d arrived about ten minutes earlier. Hansen had been told first, and she’d tried to stay with them to get some kind of plan together afterwards, but had to leave to ‘think’ as she’d said. After that, Jen and Voort went to find the two Alraxians. Obviously, Shadow hadn’t taken it well. They didn’t have to explain it in any detail, as both Akan and Shadow seemed to pick up on the actual events with only a few words having been spoken. Akan had just gone silent, looking like he wanted to say something but never really finding any words. Shadow, on the other hand, had immediately launched into accusations. At first, she blamed Voort, then upon getting the ‘minor’ detail that Jen was the one who’d shot Landau, had nearly pounced the woman and torn her to pieces. That was when Akan had grabbed her, picking Shadow out of the air and dragging her back to the ground.

Now they just stood in silence. What was there to say? What was there to do? This planet was such a horrible place. Damn Sadrak. He’d done this, and they all knew it. Even Shadow didn’t truly blame Jen for it. Slowly, the Alraxian girl got to her feet, that old emotionless look on her face. In that quietly calm and controlled voice, she said, “There’s no time to wait anymore.”

On that, they all agreed.

* * * *​
In less than a day, they were all in the old briefing room of the garrison building. Sitting and standing around the large circular table with an older model holoprojector in the center, were Voort, Jen, Akan, Shadow, Hansen, and Trker-Hon. From what Akan could tell, Voort, Hansen, and the Topsider had spent the day refining their plan with the smaller number of warriors at their disposal. How many, exactly, only they new at the moment. Not for long, though, and the three others truly wished that they’d kept the bad news to themselves.

“Fifteen hundred,” Hansen announced quietly, almost trying to hide how badly outnumbered they were.

Voort was getting ready to say something, but Jen waved her hand to get some attention. Something had been bothering her, and Jen felt like she had finally figured it out. Through all of this, she felt like there wasn’t any place for her. Sure, she could go in alongside Voort or Akan or Shadow and help out there...but no. She was extra weight too often. Now, she was sure of what to do, distantly encouraged on by that part of her mind that wasn’t all Jen, “I don’t know what you’re planning to do, but I’m not going.”

“What do you mean?” asked Hansen, a confused look crossing not only her face, but all the others. Well, except Shadow. She seemed emotionless ever since Landau had died. Much like when Jen had first met the Alraxian.

Closing her eyes a moment, Jen attempted to confirm if she was going to do the right thing. That confirmation came twice. Once from herself, and the second from that non-Jen that she still didn’t have figured out completely. All she really was sure of is that it was to be trusted. Opening her eyes again, Jen said, “I need to go behind the lines and confront Him.”

Silence. Voort broke it, “Are you crazy?”

“Maybe,” Jen answered with a shrug, but her eyes then locked with his and she hoped he’d understand somehow, “But I have to do this,” she paused, searching for that key to understanding in Voort’s eyes, and then just said, “Trust me. Please.”

“Well I’ll go with you,” said Voort, almost too quickly and looking to both Trker-Hon and Hansen for some kind of support. He got it from neither.

Instead, Hansen said, “You know we need you out there.”

Another silence. Voort didn’t break it this time, instead stuck going over the conflicting situations. Allow Jen to run into Sadrak’s base behind enemy lines on her own? But going with her would force them to rework the entire attack plan. It was too late for that now...unless they were going to wait yet another long day. Thankfully, Voort didn’t have to make a choice. Instead, Shadow spoke, “I can get her in. I will go with her.”

[No revenge.] Akan’s voice sounded through her mind not a half second after she’d finished speaking.

She simply shot him a sideways glance, responding only with emotion. She may not get that revenge herself, but Jen was obviously up to something. If Jen killed him, so be it. As long as he died and Shadow was there to make sure of it. Jen was even surprised to see Voort nod at Shadow’s words. Hansen seemed reluctant to accept it, and the Topsider seemed to be waiting on the actual discussion to begin.

“Well...we can...talk about this afterwards,” Voort said slowly, motioning to the holoprojector. It activated, showing a flickering and faint image of the outlying dunes around the facility. Very old holoprojector...a few colored points appeared all along the inner section. They were red, and it was easy to tell from their position that they were Sadrak forces. It was a mass of red over the sand. So many...and it was only an estimate. A moment later, three green sections appeared, one to the center, one to the left, and one to the right. Then the image cut off.

Voort cursed and kicked the table. The holo image flickered on for a half second and then shut off again. When Voort got ready to beat the piece of junk, Hansen got to her feet and put a hand on his shoulder, saying, “You at least got a short look at it. We’ll divide the forces into three five hundred troop divisions. I will lead the right flank, Trker-Hon will take the left, and Akan the center.”

“I’ll what?!” Akan asked, leaning forwards and genuinely surprised at not having been notified of this beforehand. Really, leading a suicide mission was one thing...but a ground assault down the center of a suicide mission? He was a pilot! A special forces soldier! He wasn’t a grunt trooper! The only ground experience he had was sneaking around!

Voort couldn’t help a slight grin at Akan’s reaction. It was expected. Having a seat, the man said, “The groups on each side will be more diversionary forces than anything. Split the defenses to leave a hole. Your group needs to get inside the facility and clear it out. And...meet up with Jen and Shadow if you can.”

“You want me to just plow through the strongest point in their defenses?” Akan was asking honestly, no sarcasm in his voice at all for once, “I’m no officer, and never was, but isn’t that...well, stupid?”

“If that was the only part, yes,” responded Voort with a nod. He raised a hand to stop any comment and continued speaking, “But it isn’t. It seems that the armory here had a nice model sharpshooter rifle. I’ll be sitting back on a dune behind you and clearing a path.”

“How comforting,” grumbled Akan under his breath, looking down to the table and then over to the emotionless Shadow.

Hansen smiled, “Since this will be your first time doing anything like this, Voort and I figured you’d need a briefing in general tactics.”

“You mean I can’t just run in and chop things up until I get inside?” the sarcasm returned so quickly to Akan’s voice that even Jen grinned a little.

“Interestingly enough,” Voort said while leaning back in the chair, “That’s the extent of it. The tactics part is more, don’t get shot or stabbed. The usual. But there is something we all need to learn about,” he then motioned to Trker-Hon, “Topsiders. Specifically, the more useful words in their native tongue for this. Most of the Topsiders don’t understand Basic, so we’ll need to learn the words ‘charge’, ‘stop’, etc. The basics, really.”

“Can we learn curse words?” Akan’s sarcasm continued. It got Jen wondering how he ever lived through any kind of military briefing. She’d only been involved in one or two, and even the most arrogant fighter pilots she’d met wouldn’t continually make comments like that. But it was levity that they all needed, so perhaps he was doing it on purpose. Hopefully. Jen didn’t really hear the rest of the briefing. Most of the time, she found herself studying Shadow. With that morphing technique, getting into Sadrak’s base wouldn’t be too much trouble. But then what?

‘Then I will assist you.’

Oh. Great. So the voices in her head were going to save the day. One hell of a way to tell if someone was crazy, but it didn’t seem like there was any other option anymore.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

((Bit of a late update...at parent's house for the holidays, but should be able to keep up daily updates except for this Monday-Thursday. Will still try, of course, but no promises. ))

*Chapter 99: Calm Before the Storm*

As the troops were organized and readied to head out on that long trek out to the facility across the sands, Shadow and Jen also prepared to leave. Obviously, it didn’t take the two of them nearly as long to prepare, and it was soon time for them to leave. Voort and Jen had embraced, kissed, then exchanged some quiet words. Neither Akan nor Shadow could hear, but then again they weren’t particularly trying. Instead, Akan was getting lectured. Mostly being told to not do anything stupid, and being given a few pointless reminders.

They had performed some kind of battle preparation ritual only half an hour earlier. Though Akan wasn’t against this, he still didn’t feel all to comfortable with such things. But Shadow was dangerously insistent that he do those things. She’d also said something in Alraxian, but it was quiet and something was odd. No matter how much he pressed it, she wouldn’t explain what she’d said. That worried Akan, but then again, maybe this wasn’t the time to deal with such things.

“Good luck,” he said finally, patting Shadow on the shoulder.

She just raised an eyebrow, but eventually nodded slowly, “You too.”

And then Shadow stepped over to Jen, indicating that it was time to go. Jen nodded and they walked out to the sand, with Jen wondering exactly what they planned to do. They obviously weren’t taking an airspeeder, and Shadow was thinking of something. The solution to the transportation problems became apparent, as Shadow’s body changed. A few seconds later, Jen was standing next to a large, winged...thing. The first word she wanted to use to describe the creature that was three times her size was flying lizard. But then Shadow’s head spun around and gave Jen a toothy grin. Alright, there was another word for it. The creature Shadow had become looked very similar to the larger Krayt Dragons, except with wings and a more reddish color.

Leaning in, Shadow nudged Jen gently with a snout that was bigger than the largest humans. She then motioned up towards the scaled back, and Jen finally got the idea. Though it took a little work, Jen finally managed to climb up onto Shadow’s back. A few more moments passed, and they were in the air and flying off.

“Flashy,” Voort commented. Hansen just grinned, but turned and walked off to finish getting ready.

Akan shrugged, “She said it was fun. Is fun...whatever. But I don’t think she’s crazy enough to fly in too close.”

“I’d hope not,” grumbled Voort before following Hansen. Akan watched as Shadow slowly faded away into the distance. Sighing, he stepped off to follow the other two. Something was still bothering him. That dream was still there...and it was more than a dream. He knew it. Felt it. Even if Shadow didn’t believe him. But no. This wasn’t the time.

After everything was organized and ready, Voort gave Akan a last set of ‘advice’, as he called it. Akan felt like it was more of a lecture, but there was at least a good reason for it. As Akan had never really been involved in any kind of large ground operation like this, it was good to have advice from someone with experience. Especially considering that Voort was going to be shooting right over Akan’s head. Amazingly enough, this didn’t worry Akan. Previous experience had shown that Voort was a good shot. Voort was mostly making sure that Akan wouldn’t get caught up in a fight. Like it or not, the kid was the only one who could get inside to catch up with Jen and Shadow. Voort would be needed outside, as would Hansen and Trker-Hon.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long before they all left. Akan met with the troops he was meant to lead, and then they were off. The traveling was slow, and it was impossible to wonder if they’d be too late.

* * * *​
So what if she’d picked a Dragon? It’d been so long since Shadow had seen Falla and Jara that she was finding herself missing them more and more. What better to way to remember her two friends than being like them? It was fun, too...she felt so strong and fast. This nearly became a problem, as Shadow almost flew in too close. A Dragon would have been such an easy thing to spot in the empty skies of Arranis. Setting down a good distance away from the facility, Shadow flexed her large wings to indicate that Jen should get off. This took a few minutes, as Jen was windswept and slightly dazed from the quick flight.

Once Jen was down, though, Shadow changed again. This time, though, she didn’t return to her Alraxian form. It worried Jen when she saw that there was now a slightly disturbing creature standing next to her. It was one of those four-armed humanoids, relatively Shadow looking. Mostly in the black hair. Shadow managed a weak grin and shrugged, “Don’t ask. Just...c’mon, I don’t like this.”

“Neither do I,” Jen admitted. That’s when two of Shadow’s hand grabbed onto Jen in a not-so-gentle way. Alright, no more playing around. Though the details of the plan weren’t explained, Jen had a good idea of it now. Just play the captive and let Shadow do the talking...though hopefully talking wouldn’t be required all that much. It was no trouble at all as they passed through the defenses that had been placed. Those strange creatures walked here and there but took no notice of either of them. Jen just hoped it stayed that way...though there was a growing worry that was impossible to shake off. What if this was the wrong choice? 

‘Be strong.’

Somehow, that was enough. She didn’t understand the source of that, but it was right. She had to be strong. It was too late to turn back now. Hopefully, Voort and Akan would get here soon. The sooner Sadrak was gone, the sooner they could go home. She smiled...and the sooner she could go through with that promise to Titus.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 100: The Plunge*

It was a five hour march before they could see anything. Amazingly, none of them were exhausted. In fact, it seemed that the closer they got, the more energized all of them became. Now, they waited. Akan stood on top of one of the larger dunes, looking down across the sands and seeing for the first time the defenses that they were up against. So many thousands of figures littered the sands below, not to mention the towers and walls of metal that would definitely slow them down. The worst part, though, was that Akan couldn’t see the entrance to the facility. If he was going to head for that, it would be helpful to know exactly the right direction to be going. Well, forward, obviously, but something more specific than that would become important.

Looking to the left, Akan took in the sights of the lines of Topsiders and the former Imperials standing behind the distant figure he knew to be Hansen. For a moment, he looked the other direction, but knew it was pointless. Even though Akan stood on top of the dune, Trker-Hon and his group were out of sight, being behind an ever larger dune. Sighing, he turned back to look at the sands in front of him. Waiting. Those creatures were moving, though, forming up in makeshift lines, about as unorganized looking as the one behind Akan.

With a slight grin, the Alraxian turned around to face the Topsiders behind him. They were a diverse group, all with scales ranging from browns to soft reds. Some even had crests. Their ‘armor’ was even more diverse, and some of them simply wore cloth. What caught Akan’s eye were the weapons, though. While some of the Topsiders held large, interestingly designed rifles, all of them had at least one bladed weapon. Many had large, metal swords, shining in the rising sun. Some even had a series of ornately carved and sharply curving knives. Long knives. In fact, they were large enough to be considered swords. Akan made a note to be careful of them. The whole metal aversion was still a new thing to him, but having felt the phantom pain from Shadow..err, Light, had proved to him that it wasn’t something to ignore.

“Sssir...” one of the Topsiders spoke up. His name Akan didn’t remember, but he thought of the creature as ‘Red Tail’. This was because his tail was spotted with soft red spots...an obvious name, but it was easy to remember. Red Tail, as Akan had found out, was one of the leaders of a much larger tribes, and Trker-Hon’s younger sibling(of course, Akan had to take their word on the younger part, they all looked about the same age to him).

Snapping back into the moment, Akan turned to Red Tail, “I already said, don’t call me that.”

“I apologize,” Red Tail bowed his head in a gesture Akan was still getting used to, then spoke in a forced Basic, “Ssshould we wait here ssstill?”

Ah. Well, it was only something he could delay so long. Akan looked back to the forming lines of the creatures below, then back to Red Tail, “You’re right. Tell them to get ready.”

As Akan turned back to face the force ahead of them, he heard Red Tail yell something in the Topsider’s native language. There was the sound of movement, and as the order echoed across the sands, Akan knew that the other two groups would likely be preparing themselves also. They were waiting on him. All of the Topsiders were waiting on him. Voort was waiting on him. Hansen was waiting. Even those four creatures that were still forming up were waiting on him. And somewhere beyond his vision, Shadow and Jen were there...Shadow wasn’t dead, but the silence he’d gotten through the link for the last few hours was unnerving. He hoped she was just ignoring him.

But delaying was over. Everything waited on Akan. They had come to this planet to finish a job. Each for their own personal reasons, but all ending with the same thing. Sadrak. And now, it all rested on Akan. Even the calming techniques couldn’t lessen this burden. It was something he couldn’t stop thinking about. But waiting was the worst part. He closed his eyes a moment, then turned back to look over the large amount of troops that he could see. How many of them would survive? They were outnumbered at least five to one. That was even being generous. It was likely to be twice that many. Now Akan knew how his superiors always felt. So few would survive, and all of it depended on one person. Waiting. Always waiting. There was movement behind him, and Akan knew that the Topsiders were wondering why he still stood there.

No more waiting. Akan reached to his belt and unhooked the lightsaber. He sighed and looked down at the hilt of the weapon for a short moment. It looked so similar to Shadow’s weapon. There were no carvings, but the general feel of it was oddly similar. Why? Was this really the connection to his family that he’d always assumed it was? Perhaps it was something completely different. Just a lucky thing to have appeared in his hands. If he died today, out on these endless sands on a backwater world, Akan would never know. It wasn’t the first time he’d wanted to know the real origin of that weapon. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be the last. Wasting time with thoughts like these again. Carefully, he thumbed the activation switch on the blade. The snap-hiss was a loud noise that seemed to cut through the empty air. Watching the shimmering blade for a moment, he held it up. Hopefully, Trker-Hon had a scout up on the dune watching.

The blue-green blade shimmered above his head for a long moment, and Akan noticed that even the displaced lines of creatures below had frozen. This was it. There was no turning back now. This was all going to end here, one way or another. Akan sent a short mental message to Shadow, knowing it wouldn’t be responded to. He simply wanted her to know they had arrived. He lowered the lightsaber to a more comfortable position, then turned around to give the Topsiders behind him a last look. The second seemed to linger for an eternity as he saw the determination on all of their lizard-like faces. They all had their own reasons to fight. No one was forced here.

As Akan turned back to face the enemy, holding his lightsaber at hip level to his side, Akan wished those thoughts would have given him comfort. For the last time, Akan cleared his mind of all thoughts. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. The first step Akan took forward seemed like it was the hardest he’d ever taken. The second followed much easier, and his heavy feet lightened as he started to a run. Behind him, the sound of the Topsiders following him was nearly deafening. It wasn’t long before a loud roar came from the Topsiders, and this was soon followed by similar roars to the left and right. For how many would that be the last sound to be heard? Even for Voort, sitting back with his rifle on one of the distant dunes, couldn’t help but wonder if this was it.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 101: Familiar Faces*

It wasn’t that Shadow didn’t hear Akan, simply that she was having to keep her attention on the moment. She’d avoided a few of those four armed monstrosities who’d tried to ask questions in a language she didn’t understand, and was getting worried that the luck wasn’t going to last. Jen was doing a good job of being difficult, struggling against Shadow’s grip every time someone came into view. Other than that, they didn’t really speak. Honestly, there wasn’t much to say. Thankfully, it hadn’t take very long to finally reach the entrance. That did, however, bring more difficulties.

Three well armed guards(each of the four arms holding a weapon, though the pun was not lost on Jen), flanked the entrance and assaulted Shadow with a barrage of questions. Jen picked up on the general feel of the language, noticing that it was similar to an older form of Durese. This didn’t mean she understood it, though. Shadow, also not able to understand, did her best to look menacing without speaking. Hopefully, the strong silent type was a common stereotype among these...things. At first, they got weapons pointed at them, and Jen had the worst feeling that they got very close to being shot. Shadow had then thrust Jen forward as a sort of human shield, which had caused Jen to yelp suddenly. This managed to get the attention of the guards, and the three quickly moved to the side to let them pass.

Now...to navigate the halls. Jen could vaguely remember the way she’d gone to reach that domed chamber before, so she helped to direct Shadow. The corridors were packed with creatures, though, so Jen had to do this by shrugging a shoulder when they came to turns. At first, Shadow hadn’t picked up on this, and wondered what was wrong with Jen, but when Jen’s mind started feeling frantic, Shadow finally caught on. All of the creatures they passed by stopped and pressed themselves against the walls to let the two pass. Jen started to worry that they were expected. Shadow, though, already was sure of this. It was all too easy. The fact that she didn’t speak their language should have tipped off at least one guard.

Because of the time it had taken to walk across the sands and then Shadow having gotten them lost in the maze of corridors, the two of them were wandering for hours. This is what worried Shadow the most. No one took notice of the fact that they were going in circle aimlessly. Yet as time passed, there were fewer and fewer guards around. Both Shadow and Jen got the impression that the creatures were preparing for something. That something was obvious enough. Voort and Akan were on their way, and would likely be arriving anytime now. Maybe this taking so long would actually do some good, synchronizing the attack outside with whatever Jen was going to o with Sadrak.

And then, finally, they found the chamber. Empty. No guards. Lights were still on, but provided only a soft glow to illuminate the circular room. Near the center of the room was the same chair as before, up the few steps and below the brighter sections of lights. From what Shadow and Jen could tell, it was empty. Again, too easy. Shadow risked a glance behind them again, then finally let go of Jen. She then took a deep breath, and then morphed back to her own body. Sighing with relief to finally be herself again, Shadow swished her tail around in annoyance, “I don’t like this.”

“He’s watching,” Jen said quietly, suddenly realizing that she’d not even told her mouth to say that. Strange...those weren’t her words at all. In fact, she’d planned on just agreeing with Shadow and commenting on being glad to see her as an Alraxian again.

Shadow gave Jen a surprised look. Jen’s voice had sounded off. Shrugging, the Alraxian took a few steps over to the chair. Just as she got to the foot of the steps, the chair spun around and sitting there, in typical egotistical maniac style, was the robed Sadrak. He was even doing that horrible laugh. Jen wondered why they hadn’t just left the guy on this sandy planet, especially considering that he’d seen far too many holodramas for his own good. All he’d do to the galaxy as a whole would be to cause a good amount of annoyed sighs at all of his cliches. And if his ‘look’ wasn’t enough, his words were even worse.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” the voice sounded from inside the dark hood.

Really, there were a thousand other things he could have said. But no. He picked that one. Shadow sighed, though neither of them actually said anything. Despite how stupid Sadrak seemed, he still radiated a strong aura of power. It was obvious he was still someone to take seriously...even more so, as something felt wrong about him. The voice was Sadrak, yet different. 

As Shadow took a few step back and Jen stepped forward, Sadrak stood up. Though they couldn’t see his face within that hood, both Jen and Shadow could feel his eyes looking over them in that dangerous way. Studying them in some amused fashion as a child with a new toy. Neither of them could find any words to speak, and though that ‘other’ in Jen’s mind was feeling stronger, she couldn’t find any words at all. They could feel Sadrak’s smile beneath his hood, “I believe you finally understand me.”

How did Jen know He was talking to her? He was...but without being able to see his face, it was odd to realize this. And then Jen’s mouth opened, yet again speaking words that weren’t hers, “Leave them out of this.”

Sadrak laughed. It was an odd laugh that they’d never heard before, hauntingly familiar and alien at the same time, “It has been a long time, Shinai.”

Something clicked in Jen, and she found herself responding to that name. No...Jen didn’t respond. Instead, it was that non-Jen part of her mind that did. And now it had a name. Not it. She. Jen found that she wasn’t completely in control of her body at this point, and watched helplessly as she took a step forward, speaking words that yet again were not her own, “You die today, Sadrak.”

Another laugh from the hooded figure, and he reached out with his hand off to the left, signaling something. This wasn’t what Shadow and Jen noticed, though. What they saw was Sadrak’s hand, clearly extending out of the heavy robe. Three brownish colored and claw-shaped fingers attached to a very thin looking wrist. Yet this was Sadrak. It had to be. What did this mean?!

But this question was simply answered with another. Out from one of the darker areas of the chamber came a figure. It had four arms, and looked much like all of those guards, except that it was twice their size. The figure was twisted and broken, with odd scales grafted across the chest and legs. But that was not what got a gasp out of Shadow. The face did that. It was impossible not to recognize, especially for Shadow. The eyes, nose, shape, and even the slightly burnt hair were still the same. Landau. This...thing, standing there and looking out of dead eyes was Landau.

The thing stepped forward, a slow and hulking pace that made it even more painful to watch. Sadrak simply laughed again, and said from under the hood, “Now now, little cat, I did not forget you. We have business to take care of. In the mean time, you may enjoy yourself,” the hood turned to face the Landau-thing, “Kill her.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 102: Fighting a Losing War*

Akan had crashed into the enemy lines in a blur. The details of everything that was occurring were lost on him for those first few minutes. All he truly knew was moving, swinging, ducking, and swinging again. Again and again and again his lightsaber cut down the four armed creatures. Worry came when his mind caught up with the insanity, and he realized that two of the four arms carried metal blades. The other two had slugthrower type weapons that weren’t getting much use. Or rather, not much use on him. Akan could still hear the weapons firing behind him, but he never took the time to turn around.

He simply pushed forward. And it was soon apparent he was not alone. Red Tail was not a half step behind him, cleaving through the enemy with only slightly more trouble. This was only because Akan’s blade cut through the enemy’s weapons, while Red Tail had to actually find an opening to attack. But the Topsider kept up, eventually making it right to Akan’s side as they continued plowing through the impossibly huge mass of creatures. It was impossible to tell how far they’d gone, and turning around was simply a stupid act. The only way Akan wasn’t chopping up Red Tail was through keeping tabs on the Topsider with the Force. He would have said something, but no sound could be heard above the loud roar of the thousand sounds of the battle.

To the sides, Akan knew that both Trker-Hon and Hansen were also just getting into the thick of things. But they were going to stand and fight, while Akan had to simply cut a path through and get into the distant facility.  This meant that both he and Red Tail had put some significant distance between themselves and the majority of the other Topsiders, who’d also stood and taken the attention of the enemies. No sound that Akan’s Alraxian ears could hear indicated that Voort was doing his job, but the blaster bolt that would shoot past him every few seconds and drop an enemy was enough to prove it. The man was a damned good shot, each time the blaster making a head shot from the half glances Akan could manage.

From Voort’s view in the distance, he could see Akan and Red Tail as a small moving hole in the seemingly never ending mass of troops. They had gotten far, so much that the enemy was having trouble deciding what they should do. Attack these two mad warriors just plowing through the center without stopping or move forward and get rid of the actual troops they were facing? The confusion was obvious to Voort, and was an advantage he’d hoped on having. It made it easier for him to find targets, and obviously gave an edge to Akan while he cut a path through. Voort only wished that he could be the one to get to Jen. No. No, his place was out here. He could do the most good here.

“Sir!” that was one of the few Imperials who’d stayed back with him.

Voort didn’t look back to the man, but simply continued to take shots at creatures that Akan wasn’t looking at, speaking over his shoulder, “What is it?”

“Artillery is in place, but we’ve taken too long,” the man was having to nearly yell even though the battle was so distant, “The enemy platforms are already raining fire on the right and left flanks.”

“Take them out anyway!” Voort growled after letting off another quick shot, “Then pound the deep sections of the enemy troops and make us some weak points,” he paused a moment to quickly reload a new power pack into the weapon. In the short few minutes that had already passed, Voort had expended two of the packs. After resting the weapon down again and finding the blue-green blade that easily identified Akan in the distance, Voort continued what he was saying, “Tell the airspeeders to move in now. Forget waiting. Have them use their own judgement as to where to set down, but make sure they keep at least two gunners onboard each to give us some air support.”

“Understood,” and then the man was gone again. Thankfully, though, Voort was not the only sniper. He may have been the best skilled, but he was joined by at least twenty others, some Imperial, some Topsider. All had an array of various weapons, but all were doing a very good job. Only Voort fired towards Akan, though, as the shot was very dangerous from this angle, and it reached farther and farther off to push the range of the weapon itself. He’d soon be useless. By then, though, Akan should have made it over the first hill and be able to see the actual facility.

Of course, Voort still couldn’t help wondering what was behind those large metal walls that were scattered about and causing havoc with the sniper fire. It could be nothing, but Voort knew that if he was in charge, those things would have some heavy artillery behind them. Sadrak(or whoever was in charge) must not have thought the same way, as there was no evidence of anything but more troops. A waste of a good strategy, Voort thought to himself as he picked off the head of another enemy, the shot going right over Akan’s shoulder. The boy would probably have felt the heat on that one.

And then there were three loud booms. Voort didn’t flinch or look away, knowing that it was the artillery. Projectiles. Old, yes, but they still worked. A few loud explosions soon echoed across the sands, and he could hear some small talk amongst the others around him. No point in quieting them, as they were all still intelligent enough to continue with their jobs. The booms continued, and Voort couldn’t help being slightly curious as to how well they were doing. They weren’t going to be firing in front of his line of fire(that was made sure of before hand), so he really had no way of knowing the damage they’d done. Hopefully, the gunners would take out those metal barricades and other defenses along with the weapon’s towers that should have been the first to go.

Quickly switching another power pack into his very hot weapon, Voort turned back to firing straight across the sands. Akan had moved enough now that he was nearly on an even level with the sniper’s hill. Voort got four more shots off before the boy and his Topsider companion disappeared among that sea of troops. The farther the two had gotten, the more they’d been swarmed, yet they still were making it. And now it was out of Voort’s hands. Akan had made it over the dune, out of the valley. How many troops were beyond that, none of them truly knew except Akan and that Topsider. If the two of them survived, none of them would know either. Voort sat back a short moment to take in the whole of the situation now that his original focus was gone.

To the far left, Hansen’s group was having a lot of trouble. Though there were five or six large smoking ‘holes’ in the enemy lines from the artillery, the troops just continued to push forward. No longer did they just stand and wait, having no trouble pushing back after being pushed against. The majority of Hansen’s force was lost in the sea of enemies, and the only way Voort could tell this at the distance they were at(without the rifle’s scope at least), was through the slight coloration differences that were scattered around. Divided and easily being exterminated. He didn’t even take time to look over towards the other two groups before the sounds of the airspeeders joined the continued barrage of artillery. Voort watched the flying ships streak over the lines, taking a few shots from the slugthrowers below without trouble. Blaster fire along with slugthrower fire was rained down, doing little but put tiny holes in the endless lines of troops. 

And then, two of the larger airspeeders dropped almost to ground level, nearly landing directly in the enemy lines. An insanely chaotic barrage of fire could be seen through Voort’s rifle scope(to which he even added a few shots), and in a few moments there were twenty more troops on the ground, trying to tear the lines apart little by little from the center. A desperate tactic, but with a little help from the snipers it would keep them alive for a short time. Not only that, but when the airspeeders got up into the sky again, they also helped. So far, things were going according to plan.

In other words, the enemy was winning. It was expected, and they’d need to fall back soon. But sadly, Voort knew how hard it would be to get that kind of order to the forces in the thick of it. Not only that, but half of the troops were surrounded and fighting for their lives. Voort suddenly found himself wondering if this had been such a good idea. They were outnumbered by so many more than had been expected. But it was too late now. Jen was already in the rancor’s den, along with Shadow. Akan was on his way there. Somewhere in that mass of fighting to his left was Hansen, and Voort would be damned if he didn’t at least try to help someone out. So, he continued to take shots at the enemies, one by one lessening their numbers as his scope searched for Hansen.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 103: Duty*

Passing over that dune was not nearly as easy for Akan and Red Tail as it had looked to Voort. And truly, neither of the two truly were thinking of the dangerous task. There was simply no time at all. With so many creatures all around them each having four arms each and swords in two of those arms, there was no chance to stop moving. Far too many close calls and near misses occurred, and while Akan knew that it was both the Force and the faster Alraxian reflexes that were keeping him alive, he was truly amazed at Red Tail. Sure, Akan had a couple new scratches along some arms and had lost a few hairs and nearly his tail a couple of times, but Red Tail hadn’t been touched yet. The Topsider was a blur of movement, spinning and ducking and jumping around with such speed that Akan couldn’t help but wonder if this creature was at least somewhat Force sensitive. But nothing supported that idea...which would mean that this Red Tail was just extremely skilled. To Akan, this was even more admirable. Even he knew that sometimes the Force was used as a crutch.

Working together and sticking close, the two of them continued their push. It was once they got out of sight of Voort that the real trouble kicked in. There, the lines of troops were nonexistent. Instead, there was just a crazy mass of creatures in all directions. Even more chaotic, and forced even more attention to be divided. This ended up causing the two of them to slow down. It was all the worse for Akan because now he could see that entrance to Sadrak’s facility. It was just across the sands. Probably a hundred or so meters away from them. But now that there was no need for the enemy to divide their focus between the two crazy warriors plowing forward and the lines of troops ahead. On this side of things, with no opposition beyond Akan and Red Tail, they became the prime targets.

And to add to this, fatigue was setting in. Even for an Alraxian, this constant fighting and moving and fighting was tiring without any kind of break. This showed itself in Akan’s ignoring of minor cuts and bruises, not even bothering to remorph them. While Akan had learned how to morph efficiently, it was still impossibly taxing on his body and energy level. The more he had tried remorphing, the harder it became to do anything else. Even the minor cuts had gotten to the point of taking massive amounts of energy to deal with. Of course, Akan was smart enough to pick up on this and go back to that old fail safe of not getting hit in the first place.

Then something odd occurred. Akan’s lightsaber cleaved through two different creatures, and he found himself continuing to move and readying another attack...but there was nothing there. He stopped in his tracks, more out of reflex from surprise than anything, having gotten so used to being constantly surrounded. When he looked around, it was quickly apparent that Red Tail had also noticed this problem. The creatures weren’t just throwing themselves onto the weapons anymore. They had now set up a large circle around the two of them, not yet closing it in but that was the obvious result.

As Akan finally allowed himself a moment to catch his breath, he exchanged a look with the Topsider he was back to back with, “Should have seen this one coming...”

“Yesss...” Red Tail responded with a nod of his head, and a somewhat interesting looking flaring of the small crest on his head, “I do not expect that it will be easssy to reach the entrance anymore...”

Akan also nodded, raising his lightsaber in a more general defensive position but still looking to the Topsider, “Not much else we can do but try, yes?”

That got a smile on Red Tail’s face. It was a toothy, almost dangerous looking smile, but that was more from the lizard-like appearance. For some reason, reptiles always looked sinister and dangerous no matter how friendly and helpful they actually were, “You are correct,” Red Tail turned to look Akan in the eyes, that smile becoming an almost grin, “Forward it isss then.”

Akan even grinned. It was the way that Red Tail said that. You could tell he was actually enjoying himself in all of this. Not that Akan wasn’t...but...well, there were still other things on his mind. Currently, the largest being why Shadow was hiding from him. But no, that wasn’t important right yet. That would be something to worry about if he got inside. It was a good thing that Akan didn’t dwell on these thoughts, too, as Red Tail let out a fierce roar and suddenly charged forward. Raising his lightsaber, Akan was only a few steps behind the Topsider. It looked like the creatures had been surprised at the sudden charge, and this made it fairly easy to cleave through four of them before actually having any real trouble. And then the chaos of battle erupted around them again.

Akan was staying low, moving in all directions as he let the Force guide his blade and his movement to avoid the assault of an uncountable number of blades. These creatures were not unskilled, either, and Akan was having far too many close calls.. After quickly lopping off two arms from the left side of one creature, he was bringin his sword across to take its head off. But his blade never met with its target. Instead, a sudden and very violent pang shot through the him from the Force. Danger. No. Not just any danger. Immediate danger. Allowing his strike to fall short, Akan tried to jump back. His eyes caught sight of two blades where he was moving towards, and knew it was too late to stop the backwards jump. But when he reached the point where the two blades should have dug into his back, nothing happened. Well, no...something did. Instead, he slammed into the back of a heavy body.

At the same time, there was an awkward and pained sound that Akan could recognize in a haunting way. Risking a short glance to the creature he had fallen back against, he saw a what that small voice in the back of his head had worried about. Red Tail. That sound was coming from the Topsider’s throat.  Akan spun around, taking down two enemies with his lightsaber in the process, and soon found himself side by side with his companion. A horrified look passed over Akan’s face as imagination and speculation on what had happened collided head on with reality.

The two swords Akan had been falling into were now dug deep into the Topsider’s chest and stomach. Blood dripped onto the sand below, and there was a strangely calm moment where everything seemed to stop. Akan just looked at this Topsider who he now considered a friend, with the reptilian creature focusing its anger and attention on the stunned abominations around them. No one moved. Akan wanted to say something. Anything. Through the Force, he could feel the Topsider’s life was dwindling into nothing. Yet he could do nothing about it.

Slowly, Red Tail turned to look to his Alraxian companion. Presenting his brother in arms with a smile, Red Tail spoke in a quiet voice, though it was not at all weakened by his state, “Go. Find your friendsss.”

“I won’t leave you here,” Akan said quietly, wondering why their enemies weren’t simply finishing the job. Was it shock? Or perhaps mere curiosity? Or possibly even something more dangerous...

Red Tail shook his head, “I do my duty. I ssserve my family. Ssserve yours,” the Topsider then turned back to the creatures who watched him with stunned looks on their faces, though still spoke to Akan, “We will meet again when the time isss right.”

And then, only a second later, all of the chaos returned in a flash. Despite the two swords dug deep into the Topsider’s body, Red Tail took a heavy step forward, and swung his sword at the wielder of the two weapons. In the moment that the creature’s head left its body, Akan started moving forward. He didn’t risk another glance back to Red Tail as he cut and stabbed his way to make himself a path through, but could hear the sounds that easily showed a fierce fight. That was one Topsider who would not die without a fight.

But it wasn’t over yet. Akan still had a good distance to go. Though the number of enemy creatures was lessening as he got farther, that fatigue continued to grow as muscles in his body began to ache. With just four more heavy steps and strong swings of his lightsaber, Akan was within a few meters of the entrance. His eyes fell on one of the enemy creatures that was moving towards him. It wasn’t any trouble to duck under the horizontal swing from its first arm, but the spin to avoid the second strike was ore complicated and even more tiring. Akan managed to sweep his lightsaber around with his spin, taking the creature’s life before another attack could be made. Two more were already at him, though, diving in recklessly with swords swinging down at the tired Alraxian.

Quickly jumping over a low strike towards his legs, Akan kicked out at the first attacker. His leg caught the creature across the side of the face, stunning it for a half second and enough time for Akan to land. His lightsaber was following up with a violent follow up blow to finish the creature off when a shock of impossibly intense pain rocked through his hand. He looked to the side to see that other enemy he’d ignored for some reason, and also took in the horrible sight of the missing right hand. The sword did not cut cleanly like a lightsaber, and instead left a blue bloodied and disturbingly grotesque image of Akan’s arm ending at the wrist. It wasn’t a second later that another shock of pain rocked through him, this time from behind. His eyes opened wide with pain, and somehow he avoided yelling out from the intense pain. When he had a chance to look down, he could easily see nearly a fourth of the metal blade extending out from his chest. He didn’t know what to think. In fact, the only thing that really crossed his mind was the realization that the weapons were metal. Such a stupid thing at a moment like this, as he could feel at least two of his internal organs had been punctured if not completely destroyed. Even if it wasn’t a metal weapon, he didn’t have nearly enough energy to remorph the tiny cuts along his body, much less his hand and internal organs.

It was in those moments that Akan found his mind race back towards the first time he’d lost his life. A thousand thoughts tried to get through, but the one that actually was clear as his eyes closed was an odd one. In a bright flash, he felt himself lying down in a warm bed. He felt warm, comfortable, and impossibly happy. It wasn’t long at all before he noticed some weight on his shoulder, and glanced down to see a head there resting. No...sleeping. A smile crept onto his face, but it was odd to not be able to pick out anything beyond that being a figure. And then it flashed away as quickly as it had came, but Akan was not sent back to the painful reality. Instead, he saw one last thing. Children. Three young children. They were playing some kind of game, laughing and obviously enjoying themselves. It took only a second before one of them saw him, grinned and pounced. The next thing Akan knew, he was on his back, tackled by three happy children who were trying to ‘kill’ him.

There was no flash back to reality. There was no last sight. The only thing Akan got that could have been considered close was confusion. What had those been? Why see things like that? Especially at a time like this! What could have been, perhaps? Or maybe it was the way of the Force to show one a last comforting sight before death. Akan didn’t find out, and he never actually felt himself hit the sand.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 104: Save Me Once...Save Me Twice...*

Shadow took a few careful steps back, eyeing this...this...thing that was approaching her. It wasn’t Landau. It couldn’t be. It was some beast that had stolen his likeness. A familiar face grafted onto a horrible body. This hulking beast could never have even resembled the man who had been her friend. Yet Shadow still felt it was Landau. Despite everything she tried to convince herself of, this beast was Landau. The dead friend brought back as a disgusting monstrosity. Though this had the chance of revealing the origin of the creatures which fought against the Topsiders outside, Shadow didn’t think of it. Instead, her mind raced about what to do.

It had been ordered to kill her and was looking intent on following through with this. The obvious course of action was to defend herself and defeat her enemy. Yet...yet it was Landau. How could she kill him? Fight him even? He had been the one human who she’d learned to trust, possibly even care about, since the death of Max so many years before. It had been so long that she’d nearly forgotten it. And then her thoughts crashed into reality. Or rather, reality crashed into her.

This came in the form of Landau’s fist. One of the four arms of that thing hit Shadow hard across the face, sending Shadow skidding across the well polished floor of the chamber. With only her natural instincts guiding her at this point, Shadow got to her feet the second after her body had stopped moving. Landau was already upon her again, reaching in for another heavy strike. This time, Shadow wasn’t there to be hit. She ducked low under the strike, then spun to the side and jumped back, looking to Landau with a pleading look on her face.

“Please don’t do this...” Shadow said quietly, not even realizing that she was speaking her thoughts aloud. Of course, this wasn’t the only thing she had lost focus on. Her attention was on this Landau-thing, and even Jen and the robed Sadrak were no longer within her attention. It was as if they were all in a different world entirely as Shadow tried to figure out what to do.

But no answer came from Landau. He only approached again. This time much faster, and dove in swinging three of his four arms. Shadow had trouble dodging, but managed to get back and out of his reach in an awkward series of rolling and twisting. Her body was moving without even attempting to ask the brain what to do. This was because the brain was lost. She couldn’t kill a friend. It was unthinkable. No matter how much training she had gone through, Shadow couldn’t kill someone like Landau. He was a good human...a friend...and...and he should be dead from what they had been told. Jen had killed him. Shot him in the stomach. Yet there was no blaster mark on this creature’s twisted body. Only that haunting face. Closing in...getting ready for another strike at Shadow and obviously taking advantage of her indecisiveness.

And then something else happened that Shadow had not expected. She had quieted the link between herself and Akan to make it easier to focus on what she was doing. It wasn’t gone, but just weakened slightly so that all those surface thoughts and other things wouldn’t pass through and distract either of them. But the link suddenly came back, flowing in like an ocean crashing through a weak dam. In only a second, a thousand thoughts and images raced back and forth between Shadow and Akan. Just as these did, Shadow felt a sudden, extremely sharp and vivid pain in her right hand. For a panicked half second, she thought she’d lost her hand and tried to remorph it. That action soon proved impossible, as her hand was still there. Yet...yet...pain! So much pain, and it didn’t feel like a phantom pain that usually flowed through the link. It was so real...so...

Shadow’s thoughts were cut short again, this time not from the link, but from Landau. Two arms grabbed her shoulders, picked her up, and then through her across the chamber. Shadow hit the ground hard, gripping her right hand and trying to fight back the new pains streaking through her spine from the fall. Again, she slid across the floor until her body hit the wall. She stopped just in time for another, even more vivid pain wracked her body. With her mind still racing to understand why her hand was so pained, Shadow suddenly felt a stabbing pain through her back, then up through her chest. Involuntarily, Shadow let out a loud cry of pain. Her eyes closed for a half second before she looked down for the reason for the pain. No wounds. Nothing. No...hand was still there. Chest was still in one piece...yet it hurt. So much. Like...like...and then she traced it back to Akan. This wasn’t a conscious effort, but occurred because of a feeling that ran through the link. Shadow saw Akan’s vision of...children?! What the hell kind of thing was he doing?! Akan was nearly dead and the damn idiot was seeing kids!

Another pain shot through Shadow’s body, and she immediately knew its source. Again, it was Akan. The direct pain from whatever it was in his chest was suddenly pulled away, but not without one last horrible damage. Her second heart suddenly felt a violent pain and nearly stopped in the process. He’d lost his second heart...hand...and there was still a phantom pain from his chest. And his mind was fading...Shadow connected these and forced herself to ignore the pain. Eyes opening just in time to see Landau reaching down for her again, Shadow started moving. With the speed only desperation could provide, Shadow ran. She ran past Landau. She ran out of that chamber. She ran through the corridors that led to the exit of this underground maze.

Her mind had locked onto the fading light of Akan, and she just ran to it. Nothing else mattered anymore. Not Jen, or Sadrak, or even what had occurred to Landau. All that mattered to Shadow was Akan. He was dying. In fact, he was already unconscious and slipping away. There were only a precious few moments left before she would follow. And in a flash, Shadow was outside again, getting out those last steps and seeing a sight she’d never imagined.

All across the sands, she saw those creatures. Thankfully, none of them had Landau’s face, and they were all half his size. But still, they sent a pang of remembrance of what was inside...her mind focused through it to the next sight. Bodies. Hundreds of them were littered across the sand, leading to a point where her senses met with the link. Surrounded by a small number of those horrible four armed creatures, Shadow saw Akan. He lay face down in the sand and unmoving, a blood coat of blood around him and over his back. Those around his body had obviously not expected anyone to come from behind, and this gave Shadow an easy approach. The ancient lightsaber of her family was drawn and ignited only a step away from the first of the creatures. They heard the snap-hiss, and spun around just in time for the first to lose its head. Two more fell in one clean, horizontal strike at chest level. Then, as Shadow’s body started to feel the pains of Akan’s fading life, she saw sword swing her direction. It did not shine in the light, and Shadow barely managed to raise her lightsaber in defense.

The metal blade was sliced in half, and Shadow watched the blood-stained blade fall into two clean pieces. That was the sword that had dug into the wound Shadow could see in Akan’s back. The one still leaking a large amount of blood. Her eyes locked with this creature, and a free hand reached out to her left. Her mind had acted without notify the rest of Shadow, and the Force called Akan’s own lightsaber(minus the hand that held it) to Shadow’s free hand. She caught it in mid thrust with her own purple-bladed weapon towards the creature in front of her. As her weapon thrust straight into the upper chest of the thing, a second snap-hiss was followed by a short and swift strike to lop off the thing’s head. Now holding two blades, Shadow made quick work of the two remaining enemies before turning her attention to Akan’s body. The two lightsabers were deactivated and at her side just as she knelt next to the dying Alraxian.

But she didn’t pick him up. He was going to be dead in a matter of seconds, and she would follow. There was no way for her to force a morph on him to stop the bleeding and heal the internal wounds. At least his mind had allowed him to lose consciousness to avoid feeling the pain that Shadow could feel. There was an option. There always was, even if sometimes it meant heavy sacrifices. Last time, she’d given up a life as an individual and much more than Akan still didn’t know about. This time, at least, little would change. It was a good thing he was face down, as it made things much easier and took less time. Her hands came to rest on Akan’s shoulders, and Shadow allowed their bodies to merge. With Akan’s body and mind s subdued and silent, it wasn’t a challenge at all. In fact, it felt strangely good to take back part of herself again. It was odd, though, because she could still feel Akan’s mind. It was faded, distant, and on the brink of nothing.

As Shadow stood up, her body whole for the first time in a long while, she couldn’t believe that it felt wrong. Shouldn’t she feel good being whole again? No, this wasn’t the time. She allowed a part of herself to keep Akan’s mind alive, which was a difficult task as it was trying to do the natural thing and simply merge with hers. While she planned to give him his own body again, if his mind merged with hers, that would be impossible. So she kept him ‘alive’ in a sense that couldn’t be described in Basic. Even Alraxian had trouble detailing what she did, as it was not a common occurrence. Not yet, though. Ignoring the hundreds of creatures that were already converging on her, Shadow started running again. This time, back. Back into the facility below. Back down those corridors. Back to Jen...Sadrak...and Landau. No longer alone this time, though. And despite Akan’s current state, somehow it helped to give Shadow the determination that was needed to deal with what was there. She would fight. There was no other choice. If she didn’t, the thing that Landau had become would kill her. But that wasn’t what bothered her. Akan would die. She was responsible for his life. It wasn’t something she took lightly, and later she would no doubt question the choice of going back to that chamber to deal with Landau...no, not to deal with him. To free him from whatever that bastard Sadrak had done. And then...then Shadow didn’t know. There was too much going on now to think too far ahead anyway. Because of this, she wasn’t even sure that she would live through the day. At least Shadow wasn’t having to explain that to Akan anymore. Whatever was left of his consciousness was lost in other things.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 105: Impossibilities*

Jen took only one glance to the monstrous Landau, but found that she was unable to react. That part of her that had been growing was taking control, and finding a focus. This was not in a malevolent way, which both surprised and comforted Jen. She allowed this Shinai to take ‘control’ as it were, leaving Jen as more a passenger in her own body. Her voice was no longer her own, taking on an oddly ethereal quality as Jen found herself speaking words she’d never imagined before. Most of this was banter between Shinai and Sadrak, very snide and sarcastic, which Jen found funny. It was obvious that there was something between the two of them, and that this Shinai ‘woman’ (as far as Jen could figure) was not in a good mood.

Slowly, Jen raised her left hand, palm outward, to the robed Sadrak, “Why do you hide from view? Locked between life and death are you, Sadrak? Too stupid to completely die, but too cowardly to truly live?”

Again, Jen was laughing inside at those words. Shinai had a good point. Why WAS Sadrak hiding? She’d seen the hands...inhuman and almost insect like. Sadrak, though, did not feel amused. Odd that Jen noticed it that way. He seemed to radiate an aura of both annoyance and surprise. Though he earlier had seemed to have known that Shinai was ‘within’ Jen, it was becoming obvious that he wasn’t truly ready for it. His voice shaking just slightly, Sadrak snapped back, “Ha! Twice you have failed in your attempts to kill me! This time shall be no different, woman!”

Jen...er, Shinai, laughed, truly sounding amused by his words, “Now, now. I only failed once. The second time, this woman succeeded. You simply cheated fate.”

“And you have not?’ Sadrak again snapped back, though this time he actually took a very small step backwards, It was only noticeable in a small reversed swish of the heavy cloth.

Jen’s face formed a devious smile, “It is the will of the Force that I survive in this woman. It seems that she was fated to assist me in dealing with you once and for all. We have both failed once. Together, we shall not fail again.”

Strangely, Jen found herself actually helping to ‘speak’ those last words. Perhaps it was because she was starting to get a small picture of the true events. Not only from the words of the two, but from a few images of ideas that Shinai had fed to her. From what Jen could tell, Shinai had escaped the Jedi Purge as a child, grown, and by a series of events driven into conflict with Sadrak. She had killed him...or tried. Instead, he had taken her life. Or at least, Sadrak had assumed that. In fact, he had only taken her body, with Shinai’s true spirit merging with the Force itself until the time was right. And it seemed that this time came through in Jen.

After Jen had connected these events to form a loose idea of what was going on around and within her, she suddenly realized that Sadrak had not responded. In fact, that aura of fear had grown, and he’d even taken another step back. That got a true smile to Jen’s face as she placed her foot on the first of those few steps up to his level next to the throne. With her hand still extended towards him, Jen noticed that there was a small light gathering within it. And then Shinai spoke through her again, “We can feel you are no longer human. Perhaps you will show us what kind of demon you have become?”

Shinai/Jen did not give Sadrak a chance to respond. Just as her words ended, a strong blast of light extended out from her outstretched hand. Sadrak let out a yell of surprise and at least some pain, then flailed about as the light consumed that pitch black robe that he wore. It was dissolved as if by an acid. Piece by piece, the black faded to reveal Sadrak’s body. He was gaunt, and almost stick-like. The long, three-clawed hands were matched by two similarly thin and also backwards bent clawed feet. His head was nearly human, almost a mockery of the species more than anything. As a whole, his body looked to be some horrible mix of a giant insect with a human figure. It also reminded Jen of those creatures that were fighting for him. Images created to look like him?

But Jen did not ask this, instead, she found herself laughing again. Shinai spoke through the laugh, “Amazing what you’ve done to stay alive! The Emperor would be proud to have such a creature in his entourage! I cannot help but asking though...where did you steal this body from, hm? Who was its owner before you killed them and took their body?”

The Force imbued those words so strongly that Sadrak could not stop himself from answering. It was hilarious to see him realize mid sentence that he’d started to speak and couldn’t stop. Also, it was funny to watch how his mouth opened in four direction to produce a sound so similar to his old voice yet not completely alien, “There was no mind! Simply an empty shell! I stole nothing but this body from Halpak!”

Why Shinai did not ask about that name, or even seem to hear Sadrak speak it, Jen had no idea of. She desperately wanted to ask who this Halpak was. More information. With such power in the Force she could ask any question and get an answer! This was what Voort and Akan could do! How did they stop themselves?! Jen could barely contain the excitement from this. Distantly, this caused a short worry for Shinai. She was, however, more focused on the current events. No more questions were asked, and instead she raised her other hand, speaking through Jen again, “You cannot run from me anymore. This Alderaanian woman is as strong as I was, and together you know you cannot fight us. Give in. Accept your fate and allow us both our final rest.”

“NO!” Sadrak suddenly cried out. At the same time, he seemed to fight back some invisible force holding him still and dove for Jen, those three claws extending out to rip her to pieces.

* * * *​ 
Come on, Akan! Wake up! Shadow’s inner voice called to that small spark of consciousness that was the last remaining piece of Akan in the galaxy. Despite constant prodding, she seemed to only be able to keep him aware enough to remain just barely separate from her. If only there was time to give him a body now! But there wasn’t. So she did what she could to try forcing him into the awkward form of ‘awake’ that he needed to rise into. If he didn’t, then he’d fade into her for good, two minds as one forever. But he fought. She could tell, somehow, that despite his ‘weak’ condition, he was trying. Of course, she had no idea how he felt. What was one to do when they realized they were just a voice in one’s head? At least he wasn’t awake enough for that yet...but he was going to have to be soon. Soon...everything soon.

Soon, she’d returned to that chamber, catching a half glance towards Jen, a blinding light exploding from the woman. This sent Landau, who had been sneaking up behind her, flying back towards Shadow. Perfect. Landau was getting to his feet when he saw that Shadow was returned. A deranged smile grew on that haunting face, and he started another approach towards her. Yet this time, something different happened. Something that broke the resolve Shadow had built up. Landau spoke.

“Kill me...”

It was forced, painfully forced. A scratchy whisper seeping out of an unmoving mouth as the monster came towards her. The words were the real Landau’s. Shadow could feel it. And it nearly brought tears to her eyes. No, it did. But she stopped them the only way she knew how. Shadow morphed. Keeping only a small part of her mind back to continually prod Akan, the rest of her focused on the task at hand. Currently, this was finding a way to stop those tears. To stop emotion. She knew of only one way. Only one morph that couldn’t cry. And at the same time, it was the one thing that should never, ever have been possible for any Alraxian.

Her form did not change. Her body did not grow or shrink. Instead, she remained Alraxian. Except that she no longer had flesh. No more bones. No more organic material. It was impossible by all Alraxian lore(except for one obscure prophecy that Shadow was not privy to), but standing in front of that huge Landau was a metal Alraxian. Through some strange force of will and fear, Shadow broke all the rules. Droids couldn’t cry. Droids couldn’t feel. Droids just were. And so, this metal Shadow just was, any emotional feelings and misgivings faded away into that tiny part of her keeping Akan alive.

Landau froze. Even a monster would be surprised by the new image. Her body was now shining like the well polished floor below them. Her eyes no longer held those silvery-purple eyes, instead they were just black, angular spots in the metallic head. Ears the same. Mouth, unmoving. A small open slit. If it had not been done in such a desperate fashion to hide tears and emotion, Shadow would have been amazed. But then again, such a thing was likely impossible in any other circumstance. Now, though, this droid watched Landau. The old friend. The enemy. He had asked for death. A final request. She would honor it.

Taking advantage of the momentary pause of Landau, Shadow attacked. For a droid, or anything of such metal construction, the movement was impossibly swift and clean. It was only a half second before her fist hit Landau, but this did not send him back. Instead, her stronger arm dug into him, probably close to reaching the other side and exiting. Landau tried hitting back, though that pained face looked like it was trying to fight the body. Landau’s punches and slams only dinted the strong metal. With another heavy punch, Landau was on his back. Shadow was right after him, the quick metal body pouncing and damaging the monster even more on landing. And then, in a swift motion that Shadow didn’t even see herself, Landau’s head was removed from his body. It could have been from her arm. It could have been from a lightsaber. It could have been anything. Perhaps it was good that she never truly saw or felt it. But she did notice that Landau’s mouth was half open, and he had been about to say something. She had cut him off. Literally. Her friend. The one human she’d called that for so many cycles. She’d killed him. Saved him. But it had killed him. What had she done?!

Droids didn’t cry. Droids didn’t feel. This one did. This one felt pain. This droid hurt. With a metallic and disturbingly almost-Shadow voice, the droid pounded its fists into the monstrous body below her, beating it into an unrecognizable mass of flesh and bone. Droids didn’t feel!! Droids didn’t cry!! Alraxians didn’t kill friends!! Her mind went crazy, wracked with pain and confusion and grief. This overloaded all of Shadow’s senses, and the metal boy fell to the side, hitting the polished floor with a loud, unearthly clank. Droids didn’t dream either.

This one did.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 106: Beginning of the End [No Foreshadowing Here...We Promise]*

It was odd to feel no pain when injured. Jen knew that Sadrak’s claws had raked across her left side as she(well, technically it was Shinai) spun to the side. Despite this knowledge, and despite the fact that she even felt the claws themselves, there was no actual pain sensation. It was obvious that Shinai had done something to either divert or simply erase the feeling of pain that should have been there. Thankfully, Jen could not see the injury, so that even though she knew it was there intellectually, there was no literal way for her brain to interpret this as anything more than imagination.

All the while, though, Jen’s body was still moving with her as a passenger. Shinai had control, and currently, this didn’t bother Jen one bit. She wasn’t even sure her body was even capable of moving in the ways it was. Fluid and very quick turns and sidesteps at just the right moment. The first strike from Sadrak’s inhuman claw was the only one to land. From then on, each time the swipe was just barely off in time, so little that Jen could have sworn she’d been hit even without the feeling. Her mental questions to Shinai were unanswered, though considering how focused this ‘other’ within Jen’s mind was, it was no surprise.

Two more violent slashes were met with two simple steps from Jen’s body. Left. Right. Both also taking her back ever so slightly. But just enough that Jen caught on to what Shinai was doing. Shinai was not tiring Sadrak out. She was leading him. Back. Back to where? Another step back from a diving jab and Jen figured it out. She would have grinned if she’d had more control over her own body, but a mental grin was strangely satisfying. Though, honestly, everything was strange at this point.

But Jen was caught off guard when her body stopped moving. It took her a moment to realize that Sadrak had not followed his usual pattern of dive after thrust after swipe after dive. He’d stopped. Hunched down in a pose all too fitting for that insect-like body, Sadrak’s two large and alien eyes started up into hers. Studying. Searching. For what? He didn’t speak, but the oddly shaped mouth opened very slightly as if an attempt at some kind of taunt or even pleading would be made. No noise came out, though. Jen felt her body take a short step to the side, more shifting to stand up straight from Sadrak’s view. But for Jen, this confirmed her thoughts of what Shinai was doing.

It was in that frozen moment that Jen finally was able to take notice of the other two in the room. Off towards the entrance to the chamber, she saw Shadow. Or...no...it didn’t look like Shadow. The shape was right, as was the height. But Shadow was not a uniform shiny metallic silver. She also didn’t look like an Alraxian droid. What was that at her feet, though? A large, skeletal and monstrous body. It was somewhat similar to Sadrak’s, but more humanlike in appearance. It looked more like it was just larger and had extra, gaunt arms when compared to Sadrak’s completely alien body. There wasn’t time to truly study this, though, and Jen was rocketed back into the moment at the loud metal clang that echoed through the hall as Shadow’s body collapsed to the shining floor.

That sound was the trigger for everything. Before the loud sound had even finished its first short echo, Sadrak lunged. This time, Jen had no idea who moved her body. She had reacted naturally, feeling an odd pushing in her mind to just MOVE, and had done it. Or had Shinai just reacted? It didn’t matter. Not yet, at least. What did matter was the result. The movement to the side had not been nearly as fluid or closely timed with the attack as before. Instead, Jen was out of the way a good half second early. This gave Sadrak the chance to look surprised before he slammed head on with the heavy throne that Jen had been positioned in front of. The crash of Sadrak’s impact was nearly as loud as that of Shadow’s simply collapse.

A loud cry of pain and surprise sounded from Sadrak as he hit the ground, surrounded by the rubble of his large throne. From the sound of it, that thing was made of metal. It spoke a lot of Sadrak’s body(and skull) that he didn’t just bounce off and collapse in a heap of pain. And then, Jen found that she’d made that dodge all on her own(ignoring, of course, the assistance of the Force). This became suddenly obvious to her with the sight of a new figure within the room. Standing on the other side of Sadrak’s currently unmoving body, was an odd image that was made even worse by the fact that Jen immediately knew who it was. The figure was that of a young looking human woman. She had short hair and angular features to her face that somehow showed a strong, yet very kind woman. All of the colors were indistinct. Well, no, they were there. Instead, all of the colors faded to a soft blue that was also vaguely transparent in its nature.

“Shinai...” Jen said quietly, taking a couple of steps over towards the now ruined throne.

The image smiled warmly, an almost predatory look on the woman’s angular face, “I can do no more here. My time is over, and my task is done...” she paused, her soft and powerful voice echoing without really being effected by any actual laws of physics. When Shinai spoke again, her figure seemed to glide past Sadrak’s body to Jen, “You have great strength, but I cannot guide it. You were given your strength to do with as you will. Trust the Force. Trust yourself. Destiny is not set, as this wretched creature has proven. Never forget that.”

Jen opened her mouth to say something, but by the time the first words came out, the spirit had simply faded away. Both visually and in another way that Jen still wasn’t sure how to describe. It was the Force, obviously, but the word to use wasn’t something she knew of. But Jen didn’t dwell on this. This was still unfinished, and it had been left in her hands. In her trust. Jen stepped around the ruined throne to the body of Sadrak. He had moved now, only slightly. Just enough to be on his back, facing up at her as she approached. There was a feeble attempt to raise a clawed hand towards her, but Sadrak’s battered body could barely move. For a long, silent moment, Jen just looked down at him. Broken. Alien. He had become everything he had stood against as such a high ranking member of the Empire, and it was obvious that he hated it. Perhaps he should simply live to suffer like this, then?

“...mercy...”

The word came out slowly. The mouth had only half opened and Jen had not been sure she’d heard anything for a half second. The two alien eyes stared up towards hers, but Jen couldn’t read them. The black in black held no emotion. It was impossible to sympathize even with this broken and beaten wreck. And that word had just made it all worse. Mercy. So disgusting that this monster would ask for mercy after all he had done. Jen didn’t say anything. Her eyes showed no emotion. But she did move. Slowly, she knelt down next to the barely moving Sadrak, placing herself close to his face.

Again, Jen watched as Sadrak obviously hunted for some kind of emotion in her. Some kind of weakness to feed off of. Something. Anything. Anything so he could stay alive. Nothing was found. And even if he’d had more that half a minute, Sadrak would not have found anything. In a simple motion, Jen reached down and took hold of the monster’s head. No time was given for her to see a reaction from him. Quickly, violently, and coldly, Jen snapped his neck. The crack was loud in the silent chamber, echoing back and forth many times before finally fading into nothing.

Sadrak recieved no final scream. No final anything. He did not die a warrior. He did not die an Imperial. He did not even die a monster. He died a coward. This time, he did not escape fate. As Jen got to her feet, looking over towards where Shadow had fallen, the only ‘last’ that she felt Sadrak recieved was a pulse. It rocked through the Force very gently, outward from his body. What it meant, she didn’t know. She didn’t care. He was dead. Finally dead. And now...now they could leave this hell forever.

Or at least, that was the idea.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 107: The Cycle Goes On...*

Through all of this, the chaos outside had not subsided. As was expected, the battle was not going well. The center group that Akan had left from was suffering the worst, its numbers down in the double digits and likely to be completely wiped out soon. This put Voort’s focus back on the center, trying to slow them down as much as possible. Once that group was down, there was an open pathway to his position, and also to surround the other two groups. As for them, it was going as well as could be expected. Voort had never found Hansen, but had at least taken down a considerable number of shots. The airspeeders were still doing a few strafing runs, but they were just as insignificant as the snipers were.

As Voort fired off two more shots over the shoulders of a few Topsiders, something odd happened. He sat up slightly to look across the other snipers on either side of him. None of them seemed to have noticed anything. Voort closed his eyes a moment, allowing his mind to flow out and find what that was...Jen? No. No...close to her. The source at least. When his eyes opened again, the sands in front of him looked odd. No, not the sand. The things on the sand. It was about another minute before others started sitting up and looking confused. The blaster fire from their rifles had stopped. Down below, on the sands, the Topsiders continued to cut through those monstrous creatures...but only for another couple of minutes. They, too, then stopped, staring closely at the blank features on the now-unmoving enemies.

Or at least, unmoving for a moment. It wasn’t long before the bodies started to simply collapse, falling to pieces in the process. The airspeeders flew over a couple more times through the frozen astonishment that permeated the air. It didn’t make sense...one of the other snipers was on his feet, looking to Voort. But the former Imperial could only shrug. It wasn’t long before whispers started among the small group on the dune. Voort ignored them, though, trying to reach out again and find something to explain this. All he found was Jen. A bright fire in the Force, burning strongly next to a weaker light that he soon identified as Shadow. Or something like that. Had they done it, then? Was Sadrak dead? But why would his army fall apart so literally? Questions, questions.

Holding the rifle up, Voort ignored the others around him and started down the dune. He didn’t head down to the center, though, but headed left, off towards Hansen’s group. From the look of it, they were still in a mostly stunned state. It was a ten minute walk. Ten long minutes of passing by hundreds of corpses. Mostly Topsiders. But there were also limbs of other creatures that Voort didn’t attempt to identify. The sand was bloodstained. Red color stretched out across the everywhere he set his feet. It was like someone had attempted to create an ocean on this desert world and had nearly succeeded.

Upon finally reaching the outer edges of the group, he found a Topsider and said, “Where’s your commander?”

The reptilian creature tilted its head for a moment, trying to think obviously. It made a ‘sss’ing sound before tipping its long head off towards the real body pile out there. It said nothing, though. Voort just nodded, then stepped off in that direction. He was almost having to climb across bodies now, at the same time as he wove through the small collection of remaining Topsiders that still stood. Hansen was easy to find, though, being a human in this group of reptiles. She was just as bloodstained as the ground was, her hair even taking on a disturbingly reddish tint. Her face had a few scratches and bruises, and there was at least one long cut across her that was still bleeding.

Upon seeing Voort(who looked out of place looking so clean), a weak smile grew on her face. Honestly, she looked about ready to just pass out and join these piles of corpses that littered the ground. Carefully, Hansen stepped over to him and spoke in a hoarse, tired voice, “Nice shot...”

That got a smile to Voort’s face. When she collapsed forward, he caught her and held her up carefully. It was an odd feeling, holding Hansen up like that, and brought back a thousand memories of times long gone. What was he to say? She’d been in the thick of the fight. He’d been up on the hill just taking shots for free. Sure, he knew what it was like to be involved in such a chaotic ground fight, but it was somehow impossible for him to speak up. So Voort just stayed silent, looking up beyond all of those corpses to that last dune. Past that was Jen...

“I hate this place...” she said quietly, and Voort noticed she was shaking slightly. Not a surprise. Even experienced soldiers such as Hansen could still be affected by shock. With such a sudden stop to the fight that was obviously intense, it was just one more thing to add to all the stress. It was also obvious to Voort that Hansen was clinging to him slightly...and it was uncomfortable. Maybe only a year ago it would have been fine...but now.

Slowly, he pulled Hansen away and looked down to her, a hard look returning to his face, “Get everyone together and work out our losses.”

He then carefully let go of her so she wouldn’t fall over, then stepped past. It was almost cruel to do, but Voort knew he had to. Taking a deep breath, Voort put Hansen behind him and started the walk to pass the dune. To the facility. To where Akan had gone. To Jen and his promise. He couldn’t help a smile.

* * * *​
Jen had only dwelled on the empty corpse of Sadrak for a short moment. It was easy to look away from that empty shell, and she never even thought of turning back. Slowly but still with a very determined look on her face, Jen walked over towards the two other bodies that were across the chamber. As she approached, she could only see one large hulking thing...headless, with four arms and a disgusting look about it. Jen did not see the head that was off to the side, and that was likely a good thing.

But upon getting closer, she did see an Alraxian. Or at least...she thought it was an Alraxian. The thing was about the right height to be Shadow, with the same genderless type of build that only hinted at the person being female through the way the limbs were constructed. Except the entire body was metal. Even the hair, which looked more like a long extension to the head, almost as if it was a Twi’lek with only one lekku. Somehow, though, Jen knew it was Shadow. It couldn’t be anyone else...and then, very slowly, something changed. The metal seemed to fade away, almost as if it was folding inside with another body folding out from it. It was the first time Jen had really seen an Alraxian morph, and she decided that it was not something she ever wanted to see again. It wasn’t natural. It looked painful even, especially with that metal. But, thankfully, it wasn’t long before the body was Shadow’s, her eyes closed and chest rising only slowly. Unconscious.

When Jen knelt down next to the Alraxian, she was caught off guard by a second change. This was one that was arguably worse than before, and Jen quickly forced her eyes shut. There was no sound to indicate when the change had finished, so Jen had to guess. Carefully, she opened one eye. When she saw a blurry but stable figure, Jen decided to open both eyes completely. Laying there where Shadow had been was Akan. His hair a mess(as usual), his eyes half open, and his body only slightly bigger than Shadow’s had been. After blinking a few times, his eyes seemed to refocus and actually catch onto Jen. A weak smile grew on his face when the blurry image of Jen came into focus.

She couldn’t help but return the smile, bringing an arm down under him to help him sit up slightly. Waiting a few moments for him to at least get his bearings, Jen finally asked the necessary question, “What...what happened?”

Akan blinked a few more times and looked up to Jen. His voice wasn’t as weak as it was exhausted and at least slightly lost, “I...not completely sure...I...she...”

When he trailed off, Jen rubbed his back gently and decided to give him a little more time. Her eyes idly wandered across the room, taking in the nearby area. She looked at that body for a long moment, not sure what to make of it, before finally seeing the head. Or rather, the face. A face she knew well. A face holding the expression that still haunted her. Landau...dead again. Eyes wide open and just staring into her. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she couldn’t seem to turn away.

Thankfully, Akan spoke and Jen was torn away from that haunting face, “He begged her to kill him...”

It was amazing how so few words could explain so much. Jen didn’t ask for any clarification or any details. It was all understood now. Or at least, all but one little thing...well, two. But both were connected. Jen looked down to Akan, her eyes searching him for the right way to ask. The right words. The right anything.

Again, she was thankful when Akan spoke, seemingly knowing what she wanted to say, “We are both here...” he carefully raised a hand and pointed to himself, and a half grin appeared on his face, “Don’t know details or how...Alraxian things. She is...is...” Akan paused to try and find the words, then waved a hand vaguely in a motion that was oddly Shadow-like, “...asleep. Best word I can think of.”

Another pause, this time his eyes locked onto her’s and he seemed to look deep into her. Jen suddenly felt naked with no way to hide herself from him. Even her natural reactions couldn’t break off that feeling that Akan was sifting through her thoughts...and then, it faded away, with Akan’s tone changing completely, sounding worried and horribly afraid, “Sadrak is...”

“Dead,” Jen finished in a strangely sharp and harsh way. It was very unlike her to speak like that, and even Jen caught herself. Softening her voice and returning to her normal tone, Jen explained a little more, “I had a little...a little help. But he’s gone now. Finally. And we can go home now.”

Home. That word truly meant nothing to Akan, but he forced a smile to at least help Jen feel better. He slowly sat up all the way, stubbornly batting her arm away from helping him before looking beyond her to that broken throne. Something in her terrified him, now. Something he’d dreamed of before, and convinced himself that it was just that...a dream. But now, feeling the air within the room and the strong echoes of the Force throughout it, Akan felt that fear growing real. And because of it, he couldn’t seem to look at her anymore. His voice was even distant and Jen could tell something was wrong, “I should be dead. Again.”

A smile grew on Jen’s face and she didn’t even think about any of those problems anymore, “You’ve got good friends to keep you alive.”

“I can’t keep cheating fate,” Akan said, looking down to the floor and seeing his reflection. Looking into his own eyes and seeing that Alraxian face, realizing for the first time he still thought of himself as a human. His mental image of himself was not this. A sigh was let out and he whispered, “I can’t keep risking everyone else...”

This time, Jen reached down and lifted his head up to look Akan in the eyes, “Maybe you aren’t cheating fate. Maybe you’re supposed to be here right now,” her hand slowly moved up to his cheek, “Maybe, you’re not allowed to die yet. Maybe...just maybe, some of us still need you here.”

Akan looked into the woman’s eyes, finding none of the comfort she was trying to provide. He saw only death. Only that dream again. He closed his eyes, then, and tried to blank it all out. Tried to ignore it. And in that, he found Shadow. She had retreated in a way not unlike the state he’d been in. Distant, but conscious and still there. She was hiding from what had happened. Still, mentally, that emotionless droid. The one that couldn’t cry. The one that couldn’t feel. The one that couldn’t hurt after killing a friend. Akan found her easily, knowing ‘their’ mind in a way that anyone strong in the Force should. And now, there was no link. Instead, two equally strong minds, thinking on their own with nothing able to hide from the other, no matter how hard one tried.

And quietly, he pushed her. Thought at her was the only way to describe it. Speaking without speaking. Talking to oneself when the voice in your head really was someone else, ‘Droids don’t cry,’ he said to her, knowing she couldn’t hide from him this time, ‘Droids don’t feel. But droids don’t live either. Droids don’t do anything...they just are. And you’re not like that anymore, remember? You’re alive now. No one’s droid. No one’s weapon. You are free. Don’t lock yourself up again...don’t be like me.’

There was that odd feeling of being looked at from within, and Akan knew he’d at least gotten through to her. She didn’t ‘speak’ back, but instead a series of thoughts came together. Loki. Coruscant. Home. The others...others? Yes. Sadrak was gone, but that just opened up even more things that had to be done. Shadow needed to know more about her past. She needed to know who Marix really was. And now there was time to find out.

“Something Sadrak said, though,” Jen spoke quietly, noticing something was odd about Akan’s expression. Both Shadow and Akan ‘heard’ Jen, and the way she spoke got their undivided attention all of a sudden, “He said he got that...that horrible body from someone named Halpak.”

Halpak. A pang of everything hit Shadow all over again, a thousand things she’d never had to think of before. In that moment, with that one small word, seemingly insignificant, there was a whole new reason to find Marix. The real Marix. Halpak. Just when it all should have been over, a new variable was added. One that only Shadow understood. Even with their shared consciousness, even Akan couldn’t grasp it all. Too much of the thoughts were in Alraxian, anyway. The emotions, though, he did grasp. And it simply made everything worse. Slowly, he turned his head to look to Jen. His voice was shaky, but he managed to speak, “Shadow will...have to explain that later...lets just...just get out of here.”

As they both got to their feet, all three of them were overcome with a horrible feeling that yet again, this wasn’t over. Jen was the only one not actually sure of this. But Akan and Shadow knew that there was still more to be done. Shadow was the one who knew that everything was about to get a lot worse. At least...for her it was. Hopefully she could find the real Marix. She would know what to do. That is, if she didn’t just kill Shadow for being the abomination that she was...but that was a risk they had to take. Especially now that Halpak was involved.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 109: Aftermath*

By the time the Alraxian(currently, it was still Akan) and Jen had gotten through the majority of the corridors leading towards the exit, they ran into Voort. It was nearly a literal running into, but Jen managed to stop before being barreled over. There was a pause, an awkward silence, then a laugh from both humans before they embraced tightly. Akan stood back, feeling out of place and not just slightly lonely. Sure, Shadow was in there, but she was currently caught up in some odd thoughts that he didn’t understand. He knew this wasn’t over. Even though Shadow’s was doing her best to think in Alraxian, the general feel did get through. While vague, it was still clear to Akan there was much more to be done. No rest. No time to think. He’d even lost track of how long they’d been on Arranis. At least a day, yes...but beyond that, it just all blurred together.

He was jolted back into the moment when Voort asked the inevitable question, “Where’s Shadow?”

Akan had at first expected Voort to be asking Jen, but he quickly noticed that both of the humans were watching him. Jen giving Akan that ‘This is your job’ look, and Voort actually looking almost...almost...worried? Interesting. Unexpected. It shouldn’t have been, but it was. And that look wasn’t going away. Akan quickly realized he’d been standing there looking blank for at least half a minute, and spoke in a voice that was almost too rushed for the actual control there was in the situation(even if Akan didn’t know it), “She’s...um...here.”

Again, he pointed to himself. Before any more questions along those lines, Akan waved them off and said, “Not important just yet. We’re both alive and...I think we’re okay. I think there’s also a consensus that this place needs to be destroyed.”

Voort and Jen exchanged a careful glance before Voort shook his head, “Hansen and what’s left of her people will need to go through here and find out everything they can. This place is obviously much bigger than we’ve explored.”

The way that Voort said that got him a near glare from both Akan and Jen. He’d sounded about like he was suggesting they should do the exploring. Now. Right away. Just them. HA! Jen, her arm around him, started to push Voort around and back towards the way out, “Let Hansen do that. A lot has happened, Titus...and I think we all need some sleep.”

As they got back to the walk out, Akan noticed something tugging at him. Something...something. It was Shadow. She was tired, still, and very weak, but something was bugging her. And she needed that addressed. So, Akan asked her question, “What happened out there, Voort?”

And then, again, they stopped. Voort paused and turned around, looking back to the Alraxian with a solemn look. He seemed to be thinking over what to say, and allowed himself a sigh before speaking, “Everything went as expected. We were losing. Horribly. In fact, it was going to be getting very bad very soon...then. Well, I just don’t know. They just all fell apart.”

It took both Akan and Jen a moment to realize that he was speaking literally. When he’d finished, the two gave each other long looks. At the same time, Akan was getting a mental ‘hmmm’ from Shadow. Her...his...their mind was racing with a thousand thoughts and Shadow actually seemed to be making sense out of them. In fact, that worried Akan. It worried him enough that he did his absolute best to avoid any kind of questions or speaking for that matter. He had taken an odd move in just walking right past the two humans without another word, and left Voort to give Jen a raised eyebrow.

She tilted her head towards the departing Alraxian and spoke quietly to Voort, “He’s...well, not just him. They both have been through a lot,” Jen went silent a moment then looked up into his eyes, “All of us have.”

They finally retreated out, finding the Topsiders and remainder of the Imperials had begun to set up a small camp. As the sun was starting its drop in the sky, this had been a good idea. A long march back so soon would have just been far too much for everyone. It took a few hours to set up the large collection of tents and equipment that had been carried across the sands from Haladin. Another hour an Shadow had assisted Akan in splitting them again. Two bodies. Two minds. One life. It was odd to be apart again, but at the same time, comforting to have some kind of solitude and privacy. Both of them were still weak, though, mentally and physically.

And after a short rest, Shadow spoke up. Her voice was still tired, but there was a strength that Akan hadn’t heard in a while, “I have to go to Coruscant as soon as possible.”

“You know I’ll come with you,” Akan responded quickly, turning to look over to her. He studied her tired face a moment and smiled slightly, “Its as important to me as it is to you, now.”

Shadow nodded slowly, idly fixing her tail fur and picking out some of the sand. When she didn’t say anything else, Akan figured he was going to have to speak up on his own. After thinking of how to word it, he said carefully, “What...what happened in there?”

That got her attention. It wasn’t the best way to put it, but it was enough. Shadow’s eyes seemed to freeze in an unblinking daze while she tried to find some way to not have to think about what had happened. When it became obvious that there wasn’t any way for her to avoid answering, she sighed and slumped down slightly, speaking to the tent’s floor, “I don’t really know. I...you were there. You felt it. You were it. I...we...metal. It shouldn’t be possible. It isn’t. It...”

She trailed off, a hand shaking slightly as her voice was. Akan gave her a careful look and wished he could do something. Not really able to think of anything else useful, he instead just nodded and said quietly, “You did it once. It did happen. Can you do it again?”

For a moment, Akan saw a quick glint of excitement in Shadow’s eyes. It was gone as quickly as it had appeared, and Shadow then shook her head, “Not now. It isn’t right. Its...its unnatural.”

Somehow, it was odd to hear an Alraxian say that word, especially when it came to speaking of morphing. So that in itself was worrying. Shadow could feel through the link that Akan was going to press the issue further. In fact, he’d likely succeed. But it wasn’t something she could deal with now. There was too much else. Which meant she was going to have to deflect his mind somehow.

Looking up to him, Shadow spoke carefully, “Ket Halpak. He is...was...no, is a madman. He was exiled from the Hidden Worlds years before I...before Marix left. Exiled for heresy. We do have strong knowledge about living things, but we never create life. Never copy it...that is...is an evil mockery of the true Force. Its why clones are so horrible...” Shadow went silent for a moment, trying to direct her thoughts to the places they needed to be instead of along those other paths, “He was Tam-Day-U like Marix. Even worked with her more than once...but he...he did horrible things. I can feel his touch here. Those things....they were...were Narani once. And Sadrak. Even he was just another pawn for Ket...I always thought he was dead,” she mumbled, burying her face in her hands. After that, Shadow’s voice was left in a whisper, and Akan could tell she was fighting back tears, “He should have been dead. Marix was supposed to find him and finally kill him...but...but the Empire...Akan, Halpak is the greatest threat to our people since the Sith. We have to find him. We have to finish what Marix should have done...”

Her eyes were begging him as much as her voice was. That scared Akan, and also showed that this was only the bare bones version of who this Halpak was. There was obviously too much going on right now to paint a clear picture, and Akan could wait. Shadow had made sure of one thing before they’d separated into their individual bodies again. She’d made him swear an oath. It was not, she said, a true oath to anyone but her, but it would do for now. Akan had sworn(very reluctantly) to protect his people. Alraxians. No matter what. It was under that condition that he was given this body, and that wasn’t something Akan was going to forget. If only he knew the position that really put him in. But even if Shadow had told him, he’d probably not understand. Not yet, at least.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 110: A New Teacher*

Not long after, Shadow had left to be alone. The stars were out, as was one of the planet’s moons. The soft greenish glow of the moon reminded her of home. She’d never been homesick before, but now...for some reason, she just wanted to go home. But that wasn’t possible. Even if they didn’t already know she was a clone, it would be easy to discover that and then she would be killed. Akan wouldn’t die, as there were ways to transfer his connection to her to another. He would never actually live a life alone anymore, but he could still live. Shadow stopped her thoughts there. Why even consider that? It wasn’t something that was going to happen.

Shouldn’t she feel better now that Sadrak was gone? But no...with Halpak somewhere out there, there wasn’t any reason to feel better. And Landau was dead. By her hand. No. Not by her hand. Shadow looked down at her hand a moment, studying it. The claws extended, and she looked closer. No. Something else killed Landau. For a moment, just after the claws retracted again, she could see that metallic sheen from the skin. A trick of the eye. It had to be, as before she had felt the metal. Yes, she could bring that back. Could feel it there within her. An alien presence. No. Not it wasn’t alien. It was her.

The ability to morph metal was not some fluke of randomness. It was another of Sadrak’s little toys. Playing on the ancient myths of the Alraxian people, he helped to create their greatest fears. First, the Darkwings. Second...metal. Though the Darkwing Wars were a true part of Alraxian history and never thought of as myth, the ability to morph metal was unclear. It could easily have been made up...but the distinction didn’t matter. The fear was there from childhood. Every Alraxian knew the danger of metal, and most Alraxians never actually harnessed their innate ability to morph. Morphing was seen as a talent that few had, and one that was no longer necessary in the times of peace. Combine the almost mystic idea of morphing among the general population of the Alraxian Empire with the fears of metal and there was a story nearly as terrifying as the Darkwings. An Alraxian that was essentially invulnerable. One individual with such power in a strongly pluralistic society truly was the worst thing that could ever happen. And the stories simply grew.

And here Shadow was, a true outsider among her species. She was the clone of the Empress’ daughter. The daughter a Tam-Day-U, the disgraceful group of assassins that were hidden away from their kind and usually died before reaching adulthood. The black mark on the Empire. And now...now she was even more than that. A Darkwing. Only for a moment, maybe, but that part of her would always be a separate entity, buried deep within and waiting for any possible chance to ‘live’ again. Only months after that incident, she now knew that the ability to morph metal was not a myth. And she had it. Another outcast. Another reason for her people to fear her. Another reason she could never go home.

Suddenly, Shadow found herself wondering why she even cared about Halpak or the real Marix. But the real Marix. That was something Shadow had to deal with. She was a clone. And perhaps it was just something that clones did, yearning to meet the original and discover how similar they were. Was Shadow really just that? A shadow of Marix? Almost the Empress’ daughter, but not. Would the real Marix have made the same choices in life? Would she have lived among smugglers for so many years? And after Max died...would Marix have found another life? Would she have given Akan his life back? Shadow also couldn’t help but wonder why that thought kept coming up. Okay, so it wasn’t that hard to figure out. Having one’s life suddenly depend on another in all the literal meanings of the word was a defining experience that one couldn’t just ignore. So yes...there were reasons to find Marix. Even if she had to kill Shadow, it was something that had to be done.

But there was still Halpak. He was only a threat to the Alraxian Empire, not this part of the galaxy. If she knew him well enough(and Shadow had a good idea that she did), he wouldn’t care about the workings of these worlds. Sure, he’d know what was going on, but it would only be to further whatever his own goals were. And those goals would definitely be one of two things. Revenge on the Empire who had banished him...or simply returning to it. The latter was wishful thinking. But wait...why? The Empire wouldn’t care about her. Yet in the end, no matter what Shadow tried. Even if she was a clone. Even if she was everything that her people feared...she was still an Alraxian, and she simply couldn’t ignore that and allow her people to be killed.

A smile found its way onto her face. Eventually, Akan was going to have to accept the same things. It would be harder for him, and he would have plenty of time. But eventually. Of course, there were probably a hundred or so other things that Akan would have to accept one way or another. The smile faded away when she had to think about what some of those consequences would be for herself. But then again, pretty much all of those wouldn’t be anything to worry about unless they went to the Hidden Worlds...or her ‘mother’ found her again. Shadow refused to think of the odds of either of those happening, as both were likely to be very high numbers considering their luck in the last months.

“Shadow...” Voort’s voice said from behind her. It didn’t make Shadow jump, but her ears did twist around slightly. Though she didn’t respond in any other way, Voort figure that the ear-shift was enough of an acknowledgment, so he spoke up again, “I’d like to...to ask you something.”

That did get Shadow’s interest. Perhaps part of it was the connection Voort had with Marix. Speaking with him was almost like getting a small view into who Marix was...turning around and raising an eyebrow slightly, Shadow spoke quietly, “Hmm?”

Alright, so it wasn’t a real word, but Voort couldn’t help a grin at that. So much like Marix. He’d never thought the clones could ever be so much like the original...or maybe it was just Shadow. Either way, it was comforting to hear her speak in such a similar tone to his old friend. He took a few steps over to her, idly looking up to the moon above. Instead of trying to avoid the point, Voort just spoke directly. He expected that Shadow would be like Marix in hating it when people avoiding the subject, “Would you be willing to teach Jen about the Force?”

Shadow was silent a moment. Thinking about it. Sure, she was clone, but now Shadow was truly an individual. This choice was proof of it. Marix wasn’t here to decide what to do. Shadow was. But she didn’t answer right away. Instead, she asked an obvious question, “Why not you?”

Voort turned down from the sky and looked to the young Alraxian, “You should know that without asking. And don’t even try the second question. Akan isn’t old enough, and he’s got far too much else on his mind to ever attempt something so important.”

Shadow half grinned at that, giving Voort a sideways glance. Of course, she didn’t mention the fact that she likely had even more on her mind that Akan did. Voort had a point, though. Obviously, he wanted Jen to learn the basics, and at least some rudimentary knowledge of the light side. The Force as the Jedi and Sith of the galaxy knew it...not as the Alraxians did. But thankfully, Shadow knew a little of both, and could do what was asked. The grin faded into a more neutral expression, and she nodded, “I guess I’ll have to do it, then,” so, the grin returned at that, her tail swishing slightly in an odd gesture, “I will do my best.”

Smiling warmly, Voort rested an arm on the Alraxian’s shoulder, “I know you will. That’s why I came to you.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 111: In Times of Rest...*

A week passed. In that week, it seemed like a thousand things happened. Sadrak’s base was finally mapped and its contents were removed. The computer systems were being sliced into currently, with the small number of Hansen’s group that were left trying to find what they could that was useful. Artifacts from the base were also gathered for study. Most were alien to everyone. Well, except for Shadow. It scared her that nearly every ‘unique’ item that was brought out actually ended up being of Alraxian origin, simply further proving the connection of Halpak. Also, the Topsiders had left. Or at least, about half of them did. The other half had decided that Haladin was a nice place, and were busy molding a large section of the city to better suit them and their families. The process was aided only by two of Hansen’s troops, mostly providing maps of the underground areas and a little consulting so that the Topsiders didn’t blow the city to pieces. Shadow had also dragged Akan across the desert to find Loki. It wasn’t too much trouble, and they found him in a mostly conscious state, feeling weak and confused. Once the ship was calmed down, he was righted and checked for serious wounds. After it was finally decided that Loki was going to be alright, Shadow piloted him the short distance to Haladin, setting him down just outside. This actually put him within ‘range’ of the thought-speech, for lack of a better term.

But there was one thing that occurred in the last day of this week that topped all of that. The water supply was fixed. Running water now existed in Haladin again. This meant that, of course, every available room with a bath was taken immediately. Jen, Voort, Shadow, Hansen, and Akan had been the first ones to get a hold of the baths. Not because they were ranked higher or anything like that. Simply, the five of them were intelligent enough to run like hell the second the baths were available.

Akan spent an hour just comfortably lounging in the wonderful water. He was in his old human body again, the exact reason for which he wasn’t even sure of. It had just felt right...and he was getting tired of all those stares from everyone. Besides, he still was human at heart. Finally climbing out of the bath, Akan wandered into the connecting room that had been assigned to him. He rummaged through the small pack he’d brought from Loki that contained his things and got out the only clothes he owned beyond that morphsuit. The beat up old pair of grey trousers with more than one hole in them, the once-grey shirt he’d had since his days in the New Republic that had somehow turned to a strange off white color, and his old jacket. It was brown, with a high collar and five faded sections. Two were on each shoulder, where the old Zephyr insignia had once been. Another was on the right side of the collar, a faded circle with a few rips along it. That had been the New Republic patch. On the left breast was a torn rectangular patch that had been where his rank markings had gone. Just below that was his the small, triangular fade mark that had held the medal he’d been given for saving the Duros Rulae Nok in their first mission. And then...just above those two, was the only remaining patch. It was a black color, and the writing on it was impossible to read without close inspection: ‘Cpt. Raan Maxwell’

Sighing, Akan just tossed the jacket back to the pack. He missed. Badly. Bah. Voort was the marksman. Turning, Akan wandered out to have a walk through Haladin again. He wasn’t completely sure why, but then again, somehow it felt better that just sitting around...even if the water amazingly good.

* * * *​
Not long after Jen had climbed out of the wonderful bath, there was a knock at the door. Not moving from her comfortable place laying on the bed in the towel, she just said, “Yes?”

“Its me,” Voort’s voice sounded muffled through the door.

Smiling, Jen rolled over and tried to throw one of her shoes at the door panel. It missed, nearly locking the door in the process. With a grin at her horrible aim, Jen id it the easy way, “Its not locked.”

The door slid open and Voort stepped in. He was wearing that old slate grey Imperial uniform, though it looked like he’d done his best to get rid of all the things that gave any hint at its origin. The door closed behind him after a couple of steps, and somehow that normal sound seemed to surprise him as he turned to look at it. That’s when he noticed the shoe. Turning back to Jen, he just raised an eyebrow, “Problems?”

She laughed and sat up, “If you count laziness after a battle as a problem...then, no.”

Chuckling a little, Voort nodded and had a seat next to her on the bed. She quickly leaned into him, resting a head on his shoulder and closing his eyes. Voort moved a little so that her wet hair wasn’t in his eyes, and then said quietly, “We made it...”

Nodding, Jen closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax. So that was what was on his mind. Sure, it had been on her’s too, but that wasn’t the point. Jen was silent for a while, not sure what to say but at the same time not wanting to put Voort off. So, finally gathering her thoughts, she whispered, “Jen Voort does have a certain ring to it.”

“You’re sure?” Voort asked, turning to look at her as best he could. There was obvious worry in his voice, and Jen sat up and smiled warmly.

She rested a hand on his cheek and nodded, “It was a promise.”

They sat in silence for a long moment, smiles tugging at both of their faces. Eventually, Voort said something that even Jen didn’t hear. Before she could ask him what he’d said, the former Imperial leaned down and kissed her. It was the second time that one of them quietly called out the word “Lights” to the room.

* * * *​
Akan wasn’t out wandering long, finding that there was too much going on outside for it to be peaceful. Sure there was Loki to talk with, but the ship was resting again, and they’d had a few long talks in the last couple of days anyway. Not much else was left to be said for the time being. He passed by a few doors that he knew of as the quarters for his friends before stopping at one. He looked at the door a moment, then knocked. Nothing.

[You alive...?] Akan tried ‘cheating’.

Again. Nothing. He took a deep breath before hitting the switch to open the door. There wasn’t anything to show any form of habitation within the first room except for a couple of ruffles across the bed sheets. Carefully stepping in, Akan looked to the second door in the room. It was only half open, looking like it had broken in the process of closing. Akan slowly crept over to it, using those old skills he’d picked up in Spec Force as a commando to keep quiet. He then tilted his head to look inside. He saw the side of Shadow’s head, half submerged in the water of a large bathtub. Akan grinned, suddenly realizing that she was sleeping. Alright...so this was a bad time.

Retreating just as quietly as he’d entered, Akan didn’t actually notice the tiny twitching of one of Shadow’s ears. It was more a reflex than anything, but it still would have worried him for some reason. After closing the door again, he found his way back to his own room. Akan yawned on entering and wandered over to the pack on his bed, not paying any attention to the jacket draped across the other side.

Out of the pack, he pulled two familiar items. Two datapads. Sitting down on the floor, back rested against the bed, Akan activated the first one. For a long time, he just looked down at the small holo of Raan and Mare. He could almost hear her laugh again, and reached down to touch the picture gently. But no...he couldn’t feel anything except the screen of the datapad, whatever that was made of. Not her soft skin or hair. Not even that rough flight orange flight suit.

“One more battle down,” Akan found himself saying, “And still I’m stuck here. I was so close to you again, Liz. So close to seeing you again. But every single time I get close, I get pulled away from you again. Its not fair. I’ve done enough. Fought enough. I should be allowed to rest...” for a moment, Akan went silent, almost as if he was waiting for the picture to say something back. Then, “I miss you more than ever. I’m so sorry for what I did...trying to just forget you and ignoring everything. It was childish and stupid. But...but now I want to forget you again. It hurts too much, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. I can fight every bastard in the galaxy without any trouble and survive, but I can’t even think about you without wishing for some way to be with you. I don’t care how anymore. I just can’t stand this all...fighting on again and again, coming so close...almost able to see you there again, and then to be yanked back into reality.”

As Akan’s fell into another fit of tears, he didn’t hear the knocking at his door.


----------



## Mirage_Patrick

just wanted to post in and say I have been lurking and reading this story and absolutely love it.  I look forward to more.

Out of curiosity, how "far behind" the actual game are you?


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Mirage_Patrick said:
			
		

> just wanted to post in and say I have been lurking and reading this story and absolutely love it.  I look forward to more.
> 
> Out of curiosity, how "far behind" the actual game are you?



 Glad you're enjoying it. This has definitely got some lurkers, as the view count keeps jumping up a good amount after every update. I know you people are out there. 

As for time. This is about two years ago real time. Closer to three, actually(almost forgot its nearly 2005). The game slowed down a bit in the past year, but its still going slowly...heck, my favorite moment in the entire campaign occurred back in January. At the rate that I'm writing these, should actually catch up to that in a few months. Maybe sooner depending. The next few updates are fairly combat light for a while. Lots of reflections, planning, gearing up for more insanity to come. Reaching adventure number 3, which is still my favorite among them all.

For a last little judge as to where the campaign actually is now: There's a new generation running around...in the literal sense


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 112: Family*

If anyone had needed Shadow, she was, as Akan had later found, submerged in water. At first, she had cleaned the sand out of her tail fur and hair, but eventually decided that was far too much work. The water felt too good to have to work. So, Shadow sank down, leaving her nose just above the water for breathing. Sure, morphing gills was a possibility. But yet again, that took work. It was just easier to not drown the old fashioned way. It wasn’t long at all before she’d fallen asleep, and that was the state Akan had found her in. She had been so exhausted, both mentally and physically, that she didn’t even feel his mental prodding of a hint of his sneaking in.

But the sleep was not as refreshing as it could have been. As her sleep had been for the last weeks on this planet, it was disturbed by dreams. Dreams that were too real to be dreams, and yet at the same time, too fantastic to be anything but dreams. She saw things that Trade(the Alraxian term for Basic, though the two languages were not completely similar, which was the reason for Shadow’s trouble with sarcasm) had no words to describe. Even Alraxian had no words for them. Emotions didn’t exist in a very definable state, and most of her dreams were feelings and emotions personified. But there were some things she could pin down. Death. Fear. Much fear...who’s fear? Perhaps no one’s and everyone’s. The one true thing she ‘saw’ was Alraxia. The beautiful jungle-green planet orbited by its three moons. Two of which were the same green, the other an odd silver color. One by one, though, the planet and her moons were consumed by a deep red-orange flame. Starting on the opposite sides, and spreading across to meet in the center of her view. Only black remained.

And a voice. Distant...ethereal, and one of those voices that made a person wonder if they ever actually heard the voice in the first place, ‘You are the Fire.

The view of the planets expanded, until she could see all the worlds within the Alraxian Empire. One by one, they burned. Each brighter than the first. Each giving off a horrible feeling of pain as they burned. A thousand worlds dying before her eyes. And that voice...

‘You are the Fire.’

One thing did not escape her view. The neighboring worlds. The large collection of planets bordering the ‘east’ of the Empire. Those worlds seemed to grow...change...they looked dead. Dead with small glowing candles riddling the surfaces. The lights simply grew more numerous, the planets slowly taking on a look that were only comparable to one other planet in the galaxy. Coruscant. But these were not Coruscant. These were the systems of the Mrrakesh. Upon mentally naming the planets, Shadow watched as the small lights an that unnatural color spread through the Alraxian worlds. Infecting them like a plague. Killing them after they’d already been burned...

‘You are the Fire.’

Shadow had not awoken from that by rocketing up out of the water. Simply, her eyes opened as they did every time she woke up. Slowly. Tiredly. Lazily. For the first few minutes after she awoke, anyone seeing her would have had no idea of the dreams. She yawned and stretched with a distinctly feline back arch that made her back pop. After cringing at the noise and rubbing her back weakly. It hadn’t hurt, but that noise always got a whimper or similar reaction out of her. One day, Shadow swore she would break.

Without a thought on the dreams, Shadow climbed out of the bath, lazily said, “Drain bath”, and wandered over to her morphsuit which was dangling on a small bar next to the bath. After much complaining about the cold, Shadow quickly put the morphsuit on and just curled up on the bed for a while, enjoying the relative warmth. Yet she was still cold...not the kind of cold that was fatal to an Alraxian, but definitely uncomfortable. If only she’d had one of those damned little chips. A wonderful bio-technology created by her people. A small, almost mechanical looking chip that was placed carefully on the back of one’s neck. It would regulate body temperature and keep an Alraxian alive in much colder enviroments beyond the limited ability that morphsuits had to do this. They even worked for non-Alraxians on Alraxia, which usually found the planet far too humid and hot.

Finally almost comfortable again, Shadow got back up and wandered around the room. Finding a mirror, she busied herself with fixing her tail fur. One thing about water is that it always caused the fur to go frazzled. Not that Shadow cared how it looked, but it just plain felt itchy...and wrong...and...well, that was about it, really. And then she noticed something was wrong with that image. Shadow carefully examined herself in the mirror, noting the long scar across her face. Left alone too long...now permanent. But no, that had been there for so long, now. But there...there it was. She found what was wrong near that scar. In her eyes. The usual silvery-purple color was fading into...orange. Orange and red. Fire.

‘You are the Fire.’

Shadow idly held her tail in one hand and looked at her image in the mirror. The Force was silent. Everything was silent...and yet...yet something felt wrong. That voice should have been gone. Dream or vision, they were supposed to stop and not bother her when she was awake. For a moment, Shadow nearly growled at the mirror. No, she wasn’t as bad as Akan. He would yell at a holodrama if he didn’t agree with it. So she just stared at the thing that was wrong with her eyes. Using a glare that could melt ice and turn the water into durasteel in a matter of seconds. But no. It stayed...in fact, it got worse. It almost looked as if there was an odd glow coming out from her. Shadow looked down at her hand not from the mirror. Nothing. But in the mirror...she was like a walking flame...

‘You are the Fire.’

“Alright! Alright!!” Shadow suddenly yelled, kicking the wall and shaking the mirror, “I get the damned point!! Leave me alone!”

Silence.

Shadow waited for another few minutes just in case.

Still nothing. The image of her in the mirror was back to normal. Then she grinned proudly, a predatory look with those feline fangs, and said to her reflection, “That’s what I thought.”

Finally letting go of her tail and turning to wander out and find something to do, Shadow felt proud of herself. Then she reached the door and stopped dead in her tracks. Standing there in silence for a long moment, her ears swiveling around as if to make sure no one was around, she cursed in Alraxian suddenly. Stupid Akan had her talking to walls and air now!

* * * *​
For the third time, Jen knocked at Akan’s door. She’d left Voort asleep after something odd had been nagging at her. It was what she’d once called instinct, and now knew as the Force. Or at least, intellectually knew as the Force. She still considered it odd and wasn’t always sure what to do. But this time...this time she just felt like she needed to go and speak with Akan. Whether for herself, or for him, she didn’t know. But that wasn’t going to do a damned thing if he never opened the door. It was locked, so he had to be in there. They didn’t have any access keys and they could only be locked from the inside.

Jen tried one more time, knocking fairly loudly this time. She waited only half a minute before sighing and looking at the small panel next to the door. Leaning against the door, Jen said, “Akan? You alive?”

Nothing. But she’d not expected anything. So even after finishing those words, Jen was already finding an alternative way in and not listening for an answer. Something...just told her to get in that room. It was an urgent push, and she didn’t have any reason to disbelieve that it was important. Which meant that she felt no guilt in pulling the cover off of the panel. Jen also felt no guilt in hot-wiring the door. Sure she was going to have to learn some new skills soon...and had been learning a lot on this planet. But the old technical knowledge always came in handy, and Jen was proud that she never forgot.

But when the door slid open, Jen’s mood changed from pride. It was obviously apparent why that need to get in there had been pushed on her by...by...whatever the hell made the galaxy what it was. The first things she noticed was the air of the room itself. She hadn’t even stepped inside, and felt like a heavy wall of...what was that? Thick something...she wasn’t experienced enough in empathetic uses of the Force to identify it as anything more than ‘bad’ or ‘negative’, but that was enough. Especially when she saw Akan. The first surprise was that Akan was human again. She’d expected to see a tail, darker skin, more muscles in places that humans simply didn’t have them, and at least a little more height to him...but no. Sitting down there on the floor, back to the bed was the boy who’d gotten her off of Endor months ago. No...not boy. He wasn’t a kid, no matter the age difference. Young man, at least, man at best. That didn’t matter right now. What did was the remainder of the situation her eyes took in.

Akan’s head was tilted down, looking at something that was resting in his lap. Jen knew the galaxy’s technology well enough to easily identify it as a datapad. In his right hand, was that old blaster pistol she remembered from all those months ago. Probably closer to half a standard year now, and it looked even more beat up than before. Jen knew Akan well enough to notice the slight shaking in his hand. It worried her even more than the fact that his lightsaber was not on that usual position in his belt, and she couldn’t see his left hand. Taking in the situation, Jen allowed herself a last deep breath before knowing that she had to do something and stealing herself to it.

After a few careful steps into the room, the door slid closed behind her. Akan didn’t seem to take any notice of her, and she wished for a moment that he was in his Alraxian body. At least then, she could tell if he was paying attention through the unconscious ear-twitches she’d gotten used to seeing. Kneeling down not far from him, she looked at his face. So he was awake. His eyes were open, staring down blankly at that datapad. Tears covered his face though he didn’t move. It was obvious to Jen what that datapad showed.

When she saw his right hand move slightly, Jen gave up on trying to figure things out. Waiting was probably going to make things worse. So, in a somewhat shaky voice from worry, she said, “Hey, Akan...its okay...”

She had actually meant to say more, expecting him to ignore her. But instead, at hearing his name, Akan had moved. Very slowly, looking up through that messy brown hair that got in the way of the right side of his face, Akan’s eyes searched for something. Jen knew what it was and wished she could provide it. She could at least get close. Allowing herself a soft smile, she reached down to put a hand on his(pulling the blaster to the ground carefully in the process), “You know...the rest of us were sane enough to immerse ourselves in water.”

Sadly, that didn’t get the effect Jen had wanted. Akan only stared at her, an almost glare appearing on his face. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse and tired, “What do you want?”

“To help a friend,” Jen said, moving closer to him and squeezing his hand gently.

Again, the wrong effect. Akan’s glare just intensified and he yanked his hand away from her and said coldly, “Voort’s not here.”

So he knew. No surprise, really, and it wasn’t a bad thing. But she hadn’t come here for that, and didn’t let his mood or words effect her. Still persisting, this time her hand rested on his knee, “I do know that...but you’re here.”

“And...?” his head had turned back to looking at that datapad, voice sounding distant like he wasn’t even paying all that much attention.

Jen was silent a moment, this time. She leaned a little closer to have a look at that image on the datapad. Quietly, she studied the two young pilots, noting the differences in Akan now. She couldn’t help a small smile, but spoke very softly as to not upset up, “I guess we’ve all lost good friends.”

Akan turned his head slightly to look at her, tried to speak but couldn’t find the words. He sighed heavily and looked back down at the datapad, speaking in a voice that revealed a lot about him. It was full of fear, very shaken, and sounded almost like a child telling their nightmare to a parent. Maybe that wasn’t so inaccurate, “That doesn’t bring them back.”

“No...” Jen shook her head slowly, feeling horrible that she had to be the one to do this. Yet...yet she knew someone had to, and somewhere in there, Akan trusted her, “No, it doesn’t bring them back.”

Again, silence. Jen simply watched Akan for this time, trying to think what to say next. She’d not thought this through, and it was obvious...though not a bad thing. It was impossible to plan for such things, especially when he was holding two weapons a little too close to himself and probably wasn’t all that mentally stable. But letting the silence last too long would only give him more time to dwell on those thoughts...so she tried just speaking some thoughts, “You know...I never thought about it until now, but have you looked at all of us? Two feline shapechangers, a former Imperial sniper with the ear of the Emperor himself, and a New Republic scientist who always avoided picking up a weapon,” Jen allowed herself a short laugh at that, noting the small hint of a smile creeping onto Akan’s face, “Its been so long since my family was killed on Alderaan. It feels like lifetime ago...perhaps it was. But you know...I think that for the first time since then, I feel like I have a family again. A strange one, yes...but...family none the less.”

That got the effect she’d wanted. Akan had turned away from the datapad and looked over to her. There was a surprised look on his face, which was odd considering the tears and general mess of his appearance at the moment. After a couple of minutes, Jen brought a hand up to rest on Akan’s cheek and said quietly, “Family looks out for each other. Family cares for each other. Shadow cares about you, Hansen cares...hell, even Voort cares in his own special way,” that got a smile on Akan’s face finally, which caused Jen to grin, “And I care. I always will. Don’t ever forget us. Any of us...” she sighed a moment, not sure if her next words should really be spoken at a time like this. But...if not now, when?

Instead of just speaking, though, Jen moved slightly. Leaning in, she surprised Akan by kissing him full on the lips. After holding it for a few moments, she pulled back and said quietly, “You’re going to have to learn to live with the fact that we count you as a friend and we care. And that...that at least some of us couldn’t bear to lose you...perhaps, if we’d never gone into that New Republic ship and broken out Voort...perhaps, I’d have fallen in love with you.”

And then Jen got to her feet. She walked over to the door, reached for the panel and stopped herself. Before leaving the room, Jen said quietly, “Would you put us through what you go through right now? Would you want me to be that way? Would you want Shadow to die...?” she paused, took a deep breath, and played the trump card, “What would Mare do?”

But Jen didn’t wait for an answer, she simply exited the room, leaving a very confused Akan to nearly confuse Shadow with the half-feeling seeping through the link from his uncontrolled mind. One day...one day he’d figure out what it was that made females of any species insane. Obviously, today was not going to be that day. Later, it was going to confuse him even more, and somehow, even without needing the Force, Akan knew this.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 113: Nagging Troubles*

Akan sat alone in the room for a long time. Thinking. Or rather, trying to think through the chaos his mind was currently engulfed in. What would Mare do? It was a good question, and one that he couldn’t seem to answer. Or at least, not answer just once. She’d probably do a lot of things...but...no, no this wasn’t helping anyone. Getting to his feet and putt the datapad back into his pack, Akan decided to take another walk.

He went outside, finding that night had fallen and the stars were out. Bright, shining wonderfully, and somehow drowning out the shine of the moon. Finding a nice spot on top of one of the garrison buildings, Akan watched the sky. He was suddenly surprised by a familiar voice off to his left.

“Its beautiful, really,” Jen said. Akan turned and saw she was facing the other direction, but still looking up. What was she doing out here? An odd sense of deja vu washed over Akan and he couldn’t help but wonder if he had felt this was a good place to go from a little ‘trick’ in the Force. It wouldn’t have been the first time. Probably wouldn’t be the last, either.

“Yeah...it is,” he agreed, picking out a couple of planets and wondering what they were. It was far too much of a distance to see Corellia or even Endor from here...but maybe that was a planet he knew. Had walked on before...or even just flown over.

“You have wonderful memories of her,” Jen said, breaking Akan’s thoughts and surprising him. She’d picked up on those buried thoughts he was trying to hide, and somehow that annoyed him. It was hard enough getting used to Shadow knowing his thoughts, but now Jen did too. Very strong, even without training, it seemed. But apparently, she wasn’t done, “Don’t forget her, Akan.”

He sighed, but kept his attention on the stars above, “Why? It only drives me insane...or worse.”

“It strengthens you,” she responded quickly, no longer looking to the stars but now at the sands below, “Whether you see it that way or not...we have. Remember the good times. There were some...weren’t there?”

Somehow, Akan couldn’t fight back that smile, looking over to Jen and nodding slowly, “Of course...but there would have been more...should have been.”

“Perhaps,” Jen’s voice sounded a bit distant, as if she was off thinking about something else entirely, “But you can’t bring her back. I had to learn that, too. It isn’t easy...and it isn’t fun, but it’s the truth. And you shouldn’t worry so much about it. You’ll fall in love again.”

Something about those words hit Akan deeply. It was like she was still reading his thoughts, no matter how deep or buried they were...even from himself. In fact, he’d nearly spoke the first thoughts that came to mind, and stopped himself halfway through. Somehow, that didn’t seem like the right thing to say right now. She’d probably assume the wrong thing. But she was right...he would fall in love again. It might already have happened, even. But those thoughts faded into the dream again.

Or at least, a similar dream. Instead of watching as Jen fell away and he fought with Voort, Akan saw Jen. She stood facing himself, Voort, and Shadow. In her hand was Voort’s lightsaber, shining brightly and causing a horrible glow across the dangerous look on her face. Akan watched helplessly as Jen charged forward, first cleaving through Voort with her lightsaber, the man’s yell cut off in a short second of violent pain. But Akan couldn’t move. Frozen in shock and...no, it was more than shock. Stronger, at least. It didn’t stop him from seeing Jen move on both him and Shadow. Frantically, his mind tried to force his hand to get the lightsaber out...or just to move. Or anything! But nothing happened...well, no, something did. The lightsaber cut through his chest, across and then through what he assumed would have been Shadow. He didn’t see that, though, as his vision blacked out from the intense pain.

And then he was back. Back to sitting on the roof of the garrison watching the stars. He looked to Jen and couldn’t stop seeing both of those dreams together again. This was wrong. Akan knew that Shadow had agreed to train Jen. No matter the state of his mind, he could still feel Shadow’s thoughts. Now more than ever, it worried him. Terrified him. And he couldn’t look at Jen anymore. Quickly, he got to his feet and jumped down to the ground below, moving back into the garrison to find Shadow.

Jen watched him go. Strange. She had thought that everything was working, and then he just tore off with a panicked look on his face. Maybe she’d crossed the line with what she’d said. Maybe he wasn’t ready to move on just yet. It had taken her nearly five years before accepting that her younger sister Mera wasn’t coming back. She tried to imagine how she would feel about Voort if she had been in Akan’s situation. How long would it take her to come to terms with reality? Probably never. Jen stretched and rested back to watch the stars above. Definitely never. But as things looked now, it wouldn’t ever have to be something she had to think about again.

* * * *​
Shadow found nothing interesting to do. Jen was no where to be found, Voort was asleep with some stupid grin on his face, Akan was...was...where was he, anyway? Thinking about it, she decided to try an old trick that she...no, Marix had known. Looking into the mirror again, she half expected to see those damned flames again. But thankfully, none. No voice either. Good. The thing had learned its lesson at least.

Focusing, Shadow reached out to the mirror and touched it gently, speaking Alraxian, “Addran fi sew Akan-jai.”

The mirror rippled slightly like water, and a faint image appeared over her own reflection. She could see Akan, walking down a corridor that didn’t look to be too far away. The thing that caught her eye was that he was human. Odd. Shadow had thought he’d gotten over...that, but now. She couldn’t help a grin at seeing that odd overlay image in the mirror. There was something to do! Something to alleviate the boredom!

Grinning, Shadow left the mirror as it was and ran off to hunt down her prey. Following the feeling through the link, she dimmed the predatory instincts so he wouldn’t notice, and stalked. Corner after corner, she expected to have jumped out at him, but each time he wasn’t there. Hmmm...needed to focus better. So she did. And she found him! Quickly quieting that excitement so Akan wouldn’t catch it, she ran off in the other direction(silently).

And then, she waited at the edge of a corner. He was close. Very close. Shadow was grinning a lot, trying her best not to dance around while waiting on him to get close enough...it wasn’t long before she heard his footsteps approaching. Or at least, some footsteps, but Shadow knew they were his. The link gave that away. It was like angst just walking her way. Perfect prey! Patience...patience...the smell of Akan started to get to her. But no, WAIT! Perfect timing...don’t jump the gun yet. It’d been so long since she’d hunted like this that all the excitement was starting to get the best of her. And then...then she pounced around the corner suddenly at him!

“Oof!” was Shadow’s cry as she hit head first into a running Akan. She’d not thought he’d have been moving faster than a walk.

“AH!” was Akan’s cry as he jumped back and stumbled away from the heavy impact of Shadow against his chest. She had a thick skull...but now Shadow lay on her back, down on the floor with her head spinning. A moment later, Akan’s apologetic face appeared over her, “Sorry...”

“You should be...” Shadow grumbled, taking his outstretched hand and allowing him to help her to her feet. Once up, she poked him hard in the chest, “That was mean.”

“Oh it was?” Akan couldn’t help a slight grin, “And you trying to murder me is any better?”

“Of course! Humans are viable prey at all times,” she grinned and then noticed that it probably hadn’t been the best thing to say. Akan’s expression had changed, and she knew the emotions that went with that look. Sighing, she managed a short apology, “Sorry...um...you were looking for me?”

So she’d picked up on his thoughts. Good, made things easier. Composing himself, Akan nodded and said simply, “Don’t train her.”

“Huh?” Shadow raised her eyebrow, then started connecting thoughts with words. One day he’d have to learn that the link was nice for sharing info, but sometimes words were actually helpful. Figuring it out, Shadow gave him a strange look, “Why not? No, wait...don’t tell me. Its that stupid dream of yours again.”

“It wasn’t just a dream,” Akan growled, not so threatening from a human as it was from an Alraxian, “Just don’t do it.”

Shadow stood back and gave him that ‘you’re an idiot’ look before saying, “There is too much potential to just waste in her!”

“Sometimes it has to be waste!” Akan snapped back suddenly, catching Shadow off guard.

She shook her head, “I’m going to do it,” and then the images of his dream started to seep through the link. So that was the problem, now. Sighing, she spoke more calmly this time, “Listen to me, Akan-jai, it will be okay. Those are just dreams...they aren’t the here and now. We have to live in the present, not the future...or the past.”

“You’ll just ignore everything I say, won’t you?” asked Akan, sounding as defeated as he felt.

But again, she shook her head, “No, Akan-jai. I will train her to the best of my ability. If I am not supposed to do that, then the Force would stop me. Things will happen as they happen, and we must use our visions as a guide...not a straight jacket. But I have to try...if I don’t, and she falls anyway, then it will be even worse. To see the light before the darkness opens up the possibility of returning, but if she only ever knows the dark...”

As Shadow trailed off, she noticed that Akan was nodding. So he at least understood, even though it was obvious he didn’t agree. But he didn’t seem to be protesting anymore. Then what was that lingering thought through the link? Something still there...with a careful glance over his features to try to read him better, Shadow said, “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

“No,” Akan said far too quickly.

Anyone, even if they hadn’t known him, would know that was a lie from both the voice and the speed of the response. So instead of backing off, Shadow took a step closer and looked him straight in the eyes. It wasn’t until he dodged the look that she picked up on it. That girl, again...Mare. So that was the real problem here. This wasn’t her area of expertise, but then again, no one could really understand Akan any better. Quietly, she said, “When I lost my brother Tobias, I felt the same way. He was...was the only one who ever really understood me in the family. The only one who didn’t condemn me for who I was...and...and the Mrrakesh murdered him. I still miss him so much, but there’s no way to bring him back. I’ve tried...but nothing ever worked.”

It was the first time Akan had ever seen Shadow like that. She actually looked scared...even vulnerable. Everything Shadow wasn’t. He opened his mouth to speak, but took longer than he’d expected to find any words, “There has to be some way...I...I can’t just forget about her.”

“Then don’t,” Shadow said with a smile, “But you have to move on. You have to or you’re going to get yourself killed...get us killed.”

He nodded slowly, a depressed look on his face with tears doing their best to come back again, “I just want it all to end...”

“Don’t cry Akan-jai,” she carefully and awkwardly reached up to wipe away the first tears, then surprised them both and hugged him. His head went to her shoulder, and in a few moments she felt her shoulder getting slightly damp, “Please don’t cry...come on...you’re making me feel useless...”

He did stop, or at least did his best, and stood back slightly. There was a short silence before Shadow turned his face to her and wiped the rest of the tears away, brushed his hair as tiddly as was possible to one side, and in a very feline gesture, rubbed her cheek against his gently. Quietly, she said again, “We will meet everyone we’ve lost one day. You still have them...in your memories. Its not nearly as good as them being right there, but its better than nothing. But they’re...I’m babbling, sorry...”

She went quiet.

The quiet felt too awkward, so she attempted speaking again, “I’m so very bad at this comforting thing...maybe you should go talk to Hansen or even Voort, because I’m really bad at this...and I’m babbling again.”

Akan didn’t say anything, but didn’t move either. Finally, he said, “Thank you...”

Shadow had started to say something else, but her ear twitched to the side. Footsteps. Someone was coming. She didn’t have to say anything, as Akan noticed the movement both through the link and the moving of her ear. Quickly, he pulled back from her and did his best to look ‘normal’. A moment later, Hansen rounded the corner and nearly toppled over the two of them. After a moment, she said, “Voort wanted me to ask you when the ship would be ready.”

Ah. Business. Good, that made things easier. Shadow’s mind was back on track, and she said, “About a day or so...Loki still needs some rest. But tell me, why didn’t Voort just ask himself?”

Hansen managed a weak grin, “He’s ah...um...busy with Jen.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 114: Last Goodbye*

Another day passed without event, and it was quickly decided that they should leave. The planet was getting on everyone’s nerves, and while all the information from Sadrak’s computers had not been analyzed yet, a majority had and Hansen was staying behind. If anything new came up, she could relay the information to them through the Holonet...especially now that they’d rigged up a fairly primitive connection to the galactic communications network within the garrison. In fact, the whole place was finally becoming livable, and all of those in Hansen’s group had decided to stay with her in Haladin. That left Voort, Jen, Akan, and Shadow to prepare for leaving on their own. It didn’t take long, and Loki seemed content to be able to talk with them as they wandered in and out, dropping off supplies and getting everything finished.

At nightfall, the five of them were ready to go, with Loki being the most eager of the group. However, there was still one last thing to do. Something that all of them were avoiding, and it was no longer possible now. A group of twenty stood outside Haladin, a circular formation around a large collection of rocks along the ground. Shadow had gotten a small fire going in the center of the pile, and it burned almost weakly in the fading light of the day. Voort and Jen stood opposite the two Alraxians, all four with very blank and almost emotionless expressions on their faces.

Hansen through a last piece of wood on the fire, and they all watched the flare silently for a moment. Then, the woman said quietly, “I’m not very good at this kind of thing.”

Another long silence. Apparently, no one was. But there was one man in the group that had the most experience with this, and so Voort took a small step forward. One hand was still back, holding Jen’s, as he spoke in very controlled tones, “No one should ever be good at this. But someone has to...and next to you, I knew the best.”

Voort went silent for a moment, taking in a deep breath and then speaking again, “Arik was the best commander I’ve ever known. He was everything an officer should be. Intelligent, aware, charismatic, and not afraid to get his hands dirty. But above all that, he was compassionate...a rare trait to come out of the ranks of the Imperial officers, but he proved it was well worth it. Anyone of us that knew him would have given our lives to complete a task he’d given us...and he gave his in just the same way. He was a good man and a good friend...we’ve all got our own stories to tell. It won’t ever be the same without you, Arik...”

It was short, but it was something. His voice had just trailed off at the end, and words never came. So again, a silence grew. This time, Shadow broke it. She’d been the most controlled the entire time, keeping a straight face and doing her absolute best not to move a muscle, because she was afraid of breaking into tears if she did. But now...she gave Akan a careful glance, glad to see another Alraxian again and almost looking for help. He didn’t seem to notice, lost in his own thoughts and watching that flame. Shadow sighed, and figured she’d have to do this one her own.

Carefully, she took her own step forward, speaking in a slow and somewhat shaky voice, “I did what you asked...I know why you asked it...I...I just wish I was strong enough to bring you back. Instead of listening to you. But its too late now...” she paused, biting her lip and trying to keep a straight face. Her tail was swishing fairly violently, so it was obvious that at least part of her wasn’t keeping emotions bottled up, “Mattau fi cyfa.”

She then stepped back, head hanging and staring down at the sand. Akan gave her a careful look. He didn’t understand Alraxian, but the link between them provided a hint at those words. She’d asked for forgiveness...or something close. More like begging, actually. Akan closed his eyes, knowing what that felt like. He wondered if she’d get an answer, though. He never had...but then again, maybe he’d just never seen it.

They stood in silence until the flame burned out, which was at least another hour. At least another ten minutes they watched the ground, none of them wanting to leave. It was Jen who acted first, gently tugging on Voort’s sleeve but not saying anything. He nodded, and looked to the only two who’d stayed with them, “Come on...we should get going.”

Shadow nodded slowly, and looked to Hansen who had been walking off. There was something unfinished there, but she couldn’t pinpoint it and didn’t really care anyway. Finally, though, they could leave this forsaken and horrible planet. She motioned for them to follow, and walked off towards Loki. The ship had his hatch open already, the small ramp resting in the sands. It was strange to see, but Loki actually looked like a small child ready to jump up and fly off. It was like those little children with boundless amounts of energy who were everywhere at once, but forced to sit down and not move. 

Somehow, that attitude radiating off of the ship helped everyone’s spirits at least some. But they still stayed silent, Shadow leading them down the small hallways to the cockpit. There were only two seats, and the humans differed them to the Alraxians. Of course, Akan was just as lost in the ship as Voort and Jen....Titus and Jen. Voort wasn’t going to work much longer, apparently

Shadow had been speaking to Loki, and a moment later she turned to them and said, “So...where to from here?”

“You wanted to go to Coruscant,” Akan responded quickly, not really thinking about it or even where he wanted to go. Honestly, he’d have liked a long break from the galaxy as a whole, but that wasn’t something that he expected to happen...so Akan had no trouble jumping right into ‘act II’ as it were.

But Titus responded with a different answer, “I don’t think that’s a good idea...not yet at least. I think first...if you wouldn’t mind, of course, could you swing by Corellia? Jen and I need to get something done, and I have a few friends there who can help out.”

The two humans exchanged smiles, and Akan couldn’t help a grin. Shadow, however, was lost, but managed a shrug, “Better than sitting around.”

((_Story Note on this one: This update could have been longer, but I've edited out a somewhat large part of the funeral that honestly made no sense...even confused us when we were in play(don't remember which of us was GMing at the time). The gist of what happened is that Landau, a completely normal human, pulled a Jedi-thing and appeared to everyone with a final message of sorts. Except he wasn't Force Sensitive, and sometimes eople need to just be dead instead of lingering on._))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 115: To the Core...*

The flight to Corellia was a long one. Thankfully, they weren’t in any rush, so relaxing in the empty nothingness of hyperspace came as a luxury. Jen and Voort...Titus spent most of the trip together, not really avoiding the Alraxians as much as glad to have some form of privacy. The times when Jen did wander out, she found that Akan was still avoiding her. In fact, he wouldn’t even make eye contact with her. She’d even had a short conversation with the humanoid feline equivalent of a durasteel wall until giving up, kicking him in the shin and wandering off. The whole time he’d just stared into space...well, not literally, he’d been literally staring at Loki’s wall and probably talking with the ship to ‘cheat’. He always got that glazed eyed look when he was talking with Shadow through their link, and it seemed to be the same way with Loki.

Shadow had barely moved from her seat in the cockpit, leaning it back so she could get some quiet sleep. But quiet sleep never came to her...in fact, no sleep did. Though that image of her dream returned more than once and that damned voice started up again. The only way she’d found to drown out the voice was to speak with Loki...and that wasn’t a bad thing at all. The little(well, in comparison to full grown Kanyaks at least) ship had been holed up on his own so long that any conversation(especially with her) was nice.

But Titus had been the quietest the entire trip. Or at least, the quietest around the Alraxians. It seemed that Akan had started avoiding him as well as Jen, and Titus couldn’t help but see this as a good thing. Not because he didn’t like the kid, but Titus had a feeling that Akan would go back to their old agreement anytime now. It was in the Alraxian’s eyes and the way his emotions pulsed through the Force like a beacon. He wasn’t happy. Fear was the easier translation, and Titus knew all too well what that could lead to. For him, it had been blind following of the Emperor and the corruption of the Empire itself...for Akan, it was likely going to be more direct, and more violent. Probably directed at Titus.

At least Loki was happy. He’d started by having long conversations with the two humans on board, questioning them on about everything he could think of. It was mostly about what had gone on while he’d be locked away in that warehouse, but a few random things popped in that couldn’t help but get grins on the two human’s faces. They’d seen Shadow and Akan acting like small children and doing things like that before...but the idea of the ship they were in acting the same way was even more amusing. After two straight hours of questioning, Loki had turned his attention on the other newcomer: Akan. Again, he’d mostly questioned about history, but Akan had been just as curious and shot back a hundred questions right back at Loki. Akan learned about Kanyaks and a little more about Alraxians, and Loki learned about Akan and how he’d gotten to this point and how he’d known Shadow and...and...well, pretty much everything. The ship was amazingly curious.

And then, finally, they dropped out of hyperspace. Corellia was a surprisingly beautiful planet considering how urban it was. Unlike Coruscant, the people of Corellia had limited their cities enough that there were large sections of beautiful grasslands and shining oceans. Traffic above the planet was as numerous as usual, with every kind of ship going here and there. It was such a myriad of different ships from different places and even times(some being older than the Empire) that Loki wouldn’t look out of place at all. Following Titus’ direction, Loki set down in one of the smaller docking facilities in the large capital city of Coronet. After having to convince Loki that they would be coming back in a couple of hours and he wouldn’t be left alone again, the four of them started on their way into the city.

Well, that was after a couple of other important things. Such as a long argument with Shadow that Alraxians would be easy to notice on the Core world, and that she and Akan should at least be something more common...human was never said directly, but it was what Akan had chosen and had assisted in the argument from. Three humans against one Alraxians. Well, three humans and a Kanyak. Loki agreed with the others, considering that it was more likely for her to return if she was harder to notice. He’d learned well about that in the past, and wasn’t going to just ignore all that knowledge...especially on Corellia where he’d been left for years. In the end, Shadow did change, but not to human. There was no way she was going to deal with that again...at least not yet. So now, they were three humans and a Falleen. No one mentioned that female Falleen were rare off their home planet, but when she’d disappeared and then reappeared wearing expensive looking robes things changed.

Now, they a female Falleen and her three human attendants. For some reason, no one argued this, deciding that it was at least a good disguise. The reptilian Falleen only ever seemed to leave their home planet if they were nobles traveling the galaxy. After Darth Vader had poisoned the planet and killed most of the species off, the only real survivors were those nobles. So, if one was to see a Falleen, it would be assumed they were a noble and, of course, rich. The flowing blue and gold robes sure made Shadow look rich. This long solving of a simple problem quickly led to a second important trouble before getting into the city. Leaving Loki, they’d been confronted by a docking officer asking(well, demanding but in that polite way that could really make you feel like you had a choice) for them to pay a two hundred credit docking fee. Surprisingly, Shadow had dealt with this without a misstep, giving the young CorSec officer(or at least, the green uniform hinted at him being with CorSec) a look of contempt before speaking very quietly.

“We will only be here for a short time,” Shadow said in the slow, deliberate tones of a ‘true’ snobbish noble. Idly, she ran a green hand through her straight black hair, not even looking at the human, “I believe you can wave the fee.”

Neither Titus or Jen noticed the slight reddish tint to her skin, but Akan did. They all noticed, though, a small and somewhat odd smell in the air. It was...was...pleasant would have been the best word for it. Voort identified it right away, and couldn’t help a grin. Pheromones. Of which Fallen had very strong, and were a rare case in that they could affect other species of similar genetic makeup. That meant most humanoids in the galaxy. So Shadow had picked the reptilian body for a good reason. The docking officer had just nodded in a dazed way, then wandered off. Shadow turned to the three humans and gave a typical grin without saying anything.

[That’s cheating.] Akan had commented before they started going.

Shadow just shrugged and let Titus lead the way as he knew where they were going. [Natural advantages are not cheating.]

[Morphing is.] came Akan’s quick retort.

That just got a bigger grin from Shadow. [Only because you don’t practice enough.]

The two argued ‘silently’ as Voort led them through large crowds among that populated the large streets between the towering skyscrapers. Jen had nearly lost her way going back and forth down street after street. How long that Titus had led them around she didn’t know, but it was at least half an hour, if not even longer. It was odd to be surrounded by so many people and to be ignored. Somehow, the barren emptiness of Arranis had been less unnerving. At least there you weren’t being stared at. At least there you didn’t feel like people should being trying to steal things...sell things...or even acknowledge you existed instead of bumping into you and nearly knocking you over.

And then, finally, Titus led them to a building. It was smaller than the larger skyscrapers that littered Coronet, but then again, this part of the city was generally smaller than where they’d landed. This was actually more rundown, and probably the slums that the nobles and tourists avoided...even the locals probably didn’t venture to this place. Jen wasn’t the only one of them to notice how Akan had changed. He’d been watching every back alley a little too closely, looking around with an odd sense of deja vu on his face. None of them knew that this was the area he’d grown up in, and he was just picking out old spots where he’d slept at night. It was depressing almost, but then again...he’d gone from the little street kid to fighter pilot to Jedi to...well, to a different species. Who else could claim that? But for some reason, that just wasn’t comforting enough. Nothing seemed to be anymore. That damned dream just wouldn’t go away, and he wished he could do something about it. But no...no it was too late and Akan was just going to have to do what he could while he could.

Inside, Titus had a long talk with a young, bald human wearing short brown robes. The talk was fairly calm for a while, but eventually got heated enough that Jen started to wonder if weapons would be drawn. But no, finally, the man nodded and retreated into a small door, leaving the four of them in a small antechamber to give Titus a questioning look.

“Old friend runs the temple here,” he said, answering the unspoken questions, “Seems the new kid around isn’t receptive to visitors.”

“Temple?” Akan asked, knowing what they were here for but not used to a proliferation of religions. They just weren’t all that common even with the Jedi being so small in number. Everyone knew the Force existed, even if they denied it, it was there. All religions seemed to always just be variations on Force worship, so had died out with the Empire’s purge of the Jedi long ago. If one worshiped magic, you worshiped the Force, and that always got the Emperor’s attention...never a good thing.

“Long story,” was Titus’ only answer, and strangely enough, Akan let it go. It probably was a long story. Everything was these days.

Eventually, things were gotten together and the four of them were split up into two groups. Jen and Shadow were ushered off into one direction, with Titus and Akan the other way. Akan, obviously, wasn’t thrilled about this, but Shadow had given him a ‘don’t do anything stupid’ lecture and he wasn’t in the mood to get her angry right now. Too much work involved. He and Titus had been taken into a fairly large chamber with an alter atop a few stairs. Akan recognized the symbols that lined the stone alter as an odd mix of old Corellian dialect and some Jedi symbols. Force worship.

His thoughts were cut off by a couple of women in the same brown robes entered, babbling on about nothing in particular and then doing their best to tidy he and Titus up. Titus took it well, allowing them to mess with his hair and uniform, but Akan fought them all the way. Mainly because they constantly told him he looked like a mess, which he had no problem with, and went after his hair again and again. Each time, he ‘fixed’ it back, and probably got hit more than once for being indignant.

Shadow was lucky. Because of the expensive robes she’d chosen, none of the attendants went after her at all. So she just say back as Jen was attacked. It was almost surprising that Jen struggled against it, obviously liking how she looked just fine and not needing any help. In the back of her mind, she made a mental note to get Titus for this. But then again, it would be worth it. Or should be. If it wasn’t, again, he’d get it.

* * * *​
In another part of the galaxy, sitting at the top of a large skyscraper four times as big as the largest ones in Coronet, a figure sat in a small chair. Every so often, the chair kicked back and rolled across the tiled floor, with a short amused laugh following it. The room itself was huge, with a ceiling of windows and large stone columns at equal intervals along both sides. At one end, was the desk and the chair with its figure seated. Behind, was a small turbolift tube. At the other end, a stairwell. Of course, the other end was about fifty odd meters away, giving anyone who approached a good long walk to do so.

Sitting at the desk in the wheeled chair, idly picking at some odd collection of food, was an Alraxian. He had short, jet black hair, and pale skin. Though pale for an Alraxian was still well tanned for a human. His eyes were a deep silver, and they looked bored as one of his hands poked at the unmoving thing on the plate. Both of his ears were of the usual feline appearance, though both had a few notches and black marks along them. After finally giving up on the food, he kicked back off from the desk and the chair gently rolled back and spun around. Again, the Alraxian laughed to himself before pushing the chair back to the desk with another good kick.

The entire time, a figure had been approaching. He arrived in the chair back to the desk just at the time the figure was done on that long walk. He knew it was, and didn’t have to look up from the desk to speak less formally than he would with anyone else, “These chairs are so fun! Amazing how simple they are! Just wheels on a little leather chair! Why couldn’t we have thought of this before?”

Looking up, he saw another Alraxian. This female was not like Shadow in that her sex was only obvious from the face structure. This female was definitely female. She had long white hair, with a single black stripe down the center, and stood a little over two meters tall. Her tail was a meter long, with the same black stripe as he hair. The female’s face was marred with no scratches or bruises, and the cold silver eyes showed through to the heart of a true killer. She watched him with a different look, though. It wasn’t hate filled, but then again, not all together too friendly either.

When she didn’t answer, he sighed and pushed the plate off to the side, saying, “Fine. Fine. Business it is. What is it?”

“Your pawn is dead,” she said in very flat, emotionless tones.

Sighing heavily, he leaned back in the chair and nearly fell over. Ignoring the grin that grew on his face from the near fall, he said, “Which one, hm?”

“You know perfectly well who I speak of,” she said again, a little more ice in the voice this time.

“It was expected,” was all he said before sitting back up straight and giving her a bored look.

Her expression didn’t change, “Yes, but there was an unexpected turn of events,” there wasn’t a dramatic pause here like most people would use, instead, she just continued speaking without losing a beat, “One of the others was there.”

“Oh?” that got his attention. He knew exactly what she meant, especially from the venom that was in her voice when she said ‘others’. Very interesting. For a moment, he just thought about it. Considering what he knew of the many clones that had been created, only one wasn’t accounted for. Well, not counting this one at least. But the one he knew that had...gotten away to put it best, was Alpha Three. It was the only ‘other’ that Delta Nine could have been referring to. He gave the adult clone of Marix BlueIce designated Delta Nine a long, slow look, “What do you suggest we do?”

“She is young. Weak. I believe we should simply kill her as she will only get in the way.”

Expected. Again, no fun. He’d thought that after two years of ‘freedom’ Nine would have gotten beyond those straightforward and boring ideas. But no, she was too direct. Too programmed. But useful...and...he grinned slightly, and many other things. Shaking his head, he said simply, “Boring. I have a better idea. The child. Is he ready yet?”

It was one of the few times that a surprised look appeared on Nine’s face. Composing herself quickly, the clone of Marix nodded, “The last two we tested him with have been killed.”

“Good,” he smiled and leaned back again, “Let him go. He’ll find her and that should provide some entertainment.”

Nine nearly argued this, but decided it wouldn’t get her anywhere. He would play with the prey instead of just killing it outright. It wasn’t cowardly, but she couldn’t help but be annoyed by it. Without another word, she turned and left. Ket Halpak watched Nine leave, a smile on his face. She was protective of that child, whether she admitted it or not. But the child was a tool, nothing more. Survive long enough, and the Alraxian Empire would be outraged to find that there was a child of such lineage. The mother, a clone of their Empress, a Tam-Day-U. Horrible on both counts. The father, a traitor and also a Tam-Day-U. Even worse. The child of two Tam-Day-U. A true abomination.

Again, Ket grinned and kicked off of the desk. This would be so fun! He’d have to have this chair brought with him when they were finally ready!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 116: Extremely Mild Panic*

An hour passed in the city of Coronet before everything was finally ready. In the large, beautifully carved main chamber of the ‘temple’, Akan stood off to the side watching Voort have a discussion with Magistrate Onan. After having been assaulted by people attempting to tidy him, Akan was feeling much more comfortable just standing against the wall and trying to pretend he still looked scruffy. His hair was not nicely combed back. His clothes were not clean. He didn’t feel like there was an extra layer of dirt on his skin. He felt normal. Scruffy. Dirty. And above all, warm.

The fact that this was all untrue was what he was doing his best to ignore. It wasn’t working. Mainly because he saw how clean and well groomed Voort was. The former Imperial hadn’t resisted the attack as Akan had, and actually seemed comfortable. That black, Imperial dress uniform was far too perfect. Uniforms should be dirty. Messy. Worn. Not...not...Akan looked down at his clothes. Not like this! A few moments later, though, Akan was happy again.

This was because Shadow entered. Sure, she was still in that Falleen body and wearing those expensive looking robes over her now-black morphsuit...but she had a scowl on her face and through the link, he knew that she’d been assaulted at the last moment. When she wandered over next to him, Akan leaned over and whispered quietly, “Aren’t dresses considered appropriate at occasions like this?”

Shadow’s scowl became a sharp glare. The fact that she was still just slightly shorter than him gave it the usual venom. But her voice was calm...probably more from the body than her mood, as expressed by the link, “You’d sooner find yourself in a dress than me.”

Before Akan could prepare a counter to that, the main door opened again. This time, Jen entered. Voort...Titus snapped to attention and the Magistrate also seemed to dust himself off. Jen was wearing her old science uniform, well cleaned and without any insignias on it. Seemed like tearing things off of uniforms was becoming a ritual among them. Now, if only Shadow had insignias to tear off in the first place...but Akan also noticed that Jen wasn’t wearing a dress. Then again, she was probably just as likely to wear one as Shadow was. It was the kind of thing that was once in an eon, and even then, Rancors were more likely to build starships, create a complex language, and enslave the galaxy in a day.

Jen gave Akan a smile, not really having a problem with the two of them standing off to the side instead of sitting down like normal people. They weren’t normal people. Besides, if they were comfortable, it would definitely make things easier on all of them. If only she wasn’t so nervous...didn’t make sense why. All she had to do was answer a simple question that she already knew the answer to in the first place. Yet...yet for some reason there was more to that. More in an odd way that was even beyond what she had come to assume was the Force. With one last deep breath, she looked forward to Titus and the Magistrate and approached.

That had to be the longest walk she’d ever taken. Sure, it was only about twenty paces, but it felt like miles and miles and miles and miles and...well, it really just kept going. When she stopped, she and Titus exchanged equally nervous yet happy smiles. Something not lost on the two observers or the magistrate.

The magistrate didn’t wait any longer. In a voice that was obviously accustomed to speaking with larger groups, he said, “Titus has asked me to skip everything to the important part. Apparently, you are a bit pressed for time.”

Jen grinned. They weren’t pressed for time. But the faster this was over with, the faster that growing nervousness would be gone. In theory. A weak theory. Failing, too...slowly. Jen closed her eyes just a moment to stop that from going on. At least her feet couldn’t move anymore...otherwise she’d have bolted out of this place years ago. Years? Well, it had taken a long time for that walk to reach them..

Thankfully, the Magistrate continued speaking and cut off Jen’s wandering and somewhat panicked mind, “Do you, Titus Voort, take Jen Zaarin as your wife, eternally bound through the Force through good and through ill?”

A pause. It wasn’t because he didn’t know the correct answer, but because, somehow, Titus had lost his voice. His eyes showed none of that momentary panic before he found his voice again, and said in a very calm tone, “Of course.”

Alright, so it wasn’t the traditional answer. This wasn’t exactly traditional at all, anyway, so why not just be natural about things? Even the Magistrate didn’t seem to mind, smiling at the answer and turning to Jen. The eyes of the galaxy now watched poor Jen Zaar, and again she wondered if her legs would bolt her out. Then again, it’d probably take an eternity to escape, anyway...so, straight face. Keep breathing. Ignore brain. Just...answer. Wait! No question yet! Calm down! Wait for the question...then answer. He’s speaking already!! Shut up and wait!

“...through good and through ill?” the Magistrate finished what Jen hadn’t been hearing him saying.

When his mouth stopped moving, her brain stopped working. Answer now! Answer? Answer what?! Already answered before he asked...no! Calm down and answer the damned question! Cheat if you have to! So, she cheated, speaking in the most forced natural sounding voice in the history of the galaxy. So much so that no one, not even Jen, noticed it as anything but perfectly calm and natural, “Yes.”

She didn’t hear the Magistrate’s next words. Some kind of confirmation of what had just happened. What had just happened? Jen Voort. Jen Zaarin Voort. Had that just happened? Could have sworn it was just a...a...wait! The magistrate was still saying something!! And again, everyone’s eyes were on her! What had he said! Think, Jen, think! Dammit, you’re intelligent! What happens next? Her eyes locked with Titus’. Nothing came to mind...well, one thing did. Having no idea if it was the right thing to do and acting out of an extreme form of mild panic, she kissed him.

Apparently, it was the right thing to do, as no one screamed bloody heresy. In fact, the magistrate was smiling. Well, Jen assumed he was. Hoped. Her eyes were closed and finally, the galaxy seemed to have shut off. It was just her. Just her and Titus. Two Voorts, alone in the galaxy...finally.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 117: Darkness and Light*

Just half an hour later, Akan and Voort stood in the docking bay next to Loki. They were silent. After leaving the small temple, things had gotten somewhat quieter as their next move was decided. Jen had gone off to find a ship. Akan didn’t take that as her wanting to get rid of the two Alraxians, but more that a little privacy might be nice between her and Titus. Not only that, but Akan had a feeling it might just have something to do with losing her ship on Arranis. He understood. It had been expensive...cost him his dear old Y-Wing, in fact. As for Shadow...well, she’d not been too specific and where she was going. But there was something that he could feel through the link. A familiar feeling...not so much for him, but definitely for her. She wouldn’t respond to any of his questions through the link, so he decided just to listen in and wait to figure it out. But she was hunting...or at least tracking something.

Again, Akan looked to Voort...Titus...the first Voort. That man was ignoring him. Or at least not paying him enough attention to acknowledge Akan was even there. This wouldn’t normally have been a problem if not for those nagging feelings in the back of Akan’s mind. That dream. Connecting with thoughts that were all together rational. Finding excuses. Most would have called it the Dark Side working its way. But it was more than that. Maybe if he was completely human, not just in body(currently), it would be that...but there was something different about Alraxians’ connection to the Force. Not just a philosophy difference as Akan had originally though, but a true difference. Dark and Light really were two parts of a whole, working together to form the main piece. Not like the Jedi taught. Not two opposing forces working against each other. It seemed like such a small difference, yet there were obviously larger effects from it. Perhaps it was his Dark. That part of him had been alive as an individual for long enough to at least be slightly more than just a voice...but no...not there was more to it than simply Dark and Light. Good and Evil. Morality.

No, something in Voort truly repulsed Akan. Disgusted every fiber of his being. It wasn’t just that old hatred for the Empire anymore. That had grown. Changed. The Alraxian in him saw something within Voort that just added to that. It was something that Akan would never have thought about. But he could smell it. Or at least, when in the Alraxian body he could. For a while, he’d wondered what that smell was. Even asked Shadow about it once. Each time, though, she’d just shrugged and ignored him. But as his thoughts ran over that old promise to Voort before encountering Sadrak for the first time, the Alraxian part of him made connections. The smell. An Imperial. Human. No. Not completely human. Something in that man’s blood. Every human, Akan had learned, had roughly the same smell to them. But Voort was different. Even Sadrak wasn’t like this. But that meant nothing to Akan...not the human Akan. To the Alraxian Akan, it was everything. The identity of the smell was ingrained in every Alraxian since the Darkwing Wars. Hardwired in so it could be dealt with.

A question came to Akan’s mind. Something from that older Alraxian part of him...and something he couldn’t seem to not ask, “Where were you born, Titus?”

The almost friendly tone in Akan’s voice caught Titus off guard. The man turned around and gave Akan a curious look, but took a few steps forward and said, “Small world in the Mid Rim. You’ve probably never heard of it.”

Akan nodded. That wouldn’t be a surprise...but that didn’t get his real question answered at all. In fact, it only got his brain working in overdrive as the next obvious question came up. It was amazing that Akan’s voice didn’t sound as prying as the actual questions, “Do you know where you parents were from?”

This didn’t seem to be a strange question to Titus. In fact, it almost looked like he’d been expecting it. A smile...a friendly smile, grew on the man’s face and he just said, “Most of my family lived on that planet.”

“Most.”

That was odd. That wasn’t a question. You could hear that period just sitting in the air during the resulting silence and Titus tried to understand what was really going on. He knew now that this was not just simple questioning. There was a point to this. A dangerous one, too. And this wasn’t the first time these kinds of questions had been asked of him by an Alraxian. Marix had asked the same things...in much the same way, years ago. So, instead of hedging around it, Titus knew exactly the end point. He knew what that lingering annoyance in Akan’s face was.

“Yes,” he said, answering the unasked question that somehow still hung in the air of the docking bay, “I have a trace of Sith blood in me. Real Sith. Not the Dark Jedi. But the true people called the Sith that were killed by the ones who stole their name.”

At hearing those words, Akan suddenly found himself using every single piece of his mind to force himself NOT to morph Alraxian and maul this thing. The Sith were the true evil. Created the Darkwings. Tainted the Alraxians. The Mrrakesh were the current and also long time enemies of the Alraxian people...but the Sith. They were evil itself. Not even the Mrrakesh were crazy or evil enough to create the Drakwings. And then, Akan’s mind just hit a wall. That wall was most literally his humanity. The part of him that wasn’t Alraxian heard all these things that were going through him and stopped them.

As Akan calmed himself, he noticed that Voort was watching him closely. Obviously waiting for a reaction that he already expected. But none came. Well, no. Eventually, Akan blinked a few times before speaking quietly. His voice was back to a sense of normality, and pretty much every single trace of the boy’s previous accusing glance were gone. Now, Voort saw the same Akan he’d known for a while now. But something in the eyes still worried him. No, it wasn’t the eyes. It was a sound. A soft click. Voort’s eyes traveled down to the sound and found its source.

Akan had gotten the lightsaber off of his belt and was now gently holding the weapon as he watched Voort. Quietly, he said, “He’s dead.”

So it came to this. Honestly, Voort had expected it to happen sooner. Much sooner. Letting out a long, heavy sigh, the former Imperial looked Akan straight in the eyes. Human to human. In a disturbingly calm voice, Voort spoke, “Yes. He is.”

“I’m ready to get this over with.”

Voort didn’t wait on that, instead, responded quickly and sharply, “What good will that do?”

“It will keep you from dragging Jen down with you,” Akan growled, a seething anger in his voice, “I’ve seen it, Voort. I’ve seen what you’ve done...what you’ll do.”

“I will never, ever, hurt her,” Voort snapped back, not caring about being nice anymore, “I’m through with this, Akan. Through with this damned war. Its over. Move on with the rest of the galaxy and stop trying to murder everyone who didn’t fight on your side!”

At that, Akan activated his lightsaber. The snap-hiss of the blade cut through the air as sharply as any noise ever could, but even Voort was surprised when the blade was still held at Akan’s side. Through gritted teeth, his body shaking very slightly with something far more deep than simple anger, Akan said, “It isn’t murder to kill a murderer.”

“So that’s it now?!” Voort took a small step forward, ignoring how close he was to that weapon and staring straight into Akan’s eyes, “Murder me. Kill me. What kind of Jedi would that make you, hm? What kind of friend would that make you for Jen? What do you think she would do?!”

Akan took a short step back. Somehow he’d not heard those last two sentences, but the venom with which he yelled back at Voort surprised the both of them, “I’m not a Jedi! I’m not anything, dammit! I’m some cowardly kid trying to find a way to die! You’re a murdering servant of the Emperor! Kill me! I know you want to! You want me dead more than I want to die! Kill me, you bastard!!”

Suddenly, Voort moved. Akan pulled back just slightly, lightsaber up in front of him and ready to defend himself despite those words he’d just spoken. Yes, Voort had gone for his lightsaber. Yes, he’d drawn the weapon from his belt. But to Akan’s astonishment, the man simply through the weapon across the docking bay. Far out of reach. And in the silence, he stared at Akan...finally, in an all too calm voice, Titus said, “I’m through with this. I won’t fight you. I won’t kill you. But if you wish to continue like some petulant child, then finish what you start. Kill me. You’re the one who’s pushed for this...so do it. You hate me so much...and yet you always ignore how similar we are. Maybe if you kill me, you’ll end up just like me. Or maybe...maybe you’ll get what you want. I’ll be dead. That part of you that scares you so much won’t be dead though. It’ll be there stronger than ever. I know what its like, Akan,” slowly, Voort took a single step forward, putting him face to face with the young man, “And I know that its your choice, not mine.”

For a long time, they stood there with the only sound the constant hum of Akan’s lightsaber...help off to his right side, easily able to swing in and cut Voort down in a second. Yet neither moved. Titus watched as Akan’s eyes searched him. He knew what this boy was looking for. He’d looked for it himself, many years ago after the death of his first wife and child. Akan was looking for some way to win this. To win and convince Titus to kill him. But he wasn’t going to find anything. It was far too late for that. All Akan found was himself. And when this realization washed over Akan it was obvious. The lightsaber fell from his hand, dropping to the durasteel plating at their feet and shutting off after another few moments. An impossibly pained expression gripped Akan’s face, and he soon dropped to his knees, burying his face in his hands and shaking with violent sobs.

Voort stood in silence, only letting out a small sigh of relief. For a long while, he’d actually expected that Akan would kill him. Was it over now? Finally over?


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 118: A Familiar Scent*

Shadow had, quiet literally, picked up a scent. She hadn’t noticed it until they had returned to Loki and she’d morphed back to her Alraxian form. It had been just before stepping into Loki, having given up on telling Jen it was dangerous to walk around Coronet on her own. But Titus had decided that it was alright, saying he wouldn’t be much help in negotiations involving money. Shadow had given up not because she didn’t think Jen was being stupid, but because of that smell. Without anymore than an “I’ll be back” as explanation, she disappeared into the city again.

Now, nearly an hour later, she stood in the center of one of the larger outdoor parks within the city. Park was a stretch, as it really only contained a huge, elaborate fountain and some plants on top of the usual metallic ground. Metal everywhere. Despite years of living in this part of the galaxy, there was still that primal aversion to it. The idea of walking on it was enough to drive any normal Alraxian crazy. But Shadow had learned. Heavy boots were comforting, as were other heavy clothes. Not only for warmth on the colder(by Alraxian standards) planets, but currently they also assisted with concealing her unusual appearance. Alraxians were easy to spot around here. Well, around anywhere that wasn’t the Empire. The real Empire, in Shadow’s opinion, not one that had taken over in this part of the galaxy and not even lasted a century.

Sniffing the air again, Shadow pushed her way through the crowd and continued the tracking. It was a smell that one didn’t find much in this area. In fact, up until Akan had been the subject of that little accident and got his new body, Shadow had nearly forgotten it. But this wasn’t as simple as just an Alraxian scent. It was more familiar than that. One that worried Shadow. It wouldn’t have only a few months ago, before her knowledge that she was actually a clone of the real Marix. The real Marix probably wouldn’t worry at all. In fact, she’d probably be excited. Okay...so Shadow was a little excited, too, but there was worry masking it.

There. Movement in the scent. It was stronger...her ears twitched under the heavy hood, following an odd noise. No, that was an older ship leaving one of the hangars. Follow the smell. Focusing on some old things she’d been taught, Shadow put her mind on only the smell. Her eyes worked only to move her around the buildings, the crowds, and anything else in the way. Her ears did the same. Smell guided her. It guided her around one corner after another, down many of the main streets that were scattered through the city, and Shadow couldn’t help but notice how the scent seemed to avoid all those back alleys. That only helped to confirm the identity of her ‘prey’.

And then it stopped. She took one step and it was gone. Another step back, it was there again. Hmm...Shadow went back to actually using her eyes and looked around. It didn’t take long. Right there, directly in front of her, was a large building. It was a hotel. Under the hood, she grinned. A fairly cheap one by the look of the sign. Anyone having to put “Best Rooms Within Three Blocks!” was really pushing their luck. And it fit with the relative naivete of her suspected prey in how this galaxy worked. He’d believe it. But the smell didn’t go inside? Why? That didn’t make sense...he wasn’t smart enough for that.

Her ears started working again. When they did, she found out the reason for the end of the scent. There was an air vent just above the entrance, obviously designed to give some kind of odd effect when one entered. When Shadow walked in, she only felt annoyed at the rush of air in her face. When she stepped into the lobby of the hotel, the scent was back. Along with a thousand others that really weren’t worth trying to think about. Ignoring the older looking human behind a desk, she followed the scent straight to the single turbolift. The man probably tried to say something to the mysteriously heavy cloaked humanoid that plodded past, but Shadow didn’t hear it. This was Corellia, if the guy wasn’t used to people ignoring him by that age, he was a hopeless idiot. And so, Shadow stood in the turbolift, wondering which floor to go to.

This was the part where guessing took over. Maybe asking that guy at the desk would have been a good idea...but no, would he really be registered under the same name? Surely, he was dumb enough to actually be registered, but under his real name? Shadow stopped a moment. Yes...yes he would. Sighing, she just pressed a button anyway. A matter of seconds later, the door slid open to reveal a small, boring hallway. The scent was there. Grinning, Shadow followed it. Reaching the door, Shadow took a deep breath. How long had it been? Surely before Marix had left the Empire. So why was he here now? Why hadn’t she thought about this before making it all the way here?! Sometimes, hunting instincts were problematic.

Some part of her would figure out what to do. That part was also already taking over, having gotten control of her left arm and then knocking on the door. There was nothing for a few minutes, and Shadow couldn’t help but wonder if he was really even there. But no, the scent was strong. New. And she could...feel him close. Hopefully, he would notice that, too. Hopefully. But that was pushing it.

The door slid open. When it opened, Shadow was surprised to see no one there. She could see the opposite wall, blank and boring. There seemed to have been a small entrance hallway into the likely equally small room. Step inside? No...a sound. Breathing? Yes. Not her’s. But where was he? These doors usually required one to stand in front of it to hit the switch. A moment later, she caught a hint of movement. Off to the left, inside the door, she saw the slight twitch of movement. It was a tail. Swishing just at the edge of her view. Shadow grinned. That finally confirmed it.

“You’re not hiding very well, Alyx,” she said, doing her best not to laugh instead of speaking.

The tail came into view again. It was a soft white colour, with the hint of an black stripe down it. Second, an ear appeared. Third, a familiar voice, “M...Marix?”

This time, Shadow did laugh. But even though she felt a strange happiness at this, it was decided by a well staffed committee within her mind to hold off on the whole ‘clone’ thing for he moment. So, her answer was, “Yes, Alyx, its me. Do you plan to crouch there all day?”

A head appeared. If anyone else had seen it, they would have sworn it was her’s, just with harder features and his eyes were a soft green instead of her silvery-purple. The two green eyes widened upon seeing her, and he stepped back, motioning inside, “Um...sorry...I uh...um...didn’t know you were...uh...here.”

Grinning still, she stepped inside of the small room. The door closed behind her, and it wasn’t long until she’d pulled the hood down and sat next to Alyx on the only piece of furniture in the entire place. A bed. Or...what passed for a bed in these parts. But that wasn’t important right now. Alyx had oddly mixed expression on his face. She saw the expected excited look, but it was mixed with something she couldn’t read. That was odd enough on Alyx’s face. He wasn’t the secretive type...he also wasn’t the type to be away from home. Alone. Her thoughts were following that path again, and Shadow quickly stopped them. But she’d stopped them too late, saying, “What are you doing out here?”

He gave her a careful look. Obviously, it wasn’t a question he wanted to answer. But just as she couldn’t lie to him very well, he was just as bad with her, “I’m not allowed to come and find you?”

Alright, so it wasn’t a lie. But it really was dodging. Together, they both sighed. One of them was going to have to stop avoiding the issue at hand. Her link with Alyx was not nearly as strong as her link with Akan, but it was still strong enough that base emotions could flow through with a little effort. And she felt it from him. Fear. Fear of what, though? That didn’t help much. He’d always been afraid of the simplest things. Shadow made the choice to be the one to bring it up, “Alyx...I know you’re not here just to see me. Or at least, not in that nice little way that we’re pretending to be true.”

Alyx nodded. His expression became depressed, and Shadow couldn’t help but wish she’d not said anything. Staring down at the floor, Alyx said, “Mom sent me.”

Mom. He never called her that. Well, once...before she...Marix had left. He really was worried. Afraid. Of what? No, calm down...do this slowly. This wasn’t some idiot to interrogate. This was Alyx. Watching him curiously, Shadow spoke quietly, “Something’s happened, hasn’t it?”

Again, he nodded. It was a few moments before he said, in a voice just barely above a whisper, “There have been a lot more Mrrakesh raids on the border since you left...and...and...Kyren...he...”

“What happened to Kyren?!” she snapped violently, grabbing Alyx’s shoulders and staring him straight in the eyes. That look worried Alyx, but thankfully, he knew she wouldn’t hurt him.

“He’s alive...” were the first words out of Alyx’s mouth. They were the smartest, and Shadow’s grip on Alyx loosened enough that he felt like he wasn’t being crushed anymore, “He was working with a group of Jendari on one of the trading worlds. It was...assaulted. The Mrrakesh attacked and took the planet. Kyren got away, but was injured.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Shadow nodded and said, “Kyren isn’t the reason you’re here, though. Has anything happened to mother?”

Alyx shook his head, “No. No, she’s fine. We’re all okay...but...everyone’s afraid of this drastic move. Its been...been...a long time since anything more than border skirmishes!”

And who else would be best to assist there than the future Empress herself? It made sense. So her mother was just using her again. The people of the Empire would only take the lack of her presence for so long...and what better way to bring her back than to show she was a strong leader? The Empress was a healer, not a fighter...but her daughter. The heir. She was a fighter. An assassin. The Empire didn’t know this...they did know she was trained as a warrior, but not that she was a Tam-Day-U. They didn’t know why she was gone. But a story could be spread. One to strengthen the people. The Empress was up to her usual schemes and Shadow had never liked being stuck in them. It was part of the reason she...she...no, part of the reason Marix had left.

Quietly, without completely realizing that she was speaking, Shadow whispered, “I can’t go back.”

“Please...I...you know I wouldn’t have come all the way out here to find you if there wasn’t a choice,” Alyx hung his head and stared down blankly. But in that movement, Shadow caught something in his eyes. In that look. There was another layer to those words. If there wasn’t a choice...interesting words. They were the key. If he’d never said it, Shadow would never have known.

Her expression went cold. The hands on his shoulders just rested there, almost like a droid that had been shut off. This wasn’t lost on either of them, and Alyx knew he’d made a mistake. His head looked up and watched those cold, expressionless eyes for a moment. Now what? He’d screwed up...and...and...cutting off his panicked thoughts, she said quietly, “You know, don’t you? You all know.”

For a few short seconds, Alyx looked like he was going to break down and cry. But instead, he didn’t move, speaking in a completely different voice, one that was very unlike his usual kind and friendly tone, Alyx said, “...yes.”

“How long have you known?” Shadow asked in the same emotionless, droid-like voice. One that was impossibly unnatural for an Alraxian.

Swallowing nervously, almost looking more afraid than before, Alyx tried to look away and said, “Since...since mother tracked you down last time. She...we...I...they told me I should kill you if you knew.”

The way Shadow looked at him, Alyx couldn’t help but look back up into Shadow’s eyes. He saw Marix in them. Obviously, that terrified him. Strangely, though, Shadow felt her own expression soften just slightly, “Why am I not dead yet?”

Alyx sighed and closed his eyes, “I can’t...I can’t do it. You’re....you...you aren’t her. You aren’t my twin, but...but you are. I can see it in you. And I know you’re an abomination to life...everything that is evil. Yet...its...its been so long.”

When he started crying, Shadow panicked. What was she supposed to do? This wasn’t her brother. This was Marix’s brother. He said it himself. Yet...he was right. She couldn’t actually differentiate between her memories and Marix’s, so to her...this truly was her twin brother. Maybe not in every sense of the word, but there was something there that they could both notice. Carefully, she hugged him. As Alyx buried his face in her shoulder, Shadow asked, “How long has it been? How...how old would she be?”

It took a little while until Alyx calmed down enough to speak. His face was still in her shoulder when his muffled voice said, “Twenty cycles...she would be twenty cycles in a month or so.”

“You’ll be grown soon,” Shadow whispered, rubbing her brother’s back and thinking about all of this. She wasn’t that old. In fact, she was much younger than that. What did that mean? No. Think about that later. Talk to him... “Alyx, I still can’t. There are things I have to do here. I have a human...to train. And...” taking a deep breathing, Shadow knew the next words could change the entire exchange. But she said them anything, “And I think the real Marix is still alive. I need to find her.”

“She’ll kill you if she is alive,” mumbled Alyx as he sat back up and watched her closely.

Shadow nodded, “Maybe...but I have to find her anyway,” and then, seeing something in his expression, she changed her next words, “Go back home, Alyx. If I find her...I’ll send her. You know she’ll go. But you can’t stay here,” a grin appeared on her face, “You’re probably having enough trouble already.”

With a weak grin, Alyx nodded. Even for the smartest Alraxians, this place would be daunting. The idea of money was something that would throw anyone off for at least a week. To think of Alyx dealing with all of this couldn’t help but make Shadow grin more.

“I’ll bring you your sister back, Alyx. I promise.”

He nodded slowly, then suddenly shook his head and looked her straight in the eye, “I hope she lets you live...you are...you’re so much like her. I should be appalled. I should be disgusted but...but even if you don’t find her, I know she’s still alive.”

When he hugged her, Shadow couldn’t help but be surprised. In all the Alraxians hatred for clones, it was never imagined that the clone could actually have a similar personality as to the original. Always, it was assumed that the clone would be an evil abomination bent on destroying everything...especially its original. The fact that Shadow showed this to be different had Alyx’s mind in even more of a spin than before. He shouldn’t have been so happy. But like he’d said...his sister was alive in this clone.

They didn’t speak much after that. What else could be said? So, after pointless small talk, Shadow knew she had to go. After making sure he would go home and not follow her around(which he, among all her brothers, was the most known for doing and getting himself into a lot of trouble from it), Shadow left and started on the long trek back to Loki. So now home was in trouble. At least she had an excuse not to run off this time. There was even an excuse not to go straight to finding the real Marix. Jen’s training was more important now. But she couldn’t help shaking the worries that had come from seeing Marix’s twin again. Somehow, Shadow was going to ahve to find a way to force herself to focus on Jen’s training. That wasn’t something to involve oneself in and be distracted in the process. One thing at a time. First: Jen. Then....well...then, things could just go wherever the Force took them. At least, that was the idea. Shadow ignored the rare occurrence with which things actually followed the original idea.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 119: A Happy Beginning to a Dangerous End*

Two hours later, and both Jen and Shadow returned. Shadow was quiet, speaking in those short, abrupt tones that she’d been so good at for as long as any of them had known her. Jen, on the other hand, was open, happy, and couldn’t really keep her mouth shut. Apparently, she’d gotten a hold of a nice, and fairly new, ship. The model was one that Akan didn’t recognize, but considering how many types of ships there were in the galaxy, this wasn’t a surprise at all. But she said that all the details were done, and all that needed to be finished now was for her and Titus to go and get it. This got a quick, almost worried look from Akan, who was surprised to see it met by Titus. Jen picked up on this, and raised an eyebrow. Saying nothing about it, though, she decided it was something to talk with Titus about later. But that was what needed to be figured out now. Later.

Akan had to run into Loki to find Shadow, who’d collapsed onto her bed face down. If he hadn’t known any better(in other words, hadn’t had the link with her), Akan would have sworn she’d have died. But the slow breathing was just how she slept, apparently. Dragging her back out to the other two, they all stood in an awkward silence for a couple of minutes. Honestly, Akan wasn’t sure what to do anymore. He couldn’t look at Jen without seeing...those dreams. And Titus...um, Voort...the first Voort was still Voort...Titus. Whatever. Akan now understood why it was good for people to have one name. One. Not two. Though it seemed like that was a common thing among the four of them now. But Akan wasn’t the only one having trouble, as Shadow just plain wasn’t sure what should be done now. Well, overall, she knew...but this whole...marriage thing. It never made sense to her in the first place. Sure, she understood the concept of a mate, especially a single mate for life but...but...it was only on that intellectual level the same way as a human child understood that babies have to come from somewhere. The details were lost. In fact, most of the general picture was.

It was Voort...Titus who broke the silence, “Where are we going from here?”

We. That word wasn’t lost on any of them. No longer was there that antagonistic attitude of ‘you’ and ‘me’. Despite the earlier talk(which was, of course, almost lying even to call it a heated argument) between him and Titus, there was still an underlying problem. Akan had a feeling it was because of those dreams...everything seemed to come back to that. It was going to drive him crazy eventually. Shadow wasn’t one to forget this, and had a feeling it would occur sooner than later. That alone helped her finalize what needed to be done first. With a much more ‘normal’ tone of voice from Shadow, she said, “I’m not...ready to deal with other things yet. And Jen’s...training is more important.”

Titus nodded. It was true. She had a strong potential within her that Akan wasn’t the only one to have noticed, and all of them knew, despite how they might feel about it, that it was very dangerous for someone with her strength to never have any kind of simple training in control. Even Alraxians, who were strongly emotional creatures at heart, knew the necessity in controlling those emotions in individuals strong in the Force. Of course, Shadow’s seemingly lack of emotions was not normal among Alraxians. Akan didn’t mention this to the two humans, but hoped that it wouldn’t have any negative effect on Jen’s training. Something was going to go wrong...and Akan knew that he just had to find it out and stop it. There had to be a way.

[Will you stop that damned doom-saying?] Shadow’s voice interjected into his thoughts like a lightsaber through flesh. It was the kind of thing that Akan knew he had more thoughts, but they’d been literally cut off and fallen somewhere out of reach. Shadow mentally smiled at that. She was good at things like that, and proud of it.

None of them really found it odd when no more words were exchanged. Well, except for a simple yet very important detail of where they were actually going. This was brought up by Jen after already having said the ‘See you there’ when she realized that she had no idea where ‘there’ was. Even Shadow had stopped at that. Biting her lip, her mind raced through a thousand planets. There was one. It was a good one. Also had a nice little poetic justice to it...not that Shadow was any expert on that kind of thing, but the world was the closest she knew to Alraxia in the galaxy. Endor. Barely populated, well forested, and most of all, warm without the evil dry sand on the other ‘warm’ planets. Why did they all end up as deserts around this part of the galaxy, anyway?!

And then they’d parted ways. Akan had found himself trying to point out which ship was theirs upon leaving, but considering how many were coming and going from Coronet, it was near impossible. There were even a large number heading in the same general course as Endor. Major trade routes out that direction. It would be a two day hyperspace jump. How long it would be for the Voorts was unknown, but probably not too much different unless they had an amazing hyperdrive on that ship. During their trip, Akan was actually surprised to find himself busy. Well, made busy. Shadow spent most of the time teaching him about Loki’s controls, with Loki’s help of course. The ship was beyond excited to have a new pilot. Actually, Loki just seemed excited about any kind of contact at all.

The rest of the time had been spent between eating, sleeping, an a long, slightly worrying discussion. It had started with Shadow telling him about her...Marix’s brother. Somehow, it had devolved into the issue of Jen and had nearly come to blows. Or claws. Probably a little of both. Loki had, thankfully, put a few words in after Akan had made a fairly stupid comment about Shadow’s competence(even though he’d not meant it as she had taken it). That had just barely stopped Akan from getting claws to the face. She wouldn’t have killed him. And even though hurting him would cause her some pain, it would have been worth it. It seemed like Akan just wasn’t going to get over his worries no matter what she said or did. Jen was going to be trained. Shadow was going to do it. Shadow was not going to let anything go wrong. Akan could whine and complain all he wanted as long as that didn’t interfere.

Jen and Titus had three days in hyperspace. Three very nice, long, and above all private days. The ship that Jen had gotten was a new take on an older Duros model. It almost looked like a flying bird mixed with the more conventional style designs used among most personal transports. From a distance, many would likely think it was a Lambda shuttle. Inside, there were four main rooms. An open cabin, two quarters of equal size, and the cockpit. This didn’t count the small engine room and other access tubes littered around. It was a rather uneventful trip, consisting mostly of the two of them telling old stories. The war was avoided, but there were many more things to tell beyond just that. Titus mostly told Jen about the real Marix. Though it had only been a month that he’d known her, it was enough to learn a lot. Enough for both of the Voorts to agree that finding the real Marix was somehow important. Titus might have originally discarded this as something that Shadow needed to do herself, but when he noticed that even Jen felt something there...well, he just knew it was important. Something they all had to do. As that odd family Jen had described to him. That thought couldn’t get anything but a smile to him. Two human adults, and two Alraxian children.

_(Notes: This is the end of the second adventure. Next post, the start of my favorite of the adventures. Its also the longest, and could arguably be divided into about three different adventures. Hope you readers are all still enjoying this. If you've liked this stuff so far, you ain't seen nothing yet.)_


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Part III
Chapter 120: Fifth Time's a Charm*

Carefully, Akan opened his eyes. His eyes scanned the small, makeshift hut around him. Two months on Endor and they’d given up living in ships. Making small, boring little huts was no trouble at all. They were only used for sleeping, anyway...even that was becoming rare. Thankfully, there was no sign of Shadow. Good. Akan sat up, slowly and as quietly as he could. Nothing creaked. Nothing moved except him. Once again, his eyes went over the circular, wood hut. Still no sign of Shadow. Almost worrying considering the circumstances. His head was spinning, though. Ugh. So he’d been sick for the last week. Apparently, Alraxian did get sick. It was one of those basic questions one never asked and got annoyed about until it occurred. Shadow had ordered him to sleep until it was gone. There were a few reasons for that, none of them having anything to do with concern for his well being. Jen had been the one who’d taken up that front. Even Titus had. Amazingly enough.

Another minute passed as Akan’s head stopped trying to turn in circles and collapse in on itself. Instead, it just became a pounding headache. That could be dealt with. Anyway, he back hurt. Legs ached. Everything ached from lying in bed so long. Alright, so it’d only been about six hours...but for some reason Akan just couldn’t sit still. Next step was getting to his feet. Last time, Shadow had already caught him at this point and threatened to tie him down by his tail. Somehow, he didn’t doubt she’d do it. With a deep breath, Akan got to his feet, hands still on the bed to assist in balance. He still hadn’t gotten a hang of the tail for balance concept, so old fashioned ways would have to do. Again, his head spun for a few minutes. But again, there was no sign of Shadow. Probably off going through some exercises for Jen. Good. 

The next part was the hardest. Walking. He still felt dizzy slightly, and so the short walk to the hut’s doorless exit took much more effort than usual. Even Shadow would have been proud of his unconscious use of his tail for balance. It swished behind him a couple times as he wobbled to the exit of the hut. He reached out and managed to stabilize himself with a hand on the door. Good. Not fallen over yet. Now. Willpower. Just walk out...and...

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Akan didn’t have to look up from his feet to know the source of that voice. He also knew that if he looked up, the glare from Shadow’s eyes would likely burn a hole in his skull. That also wasn’t a rhetorical question. He was going to have to answer that somehow. Doing his best to look straight down and ignore the glare he could feel on the top of his head, which was actually making his ears feel warm, Akan said roughly, “Can’t just lay in bed all day.”

“This is the second time you’ve tried that,” Shadow said flatly, a hint of ice in her voice that was probably just as deadly as a lightsaber, “Why should I believe you this time, hm?”

Realizing how much his throat hurt, Akan wished he didn’t have to talk. Sure, there was the link but...right now, that would be dangerous. He could feel it. She was going to make him realize how sick he still was whether he liked it or not. Or believed it or not. It still didn’t make him believe it. So he had to come up with some reason that he was ‘okay’ now. Inhaling carefully and trying to ignore the raw feeling in his throat, Akan said as normally as he could, “I’m fine. I feel fine. Its just a little headache. I’ve had worse. Let me at least go for a walk.”

The way Shadow was glaring eventually forced Akan to look up. It didn’t even require the Force to make him do that. Even without the link it would have worked. Sheer force of annoyance drove that. When he looked up, he of course wished he’d just closed his eyes. Her silvery-purple eyes dug deep into his very essence and clawed at it a few times just for fun while she spoke in those same, slow tones that would unnerve a Rancor, “You said that last time. And yesterday. Now, getting sick on me once. Fine. Understandable. Twice? Still understandable because you were at least staying in bed. Three times? That was pushing it, but I’ve been feeling nice lately for some reason. But four times?! And after you insist that you’re just fine?! That its only a little headache? You’ve had worse! HA! You want me to risk a fifth time now? How stupid do you think I am?!”

Akan did his best to hold Shadow’s glare, not matching it but at least showing a little resistance to it. He held the gaze for longer than anyone, save Marix herself, could ever manage. Managing to hold back a cough(as Shadow would probably murder him for just that) Akan said simply, “I’m fine. Trust me. Just a walk, then I’ll come back. You don’t even have to follow me.”

Silence. That disturbing silence that was so quiet that made Akan wonder if Shadow was actually screaming at him through the link. Well, she was...in her own way. The silent screaming that unnerved people so much worked much better, especially in Alraxian. His not understanding it just made it even more worrying somehow. And then, Shadow even surprised Akan, “Fine. Last chance. You screw this up and I will break both your legs and make sure you can’t morph back for a very long time.”

Akan nodded. The nod actually made him dizzy again, but he did a good job in hiding that fact. Without missing a beat, Akan started a slow and determined walk. Shadow was right next to him, not actually saying anything and watching him closely. He made it thirty paces. Or, as Shadow counted it, four trees. After that, Akan suddenly found the everything too much, realized what was about to happen and...

“DAMMIT AKAN!!” Shadow screamed a second after he’d gotten sick on her again. He’d collapsed to the ground, groaning and curling up in that position most children did when sick. She glared down at him a long moment before cleaning herself off as best was possible. Any other time, Shadow would have kicked him. Hard. But she didn’t. Rage had gone far beyond that point, and was now into the seething cold stages of simple anger. Reaching down, Shadow grabbed Akan’s right ankle and started dragging him back to the hut. She half considered taking a detour and dragging him through the river that ran near here, but decided against it for the moment.

She only made it halfway to the hut before Jen wandered past. Seeing the situation, she raised an eyebrow and said, “You let him get up again, didn’t you?”

Shadow just gave her a flat look, nodding and not saying anything. That’s about the time that Jen noticed something else. Her features got all screwed up, and she asked, “What is that smell?”

“He was sick,” Shadow grumbled, wrinkling her nose, “On me. Again.”

“Oh...” Jen managed a sympathetic look. Without another word, she assisted in dragging the still groaning Akan back to bed, glaring at him like an annoyed nanny, then walking out with Shadow. Once they were back outside, Jen looked to Shadow and asked, “Anymore training for today?”

“I’d planned on it,” Shadow mumbled, starting a walk towards the river, “But now I’m going to go have a bath. Actually, come with me. You can sit at the river’s edge and work on those levitation exercises again.”

Jen sighed. Those were the ones she couldn’t get a hang of. As they walked off, she looked towards her ship, the Alderaan II, and wondered if Titus was awake yet. It had been a long night, with him teaching her the basics about lightsaber construction. That was the one thing no one really had a problem with him teaching her. It didn’t involved much use of the Force, and wouldn’t endanger her. That was the idea. Of course, only Titus seemed to notice how easily she took to the martial teaching she’d been given.

* * * *​
Titus was awake. He’d actually been awake for about an hour. For a little while he’d watched the trees from the main viewport, remembering the planet from oh so many years ago. He’d been here during that battle, with the second Death Star and the Emperor above. He was not, however, one of the Imperials to surrender at the end of the battle. Instead, he and a small group had hid in the forest until the Rebels had left, taken a small shuttle, and gotten out. So many had died on this planet, Rebel and Imperial alike. It was depressing to think about, so he’d found something else to do. For some reason, he’d been drawn to checking out the latest news in the galaxy. Through some boring reports about planetary disputes and Imperial skirmishes, he found something of interest.

Actually, interest wasn’t the correct word. It was something of worry. For a long time, Titus had expected something like this, but now to have it confirmed was even worse. There was a bounty on his head. An official New Republic bounty. Five hundred thousand credits. There was also a bounty on the other three, each at two hundred thousand. All but his were alive. Titus’ was listed as ‘whatever is most convenient’. A nice way of saying ‘We’ll kill him if you don’t have the time’. He sighed. At least their location was listed as ‘Unknown’. Or at least, it was until you looked closer and it listed possible locations such as ‘Corellia and Coruscant’. There was no mention of Endor, but a few other Outer Rim systems were listed that weren’t too far off. That was unnerving.

Leaning back in the chair, Titus eyed the screen. Only he had a picture. That was one good thing, at least. After closing his eyes, he decided it probably wasn’t anything to worry about. There was nothing to indicate they were on Endor. In fact, there was only one real connection back to one of those listed worlds...Corellia. They’d bought the ship there. Jen had used her name. It wasn’t something they’d thought about at the time. But was there anything to track them to this place? No, they’d checked the ship over. No tracking devices or anything like that. No nothing. It was a dead end. Mentally, Titus rephrased that. It should be a dead end. But for some reason, things like this had a way of going pear shaped at just the wrong time.


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## Angcuru

Just got through the first page, and I'm really liking it.  Keep it coming.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 121: Heavy Rocks, Weighted Dreams, and Grave News*

Jen glared at the rock. Well, it was more like staring intently and trying to force one’s will on an inanimate object, but glaring just felt like the right word. Though it was probably becoming a real glare as the rock wasn’t moving like it should be. Shadow had explained that it was simply a matter of making your will reality. Interesting sounding words, but they didn’t actually explain how she was supposed to get the rock to move without touching it. Jen had tried thinking at the rock. That did nothing. So, she tried thinking around the rock. Despite the paradox in those thoughts, it still didn’t work. Apparently, making no sense didn’t cause the Force to work. Maybe just thinking wasn’t enough?

Behind her, she could feel Shadow’s gaze. It wasn’t prying or even dangerous, just watchful. Waiting. Resisting the urge to turn and look back to the Alraxian, Jen did her best to keep the focus on the rock. Thinking at it wasn’t enough...thinking around it wasn’t enough. Wait. Maybe Jen wasn’t doing the right thing, here. She was thinking about the rock. About it wasn’t at it. Slowly, Jen tried to figure out how to push her thoughts outward. To the rock. She did feel an odd tingle through her spine, but nothing outward reacted. Close. Very close. But not there yet. If forcing her thoughts out to the rock wasn’t enough, maybe trying bringing the rock to her thoughts? Instead of reaching out as it were, Jen attempted to visualize the rock moving to a small circular nothing that represented her thoughts. It was then that she realized her eyes had closed. Trying to hold the focus, she carefully opened one eye.

Just a couple of feet from her face was the rock. It floated at eye level in a somewhat awkward way. A grin came onto her face, and she called over to Shadow, “HA! I did it–OW!”

The break in focus was something Shadow had actually been waiting for. When Jen had yelled out happily, she’d not been ready to divide her focus as much as was necessary. This meant the rock fell. Into her lap. It wasn’t a very lightweight rock, either. Shadow couldn’t help a light smile, walking over to Jen and patting her on the shoulder while the woman manually got the rock off of her, “You figured that one out quickly. Think you’re ready for two yet?”

Jen put the rock down in front of her and looked over her shoulder to Shadow, “And risk more bruises?”

Shadow laughed and had a seat next to the human woman, “You’ll get plenty of those when we get to martial training, might as well get used to them.”

Nodding, Jen looked down at the rock, “I assume it will get easier with practice?”

“Everything does,” Shadow said with a nod, idly playing with the small amount of dirt at the river’s edge behind them.

“So I’m told,” Jen smiled slightly and leaned back a little. Her expression changed and she said quietly, “Something’s bothering you.”

Shadow raised an eyebrow. Jen may not have been catching onto the physical aspect of the Force too well, but she had the more indirect things down almost naturally. She was very good at reading emotions, and that was likely a strong mix of natural aptitude with and without the Force. It was part of the reason that Shadow had focused on teaching Jen the more direct teachings, as Jen was already well versed in the mental. Noticing that Jen was still giving her that motherly ‘You will tell me what’s wrong or else’ look, Shadow shrugged and said, “Its nothing important. What you’re doing now, however, is.”

Jen got the hint. Nodding and not prying anymore, she looked back to the rock that now sat just in front of her. Fine. If she wouldn’t talk, Jen couldn’t force it out. Besides, Shadow was right. This was important. Whatever was bothering Shadow was probably important, too, but at least Akan could deal with that. Well, once he was allowed to move from that bed again. As her focus faded back to trying to move that stupid rock, Jen couldn’t help a grin at thinking about how long Akan would be stuck in that bed. If he’d just stop being so stubborn, it’d be no problem. He was asking for years, though.

* * * *​
Akan had actually fallen asleep this time. It was a good thing, as after getting ill all over Shadow, he still felt like a live womp rat was chewing on his insides. For the last two months, he’d not slept well in the few chances he’d gotten for sleep. At first, he’d continually seen those dreams again...watched Jen fall away. Watched Voort move to kill Shadow...and then the other, seeing Jen killing them all. But those soon got company. Not long after Jen had gotten into a regular training and sleep schedule, Shadow doubled up on her work. As she’d said, she took time to teach Akan in the ‘real’ Force.

Because of his prior knowledge of the Light Side, this was not the focus of the training for him. Instead, Shadow taught him to use(in a controlled manner) the Dark Side. It was more simple exercises to teach him that burying his anger and ‘dark’ emotions was only causing him to tear himself apart from the inside. Shadow taught him to use the emotions to strengthen him. But at the same time, she explained, one must use it in moderation. The Dark Side was not corrupting from the Alraxian point of view. It was not easier, faster, or even stronger. It simply was another side to a coin. In the Alraxian Force tradition, the Light was just as dangerous if one embraced it fully. If you were consumed in Light, Shadow said, it would quiet literally blind you to reality. The Dark was the same, blacking out the real world if you allowed it to be out of balance. That was the key. Balance. With both, true enlightenment would be reached. Not power. Not knowledge. Not anything the Jedi or the Sith associated with the Force. It was strange and horribly foreign to Akan, but he didn’t have much of a choice.

While he had trouble with the balancing act outwardly, the true problems came in his sleep. Dreams that were likely inspired by his own previous fears of the Dark Side. Dreams that just felt like dreams. Not like visions as the ones with Jen did. This, though, did not make them any less worrying. Alraxians didn’t sweat, so he didn’t wake up in a cold sweat. Instead, he woke up in a cold nothing, which was, again, even worse. Nearly half a year as an Alraxian now, and new things were still driving him crazy. Part of him still felt human, and there was always a very strong urge to be human. Yet Shadow had insisted he stick to who he was now. So that also assisted in his sleepless nights. The dreams. 

But this time, he didn’t dream. He saw. It was an odd distinction, but one that someone accustomed to such things could understand. It was unique, though, in that he knew it wasn’t real. He knew he’d fallen asleep, and this made Akan feel slightly trapped in this. First, he saw a long, blank landing platform. It would look normal on pretty much any planet, save for the time ‘he’ looked up. Buildings. Thousands of them, stretching up as far as the eye could see. Nearly reaching space, itself. Only one planet ever came anywhere near that. Coruscant. Right. Seeing Coruscant...at this realization, the scene changed slightly. Not in his view, but in the smell. He turned to follow the source of this odd smell but saw nothing. The platform was empty. Had he walked here? There wasn’t a ship...but there was someone near. Or something. Or...well, something.

Something felt wrong, though. He found himself walking down the platform towards the connecting building. The doors opened to reveal a normal receiving room among the large planet’s upper sections. But there wasn’t a docking officer at the small desk right in front of him. Odd. Why was he here? Again, he found himself moving. Walking quickly out to the city itself. When the door to the outside opened, he looked out upon the large, Imperial Plaza. Even after the Empire’s loss of the planet, the name had stayed. At one end, was the gigantic Imperial Palace, now the converted into apartment complexes and officers for higher ranking members in the New Republic. Between where he stood on a large balcony and the Palace, was the gigantic courtyard of the plaza. It was the size of most small cities on other planets. Every single hour of every single day, the plaza was littered with thousands of people moving here and there though the monuments, smaller buildings, and kiosks in that plaza. Every single hour except this one, it seemed. The entire plaza was empty. Unmoving. Dead, as it were.

Slowly, Akan’s ‘eyes’ traveled across all he could see. The Senate building off to the far east, lights still glowing gently in the cloudy sky, but still no movement. Not even an airspeeder in the sky. Nothing at all. No where. As his eyes came back towards the plaza, they locked onto one particular building. It was taller than the towering Palace itself, but shaped more like a great spire in the sky. At the top of the mighty building was a small platform. Somehow, despite the great distance between where he stood and the tower, he could see the details. He could remember it. And then he knew what it was. His eyes went up slightly, looking up at the clouded sky above it and stopping at one point in the sky. Just a minute up after getting into the sky. That was where Mare had been killed. Just in the middle of the cloud blurring his vision.

As the vision itself faded into black, comfortable sleep, Akan felt himself pulled. He needed to go there. Something was there. Even if it wasn’t something tangible, there was something. Shadow had told him more than once that he needed to stop running from that and confront it. What better way than to go there? By the time he’d drifted back into sleep, he’d had a short moment to wonder why the planet was devoid of life. That couldn’t be just for the sake of convenience.

* * * *​
Eyeing the scanners with interest, Titus Voort watched the ship that was coming into orbit. It wasn’t a New Republic ship. Or at least, wasn’t transmitting a NR transponder signal. It could have been a bounty hunter, lucky and stupid to come in so obviously. No, there wasn’t a path to follow here, though. Perhaps a random traveler? Why come to this planet, though? He stopped to think about this. Why were they here? To get away from the galaxy. A good place to hide. Solitude and safety. So this ship could be here for the same reasons. There was a small mining operation somewhere on the other side of the planet, maybe it was a supply ship. They’d seen at least one other in the last month.

He figured there wasn’t really anything to worry about from this ship, but as he’d done with all the others that they had spotted, Titus watched it anyway. Just in case. One couldn’t be too careful, especially when trying to hide from potential bounty hunters and the New Republic military. Something interested him about this YT-2400, though. He was experienced enough to know when the Force was trying to tell him something, and wasn’t the kind to ignore it either. So he watched it even more closely. Not that staring at the screen harder did any good, but at least it made him feel better about it.

And then he got a good reason for his interest. The ship’s course altered just slightly. It was enough for Titus to identify that it was coming their direction. Almost a little too much of a coincidence for his liking. As he considered whether or not to send a signal to the ship, Titus ran through what he knew about the old YT-2400s. Built to replace the older and oddly popular YT-1300. They never caught on for some reason. Smaller, not nearly as much cargo space, and built with only a single top cannon as weaponry. They were fast, yes, but that was about all that they had going for them. If someone didn’t know better, it wouldn’t be hard to confuse the 2400 with the now-famous 1300 model. If not for Han Solo’s YT-1300, the model would likely have fallen into obscurity and been replaced by the YT-2400. But the line was cut short, only a limited number were ever made. So who was this? A lucky bounty hunter was the only explanation that Titus could come up with until the comm beeped.

For a moment, he stared at the gently blinking light off to the side of the co-pilot’s chair to his left. After a moment’s thought, he decided it wasn’t something to ignore. So, Titus reached over and gently flipped the comm switch on. Even before he said anything, he heard a familiar voice, “Took one hell of a time to find you, Titus.”

“Don’t land that thing near us!” Titus growled upon identifying the voice, “And the second you’re down you’ve got some explaining to do, Hansen. First on the list, and had better be answered before you set down, is how you found me. Second, and equally important, is what are you doing here?”

There was a short pause in the transmission. During this time, Titus watched the ship readjust its course to a direction farther north. As the ship entered the atmosphere, Hansen’s voice returned to the comm, “First, Loki’s an easy ship to identify when you know what to look for and I’ve got good instincts. Second, and more important, is that we need to talk,” she paused, and Titus inadvertently looked up out of the cockpit’s canopy. He wouldn’t be able to see the ship coming in, but it was still some odd reaction that most people had when they knew a ship was on its way. The pause ended again and Hansen’s voice sounded a bit more worried, “We finished analyzing all the data from Sadrak’s little base. You’re not going to like most of it.”

“I never expected to,” Titus grumbled to himself, still looking up through the thick canopy of trees. Looked like they were about to lose this nice break from the reality of the galaxy. It was only a matter of time...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 122: The Past, The Present, and a Small Ship Theft*

Everyone but Akan sat in the small ‘lounge’ room on Hansen’s YT-2400, the Starjumper. Yeah, it wasn’t a very imaginative name, but Hansen hadn’t been the one to think of it. Apparently she had ‘acquired’ the ship under circumstances she didn’t want to talk about over on Nar Shadaa. She had been searching for them. How they trail had led her to Nar Shadaa, none of them had any idea. Only Shadow knew the planet well, and the last time she was there was a good many years ago. The ship wasn’t exactly legally Hansen’s and she wasn’t about to tempt fate by rigging a new transponder signal just yet. According to Hansen, the Hutt she stole the ship from wouldn’t realize it was gone until he tried to use the dummy ship. Hopefully, that would be at least another week.

After that, there was a short period of small talk where they all caught up on what had been going on. Well, except for Hansen. She politely waited for the others to finish(well, the Voorts, Shadow didn’t say anything other than ‘Akan keeps getting sick on me’), and then leaned back in the small chair she sat in. With a thoughtful look across the three of them, Hansen said, “I’ll get right to the point. Sadrak was doing some kind of genetic research. That army we fought on the sand were not some strange alien creature we didn’t know about on Arranis. Those were Narani. Obviously, we had an idea this might be what he was doing when...when...” she trailed off a moment, seeing the look on Shadow’s face. When they found Landau. There was a short, awkward silence as all of them filled that in mentally.

The pause gone, Hansen continued as if she’d not stopped speaking in the first place, “It’s the reason we haven’t actually found anymore Narani. They all...died. Whatever he did to them was somehow linked to his own life, and when he was killed, they simply fell to pieces. I’d wager they were already dead.”

“Hold on a second,” Jen said, waving a hand and giving Hansen that scientist look that could make anyone feel completely stupid, “You’re telling me he killed thousands of Narani, grafted extra limbs onto their bodies, and then gave them life again?!”

Hansen stared blankly. Surprisingly, Titus nodded, “It is not beyond the power of the Dark Side to mimic life. As Sadrak was a devoted study of ancient Sith Lore, I wouldn’t put it past him to have found things even worse than what we saw out there. It may have been his compromise for losing...” carefully, Titus glanced to Shadow, who just stared right back, “For losing the Darks. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d wanted to use those two as breeding stock to make a completely different type of army.”

The two other humans stared straight at Titus, suddenly worried about the tone his voice was taking on. It was Jen who said, “You’re speculating a little too much.”

“No,” Titus said solemnly, shaking his head and looking down at the durasteel floor plates, “No, I’m not. Its what...I would have done in his position.”

Silence. It was a long silence, and eventually Shadow said in her usual quiet, emotionless voice, “You are correct. But there’s more to it. He...we know he studied my people’s history very well. I don’t know why he gave up on the Darkwings, but he obviously had something else up his sleeve. The Darks were strong, yet weak enough to stay under his control. The offspring would have been completely his, and after that he would have killed the originals. But there was something else...something I think he knew of and was trying to get out of Dar–me,” not waiting for them to question her, Shadow raised her left arm and focused on it. It still felt horribly wrong, but it wasn’t the first time she’d voluntarily done it. A few seconds later, and her entire hand was the shining silver of a strong metal. The metal started to spread up her arm, but seeing that they got the idea, Shadow focused on it again. It was actually hard to stop, but a after a couple of moments the metal stopped spreading down her arm and it returned to normal, “I...I don’t know how it happened, but I do know that like that, I am...the perfect weapon.”

Titus didn’t look surprised, and nodded slowly, “It was an experimental gene placed in some of the clones. I...I didn’t know which ones they were in. I would have told you if I had. But Sadrak would have known...”

“There’s more,” Hansen cut in, stopping the diverging topic at hand and sitting forward, “We found the list of clones. In fact, the entire project’s records were in the computer system. All of them were labeled as ‘in stasis’ except for two.”

Those words hung in the air for a long moment as the three others comprehended what had just been said. Eventually, all eyes fell on Titus. He would be the one of them to know the details among them. Seeing that he was placed on the spot again, he sighed and said, “I don’t know anything about it. Even your escape was after I left, Shadow,” turning, he looked to Hansen again, “What was the other clone’s designation and when did it...she go missing?”

It. That single word shot a painful knife through Shadow’s mind. It brought back memories that had been repressed long ago, not all that unlike Akan had done. But though Akan had done so almost purposely, forcing himself to forget happy times, Shadow had done something different. Her mind simply placed a large gap between her being Marix BlueIce, captured by the Empire and then everything faded out. When it came back, she was with Max, the old human smuggler who’d assisted her for so very long. But at hearing ‘it’, in that certain tone that Titus probably didn’t even realize he’d used, Shadow’s mind suddenly woke up in a few places. Marix had been an ‘it’ once. For a long time, her family never used her name. She was the Tam-Day-U. Unspeakable. Horrible. Evil. Yet, used in the end and treated as objects. The Empress’ daughter was not even above this treatment. ‘She’ had forgotten even having a name until leaving the Hidden Worlds, when her mother had actually used her real name in saying goodbye. But Shadow had not been above this treatment. To whoever had created her, she was simply a tool to be used for the Empire’s power grabbing and assassinations. It. Nothing but a tool. Not alive. Just a thing.

Hansen’s voice spoke, jolting Shadow back into reality but not wiping the hundred different voices calling her ‘it’ away, “The clone was Delta Nine. And she escaped...not long after Shadow did.”

“Nine...” Titus thought on this for a long moment. When his expression sunk, the three females grew worried, “She was an adult clone. I remember always having trouble with her for some reason. The other adults never rebelled like she did...a scouting mission she’d been sent on to Bothawui ended up as a bloodbath. I still don’t know how we managed to cover it up.”

Another short silence. This time, all eyes ended up on Shadow. Her mind raced. She should go to Coruscant, find the real Marix. She had to be alive...somehow, Shadow could feel a faint twitch from somewhere ‘else’ every so often. It could have easily just been Akan’s mind doing odd things to the link. It wouldn’t have been the first time. Yet, somehow Shadow knew it was more than that. Marix was alive. There was something very important about her. No! Not yet. Realizing how long it had actually been, Shadow’s tail swished noticeably before she said almost harshly, “It has to wait. I won’t stop Jen’s training for my own selfish reasons.”

“It could be important,” Jen offered, just as sympathetic to Shadow’s feelings towards the real Marix as the others were.

But again, Shadow shook her head, “It is important, but it can wait. Some things are more important. This will be dangerous enough as it is, and you’ll need every little advantage possible. We all will.”

* * * *​
Akan was awake and actually feeling better. Every other time he’d woken up feeling like a Star Destroyer was resting on his forehead, but for once, his mind wasn’t weighed down so heavily. The headache was gone. Though his tail ached...that was an odd thing to even think about, even after having a tail for so long. The stupid thing was so sensitive and he’d sat on it so many times that it just wasn’t funny anymore. It hurt. A lot. And now it just ached. Akan had once heard people talking about their hair hurting, and he figured this was about the same sensation.

Sitting up took no effort at all, and his head didn’t spin either. He’d never been good at healing through the Force, but what other explanation was there? And right on cue, Shadow revealed she’d been paying attention to his thoughts, ‘saying’. [No, I already told you, if you just sleep, your body will heal itself naturally. Its almost like involuntary morphing. Really, the only times Alraxians actually get sick like that is from lack of sleep.]

Despite her still sitting in Hansen’s ship and him being in that small hut, Akan knew she was glaring at him. He tried to ignore the feeling by going back to those dreams. That dream. It wasn’t multiple. Coruscant. Getting to his feet and ignoring the wobbly stance while his legs got used to holding him up again, Akan replied to Shadow through the link. [I need a ship.]

[You know...] Shadow’s voice allowed a short moment for him to feel like an idiot before continuing. [...your training isn’t done either. Arguably, you’re even more of a danger right now than Jen could ever be.]

Akan knew that. He didn’t need reminding. However, this didn’t change his mind. As a very stubborn person for so long, he’d learned when it was correct to stick to a course and when to flee...or even wait. In this case, neither of the latter two applied. He needed to be on Coruscant. Shadow felt that, and to Akan’s surprised, understood it. Then she said. [You can’t take Loki. He’s too easy to notice.]

Was she actually suggesting he go on his own? Akan thought about that a moment. Yes. She was. Did she feel that pull, too? Well, of course she did, but perhaps it was more because of her need to find Marix than Akan’s need to confront his demons. But there was still more than just a simple confrontation with his past. That was what drove the need. The need to know what was completely unknown yet horribly important. So his mind searched for a way to get there. The second thought after Loki was to take the Alderaan II. No, neither Jen nor Titus would ever allow that. Not that they didn’t trust him, but it was easily traceable. That left only one option, and Akan knew that Hansen wouldn’t let him take her ship. But...

[Is anyone else there other than you?] Akan asked Shadow as he started a slow walk to the forest, following the feeling through the link to find where Hansen had landed the ship. It felt far away...but then again, mentally far was pretty much impossible to compare with physically far, so he just tried walking without thinking about it.

The break in the time between Akan’s question and Shadow’s answer was enough to tell him she looked through the ship to make sure. [They went to show off their new ship to Hansen. You’ll have to hurry here...] another pause, then [This is really asking for it, Akan.]

Realizing that this was actually going to work, Akan made a detour to Loki. The ship seemed to be asleep or at least resting, as Loki didn’t say anything to Akan as he got his small bag of clothes and then left. When Akan was outside again, he was human. Lately, after all the morph training Shadow had been forcing on him(okay, so he didn’t mind that much....it was kind of fun), he finally felt odd in the human form. And it also taught him that tails obviously didn’t something for balance even if he didn’t know how, as his first few steps in his old human body were shaky and he nearly fell over. Passing Alderaan II, Akan heard voices echoing down the single access ramp located off to the ships port side. He quieted his steps, and at the same time sped up his pace. Try not to act like you’re hiding...Voort...Titus would notice that in a second. Even after passing by the small shuttle without being noticed, Akan kept up his careful approach to Hansen’s new ship.

Akan, thankfully, didn’t get lost in finding Shadow. When he got to the YT-2400, she was standing just at the edge of the boarding ramp. Her tail was twitching constantly, and it didn’t take the link to know she didn’t like this. After giving up on just standing there, Akan said quietly, “I have to.”

Shadow actually nodded at that, though her tail was still swishing across the grass covered ground. Slowly, she took a step to the left to allow him to pass her by and go into the ship itself. When he got right next to her, though, Shadow grabbed his arm tightly and looked him straight in the eyes, “You’d better come back soon.”

Surprised at the obvious concern Shadow was showing, Akan held the gaze. Eventually, he nodded and said quietly, “I promise.”

Then, he walked up the access ramp and looked to the small control panel to his left. Reaching over, he pressed the switch. Over the loud hiss of the ramp moving up into the ship, he heard Shadow say, “Good luck, Akan-jai. Stay safe.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 123: New Ship, Old Name*

If Shadow had taken the time to think about Hansen’s reaction to Akan ‘borrowing’ her ship, she wouldn’t have let him go. Either that or insisted to go with him and never return. To say that she was angry was like telling someone who had no concept of anything larger than a single room hut that a Star Destroyer was big. It was a gross understatement that would get one into serious trouble in any kind of important situation. Though Shadow wasn’t an expert on sarcasm or even humour, but every once in a while something would come to mind. For some reason, each of those times happened to be bad times to say such comments. Like right now, with Hansen screaming about losing her ship...it would likely not be a good idea to point out that Hansen had ‘borrowed’ it in much the same way, and at least Akan was planning to come back. No, not planning. He was coming back. 

Mentally, Shadow stopped herself. The mental voice that had ‘said’ those words was the kind that people used to convince themselves of something they didn’t believe. Most people wouldn’t recognize that in such a matter of fact manner, but then again, Shadow barely understood emotions beyond the intellectual view that she could parse down those odd ones as what they really were. But not why. That annoyed her. This was likely a bad thing. Considering that Hansen was already starting to annoy her, still yelling on about pointless things. Hansen’s voice was starting to go hoarse, and Shadow had to force herself to wait in silence. With the confusion of why her mind was trying to convince her that Akan was coming back combined with Hansen yelling in her ears, Shadow was very close to that edge of snapping.

Titus saw it first. In a quiet voice of the kind perfect for being noticed through Hansen’s shouting, he said, “We get the point.”

Amazingly, Hansen went quiet. So her eyes became the part of her that fumed rage instead of her voice. It worked just as well, and didn’t give anyone else headaches. Seeing she was quiet, Titus started to ask the first calm question in the last...nearly an hour now? But before he’d managed to get the words out, Jen said exactly the same thing he’d tried to...in better words and a calmer tone.

“Shadow, where did he go?”

After Shadow’s much more sensitive ears adjusted to the lack of shouting, she went over the words that Jen had spoken them. Before saying anything, though, she remembered Jen’s penchant for feeling out people with the Force. Lying wasn’t going to do any good here. Looking past the fuming Hansen and over to the Voorts, she said, “Coruscant,” then, before they could ask the next obvious question, Shadow quickly added, “No, he’s not doing my search for me. He had...things that needed to be dealt with.”

There was a short silence in which Shadow got a surprise. Apparently, the three humans actually accepted that explanation. There was no feeling in the air of prying questions, distrust, or anything like that. Having prepared herself to explain more that wasn’t her’s to explain, Shadow was taken aback when Hansen grumbled, “He’d better bring the ship back in one piece.”

“And be smart enough not to ignore that bounty on our heads,” Titus said under his breath.

Another silence. They’d all followed those bounties, but Titus hadn’t mentioned the recent increase in the amounts. He didn’t plan on saying anything about it, either. It would just worry Jen more. Probably get the idea of going off and ringing him back into her head. Akan was a good kid, but she really needed to stop treating her like a reckless younger brother. The kid had made his choice to do this and they’d all have to just trust it. Trust that he didn’t get himself killed or tip the New Republic off to where they were. Thankfully, before any joking question about the price of the bounties came up, Shadow suggested that Jen get back to training.

Titus watched the two walk off into the forest. No matter how much he wanted to go and watch how Jen was doing, it would only distract her. Maybe he’d have to talk to Shadow about speeding things up for Jen...no, don’t think about that right now. He looked to Hansen(who still looked annoyed) and patted her on the shoulder, “Come on, lets get a drink. You look like you could use a few.”

“Have your ship stolen and tell me you look better than I do,” Hansen grumbled, but fell into step next to him as they walked back to the aforementioned ship.

At that, he laughed, “Not if I wear my uniform. Remember what the squad used to say?”

“That old suck up comment about every one of your kills making a comment on how perfect that uniform looks on you as their last words?” Hansen raised an eyebrow, a grin tugging at the edge of her face with those words.

Again, Titus laughed and nodded, “They were right, of course.”

“Oh, they were,” she grinned with an almost dangerous hint in her eyes, “But then again, we always made sure to keep quiet about how you looked when I drank you under the table.”

Memory returned to Titus, and his laugh faded into a politely embarrassed expression, “That was only one time.”

That grin was still on Hansen’s face as they walked up the ramp into the Alderaan II, and over her shoulder she said to him, “Only one that you remember.”

* * * *​
If there was one thing that Akan could say about the Starjumper, other than the cliched name, was that the ship was fast. There was no way that the hyperdrive on it was legal. Hansen couldn’t have been lying when she’d said it had been a Hutt’s ship. But then again, even the Hutts would be pressed to acquire enough credits for a hyperdrive like this one. Even though Akan wasn’t much of a gearhead, he’d found his way back to the engine room to have a look at the thing. It wasn’t hard for even his untrained eye to tell that there were tons of modifications to the thing. But how could their not be?! The ship was making a normally two to three day hyperspace jump in ten hours.

And now that ten hours was up. Akan checked a few of the gauges in the cockpit, glad that Corellian Engineering had kept a similar cockpit design through pretty much all of their models. Made things faster and easier. The chrono on the console off to his left reached zero. Akan’s hand was over to the three hyperdrive switched in the center console between the two pilot chairs and pushed them forward right on cue. The sound of the hyperdrive powering down echoed through the hull, accompanied by the rapid deceleration that Akan had always assumed he should feel. But instead, there was only that sound, a soft leaning forward, and the blue tunnel of hyperspace reverting into the real universe again. No one ever found hyperspace amazing anymore, even though it truly was...yet Akan felt it again now, but had a feeling that it was mostly because of the awe of the trip’s speed.

But this was Coruscant. This was the hub of the galaxy. No matter who was in control, the control was here. Everything was here. This was the place to be. That meant that one had to pay attention in their approach pattern. No matter how good safety systems were, how skilled pilots were, or how perfect sensor systems were, collisions happened in this place. So Akan made sure to pay attention to the space around him, bringing the ship onto a course in the only habitable planet in the system. Coruscant was easy to spot even from the distance one had to leave hyperspace from to avoid all the gravity wells from the planets and the star. It seemed like no matter how far away anyone got, Coruscant was still that metal ball in space, orbited by a thousand tiny dots of ships and stations and debris.

The YT-2400 hadn’t even reached the outermost Golan Defense Platforms around the planet when the comm started beeping. Now was the tough part. Just to make sure, he reached up and ran a hand through his hair. Encountering no ears in the way, Akan confirmed he was in fact, still in his human body. The voice would be different enough from whatever records they had of him as Akan.

When he reached over and hit the comm switch, a sharp, yet bored female voice immediately said, “This is Coruscant Docking Authority, identify yourself.”

Short. Simple. To the point...and with that perfect edge that said to anyone ‘We will shoot you down’. Obviously, Coruscant was still a tough planet to hold even with the Empire currently being more powerful in the Outer Rim worlds. Akan also knew that hesitation probably could be too suspicious, and made sure to respond quickly, “This is Captain Raan Maxwell, New Republic SpecForce. My operating number is 420571.”

There was a pause. In the pause, Akan heard a soft click. Changing frequencies. Alright, so far, so good. Step one was passed, but this next one was going to be tougher. It relied on the almost impossible hope that the New Republic had kept him in their files as ‘Active on Duty’ for the last three years. For a SpecForce member as he had been, it wasn’t completely improbably to lose contact for so long. But then again, times could have changed much more than he knew. Two more clicks across the comm channel suggested that at least a few people had no idea what to do about it. Again, that was good.

And then a voice returned. This time, it was gruff, grizzled, and male. He didn’t sound all that happy either, “Where the hell have you been, Captain?!”

Again, without missing a beat and doing his best to sound ‘military’, as Mare had always put it, Akan said, “Things got complicated.”

“Damn right, they got complicated,” the voice growled back, “Three years is a record for complicated situations.”

“That means I’ve got clearance to land?” asked Akan, doing his absolute best not to sound hopeful and to keep that military voice up. It’d been years since he’d used it, so he couldn’t help but worry it might sound a little off.

“If you can explain to me why you’re in possession of a ship stolen from Nal Hutta.”

That was an odd statement. So, Akan asked the only question he could think of, “Since when was procuring an escape something unexpected?”

“It isn’t,” commented the voice, almost off hand, “But then again, it is unexpected for one of our top men to disappear for three years and the reappear aboard a ship that’s the private property of one of the more influential Hutts.”

Ah. Akan was going to have to ask Hansen how she got this...from Nal Hutta, the actual Hutt homeworld that outsiders simply didn’t go to. That was equally because of the Hutts forbidding it and the fact that the place smelled worse than all the trash on Coruscant. There wasn’t much time to think, though. Akan’s mind was now forced to dig through those old buried memories, quickly and thoroughly enough to remember what his last mission had been. Somehow ignoring the emotions and pain that went with all of it, Akan found the right thing and made up the best story he could as he spoke, “Granin got off Balmorra after I found him. Tracked him all across the galaxy before catching his slip up on Nal Hutta during a meeting with the Hutts.”

Short, but hopefully effective enough. The less details the more likely it was to be true. Of course, it all relied on two very important facts. One, that the Imperial Moff Granin was dead. Two, that SpecForce hadn’t sent another mission to kill the genocide-loving man. In the silence that followed, Akan knew that whoever was on the other end of that comm was checking the data. He watched Coruscant grow closer. Traffic around the planet was more and more congested and Akan couldn’t help but wonder if he’d be in the planet’s atmosphere by the time this was over with. All around, transports flew all directions. He could even see a couple Skyhooks, tethered to the planet below by impossibly long turbolift tubes and resting in orbit. Couldn’t usually see those at this distance...then Akan realized that he wasn’t out as far as he thought he was. In fact, he’d gotten lost in his thoughts waiting for a reply and didn’t even notice that Coruscant was filling the viewport.

By the time he did realize this, the gruff voice was back, sounding as annoyed as ever, “The coordinates for the landing platform are being transmitted to you now, Captain. Once you set down, report to the SpecForce headquarters immediately,” a pause, then, “And since we’ve relocated, I suggest allowing the security team at the platform escort you without giving them any trouble.”

No, this was bad. Maybe making up an identity would have been a better idea. Too late. The comm was going to cut off soon...only one chance. He wasn’t good at this aspect of the Force, but there wasn’t any choice left. Allowing it to flow through his voice and knowing that there was the slight chance it might not work at all, Akan said in a very calm voice, “You won’t need the team. I know where to go. You can trust me.”

The voice returned over the comm in slow, monotonous tones, “You’re right...I don’t need to send the team. You know where to go...I trust you.”

And then it cut off. As Akan brought the Starjumper down through the planet’s atmosphere and towards the coordinates he’d been given, he allowed a sigh of relief. He leaned back in the pilot’s chair to reach up and flip a couple of the sensors switches, shutting the long and mid range systems off in preparing for setting down. He was going to need to get away from the platform as soon as possible after landing. The more that could be done before then, the faster he could be gone, and the less likely that there would be a security team arriving ‘just in case’. This didn’t solve the new problem, though. There was no way he’d be able to get off the planet in this ship. Once things were figured out, it was going to be impounded and he’d be hunted down. That meant finding another ship...no. Worry about that when its time. Right now, just get on the ground and then get away to do what needs to be done. This was complicated enough already, and somehow, Akan knew it wasn’t going to get any better.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 124: Old Bets, New Hunters, and Strange Partners*

Apparently, the voice on the other end of the comm channel had been truthful. There was no security team to meet Akan once he set down on the landing platform. He had half expected to encounter twice the normal number security personnel, all with blaster rifles aimed right at the access ramp and firing off shots all around him just to show they meant business. Sure, Akan trusted in the Force and even in his use of it, but what he’d pulled was really pushing it. As he stepped down the ramp and then followed the single short pathway to the small, stark white building at the end, Akan couldn’t help feeling an odd sense of deja vu. Halfway down the walkway, he found himself looking up to the sky. A soft blue. Odd for such a polluted and industrial world. But that wasn’t what he was looking for.

Akan stopped himself. What was he looking for? Everything was normal. Ships and airspeeders littered the sky above, the distant star was shining softly, and even a few of the other buildings still rose up out of view. Coruscant. A normal view. Why did he expect it not to be? Shaking his head, Akan looked back forward and picked up a little speed this time. The longer he took to get lost in the city’s crowds, the more likely it was that a security force would appear, angry and probably confused. Reaching the large, white door, Akan was surprised that he nearly walked into it. The thing had a sensor like most every door did, but it didn’t open until he was so close that it worried him. Odd. Or was he shorter than he last remember? Why did that even matter?!

Getting control of his thoughts again, and at the same time trying to ignore the part of him wondering what was wrong, Akan stepped into the small room, heading straight for a young looking human woman behind the usual reception desk. He’d often wondered what these docking officers did when no one was there for them to question. He never saw any kind of viewscreen or anything that could provide them with entertainment. Maybe they just really were as boring as they came off as being. Boring people would tend towards boring jobs. Or, that was what they always joked about in the mess back on the Intrepid a lifetime ago. No, it wasn’t a lifetime ago anymore. Especially when talking with this docking officer who was just opening her mouth to ask the usual question.

“Can I see your papers, please?” she asked. Ha! It was that same voice. He’d sworn it years ago, in that mess on the Mon Calamari cruiser. Even put down money on it. Mare had bet against him on simple principle. Annoyingly enough, it seemed like the next few missions they’d been sent on were very much devoid of any docking officers. And the ones on the Intrepid didn’t count since half of them were in on the bets, too. 

Akan’s mind caught up with the events and he realized he was getting a little too lost in memory. This wasn’t the time for them. So, trying to sound at least a little different than his normal voice, he said calmly, “You already saw them.”

The woman paused a moment, staring blankly at him. That blank look had been part of the bet, too. And then her face got a little confused, the voice changing from the usual flat, boring tones to a more ‘normal’ one, “I’m sorry, sir...I...um...what was you name again?”

Whew. Sure, that would have lost him the bet because it was normal, but at least she’d bought it. He’d have to actually thank Shadow for forcing a little more training on him in the less direct uses of the Force. Smiling politely, he nodded and said, “Captain Raan Maxwell.”

“Oh, of course!” she smiled(another thing that would have cost him twice the credits he’d put down in that pot), and motioned towards the right where the exit to the ‘real world’ was, “General Taran sent word for you to see him immediately. He said you know the way.”

“Yes, thank you,” Akan nodded and started to leave. Then he stopped. Something was still wrong. He had to check. If he didn’t, he’d never let himself live it down. Biting his lip a moment, Akan turned back around and said in a more friendly manner, “Excuse me, ah...ah...miss...miss...um...”

“Janna. Eleth Janna,” she finished without missing a beat. Akan nearly failed in his fight not to grin. The oldest trick in the book, and it had worked. Even on this docking officer. But now came the trouble of him having to make up a reason for mentioning anything else.

After quick thinking, Akan asked, “Do you happen to know where I can find a good place to eat somewhere near?”

Alright, so it was another old trick, but at least he wasn’t trying to use it as some cheap pick up line. Who in their right mind would ever use one of those on a docking officer, anyway?! But he’d at least confirmed that these people do, in fact, have names. That was actually one of the bigger questions among them all, and the one that all the guys in the ship’s hangar would laugh quietly to themselves about. It had made all the pilots feel like there was some kind of conspiracy or something among them. Of course, Akan wasn’t sure if he’d just confirmed or denied that with this new information.

He realized that she’d said something and he’d thought through it. Akan managed a polite nod and a short ‘thankyou’ before following the short corridor around the corner and off into the city. Time to focus and not toy with docking officers anymore. Putting those other thoughts out of his mind, especially the ones that brought that horrible pain every time he thought of the old squadron, Akan stepped out into the world and readied himself for a search for...for what? They the hell was he on this planet, anyway? A pull. A pull for what, though? You don’t just run off to the hub of the galaxy where both of your identities are likely to be hunted down and when you should be back making sure someone’s training didn’t go wrong on a whim.

It only took four steps out the door before Akan stopped. The literal reason he stopped was the small railing that was directly in front of him. The pathway went left, leaving him at a stopping point to look over the city below. And then he knew why he was here. Looking out, he saw the expansive Imperial Plaza. It was littered with thousands of people to the point where it looked like one huge mass of little things. Directly across from where he stood, was the Imperial Palace, lights even shining in the daylight. His eyes traveled right...and then up. They locked on a single building. It towered over the two next to it, and had a small platform connected to it. The latest dream suddenly shot right back into his mind. He had stood right here. Looked right there...and needed to go there. The why still didn’t make sense, but he also felt that need now. The need to know...more than just the new whys, but the need to know the old whys. The one’s he’d run from for far too long.

Shadow had told him he was going to have to confront his demons one day...he’d not thought it was going to be so literal. Tearing his eyes away from the view, Akan turned and headed down the walkway. Time to blend in with the crowd and disappear the old fashioned way. The way he still couldn’t get Shadow to understand with her ‘just morph, its easier’ attitude. But then again, when you’re a walking feline you tend to attract more attention than other races in this portion of the galaxy. It would probably take a while to reach that building. No matter how close it seemed to be from view, the streets and levels and people and everything of Coruscant just made walking from place to place near impossible. Yet, it was a good way to hide. So Akan decided taking his time was worth it, and started on that long maze to a building he only had a ‘feeling’ about. It was a normal day...and that was probably what worried him the most.

* * * *​
A figure sniffed the air carefully. The heavy robe and hood were causing trouble with the sense of smell, yet not so much as the crowds. All of these people distorted the smells and it was near impossible to pinpoint just one. But no...there it was. Distinct and new. It was strong. Easy to follow. This one obviously wasn’t too intelligent. It had been assumed that the Enai’la would have been much more cautious. Under the hood, the figure grinned, sharp and toothy, but hidden from the view of all the humans around. So easy...maybe too easy. Maybe a test.

The grin under the hood grew a little, becoming more dangerous. A test within a test, then? Such an interesting thing this was becoming. Faban had been right. It would be easy to find the prey here on this world. The most populated planet out here. Starting to carefully walk through the heavy crowds, following the strong scent, the figure couldn’t help but be very glad for wearing the heavy clothes. To walk on metal like this...to have it all around. This truly was a test of more than just skills in tracking. No matter what it was, the figure would be finished soon, and would return to Faban with exactly what was wanted. And then this task would be completed. Much honor would be gained by exposing the truth about the Enai and the Enai’la. 

* * * *​
Sitting alone in that huge chamber at the top of his tower, Ket Halpak watched a figure approaching. Nine looked annoyed. The way her tail flicked violently back and forth as she walked gave that away. He couldn’t help but wonder why. No matter. She was going to tell him, even if he hadn’t wanted to know. So much like Marix, she was...

“Something is wrong?” he asked in a playful tone, leaning back in the chair and letting it bounce back. The wheels had gotten boring, so he’d found other ways to entertain himself. Currently, trying not to fall over had done quite well at that.

Nine didn’t say anything until she reached the single desk and stopped. She took a moment to just glare at him. Sadly, like Marix, Nine never really understood his fascination with ‘fun’. Marix had almost figured it out...but then...then...Ket ignored it and just looked to Nine. Her hard features and generally angry manner were the same as usual as she said sharply, “It is gone.”

“Oooh,” Ket smiled and leaned back in the chair again, “That was what we wanted, though. Why do you sound so...” he grinned, “...annoyed? Did you actually like the little brat?”

That got a dangerous glare and an almost growl from the two meter tall murderess. Calmly, coldly, and slowly, Nine spoke, “I nearly killed the brat,” she then motioned to a long, yet small, series of claw marks across her arms and the right side of her face.

Ket couldn’t help but laugh, leaning back just a little more and clapping his hands, “Perfect! He’ll do just fine! Hopefully he’ll find himself a ship and find our little friend! It will be such a wonderful family reunion!”

Nine just stood there glaring at him. And then, almost on cue, Ket leaned back too far. The chair toppled backwards, and the loud crash of him hitting the floor echoed through the empty chamber at least five times. And then there was another sound. A sound very foreign to Ket’s ears. Once he’d pulled the chair back up and sat down again, he saw the source. Nine was...laughing. Actually laughing! Sure, it was at him, but still! Obviously, these clones became something of their own. The real Marix would have probably stabbed him in that opening. He managed a growl and a sharp glare.

That only made Nine laugh more, and she slowly slipped around the desk. After a moment, she had a seat in his lap and looked down at him with the old predatory Marix expression. Her voice returned to ‘normal’, and she said, “This had better work, Halpak.”

“Oh, it will,” he said, idly wrapping his arms around her waist, “And you’ll get as much out of it as I will.”

So close to real, yet so different this clone was. Ket grinned. This is what the real Marix should have been. Would have been. If not for her damned idealistic streak that had come out of no where, everything would have been perfect. This clone was only so good. Every time he got close to her, he couldn’t help but wish for the real thing. But that didn’t matter anymore. The real Marix would never have cooperated this far. And she’d never betray the Empire. She had proven that when she’d taken his tail from him. Her family would pay for that. All of those damned close minded Alraxians would pay. And he would profit, as would Nine. So perfect. And really...if he just closed his eyes, Ket could easily convince himself that this Nine was really Marix...it wouldn’t be the first, and definitely not the last...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 125: Red Blood*

After a long hour of weaving in and out of crowds and tiny streets between buildings, Akan found the right one. It took nearly another hour to actually find a level with an entrance, and Akan couldn’t help remembering one of the only lighthearted discussions after they’d taken Coruscant. He and Rulae, the only other pilot in the squadron to survive, had been trying to find their way to a meeting in one of the nondescript buildings among the chaos of the planet. Even the assault on the planet hadn’t slowed down the citizens. One regime to another didn’t seem to be anything new to them. Akan and Rulae had been two hours late to the meeting because of getting so lost. They had even taken two aircabs with no success. This wasn’t just a place the two of them decided they wouldn’t want to live, but it sure as hell wasn’t any kind of place to visit either. Even the natives(if anyone was native to this planet anymore, at least) didn’t know where they were going. Why the New Republic hadn’t just left the Empire to get lost on their own planet, neither of the two pilots knew. It would have been easier...and less friends would have died...

But that was years ago. Obviously, not too much had changed on the planet itself. Seemed to be the way of things in the galactic Core. Akan found a spot that wasn’t bustling with people, next to a large column that, about twenty meters up, had some kind of statue on it that he couldn’t see. Leaning against it, he looked over to the building’s entrance. There was no evidence of what kind of building this was now. Sure, three years ago it had been and Imperial defense command center for this sector of the planet, but that could easily have changed. It could even be empty. No, that was wishful thinking. It would be full. Just like everything on this damned planet. So just barge right in and find out the hard way? That was starting to look like the only option...

There was an odd feeling all of a sudden. Akan raised an eyebrow and had a look around him. Why he looked, he didn’t know. The feeling wasn’t really from around him. Naturally, he checked his link with Shadow. Distant though they were, it was still as strong as ever. But no...she was...not really ignoring him, but dealing with other things. Good. Her focus was staying on Jen’s training. He suddenly wished he was there making sure things were alright. This was a mistake to come here and leave an opening for things to go wrong. Some part of Akan managed to get a hold of his brain and shut those thoughts off. But that wasn’t where the feeling was from...

Again, he had a look around. Nothing. Well, more like everything with nothing important in it. People went back and forth, talked, somehow managed to stand still in the center of the mass of people, and just doing whatever they were doing. Nothing to account for that odd...something. Maybe it was just that building. He looked up again. Looked up so far that his neck cracked and cringed slightly at the noise. No use waiting around like this. With a deep breath and stealing himself to the current course of action, Akan made his way to the entrance. When he got close enough, the main door, which reflected his image and made it look like he was about to walk into himself, slid open to reveal a large, yet boring, lobby. Akan stepped in to find six turbolift shafts, three on his left, three on the right. There were a couple of desks and tables off to the sides an opposite end of the lobby, but no sign of people.

Six turbolifts. So...which one? Akan walked to the center of the room and looked to his right. Then, to his left. He sighed and closed his eyes. There were two ways to do this, and each required a very large amount of faith. Either he had faith in his ability to guess, and just randomly picked on, or he put his faith in the Force and let it pick. Both ways was arguably putting faith in his own lack of wanting to go up and down six times until he found the right one. When that thought came to mind, he decided to let the Force guide him. Without thinking, and just allowing himself to be moved to the ‘right’ place, Akan found himself walking to the center left turbolift. Out of an odd feeling, Akan buttoned up his old military jacket. Sure it didn’t have anything but ‘Captain Maxwell’ on it now, no real rank insignia, department marker, or even anything to really prove it wasn’t just a little joke. But something told him it was a good idea to look like he was part of the military again.

Before he reached the turbolift, it slid open. He nearly panicked and ran off as quickly as he could when he saw three New Republic security agents step out. They eyed him, but seemed to notice the uniform(without really noticing it at the same time), and just walked past. In a staggered and still somewhat nervous way, Akan stepped into the now empty turbolift. He had the sanity to wait until the door slid closed to let out a sigh of relief and slump back against the wall. That had been a little too close. Trusting the Force was most definitely a better idea than trusting his random guessing. Otherwise, he might not have buttoned up the jacket...then they just might have stopped him to comment on him looking all unkempt. 

Then...then...well, then he would have been running. Opening his eyes again once the relief had passed finally, he looked to the panel on the side of the tube. It listed a map of the building. Thinking on it, he then reached over and hit the small button to take him to the very top of the tower. No use in waiting around. It would be best to just get this over with and get right up there.

Looking at how many levels this place had, even at the speed this turbolift went, it would probably take a couple minutes to reach. Akan could feel his heart racing. So here he went. Confronting demons of old. He couldn’t help but wonder if demons got stronger when they were buried for so long. What was he going to find up here? Why was he really here? Part of him felt like it was more than just facing his past. Facing his fears. It couldn’t be just that...that was too simple. Too...no, it was perfect. Exactly the kind of thing any student of the Force, Jedi or not, would eventually have to do. Akan knew that he was no Jedi. Not anymore at least. Probably never was. It had been a nice thing to pretend for a while, but that was childish. This was really about confronting what he feared the most. His past. It was about growing up and accepting that one couldn’t change the past. But that was all only intellectual thought. Even Akan knew that when he got to the top, no matter what it was that he found up there, all intellectual thought and idea was going right out into hyperspace without him. 

Things in Akan’s life always seemed to happen on cue. It was never something he’d wondered about, and in fact something he just thought of as normal. If anyone else had mentioned that things like that only occur in old holodramas, he would have given them the same confused look that Shadow always used when someone made a sarcastic comment. Complete lack of understanding. Therefore, it wasn’t any surprise to him that the second his thoughts had ended, the turbolift door slid open. It also wasn’t a surprise when he saw a familiar place.

He stepped out of the corridor and looked both left and right. One long corridor. Now he knew exactly where he was. Down the right would be the old control center. He and Mare had planted six charges in there to disrupt the orbiting Golan platforms’ targeting systems. There would also be another corridor branching off to reach where the old turbolaser batteries had been. The five they’d taken out. The sixth....the one...the one that had shot down Mare was back towards the left. Towards the landing platform and the small guard room. Doing his best to ignore the mix of pain and nostalgia, Akan allowed his feet to lead him. They went left. In fact, his eyes didn’t even look back to the right. Back there he’d succeeded. No, they had succeeded. It was this way that he had failed.

Following the grey, boring corridor, he remembered where the blaster scorches had been on the walls. He remembered where his shots had missed and struck...where her’s had gone...where the stormtroopers and the other Imperials had fired. And then, before reaching the turn that would take him farther down to the platform and guard room, he saw it. Just to the left, branching off back at an odd angle, was the corridor that led to the turbolaser battery they had missed. He had missed. This place would be new to him....and it was where his feet were taking him. Turning, pivoting around that corner on one foot and following it to the end. To the open. A small, narrow pathway without railings jutted out from where the actual corridor ended. The pathway was open to the air, providing anyone that wasn’t accustomed to such heights with sudden and likely fatal feeling of vertigo. Four meters out, was the large, metallic grey box of a turbolaser battery. The access door for the gunners was just at the end of the pathway. It was still there. Still there...after all these years, it was still there.

Akan stood at the edge of interior and exterior, staring at the turbolaser battery with a horrid sense of reality. Part of him had expected it to be gone. Hoped. Needed it to be. But it was still there. As strong as ever...his first real failure in life that had cost the life of another was still in one piece. Shock faded, giving way to something else. Something more dangerous. Slowly, Akan undid the buttons on his jacket and reached inside one sleeve to retrieve his lightsaber. Looking at the hilt of the weapon, he remembered how this had helped them to plow the way in. The sheer intimidation that this weapon provided had been enough to get them moving forward and open the Imperials up for some easy shots. But he had missed four Imperials. This weapon had missed four. Shadow had mentioned once that an Alraxian should never draw a weapon without taking blood. This weapon had been drawn years ago. But somehow, it had taken no blood.

Gripping the weapon tightly in his right hand, Akan walked forward again. Three short steps took him from the interior corridor to right in front of the entrance to the large weapon. He wasn’t even phased by the bottomless oblivion on both sides of him. His free hand found the switch to open the hatch. There was no access code. The Imperials, arrogant bastards that they were, never worried about that. No surprise that the new owners were getting the same way. Very slowly, and almost resisting the urge to do it, Akan pressed the switch. When it opened, slowly and with a fairly loud scratching noise of an old door, three faces turned in surprise.

Though he didn’t truly see the faces at the time, Akan would remember them in horrifying detail later on. One of them had opened their mouths to say something, likely a ‘who are you?!’ type of comment. But it was cut off very quickly, by two distinct and equally dangerous sounding noises. The first, was Akan’s voice, growling in tones that most human’s couldn’t reach without actually hurting themselves. Akan would realize later that his throat hurt, “Traitorous Sithspawn!!”

The second sound the three gunnery officers heard was not Akan’s footstep that brought him that much closer to them all. The second sound, somehow more terrifying that the first, was a snap-hiss of which none of them had heard before except from Holonet reports on the Skywalkers or the old Jedi. Two of them had a chance to manage a cry of terror. The first, closest to the blade of the lightsaber, had his head cleaved into two at nose level before his eyes had even managed to widen. The sweep of the blade ended a half second later, and three mutilated bodies slumped down over the destroyed consoles and systems all around them. Breathing heavily, with the only sound an odd mix of the lightsaber’s hum and the sparking and crackling of the consoles within the turbolaser, Akan stared ahead without blinking.

Mind caught up with action, and he nearly stepped off into the oblivion. Hands...arms...everything shaking, he stumbled back to the safety of the corridor and fell to the ground on his backside. The lightsaber remained loosely held in his left hand, cutting gently at the surface of the corridor where he now sat. Staring forward. So much blood. Lightsabers never did that...they always created clean wounds. But that turbolaser gunnery station was red now. Somehow, his eyes managed to tear away from the carnage a few meters away to look down at his shirt and trousers. Blood. A splattering of it all across that old, already dirty shirt. His trousers had it, too. And his hands. And...and there was a short path of it from his boots. How was there blood? Why the hell was that his problem?! Of course there was going to be blood! He sliced the man’s head into two pieces! And the others...what had he just done?!

“Hands in the air!” echoed a shaky, young sounding voice from behind him. Very slowly, a look of shock still on his face, Akan turned to look over his shoulder. He saw a young man...boy fit better. The boy wore a New Republic security uniform, and Akan couldn’t help but be amazed at the resemblance to an old holo he always kept...sure, the hair was a bit cleaner, but he looked so much like a young Raan Maxwell. How far had Akan gone from that kid? Was he really so different now? Raan wouldn’t have murdered those three men like that...but...but how had he gone so far?! What had happened in those three years to turn him into this? What had he allowed himself to do? Was there more than this that he saw?! Maybe Jen wasn’t the problem...maybe he was...maybe...

“I said hands in the a—“ the last word was suddenly cut off in a loud gagging noise. Akan’s eyes hadn’t been focused enough to actually see what had happened until the loud thud of the body hit the ground. Standing over the body was a tall, heavy robed figure. Blood dripped from a clawed, left hand, and Akan’s mind put together what had happened even from the unfocused images. His mind or the Force? Or both? Either way, in a flash that took no amount of time he saw the young kid standing there, blaster aimed right at Akan. Then, in a lightning fast movement Akan had only seen from one other person, the heavy robed figure dashed up behind the kid, slid a clawed hand up through the back of his neck to the point where Akan could see them exit in the front, just under the kid’s chin, and then pulled out. That’s when Akan’s mind reverted to the moment, with the kid falling to the ground and the figure just standing there watching him for a long moment.

Akan would have opened his mouth to say something if he hadn’t felt just slightly grateful. That, of course, made him feel even worse. Of course this figure wasn’t here to help him. The only person he’d seen move like that was Shadow, and this wasn’t her. She wasn’t here. It couldn’t be her. She wouldn’t kill like that, anyway...leaving such a mess...such a...his eyes tried to tear back to the scene within the turbolaser battery that he had caused. His eyes didn’t make it, though, as the figure spoke up.

The voice was soft, cool, and impossibly dangerous. It was the voice of a casual killer. The voice that Akan worried his was going to sound like if he responded. The voice was also sexless, which was an odd note that didn’t escape him despite everything else, “Where is the Enai?”

Something else about that voice. It sounded like it wasn’t accustomed to speaking Basic. In fact, the Basic was stilted and forced out. This time, Akan managed to open his mouth. No words came out, though. Enai?! What did that mean? The word sounded familiar in the way that he knew he should know it somehow in an oddly distant way...but didn’t at the same time. It didn’t make sense to him, and neither did his rationale of trying to figure it out. Nothing made sense anymore. But the figure seemed to catch on to his lack of ability to find words. It flicked the bloodied hand slightly, sending a splattering of the red liquid off against the wall and the ground. A moment later, the heavy robe was shrugged off and Akan nearly choked from surprise.

Taking a few steps over to him was a near two meter tall lithe Alraxian. The creature wore a tight morphsuit, with no weapon anywhere. Two deep, piercing silver eyes beared down on Akan, drawing his vision from the strangely soothing tabby-like markings in the hair and tail. The Alraxian’s skin was darker than his and Shadow’s. Stopping a few meters away from Akan, the Alraxian just glared down and said in the same type of voice, “You coat yourself in that disgusting substance. It will not hide your scent...neither will that weak form,” there was a slight pause before the figure took another step and said, “I will not kill you like that. I will not kill a coward.”

Akan never asked himself why he morphed back to his Alraxian body then. It was almost like a strong compulsion had forced him to...yet he knew deep down it was his own will that had done it. His own choice. Ignoring the pain of his tail being both sat on and confined with trousers not designed for such things, Akan looked up into the other Alraxian’s eyes. Silver eyes locked with ice blue eyes. Later, when Akan ran this situation through his mind again, he would realize that there was a slight twitch from the other’s tail. And then, without anything but an almost invisible nod to him, the Alraxian sprang into action, diving forward with claws extended, faster than Akan had ever seen.

Akan was not in a good position. Looking over his left shoulder, sitting back in a near sprawled out position, and exhausted with shock. Yet somehow, his body moved in the short half second it had before claws dug into the back of his skull. But Akan still had one thing, and if not for a sudden focus on that soft hum to his left, slowly realizing that there was a metal cylinder in that hand, even moving would have ended both his and Shadow’s life. He didn’t move to his feet. Instead, pulling up with the lightsaber and spinning to face his attacker. The Alraxian was surprised by the sudden, bright flash of blue-green movement. Both of the extended arms, from the elbows up, were hacked off in one sweep. A second later, the blade was out of the way enough and the Alraxian’s body crashed into Akan’s face first. Forced onto his back, he didn’t see as much as feel that the attacker was already remorphing his hands and striking with the unfinished body parts. No doubt they’d be finished and sharp when they hit.

So Akan’s body reacted again. First his knees shot up, slamming into the Alraxian’s gut but not knocking the wind out of him at all. But Akan rolled back just enough to kick his entire legs up, glad for the extra strength this body had. It sent the Alraxian up and over him, rolling off and over the edge of the open corridor and out of sight. Akan’s momentum brought him back up like a pendulum, then to his feet. The lightsaber was still in his off hand as he looked back to the opening. His eyes shot past the blood covered turbolaser and saw no sign of the other Alraxian. Without another thought, Akan ran. He ran down the corridor, around the dead kid that was another casualty brought on by Akan, and out the main corridor towards the platform. Why that way?! There was a guard room(which was obviously occupied), and a dead end! Yet his feet took him there anyway. Rounding a corner, the lightsaber was switched back into his right hand. That was the same time that he saw the open air platform from so many years ago. For the second time, he nearly stumbled to the ground from shock.

This time, because of the familiarity of the scene. On that platform was an X-Wing. It wasn’t just like his...but so close that the image hit him just as hard as that Alraxian’s skull had. A moment later, three young looking security officers exited the guard room next to the exit of the corridor and the opening to the platform. The looked at each other. They looked to Akan. They saw the blood all over him. They saw the lightsaber. They saw his shock. And then, at the same time, they all drew their blasters and started to pull the triggers. Before they could, Akan reached out with both the Force and his free left hand. An invisible hand latched onto the blasters and he physically yanked his own hand back. At the same time, the three blasters were yanked out of the security officers’ hands, forcing Akan to duck not to be hit by the projectiles flying his direction. The three men didn’t have a chance to look surprised.

Right behind them, Akan watched a small, yet oddly coloured, bird drop from the sky. As it dropped, the body changed and he saw that same Alraxian. Why he’d thought it would be so easy to kill was a mystery now. Of course it wouldn’t be easy. Still in the air, the Alraxian’s left foot shot out and kicked one of the guards hard across the neck. There was a snap from his neck, and a sudden blank look appeared on his face before the body dropped. Just as the Alraxian’s feet hit the ground, a free, clawed hand slashed out at the second officer’s face. Four long, deep claw marks marred his face, blinding him and taking the ear in the same strike. He managed a scream, but even that was cut off when Akan saw a familiar yet horrifying attack. The second clawed hand shot up through the man’s neck, one end to the other, going all the way through and making a good mess of it while silencing the newly created corpse. The last security officer had a chance to strike, and even took it. However, his punch was caught without even a look from the Alraxian. The fist was crushed with a gruesome cracking noise, and then the Alraxian yanked the man’s arm around in a long, circular motion that took the arm completely out of its socket and off of the body. A scream of pain and horror from the man was ended when his neck was stabbed.

And then, the two Alraxians stood opposite each other. Eyes locking again. For the first time, Akan really understood how much stronger Alraxians were compared to humans. But that, like many other things, was not something that came to mind at the moment. What came to mind was analyzing the situation in a way that only an overloaded mind could. Behind that Alraxian was his way off this hellish planet. But that was the problem. Behind the Alraxian. Akan was going to have to go through this monstrous warrior. This monstrous warrior?! Akan was no better. One monster against another, then. Killer to killer. They both knew it. They both felt it. And they both dove at each other at the same time.

Akan’s lightsaber strike sliced off the hand that had meant to ruin his face, spinning off to the left and leaving the attacker to spin the opposite direction. While one hand was remorphed, the other lashed out at Akan’s back. But Akan wasn’t going to turn and fight. He was going to get to that ship. It was an odd, and completely unhuman motion that got the lightsaber where it had to be again, chopping off another hand in mid spin, but Akan didn’t know it. His body was moving. Reacting. Stepping forward and at the same time, around this attacker. He defended the random and constantly dangerous strikes, each time taking a limb as payment. This didn’t phase his attacker, who would simply remorph it and be back for another attack. It was a long, series of the two of them spinning in circles around each other, with Akan’s attacker nearly finding an opening each time, and losing a limb each moment, and a bright blue-green halo like image around Akan, spinning back and forth as fast as they danced around each other that brought them to within only a couple meters of the X-Wing’s two closed wings.

It was Akan who had been backed into it. But that was only by luck, and they both knew it. The circular dance around each other was so random and had reversed direction so many times that it was impossible to predict which one of them would be trapped. And it was Akan. But he wasn’t about to die on this planet. He wasn’t about die like this. A strike towards his face was the first that didn’t result in a lost limb. Instead of lopping the hand off, Akan ducked low and swung his lightsaber back across the lower end of the wing behind him. This change in ‘pattern’ had caused a millisecond of surprise in the other Alraxian. It was enough time for Akan to pull back, rolling under the wing and grabbing the small piece of the wing that had fallen off onto the deck below. His attacked slid in with a heavy kick across the deck, and again Akan rolled out of the way. This time, bringing him up out from under the wing and a good distance back to his feet. His right hand finally stopped the spinning defensive movements of the lightsaber, and the blue-green glow just sat in front of him. In his left hand, he palmed the real weapon. Waiting. As Shadow had taught him, he turned the predator into the prey. His prey.

And his prey moved exactly how he wanted. It followed his roll, launching up to its feet and diving at him to create another series of even more vicious attacks than those that had brought them to this point. Akan swung his lightsaber in a long, vertical arc, taking off the entire arm this time. As he did so, he took a heavy, firm step into the Alraxian’s chest. Just before the other lost its balance, Akan shot upward with his left hand. A clawed hand from the attacker was also coming at him. They were face to face. Eye to eye. Both eyes widened at the same moment. Both of them took in a sudden rush of air. But the attacker shook violently before completely retracting its claws from Akan’s torso and stumbling back. The small, metal piece of the X-Wing’s wing was dug deep into the Alraxian’s stomach. There was a short amount of blue blood that seeped out of the wound before the Alraxian attempt to remorph. Everything in the face of Akan’s attacker showed realization of what had happened. Panic shot across the doomed creature’s face as a metallic sheen began to spread across its body. Spreading up and out through that wound like a horrible virus engulfing the thing. In a matter of seconds, it was over and the Alraxian was frozen in shock. Akan felt the adrenaline rush subside, and found his mind kicked right back in to take its place.

It was on instinct that he took the Alraxian’s metal body and stuffed it into the X-Wing’s cargo hold under the cockpit. That was the only action he could really pinpoint, as the rest of it was a blur. He didn’t remember climbing in and realizing the ship had two seats, one behind the other. He didn’t remember powering the ship up and taking off. He didn’t remember blasting his way through a defense platform to get to hyperspace range. Akan didn’t even remember ever deactivating his lightsaber. All he remembered were those three faces. The three innocent men in that turbolaser battery the second before he had murdered them. The second before he’d truly failed. Not only Shadow. Not even just himself. But Mare. He failed her again. And he sat in that cockpit alone in hyperspace, on his way back to Endor with a dead Alraxian in the cargo hold, knowing how much he’d messed up. Knowing that it was impossible to take it all back. Knowing that he’d not confronted demons at all...but instead found another way to run from them. A terrifying way. All of the blood was with him. On him. Its smell filled everything. And it terrified him even more, knowing that he had caused it. Even almost enjoyed it...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 126: Together Again*

Jen looked across the forests in front of her a long moment. Shadow was resting, though it was beginning to seem like the Alraxian was having trouble figuring out what to get Jen to do. It was becoming obvious to all of them, even Hansen, that Jen was moving much faster through the training exercises than had been expected. She was adept at moving objects through the Force, a task that had given her trouble not long ago at all. Shadow had even worked with her on basic combat training. It was odd at first, a blend of mental discipline with physical prowess. Apparently, Shadow was doing her best to adapt Alraxian techniques to a human learner. Maybe that was the problem. 

But the details and why didn’t really matter to Jen anymore. Having gotten so used to a strict daily routine, this sudden shift to constant relaxation was odd. Though complaining wasn’t really worth it. That provided for more time with Titus, which was never something for complaining about. The two of them had decided that, once there was enough time, they would escape for a few months on their own. Neither had any problems with Akan or Shadow, but time alone was just something they both really felt was needed. And then there was Hansen. Jen did dislike that woman. It was from a childish jealousy, but more a basic difference in point of view and personality. The woman was annoying, closed minded, and had a habit of not getting the hint when it was politely suggested she leave.

Sighing, Jen used a mix of older and newer techniques to push those thoughts away. Not right now. The last thing that was needed was getting angry with Hansen. That woman was already annoyed enough as it was and encouraging her wasn’t worth it. It would also force Titus to take sides against his friend. Jen knew without a doubt that Titus would support her, but driving a rift between him and Hansen was probably not the best idea. Everyone needed their friends. Someone they could talk to. Old friends were the best. Jen didn’t have those anymore...well, no, that wasn’t true. Smiling slightly, she thought of one. Not that old, really, but the oldest so far. Akan listened in that way where you could tell he had no idea what to do but really did want to help. It was a childlike quality that was cute in may respects, just adding to her seeing him as a younger brother. Maybe that was why she was so concerned...

Ever since leaving that horrible planet, Arranis, Akan had seemed to be avoiding her. Sure, he would stay around and have distant conversations, but he’d never look her in the eye. Always darting here and there, making sure to avoid eye contact. It was slow, but obvious to her. Whenever she asked him what was wrong, Akan would just look worried, panicked, a little terrified, and then find a way to escape. Not always in that order, either. Jen had a look up to the sky above. From where she stood in front of one of their small huts, she could only catch small glimpses of the sky. The tree cover was heavy all over. That wasn’t a bad thing, but it was getting a bit...closed in. That got a grin on her face. Couldn’t seem to pick anything positive to think about anymore.

Her ears, while not as sensitive as the Alraxians’, picked up a soft sound not far off behind her. Turning, Jen saw Shadow. The Alraxian girl looked exhausted. So maybe she hadn’t been sleeping at all. It was only another moment before Shadow saw Jen. Slowly, she walked over to the human woman. Once getting within earshot, Shadow said, “Something’s wrong.”

Short, straight, and to the point. No actual referring to what was wrong, but then again, that wasn’t necessary. Jen managed a slow nod before saying, “Its been four days, of course something’s wrong. I told you that two days ago.”

Shadow managed a nod, looking off to the forest and then back to where the two ships were. She didn’t say anything, but Jen could feel that there was a at least something going through Shadow’s usually quiet mind. Moving so that she could look Shadow straight in the eyes, Jen asked quietly, “What’s happened?”

It was odd seeing Shadow look so helpless. Having all her defenses beaten just like that was just one thing to add to the pile. Her ears flattened and her entire body slumped forward, “I don’t know. I should know...” sighing, she tapped her forehead, “He’s...there. But not. I shouldn’t have let him go. He wasn’t ready yet.”

“You said he was ready,” Jen said quietly, picking her words carefully and making sure to avoid any kind of confrontational tone.

Shadow mumbled something incoherent before saying, at a level just above a whisper, “I was wrong.”

“We all make mistakes,” responded Jen, reaching up to put a hand on the Alraxian’s shoulder.

With a short growl, Shadow batted Jen’s hand away and took a fairly large step back. Glaring, though Jen could tell it was more from panic and worry than real anger, Shadow spoke quietly, “There are different kinds of mistakes. I let him go alone to do something he couldn’t handle. If I can be wrong in such a critical choice once...then...”

Her voice trailed off, and Jen knew what the rest of that was. Then she could make other mistakes. Then, maybe those worries about Jen’s training might just be true. No. No, she didn’t believe it. In fact, only Akan seemed to be worried about it. But now Shadow was doubting herself and all the choices she’d made...yet...yet... “But he’s still alive, Shadow.”

“That may be the problem!” the Alraxian snapped, a mixed look of both anger and pain crossing her face. She made an almost whimpering sound, which was odd from a feline creature, and spoke more quietly, “He...he was there...I could feel him there...but...the last few days. Nothing. No, not nothing...just...not right.”

Though Jen had never really understood the link between Akan and Shadow, she had a feeling asking the details probably wasn’t the best thing to do right now. She managed a polite nod, and thought about asking ‘How is it not right?’ but then decided against it. From the sound of it, Shadow couldn’t even figure it out herself. Describing it to Jen would likely be even more complicated. So there wasn’t much she could really do except stand there feeling a bit useless. When she noticed that Shadow was looking to her with a look of helplessness, Jen said quietly, “I’m sorry. I wish I could do something.”

Shadow nodded slowly and her ears rose a bit more, “I...I wish I could, too.”

* * * *​
Titus didn’t like the huts. Not that they weren’t comfortable, but there was just something about being on the ship that made him feel safer. Especially in the last couple of weeks. Ever since that price increase in their bounties, he’d made sure to sit much closer to the sensor systems. Out in the huts, that was impossible. Not that he would just stay in here all the time, but even Jen had mentioned more than once that they sleep in here. He sighed and leaned back in the large chair. Alone in the ship. Hansen was off fuming again. Seemed like she wasn’t ever going to get over losing ‘her’ ship. Honestly, Titus didn’t have that much of a problem with what Akan had done, especially after having heard Shadow’s reasons for letting him go.

A test. Titus had gone through a test not so different twice before. The first time was from the Emperor. That test was one Titus still did his best to forget. It was in his past, and something couldn’t change anymore. Dwelling on it was pointless. That was what Akan needed to learn. Titus had seen Akan come very close more than once, yet every time that kid just pulled himself right back into old routines. Perhaps seeing the place where he’d lost that girl would kick start a bit of rational thinking.

He grinned. Hadn’t worked for him, years ago when Landau had convinced him to go back to where Calina had been killed. In fact, it had only made him more vehement in clinging to the past. A short laugh at his old foolish self was something he couldn’t hold back. No matter how much credit he gave Akan, that kid was still just that. A kid. Titus had been an adult and couldn’t deal with it. But it would probably be good for him. Maybe it wouldn’t kick start exactly what it was that everyone(Akan included) expected. Titus at least hoped that maybe Akan would realize how similar their situations really were. And then maybe...just maybe, that kid would listen to some reason.

Akan was a person that Titus wanted as a friend. Not just because it would ease one of the only tensions between him and Jen, but because he really did like the kid when it came down to it. It was like looking back at himself, years ago and experiencing the same things. He could help Akan. And he would...but not without being asked. With matters as sensitive as those that Akan was dealing with, it wasn’t something to push. Titus knew that well. Especially since he’d been pushed and broke Landau’s hand out of anger. Akan was just a bit more unstable than he had been.

There was a beep. Or rather, more of a mechanical screech. Either way, it got Titus sitting straight up and getting to his feet in a haphazard way. Quickly, he ran through the short corridor to the ship’s cockpit and jumped around one of the passenger seats into the pilot’s chair. As he was sitting, his right hand brushed against the sensor unit and stopped the annoying noise. He then quickly turned in the chair to look to the small sensor screen off to the left console. When his eyes fell on the screen, they widened and he nearly fell back out of the chair. Resisting the urge to run off and find Jen to warn her and get the word to the others, he stayed put and made sure this wasn’t a joke. Or a random stroke of coincidence.

According to the sensor readings, a small object had entered the planet’s orbit a few minutes earlier. It completed one full orbit before scanning the surface. This was half the reason that the alarm went off. The other half was that the ship was coming in towards them. And it was now close enough for the computer to identify what the ship probably was. That was what had Titus wanting to run off. Instead, though, he powered up the weapon’s systems and prepared to get the top turret charged up and ready. The ship was an X-Wing. Or at least, close to an X-Wing. It was just slightly larger than the normal model and was moving a little faster, too. But it was alone. And something stayed his hand from the turret controls. Seeing that he wasn’t going to shoot the thing down, Titus spun around in the chair, stumbled to his feet and ran off to find Jen.

He found her by nearly running into her. Jen and Shadow had heard the obvious sound of the X-Wing’s engines echoing not far from them, and were running to it. There were no words beyond sounds that had probably been thought of as words between them before the three tore off between trees back to the only clearing anywhere near them. Back to the ships. When they arrived, they watched the X-Wing setting down just behind Loki and a little off to the right of the Alderaan II. The three of them ducked and ran around the larger form of Loki, who was pounding Shadow with questions of all sorts, and stopped so as not to be crushed.

The ship was larger than the normal X-Wing. It had the normal shape and build, except that the underside near the rear had a slightly larger, fifth drive unit attached. The only other visible difference was that the pilot was sitting very far ahead of the back of the ship. It had a gunner’s seat. Interesting...

The second that the ship was down and stable, Titus watched the two females charge forward as one. He couldn’t help a slight grin at that. Surprise had faded from all of them to a sense of worry. In the pilot’s chair was not the usual orange and white uniformed pilot. Instead, they could see a dark brown shoulder, scruffy and slightly red tinted white hair, a large brown ear, and Akan’s profile. He didn’t look down to them. In fact, Titus noticed that the kid wasn’t really doing anything but staring forward. The canopy hadn’t opened, either.

That helped Titus to the decision of following both the females, who were already working on getting up onto the ship. Jen put her hands together, cupping them low so that Shadow could use them as a footstep. Though the Alraxian probably could have jumped up herself, she nodded to Jen and took the boost. A short moment later and Shadow was on the long nose of the ship, clawing at it just slightly for fear of sliding off the other side and landing on her tail. Making sure her balance was fine, Shadow then looked forward into the cockpit.

First, she noticed his eyes. Open and blinking, but not aware. He just looked forward. How that assisted in landing this pile of metal, Shadow had no idea. But the eyes weren’t what got her attention. What got her attention was all the red. She had first noticed it in his hair, then seen that there were much darker patches all along his clothes. If the canopy wasn’t sealed, she would be able to smell it and identify that as what she had a feeling it was. Extending her claws, Shadow tried to pry the canopy open. It wasn’t working. Growling, she punched the thing and yelled, “Open the damn canopy!”

Though she didn’t see his hand move, there was a short pause and then a short hiss of air as it snapped open. Shadow quickly shot back so as not to be carried up with the canopy, but was suddenly overwhelmed with a heavy smell of blood. Red blood. She couldn’t help a shudder. Red blood was disgusting.

“Akan!” Jen said, who was now being help up at level with the cockpit thanks to Titus. When she noticed that he was staring forward and not reacting, she instead turned to Shadow, “What’s wrong with him?”

“Shock,” Shadow commented, climbing half into the cockpit to start undoing the straps holding Akan into the ship, “I think.”

“You think?” that was Titus, shaking slightly but not having too much trouble holding up Jen. She didn’t weigh all that much, and was also using one hand on the edge of the cockpit to lift her up just a little more. The other hand was helping Shadow with parts she couldn’t reach.

“I’m not an expert in these things,” grumbled the muffled voice of Shadow. She had thrown the straps off over Akan and then looked at the current problem. Getting him down was going to be interesting. But that wasn’t going to be all that much trouble. The trouble, Shadow figured, was going to be getting any information out of Akan. Before starting in suggestions on how to go about lifting him out, she sighed and rested her head on the forward console of the cockpit. Once this was all over and done with, she was going to hit him. Hard. Seemed like no matter what he did, it always ended up in more work and trouble. Why couldn’t he have just stayed in bed?! And what was that other smell the blood was masking? Too many questions...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 127: No Breaks*

“What did that little sithspawn do with my ship?!” growled Hansen, charging forward to get into the hut where Akan had been taken. Shadow was inside, ignoring the humans, who all three stood outside. Titus just stepped back slightly, not really sure what to say but at the same time not wanting to cause any more problems. This was already looking and feeling like trouble.

That was why it was Jen that stepped forward, putting herself between Hansen and the hut. She didn’t say anything, but instead stared straight into the other woman’s eyes. There was a dangerous look in Jen’s eyes, but Hansen didn’t seem to be paying attention to it. She instead just tried pushing the smaller woman out of the way. This, almost surprisingly, didn’t work. Jen held her ground, feet planted strongly but still not speaking.

Hansen stepped back just slightly, glaring down at Jen and speaking slowly, “Get out of my way.”

“No,” replied Jen, calmly and patiently.

“He stole my ship!”

“You stole it first!” Jen snapped back harshly, taking a short step forward before calming her voice again, “And there are currently more important things than your possessive streak. My friend is back in there, and I don’t know what the hell is wrong, but I can promise you that he’s got a damn better reason for not having that ship than you did for stealing it in the first place.”

That was too far. Cursing sharply, Hansen stepped forward and swung a heavy, very militaristic punch aimed at Jen’s head. To both Titus’ and Hansen’s surprise, Jen simply ducked low under the swing, and then send an open palmed strike up at Hansen. It caught the other woman hard in the lower chin, sending her up slightly and then down onto her back. She didn’t move. Jen looked down at the now-unconscious Hansen and then glanced to her palm. That had hurt...Shadow never mentioned how much it actually hurt.

A hand came down on her shoulder and she nearly swung around to break the arm. The reactions that Shadow had taught her were quickly fought back, and instead Jen just turned to see Titus with a bewildered look on his face. Grinning slightly, Jen shrugged and mumbled, “Shadow taught me a few...other things.”

“So she did,” Titus grinned too, drawing her into a hug before whispering, “You know she’s going to be very angry when she wakes up.”

“Angry with a bad neck ache,” Jen added, wrapping her arms around him and allowing the adrenaline rush to fade away.

Within the hut, Shadow hadn’t even heard the yelling. She sat on the small bed next to Akan’s chest, cross-legged and concentrating. A hand rested on his forehead, though it was more for her own encouragement than real assisting in what she was doing. They had been there for about an hour. From what she could tell, Akan was asleep now. Or at least, his breathing had slowed and brain had fallen into the usual feelings she associated with him being asleep. The more calmed state had allowed her to access his mind through the link with a little more ease. But just because she could feel his thoughts didn’t mean she could understand them. Long ago, she...or maybe it was Marix...had learned that everyone had a different pattern and rational to their thought processes. Sure, you could probably get used to someone else’s way of thinking after years and years of work, but even then there would be translation problems. Currently, translation problems was what Shadow was encountering. Or at least, she had been. Now she had simply decided to wait on him.

At first, she felt a slight ripple through the link. It could be described as a ripple of consciousness, but that was only partially correct. The second was most definitely more than a ripple...almost a wave. This, she had identified long ago as the odd way that Alraxian’s woke up. It was essentially the mind kicking back in from whatever dreams were currently occurring. After another few moments of odd feelings and jolts through the link, Shadow opened her own eyes to watch him. Quickly, she pulled her hand away from his forehead and watched for any sign of movement. The first sign of that was an ear twitch. Shadow didn’t actually notice her own ear doing the same thing. The sound they’d both noticed was of Jen and Titus moving over towards the edge of the entrance, watching quietly.

Then, quietly, Akan groaned. It sounded more like a soft growl, but Shadow knew the difference by now. Before even an eye opened, Shadow prodded him in a quiet manner. [You awake in there, Akan-jai...?]

That got a mental groan from him. If there weren’t so many questions that needed to be cleared up, she would have laughed at that. The link had become so natural at this point that both of them found themselves making natural sounds like groans and yawns mentally. Whether that was healthy or not wasn’t something she thought about. It was obvious that it wasn’t normal, at least...but then again, what was normal about any of them? Sighing, she attempted a small mental poke. That was impossible to describe to anyone that hadn’t experienced it, but Shadow knew what it was and that it usually worked.

The fact that it got a physical groan out of him helped to enforce that it did work. Also, he opened his eyes...slowly, only halfway, but that was still open. Slowly, Shadow leaned over him and looked down into the half open eyes, curious if there was any life in there. They widened suddenly, and he nearly jumped back off the bed, sending her off on her back to the ground. After the initial panic of seeing a huge, silvery-purple eyed face, Akan’s breathing slowed again, and Shadow gave him a chance to wake up normally. She didn’t miss the slight chuckle from behind her. She couldn’t tell which Voort it was, but one of them had found that jump from both Alraxians very entertaining.

When she was fairly sure that he could hear and mostly likely understand, she said quietly, “You alive in there...?”

Akan shook his head slowly. That got a raised eyebrow from Shadow, “Not alive?”

“Uh-uh,” he mumbled, nodding this time, “‘m dead.”

“Guess we should just go bury you then,” Shadow trailed off, turned and started to get up. There was a loud noise of Titus clearing his throat. She shot him a slightly hurt look, but nodded and turned back to Akan and asked, “What happened?”

With a little effort, Akan managed to sit up next to her. She watched him blink a few times before turning to her and placing both his hands on either side of her face. He then leaned in and rested his forehead against hers. She knew what he was attempting. In fact, it was a little technique she’d taught him that would strengthen the link through the Force. It only took a couple of moments before she saw. When he pulled back and then hung his head, she just nodded without saying anything. Of course...he hadn’t shown her the Alraxian, but what he’d done to those three humans was enough for her to see and understand.

In a quiet, almost hoarse voice, he said, “I screwed everything up...I just made things worse.”

“Its my fault, Akan-jai,” Shadow mumbled, closing her eyes and getting back to those things she wasn’t all that good with, “I shouldn’t have let you go.”

There was a silence between them. It was long, thick, and filled with the two of them feeling lost and useless. But then, Akan’s mind seemed to catch up with the rest of his surroundings. Or rather, his very immediate surroundings. His face went red...then all of his skin followed(an Alraxian trait he’d not seen that much just yet), when he asked very quietly, knowing that Jen and Titus were just beyond Shadow, “What happened to my clothes?”

Shadow couldn’t help a slight grin, “They were covered in...you know...they’re out drying.”

“Drying...”

“Dunked them in the river,” Shadow said, the grin still on her face. It had also gotten rid of the horrid smell on those things. She couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ever washed those at all.

Akan looked down, seeing his entire body was a light red color. He then frantically looked around for the blankets. Diving across the bed, he grabbed them and pulled them up over his body, whimpering a little and curling up just slightly. If she’d been feeling cruel, Shadow would have laughed at that. For some reason, these humans were so nervous when it came to a lack of clothes. It wasn’t like there was anything wrong with it. But then again, she’d learned to just live with it...and of course, have a little fun in the process.

Noticing his thoughts were fading back to those that forced him into that odd state of frozen shock, Shadow said, “Don’t...don’t think about it right now. You can’t always succeed at everything you do. It could have been much worse, Akan-jai.”

She shouldn’t have been surprised when he shook his head, but somehow she was. But she did get slightly worried when he said, “It is worse...go back to the X-Wing...open up the cargo hold.”

Hesitating a moment, Shadow nodded and got to her feet. She then turned and walked past the Voorts, giving both of them a raised eyebrow look before heading out to where he’d set the X-Wing down. After stepping over the unconscious form of Hansen, Shadow heard the sounds of footsteps behind her. She only had to focus on her hearing a moment to identify Titus’ footsteps. He planted his feet strongly and firmly with each step, very sure of what he was doing. She didn’t turn, but couldn’t help wondering why Jen had stayed behind. But all of those thoughts suddenly disappeared when Shadow got to the X-Wing and opened up the underside cargo hold.

It slid open, and even before completely finishing, a large metallic object fell to the soft ground with a thud. At first, Shadow didn’t know what it was. Then, her nose connected things. That odd, second smell on Akan...just hidden under the thick smell of blood. This thing reeked with it somehow...and then she knelt down to look directly into a metal face, frozen in a painful yell. There were two large, feline ears on either side. It was an Alraxian. Things started connecting, and Shadow stumbled back with a shocked look on her face. An Alraxian. Dead. This one had tried to morph but...Shadow’s eyes looked all over and found a small protrusion near the stomach. A small piece of metal. And Akan had brought it here. Akan had killed this Alraxian.

“He’s dead?” Titus asked quietly, who was currently kneeling behind Shadow a short distance to her left.

Shadow turned to look at him, shaking her head, “Not he...she. And yes, she’s dead.”

“She?” he raised an eyebrow,” She’s over two meters tall and doesn’t even look...well...female.”

“Do I?” Shadow asked with a slight grin, motioning to her own somewhat androgynous body.

“Good point,” he said with a nod, “Though I thought I remembered you...um...Marix once saying that only adults get that tall.”

Shadow, slightly surprised at his knowledge of Alraxians, gave him a curious look but then said, “I’d wager she was a Blackflame. I’ll need to talk with Akan for the...the details, but if she was a hunter then she was probably fed very well her entire life,” she was silent a moment, then said more quietly, “Can you help me move the body? She deserves a...proper burial even out here.”

Titus nodded and assisted her in carrying the extremely heavy body off deeper into the forest. But he couldn’t help noticing a slight protrusion on the underside of the X-Wing, just near the nose cone. Though this X-Wing had a few modifications, something about it was bothering him. Once they had finally stopped in the middle of the forest, realization and horror passed over his face. It was right as they set the body down, and Titus said very quietly, “That X-Wing has a tracking device on it.”

“What?” Shadow asked over her shoulder, already working on digging a large hole in the thick ground.

He sighed heavily and stepped closer, putting a hand on her shoulder and turning her to look at his face, “The ship Akan brought back has a tracking device fitted under the nose cone.”

Shadow opened her mouth, then closed it. Biting her lip a moment, she then tried speaking again, “You don’t think...”

“I do,” he said flatly, “And I think we’d better get out of here as soon as possible.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 128: Good News for One, Bad Feeling for Another*

Ket Halpak sat forward in his chair, leaning over his desk like a predator. Both hands were cupped around a small object that had been on the desk for as long as he’d had the thing. What the little object was, Ket had never actually figured out. However, it had provided hours of entertainment in times of boredom. But it seemed those times of boredom would soon come to an end, as there was much to do. So he sat at his desk, idly batting the small half-spherical object back and forth. Waiting. Nine should be stepping in anytime now. What she had to report, he didn’t know yet. It probably wouldn’t be good. Problems were bound to pop up soon, as everything had been going far too perfectly for too long.

There was a soft, echoing swishing noise off in the distance. Right on cue. Smiling to himself, Ket pushed the little object back to its spot on the corner of his empty desk and sat back in his usual business appearance. It took Nine much less time than usual to reach his desk. Only a minute later, she stood in front of the desk, staring at him with her usual emotionless, soul-eating look. He managed a smile and met her eyes, having never had trouble ignoring the Marix-glare, as he’d once called it. Knowing that Nine was not one to speak first, he smiled softly and asked, “What’s gone wrong?”

Surprisingly, that got a slightly curious look on Nine’s face. It was wiped back to the usual empty slate a second later, and she just leaned forward into a more comfortable position, saying, “Nothing has.”

Ket’s smile became a grin. He couldn’t help it. It just felt good to be wrong about certain things. And so, there was only one thing he could ask, “Oh really? Then what is it?”

If Ket could have found a way to record the look on Nine’s face, he would have. It was the first time that he had ever seen a smile on that face, save the one on the real Marix’s when she’d taken his tail...but what could he say? She was smiling. Smiling! Sure, none of the Tam-Day-U had ever really expressed emotions, but Marix had been the top of the class in that respect. But here was the Ice Queen, smiling without even being provoked! She didn’t even look like she was about to maul him! The smile became the old grin when Nine saw his shocked look, and she half sat on the desk before speaking in an almost too happy voice, “It seems that some interesting things have occurred on Coruscant. Our contacts there have heard reports of...I believe it was ‘Cathar’, that killed a security group and have stolen a prototype ship, blasting their way off of the planet.”

“Cathar?” Ket raised an eyebrow. It was not the first time he’d heard that, and knew that Nine was not knew to this either. The times that the two of them had been seen and identified had always been as this isolationist feline species. This had been encouraged, so much that many people that he did business with truly believed he was Cathar. But Ket just shook his head, waving a hand at her, “It could have easily been real Cathar. They aren’t just some myth.”

Nine caught his hand, grabbing it in mid air and squeezing it roughly. She glared at him with an accusing look before speaking slowly, “There are security holos. I saw them. The two were Alraxian.”

“The clone and her little friend, then?” Ket asked, not trying to pull his hand away. She would likely break it anyway, but it wasn’t best to encourage her when she was in such a mood.

“No,” Nine corrected him sharply, “The boy was there, and another. I did not recognize the other...but I believe she was Tam-Day-U. Blackflame from the way she fought.”

“The way she fought?” Ket was getting even more curious. Another Alraxian here. But why would a Tam-Day-U be sent here? Something was going on back in the Hidden Worlds. Something Ket would need to discover for himself...possibly find a way to use.

This time, though, Nine let go of his hand. She left him a moment to rub the feeling back into it before sitting more comfortably on the desk and saying more quietly, “Yes. She attempted to kill him. I would assume that it was an attack meant for the clone herself. That would mean that someone else knows of their connection and sees him as the weaker.”

“They aren’t alone,” mumbled Ket, smiling to himself.

But Nine didn’t seem to hear his comment, continuing on her own, “The boy killed her. His fighting technique was very unorthodox, and I expect it surprised her. She was young. It was likely her first real mission. However, the fact that he killed her shows that we have underestimated him.”

“You don’t sound surprised,” Ket said, louder so that she would actually hear him this time.

Nine raised an eyebrow, but shrugged, “Why should I be? Three and I are, of course, alike. She would not choose a weak human for her Nothlit. But that is not my point. The real point is, the ship that the boy stole had a tracking device on it. The New Republic dispatched a task force to follow the ship two hours ago.”

Ket smiled. That would force the little brat out of her hiding. And if he knew her well enough, which he did at a base level, she would find a goal to run for. Marix would never, ever run from something. Running to, however, was completely different. How else could she have justified her exile? But what would this clone of Marix run to?  He looked down at some movement, Nine’s tail was flicking, and thought about it. Once, not long ago, Nine had been a bit more than just obsessed with finding the real Marix. Killing her was the original goal, but it was still a fierce need. Would this clone do the same? Why not? Why wouldn’t a copy be curious if they were the same as their original? That was the base reason for the hatred of clones among the Alraxians. If a clone could be a different person, then killing it could not be justified. Then...then it wasn’t a real copy anymore. Nine had been forced to prove that she wasn’t just a copy. This young Three would likely be feeling something similar.

Quickly, he came to a decision, “Its time to change plans. Go to Coruscant. Go to that facility where the rest of the clones are and wait. Change the labels if you must, but you know what to do.”

“Yes,” Nine smiled again, “What would that little brat do if she found the real Marix was me?”

“Exactly,” he nodded and motioned towards the exit, “Go as quickly as you can.”

* * * *​
Not long after Shadow and Titus had gone off, Jen found her way into the hut. Akan was lying back again, eyes closed but obviously away...and also a little red still. She grinned slightly and stood next to the small bed, “You going to keep acting dead like that?”

That got his eyes opened. Somehow, it seemed he hadn’t even noticed she was there. Akan had nearly jumped out of the bed in surprised, but managed to cling to the small blanket instead. Seeing who it was, he looked over her and mumbled, “I’m fine. Don’t need anything.”

Jen sighed, “Akan, stop that. Besides, there is something I’d be willing to bet you’d like a lot right now.”

At least he looked slightly interested, almost looking her in the eye but managing to look more through her than anything. Quietly, almost worried about what she could mean, he asked, “What...?”

“These,” with a grin, Jen tossed Akan’s clothes onto him. They were still slightly damp, but she knew that he wouldn’t really care. Especially considering how red he’d been the last few minutes. No matter how funny it was, he deserved at least a little help from someone. And maybe it would ease his mood with her...maybe.

Akan caught the pile of clothes, clinging to them and then pulling the jacket off of his face to give her a meaningful look. Laughing slightly, Jen figured out what he wanted and nodded, patting his shoulder gently and then stepped out to let him change. Part of her wondered if it would be too cruel to step in a few seconds later just to start asking a question. Well, it would be cruel...but might lighten his mood just a little. But just as she’d thought about doing that, she noticed the spot that the unconscious Hansen had occupied was now empty. Instinctively, she looked around for the other woman. No sign of her. Footprints were impossible to see in the thick brush and such all over the ground.

The thought of stepping in on Akan returned again. Yet again, though, something else got in the way. This time, it was Titus. He came running around a couple of trees, jumping over a large branch on the ground that would have easily tripped him if he hadn’t payed attention, and then stopping right in front of her. By now, Jen wasn’t surprised that he hadn’t even broken a sweat. That man had some serious stamina. Normally, she would have grinned at that thought, but something in Titus’ expression showed that there was a problem. And she knew how to read him by now.

“We have to leave,” he said, without even a hint of heavy breathing in his voice.

Jen gave him a confused look, but didn’t have to ask why. He had been expecting the question, and had already decided on the short version of the story, “That X-Wing Akan brought has a tracking device on it. I’ve got a bad feeling that he may lead our friends out here.”

At hearing that, Jen got a worried expression on her face. And it brought up a question, “How high are those bounties, anyway?”

“You don’t want to know,” Titus grumbled, and then turned his head sharply to look off left. A moment later, Jen heard the same noise of footsteps. Hansen appeared out of the brush, looking more panicked than annoyed. The other woman didn’t even look at Jen, and stopped a good few meters away from the two of them, motioning off towards where the three ships were set own.

“Three New Republic ships just came out of hyperspace,” she said breathlessly, obviously not in as good a shape as Titus was, “They’re broadcasting on all channels that they know you...we...whatever. They know we’re here. Sensor readings show they’ve already launched a few transports. That sithspawn in there led them right to u—“

”Its too damned late to start throwing blame around!” Titus growled, surprising both women with his swift and harsh words, “We just need to get out of here now.”

Akan appeared in the doorway, obviously having heard them speaking. He and Titus exchanged looks, and a quiet decision seemed to be made between them. Talk later. Get out now. Akan nodded, saying quickly, “I’ll go get Shadow. You get out of here and we’ll catch up.”

“I’m going to pry that damned tracking device off of your little ship,” Titus called to Akan as the kid ran off, following the smell and the link to find the other Alraxian.

Over his shoulder, Akan yelled back, “I’ll buy you a drink once this is over!”

The two Voorts exchanged looks. That was odd. He seemed...happy. Jen grinned after a moment, then whispered to Titus, “He’s got an excuse to get out of bed.”

Titus laughed and nodded, looking to both Hansen and Jen, “Come on. We’ll pry that thing off of the X-Wing and then get to the Alderaan. I’ve got a bad feeling we’re going to need that little fighter.”

As the two women followed him, Jen couldn’t help but saying, “You need to stop with these bad feelings. They’re always ending up right.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 129: Out of the Forest, Into the Void*

Shadow sat over a small patch of branches, loose earth, and other muck of Endor. In front of her was a pile of rocks, mixed in with the rest. She had just watched for a short time, but soon found that emotion of all things was beginning to cloud her ability to meditate. Five minutes passed before she got to her feet and looked up to the canopy far above. Birds and other creatures moved here and there, of which she could both smell and hear, but not see. However, that didn’t change the body buried at her feet. It didn’t change anything. It didn’t effect anything at all.

In a sudden bout of rage, Shadow screamed a curse and kicked at the heavy pile as hard as she could, “You damned fool! You should have known! You should have just stayed home!!” slowly, her voice trailed off and she stared down at the still covered metal corpse. Her voice returned, speaking in a near whisper, “You should have stayed home...we’re not supposed to kill each other. You deserved better than this. We all do.”

Akan had been standing behind her for only a short time. He kept quiet, not really sure what to say. Something about how she said ‘we’ didn’t seem to include him...or all Alraxians for that matter. He waited a little longer, watching as she knelt down again and just watched the pile. Through the link, he could feel her mind was racing through a million thoughts, but it was near impossible to understand any of it. Except for one thing. It was like he was sneaking into a place with the enemy’s hand on his shoulder the entire time. Shadow knew he was standing there. She also knew he was listening in on her thoughts.

Without turning to look at him and using that classic Shadow voice, she said, “So you’re walking now. Quick change of moods, too.”

“We have to go,” Akan said, ignoring her lighter comments. Outwardly ignoring, at least.

Shadow turned around to look at him, picking out the necessary information through the link(he either wasn’t good at hiding his thoughts, or didn’t try) and then nodding. She got to her feet and then started off towards Loki and the other ships, Akan right next to her. As she walked at a quick, yet still comfortably patient pace, she called out to her ship. [Loki, going for a little ride. Get yourself ready to go.]

[Oooh, finally!] the ship responded in his usual happy-to-be-flying mood. [Better get here quickly or I’ll leave without you!]

Even Shadow grinned at that. Somehow, it was just impossible to not love a ship that threatened to leave you behind. Sure, he didn’t have weapons. And even if he did, they wouldn’t pack that much of a punch. But that just added to Loki’s thirst for adventure. Shadow couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened with him if he’d not been given to her...Marix. Or maybe the adventurous attitude had been learned. Either way, he was the best ship she’d ever known.

Not too far away, but at the same time an entire galaxy apart from the Alraxians, the three humans crouched under the nose of the X-Wing. They had been there for about five minutes, trying to figure out how to get the small tracking device off. Simple pulling had failed, as had some more technical and probably less dangerous ways. Titus had mentioned that he could cut it off with his lightsaber(though that would require getting it off the Alderaan), but Jen had shot that down very quickly. Apparently, the thing was just too close to the main sensor array in the nose cone. Hansen had then asked about why they even cared about the X-Wing.

That had got the woman a glare from both Voorts, who knew Akan far too well by now. Especially Jen. New toys were bad enough with most males, in her opinion, but a new starship for a starfighter pilot? There was just no comparison to that. Of course, if they didn’t get the tracking device off the ship, then there was no way it could leave the planet with them. As she sat and stared blankly at the small, cylindrical object, Jen noticed that Titus had stood up.

Before she could ask, he motioned for the two women to get out of the way. Jen opened her mouth to protest, not liking that he wanted them to move. She did not, however, have a chance to speak before he acted. Titus planted his feet and then, after a deep breath, delivered a strong kick to the device. On instinct, Jen closed her eyes and shielded her face from what would have to be an explosion. But all that came was a loud metallic clank, a horrible ripping sound, and then a soft thumping and crumbling noise. When Jen opened her eyes again, she saw the small object on the ground on the other side of the X-Wing.

The two Voorts exchanged looks, and Jen shrugged, “Brutes will be brutes.”

“Quiet, brains. It worked,” Titus grinned and hugged her.

And then, a sound rang out through the clearing in the forest. All three of them knew it, and all three reacted in the same way. Dropping to the ground and reaching for weapons didn’t stop the blaster shot from nearly taking off Titus’ face. It did, however, prove to him that he should have been carrying that lightsaber with him. He didn’t even have a blaster. But that didn’t matter. They were in the open, just under the X-Wing. None of them had weapons on them from the look of it. And they were being fired on. That single shot was soon joined by many others, and all three of them caught sight of a group of soldiers emptying into the clearing just beyond where the Alderaan was positioned. In a moment, they would be between the three of them and the ship.

“Straight ahead,” Titus said, yanking Jen onto her feet and making sure Hansen was alright. She didn’t need help up. Probably didn’t want it, either. Everyone on their feet, the three started running, and Jen heard Titus quietly saying, “Focus on the ship.”

It was a twenty meter run from the X-Wing to the Alderaan II. The world was a blur as their feet, and Titus’ arm in Jen’s case, pulled them across the uneven ground to the small access ramp of the shuttle. Distantly, they heard the sound of a yell from one of the troopers on the ground, and a moment later blaster fire started. It was a barrage of red coming at them, but somehow Jen focused on Titus’ words. Focus on the ship. Straight ahead. The ship. Ignore the death coming at you. And then Jen heard a noise that made her heart jump to new heights. The sounds of footsteps on ground changed. They clanked. Metal. The ship! Her eyes had somehow missed the fact that they were heading up the ramp now!

As the last few steps were made up into the ship, the ground and trees of Endor were cut off by the sleek metal panels of the Alderaan II. Adrenaline faded and minds calmed down to focus on the next task at hand. And then another sound rang out. Or rather, a series of sounds. First, over the constant noise of the blaster fire, the Voorts heard a cry of pain. Both of them spun around at the edge of the access ramp to look down. They saw Hansen, a large black mark on the side of her right leg, spin slightly and then tumble back down the ramp in a series of painful cracks and bangs. Blaster fire followed her, and in a moment she was silenced. The smell of ozone and burnt flesh rose up into the ship’s cabin.

Out of both necessity and anger, Titus slammed his hand on the switch to bring the ramp up into the ship. Jen caught his eye, managing to speak, “Shouldn’t we—“

”There won’t be time to mourn if we’re dead, too,” Titus said sharply, though his face showed a mix of grief and sympathy. He then turned and started off to the cockpit to get the ship into the sky. Jen was right behind him, dropping into her seat at his right and helping him to get the ship ready. With the two of them working together, they had gotten it down to an art. They could half the usual warm up time for the engines, though the shields and small weapon systems would still take a little while longer. Right now, engines were all that mattered. As they started the ship rising into the sky, tiny tremors arced through the ship. Blaster fire. Personal weapons hitting the still unshielded hull. It wouldn’t do any permanent damage beyond some blaster scoring on the underside of the ship, though it was unnerving. 

“Plot a course to ahh...” Titus paused a moment to look over the star charts while Jen piloted the ship, “Anoat’s far enough away that it would be tough to track us.”

“Why would we ever go to Anoat?!” Jen gave him an are-you-crazy look but started keying in the coordinates anyway. At the same time, he took over the piloting.

Titus also grinned as the ship started through the atmosphere, the shields finally coming, “Exactly. Good place to stop and think.”

“What about Akan and Shadow?” Jen asked the question before she’d realized that she was speaking.

“Ah, right, almost forgot,” he then reached over and flipped a couple other switches to his left, “Once you’ve finished getting the coordinates ready, transmit them to Loki.”

The sensor system started beeping, and both Voorts looked to the screen. Two Nebulon-B Frigates and a small Corellian Gunship. They were orbiting the planet not far off, and all three were trying to get targeting locks. But no fighters. That seemed odd. Or at least, out of character for the way the New Republic usually worked. Unlike the Empire, they were very fighter oriented instead of capital ship based. The coordinates plotted in, Jen turned to fire up the meager weapons system on the shuttle. She did it more out of habit than anything. There wasn’t any good that the small weapons could do against capital ships, but it was comforting somehow.

Titus banked the ship off to starboard, putting more power to the engines and hoping to get out before finding out why the ship’s were trying to lock onto them. The problem, which Titus knew and had a feeling Jen knew nothing about, was that Gunship. Those things had strong engines, and would likely be able to catch up with them before the two frigates. And, per its namesake, the Gunship was much better armed. He managed a short look to Jen, who was focusing off in space and not noticing him.

Then the ship rocked. She turned to him with a surprised look just before it shook again, more violently. Titus pulled his eyes away from her to try putting more power into the engines. The third shake nearly threw them into the forward consoles. With a curse, he gave up and cut the power to the engines. He sighed heavily, and sat back in the chair, “Tractor beam. Strong one.”

“And we aren’t fighting it...why now?” Jen asked, leaning over and giving him a critical stare.

He motioned to the console in front of them, “Fight it too hard and we’ll blow the engines. We could try that, but this is a new ship, and I thought you liked it.”

Her looked became more understanding, and Jen nodded slowly, “Guess that makes sense. Now what?”

“Now we wait,” Titus said quietly, reaching over to put a hand on hers. He said nothing else, but Jen could tell he was worried about this. Obviously for her, not for himself. She squeezed his hand gently and wished there was something useful to say.

Eventually, after only a couple of minutes of being pulled in, she smiled and said, “The kids will come and cause some trouble.”

That even got a smile on Titus’ face, and he leaned over to kiss her cheek, “Wish I could be more useful. Am I so old now that I can’t cause some trouble with the kids?”

Laughing, Jen returned the kiss, “Save the best for last. You can show those two up when they least expect it.”

It was amazing how they had completely forgotten about Hansen. For the moment, at least.

* * * *​
Back on the ground, the two Alraxians stood at the edge of the clearing. Between them, they’d counted ten troopers on the ground. All had heavy blaster rifles and actually looked to be well trained from the way they examined the area before starting to move in to the two remaining ships. The X-Wing was being ignore, and the troopers were focusing on carefully inspecting Loki. Both Shadow and Akan had convinced the ship to ‘lock up’ as it were but do nothing else to give himself away as being...alive. But it was lasting a little too long. And then, Loki said something worrying to the two of them.

[An orbiting ship is attempting to attain a lock on me.]

Shadow and Akan exchanged looks. Then, Shadow quickly said. [Can you throw the lock off...or...something?!]

Akan was surprised at how nervous and panicked she sounded. Those were desperate solutions, and the ship responded with a definite ‘no’. An idea came to Akan’s mind. Earlier, the ship had reported that the Alderaan II had been brought into the hangar bay of one of the frigates. Before then, though, a set of coordinates had been transmitted to him. He knew Shadow wasn’t going to like the idea, but Akan suggested it anyway. [Loki, can you get yourself out to those coordinates without us?]

Shadow shot him a horrified, angry, and all together ‘I will maul you’ look, but said nothing. There was a short pause, then the ship responded in a more careful tone. [I...can. But I do not want to go...go alone.]

[There’s no other choice] Akan said back, slowly and as kindly as he could manage while trying to ignore Shadow’s death glare. [Send the coordinates to the X-Wing’s computer. Its offline now, but should be able to receive them. We’ll be right behind you, Loki. I promise.]

In the short time he and Loki had known each other, they had developed a very strong friendship. Perhaps it was because of Akan being a pilot. It wasn’t that Shadow wasn’t a good pilot for Loki, and in fact she was still the closest thing Loki had to a sister. But Akan was new. Interesting. And a well trained pilot. Between them, they had developed an interesting trust along with the friendship. One very unique thing that Akan had learned about the ship was its devotion to promises. According to Loki, one never made a promise if they couldn’t go through with it. Shadow said that Marix’s dead brother, Tobias, had taught the ship that when Loki was young. A quirk that had stuck, and one that really wasn’t all that bad. If Loki could have nodded to Akan’s ‘words’, he would have.

[It...it is the only choice. Good luck. I will...see you when you get there.] And then, to the surprise of all the troopers who were getting out of the way already, Loki lifted off. The speed at which the ship moved was amazing, and it was only a matter of seconds before the Kanyak was shooting off into the sky. Akan looked to Shadow, who was still glaring violently at him.

Before she said anything, he just motioned to the X-Wing, “Lets argue later for once.”

“Fine,” Shadow said tersely, though a nod was added into it and she then asked, “Are you planning on leaving the Voorts like they left Hansen?”

They had both seen the body. However, it had not really had any effect on them. Neither of them had really been all that close with the woman...and Akan would have been lying to say he liked her. But a death was a death. And there was a body sprawled out on the ground not too far off. Tearing his eyes off of the corpse, he looked back to the X-Wing, which was now being swarmed by the troopers, “No, I wasn’t. Besides, I doubt you’d let me if I was.”

“Of course not,” Shadow said in that matter of fact tone, “We don’t leave friends behind.”

A silence. It was short, but long enough to let the point sink in for the both of them. Once it had, they both turned to look at how to get into that ship. Shadow had the situation analyzed quickly, and announced what they were going to be doing whether he liked it or not. [Morph. They won’t expect Alarix and you need to use that more often.]

Akan would have complained if he knew she wasn’t right. For a long time now, she had bugged him about using his ‘natural abilities’ more often. Morphing was one of those, and since she had a talent for it, he naturally would also. And also, an Alarix was enough to still terrify him. A large, panther-like creature that came up to waste height was worrying enough. The extremely sharp teeth, large paws with long claws on them, and mane-like fur running along the feline’s spine to its tail just added to the intimidation. Shadow gave him no warning before she started out of their hiding spot, morphing in mid stride. Akan followed her, though not nearly as quick to morph.

Both of the large, feline creatures stalked forward with that dangerous predatory silence. Akan found it hard not to allow a soft growl out as they snuck up behind the troopers, but thankfully he had enough sense to not give away the element of surprise. There was an unspoken, mental ‘now!’ from Shadow, and they pounced. Literally. In a quick second, two of the troopers were face down, unmoving from long claw marks on the back and heavy teeth marks near the neck. The other two nearest to them had a quick moment to turn and even let out a yell before they were also pounced on. The two were pinned down and silenced with a thick bite to the neck. Akan still couldn’t get used to that...but it worked, and was the natural inclination for this body to attack with.

The two of them then began a charge around the X-Wing, attempting a simple circular attack until the reached the last of the troopers. But now the soldiers had more time to react. Akan jumped to the side, avoiding a quick blaster shot that singed some fur. With a growl, he pulled back on his back legs before diving in at the human. A paw batted down the blaster rifle, sending it to the ground a moment before Akan landed. The force of his weight brought the soldier down onto his back, and he managed a quick punch to Akan’s face before receiving a swift bite to the neck. Akan found himself having trouble fighting the urge to tear the rest of the man to pieces, and nearly took another blaster shot in the process. This wasn’t going to work any longer. Getting back onto all fours and starting in a run, he tried that multitasking technique Shadow had mentioned being extremely important. As he morphed back in mid dive, Akan finally understood why.

The sight surprised the trooper so much that he dropped his rifle and nearly fell back on his own. The poor man watched in complete detail as the huge feline changed into a large humanoid feline that had a...a grin on his face! That was the last thing that was seen before a strong punch hit the man, and he dropped with a thud. Akan didn’t even looked ahead anymore, this time turning back to the clearing they’d come from. His belt was still back there. Lightsaber and blaster were with it. Metal had this habit of not being a good idea to morph, so they had to be left behind in such situations. The only reason he didn’t worry about being shot in the back was that he knew...and could feel through the link, that Shadow had things handled on her own.

He was right. Shadow had taken down four of them by the time he’d morphed back. She knew the Alarix form very well, it being one of her favorites. So close to ‘home’ yet so very unique in its own right. Technically, Alarix were the ancient ancestors of Alraxians at a genetic level. That probably had a lot to do with her comfort in the form. And there was only one trooper left. This was another man, tanned skin and grizzled. He also smelled bad. And with the extremely sensitive sense of smell that this form had, getting rid of that smell was now top priority. He had dropped his rifle, drawing a large vibroblade and holding it in front of him with apparent skill. That, of course, didn’t mean a thing to Shadow.

Shadow pounced. The man brought up the vibroblade to slash at her face, but she quickly tilted enough to readjust her point of attack. Instead of his neck receiving the long teeth, his wrist did. Shadow bit so hard that it nearly took the man’s hand off, but somehow he didn’t even let out more than a grunt. He didn’t even let go of the blade, trying to slash back at her before receiving a claw to the chest for his moving. That pushed the trooper to the ground, and Shadow, still keeping a good firm grip on his wrist, slashed at him twice more. One sent long claw marks down his chest again, and the other got his face. The man let out a satisfying scream before Shadow let go of his wrist and finished the job quietly.

When Akan returned, he saw the panther-like Alarix curled up on top of the bloodied boy, licking at a few of the wounds in a bored fashion. Akan sighed and stepped over to pat her back, “Done yet?”

[I still say red blood is disgusting.] Shadow grumbled mentally before morphing back and dusting herself off. When she saw Akan’s look, she shrugged and said, “What? Just because its disgusting doesn’t mean I won’t pass it up here and there. You know how exhausting morphing can be...and blood has a certain way of adding a little energy back.”

“That is disgusting,” Akan said flatly over his shoulder before fitting his belt on finally and starting to climb up into the X-Wing. That was easy. But then again, that was also expected to be easy. Alraxians had the natural advantage when it came to combat involving humans. They simply were stronger, faster, and better than the average human soldier. In the sky, though...they were stuck with the same limitations as everyone else. No matter how fast one was, ships could only do so much at once. Akan looked up to the sky as the X-Wing’s canopy opened. [Good luck, Loki.]

As he helped Shadow up and into the ship without breaking anything(she didn’t like the ship for metallic reasons), he couldn’t help but wonder if Loki had even heard that. Shadow had. She had almost said something about it, but he had cut her off by showing her what to touch and what not to touch. Before they got up there, Shadow was going to have to address those lingering doubts in the back of his mind. This would be his first time really going after New Republic soldiers when it wasn’t necessary for his own survival. Going up there and getting both Voorts off of one of those ships was not required for his survival. She licked her lips. At least it was easy to pretend the blood tasted better than it did.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 130: Crazy, Stupid, and Lucky as a Sith*

“What’s this do again?” that was asked in a very devious, almost playful way. The X-Wing had only gotten into the planet’s upper atmosphere and Shadow was already playing around.

Akan managed to lean back and turn his head to see that she was pointing to the switch that should arm the proton torpedoes. Should, because he still wasn’t completely sure of how the systems were divided. From what he could gather, the X-Wing was built much like a Y-Wing, cockpit wise. The main, front seat could do everything, but at the same time, the rear seat could do. With two pilots, it could be divided into the usual pilot/gunner role. He had done his best to redirect all of the systems to his seat, but without knowing the systems well enough just yet, he’d only done half the job. That meant that he could feasibly do everything from his seat in the cockpit...but Shadow’s seat behind him could control the weapons.

He would have swatted her hand away from its hovering position over the arming switch, but Akan’s hands were currently occupied with piloting. It was an old habit to fly with the actual control stick instead of letting the computer do most of the job. So, he made a growling noise and, when realizing she was going to press it if she didn’t get an answer, grumbled, “Torpedoes. Please don’t press that. Especially considering that we only have four of them.”

“You mean I can blow things up?” her voice brightened at that, as did her thoughts.

“Don’t press it,” Akan said flatly, bringing his focus back to piloting. Shadow continued her curious exploration of the buttons, switches, and little lights all around her. How anyone learned to fly these things was beyond her. To an Alraxian, all these lights and switches were toys. It was very hard to resist that childish urge to press buttons and watch what happened. Shadow had to stop herself and wonder where those thoughts had come from. Lately, she’d been acting much less...less like herself and more like...more human. Or something. It was odd, and confusing, and at least partially wrong.

Something beeped. Shadow’s ears shot back and forth trying to identify where the sound was coming from, but the echoing(and the fact that her tail hurt from the design of the seat) distracted her. Akan seemed to be on it, and it ended quickly, being replaced by a sharp, yet at the same time bored sounding alien voice, “Powers downah yours weapons. Zis is New Republicah frigates Branis Stah. Powers downah yours weapons and prepares to be brought aboards.”

There was a pause. Akan didn’t recognize that accent, and in fact, it seemed to fluctuate between at least two, maybe three different ones. Part of it was nearly a butchered version of Basic that some Twi’leks who’d never gotten a good hold on the language used. The extra ‘ah’s were the tip off. Though Akan didn’t speak the native Twi’lek language of Ryl(Shadow did, but since he didn’t ask, she didn’t tell), he’d figured that an ‘ah’ was a common ending to most of their words. Either that, or the Twi’leks just enjoyed screwing with the minds of other species. But there were two other distinct oddities to the voice that Akan didn’t recognize. Again, Shadow did, but he still didn’t ask. One day, he’d learn to ask. Obviously, today was not that day. Shadow couldn’t help grinning to herself, and then, just before Akan responded, she tapped him on the shoulder and ‘said’. [Shall I tell him to piss off or do you get to have all the fun?]

She could feel, but not see his grin at that. And as he diverted a little more power to the shields, looking out through the canopy to the small shapes that were the New Republic ships, Akan shrugged. [Go ahead. Just don’t get them shooting on us before we break in and steal the Voorts back.]

[You sound like you don’t trust me.] Shadow sent him a mental hurt feeling, then spoke in a voice that was not really hers. Or at least, not a voice that Akan had ever heard from her. It was soft, calm, and very diplomatic. Everything Shadow was not.

“New Republic frigate...” she paused a moment, and Akan grinned a little more as he realized she was trying to figure out the name of the ship. He wasn’t sure of it either. But somehow, Shadow continued and made it sound like she was just taking a breath, “...Branis Star. I would suggest you leave the ship you are chasing down alone.”

So she’d noticed that those three cruisers were heading after Loki. Akan wasn’t sure if it was safe to mention that, and also wasn’t sure if she could even read the sensor screen. A moment later, the same odd voice returned on the comm, “Ares you threatenings a New Republicah shipah and hers crews?”

Shadow smiled proudly, speaking in that same voice, almost a little more jovial this time, “Yep. I am. In fact, I think you’re all a bunch of cowardly little Hutt larvae who shoot worse than drunk stormtroopers,” she paused, just long enough for the voice to try cutting in, but Shadow then snapped back in that strangely happy voice, “Or at least, that’s what I tell my pilot. He doesn’t really understand the more elegant insults so I have to simply it for him. What I prefer to say is...”

And then, she trailed off into a language that Akan didn’t understand or even recognize. Shadow spent only three sentences speaking in three different languages. First, in Ryl, she compared the other speaker’s family tree to a broken hyperdrive coil of which everyone had a little of their blood and sweat in. Second, speaking very clear Huttese, Shadow inquired if the entire crew of the ship was either related to each other or at least descended from the same Sithspawn infested ooze from which the galaxy collectively spit into. And last, her voice remaining calm as she reverted to speaking a strongly accented Bothese, she stated that it did not actually matter about the blood line of any of the crew of the ships, as only the backside of the New Republic ‘military’ would possibly be in command of the pieces of flying junk that were called ‘frigates’. Of course, that was the polite version. The impolite version of which Shadow really used would have caused even Darth Vader to blush and apologize.

“Yous insolentah little Sithspawnah!” and then, the comm clicked off. Shadow leaned back(as best was possible in these seats), and smiled proudly. She was very proud of those insults. Insult their lineage twice, and those hit hard enough on their own, especially when she made sure to pick the best language for the insults each. Huttese had very good words for ooze. But the last one she was most proud of. Insulting the lineage and parents of anyone was bound to get them angry. But for a crew of a ship, pilots and commanders in particular, to insult the ships they called their own was the greatest of sins.

Not knowing what Shadow had said, but not at all liking that reaction, Akan put just a little more power to the shields from the engines. The weapons still at full strength, he opened up the S-foils and sighed, “I don’t want to know what you just said, Shadow, but they’re leaving Loki alone now.”

“Good!” Shadow said happily, with a hint of that devious mind in the voice, too.

“Not good,” Akan corrected, flatly, “You didn’t happen to think about the fact that we can’t handle three capital starships and board one and the Voorts out AND then get out of here alive, do you?”

Shadow paused a moment to think about this. Then, after a silence in which the sensors indicated that the Gunship was going to be within firing range in a matter of seconds, she shrugged, “Guess we’ll deal with it.”

“Why is it that its always a ‘we’ when you get me into trouble?” Akan asked, getting ready to bank hard to starboard and avoid the inevitable fire from the Gunship.

“You know, you used to complain that I never said ‘we’,” Shadow commented idly, trying to ignore the fact that she was clinging very slightly to the seat as Akan suddenly brought them into a very tight, very sharp roll. Closing her eyes, she managed to speak in the same tone as before, “Now I acknowledge that you’re not useless and you still complain?”

There was a long moment before Akan’s response. The reason for this was simple. He was bringing the fighter out of its roll and banking back the other direction to avoid the barrage of bright red energy lancing down at them from the cylindrical shaped Corellian Gunship. The ship was yanked into a violent snap-roll, causing Shadow to keep her eyes closed and dig her claws into the metal just slightly. The inertial dampers in these metal ships played hell with her stomach. At least Kanyak’s internal gravity and dampening systems were natural...and acted natural. And didn’t make her feel sick. Very sick.

“You know me...always complaining,” Akan’s voice suddenly shot her back to the moment. For some idiotic reason, Shadow opened her eyes. The spinning of distant starts wasn’t as bad, and she figure they were going as near to ‘straight’ as Akan seemed to understand. Damned fighter pilots.  The stars suddenly started spinning to the left, and in a moment she saw the topside of the Gunship, a blaze of red coming up at them. It spun like a whirlwind and started to grow. As it got much larger, very quickly, Akan called back to her, “That switch I told you not to hit. Hit it. Then press the red button above the trigger on that stick I told you not to touch.”

Shadow closed her eyes and reached forward.

“Keep your eyes open, dammit!!” Akan nearly screamed at her, and she opened her eyes. So he was using the link more...even if he didn’t admit it. But Shadow focused forward and down to that small stick. Carefully, Shadow reached ahead and grabbed it, feeling around for that button. She found the trigger, and just like he said, a small button above it. Suddenly, she realized she’d forgotten the switch, and her other hand shot out and flipped it hard enough to nearly rip it off. The second afterwards, she hit the other button.

A half second after the button was pressed, the entire X-Wing shuddered. There was at least a short moment where Shadow expected them to explode. The only thing that the shudder could possibly mean was that they had been hit, the shields were out, and they were going to die in this metallic prison. But then two blue streaks shot out from just under the starfighter. Shadow only had a short moment to see them before the X-Wing banked up. A half roll a moment later brought the two blue streaks back into view...just before they hit near the center of the Gunship. There was a large explosion which expanded outwards and then died out in a second as the oxygen to fuel the fire also died. Then the large mass of the Gunship was upon them, and Shadow nearly expected them to slam into it. But the starfighter instead righted itself, dropping into a position that brought it perfectly even with the burnt but not completely penetrated hull just before streaks of red shot out from the four laser cannons from the X-Wing. Shadow couldn’t help but notice that all of the Gunship’s shots were going all around them. A blind spot. And from the look of it, those two...things she’d fired off had taken out the only gun that could have hit them.

As Akan held the position, firing away at the hull but really not even getting through the shields, he called back to her, “Scan for the Alderaan! Which ship is she on?”

Shadow bit her lip and stared at the console in front of her. Then, just as she thought she knew what to do, the thrusters kicked in hard and they jolted forward. Akan was still holding the trigger, and the shots pelted across the shields of the Gunship before they rocketed past and then rolled back around, completely circling the ship’s cylindrical shape and then darting off towards the two approaching Nebulon-B Frigates. The two ships were hovering a distance off, not firing, likely out of fear of hitting their own ship in the process. And now, as Shadow tried to focus on scanning for the Alderaan, the X-Wing was between the three ships. Akan still banked here and there, watching out for the shots from the obviously angry gunners aboard the Gunship, but kept as straight a path as he could that would take him right between the two Frigates. Then, they still wouldn’t be able to fire if he positioned the X-Wing right. Of course, this tactic would only last until they got a missile lock. They weren’t in range for that one yet...but it would occur soon, no doubt.

And then, Shadow had it. Or at least, she thought she did. Was...relatively sure that she did. Honestly, she had no idea if she was right, but was ready to leave and get back to Loki. So, masking her thoughts in a sense of positivity, Shadow picked a frigate randomly. Then, her voice oozing pure confidence, Shadow pointed over Akan’s left shoulder and said, “That one looks good.”

“Looks good?!” Akan glared at the hand and nearly reached over to bite her out of frustration. ‘Looks good’ was not something to base breaking into the hangar of a New Republic frigate on. They were already angry enough, and it was already going to be hard enough to do. But ‘looks good’?! Typical Shadow, really.

“Yes, that one,” Shadow commented, pointing a bit harder this time, “Trust me.”

He banked the X-Wing that direction. No, he didn’t exactly trust her. He could tell she didn’t trust herself either. And as they started straight for the Frigate, Akan said, “This is going to get very rough. The second we’re in, I’ll pop the canopy and you just go. Follow the scent, whatever. Get in, get them out. I’ll try to cover you from behind.”

Shadow nodded just as the Frigate decided to say ‘screw it’ to the possibility of hitting the Gunship behind the fighter, and opened fire. The problem with Nebulon-Bs is that they were designed specifically to combat starfighters. This meant that the majority of the weapons were point laser cannons with enough speed to keep with faster ships and keep up a constant rate of fire. Time seemed to hang in the air as the laser blasts shot straight at them. Akan used that time to fall into a tactic he’d learned only in the latter time he’d flown starfighters. It was a technique that had kept him alive as a SpecForce operative many times. He allowed the Force to flow through his body, taking hold of his arms, legs, and eyes in such a way that it felt like an actual entity helping to push him through things. Guiding him. Not using the Force, but allowing it to assist him. The Jedi saw the Force as both a tool and a guiding light. But Akan, for the first time, found himself seeing it how an Alraxian did. The Force was a companion. A friend to help him when it was necessary....whatever that actually meant.

What it meant, didn’t matter at the moment. What did matter was that Akan was able to move the X-Wing in such a way as to avoid nearly every shot from the frigate. Nearly, of course, as even the Force couldn’t cause one’s reflexes to be so fast as to do sixty things at once. And currently, that was about the number of things that needed to be done to avoid all the shots. Having a feeling that Shadow had her eyes tightly shut, Akan banked the ship hard to port, away from the Frigate and showing, if only for a brief moment, the underbelly of the starfighter to nearly every single point laser cannon on the front of the Frigate. The X-Wing shuddered many times in that short moment as the shields took a beating, but Akan was relieved and surprised to find that they held strong. This ship had some serious advantages to the normal model of X-Wings. 

Akan pulled hard on the stick, whipping the X-Wing around with the nose at the sharp turn’s axis. The main sublight engines kicked in halfway through the spin, which lurched Shadow’s stomach even worse than before. Her eyes half opened to see the four X-Wing’s laser cannons firing madly into the Frigate. Literally, into. Near the front section of the ship, at the upper edge, was a small blueish tinted opening. The hangar. And Akan was firing right into it as the X-Wing charged forward at full speed. Shadow mentally forced herself to keep her eyes open, finally understanding the real insanity of what Akan was attempting. She could have sworn that most of these hangars had some kind of shielding to prevent this exact type of insanity. The moment her thoughts blinked off that, she noticed that the point at which the four laser cannons converged had altered. It tilted up, and there was a small explosion on the hull of the Frigate. So there were ways around it.

There was a sudden, almost immeasurable silence. Akan stopped firing forward. The many point lasers on the Frigate stopped firing. Both Alraxians held their breath. As did all the panicked technicians within the hangar. With a flash of movement, Akan cut off all power to the engines and immediately closed the S-foils. The second part too almost too long, and the landing pads barely had time to drop completely before the entire ship rocked hard with the impact on the deck. The X-Wing skid across the deck for a short time before its momentum brought it into a nearby A-Wing. They jolted to a violent, neck aching stop, and then Shadow noticed that the canopy was open. It was that same moment that they both also saw the Alderaan. So late. If she’d been wrong, this would not have been good. Hell, it wasn’t good anyway. But she reverted to business mode.

Undoing the crash straps holding her down(and glad she’d had them secured), Shadow leapt out of the X-Wing and to the deck below. There was no one near, as everyone had scattered. But she found the smell. She found it, and ran as fast as she could. Ran to the nearby turbolift that it went to. Violently, Shadow barreled over one tech stupid enough to try getting in her way, then charged onward. Distantly, and just before the turbolift door slid closed, she heard a familiar snap-hiss.

They were both insane. So far, that was playing to their advantage. Hopefully it would last at least ten more minutes. [Don’t do anything stupid!] Shadow found herself ‘saying’ over the link.

That got a distracted mental laugh from Akan. [You’re about three years too late with that advice.]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 131: Sneaking and Shooting*

Shadow stood in the turbolift, trying to ignore the smells and focus on the Voorts. Not their smell, but their feel. The soft feeling that everyone gave off in the Force was distinguishable with a little practice, and familiarity also helped. They were close. Alive...conscious...angry? No, just one of them. Titus probably. No...wait that was Jen. Titus was radiating calm. Not even a dangerous calm. It was the kind of calm that one had when they were sure things would work out without too much trouble. Part of the optimism was probably because he had undoubtedly felt her and Akan aboard the ship. Jen felt distracted. Angry at being pushed around and locked up. Angry at the guards who pushed the two of them around. Angry at...Hansen? That one didn’t make too much sense. And that wasn’t even anger as much as...as...as something Shadow didn’t understand. It was enough like anger that she could call it that, but that was only because Shadow had no concept, or even basic understanding for that matter, of jealousy.

 The turbolift stopped. Shadow opened her eyes just as the door slid open. The hallway in front of her went forward for about thirty meters before breaking off into a T-shaped junction. There were doors evenly spaced along both sides of the ten meter wide corridor. Well, eight meter wide. The smells washed over her, and she locked onto a small group of them. The Voorts’ and the guards’ that had accompanied them. Right. Follow that. Akan’s mind was racing and Shadow had a feeling he wasn’t going to be able to keep up the high level of energy for too much longer. He was going to reach a point where there wasn’t even enough energy to morph any wounds. And he wasn’t exactly one to think of those kind of things ahead of time. She needed to get the Voorts and get back to that hangar as soon as possible before Akan got himself...them, killed.

Forcing the wandering thoughts away, Shadow started forward. She took firm steps, well placed and very deliberate, yet silent and cautious. Staying near the center of the hallway to have the best vantage point down both corridors(as she wasn’t yet sure which way the scent would lead), Shadow’s ears twitched. A noise. Ahead and to the left. Left...she stepped to the left, next to the wall enough to hide herself from view but still continuing forward. Step. Step. Step. Loud, booted footsteps. Shadow reached the corner, and waited....listening. The plodding steps continued, growing louder in the echoing silence of the corridor. Louder...louder...her tail twitched in annoyance at the waiting. Those footsteps should have brought their owner to the corner by now. Did the corridor echo sounds oddly? Had to...wait...smell was growing. Disgusting smell. Closer. Closer...along with the louder footsteps. Loud enough so that they were no longer echoing to reach her ears...

Without another thought, Shadow reacted. Spinning around the corner on one foot, elbow outstretched at face level of most average humanoids. This meant that, because of Shadow’s relatively small stature(she hated the word ‘short’), her arm was up a good distance above her own head. While it looked odd, she’d learned how to make it work. Years of having a small stature taught one things like that. It also taught her how to hold her footing when the elbow connected with a nose with a loud crack. The sudden cry of both pain and surprise was cut off by the man losing the air from his lungs from the hard fall onto his back. A second cry which nearly occurred was cut off when Shadow’s foot connected with his bloodied face. There was another crack, and then nothing. Shadow stood back a moment to get the smell again, ignoring that she was leaving a body with a bloodied and heavily dented face right in the open. There wasn’t time to hide it. There. The smell.

Not even looking down, Shadow walked right over the man’s body and down the new corridor. This one went on for a much longer distance, and had less doors lining it. Sniffing the air a moment to confirm, Shadow continued forward. It took only twenty paces before the scent was suddenly gone. Which meant that it went into that door...to the left? She backed up. Yes. There. But did it open straight to a cell or another corridor or just another room? There was only one way to find out. She hit the small panel to the side. There was a click, but the door didn’t open. Shadow pressed it again. Another, slightly harder click, but again...nothing. Growling, she bent down a little to examine the panel. Locked doors were very annoying. With another, more annoyed growl, she ripped the panel off and tossed it off down the corridor. There was a loud, echoing clank, but Shadow didn’t care.

Instead, her focus was on the myriad of wires and circuits within. Spending two years among smugglers and not learning a thing or two was unheard of. And what was an assassin who couldn’t hot-wire doors? It would take time, though. And time, she didn’t have. Akan’s mind was already starting to show his tiring through the link. So, as quickly as she could, Shadow worked with the wires and did everything she could to get the damned door open. It took two minutes. Two very long, very annoying minutes. The entire time, she could feel something else. A silent alarm of sorts had gone off. The only way Shadow knew this was through that overpowering feeling of being watched. Tracked. Hunted. They were coming. And then, the door opened.

It opened, and Shadow had a brief moment where she could see two security personnel . The brief moment ended when one of them fired a blaster rifle at her. But the usual red bolt didn’t shoot out at her. Instead, rings of a sickening blue encircled her and caused her body and mind to go all fuzzy for a moment. Stun blast. It soon became apparent to the two men that the shot hadn’t taken Shadow down. And after a few seconds, the fuzziness faded to the stark reality of the butt of a blaster rifle slamming into her stomach.

Shadow grunted involuntarily, but her body also had another natural reaction. She ignored the pain from the strike, arms shooting up to grab the rifle. To the man’s surprise, she didn’t yank it out of his hands. Instead, Shadow forced it back against him, throwing the man to the ground and giving her room to get inside. She plowed through the doorway, stepping on the downed man’s chest and springing off to dive into the second man. There was a short yell of surprise from him before Shadow landed, her arms wrapping around his neck and forcing him onto his back. This didn’t completely work, as a heavy desk was in the way. Before Shadow could even extend her claws into the man’s neck, there was a violently loud snapping noise from his spine as she forced him down into the desk at a very bad angle. Seeing that fate had stepped in where skill was acting too slowly, Shadow spun around and moved to the first man. He was just getting to his feet, blaster rifle raising to fire off wildly. She delivered a strong kick to the weapon, sending it against the nearby wall. Her entire body continued a spin, and Shadow switched her feet on the ground, the other coming up and delivering a second kick. This one caught the man across the side of the face, the force of the kick driving him into the wall with the blaster rifle. He hit hard, then slumped down without moving again.

And then, Shadow finally looked around the room. It was small, just barely 
over ten by ten meters. There was that desk, and then two doors. The Voorts were close. A guard room for cells. Cells would be locked. Locks meant more time. Shadow cursed and kicked one of the doors hard. Very faintly, from the other side, she heard a yelp of surprise. That was Jen’s voice, no mistake. Good. Start here. She quickly went down to the panel, ripped it off and got to work. For some stupid reason, it wasn’t as complicated as the first she’d hot wired, and only took a half minute to get open. It slid open to reveal Jen, looking surprised, but at the same time relieved. Jen opened her mouth to thank Shadow, but the woman’s expression altered and she pointed behind Shadow, “Duck!”

Shadow did. But her instincts told her to catch the inevitable punch or similar strike. That was stupid, which she would later admit to herself. The sound of a blaster pistol rang out too late for her to pull the arm back down, and a sharp burning sensation arched through her wrist. She let out a growl and managed to remorph it quickly, turning to maul whoever had been stupid enough to actually shoot her. There was a flash of movement past her as she spun to react, and just as Shadow barely stopped herself when more blaster shots rang out. These came from behind her. At least ten shots came from that direction, pelting the three New Republic fleet officers who’d charged in with blaster fire. They dropped, and Shadow turned with a shocked look to see Jen holding the blaster rifle that had attempted to stun Shadow earlier. Jen smiled, shrugged, and said innocently, “You didn’t think I knew how to use the Force in drastic situations?”

“Consider that a pass for part one of your field training,” Shadow commented, the shocked look fading into a grin. She then motioned for Jen to cover her and went to getting Titus out of his cell. Or at least, what she assumed was his cell. It felt like he was in there, though as usual he was annoyingly silent. Behind her, Shadow heard more blaster shots and heavy breathing from Jen. Just before she got the cell door open, the real alarm sounded. It echoed through the ship in the usual annoyingly high pitched tones of most alarms. Shadow cringed at how the sound grated her ears and nearly crossed two wires that would have just locked the door even more so. Thankfully, she realized this and got the right wires together. A moment later, the door opened to show Titus casually leaning against the wall, tapping his feet.

“Took you long enough,” he commented with a smile.

Shadow forced her grin away and snapped, “At least we’re here, Imperial.”

“Late it late, animal,” they both grinned at that. Then, Titus stepped out and got his own blaster rifle. He reached over Jen a moment to assist her in firing at a large group of troops that was amassing at the T-junction where Shadow had left the first body. There was a break in the fire, and he kissed Jen’s cheek with a grin, “You win the bet.”

“What was this bet?” Shadow asked, fining her own blaster from the bodies and waiting for the two Voorts to find them an opening. This wasn’t her area of expertise anymore. Sending blaster fire back and forth in a near stalemate was not what most assassins attempted to do.

Jen managed a moment where she could grin to Shadow, speaking even as she continued firing around the corner, “He said it would be Akan.”

Before Shadow could comment on that, Titus knelt down next to one of the bodies and scoured the man’s belt. Obviously finding what he wanted, the former Imperial got back to his feet, hand holding a circular object. Then, after a quick glance around the corner, he tossed the item. They all pulled back into the room and just before the frag grenade exploded, Titus grinned, “No, I said Akan would be the idiot to charge into this ship instead of finding a better way to do this.”

“Then you’re right” Shadow said, “I’ll tell you all about our rough landing once we’re out of this place.”

Any response from the Voorts was cut off by the deafening explosion. 

* * * *​
Akan knelt behind the A-Wing that they had toppled over in the ‘rough’ landing. In his left hand, his blue green lightsaber glowed and hummed, and in his right, his small blaster pistol was giving off a lot of heat. His Alraxian body didn’t actually mind it that much, but that didn’t mean it was good for the gun. He was pinned in an okay position. Though he couldn’t see the turbolifts, Akan was still right next to his X-Wing and could dive in when the time came. When. Not if. Though when had better be soon, because while it had been no trouble to scare off the techs, the fleet troopers aboard the ship were really a different breed of gunners. He was lucky they hadn’t yet attempted to surround him, but that was only because he wasn’t in the center of the hangar, and could fire constantly on any idiot that attempted to get next to him. 

The A-Wing being on its side, Akan was kneeling just by the ship’s damaged cockpit. Though he couldn’t stand and shoot over, he could step to the side some and fire through that small slit in the ship’s nose. While he’d never understood the design purpose for that slit, Akan found himself loving it more than ever. The few times he’d had to step out into the open(only to take out the intelligent group who’d attempted to set up a larger E-Web cannon), Akan had used the lightsaber simply for an intimidation factor. Just seeing the blade was enough to worry most. But that was wearing off, and he was starting to wonder why he even kept the thing out.

[On our way.] Shadow’s ‘voice’ cut into Akan’s thoughts through the link, forcing him to realize that there was a fundamental problem with this crazy plan. All crazy plans had them, as they were all thought up in the adrenaline rush of the moment. And now the others were coming back. Akan took a deep breath. Looking up, he saw a small series of piping. He reached out, keeping his focus both on the world around him and the Force. An invisible hand gripped the pipes tightly, and it took a hard ‘yank’ through the Force to get them free. The blaster fire aimed at the A-Wing stopped as everyone saw those three pipes hanging up there without anything holding them up. A moment later, Akan threw them. He didn’t see where they fell, and didn’t even care.

All he wanted was to hear that loud clang when they hit something. From the sound of it, they only hit the deck, but it was a moment of surprise that he could use. Akan took four quick steps out from behind the cover of the A-Wing, his eyes darting around and not even attempting defense for the few seconds. There. Just above the turbolifts...a small, glasteel plate. The hangar’s control room. Without really thinking, Akan holstered his blaster and started running towards the turbolift. A group of four fleet troopers appeared from behind a set of ladders and scaffolding used by the techs to get onto larger ships. They had blaster rifles out and were taking aim to fire. Taking aim only meant placing their muzzles to fire just ahead of Akan. He knew that, and extended his right hand out towards them, sending a heavy, invisible wall at them. The Force slammed into the four in much the same way that the X-Wing had hit the A-Wing, and there were four yelps followed by four thuds.

Akan switched the lightsaber back into his right hand and ran around the half constructed X-Wing that was sitting in front of the Alderaan. He ducked under a wing, found himself face to face with a cowering tech, and just ignored him. Running past the nose cone of the starfighter, Akan realized this was a bad idea. This was first apparent in the sudden push of the Force for him to turn around. The second proof of it being a bad idea was the blaster shot. Thankfully, Akan listened to the Force and spun around with his lightsaber up in a defensive position. It caught the blaster bolt just a moment before passing the blade, batting it off to the far wall. Akan’s instincts took control of his body, and before he could stop himself he was charging forward to the now terrified technician.

One lightsaber swing took the tech’s arm off at the elbow, getting a loud scream from him before a second horizontal strike ended any pain that had been left. Akan was already pivoting around and heading towards his goal by the time his mind caught up with his actions. But there wasn’t time to think. There was barely time to do what he needed to do. Looking up, he saw the glasteel panel. Akan took a short glance to the lightsaber before hurling it up at the panel. It hit blade first, shattering the strong material. He didn’t take time to see how much it was shattered. By the time his eyes saw the small opening, Akan had already leapt off of the X-Wing’s nose cone, using the Force to propel his body up much higher than was ever possible even to a normal Alraxian. Quickly, Akan balled up to get through the small opening. Akan landed on his head, rolling and trying to ignore the pain from the scratches along his arms that the glasteel had caused. That pain was suddenly blanked out by another. The roll slammed him into a console, and stopped any kind of elegant form of getting to his feet.

After a whimper, Akan opened his eyes to see...no one. Empty! Ha! No one had seen his idiotic screw up. Quickly, he got to his feet and looked around at the many consoles. Now...to find the tractor beam controls. It took just a few moments, and he had it deactivated. Or at least, he hoped so. Even though the bridge could control the tractor beams, at least disabling it from here would I’ve a short amount of time. Hopefully enough. Akan started to head back to the cracked panel, but suddenly remembered his lightsaber. Looking around, he ran over and grabbed it off of the ground. He then reactivated it and made sure to cut a large hole to get out of, not thinking that the fall was probably going to hurt his legs much more than that glasteel could.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 132: Hanger Troubles*

“He’s in the hangar causing trouble,” Shadow said for the eight time. They were in the turbolift now. It had taken too much time to hot-wire that, as it was also locked down by the alarm that had finally stopped sounding. But the grenade that Titus had thrown did the job of clearing their path, and they didn’t encounter anyone else.

Jen smiled slightly, “Akan’s good at that. How long has he been down there?”

“Ten minutes, maybe,” Shadow shrugged. Tracking time wasn’t one of her strong point. In fact, she rarely cared about it at all. Things got done when they got done. Simple as that. Why all the humans(and other species for that matter, but humans seemed more extreme) couldn’t accept that was beyond her.

“He’s alright?” surprisingly, that was Titus asking the question. 

Shadow gave him a look, then managed a nod, “More or less. A little tired...scratched up. But nothing too horrible. He’s not dead.”

She had not intended that as a joke, but for some reason the two Voorts laughed. Humor was another one of those things that was beyond Shadow. Well, normal humor, at least. Shadow had her own, much more twisted sense of humor that usually had her laughing at things most people wouldn’t. They gave her the same strange looks that she was currently giving the Voorts.

But there was not time to actually say anything else. The turbolift came to a halt, and a half second later the door slid open. This was the first time that the Voorts got a look at the landing that the Alraxians had made, and it got a short surprised sound out of the two of them. It was more likely the A-Wing being on its side that got that reaction than the general unharmed look of the X-Wing. Then again, it was harder to see the X-Wing as it was behind another...which had a severed body under one wing. Twice severed. Cleanly. Lightsaber wounds, no doubt.

There was also blaster fire. It wasn’t aimed at them, but right above them, a constant barrage that took them a moment to identify. Off behind some scaffolding right across from the wrecked A-Wing, there were three fleet security troopers firing constantly up over the turbolift. What was up there? It didn’t matter. At least, Titus decided that and grabbed the two females, pushing them and growled under his breath, “Come on. Just get to the ships.”

“But where’s Akan?” Jen asked as they started to the right, heading to the Alderaan. Following the obvious and not without a little help from the Force, they all stopped and turned to look up to where the blaster fire was aimed. They saw a glasteel panel, which had a somewhat small opening cut into it. About that time, a blue green blade cut through the panel, opening up a larger hole. No surprise that he was attracting the blaster fire. A moment later, blaster fire started shooting back, and it took a moment before the three of them realized Akan wasn’t shooting, but instead deflecting it.

Jen was the first to break out of the frozen stance and act. Hefting the heavy blaster rifle in both hands, she charged under the nearby X-Wing(trying to ignore the decapitated corpse), and then stepped out into the open. She needed to be in the open to see around the cover that the three troopers were using. They seemed so focused on Akan that she didn’t have any trouble standing there for a half second before holding the trigger down on the heavy rifle. Blaster bolts hit two of them, only killing the first who took a shot to the face. He dropped hard onto the hangar’s deck, but the other took a glancing shot off of the lightly armored chestplate he wore. It sent the man stumbling back onto his backside, but he quickly fired off a wild shot that went high. At least it was aimed in her direction....as were four other shots.

Apparently, there was another turbolift off on the end of the hangar opposite the entrance. Jen had a quick glance to a large number of troops emptying out of the turbolift before a strong arm yanked her back behind the cover of the nearby X-Wing. She looked to Titus, who gave her a ‘You’re crazy but we’ll discuss this when we’re alive’ look in response, then managed an innocent shrug, “Can’t just leave the kid up there to get shot at, can we?”

Titus grinned, and reached around the aft section of the X-Wing to fire off a few more shots. Not aiming, but just putting down some warning shots to discourage any kind of approach. He pulled back and then looked to the Alderaan, a clear path right in front of them, even behind the cover, “We need to go. Now.”

“But Akan...”

“Has Shadow to look after him,” Titus grabbed Jen’s arm and started to drag her to their ship. He was surprised when she yanked her arm out of the grip and took a sidestep to fire more with the blaster fire. Cursing, he gave up and stepped next to her, also firing at the very large amount of troops that were now trying to move closer. They were better shots, too, and some of them were getting too close for comfort. Titus was relieved when Jen had the sense to duck back behind the X-Wing’s aft section for cover again. At least if they were holding their ground they weren’t standing in the open taking fire. Instead, the aft of the X-Wing was taking a very large amount of shots, though some went past and nearly hit the Alderaan.

Jen heard a noise from back towards the turbolift and turned to see its source. She caught a short glimpse of Akan cutting a much larger hole in the glasteel, sending pieces shattering down onto the hangar deck below. She then also noticed where Shadow was. The Alraxian had grabbed herself a blaster pistol...no...where would she have gotten that from?! Since Jen hadn’t seen Akan toss the weapon down to Shadow, it left her confused until she decided not to think about it anymore. With all of them except Akan behind definite cover, he was again taking the majority of the fire. This time, though, with so many more troops it was a dangerously large amount. Jen had a feeling of how Akan planned to get back down, and if he was going to do that, he’d need a break in the blaster fire. There was only one way to do that, even if it was near suicide.

Turning back to the world in front of her, Jen stepped around Titus and took a deep breath. With everyone having holed themselves into a good position of cover by this point, it really was suicide. But then again, how would she ever be accepted as a Voort without a little suicidal fun? Then, she took a firm step out from behind the cover, which was followed by a second to get her out of Titus’ reach. As she did so, her finger held down the rifle’s trigger and she fired a mass of blaster bolts at the area in front of her. The troopers had been smart, repositioning themselves behind the scaffolds and work equipment so that they now had cover from her direction. But it at least surprised them. She saw at least four heads duck down suddenly, and at the same time, a few others simply turned and brought their firing arc in her direction. Titus quickly stepped out next to her, also firing but reaching out to drag her back.

With the amount of blaster fire, it really was a miracle that the two Voorts weren’t burnt to blaster pelted crisps. In fact, Titus was actually amazed that in dragging her back behind the X-Wing that he didn’t take a single shot(though three came far too close and he could swear that some of his hair was now burnt off). But Jen wasn’t so lucky. There was a cry of pain from her just before he got back to the cover, and he looked down to see she’d taken two shots. One on the leg, which explained why he had to literally drag her, and the other in the right shoulder...explaining why her blaster rifle was now in the open on the deck. He dropped his own weapon to kneel down beside her. Jen groaned but in her usual stubborn manner tried to get up. Apparently, the wounds weren’t too bad. Or at least, she was good at pretending they weren’t. Probably a little of both knowing her.

Titus noticed her head was titled back and she was looking up, past the X-Wing and back towards the turbolift. He turned just in time to see Akan jump. The barrage of blaster fire followed the falling Alraxian, and his lightsaber was only able to deflect a few of them. Titus saw at least two shots hit the Alraxian before there was a loud clank of him hitting the deck. Two cries of pain then echoed out, Akan’s much louder than Shadow’s. But a moment later, Titus saw both Alraxians running right towards them, doing a bad job at using the X-Wing for cover. Shots were shooting right past them, and Akan obviously figured out the pointlessness of actually stopping when he deactivated the lightsaber.

The two of them then ducked under the wing of the starfighter, using the larger S-Foils as a good cover. Titus was starting to pick up Jen, deciding that it was time to go at least two minutes ago, “You two alright?”

Akan shrugged, “Body is. Mind is still trying to figure out why the legs aren’t still broken.”

“You’ll have to teach me the mutilate self and come out unscathed trick once we’re out of this,” Titus commented, getting to his feet and looking straight ahead to the Alderaan’s access ramp. He glanced to the Alraxians a moment, and then said, “She’s alright. Lets just get out of here.”

“Agreed,” Shadow grumbled, looking like she was going to maul Akan at the first chance she had. The three of them then ran. Titus ran first, going a bit slower the semi-conscious Jen in his arms. She was in that state of shock that being injured could bring. She was alive, but only semi aware of the situation around her. This was apparent in the mumbled nothings she was speaking between the groans. Once they were in hyperspace, he was going to have to find a way to treat those wounds quickly. But at least he had cover for the entire run.

Akan and Shadow had to run straight across the open section of the hangar to reach their X-Wing. Both of them ran without looking to their left at the oncoming blaster fire. Akan took another blaster shot just before they reached the cover of the vertical A-Wing. The blaster shot hit him straight in the left shoulder, throwing him to the deck. Thankfully, his momentum sent him tumbling to the ground behind the cover of the A-Wing. Trying to ignore the pain, he remorphed the wound and found Shadow was dragging him up to his feet. That was rare for her, and he couldn’t help a sarcastic comment as he climbed up into the main pilot’s chair, “How is it you never get hit?!”

Shadow was already in her seat, strapping in and grinning proudly, “Because I’m smart enough to realize that it hurts. Why is it you always end up getting shot?”

Akan couldn’t help a short laugh as he strapped himself in and hit the switch to bring the canopy down. Through the link, he fed a myriad of information to Shadow so that they could get the ship’s systems running just as quickly. It was prefaced with a ‘don’t think, just press the switches I tell you to’, and Shadow was usually good with things like that. As quickly as he could, Akan got the repulsorlifts online and had them rising up off the deck. Shadow was following his instructions quickly enough that the ship’s shields came online just as fast, stopping the damage that the continued fire from the trooper’s blaster rifles could have caused. Suddenly realizing that the exit might be blocked, Akan looked over his shoulder to see the Alderaan was also just getting off the deck. The shuttle was slower than their starfighter, so it was going to be at least another ten or fifteen seconds before there was room for the X-Wing to get out. Fine. Plan C.

“Start pulling the trigger the second that the weapons are active!” Akan snapped over his shoulder, bringing the X-Wing up a little higher so that the S-Foils had room to open. Yes, the lasers could still fire with the S-Foils closed, but Akan had never been too comfortable with attempting it. He’d seen it done before only once, and it was in such a panicked situation that the X-Wing was shot down a few seconds later. Ambushes tended to cause things like that. Akan didn’t have to force himself back into reality, as the S-Foil’s locked in their open position and Shadow started firing. The shots from the top two cannons hit the back wall of the hangar, getting small explosions and taking out a good amount of the scaffolding. The bottom two cannons had a nearer target, simply destroying the broadsided A-Wing that was directly in front of them.

Akan let her continue firing before pulling the X-Wing back some. It was enough so that he could spin the X-Wing around to pull out of the hangar nose first. Thankfully, Shadow let go of the trigger as the starfighter spun around. If she hadn’t, it was likely that the exiting Alderaan would have gotten some unexpected surprises. The shuttle reversed out of the hangar, spun around, and shot off...in a loop. Titus was a better pilot than Akan had ever assumed. Though the sudden barrage of turbolaser fire from the other Nebulon-B was worrying. There wasn’t a choice, though.

“Hang on,” Akan said over his shoulder, diverting the weapon’s power to the sublight engines, “This is going to get rough. I’d also suggest closing your eyes again.”

Shadow nodded even though he couldn’t see, and followed both his suggestions. The closing of eyes was expected, but he probably hadn’t actually meant for her to dig her claws into the seat. There was no way she wasn’t going to hang on. But then, just as the drives kicked in and they rocketed out of the hangar, Shadow opened her eyes. Why not? It could be...

Her thoughts trailed off to nothing as they shot out, immediately rolling and reversing direction to follow the Alderaan’s course. Halfway through the roll, the S-Foils were closed and even more speed kicked in. The inertial dampeners worked very well on the starfighter so neither of the Alraxians actually felt the force of the acceleration, but Shadow couldn’t help leaning back in the chair slightly. Just as they passed over the top section of the frigate, the black darkness of space lit up. Yes, they could see the two soft blue drives of the Alderaan not too far ahead, but now a sudden stream of green and red was everywhere. Turbolaser fire mixed with smaller, anti-starfighter lasers. The canopy started spinning as Akan darted through a series of rolls, spins, and even a few loops. Through it, there were many shudders as the shields took hits, but Shadow was too focused on the insanity outside the canopy to look at the shield reading and see the strength fading away quickly.

Shadow also didn’t realize her grin. It was growing with each new jolt that Akan’s maneuvering sent through the ship. Akan was doing the old multitasking. Both eyes stared forward, using a mix of his sight and the Force to maneuver around the turbolaser fire directed at the X-Wing and the Alderaan. Through his peripheral vision, he watched the shield status and the status of the navcomputer’s plotting the hyperspace jump. Earlier, he had noticed the lack of an R-unit droid, and now understood that the capability was instead programmed straight into the main computer. A very nice ship.

The ship didn’t then, it rocked violently. A nice ship that had just lost its shields. Cursing, Akan tried to push a little more power into the engines. It sent them past the Alderaan in a flash of movement, giving Titus a good sight of the blaster scoring all across the X-Wing. Knowing his shuttle wasn’t nearly as good at maneuvering as that fighter, Titus had started by plotting the hyperspace course and just getting to a safe range. The Alderaan rocked roughly from two hits. The shields held, but they wouldn’t for much longer. Clicking on the comm, Titus found himself yelling, “Go!”

Apparently, Akan was one step ahead of him. Or at least one step even. Titus had time to see the X-Wing stretch slightly, then shoot off and out of sight just as he pulled the hyperspace levers. A moment later, he got sight of a red flash in front of the cockpit, then all turned to blue. He couldn’t help letting out a long sigh of relief, then got up and left the cockpit without even checking on the ETA or damage they’d taken. Instead, Titus nearly ran back to the small medical section of the ship(it was more a closet than a section), and knelt down next to Jen. She was lying on the small bed, breathing and slightly more aware than before. Letting out another sigh of relief, Titus started treating the burnt skin as best he could. At least patching it up would be enough to stop any kind of infection...or worse.

Aboard the X-Wing, there was a short silence after they’d entered hyperspace. It had lasted only until Shadow started giggling. That soon turned to out right laughter. Akan couldn’t help but wonder if she’d completely lost her mind, even though the link didn’t provide any hints. In fact, the link was so overblown with whatever Shadow was feeling that he couldn’t get anything to make sense. Then, through the laughter, Shadow yelled, “That was great!! Let’s go again!”

Akan grinned and couldn’t help laughing. His was more a nervous laughter considering how close they’d come to death, but it eventually turned to real laughter like Shadow’s. Being an Alraxian really was infectious at times...and it wasn’t all that bad either.

((_Notes: New Server! YAY! Still going with at least one update per day, but I've got a couple new things coming. Next few updates should be longer than usual, and I've got a new cast sketch done(with EVERYONE circa Corellia marriage trip). That should be uploaded a little later in the week. New character sketches for everyone are coming too._))


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## dpdx

Thanks for posting this story hour, AMG. Makes me wish my SW books weren't in storage.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 133: Hyperspace*

It was going to be a long hyperspace jump. Titus had eventually retreated back to the cockpit to make sure things were all doing okay, and had found that the jump was going to be a four hour long trip. At least Alderaan was comfortable. He couldn’t help feeling sorry for the two Alraxians in that small X-Wing. But there wasn’t anything that could be done about it. It was a miracle that they were alive...but he was getting used to situations like that. Despite everything he may have once thought about Akan, Titus really understood the skill that the young man had. It finally made sense to him why the New Republic would allow such a young person in their ranks. In a way, though, it was frightening. Yes, Titus was a warrior through and through. But Titus had a childhood. A normal one by most standards. He had loving parents, and good friends. War had only shown its ugly face by the time Titus was an adult. But Akan...Titus really couldn’t imagine fighting from such a young age, and didn’t want to attempt imagining the effects that would have on one’s psyche.

Titus had moved past his brush with the Dark Side. He knew its dangers, its lures, and what it could do to a person. He’d seen it in himself. And looking at Akan, he could see a danger. To only know war was bad enough, but to hold such strong emotions inside was even worse, especially for someone so strong. But at least Akan seemed to have been holding himself together much better lately. Maybe all of that worrying was baseless now...hopefully. Shrugging off the depressing thoughts, Titus stepped back into the small medical room onboard the Alderaan.

Jen was awake, sitting up and looking somewhat dizzy. She managed a weak smile and leaned back against the wall behind the bed. Titus sat next to her, gently wrapping an arm around her waist, “You doing better?”

She nodded, resting her head on his shoulder and letting out a sigh, “Everyone’s okay?”

“They got out right before we did,” Titus answered quietly.

There was a silence, then a short, very genuine laugh from Jen. After a moment, she silenced herself and asked quietly, “That was pretty stupid of me, wasn’t it?”

Titus couldn’t help a slight grin, patting Jen on the waist, “Yeah, it was.”

“Its not fair,” Jen grumbled, a laugh still in her voice though she was obviously trying to fight it back and sound serious.

“What’s not fair?”

Tilting her head to look at him, she grinned, “Why do the three of you never get shot?”

This time, Titus did laugh, “Special training. Actually, this is all just one big holodrama and we forgot to tell you. We wanted to keep your performance genuine. Apparently, the galaxy enjoys seeing a strong woman who reacts naturally.”

“And that means I have to get shot?” she raised an eyebrow, and poked him gently in the chest, “If I’m the star, shouldn’t you get shot and then I mourn your death? Then, just before the end, you appear, everyone’s happy, and the bad guy dies.”

“Nope, this is the other kind of holodrama,” the grin on Titus’ face grew, “It’s the kind where everyone thinks the star is dead and she comes back stronger than ever.”

“Oh...right...” she trailed off a moment, then mock glared, “Sounds all dramatic and great, but can’t you people use fake blasters? That really hurt.”

“Keeps the illusion of reality,” Titus responded quickly, not missing a beat.

The glare faded, and Jen grumbled, “Not much of an illusion if you ask me,” she leaned up slightly and kissed his cheek, whispering very quietly, “I can’t help but wonder if you’re an expendable cast member. You think I could toss you out the airlock for letting me get shot?”

“That’s a very harsh treatment,” he sat up a little, giving her a worried look. Something in that voice hinted that she might just try it.

There was a pause, and her grin suddenly grew, though her voice sounded slightly devious, “Husbands are supposed to be shields, didn’t you read the terms back on Corellia?”

Before Titus could respond, Jen silenced him with a kiss. He couldn’t help still feeling a little worried, as she had sounded so serious...and probably was. Maybe he did miss something back on Corellia...nah. Hopefully.

* * * *​
Akan had attempted sleeping during the trip. It had ended up with him just sitting back in that seat with his eyes closed and mind running in overdrive. Shadow had fallen asleep not long before, and was out in her usual rock-like sleep. Grumbling to himself, Akan attempted, yet again, to shift into a more comfortable position. These seats were truly not designed for beings with tails...sensitive tails. It seemed that no matter how he moved, even with the straps holding him down off, his tail ached slightly from the seat. For some odd reason, the idea of just being human or any tail-less species didn’t cross his mind.

Two hours passed with Akan just going over past events and thinking about pointless things. Then, behind him, there was a grunt, curse, grumble, and a whimper...in that order. It took a few more moments before there was a loud yawn, an odd purring type noise, and then, out of the corner of his vision, he saw arms. After a couple more minutes of this, Shadow finished stretching and mumbled, “‘re we there yet?”

“Halfway,” Akan said quietly, closing his eyes again.

“‘s scrap of metal’s uncomfurful,” mumbled the same, not all awake voice.

Akan couldn’t help a slight smile, but found he moved again to find that elusive comfortable position. He didn’t say anything, and Shadow continued mumbling pointlessly for at least another half hour. It took that long for her to properly wake up from the cat nap, and once coherent, asked through a yawn, “Why aren’t you asleep?”

“Not tired,” he responded flatly.

There was a ‘hmmph’ noise and then he felt the headrest of the seat getting tapped, “You weren’t tired earlier. Adrenaline rush gone. You’re exhausted.”

There was a silence. How could he argue with someone that was right there in his mind? It also meant she knew why he wasn’t asleep. This was a tactic she’d used before. Fine, he’d cooperate, “I don’t want to sleep.”

“That’s a first,” Shadow snapped in that all-knowing voice she used to goad him on to the proper response. It was part of her trying to teach him to stop holding things inside. While that may have seemed ironic, considering she’d been teaching him to use his emotions as strength, some things were more dangerous to everyone when kept inwards.

“You know why,” Akan grumbled back, fighting her at every turn it seemed.

But Shadow held her ground, keeping an icy calm tone to her voice, “Yes, I do. The question is, do you know why?”

There was another pause before Akan sighed, “I don’t want to see those faces again. They didn’t deserve to die.”

“You made a mistake,” Shadow said very calmly, continuing to push him almost too far.

“A mistake that killed innocent people,” he snapped back over his shoulder, “It was more than a mistake. I failed.”

“You can’t always succeed.”

“I should!” Akan yelled, back at her. That got a smile out of her, though he couldn’t see it. It hadn’t taken as long as she had expected for him to start actually talking. His voice calmed, and he spoke more quietly, “I should...when lives are at stake.”

“And yet you wield that lightsaber,” Shadow said, sitting back slightly and pushing even more, “Are you saying its alright to kill those that don’t agree with you, but wrong to kill those that are out for your life?”

“I didn’t! I didn’t say that!”

“You implied it,” sounded the eerily calm voice again, finally not pushing any farther and satisfied with the current position.

Akan was silent for a moment, obviously thinking about it, “I just reacted...I don’t know what happened. I didn’t mean for things to go so far.”

“And yet they did,” Shadow renewed her assault, still speaking in that calm voice, “Why?”

“I thought they...I saw...” he trailed off, trying to put emotions into words, “I saw the gunners that killed her. I knew they weren’t the same...but they were in the same place...and I...I don’t know.”

“You do,” this time, Shadow actually sounded a bit sympathetic, which was odd and slightly worrying, “You’ve questioned our people many times...our ways that I’ve taught you. The one that you always fight against is why the Tam-Day-U fight like we do.”

Akan attempted to look over his shoulder, surprised by the change in tone, “Emotionless killers. No nothing. No lives of your own.”

“And yet, we succeed,” Shadow said in a serious tone, “We succeed because there are no emotions to get in the way. We kill because we have to. Be it a mission or simply for our survival. It is our job. It is why we exist.”

“Its slavery!” Akan snapped suddenly, “Your own people treat you like dirt! You’ve said it yourself.”

Shadow didn’t miss a beat, “It is our way. We are peaceful. The Tam-Day-U are a disgrace to the Empire.”

Akan sighed. If that wasn’t a pre-programmed response, then he didn’t know what was. Yes, Shadow did have a good point when it came to putting one’s emotions aside, but there was still something naturally wrong about it. Alraxians were even more emotionally based creatures than humans were. To completely cut that off seemed impossible to Akan. Shadow had been away long enough that she had developed a very individual personality, but there were still the old traces of the emotionless killer in there. Usually in that grin that worried everyone.

They didn’t speak for the rest of the trip. Shadow fell asleep again after a while, but awoke just minutes before they reached the destination. Akan found it was amazingly refreshing to pull the hyperspace lever, and even more so to watch the stars return to normal, seeing a soft orange one not too far away. Anoat. Not the prettiest system in the galaxy, but remote. The second that the X-Wing exited hyperspace, both Shadow and Akan were mentally assaulted with a familiar voice. [You’re late!! Thought you were s’posed to be right behind me! What took you so long?! You’re never late! I was bored! And lonely...why were you late?!]

Both Alraxians grinned. Poor Loki. It was Shadow who responded o the distant Kanyak, completely ignoring what he’d said. [Do you think you could reconfigure your interior to fit this ship inside, Loki?]

An odd question in Akan’s opinion, but then again, he still didn’t completely understand how Kanyak’s worked. Loki’s ‘voice’ responded a second later, as if waiting on that question. [Already done! That’s what I did while waiting! Opening the hangar! Don’t take long! You’re late enough and I’m booooored!]

Shadow laughed quietly then said to Akan, “You heard him, go!”

Ignoring the tap on the back of his head, Akan pulled the X-Wing around to the closing Kanyak and found the open hangar. It was small, but just large enough for the X-Wing to fit...hopefully. Akan made sure to slow down the starfighter considerably just in case, not liking how tight the space was on the two sides. As he was finally setting down and the hangar door closed like an iris behind, the comm clicked and Titus’ voice sounded, “Jen says she owes you two a good beating for letting her get shot.”

“What?” Shadow tilted her head in that usual confused fashion. Of course, Akan understood the joke and grinned.

“Forget it, Shadow,” Jen’s voice cut in, sounding tired but happy. The starfighter began powering down as Jen continued speaking, “Where to from here?”

“Rest,” Shadow said simply, and Akan couldn’t help but give her a look. She was obsessed with sleeping lately...well, not lately. Always. Sleep, eat, hunt. That was the extent of Shadow’s knowledge. But just before the comm system cut out, she added, “After that, I’m going to Coruscant. Where you three go is up to you.”

They all knew that the last part was directed at Akan more than anyone.

((_Okay, okay, its kind of short. Shoot me. Tommorrow will hopefully be longer. Not as much time to write today as I'm (finally) going back home tommorrow. Need to pack stuff._))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 134: Fear and Doubt*

They spent in day outside the Anoat system, Loki and Alderaan in a comfortable orbit at the outer reaches of the system. Shadow had gone straight to her quarters, passing out on the bed without even asking Loki to close the door. When Akan commented on this, the ship got confused and closed and opened the door about three times before deciding to leave it open. Akan couldn’t help a smile, and had gone to his own quarters for some actual rest. The beds were surprisingly comfortable, and the rooms very spacious. The company of Loki wasn’t all that bad, either.

After a long, undisturbed sleep, the two Alraxians were up and scrounging for food. It was the first time that Akan didn’t actually question the strong need for food, as he’d learned to accept that using energy in this body was much different than for a human. At least that was one helpful hint as to how the Alraxian body might work, no matter how confusing and seemingly impossible the concept of morphing was. He couldn’t help thinking about it, as it was Jen who had brought up those questions when she’d first learned of all that an Alraxian could do. Jen. There was still something there...dangerous, but distant. The two Alraxians didn’t speak while eating, too focused on food to care about voice or even using the link to babble. Akan did come close, though, nearly bringing up that Jen should be taken back to somewhere safe until she was ready. He shrugged it off, though, knowing it would be a bad idea to bring that subject back up. Again.

It was after they’d finished eating, or at least decided that they could eat more later, that Shadow contacted the Alderaan. It surprised Akan to find an old holoprojector in a small room off from the cockpit. Of course, everything was slightly smaller since Loki had created space for the X-Wing. The once six rooms were reduced to the two quarters, cockpit, and this tiny closet-like room. The scratchy, blue image of Titus stood there, looking like he’d just woken up. Somehow, that wouldn’t be surprising.

“It will be a long trip to the Core,” Titus was saying, and Akan decided it was probably a good idea to pay attention. Currently, if all was going well at least, Shadow was the only one Titus could see. Hear...well, Akan didn’t know. He knew he couldn’t hear Jen, and Titus swore that she was right next to him. It was interesting how the technology only now caught his attention after so many years of simply accepting it. Maybe it was its being placed within such an unfamiliar environment?

Shadow was, as usual, ignoring Akan’s thoughts through the link and focusing on the task at hand, “I told you I’m going,” she motioned to Akan, “And Jedi boy here says he’s going to.”

There was a short pause and Akan couldn’t help but noticed a somewhat surprised look on Titus’ face, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Talk about a loaded question. Shadow and Akan had already had this discussion though. It was short. The first problem mentioned was his last trip there, barely a day earlier. That was ignoring the fact that his face was probably all over the place on Coruscant. The other problem was their blasting away from that New Republic fleet group. That put the ships themselves as a danger. While it was possible that the fleet hadn’t sent back profiles on the ships just yet, that was unlikely. Of course, Akan had a feeling that Titus was actually referring to the trouble that he had encountered on that last trip to Coruscant. Seemed like that man worried about Akan’s state nearly as much as Akan did about Jen’s. Fitting, at least.

“He’ll be good,” Shadow commented, giving Akan a look telling him that if he didn’t behave she’d lock him in a closet. No, the look didn’t actually say that, but she had earlier and the look helped in emphasizing that. She the looked back to Titus’ image and said, “You two don’t have to come. It would probably be safer, anyway.”

Another loaded comment, this time actually surprising Akan. Shadow was expressing worry for Jen. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. There were a thousand reasons that just the two of them going alone would be best, especially considering their ability to morph. That usually made tracking very tough. But Titus just shook his head after looking off to his left, “We’re coming with you. I...are you sure Marix is there?”

“She’s alive,” Shadow said flatly, “I can feel her. Its only rarely, but she’s there...”

“I have to see her again,” he said almost too quickly, then looked to his left again before adding, “Jen also says that you kids need someone watching you.”

That got a slight grin from Shadow, but she just nodded without a word. There was an awkward silence before Shadow said, “We’ll leave in a few minutes. See you there.”

Before Titus could respond, the image faded and Shadow stepped back. Akan raised an eyebrow, “You alright?”

That got the usual glare from her, but it had been expected. Shadow nodded, stepped past him and quickly making her way to the cockpit and her seat. Akan was right behind her, plopping into his own seat and still giving her a curious look, “What’s wrong? There’s at least one more thing that I would have asked him.”

“Oh really?” Shadow asked in a dangerously calm voice, her hands working on plotting a course while she was obviously talking with Loki. That glazed look in her eyes gave that away. And yet she still managed to do a third thing by berating him, “And what would the all knowing Jedi have asked?”

She had a short temper today, it seemed. The only time she called him ‘Jedi’ was when either she was angry, or teasing him. But this time it was obviously not teasing. The ice in her voice was what gave that away. But, holding his ground, Akan said as calmly as he could, “We’re going to Coruscant. Coruscant is a huge planet. We are looking for one specific spot, which might not even exist. Would asking him if he had at least a vague idea of its location have been a good idea?”

The ice faded from her glare and the glazed look disappeared. Loki had gone quiet. Either the ship was terrified of her response to what Akan had just said, or was just done with whatever it was he was saying. But Shadow’s voice was back to normal, not cold or even dangerous at all. Just...Shadow, “He doesn’t know where it is. He mentioned that a few months back.”

“Then...how will we know where to go?” Akan asked, not even seeing the lines of hyperspace extend into the swirling blue tunnel. Loki was much more silent in the transition to hyperspace also, so it didn’t get his attention in that way either.

Shadow sighed and sat back in the chair, closing her eyes, “I’ll know. You will have to trust me,” she trailed off, then, after noticing that Akan was waiting for her to continue, spoke a little more quietly, “Akan, I don’t know what I’m going to find there. I know its important, and I know I have to do it...but I don’t know what it is. Whatever it is, though, you must understand that it will very well affect the both of us.”

Akan was shocked. Even though she hadn’t spoken either things directly, that had been both her admitting fear and at the same time actually apologizing to him. That was a first. Two firsts together, in fact. Realizing that she was getting slightly angry from his mental reaction, Akan cut off his thoughts and just said the first things that came to mind, “Its not your fault. We’re in this together, and I’m not running away...no matter what may have happened on that planet already. I’ve been too selfish lately.”

Surprisingly, that got a hint of a smile on Shadow’s face, “See? Your last trip wasn’t as much a failure as you thought. You might have learned much more than you realize.”

* * * *​
Jen sat cross-legged in the small room aboard that Alderaan that had been designated the lounge. The only reason for the name was that it was the only room, asides from the quarters of course, that had comfortable places to sit. Despite that, though, she was on the floor. Concentrating. Focusing. But the small objects that she had set down in front of her simply wouldn’t budge. No matter how hard she focused or tried not to try, it didn’t work. What was so different about this place?! It was calm and quiet and it should have been working!

“You’re thinking too much,” Titus said quietly from behind her. She knew he’d been standing at the entrance to the small room for at least a few minutes, but had continued to focus her attention on the objects in front of her. His voice broke the concentration and she sat back with a heavy sigh.

“I thought before and it still worked,” she complained, tipping her head back to look at him and ignoring the slight dizziness that it caused.

Titus’ expression was stern, and he pointed to the things in front of her, “You can’t just will things to happen all the time. It takes practice. And then more practice. Eventually, there will be a small part of your brain that only does that one thing and then it will seem easy. But before that can ever happen, you have to continue practicing.”

“Its not practice if nothing moves,” Jen commented idly, though she did sit straight up again and stared intently at the objects.

“There are things other than just levitation that anyone using the Force has to practice,” Titus’ voice responded calmly.

Jen couldn’t help a slight grin as her eyes closed and she attempted to multitask, focusing with one half of her mind and speaking to Titus with the other, “You sound just like Shadow.”

“For a reason,” he responded without missing a beat, and distantly she heard him sitting down in one of the chairs behind her, “Some truths are universal.”

There were a few minutes of silence as Jen went back to completely concentrating. For a moment, her blaster pistol lifted up off the ground just slightly. It wavered for a second, then held in the air in a gentle way. Next to it, the datapad rose up just a little higher, wavering more for a longer time and then falling back to the deck. Not before hitting the blaster pistol and sending it to the ground too. The soft dual thuds were drowned out by a frustrated growl from Jen.

She simply threw her hands up and sat back again, “Fine, I’m done for now,” then, she tilted her head back to look to Titus again, “Are you alright?”

He smiled. She never missed a thing. He offered a hand, which she took before awkwardly twisting around and then crawling up onto the cushions next to him. After Jen slipped an arm around him, he said, “I’m afraid of what we’re going to find on Coruscant. Shadow doesn’t really understand what’s happened in that place. When she sees it...I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“What is so bad about it?” Jen asked, doing her best not to sound as interested in the science aspect of a cloning facility full of Alraxians as she really was.

It was the first time that she saw a truly harsh look cross Titus’ face when he looked at her. It only lasted a second, and his voice betrayed at least the hint of annoyance, “Words can’t describe it. But its not a part of my past that I’m proud of.”

“Everyone’s confronting their demons on Coruscant, it seems.”

Titus hugged her tightly, “So what are you confronting there?”

Pulling back just enough so that he could see a grin on her face, Jen said, “The fact that my life, no matter how insane it has been in the last few months, is impossibly boring and uneventful when compared with that of my husband’s and my friends’.”

“Oooh,” Titus smiled again, a reassuring thing to see, “Sounds very dangerous.”

“Oh, yes,” she nodded, “But for you, not me. Depending on how things turn out, you may end up with a life as a cook and scientist with me as the gun totting soldier.”

Despite the grin, he couldn’t help but look at least a little confused, “Cook?”

Jen laughed, “One of us has to learn someday. Or would you rather starve?”

“This is going to be a long hyperspace flight, isn’t it?” Titus asked, feigning a terrified look.

“Most definitely, Mr. Voort,” her grin became dangerous, “And by the end of it, you’d better learn to cook. The alternatives are not pretty.”

((_Notes: And now we're starting to slowly fade into what I consider the best stuff of the entire campaign. Trust me on this, nothing that has been said or done, even minor things, is to be ignored. Everything is important here, and its all going to come to play very soon. 

On another note...the promised cast picture is attached. Note that, in one form or another, EVERYONE is on their twice. Well, almost everyone. Three are not. This image is circa-Corellia marriage trip. Our four heroes in the center, with a few images of the past and the future surrounding. It is possible that some of the 'futures' shown aren't exactly true though. Hope my quiet readers like it. _))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 135: First Date with Destiny - Introductions*

The hyperspace trip as a whole was uneventful, which was a very good thing in everyone’s minds. Even arrival at Coruscant was simple enough. They responded to the comm transmission from the docking authority with a simple three clicks of the comm. Well, it was simple for Alderaan, but Loki wasn’t completely sure how the clicks should sound, so there was a pause where he screened different sounds to Akan. Once it was close enough, Loki almost transmitted the clicks. It was an old ‘trick’ of sorts that Akan had learned in the time he’d been with SpecForce.  The comm clicks was a way of telling the Docking Authority that you were a resident and had your own personal hangar. Technically, while in SpecForce, Akan had a very nice apartment on one of the upper levels of a gigantic building overlooking the senate hall. Of course, he’d never spent much time there, but there were a lot of short cuts that came out of that which were still useful.

And so the two ships cascaded through the atmosphere of the planet-wide city, navigating by Shadow’s intuition and Akan’s eyes(when they got close to buildings). The Alderaan stayed back far enough that it was easy to adjust course without slamming into Loki, who was making many sharp turns as Shadow worked out exactly where to go. Thankfully, they were at a high altitude and away from the main traffic centers of the planet. Then again, there was only about two places on the planet that were like that. One of them was the ‘nature preserve’ which was just a well crafted fake that tourists loved, and the other was in the more industrial sections of the planet. Currently, they were over the sprawling agricultural district. The ‘ground’ was in view, covered in row after row of crops grown in a completely artificial environment...not counting the air. It was likely that the actual ground of the planet was a good kilometer or so down, maybe even more.

Just as Akan was starting to get worried that someone might become suspicious of the two ships aimlessly flying around, Shadow made an ‘ah-ha’ type sound. Before he could ask the obvious ‘what is it?’ question, she waved a hand to keep him quiet and directed Loki off to the east. Focusing on the distant feeling which was mixing with a sense of deja vu, Shadow dropped Loki down even farther, nearly skimming the crops...which soon turned to small buildings and piping. What they were, Shadow didn’t care. She did care when they rose up in random spots, as it provided a momentary distraction. Her mind continually picked up from where the distractions had stopped her. Reaching. Searching. It was like pulling on a thousand kilometer long piece of string. She knew it was there, but it was faint, and very fragile. Forcing it simply caused it to ‘snap’ and Shadow had to start all over. It was the cause of the wandering they’d been doing. Taking it slow meant following the mental trail without losing it.

Suddenly, the string became a bright, shining beacon. Shadow nearly jumped back at the sudden strength of the feeling even though it faded a half second later. What was that?! But...there!! A grin on her face, Shadow brought Loki down even lower, so much so that the ship started to protest cautiously, though Akan quieted Loki by telling him the truth. Shadow was going to listen, and she wouldn’t let anything hurt her ship. In the distance, they could see that the piping and assorted...things...faded into buildings. They were smaller when compared to the towering complexes near Imperial Center, and were likely mostly maintenance facilities and similar things. It wasn’t long before Akan could tell that she was aiming for one building in particular. It was smaller, with a circular top that had tons of little antennas sprouting up from it.

Then, Shadow spoke. It nearly sent Akan jumping out of his seat after he’d gotten so used to hearing nothing but Loki’s voice and the soothingly organic noises that the ship made, “Get in your hunk of metal and blast that hangar open.”

“What hangar....oh,” he trailed off, mentally seeing exactly which one her mind had locked onto. Biting his lip, Akan risked a question, “Why not just have the Voorts blast it open?”

Shadow pressed a small button that Akan had come to know as the comm unit, “Scan the small circular building up there. Specifically, can you blast that hangar open for us?”

A pause, then Jen’s voice, “We aren’t a warship, Shady. That thing is made of something strong. We can try, but Titus says it will just be a waste of time. Good news is that its empty in there. I’m assuming that’s our place?”

“It’s where we park,” Shadow answered, then said, “Alright, hang back and we’ll get the thing open.”

Jen was about to acknowledge that when Shadow cut off the comm and looked over to Akan, “Up. Back. In ship. Boom.”

“Thank you for the layman’s description,” Akan grumbled, getting to his feet and heading out to the hangar.

Shadow just smiled to herself, waiting until she knew he was in his X-Wing and pulling out from Loki’s small hangar to reply. [I always believe that its best to describe things for idiots with short words and many diagrams.]

[Oh really?] Akan’s mental voice responded, sarcasm and at least a little bit of annoyance dripping. [Well, you forgot the diagrams. What is it that’s supposed to go boom again? And how far back? Oh! My back, right? My back’s in the ship...hmm...so my back needs to go boom? How do I do that]

She rolled her eyes, knowing he could at least feel it. That wasn’t worth the honor of a response, so Shadow just shot a few emotions across their link to get the point across that way. It wasn’t long before the X-Wing streaked past Loki’s viewport, approaching the building before coming to a stop just as the other two ships had. There was a long time when nothing happened, then Akan’s voice returned. [The main cannons can’t do anything to that. That’s some serious plating on there.]

[You do have those torpedoes, yes?] Shadow asked, back in her business mode and getting slightly bored with how long Akan was taking. He didn’t respond to that, but she could feel a strong urge to argue. Yes, Shadow knew that there were only a couple of those things left, but this was one of those times that they were useful. And if Akan didn’t figure that out soon and fire at least one, she was going to have Loki give the X-Wing a nudge. Thankfully, in Loki’s opinion at least, Akan acted. Both the Voort’s and Shadow were at an angle where they could only see the X-Wing rock back slightly. The blue glow of the torpedo wasn’t visible around the X-Wing or the soft red glow of the four sublight engines.

However, they did all see the explosion. A proton torpedo was technically overkill, and the explosion proved it. They were all glad for the distance as the entire front half of the hangar detonated, flying up and out from the force of the explosion. The top of the building didn’t collapse in, but instead shot straight up and back, eventually falling across other buildings around. Now, the once enclosed building was a mess, but was open. Shadow sighed. Hopefully that didn’t destroy anything important.

“You two set down first,” Akan’s voice sounded over the comm, sounding scratchy as usual, “The structure should still be okay...that roof was up high and I think the structure’s mostly intact.”

“Mostly intact?” that was Jen again, “You realize what will happen if its not mostly intact, don’t you?”

Shadow listened a moment, then decided to bring Loki in anyway. As she set down the Kanyak very carefully(between some rubble and two walls that weren’t designed to be destroyed), Akan’s voice responded, “Yes, but I think Shadow will get to me before you do.”

Ignoring it, Shadow made sure things were alright before getting up and patting the wall gently, “Lock up and stay alert, Loki. I shouldn’t be too long.”

Ten minutes later, the two other ships had set down in the ruined hangar and everyone was out. Shadow had gotten her vibroblade and even the lightsaber, but was fairly sure she wasn’t going to need them. Fairly was enough to bring them, though. Akan and the Voorts were standing around babbling on about nothing...well, no, Jen and Titus were talking and Akan was looking like he wanted to run away. At least they kept trying, but Shadow knew that he wasn’t going to open up at all. She’d tried to shut him up about all the worrying about Jen long before and knew at this point that it was just something to deal with. If it got in the way of things that needed to be done, then he would simply be left behind so that he wouldn’t get in the way.

When Titus saw Shadow, he smiled and asked, “So now that the place is open, where area we going?”

“I thought you said you worked security there,” Shadow asked idly as she walked right past them to a small door that was, thankfully, on the wall that was still in one piece.

The three others fell into step behind her, with Titus saying, “Yes, but I didn’t exactly bring myself to this place. It was high enough security that I doubt there were even pilots in the airspeeders.”

“Which is why we go down,” Shadow said proudly, hitting the switch on the door to reveal a turbolift. This was almost disturbingly similar to their last ‘family visit’ to Coruscant. Though none of them needed to say that, of course. Without any other words, they all stepped in and the switch was hit to take them all the way down. At the speeds that most turbolifts moved, there was a lot to be gathered from the fact that it took five minutes for the turbolift to stop. The door slid open to reveal a pitch black corridor. Or at least, pitch black to the two humans. Both Akan and Shadow could see the corridor very faintly.

“Bottom floor: Dark corridors, mysterious smells, and evil intent in the air,” Akan commented, being the first to walk forward, “All victims and fools, please step out of the turbolift and enjoy your time on the wonderful of Coruscant.”

“Cute,” Jen commented in the direction of the voice. She looked around the black, hearing a few footsteps that she assumed to be the two Alraxians moving along and probably thinking that she and Titus could see just fine, “Akan, a little light please.”

“Huh? Oh...” his voice trailed off, and for just a moment she thought that he was going to say something else. But Akan’s sarcasm was cut off by his worry, and instead the next sound was the snap-hiss of his lightsaber. The blue-green blade was about ten meters ahead, shedding a very faint light that did little but show her where Akan was. Lightsabers were glowrods. But at least it gave a little direction.

And then, the blade started moving. Both Voorts followed silently, Jen keeping an hand on Titus out of a slight sense of worry. Darkness like this was worrying to most anyone. Ahead of Akan was Shadow, which they only knew because of the soft noises of her footsteps. She wasn’t trying to be silent...and even then, it was a faint sound. Corner after corner they turned. Back and forth. Down. Always down. The corridors became slanted, at nearly a twenty degree angle. But no steps. No doors. On and on and on. Downward. Left. Right. Forward. Left. Left. Down...down...

The lightsaber stopped moving. The Voorts stood still. They watched the blue-green blade go from an upright position to a more casual place off what was likely Akan’s right side. After a moment, a few sounds echoed beyond them before Shadow’s voice called back, “There’s a door.”

“Doors open,” Akan commented, sounding a little too serious and much less sarcastic than usual. Maybe it was just the general tension in the air, but none of them were surprised at Shadow’s growl.

“Yes, they do. And tails can be cut off.”

Akan heard at least one soft chuckle from behind him, but decided it was probably warranted. This wasn’t the best time to start picking at Shadow. Or anyone for that matter. The lightsaber rose up again before moving forward. For a short moment, the light from the blade provided the Voorts with a quick sight of Shadow stepping back. Then, the lightsaber stopped moving just in front of the door that now had a small amount of coloured light across it. Enough that they could see writing.

“What does it say?” Jen asked as Akan moved the blade, probably getting ready to cut his way in. The weapon stopped, and moved back just slightly.

After a couple of minutes, Akan said over his shoulder, “Um...Security Level Gamma Two Seven Five. This facility is monitored. Anyone entering without the express authorization of the Emperor, himself, will be executed immediately. Blah, blah, blah...the usual.”

Then, the lightsaber moved up slightly. It stopped again. Akan’s voice echoed back to the Voorts again, much quieter and sounding surprised, “There are claw marks all across this thing.”

“What kind of claw marks?” Titus asked, speaking up but already knowing what the answer was going to be.

The answer came from Shadow, “Alraxian. Those are deep. Looks like someone wanted in.”

“Do you think there’s another Alraxian here that we don’t know about?” Akan asked, sounding much more worried than before. Jen was actually surprised he’d said that out loud. She had gotten used to the two Alraxians speaking amongst themselves in the most private way possible...mentally. Either he wasn’t thinking about it, or he wanted the two of them to hear. Doubtful. Akan probably just wasn’t thinking about it.

“I would expect that they aren’t new,” Titus spoke up again, “I remember...many incidents that involved things getting clawed to pieces. Not just doors, either. It could have easily just been a clone that didn’t want to come back.”

Those words created an odd silence among them all. Even Titus had felt uncomfortable speaking them. Eventually, the lightsaber moved again. This time, it finally dug into the door, producing a soft red orange glow. There was a crumbling and melting sound that echoed along with the lightsaber’s hum. Slowly, the glow and the blade moved to the left. As it did, pieces could be heard dropping to the floor. Akan started to cut down, then back, creating a square within the door. But as he reached the bottom and got ready to move back to the right, he decided to push the lightsaber in a little more. The blue green disappeared, leaving only the red of superheated durasteel.

But then, as he pulled the lightsaber across, the blue green blade started to become visible. Larger pieces began to drop, and then something else. A sharp, tiny beam of light. Akan didn’t stop when it appeared, but continued cutting. The light grew, following the blue green and the red in an odd collection of colours in the darkness. Before he had even cut halfway across, the door started to crumble. The crumbling became a sudden crash, and the lightsaber was pulled back as light flooded into the corridor.

Blinding white light. When their eyes had adjusted again, they all saw a small airlock-like room. Akan was the only one to know his lightsaber had been deactivated. He was right next to Shadow when she stepped into the room. The Voorts caught up quickly, and Titus reached out and caught Shadow’s hand before it reached the switch to open the next door. She spun around to give him a confused and slightly angry look, but Titus just said, “You are ready for this?”

“Yes,” Shadow said, her voice hinting at least a little fear, “Are you?”

He managed a nod, pulling his hand back and saying quietly, “I am.”

Jen wanted to say something about the lights being on, but for some reason decided against it. There were more important things that just couldn’t be interrupted. Shadow turned back to the door, and managed a short look to Akan. [To the end.]

Shadow nodded slowly, then allowed herself a deep breath. Slowly, her hand shaking slightly, she reached for the switch again. This was it. She was in there. Marix. But what else? What else was in there? What things from her past were hidden away within those walls in the depths of Coruscant? Amazing how so very many things ended up relying on one simple action. Press the switch. That was it. That was all that had to be done. Yet Shadow hesitated for one of the few times in her life. It was like when Akan had been killed. She had hesitated for a half second, then steeled herself to what had to be done...no matter what the consequences. In the end it was worth it, and she knew never to regret it. But that had been complicated. Taken work. Effort. Thought. This...just a switch. Open. Close.

And then she pressed it. Without a single noise, the heavy blast door opened like a diamond shaped iris. It opened quickly, giving no time for things to slowly appear. Instead, they were overloaded with what they saw. At first, it was just a single, stark white corridor. But at the end of it, beyond a small desk, was everything. Shadow nearly ran forward to that junction where the corridor opened up. Stopping at the desk, her eyes took everything in at a closed distance. Through the glasteel window, she could see a room. It was large, with at least ten levels going straight up. Each level of the square room was lined with large cylinders. Cylinders that almost looked like bacta tanks. Almost. But bacta had a certain colour to it. There was no colour here. But no...this wasn’t close enough!

Frantically, and ignoring the hallways going both directions, Shadow found the entrance to that single room. The door opened and she charged in, suddenly realizing the true scale of it all. The room was at least sixty meters wide and probably close to eighty or ninety long. Loki could almost fit inside. But the scale didn’t matter because Loki could fit. The scale mattered because of what she could see inside those cylinders. The bottom level where she stood(with the three others behind her even though she wasn’t paying attention) had each of the cylinders labeled. Alpha. All of them. Alpha, and then a number. Inside each were bodies. They floated in an unknown liquid, eyes closed and not moving at all. Each of them had long, white hair with a single, thick black stripe down the center. Feline ears popped up out of the hair in some places, and many of them were chipped or cut at. Tails floated behind the unclothed bodies, the same coloured markings on them as the hair. Every single body was Alraxian. All of them female. And all of them looked exactly like Shadow would...except for one major difference.

They were older. That was obvious in the body shape and structure, but also from how large they were. Most bodies were curled up slightly, bringing the near two meter tall bodies into a much smaller space. Shadow opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. No sound came out. Slowly, she looked up. The next level, she could see more tanks and more bodies within them. But even from this distance, she could see they were different than the ones here. No only were some of the cylinders on the next level empty...but many of the bodies within looked young. Much younger than Shadow was. They looked to be completely covered in fur, which would make them about the age of toddlers. Floating. But the same coloring. The same. All the same. She looked up more. Ten levels. Ten levels of them...and what state were they all in? Why different?

“Ah-haaa,” a voice echoed down through the room. It was hauntingly familiar, but none of them could place it. It also froze them all in their place, already shocked by what they were seeing. Now to hear a voice... “You are early. I had expected to have more time for fun. But no matter. This much better anyway!”

Far, far above, they all saw a flash of movement downwards, then a loud clank of metal. Then, the voice returned, “Those Alphas are all dead. First isn’t always the best, of course. Usually, it isn’t. The bodies worked out right, but their minds just aren’t...well, I think the correct word in this place would be wired. They aren’t wired correctly. In fact, they aren’t wired at all. Dead weight.”

Another quick flash of movement down and then a louder clank of metal. This time, Shadow and Akan could see that a figure was dropping down from one level to the next. And again, the voice spoke, still that familiar but unfamiliar sound to it, “The Betas, though, they did better. Instead of attempting to rush the growth to an adult stage, they tried to bring it back some and raise children. It worked well enough, but Alraxians at that age aren’t good at taking orders...even if they are programmed for it.”

After that, another jump down and another metallic thud. But all four of them heard something in that voice. Something about the last thing that it had said. There was almost a bit of disdain there...but when the voice continued speaking, it was back to the dangerous playful tones, “But after that, all went well. Yes, the Gammas are mostly dead, but all died in combat and on missions. Most of these up here are empty, actually...the select few that remain. Those...”

The figure jumped again, but this time not to the level below. Instead, it dropped three full levels down, landing with an almost deafening clank not ten meters in front of them. The figure had landed in a crouch, and Shadow was the only one that wasn’t amazed at not seeing a gooey splat instead of a live figure. A figure that stood up completely. For a two point six meter figure to stand up, it took a considerable amount of time. When fully upright, they looked upon what could easily have been Shadow...the same hair, even the same length. The same build, except much taller and very obviously female. Also, there was no scar on her face like Shadow had. And then grin on this Alraxian’s face was more dangerous than any of them had ever seen on Shadow before, “Those of us who remain...are worthy of it.”

The voice was very familiar. It was Shadow, but older. Just like everything else. Stretching very slightly, the larger figure seemed to take delight in the shocked looks on all of the faces, “Though you have obviously tainted that worth, Three,” the silver tinted eyes were on Akan, “But we have more interesting things to talk about than that, do we not?”

Finally, somehow, Shadow found her voice, “You’re...Nine, aren’t you?”

Nine grinned again, very proudly, “So you do have a working mind in there. Perhaps you even know why I am here...”

“Marix...” Shadow whispered, then, after a quick glanced at Akan, she spoke louder, “What have you done to Marix?!”

That got a very disturbing and long laugh out of Nine, “Now, now, Three. Marix is the least of your concerns. I would suggest that you first take up your grievances withe the rest of our sisters. It seems that they think you should be killed. Funny that. It leaves less work for me.”

Before anything else could be said, movement was heard. A large amount of movement. They all looked up, even Nine did. And they all saw figures dropping down. Hundreds of them. At least. There so many...so very many. The remaining clones of Marix BlueIce fell down towards Shadow, Akan, Jen, and Titus...claws extended, growls in the air. It was like nothing any of them had ever even imagined. Except for Titus, and he knew exactly what these clones were capable of.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 136: First Date with Destiny - No One Told Me She Had a Twin...*

They were coming. Dropping down with the feeling of death radiating through the Force. Anger...at...Shadow? Why?! What had she done? No...not just her. It was him. Akan. That was why. He was proof that Shadow was different. Individual. Everything all of them were not. Everything she shouldn’t be. And Nine just stood there. Stood there grinning at...at him. She was looking straight at him, and it was soul wrenching. There was something very wrong about that clone. In her eyes, Akan could see the same dangerous look that Shadow had, but there was more. Much more. This Nine was a very different creature than Shadow was.

But that didn’t matter now. What did matter was that it felt like it was taking an eternity for those clones to reach them and tear them all to pieces. And they would. Akan knew this. But why was it taking so long?! He hadn’t done anything...or...no. The Force. But the Force wasn’t going to matter in a few seconds! Nothing would. These clones were going to kill them! And he was just standing there!! But what could he do?! This was just like what had happened to Mare! And he was just standing around again, not doing a damned thing! Why did he always have to freeze up at times like this? Weren’t Jedi supposed to be able to deal with things like this? But he wasn’t a Jedi...not anymore...but...he was still a soldier. And again, he should have been trained for this kind of thing! And yet they were still falling...still falling and he was still standing there!

They were all about to die, and it was taking an eternity to die. It was taking an eternity and he was being useless through it all. Waiting. Waiting for what?! Why wasn’t anyone else moving or doing anything to stop this? But no...frozen there, slowly moving like the clones that were now only a couple of meters above. He tried to say something to Shadow through the link...but nothing happened. It wasn’t working! Why was everything so...wrong?! So alone...and he couldn’t move...couldn’t do anything...they were all going to die...they were going to kill him. Kill Shadow. Kill them both. And it was his fault. His fault for not acting. For standing there and letting it happen. For not acting! Just like before! Nothing had changed! He was the same! He really hadn’t grown at all!! Why couldn’t he stop acting like such a child?!

The questions rolled on in Akan’s mind, again and again and again. Every second for him, he saw the clones drop a few more centimeters. Closer and closer. More and more the questions drove him to the inevitable breaking point. And when it broke, the Force itself shuddered. It was a literal psychological snapping, the questions and uncertainty driving up the fear, anger, and all the other bottled up emotions within Akan. They had been there for years, waiting. Growing. And then they exploded out. The slowed time reverted itself back to normal in a horrific scene. Akan wasn’t even sure what actually happened. There was a deafening noise resembling a sonic boom but much more primal in some strange way, and then a rush of invisible energy.

Shadow was the only one to actually see what happened, and that was probably because of the link. Just beside her, Akan was standing looking panicked and tortured. Then, out of no where, a violent ripple shot out in all directions from him. The first effect of it was that the floor under Akan collapsed in on itself, violently cracking as the ripple spread. It was the next half second that the ripple caught her, and she held her ground just long enough to see the rest. When it slammed into the falling clones, Shadow knew what was about to happen to her. They were all flung up with an extreme amount of force. That was when she could no longer hold against the force still tearing at her, and Shadow lost her footing. Somehow, she had the clarity, speed, and strength to shield both herself and the Voort’s from the brunt of the wave. It was probably the only thing that kept them alive, because the next thing Shadow knew her spine had cracked from slamming into the glasteel window behind her. Pain wracked through her tail(which hit first), and she was held there for a moment before it faded away. When it faded, Shadow fell face first onto the floor.

There were only two other thud noises. Beside her. The Voorts. While her body tried to ignore the pain, she quickly reached out through the Force. They were alive. Unconscious, but alive. And then she looked up. Most people in that situation would have looked up slowly, trying not to see what was there...but Shadow didn’t. She could feel it, and didn’t fear it. When her eyes took in the carnage, though, even she was shocked by it.

All of the tanks were cracked, with most having huge gaping holes and the bodies within littered with the glasteel. If they weren’t dead already, they were The entire room was stretched slightly in a spherical shape with Akan in the center. Standing there. Standing there and breathing hard. Shadow looked up more. All the way up, it looked the same. The same except for the bodies. The clones that had not been turned to a gooey mess from the force of the...the whatever that was were dug into the walkway grates and even some of the tanks. They were all dead. Dead. And they were only alive because of the link. If not for that, she would probably be a part of that window...and the Voorts...considering how fragile human bodies were, she didn’t want to think about that kind of mess.

Shadow looked down again. She looked past Akan and knew that Nine wasn’t dead. Nine was, however, against a clone inside a cloning tank right behind her. But she wasn’t moving. No...no the leg just moved. Alive...alive...but...but what had just happened?! Slowly getting to her feet, Shadow watched as Akan began to shake before collapsing to the ground. Through the link, he felt odd. Different. Yes, he was exhausted from whatever he had done...but she had a very bad feeling about it all. Maybe he hadn’t been ready for this at all. He should have stayed behind. But now it was too late for that. Now they all had to deal with the consequences.

That’s when Nine laughed. Shadow’s body remorphed though still having phantom pains, she took a few stumbled steps forward. Nine, though, got up without trouble, still laughing and a proud smile on her face. One back on her feet, she dusted herself off and stretched, “An interesting boy. Nearly killed me. I will have to remember that for later, though. I am very sorry, Three, but I can’t kill you right now. I would love to, and I’d especially like to give your little pet a beating but its no fun with him unconscious. Perhaps another time. Ket sends his regards.”

Arrogantly and slowly, Nine walked right up to Shadow, looking down into the younger clones eyes, “I would suggest that you leave this place, Three. Stay in this little corner of the galaxy and do what you will, but stay out of my way. This is only one Marix BlueIce. Remember that.”

Shadow was more stunned at the fact that one of them wasn’t dead from that than she could ever have been at what had occurred with Akan. Nine didn’t kill her. WHY?! And why did she let Nine just walk out like that?! At least the second one had an answer. The answer was in the form of a groan. A groan that was so very familiar that for a moment, she thought it was her own. Shadow made sure of this before finding that I was from behind her. She spun around to see the source.

Kneeling down in center of the first cloning tank, which actually looked different than all of the others, was a figure. Obviously the figure looked like Shadow. In fact, this one wasn’t the same age as the other Alphas. This one was the same age Shadow was. Though she had very long hair, Shadow could tell easily. There was another groan, and then the clone looked over her shoulder to see Shadow. Theirs locked. There were only two differences between them. Shadow’s scar and the other’s long hair...well, and the fact that Shadow was wearing a morphsuit and the other wasn’t wearing anything, but as usual, an Alraxian didn’t take notice of those things. For a long moment, they simply stared at each other. Then...

“You damn life stealer!” the other screamed(in Alraxian, and it was much crueler in that language too) suddenly, diving out of the cracked tank right at Shadow. Claws extended and Shadow was suddenly pinned to the ground, hands around her neck and claws ready to dig in. The attacker was breathing heavily, a snarl on her face and pure hatred in her eyes. A hatred completely unlike that of the other clones.

“Marix!” Shadow gasped the words more than spoke them, and the two silvery purple eyes above her showed surprise.

Around Shadow’s neck, the grip loosened just slightly. Then, her mouth former another snarl and Marix BlueIce growled, shaking Shadow violently, “What have you done to my life?! What have you done to me?!”

“I don’t want your life!” Shadow gasped again, realizing that Marix was going to kill her after that answer. One thought snapped into Shadow’s mind. It might not even work, but she had to try, “Wait! You can’t kill me!!”

That got a very violent growl out of Marix, and her claws started to dig into Shadow’s neck, “Why shouldn’t I kill you, life-stealer?!”

With the claws digging into her neck, Shadow could barely speak. There was no way she could get a sentence out like this. Using every ounce of effort she could, Shadow croaked, “...nothlit...!”

The claws retracted from her neck. A moment later, Marix sat up, looking around the large room quickly. Her eyes locked onto Akan’s body. Locked onto the tail. Her eyes widened before she looked straight back down to Shadow, “How could you come here?! You knew I would kill you!”

“Had to find you!” Shadow said quickly after her neck was remorphed and healed. Her voice calmed, slightly now, “You can...can kill me later. But I had to find you. I had to...”

That kind of honesty was something Marix would never have expected out of a...a clone. And that was obvious in the indescribably surprised look that was on Marix’s face, “What happened here?”

Still laying on her back with Marix right there, Shadow nodded back to Akan, “He did. But...but there’s only two of us left.”

“What is it that you came here for?” Marix said, glaring downward with an impossibly accusing look. If Shadow’s life still wasn’t in such danger, she would have grinned. Marix had the exact same way of getting straight to business so that things would be done with as quickly as possible.

But Shadow also knew that hesitating would be stupid, so she answered quickly, and truthfully, “I just had to. I still don’t know why! You were...I didn’t even know for sure if you were alive. I...I’m not good with words.”

The accusing stare didn’t go away, but Marix did move so that she was no longer pinning Shadow down, “You want me to keep your nothlit alive, don’t you?”

Slowly sitting up and looking the other direction from Marix, Shadow nodded, “What happened to him was an accident. He shouldn’t be punished for my sins.”

On cue, Akan groaned. It was actually more a whimper than a groan, but the fact that he made a noise was all that was important. Quickly, Shadow spun around to look at him. She would have moved over to help him off of his face, but for some reason she was afraid that moving might provoke Marix to...to kill her. To kill the both of them. So she tried something else. [Akan...?]

His arm moved slowly, pushing him over onto his back. [What happened?]

[You...you know how I told you not to bottle up all your emotions...? To let them strengthen you and use them instead of keeping them inside...?]

Akan half sat up, and managed a nod even though his eyes weren’t open. He probably didn’t know that two identical pairs of eyes were watching him. [Uh-huh...]

[Well...you just proved why it’s a bad idea. Listen, we’ll talk about this later. Right now...um...open your eyes.]

Akan opened his eyes. Akan blinked. A lot. He sat up completely and leaned forward, looking like he was trying to focus his eyesight. His mind realized that he wasn’t seeing double, because if he was, the second Shadow would be clothed. That thought caught up with him. Akan yelped(weakly), and went a deep red all over before staring very intently down at the floor. He didn’t see the two other Alraxians exchanged looks. Quietly, Marix asked, “He is always like this?”

“Yes...” Shadow shrugged helplessly, “Marix...is it at all possible to delay what you have to do until after we leave this place and I can tell you everything I know?”

A pause. A long silence. Akan glanced up in that time, realized that the second Shadow was still naked, and quickly turned right back to the floor again. Finally, Marix asked another question, “It is important?”

Shadow just nodded, getting to her feet and walking over to help Akan up. Halfway over to him, she turned around and said to Marix, “You probably should get something to wear or he’s going to be walking into walls.”


----------



## aros

*delurk....*

so i have no idea why i started reading this story hour but i gotta say....i love it.  i guess i just wanted to say congrats and keep up the good work.  that and i am completly unfamiliar w/the star wars system so im a lil curious...how on earth did akan make everything go boom in that last update?


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

aros said:
			
		

> so i have no idea why i started reading this story hour but i gotta say....i love it.  i guess i just wanted to say congrats and keep up the good work.  that and i am completly unfamiliar w/the star wars system so im a lil curious...how on earth did akan make everything go boom in that last update?



 Glad you like it. 

As for Akan...it was essentially the Force Strike skill with the Dark Side enchancing it. By the technical reading of the rules, the skill can't effect multiple targets. So we ended up creating a Dark Side Skill that was useable against multiple opponents. He was the first to use it, but not the only one. Lots more crazy/dangerous stuff began to appear after this point...if the multiple Shadows/Marixs didn't already give that away.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 137: First Date with Destiny - Smalltalk and Soulsearching*

Titus’ mind slowly slid out of the black nothing of unconsciousness into a more hazy and unclear world of reality. And his eyes weren’t even open yet. His back hurt. Badly. In fact, he had this feeling that it should probably have been broken and he shouldn’t have been able to feel his legs. Wait...could he? Hmm...yes, those were legs. His neck ache some, but not nearly as bad as his back.

He could hear sounds. Distant and vague, though. Somehow, Titus had a feeling that it was more because his ears weren’t working all too well. Or maybe that was his brain. Now that he thought about it, his head hurt too...back of his head. What had happened? Mentally he retraced the last few moments that he could remember. Clones were coming down to kill them...Akan had...gone all...blurry. Then bam. And now his back hurt. He didn’t need the Force to tell him that Akan had done something. Considering his current condition, whatever Akan had done probably wasn’t good. Titus knew the Dark Side well enough to feel the strength of it around him, though it was fading. Slowly fading, but fading.

More sounds. This time they were making more sense. Voices. What were they saying? Calm. Move past the pain, focus through it. Focus. Focus on the voices.

“Did he bring you here?” the first voice was close, very close to him actually. And very familiar. Shadow? Yes...

“He helped, yes,” a second voice a little farther behind the first. But...it sounded the same. Shadow talking to herself? It wouldn’t be the first time, but why move around when she did so? He searched for the strength to open his eyes, but couldn’t find it yet. Patience. Calm. Listen. Listen and try to make sense of it.

“I never thought I’d see again,” the first Shadow said again, still close.

The second Shadow was moving when she spoke, moving a little closer but doing so slowly, “Why are you stalling? We should leave this place.”

“You sound anxious to die,” responded the first Shadow, sounding slightly closer than before. 

“I’m not,” the second Shadow had stopped moving from the sound of it, and she didn’t sound all that happy either, “But everyone dies eventually.”

It was as the second Shadow voice was finishing that Titus managed to get his eyes open. When he did so, he looked straight up into two silvery purple eyes. There was an odd curiosity in Shadow’s face...but where was that scar on the side of her face? And...why was there white hair everywhere? His eyes focused more. It only took that small change for him to see the old familiar face, and his managed a quiet whisper, “Marix!”

She smiled warmly, an expression that had never been seen on Shadow’s face. If that didn’t prove that it was Marix, then nothing ever wood. Nodding slightly, she said, “Its good to see you again, Titus. Even if the circumstances are...somewhat complicated.”

“Somewhat?” Titus grinned, trying to sit up, but a hand held him down.

“I once told you that there are some things that you humans won’t ever understand about us,” Marix said, sitting back and no longer crowding his view. After Titus nodded, she finished by saying, “Then sit back and rest. There are things now that must be dealt with.”

Marix started to move out of his view, but he quickly asked, “Jen?”

Marix stopped, looked to him, then off behind her, then back, “Your...companion is alive. She is still unconscious, but give her time. As I said, rest, friend. Rest.”

And then Marix stepped over to her clone and her...nothlit. Shadow watched Marix carefully. Currently, Akan was still in about as good a state that Titus was in. While they were both awake and mostly aware, Akan wasn’t exactly working at full capacity. In fact, half would have been generous. He had started babbling on about things that literally didn’t make sense and mostly weren’t even words, so Shadow had silenced him in the best way she could think of. She started scratching his ear. So Marix BlueIce and her clone sat cross-legged opposite each other, though Shadow had a head resting in her lap and there was a faint purring sound. It wasn’t something that could be complained about, as the sound was oddly soothing for all of them.

The two of them sat simply listening to the sound for a long moment before Marix said, “What is it that is so important that you had to find me for?”

“Ket Halpak,” Shadow said the two words as calmly as she could, though for both of them it evoked feelings of anger.

Somehow, Marix hid these feelings better than Shadow ever had been able to, “What about him?”

“He is alive, and he is up to something.”

“That’s it?” Marix raised an eyebrow.

But Shadow shook her head, “No. My...our...your...Alyx found me a few months ago on Corellia. He says there is trouble with the Mrrakesh. Not the normal trouble. More border raids...dangerous raids. He asked me to come back. He said mothe— the Empress requested it.”

“You mean me,” Marix said flatly.

Again, Shadow shook her head, “No. No they came for me.”

“They think your me?!” a low growl started to grow in Marix’s throat, “So you truly are attempting to steal my life!”

“No!” Shadow snapped, surprised at how loud she got. She went silent, trying to calm herself by focusing on scratching Akan’s ear. Then, finally, she said, “They know the truth. I don’t know how, but they do. Alyx said that it didn’t matter that I was a clone...they needed the Enai back. They figured that...that as long as I didn’t know, it wouldn’t cause any trouble.”

“But you do know,” Marix said, watching Shadow carefully but not looking as angry anymore.

Shadow nodded, “Yes...and Alyx nearly killed me.”

“Nearly?”

“You know he’s not a fighter,” Shadow responded, fighting back a grin.

Marix looked to be fighting the same grin, and she nodded slowly, “That is all?”

“It is all that he doesn’t know,” Shadow said, nodding down to Akan and slowly stopping the ear scratch, “You will let him live, yes?”

“You’re not like all the old stories of clones,” Marix said, leaning down to inspect Akan idly. She nudged his face with her nose in a bored way, then poked him until he grumbled and weakly swatted at her hand, “I will honor your choice.”

“Thank you...” Shadow then moved Akan’s head off of her lap and slid back before getting to her feet. Marix also got up, but instead stepped over to find a piece of one of the cloning tanks that had shattered. It took a couple of minutes, but Marix found a small sharp of the durasteel tank, ignoring the dead body within, and then stepped back over to Shadow. There were no words and no delay. Immediately, Marix thrust the piece of durasteel deep into Shadow’s neck. Shadow grunted, shook violently, and then stumbled back to the ground.

Behind them, Akan cried out in pain. Marix’s eyes widened and she quickly ran over to him, kneeling down and placing her hands on either side of his head. Shadow would have to be dead before the transfer could be done...and then the pain on his face faded. Dead already?! Not possible! Marix turned to where Shadow had fallen. Her eyes widened at what she saw. Shadow wasn’t dead. In fact, she was...was...metal. Completely. All over. Even her tail! And ears! And....and...

“Y-y-you shouldn’t be able to do that!!” Marix yelped, stumbling back slightly and staring in amazement.

Shadow sat up slightly, her tail thumping on the floor in a loud metallic clank. When she spoke, her voice was straight and hauntingly unnatural, “I...I forgot about it, actually.”

“How did you...? How can you...? What...?” Marix continued to trail off into pointless and unfinished questions before her eyes widened and a grin suddenly appeared on her face, “That’s so cool!”

Shadow’s body slowly morphed back to her Alraxian form, the metal fading into skin. After it had finished, she shrugged and looked a bit embarrassed. Marix let go of Akan and just stared blankly at Shadow. Then, after deciding there wasn’t anything else she could think to say, mumbled, “This is going to be...um...complicated, isn’t it?”

Shadow nodded and Akan groaned. This time, his eyes opened. He looked up to see the scar-less Shadow which had to be Marix and then suddenly attempted to look down and away. But looking down meant having to look completely across her before reaching the floor. He got to her neck before realizing it wasn’t going to be necessary...and it also explained why he was colder. She was wearing his jacket...and trousers. Sure, his morphsuit technically served the purposes of both of those but...but those kept him warm!

In the silence that was caused by Marix trying to figure out what to do, Akan sat up. He looked over to Shadow, noticing the odd expression on her face. It wasn’t something he could really put words to, but it was very obvious she was avoiding looking at him. [What’s going on...?]

Shadow bit her lip and looked right past him to Marix. Then, after realizing there was no way around it, ‘said’. [Marix isn’t too different from me. Its not something that we can fight, anyway. I won’t kill her. She is the original. She deserves life more than I do.]

Akan’s eyes widened a moment before he moved back to glare at both of the other Alraxians, “What the hell is wrong with you?!” he finally yelled at Shadow.

“She is the original!” Shadow snapped back.

“You’re not just some clone!” Akan bit back just as quickly, and Marix couldn’t help but be surprised, “You know you’re more than just a clone, Shadow! You are an individual! You have a life of your own!”

But to Marix’s surprise, Shadow continued to fight against him, “It was stolen from her!”

“And there’s nothing that can be done to change that, Shadow!” Akan yelled again, completely ignoring that Marix was sitting right next to him. He paused, then spoke in a calmer, but still very angry voice, “To me...us, you are the original.”

Silence. Shadow didn’t know what to say. As usual, Akan wasn’t going to listen to reason and it was making things far more complicated than they had to be. But Marix was stunned. How could a clone have this effect on anyone? Shouldn’t this Akan, no matter his original form, be diving in to kill the clone? Did he not realize the insult in his words...calling a clone the original? But he was right. Marix sighed. She hadn’t come here so long ago because she followed her people’s traditions blindly.

Quietly, Marix spoke up, “There is another way.”

Akan gave her a curious look, but Shadow shot her a shocked and almost hurt expression. Marix met Shadow’s gaze, saying, “He is right. And...and it is wrong to just kill you, no matter what our traditions may say. You are an individual. You’re something no one could have ever predicted, and not even I have the right to take that from you.”

“But we can’t both...exist,” Shadow mumbled, looking helplessly between Marix and Akan. Didn’t they understand? No, Akan wouldn’t. But Marix should! She should know...why was she agreeing with Akan of all people?!

Marix looked to Akan. In a familiar motion, Marix bit her lip. There was a look of deep thought on her face before she asked Akan, “You mean what you said?”

An odd question...it was the kind that Shadow asked when she didn’t completely understand a situation and was trying to make sense of it. Usually it was because of species cultural differences, and Akan had a feeling this was for the same reason. Interesting how close these two were...but he nodded finally, “Of course. I don’t mean to insult you or anything...from all I’ve been told you’re a great person but Shadow is...is...Shadow.”

To his surprise, Marix nodded. She then looked back to Shadow and said, “I won’t kill you. It would be more a crime than what our people attribute to cloning. You didn’t choose to be a clone, but you have created your own life. I won’t steal that from anyone, especially you.”

“You want us both to live...?” Shadow sounded a little hopeful this time.

So it came to this. Marix looked down at the floor, and Akan knew what that gesture usually meant with Shadow. There wasn’t something else. Something that she didn’t want to say but she’d been cornered and there wasn’t any choice left. So Akan asked, “What is it?”

Marix turned to Akan with a panicked expression and he couldn’t help a slight grin, “You uh...do the same things she does,” he mumbled, motioning to Shadow.

That actually got a smile on Marix’s face. A real one, not like anything he’d ever seen before. After taking a deep breath, she looked over to Shadow, “There is something that you need to know...the clones, the younger ones like you. They were...were built with a defect.”

“A defect?!” Shadow whimpered slightly.

Marix nodded, “To control you. It was the reason the first clones never worked. So they...they made an adjustment. The life span for a clone, from what I overheard, is a little under five years.”

“Five years?!” Shadow yelped, leaning forward an whimpering again, “But I’ve already lived...at least...at least four!!”

“There’s still one thing we can do,” Marix said quietly, and both Akan and Shadow stared right at her waiting for an answer, “Two as one.”
Shadow’s eyes widened, “No...no that wouldn’t work! Not with a clone! Not with...with all of this!”

Marix looked to Akan, to Shadow, then back to the Voorts. The two humans had finally sat up and were watching quietly. It seemed that Titus had explained to the woman the need for this to stay an Alraxian matter. Then, turning back to Shadow, Marix shook her head, “Its all there is. Unless you’d prefer to die from young age.”

“Two as one...” Shadow repeated. It was at least five minutes before she looked straight into Marix’s eyes and nodded, “Two as one.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 138: First Date with Destiny - Running Off Without Saying Goodbye*

_Is it done? Did it work?_ That was Shadow, or at least, she assumed it was.

_Yes...I believe it did. Check everything just in case though._ Marix, or maybe that was Shadow and the other was Marix? No...no this one was Marix.

_Body...arms...hands...tail...ears?_

_Ears._ Marix confirmed.

_What about eyes? Its all dark!_ It sounded panicked, but more of a childish panic that had to be Shadow.

_They’re closed._

_Oh...right...yes..._ Shadow went ‘silent’ a moment, then _Which form do we use?_

_Three. For now at least._

_For now, then. _

They opened their eyes to the world. It was just as both of them had left it, save for a decrease in the number of occupants within the room by one. The room came into focus and they...she could see the three others. Akan had actually left her alone, moving over to the two humans and speaking quietly with one of them. Jen was sitting up, so it was likely her. Jen’s eyes wandered across the room and then found the other Alraxian. Turning, she looked back to Akan and pointed back.

Akan looked towards her...them and looked less surprised than would have been expected. [Are you okay...?]

She nodded, mumbling, “We’re...I...I’m fine.”

Jen looked to Akan with a confused expression, still pointing to the other Alraxian, “You actually understand this?”

“Vaguely,” he shrugged, “Best I can understand is that um...well, there’s just one of them now.”

“One of them?” Jen raised an eyebrow before giving Akan a critical look, “That was a very good explanation. Insightful and detailed. Remind me to ask you to explain the intricacies of hyperspace travel sometime.”

Akan actually grinned, “Oh, that’s easy. Ship go fast fast. Fly long way in short time.”

Both Jen and Shadow rolled their eyes at the same time. But behind Akan, blocked from Shadow...Marix...their vision, Titus spoke up in a gruff and exhausted voice, “This is all wonderful, but you never did answer my question. Why are we sitting around here still?”

Akan bit his lip and turned to look over to...to Shadow. She shrugged, Marix shrugged mentally, and Akan sighed. Wonderfully helpful. But he got to his feet and said, “Then off we go.”

[They don’t know Nine got away, Akan.]

He looked over his shoulder and back to the sitting Shadow, who was wearing both her usual morphsuit and his clothes...which were big on her. He sighed and nodded. [Do you want to tell them?]

[I’m...we’re...still working out who ‘I’ am at this point.] Shadow’s voice was almost a whimper in Akan’s head.

He rolled his eyes and waited for the two Voorts to get to their feet. [And how long is this going to take?]

[It could be a while...] that wasn’t Shadow’s voice. There was just a slight difference in the way it sounded to prove it was Marix. [For now its best to just...pretend nothing has changed. We’ll work things out.]

[Whatever you say.] Akan grumbled before looking back to the Voorts. They’d gotten to their feet and were staring at both Alraxians. That glazed look showed there was a private conversation going on, and Jen had gotten to the point where it was at least slightly annoying. It showed a lack of trust. One that was becoming all too common from Akan, but to add Shadow...or whoever that was now, into that made it even worse.

She looked to Akan and gave him a serious look that was impossible to dodge, “What’s going on?”

“I told you,” Akan said quietly, shrugging again, “ I only know vaguely.”

“Not that,” she snapped back a little too quickly, “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

“And not much time,” Akan cut in, shaking his head and stepping past them to the exit of the large, currently very bloodied and messy chamber. But Titus stepped back to allow Jen to catch Akan’s arm and grip it roughly. He stopped and turned to find an angry expression before she waved at the chamber behind them.

“What happened in here, Akan?” Jen’s words were calm, but had a bitter edge to them. Yet somehow, she looked concerned. Concerned because she already had a good idea because of Titus’ quiet comments on feeling darkness.

But his expression did change, becoming slightly helpless and much more like Jen had remembered him being. Akan’s voice was quieter, barely above a whisper, “I don’t know.”

While Jen’s expression became more sympathetic, understanding that he wasn’t lying to her, Titus’ changed. Before, he had been simply curious, but now it had gotten to the point where he knew there was danger. So he said sternly, “I know. And whether you chose to admit it or not, Akan, you do too.”

The young Alraxian turned away and stared at the floor without another word. It was a surprise to all of them when Shadow stepped in and pulled the two Voorts back, saying quietly, “Leave him be. He does know, but its something he will have to deal with alone. There are more important things to do now.”

That wasn’t Shadow’s voice. Or at least, it wasn’t in the same usual tones. Akan knew it was Marix speaking, as he had the advantage of the link to hint the chaos of the other’s mind to him. But Titus wasn’t lost either, knowing Marix when he heard her. So he nodded, allowing for Shadow’s usual voice to kick back in as she pressed through them and to the exit, “Nine got away.”

As the three of them followed, Jen asked, “What about this place?”

“I’d destroy it if there was time,” Shadow spoke bitterly, and started to lead them through the very dark series of corridors. She made sure that Akan was close behind and started the navigation back the way they’d come. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Nine was around one of these corners...waiting. She would know how to mask her own scent and hide in the Force. And she would probably try to go after the Voorts in the rear first...maybe Akan should go back there...? No. No that could be dangerous. He was still on edge and staying up here she could glance back to glare at him if he got into another argument with the Voorts.

_He is an odd one._ Marix idly commented, finding that there was little for her to do but literally tag along for the ride. Shadow ignored her and led the way, feeling odd as Marix searched through her memories. Learning. Taking everything in. It didn’t take long before she was going after the link, learning about Akan.

_Whatever happened to privacy?_ Shadow found the time to ask it as they rounded another corner.

There was the equivalent of a mental of a smirk from Marix. _Hypocrite. You know you’re curious._

Shadow grinned to herself, glad for the darkness so no one could see. The only hint to Akan was the odd feelings through the link, but it seemed that he was ignoring those for the moment and focusing on...on...she couldn’t tell. Marix could, but was too busy digging through other things.

But their quiet and cautious trek to the turbolift went uneventful. Traveling up in that turbolift was even more worrying, as they truly didn’t know what was going to be there when that door opened. Jen exchanged a look with Titus, and he knew there was something she wanted to say...but she stayed silent. That worried him some, as it was very unlike her to be so secretive as she was giving off in the Force. It was faint, but he could tell it was there. Something more had happened down in that clone chamber. There was a definite change in all of them since then and Titus didn’t like any of the changes.

The turbolift stopped and the door slid open. The makeshift hangar looked the same as they had left it. Wait. There was a sound. And movement. It wasn’t the movement of a person...but a ship. A ship?! All of their eye’s widened as Loki took to the air, lifting up and then shooting back before disappearing from view. Shadow ran out into the hangar, getting a quick sight of the ship disappearing off into space and yelling out, “LOKI!”

Even a mental cry would have done no good. Loki was fast, especially when it came to atmospheric travel. He was fast. And he was gone. Gone. Loki. Marix had ached to see her old friend so badly. Shadow had neglected him for too long on Corellia. And now...he was gone. Gone and they both knew exactly how. Nine. Nine had the same genetic makeup as the other clones and Loki wouldn’t know the difference. And now he was gone. Gone. Shadow whimpered and stared up at the bleak and off blue Coruscant sky. Loki was gone.

“Did anyone else just hear that?” Titus asked suddenly breaking the silence that had dropped over them all. Shadow looked up, sniffing the air. A smell. Strong. Near...and while it wasn’t familiar to her, it gave her a bad feeling that was similar to deja vu. But it was dangerous. Something in the Force within this area radiated a strong hatred...anger. Pain. Though part of it could be traced to Akan, there was another. Another that she couldn’t pinpoint. It was hunting. Hunting them.

Quietly, she said, “There’s something here.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 139: Reeled In*

And so they searched the ruined hangar. The Voorts went around the back of the X-Wing and Alderaan, while the two Alraxians quietly and carefully went around the front. They found nothing. All of them could feel something near. Something...but they found nothing at all. Nothing.

“We’re being watched,” Titus said quietly, making sure to continue walking around and looking just in case. When the others looked at him like he was a fool, he added, “Sniper’s instinct. I doubt the person we are looking for is anywhere near us.”

Akan looked out towards the exterior, “Well, we can’t just sit around here. Let’s just get out and forget it.”

This time, all eyes fell on him. After a moment, Shadow shrugged and grumbled, “The longer we wait the farther away Nine gets with Loki.”

There was a silence among them, then Titus nodded, “Alright. But she’s long gone by now.”

Jen couldn’t help agreeing, but raised a hand, “Where would she go, though? And why steal Loki?”

“Loki’s fast,” Shadow answered quickly, not sounding happy at all for obvious reasons, “As for her destination...from what I could gather, she is a bit...unhinged. Many of the more successful clones ended up losing their minds after only a few missions. The Empire didn’t know what they were doing with such a different brain structure.”

Titus agreed, leading them all to the cover of the Alderaan to speak...just in case, “Yes. Many had to be...killed because of it. But that isn’t the issue. If we’re going after her, which I assume we are, where are we going?”

Shadow didn’t speak until they’d reached the interior of Alderaan, standing in the small entrance way near the lounge, “She spoke of Ket. I do not know where he is...but I believe finding him could lead to her.”

_The tail-less Halpak was involved with the remnants of the Black Sun last time I remember_ Marix interjected into Shadow’s thoughts. _That was years ago, though, so I doubt that will do any good. Perhaps that is a place to start?_

Thinking on this, Shadow shrugged visibly and mumbled, “I don’t know where she would go. I think we’re stuck.”

All of them went silent again. Then, breaking the silence suddenly, Jen spoke up, “Shadow, where did you go when you first escaped from that place down below?”

“I don’t...don’t remember...” Shadow mumbled. But a moment later, Marix was in their mind after digging through buried memories. _You met up with your smuggler friends on Ord Mantell._

Shadow sighed and wondered why Marix got a better access to her memories than she did herself. It wasn’t right. Or even very nice. Or fair. But Marix was right. She shook her head before anyone could say anything else, “No, no I do remember. Ord Mantell.”

“Bounty hunter and smuggler’s haven,” Akan said to himself, obviously not liking the idea all that much.

Titus didn’t like it either, “That’s asking for trouble.”

“But what if Nine is there?” Jen asked, almost sounding more interested in finding Nine than Shadow did.

“The idea of her being in any populated place is worrying,” Shadow admitted, and then the tone of her voice altered just slightly enough to indicate that Marix was speaking, “If she is working with Halpak then we cannot delay. Every trail must be followed.”

Titus exchanged a raised eyebrow with Jen before nodding, “Alright. Ord Mantell it is. Shouldn’t take too long to get there.”

It took only fifteen minutes for the Alderaan and the X-Wing to leave the planet and make the jump to hyperspace. None of them noticed the ship that lifted off from not too far behind them, following them from a distance and becoming lost in the traffic above Coruscant. The small patrol craft waited a few moments after the shuttle and the starfighter had left the system before transmitting a short message to his employer and then following them.

* * * *​
“You have Loki?’ Ket Halpak leaned back in his rolling chair as he looked at the small holographic image of Nine that stood on the other side of his desk, “Very interesting. What of the child? Has he found them?”

Nine bit her lip in the way that Marix had always done when she didn’t want to say something. No matter how much Nine had changed from Marix’s original personality, some small things still remained. After a moment, her voice still the cold and emotionless constant, she said, “There was a problem. It seems that he made it aboard Loki and...waited.”

“You mean you left with him?” rolling his eyes, Ket leaned forward again and idly glared at the holo of Nine.

She nodded, “I will...will bring him back when I return. I will set him loose on the next planet I reach so he can wait for her.”

“No,” Ket snapped, shaking his head, “No. Go about your plans. Have some fun. But bring him back here.”

“You are sure of this?” Nine raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t the first time she’d questioned him like that, and likely wouldn’t be the last. At least she didn’t get the idea to take it any farther than a question. She would be dangerous, otherwise.

“I am sure,” Ket said calmly with a nod, “It will require that a few plans are changed, but it will not be a problem. Perhaps then we can witness the entertainment first hand.”

Nine smiled and nodded, “But that is assuming that she follows me that far.”

“Oh, she will,” he smiled too, a much more dangerous and predatory smile, “Your younger clone is as resourceful as you. She will likely avert any trouble you leave in your wake. Hopefully, though, it will not be so easy that she smells the trap.”

“I will hide my scent,” Nine tilted her head in a bow. It was her way of indicating she was finished. So quick she was to avoid criticism.

But just before her holo faded away, Ket said quickly, “Make your scent known. But lead her to the trap in a way that she will not detect it.”

And then Nine was gone again. Ket sighed and sat back in his chair again. An interesting turn of events, but not one that could not be dealt with. However, now was not the time for him to. There were things to check on. Getting to his feet, he started to the far side of the gigantic chamber towards the turbolift. If all was on schedule as it should be, they could be on their way to the Hidden Worlds just after Nine returned. He smiled as he stood in the turbolift. These days were so exciting. And they were only going to get better. He would have to pay attention to the holonet to see the trouble that Nine left behind for the young clone to deal with.

((_Attached is a little character sketch for Shady, with a rough look at an Alarix off to her left and the real Marix in the background._))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 140: Mos Eisley's Got Nothing on this Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy*

There were many places on many planets in the galaxy that could accurately be described as ‘a wretched hive of scum and villainy’. However, there was only one place in the galaxy that this could be applied to an entire planet. Ord Mantell. A haven for bounty hunters, smugglers, assassins, mercenaries, and all the unsavory folk of the galaxy. Yes, Hutt space had many similar places, but the moon of Nar Shaddaa was no where as large as Ord Mantell was. While Coruscant was an planet wide city, Ord Mantell was a planet wide slum. Yes, there were ‘high class’ hotels and buildings, but these were well outnumbered by seedy taverns and stereotypical dark alleys that served as main streets. Putting it simply, Ord Mantell was not the choice vacation spot of the galaxy.

And after Titus had finished negotiating the docking fee and they began their descent into the planet’s atmosphere, Jen began to have second thoughts. Perhaps it was too late, but she couldn’t help it, “Isn’t it a bad idea to be here with...bounties on our collective heads?”

He just shrugged, focusing for a moment on bringing Alderaan down safely. Once they’d set down on a large, open air landing pad at the edge of one of the smaller cities, Titus started to power down the ship and said quietly, “It’s a little late by now, but you’re right. We’ll just keep our heads down and hopefully keep them attached.”

“Comforting,” Jen couldn’t help a slight grin before reaching over and squeezing his arm gently, “You still owe me that nice long vacation away from the universe, you know.”

“Is that a hint?” he smiled and got to his feet, helping her up and heading out of the ship.

But Jen shook her head as she walked with him, “Nope, its just me keeping score. The more I total up, the more you owe me.”

“So what is this total up to now?” Titus raised an eyebrow, ignoring the hiss that the ramp made as it slowly extended to the landing pad below.

She smiled warmly, “A month on some of those wonderful beaches I’ve heard about in the Hapes Cluster.”

“Nice to know you’re keeping a budget in mind,” he commented idly as they stepped out onto the deck. He quietly eyed the man approaching them. Tall, slender, and an interestingly designed bone structure on his forehead. The man wore dirty and beat up clothes that had probably once been a uniform. Glancing off to the other side, Titus could see the X-Wing was set down behind them. Good.

“Iz two hunred an fifty creditz,” the man started speaking before he was even close to the Voorts, extending his hand and making sure to walk in a way that his dulled badge showed, as did the two patches, that had probably been a bright red once, on his shoulders, “An you no tryz anyting funny. I know how deal with trouble maker humanz.”

Titus and Jen exchanged looks, and she let go of his arm so that he could walk over and pay the humanoid. He handed the docking ‘officer’, if he could be called that at least, the credits and started to turn back when the humanoid suddenly spoke up again, “I zaid noting funny! You pay all creditz right now!”

“What are you talking about?” Titus couldn’t held putting his hand just a bit closer to the large lightsaber that was at his belt, “That’s two fifty just like you said!”

“Yez!” the humanoid gave Titus a glare, “I zay two hunred fifty creditz, but you two zhipz!”

Titus rolled his eyes but nodded. It took him a moment to fish out the credits, but he payed the man another two hundred and fifty. Satisfied, the docking officer pocketed the credits and wandered back off away from the landing pad. After a moment of watching the curious creature, Titus turned back and walked over to Jen, who by now had the two Alraxians standing next to her. When he got there, he pointed straight to Akan, “You owe me two hundred and fifty credits.”

“I’ll pay you when I’ve got it,” Akan said with a shrug, glancing to Shadow a moment as if to try to force her to pay it right away. She was in his ship, too...so technically it was half her money. But the discussion ended there, as there were obviously more important things to speak of.

Titus was the one to bring them to the task at hand, “So shall we split up and search around?”

“No,” Jen cut in before anyone else could speak. She spoke very quickly and sternly to get her point through, “Not in this place. We stick together. If we run into trouble it will be easier to deal with that way.”

Surprisingly, the one to agree first was Miss ‘I Work Alone’ herself, Shadow, “Jen is right. We are going to run into trouble here. There isn’t any avoiding it on this planet. If we stay together, Akan and I can look scary and hopefully ward off anything unnecessary.”

“Look scary?” Jen raise an eyebrow, fighting back a grin at the thought of either of them trying to ‘look scary’. It was probably the way Shadow phrased it more than anything. That was an unusual thing that could have almost counted as humour. Very un-Shadow like. But very Marix like...even though Jen didn’t know that. But Shadow only nodded, a neutral expression on her face an no indication that she might demonstrate ‘looking scary’. Akan opened his mouth to say something, but only got out a grunt as Shadow elbowed him in the side, whispered quietly, “Scary, not whiny, dammit.”

To herself, Jen smiled and nodded. Titus also nodded, turning and looking to the tall and beat up buildings that sprawled out in front of them, “Off we go then.”

The next three hours were spent wandering the streets, going from seedy tavern to seedier drinking hole. What they looked for, none of them really knew. Perhaps just to have Shadow noticed. Then, maybe, that would give a hint to Nine’s whereabouts. But their wanderings provided no clues. And other than a near fight because of a comments that a couple of Trandoshan thugs made that Akan took a little too personally, things went well. At least the barkeep hadn’t demanded any kind of payment for damages. But really, how could a small, frail looking Rodian demand that kind of thing from anyone? Especially considering the culprits had thrown the two Trandoshans through two doors and out a window into the street before firing off a quick blaster shot that easily hit the blaster hands of each thug. So what if Akan was showing off? It had worked...and it was kind of fun.

But now they stood on the exact opposite side of the city from where they’d started, in a small square that had probably once been a very beautiful sight. Of course, now the fountain didn’t run, and was being used as a trash dump. There were a couple of old benches around, and the towering buildings reminded them of a miniature Coruscant. It was Shadow who sighed first, watching the groups of aliens and humanoids passing in all directions around them. Ignoring them. Quietly, trying not to draw any attention, she mumbled, “Maybe I made a mistake. Maybe Nine didn’t come here.”

“It was a long shot,” Akan said quietly, and that actually got him a glare from Shadow. He was only voicing what she was thinking, but she had this way of not liking it when he spoke her thoughts. Even if she did it to him. And even if Marix was screaming ‘hypocrite’ at her again. It was her own damn choice to use Shadow’s body in the first place, so Marix was just going to have to deal with things.

“Then we’ve got no leads at all,” Titus spoke up, sighing and looking back the direction they’d come from.

Jen shook her head and tried to be the positive voice, no matter how hard it was, “Why don’t we just head back to Alderaan and get some rest? There’s room for you two if one of you doesn’t mind the floor.”

Shadow looked pointedly to Akan, who rolled his eyes and grumbled something that could have been anything from an acknowledgment of defeat to an oath to fight the decision. But it didn’t matter. Silently, they all agreed it was a good idea and started back, turned around, and started the long walk back. The sun in the sky was setting as they got halfway to the ships, casting dark shadows across the already bleak city. It seemed that as the night began to fall, more and more people flocked to the streets. So many different species that Shadow easily lost count after seventy. And they all ignored the four of them. Two humans and two walking felines, yet even Alraxians were lost in this diverse crowd.

Then why did she still feel watched? Shadow wasn’t alone. Akan felt it, too, as did the Voorts. It was obvious in the way they all would look over their shoulders or up above them every few minutes...just in case. Just in case what? The thought just ended there. Well, not for Titus, but he was trained to be paranoid and always on the lookout for traps. And this stunk of a trap. He didn’t need the Force to tell, though it did help...but not enough. 

As they passed through a square similar to the one in which they’d turned around from, Titus began to worry. It was open. Less people. Easier for a sniper to place a shot, or for—

“New Republic not put many non-Imperials on wanted lists, you know,” a nasally sounding voice from behind them spoke quietly. It was another moment before the four of them realized that there were about ten men of various species surrounding them. Ten. All had blasters of various sizes trained on the four of them, and at least two carried weapons that could easily take down an airspeeder with a single shot. They all froze, even the Alraxians. What good was morphing if there was nothing left of your body in the first place?

Titus glanced over his shoulder to see a Rodian holding a small, but very deadly and very illegal disrupter pistol, trained right on Jen’s back. Disrupters were illegal for a very good reason. Even the Empire had outlawed them, as they had a nasty habit of tearing apart the target from the inside first. These boys weren’t just playing around. At seeing Titus’ attention on the weapon, the Rodian smiled as best as a Rodian could smile, “Ahhh, so I is right. You worth very much, yes. So much that even this many of us can split reward and make happy life.”

Very slowly, and without moving anymore than she had to, Jen said over her shoulder, “That bounty is for us alive, you know.”

That got a laugh from all of the men surrounding them, though the Rodian’s was the most annoying, “Oh, yes, it is. But there others who pay little less for you dead. We willing to take price cut if you cause problem. You and you pets understand, yes?”

[Akan...don’t.] that wasn’t Shadow’s voice, as she was just as angry at the ‘pet’ comment as Akan was. But Marix was being the voice of reason, no matter how unconvincing it may have been. The word ‘pet’ was what had sent him off back in that tavern earlier. Not so much the word, really, but the way it was said. Just that way. The wrong way. The one that made him have to fight back a violent growl.

[I will kill the Rodian first.] Akan said to her, doing his best to stay perfectly still so that none of the hunters got itchy trigger fingers before he was ready. [Get the one with heavy weapons. Hopefully the Voorts will at least duck.]

[Akan, sometimes its best to wait for a distinct advantage.] that was Shadow, tempering her anger with intelligence and planning.

But mentally, Akan shook his head. [No one would be stupid enough to act right now. That is an advantage.]

[You’re insane.]

[Insult me after we’re out of this.] Akan’s mental voice took on the same dangerous characteristics of his normal voice. Stubborn, stupid, and idealistic. He was going to act, and Shadow knew it. That meant that she, and Marix along with her, would be stuck trying to keep all of them alive while Akan did his heroic Jedi act. She was going to beat that out of him one day. Hard. And for longer than was necessary just to make sure.

[You’ll get more than insults if we live through this, Jedi boy.]


----------



## Mirage_Patrick

still loving it!!

Keept up the great work, and thanks for the frequent updates


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 141: Heroic Acts of Stupidity*

Focus. Calm. Time doesn’t matter. Draw on the Force. Become one with the Force. Calm. Feel. The Rodian suspects nothing. Ignore him. Focus...focus. The Nikto with the repeating cannon is watching too closely. He is ready for a fight. The others. The others are distant...no! Focus! No! No time to focus! Calm. Calm. Time does not matter. Feel. Reach out. Yes. The human to the left. Jumpy and ready to pull the trigger if anyone speaks too quickly. He is the most dangerous. Yes? Focus. Yes. Stay calm and wait. Patience. The Rodian is speaking. They will expect them to act after he goes silent. Act first. Act now? Yes!

The sudden movement from Akan caught everyone except Shadow off guard. She had waited for him to move, knowing he was going to and trying to figure out how to stop them all from getting killed. And in one sudden moment, there was a cry of surprise from two of the bounty hunters that was drowned out by a familiar snap-hiss. There wasn’t any warning before an armored human was cut into two, the Nikto with a heavy rifle next to him had a chance to swing the butt of the gun at Akan’s head, but instead simply hit the lightsaber. The back end sliced off in an explosion of sparks, and a moment later the Nikto was dead, too. At this point, there had been enough time for the Rodian to squeeze the trigger on his small disrupter pistol.

But Shadow’s hand reached the weapon at the same moment, her diving momentum forcing the shot to go low, nearly taking off Jen’s foot in the process. The Rodian managed a quick, surprised look on his face before Shadow’s other hand, claws extended, raked across his neck. Letting go of the disrupter, Shadow allowed her moment to bring her around and deliver a strong kick to the side of the Rodian’s skull. There was a crack, and then a thud as the body hit the metal street below, and Shadow was already moving on to the next target. As she caught the Trandoshan’s wrist, breaking it and bending it back, the creature pulled the trigger. Literally, the bounty hunter shot himself in the face, and it was not a pretty sight for Jen to watch the blaster bolt take the Trandoshan’s face off.

Jen didn’t have much of a chance to see it, though, as a silent nothing yelled at her to just move. Not one to argue with instinct(or the Force, though she still mentally considered it her own instincts), she took a quick step to the side and a blaster bolt went between her and Titus. At the same time, Titus was growling a curse and getting his lightsaber off of his belt. Getting it in one hand, he spun to look at the young looking human who had fired the shot, already starting to move forward as he fingered the activation switch for the blade. Out of the corner of his eye, though, he caught sight of more movement. Time slowed so he could watch an older looking, dull grey skinned Rodian squeeze off a blaster shot from a very large and likely very illegal rifle. Titus even had a chance to watch the blaster bolt streaking right to his undefended left side, knowing it was going to hurt and preparing for the pain. But the pain that he got was not the expected pain.

In a flash, time seemed to speed up and Titus was left trying to figure out exactly what had happened. The blaster bolt never hit, instead literally stopping and impacting nothing just a few centimeters from his side, and a moment later he collided with the human he’d been charging at. His attention focused away, Titus hadn’t realized how close he’d gotten to the younger man, slamming into him hard and nearly running him completely over. Titus came down in a roll over the younger man’s body, getting to his feet and realizing that the lightsaber had taken an arm and a large part of the street with it. On the ground, the kid was screaming in pain, and all that Titus could do to assuage the pain was to simply end the boy’s life with another quick strike. Looking up, he saw that Jen was moving from a surprised position straight to the ground behind where Akan had been, diving for a blaster pistol and getting to her knees. She fired off a barrage at the stunned bounty hunters across from her, and in a moment had to stop for fear of hitting Shadow.

As fast as it had started, it was over. Ten bodies now littered the old square in at least twice that many pieces. Shadow was licking a small scratch that she had deemed pointless to waste energy on, and Jen was getting back up onto her feet. Titus looked straight to Akan who was breathing hard and holding his lightsaber at his side, “Dammit, Akan! That was stupid!”

“It worked, didn’t it?” the young Alraxian half grinned and deactivated his lightsaber.

Titus took a step closer, deactivating his own weapon and pointing up at a random building, “You really think that was all of them?! They weren’t stupid, Akan! And I’d be willing to bet that they’ve got at least one sniper up on the—“

The echoing sound of a blaster shot silenced him. The fact that the shot came from the exact building he’d been pointing at was lost on no one. The shot caught Akan square in the back, getting a loud yelp of pain out of him and a surprised noise out of Shadow, before he hit the ground hard. Cursing, Titus ran over to the downed Alraxian, grabbing him and quickly picking him up. Hearing Shadow growling something, he yelled to the two others, “We’re leaving!”

Then, carrying Akan as best he could, Titus ran. Behind him, Jen followed but not before scooping up Akan’s lightsaber from where it had landed. Staggered blaster fire followed them just before they reached a larger crowd, turning a corner and heading through the populated night streets of Ord Mantell as fast as they could. It took another five minutes to reach the ships, and Titus was actually surprised there weren’t any people shooting at them there. It was the perfect spot for an ambush. By then, Akan was conscious again and Titus just dropped him onto his feet without a word. As they reached the ships, Akan’s body remorphed but still feeling the echoes of the pain, he asked, “Where are we going from here?!”

“Doesn’t matter!” Jen answered as Titus was already moving up Alderaan’s access ramp, and a moment later she was right behind him. Even she knew the stupidity of sticking around. Shadow was already at the X-Wing, glaring at Akan as he started over. When he did make it to the X-Wing, she growled and punched him. Hard. Right across the face. It wasn’t enough to take him down, but there was a distinct crack from his jaw.

Before he had a chance to yell at her, she screamed at him, “Don’t you ever do anything so stupid again! Now get us the hell out of here!”

With that, she shoved him hard into the X-Wing’s ladder. He was up it and in the cockpit a few moments later, with Shadow dropping into the rear seat at the same time. Alderaan was already lifting off the pad, and it took another half minute before Akan could get the X-Wing off the ground. Doing his best to ignore the anger that sat behind him, Akan got the X-Wing moving and followed up right behind Alderaan. Making out of the atmosphere, he started to wonder if he should ask where they were going again. Right on cue, the comm beeped and a staticy voice of Titus sounded in the cockpit, “Shadow, we’ve got trouble. Apparently you just killed three hundred civilians on Obroa-Skai.”

“Nine,” Shadow quietly whispered in a dangerously calm voice.

“My thoughts exactly,” Titus agreed, “Its just around the corner. Set a course there and we’ll see you on the other side...” a pause, then, “...and I’d suggest having a talk with Akan.”

“Yes, I planned on it,” she replied just before the comm clicked off. Silence was left in the X-Wing, which continued to hang there until the jump to hyperspace. Even then, Shadow was silent. Probably for effect. The link told him otherwise, though. Apparently, she was debating what exactly to do. All in all, it just made Akan more worried. He had gotten them out of that, right? Sure, it wasn’t the best but there was going to be trouble either way. Besides, it wasn’t his choice to go to a haven for bounty hunters. It was going to be a long hour and a half.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 142: Step by Step by Step*

The first hour of the jump was spent in silence. Or at least, literal silence. Shadow was thinking, and doing so loudly. Akan was doing the same, but more in a worried way. Shadow rarely took time to actually think about what she was going to say. She usually just spoke her thoughts right away and got it over with. But Akan had this horrible feeling that she was actually trying to choose the right words. Why that was a horrible feeling, he wasn’t sure...it just was. Perhaps because it was so new, so very unlike her. Or was it? He sighed again and stared blankly out at the blue tunnel surrounding the cramped X-Wing.

_He is still young_ Marix was saying. She was the reason Shadow was silent, as Marix seemed to be trying to convince her that what Akan did was okay. _No. I’m trying to make you understand that I...we are nearly three times his age. We have more experience._

If Shadow could have found a way to glare at herself, she would have. _But I...we...you weren’t such a fool at his age!_

_I could barely speak correctly at his age_ Marix ‘said’ flatly. _And even so, he is not Tam-Day-U. He does not have the same conditioning._

For a moment, Shadow opened her eyes again and looked around the cockpit of the X-Wing. Realizing that it just made this whole thing more confusing, she gave up and closed her eyes again. _Its not an excuse. He nearly got himself and the rest of us killed. He is dangerous._

_So are we._

A pause. It was a pause that lasted just long enough for Shadow to find herself speaking before she could stop it, “Akan.”

She cursed Marix for doing that, knowing she wasn’t ready to actually speak yet. But it was too late now. Akan had jumped, shaking the seat that was right in front of her noticeably. Very carefully, his voice traveled back to her, “Y...yes?”

“Never do that again,” she responded without any emotion in her voice at all, “Ever.”

Though slightly silenced by the fact that he was facing the other direction, she heard him sigh before asking her, “I don’t understand what the problem is. I got us out of that situation!”

“And nearly got yo—...us killed!” Shadow fixed her words mid-sentence to hope that he got the point through his thick skull. Durasteel. Had to be made of it. No, probably something stronger. Something that even a lightsaber or a turbolaser would have trouble denting.

For a moment, she could feel his mind going crazy trying to think up what to argue back with. The whirling thoughts came to a stop and his voice returned much quieter, “I’m sorry.”

“No!” she snapped, even surprising Marix slightly at the quickness of the response, “Sorry doesn’t cut it. Sorry doesn’t undo things. Sorry is just an excuse for you to go on how you’ve always acted. Whatever happened to all those Jedi ideals you pretended to believe in, hm? Do you just toss them aside when they aren’t convenient? You think you can use that weapon and ignore all the baggage that comes with it as long as you just say that you’re sorry when all is over and done with?”

“Its better than being a heartless killer!” Akan yelled over his shoulder, and for a moment she could see his face moving to look around the headrest.

That comment got her blood boiling. It even angered Marix, but not nearly as much as it had Shadow, as was apparent in her yelled reply, “You are a heartless killer, Akan! Those bounty hunters. Did you even give them a chance? Did you try speaking with them? No. You killed them. Killed them. You didn’t even attempt to simply disable them. That would have been enough! But no, you had to kill them. You always have to kill them! You are much worse and much more dangerous than a heartless killer! You’re a killer who thinks with his heart, and its going to get you and everyone else killed, too! Never, ever fight with your emotions!”

“Oh, yes, wonderful,” she could feel Akan rolling his eyes as he mocked her, “I’ll just be an inhuman, walking droid like you. Never thinking abo—“

”You are not human, Akan!” again, Shadow yelled at him, much too loudly for his ears which were ringing very slightly. In fact, she was beyond yelling, more to the point of roaring at him. She paused a moment, took a deep breath, and spoke more calmly, her voice changing just slightly to indicate that Shadow was not currently in charge, “You will have to learn to accept that one way or another. Alraxians are emotional creatures, even more so than humans, but you cannot fight with them. Not because of any Jedi ideals, but because it will blind you and you will get someone hurt.”

Akan was amazed at the change in tone, and couldn’t help but be amazed at Marix. So much like Shadow, yet so much different. But no, she was not that different at all. It was simply another tone speaking the same words. But was she right? At this point, he had no idea. The whole idea of this Shadow/Marix thing was bad enough, and being lectured by two at once wasn’t making anything better. The next ten minutes were quiet, with Shadow still internally fuming and Marix ignoring her, idly looking over the buttons and switches all around her. Not that she was going to press them, but she at least thought about it.

Then, very quietly so that even Shadow wasn’t sure for a moment if he’d said anything, Akan mumbled, “I don’t mean to mess things up so much. I...I just did what I thought was the right thing to do. Its what I always try to do.”

“Why?” the question was asked slowly, in that way that would force anyone to stop and think about it.

And, of course, Akan did. Why did he always try to do the right thing? It was always causing him trouble in the end...so why did he keep doing it? It didn’t take long before he knew exactly why. Through the link, he felt Shadow...or was it Marix? Well, one of them, latching onto his thought. They knew. Yet he also knew that wasn’t enough. He checked the chrono, but found that there was still another ten minutes left. There was no way to stall that long.

So, taking a deep breath and even closing his eyes(as if that would somehow help), Akan said quietly, “She always said...said that there was more to life than just living. If you did the right thing, even if you were alone in it, it would help someone. That was what mattered. And...the one time I didn’t, when I thought I was too busy to worry about stupid things like that, everything went to hell.”

“Akan, you can’t bring her back from the dead,” Shadow...no, it was Marix. Shadow had no idea how to deal with such situations. Honestly, Marix didn’t either, but she wasn’t angry and therefore figured it was for her to deal with if any good was to come out of it

“Why not?!” Akan was sounding desperate at that point, and she could feel the overall sense of it through their link. There wasn’t too much more time left until they would have to get to actual business. If this wasn’t done and over with than there was going to be much more trouble to deal with. But before she could say anything, he was speaking again, obviously at the brink of tears and, if Shadow knew anything about other things, a mental breakdown, “Why does she have to stay dead but I got to come back? What makes me so much better than her?”

So that was it. Usually, the creation of a Nothlit was a completely consensual process. In fact, it was only ever used when an Alraxian chose a non-Alraxian mate. Technically, Alraxians could breed with any species, but it was dangerous. Though there was always the chance that the child would turn out just fine, there was a much greater chance that it would be a very disgusting and very dead creation. To solve this, either the Alraxian or the other would give up their species. It was surprisingly common. But Shadow’s actions had been to save a life she had accidently taken. To correct a mistake. There hadn’t been time to think of any of the consequences on Akan’s end of things.

Taking a deep breath, Marix reached forward and put a hand on Akan’s shoulder. It was an awkward motion and she wasn’t exactly all that comfortable with it...but at the moment, it was the only way she could see past this problem, “We can’t change the past, Akan, no matter how hard we try. We shouldn’t forget it, either. But you can’t dwell on it. You have to live now. If you don’t, you will make a mistake, and someone else will die. Do you really want that to happen again?”

Though he didn’t say anything, she knew that he shook his head. After closing her eyes a moment, she continued, “Keep your emotions in check. We have to job to do right now. The right thing to do is to see this through and to stop Nine.”

“From what?” Akan’s voice was quiet and slightly distracted, as he had looked to the chrono and was preparing the ship to revert back to realspace.

Shadow just shrugged, “I don’t know. That’s what’s dangerous. But she’s already killed people on Obroa-Skai and blamed it on me, so that’s probably got something to do with it.”

“Framing you...” Akan thought about it a moment, “But why? You...well, we all have big enough bounties on our heads.”

“But she’s putting planet names to my face,” Shadow pointed out, sitting back and glad for the change of conversation. This she understood. This she could deal with.

For a moment, Akan did his best to look back to her again, “Then why are we following? That’s just like walking into another trap all over again.”

“Exactly,” she nodded, “But we don’t have any other choice and she knows it. Hopefully we can catch up with her before she’s gone.”

“Well, lets find out,” Akan mumbled as he pulled the hyperspace levers back and the stars suddenly changed back to normal. In the distance, a small, bright orange star could be seen. Even closer was the blueish glow of Alderaan’s sublight drives. The comm clicked, and Akan hit the switch on it, “Any news?”

“Yes,” that was Titus’ voice, “Tons of it, in fact. But before I give away all the fun why don’t you check your long range scanners.”

Akan raised an eyebrow and did so. At his sharp intake of breath, Shadow couldn’t help but ask, “Do I even want to know?”

“Probably not,” he mumbled back, checking it on more time just to be sure, “Though it looks like the scouts of that fleet have spotted us. They’re going to be after us in a moment. I don’t think many non-New Republic personnel have access to this kind of ship.”

“A fleet? Oh, that’s not problem, just fly right in and blow them all up, Akan,” Shadow said, rolling her eyes.

“We could skip this one. How about I owe you two fleets next time?”

That got a slight grin on her face, “Fine. Two fleets next time. But you’re on your own, then, I’d just like to sit back and watch.”

“Which is exactly why we aren’t sticking around,” Akan added before hitting the comm switch again, “So where are we heading?”

“Jen’s plotted a jump to a small nearby system where we should be able to figure out our next move,” Titus said as Alderaan pulled around to another trajectory, “Transmitting the coordinates to you.”

“Got em,” Akan said with a nod, pulling the X-Wing around with him and tried to ignore the three squadrons of fighters that would likely be in range in a matter of minutes, “Why do I get the feeling we’re going to be dealing with a lot of this?”

“The nature of the game,” Titus responded, “But between me and Shadow back there, we should be able to get a one up on this Nine.”

“You know where she is?” Shadow broke in suddenly, saying exactly what Akan would have but much more urgently.

“She’s not here, I can tell you that,” the comm crackled with Titus’ voice and the Alderaan banked slightly before the last few calculations for the jump were done, “But I’ve got an idea.”

“Where and how?” Akan got that in before Shadow could, though Titus did get a chance to hear Shadow start and stop just as Akan finished ‘where’.

“You think I’d make a detour at a time like this?” he almost sounded insulted, but there was a laugh after that, “It’s a small forested planet that the clones used to use a basic training grounds. They used to...prey on the natives. Lets just say Jen and I have a good feeling about this one.”

“Right,” Akan nodded to himself. But before he could say anything else, Alderaan shot off into hyperspace. Akan waited a moment, then said over his shoulder, “Do you know the place he’s talking about?”

But Shadow said nothing. Yes, she remembered. Very well. Though she hadn’t been one of the ones that had preyed on the locals, she knew the place well. It did feel right. But that brought about a whole knew bunch of troubles. Why go there? There was nothing but trees and a fairly primitive semi-human society. Obroa-Skai made sense. Get attention on Shadow. But why from there to some place the galaxy hadn’t even given a name to? As the hyperspace levers were pulled and the blue extended around them again, part of her wondered if they’d have been safer taking on that fleet.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 143: We Go Two by Two*

“Tell me the truth, Titus,” Jen said quietly, watching out the viewport in front of them, “Is it possible, by any random chance in the galaxy, that we’re being set up?”

Titus looked out the viewport. Ahead of them, the green, forest planet floated there, taking up at least half of the view. In fact, that was all they could actually see. But the scanners had much better eyes than they did. They had just arrived in the system a few minutes earlier to find a small battle group heading their direction. It didn’t look New Republic, and it was currently on the other side of the planet’s distant moon. The initial scan had shown four patrol craft, six Y-Wings, and a single, outdated Dreadnaught heavy cruiser. Not the most dangerous fleet in the galaxy, but more than a match for Alderaan.

But Titus had his focus on the planet they were approaching, “Definitely being set up...but we’ve got at least a few minutes before they slingshot around the moon. Should be able to set down on the planet by then.”

“Set down?” Jen raised an eyebrow, then looked over the most recent scan they’d done of the planet. Nothing. Hmm...Titus seemed sure of this. Why? There had to be a reason. She paused and closed her eyes a moment. Reach out. Feel. There. Distant, but definitely on the planet. Jen had no idea how to describe exactly what ‘it’ was, though. She just knew that it was Nine. Or at least, something very similar to Nine. That feeling just radiated it like a hot beacon. 

When she opened her eyes, the planet was filling the viewport and he was smiling, “See? Not all that hard to do.”

She nodded and grinned, but it suddenly faded, “Its...nice and all, but...” Jen paused, trying to figure out how to put it right, “...we still don’t know where she is. And that is a planet. You know. Big. Round. Seemingly endless when you’re searching for one tiny, single being.”

The look that Titus gave her was actually worrying, but his voice was calm, “I’ll be able to find her. It won’t be the first time I’ve searched this planet for a single Alraxian.”

Jen mouthed an ‘oh’ just as the comm beeped. Glad for the sudden change, and knowing it had to be Akan(should be...had better be...), Jen turned and hit the switch. Before she could even say a ‘hello’, Akan’s voice crackled through, “Sorry we’re late. Um...” there was a pause, a sharp intake of breath, and then Akan’s tone changed to a mix of worry and sarcasm, “Well, looks like you saved the party until we got here.”

“Yeah,” Jen commented flatly as Alderaan started through the planet’s atmosphere. She looked to Titus, who nodded to her, figuring out her question quickly. Jen smiled, and continued, “Forget the company. Get down here and catch up with us. I have a bad feeling about this place.”

Akan laughed shortly, “On our way. Should be caught up soon. “

The comm then went silent, and Jen leaned back slightly in the chair. By now, she could see a large green mass of trees extending across the planet below. Titus was still angling the Alderaan down, so the trees were growing until they were only a few hundred meters above the tree line. As they flew over the canopy, he ran his fingers over the scanners. Searching. Looking. Even reaching out with the Force. Jen attempted it some, too, and was amazed by the amount of life on the planet. It was so strong that it almost blinded her, like turning on a bright light in a pitch black room. She tried seeing through it but the feeling just didn’t refocus like her eyes would.

Jen did her own scan of the surrounding area, only finding that the X-Wing had caught up considerably and was a half kilometer behind them. She sighed and closed her eyes a moment, just trying to rest a moment. When she opened her eyes again, she caught sight of an odd thing off far too the east near the horizon. Almost black...no...no, maybe just a trick of the eye. Wait. Black. There it is again. Quickly, she grabbed Titus’ shoulder and pointed, “Smoke!”

He turned, immediately saw it, and banked the Alderaan hard in that direction. His voice was still calm, and he managed to hold an emotionless expression still, “That could just be the natives.”

“Oh, really?” she half grinned and leaned forward and over so he had to look at her, “Just don’t want to admit that I saw it first, do you?”

Thankfully, it got a laugh out of him and he leaned forward to kiss her gently, “No, no. You have much better eyes than I do. Though then again, just because they look beautiful doesn’t mean they work very well.”

Scowling, Jen lightly punched his shoulder, “That’s going into the vacation tab, you know.”

“Ouch, just a little joke?” he smiled warmly as they approached the large plume of black smoke, “So what am I stuck with now.”

“Expensive dinner,” she shrugged, “Every single night of those two weeks on Hapes.”

“Thought it was one week.”

She tapped his shoulder gently, “The Force is weak with this one.”

But before Titus had time to respond, they were almost in the thick smoke cloud. They passed over it, Titus tilting the ship so they could look down, and saw a large clearing in the trees. Down below them was a scattered village, small huts across the ground...all burning. Brightly. And just off to the edge of the clearing was a very distinct shape. Loki. Just sitting there. In a rough series of spins and turns, Titus maneuvered the Alderaan down and did his best to get on the ground as quickly as he could. As the shuttle neared the ground, they could see bodies. Hundreds of them scattered across the ground in various conditions. All were dead, and from the looks of it, the death wasn’t pretty. Limbs were removes, heads in some cases, and many had deadly burns scarring them. Humanoid, all. And then, off towards where Loki was set down, they saw movement. Wind caught the smoke to reveal the two meter tall Alraxian just standing there, arms folded across her chest and tapping her foot. They both knew she was grinning.

By the time Alderaan was completely on the ground, Jen was already out of her seat and out of the cockpit. Titus called after her, but at least took the time to take the engines offline before following after her. On her way down the still lowering ramp, Jen got her blaster pistol and charged out, immediately turning straight for Nine. Jen ignored the bodies as she ran towards the very tall Alraxian, raising her blaster pistol. She was about to scream something, when Nine started laughing, “You’re a little late! Typical of a human to be late!”

Jen growled a curse and squeezed the trigger. The blaster bolt was aimed perfectly, and it even hit. It hit Nine square in the chest, but she didn’t stumble back. For a moment, Jen got a chance to see the black scorch mar before the Alraxian remorphed and smiled, “Temper, temper.”

Lazily, Nine raised her hand just as Jen began to squeeze off another shot in anger. But her body stopped moving. Jen let out a whimper and then a yelp of pain as it felt like an invisible hand was crushing her, and as her vision blurred from the pain she realized her feet were no longer on the ground. The painful grip on her body got multiple cracks from bones, but it suddenly eased up and the white hot pain faded out of her vision. It was replaced by Nine, right there in front of her and smiling. Quietly, the Alraxian hissed, “Tell my clone Ket and I will await her on Nar Shaddaa.”

Suddenly, the grip on Jen was let go and she dropped to the ground, gasping for breathing and trying to ignore the pain still wracking through her. Nine returned to her vision, looking over her and still smiling. Faintly, Jen heard, “An interesting toy you could make with that temper.”

And then Nine faded from her vision. Jen heard multiple blaster shots a second later, and immediately knew it was Titus. He had taken time to get a larger rifle out, knowing the need to at least knock the wind out of the clone and sure that only a good rifle could even come close. But the shots didn’t hit, and Titus charged forward firing as Nine casually ran back towards Loki. Titus quickly gave up on firing(as Nine was already up the small ramp and inside of Loki) and just ran to Jen, kneeling down next to her. It took effort, but she gasped, “Nar Shaddaa! Shadow!”

And then Loki started to lift off of the ground. Titus looked up to see Loki already beginning to shoot off out into space. He also caught sight of the X-Wing, looking like it was getting ready to land but quickly changing plans. He was surprised to see the S-Foils on the X-Wing opening as it charged after Loki. Was Akan actually going to fire on Loki?! Knowing that speed was necessary, and seeing that Jen wasn’t in the best of shape, he turned back to her and did his best to get her back to Alderaan. Quickly. Everything had to be quickly these days.

On board the X-Wing, there was a screaming match going on. Currently, it was Shadow’s turn, “Don’t you dare fire on my ship!!”

Akan continued to put more power from the shields to the engines to keep up with the much faster Kanyak, still keeping full power to the weapons, “I can hit his drives! It’s the only way to stop her!”

“You’ll hurt him!” Shadow screamed, nearly to the point of tearing out of the restraints and beating Akan to an inch of their life.

“Nine is going to get away again!” Akan growled, trying to focus as the two ships left the atmosphere...also trying to ignore the fact that the motley battle group was readjusting its course to follow them, “Loki will understand!”

“You think he can understand anything right now?!”

He had a shot. They would be out of the gravity well of the planet in a matter of seconds. If he took the shot, it would stop her from escaping. It would stop all of this chaos. But Loki was his friend. No. Loki would understand. He’d have to. Breathing heavily and knowing time was running out, Akan squeezed the trigger.

Shadow screamed another stream of curses at him, but suddenly went silent. Waiting. Watching. The four laser shots from the cannon extended out all as one, aiming straight for Loki’s main drive. They arced in, quickly coming together at the point where he had aimed...but suddenly, in a blinding speed that could only be possible from a Kanyak, Loki banked to port. It was just enough that the shots missed the drive, instead hitting the underside of Loki. Akan was stunned, and it slowed his chance to take a second shot enough that by the time the thought even crossed his mind, the ship rocketed off into hyperspace.

Gone. Again. So close...he had been so close. It should have hit! But instead...he sighed. [I’m sorry.]

But before anything else could be said, alarms started going off. Akan’s eyes widened and he quickly yanked the X-Wing off to the side, yelling to Shadow, “They’re trying to get a missile lock!”

The X-Wing went into a loop, a tight spin, and through the blur they could see the pilot’s surprised faces within the Y-Wings that had easily caught up, and for a moment Akan even saw one of the pilots in the nearest patrol craft before the X-Wing looped around it and continued in a mad attempt to avoid any shots. Shots which were lighting up the blackness of space. The Dreadnaught was still in the distance, but it was going to catch up soon. The comm beeped. Akan didn’t do anything about it, instead frantically re-diverting power back to the shields before some lucky shot got through...all the while using the Force to assist his reflexes. The comm continued beeping. Akan still didn’t do anything.

Shadow bit her lip and looked around at all the switches and buttons surrounding her. In a mad attempt to avoid looking at the blur outside while trying to figure out what was the right switch, she picked one at random. It was immediately obvious she’d picked the comm, as Titus’ distorted voice yelled through the cockpit, “—Shaddaa! Go after her! We’ll get the attention of these boys and drag them somewhere else!”

“What are you talking about?!” Akan managed to yell through the chaos of his multitasking. The ship shuddered from a fairly good hit from one of the Y-Wings before Voort responded.

“Nine’s going to Nar Shaddaa! Jen says that Ket is there, too!” he called out, “I’d bet you there’s some kind of tracking device planet on Alderaan. You go after Nine and we’ll meet up later.”

“What?! Where are you going?!” that was Shadow, who was at the same time yelling at Akan through the link. [You heard him! Nar Shaddaa! Now now now!!”

Akan quickly pulled up the coordinates to Nar Shaddaa, allowing the computer to do the navigation checks while he tried to get out of the skirmish. Closing the S-Foils for more speed and pumping the weapons power to shields(which were nearly dead from a large amount of shots they were taking), Akan barely heard Titus’ response, “Just get out of here! If we don’t find you in a day, forget us.”

Akan glanced back to check on the Y-Wings’ pursuit, seeing shots going around him and a few shaking them and impacting the rear shields. But then, in a flash, a barrage of green laser fire tore through the nearest of the fighters. It went up in a short flash before the ship split to pieces. A second later, Akan saw the Alderaan jet through the destroyed fighter, its only two laser cannons blazing. All but one of the Y-Wings pulled off their pursuit of Akan, and the one that did was quickly falling behind. The Y-Wings were not designed for speed.

After a quick glance to the small navcomputer screen, Akan said into the comm, “Good luck, Voort.”

And then they were gone.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 144: Compact Spaces*

The hyperspace trip to Nar Shaddaa was long. They had spent nearly twelve straight hours sitting in the cramped cockpit of the X-Wing, and it was getting to both of them. Akan had found a way to sit so that he didn’t constantly think of the ache in his tail, while Shadow had just passed out. They didn’t speak much. What was there to say at this point? Yes, Akan still had a thousand questions about the whole Marix thing...but Shadow seemed to still be working that one out herself. Intellectually, he knew that there were currently three of them in the X-Wing. Of course, it was easy to understand something without grasping the concept at all.

Finally, the blue tunnel of hyperspace gave way to the black of space. Far ahead of them, but still visible through the canopy, was the planet Nal Hutta, the homeworld of the Hutts and their crime syndicate. The planet itself was literally a mud whole, and Akan couldn’t help but pity anyone that set foot on the place. Sometimes he thought he could smell the planet’s scent from the moon of Nar Shaddaa. The smuggler’s moon. A city-wide moon, with great valleys between towering buildings and walkways exposed to the sky that criss crossed everywhere. And though the moon was still too small to be seen from this distance, Akan found himself expecting a comm call.

But none came. This was not Coruscant or any of the Core Worlds. This was a place for criminals and smugglers and the unsavory folk of the galaxy to come and drink and do business. They would have to find a spot to set the X-Wing down and then deal with whoever happened to claim the territory. Akan watched the Nal Hutta grow ahead of them, even noting a few other ships in the area. It wasn’t until they got within sight of Nar Shaddaa that Shadow spoke up.

“We’re doing this my way, Akan.”

He nodded, specifically doing that because she couldn’t see it. But then, after a moment, he said over his shoulder, “Awwww....”

She rolled her eyes, knowing that while he couldn’t see it, he could damned well feel that through the link, “This isn’t like Coruscant. And if I know Ket...which one of us does...he’ll be dug in.”

“Seems to me like he wants to be found,” Akan commented almost off hand.

“So you aren’t a complete idiot,” Shadow said calmly, “At least you catch on to some things. The worst possible thing we can do is to hint that there are a couple of Alraxians on Nar Shaddaa. Word gets around. He’ll find out.”

“You’re talking like you actually expect to surprise him!” he grumbled a little louder than was necessary while moving the fighter onto a new course to bring them to the moon that was slowly starting to dominate the canopy, “We don’t even know where he is!”

“Forget about my earlier complement.”

“That was a compliment?!”

Again, Shadow rolled her eyes, “The trick is to let him lead us to him, but only up to a point. When we know where he is, we can back up and go in from a completely different angle.”

“This is assuming a lot, you know.”

“Yes, I do know, thank you very much,” Shadow growled, sighing and leaning as best was possible, “The point is, we’re going to be doing some snooping around. Information gathering. Subtle things. Things you’re bad with. These bodies will get us noticed in a second. Human would blend in fine.”

“Two humans, hm?” Akan shrugged and tried his best to focus on both morphing and piloting into the moon’s atmosphere. He was getting better with the morphing, so it only took a few seconds and he couldn’t help a smile at the lack of tail pains, “I’m assuming since I’m so bad with subtlety, you’ll be doing the talking and I can do the stand around and look dangerous roll?”

“No,” Shadow’s voice sounded different. Higher pitched and quieter. Akan grinned slightly. She probably didn’t even notice that detail as she mentally complained about other human problems...such as lack of tail. But that was only mentally, as she continued speaking anyway, “You’ll be doing the talking. Nine will expect it the other way around...if they are looking, they’ll be looking for two Alraxians, one of them being an intelligent female.”

“Someone’s harsh today,” Akan grumbled under his breath.

“You shot my ship!” Shadow snapped back suddenly. Then, after a deep breath, said more calmly, “We’ll need names and a good cover story. I’d say noble siblings from a somewhat questionable family but we look nothing alike.”

Akan sniffled, speaking like a small, lost child, “But I always wanted a sister.”

“Shut up,” for the third time, Shadow rolled her eyes. This time, even Marix was questioning Akan’s sanity. She knew first hand all humans weren’t like this, so it wasn’t just a species problem. It most definitely was Akan. Ignoring his childish whimper and noting that he was starting to navigate the upper sections of Nar Shaddaa for a good place to set down, Shadow tried again, “Look, there isn’t time for you to play around right now. You’re Aled Kinthrath from Corellia. Noble type. Arrogant and the usual bastard. Just be yourself except try to actually look serious and cut the sarcasm. You’re traveling with your bodyguard and the reason for your trip is your own.”

“I want a better name.”

“Akan.”

“Fine, fine,” he sighed and grumbled, “You never let me have any fun.”

She nearly threw up her hands in frustration as the X-Wing moved through the gigantic buildings before finally settling near a mostly enclosed hangar. It was another moment before they were slowly descending, and Shadow tried to ignore the thousands of lights and ships and everything that were all around.

The X-Wing set down softly in the circular hangar, and above them two doors slowly closed. There were a few humanoids of various species heading out towards them, with one in particular stepping out in front. He was human, tall, and had a datapad. Obviously the leader. Before they climbed out, Akan made sure to button up his jacket and quickly ‘fixed’ his hair to look more...more...whatever the word for trying to be better than the galaxy as a whole was. Just before hitting the switch to bring the canopy up, something very important struck Akan.

“How exactly are we paying for this?”

He was up enough to see Shadow grin, “You’re a noble. The bodyguard handles those details.”

“That’s not comforting,” Akan said quietly as the canopy lifted up. He pulled the small ladder out from its section inside the cockpit and hooked it onto the edge before climbing down. A moment later, as the canopy closed again, Shadow followed. She stepped in front of him and waited as the group approached them.

The tall human looked up from his datapad, speaking in a slow and almost bored voice, “These hangars are the property of Halpak Industries. If you wish to keep your ship here the fee is three hundred and fifty credits per day.”

Shadow didn’t even flinch. It was amazing to Akan how she held her focus despite things. She carefully watched the tall human, a dangerous look about her despite the smaller human body, and said simply, “Two hundred.”

“I’m sorry,” the man said with not even the slightly hint of apology in his voice, “But the price is non negotiable.”

“My Lord Kinthrath will pay two hundred and fifty,” Shadow said in the same simply tones that were statements of fact more than suggestions.

For a moment, the man looked to his datapad, then to a Duros to his left, then to Akan, then back to Shadow, “Two fifty it is.”

Shadow allowed herself the slightest of smiles and a nod. One hand went for an unseen pocket and she retrieved a small chip, “Seven fifty. Three day’s worth.”

Taking a mental cue from Shadow, Akan started walking past them without a word or even looking to them. Shadow nodded to them and followed him to the exit. As they stepped out into the packed, twilight lit streets and picked a random direction, Akan ‘spoke’ up. [Halpak Industries?]

[He always had an ego.]

Akan smiled slightly as they passed by a large group of Mon Calamari. He was looking around curiously, amazed at how much was packed onto this small moon. [Where to from here?]

“We’ll find a place to dig in, ourselves,” Shadow said quietly, the crowd having forced them against each other. She figured it wasn’t any trouble to actually speak at this point, “There are some upscale hotels around here somewhere. Find one, get a place, then we’ll do some snooping.”

“Do I want to know where you’re getting all this money from?” he asked with a raised eyebrow, narrowly avoiding toppling over a small Chadra-Fan.

Shadow waited until they got to a less packed area, a walkway between two of the larger collections of buildings, before grinning, “Probably not.”

((_Sorry for the short update...not feeling all well, today._))


----------



## aros

*sick*

feel better


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 145: High Collars, High Towers*

When they found a ‘suitable place to stay’, as Shadow put it at least, Akan was surprised to find her jerking him back from actually entering. She gave him a sharp look, as much as she could without the ability to growl as Alraxians could, and said quietly, “I thought you did some covert work!”

“I did!” he grumbled as she started to push him away and back into the crowd, “And that’s why we get the place there, scout it out...then more exploring to get the lay of the area.”

She rolled her eyes and pushed him along the streets, “You’re a noble, remember? Look at what you’re wearing.”

Akan stopped and looked down at the dull, dirty brown jacket and trousers he wore. A weak grin appeared on his face, “...oh.”

Of course, Shadow still pushed him along, and thankfully it didn’t take long before they...well, she...found a suitable place. He was pushed in, then made to stand around like a lost child as Shadow figured out what was best for their current identities. Akan made sure to keep quiet the comments of how comfortable she seemed to be surrounded by all of this...this...stuff. If he dared make that sarcastic ‘Wow, so you really are female’ comment, he’d likely end up as red as the walls in the place. Hmm...maybe that’s why they were such a dark red colour? How many poor saps had made that comment at just the wrong time and become wallpaper?

It took ten or so minutes before Shadow stepped over to him, thrusting a grey coloured...thing at him in the way that he couldn’t actually fight. Sighing, he grumbled something under his breath, and she motioned to a room near the back. One, simple word came out, “Change.”

Fighting a whimper, Akan sulked off. He reluctantly changed into the high collared tunic, which was thankfully just a flat grey colour with green trimming. At least she didn’t force him into bright colours. He liked being boring. After pulling on the trousers and finding himself looking for a tail hole for the tenth time, he sighed and grumbled about humans, lack of tails, and general confusion before stepping out to see Shadow waiting. And wearing the same thing she was wearing before. The morphsuit. That cheating little...

“And you don’t have to change?!” he grumbled, distinctly omitting the word ‘little’. Yes, she was shorter as a human, but she was touchy about the height anyway...it was another one of those things that was hazardous to one’s health.

She smiled that devious smile and snatched his old clothes out from under his arm. She pulled on the trousers, ignoring the fact that they were much too large(rolling up the legs fixed that simply enough), then casually slid into his dirtied and old jacket. It was also much bigger, but she wasn’t going to let that ruin the satisfaction she was getting from his horrified look. After a few long moments of stammering, Akan managed to say, “You...but those are...and I...they’re comfortable...this is...and you...I hate you.”

The smile held on her face and her patted his shoulder, “Good, you’re learning to be better than everyone already. Now, lets go.”

So they walked back to the expensive place to stay. This time, though, Shadow didn’t push him the entire way. In fact, she stayed in front just a couple of steps. From the link, he could tell she was back into business mode, so Akan kept his complaints about the tight collar, the itchy tunic, and the way the sleeves pulled on his arms oddly to himself. He could just complain in detail later. Would. Definitely. But later. Right now...

He nearly walked into the window next to the open door of the place, but Shadow thankfully pulled him in. That got an odd look from a Rodian behind a desk, but nothing was said. A few other people passed them by without a word and Shadow stepped over to the desk, putting on her formal voice again, “My lord Kinthrath will require your best accommodations.”

Short, simple, and straight to the point. As Akan did his best to look aloof and better-than-the-galaxy, the Rodian tilted his head, asking in strongly accented Basic, “The great Janrra does not lease his private chambers to...outsiders.”

Shadow paused. Janrra...hmm...she couldn’t place the name, but it was likely a Hutt. Though that seemed odd that a Hutt would own a place like this, it wasn’t too surprising. Likely this place made some good money, and that’s all that a Hutt really needed anyway. She reached under the jacket and to the small pocket within her morphsuit. Carefully and slowly, she pulled out three small objects that had been waiting for just such an occasion. Reaching over the desk and making sure no one else was close enough to see, she opened her hand to reveal three small, bright, and perfectly shaped Corusca gems.

The Rodian’s eyes widened as much as a Rodian’s eyes could. It made a strange ‘ooooh’ sound before the creature’s snout curled up in an almost-smile, “But...since Janrra is currently away, I believe that exceptions can be made.”

The long, green fingers took the gems carefully and then handed Shadow a small datacard, “The codes to the room. It is on the top floor. How long do you plan to stay?...not that there will be problem, of course.”

“Lord Kinthrath has not decided yet,” Shadow said with a nod, taking up the card and placing it the small chest pocket of the jacket. She then nodded politely to the Rodian, turned, and started for the turbolift. Akan fell into step next to her and was actually intelligent enough to wait until the door slid shut to say anything.

“What did you pay with?” he asked, and that was actually a question she hadn’t expected. She’d been expecting a complaint about the clothes...especially since he’d been tugging at the collar every few minutes. Didn’t he know it could actually be adjusted? Bah.

“I didn’t threaten them, if that’s what you mean.”

He raised an eyebrow, “You mean you have other methods?”

“I do understand the concept of money, thankyouverymuch,” she glared slightly at him and then the turbolift came to a stop. It opened up to a short hallway that went forward only for about ten meters before a door stopped it. Shadow stepped out first, getting the small datacard out of the pocket and looking around the door. It took her a few moments, but she found a small switch that opened up a section of the wall. There, amongst a few lights and a small screen, was a space for the card. She slipped it in, and on the screen a small image appeared. Some kind of company logo that didn’t matter. What did matter was that the door slid open.

Akan took that moment to walk in, looking around in a slightly dazed moment. Off to the left, was a small hallway that led to two doors. But other than that was only this one central room. It was huge, and lined on all sides(except for where the hallway was) by glasteel windows, providing an expansive view of Nar Shaddaa. From the look of things, this was definitely a Hutt’s place, as the halls and other such things were designed to a more slug-like proportion. But there were still many normal sized chairs and such strewn about the huge chamber. He managed a long whistle.

But Shadow just walked past him, eyes on something outside. She stepped down a small incline to the main section of the huge room before walking right over to the window directly across from the entrance. Leaning on a short railing there, she looked up at a nearby building. Akan stepped over, looking up and wondering what it was. The building she was looking at was the only other one that towered the one they currently occupied. It went up at least five more levels, ending in a large spire next to a flat surface that could have easily been used to set a good sized ship down on. Just below that, a few balconies could be seen next to a large series of black tinted metal. Glasteel, like this building, probably.

None of that was what had gotten Shadow’s attention. What had her attention(and Akan’s now), was a very large, glowing sign that was against the top level. In a bright, shimmering green colour, it read “Halpak Industries”.

((_Another short update...feeling better, but its tough getting past some of this stuff. This is all setting up for the big payoff and it can't really be avoided. I'll probably try to get a bigger update tommorrow that gets most of it together so we can get right on to the good action and the parts I've been waiting to get to._))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 146: Always and Forever*

It seemed that the name Alderaan was simply cursed. First, the planet was destroyed, then Jen’s shuttle was shot down on that horrible desert planet Arranis, and now the Alderaan II was also a wreck. But it was still in one piece...mostly. Enough that Titus had been able to get the ship into a short hyperspace jump before limping to a nondescript and empty section of space. There were no planets, stars, or any other celestial bodies within a thousand light years...which was a good thing. Getting away from those damned bounty hunters, as they’d called themselves on a very arrogant transmission not long after Akan and Shadow left, was hard enough.

The first thing Titus had done was to check on Jen. It seemed like she was having as much trouble as the ship, always ending up in that small, makeshift infirmary. This time it was with three broken ribs and an uncountable number of bruises and scratches. The latter he was able to treat easily, but the broken ribs were a bit too technical for the basic combat medpac use he’d been trained in. As she was conscious, he’d left her suggesting she attempt to use the Force to heal herself. It would be slow, yes, but faster than anything he could do for her. It seemed to make her content, and that gave Titus a chance to go check on the damage systems of the ship. Two of the back rooms had to be sealed off because of a hull breach, but thankfully the ship’s automatic systems had done that.

It left the badly damaged hyperdrive to Titus’ amateur touch. From what he could tell, it was leaking coolant or something similar. But he did managed to patch up a few other sections with Jen’s help...despite the awkward way of doing it. Simply yelling across the ship and describing things, with Jen asking questions and yelling back the answers. Apparently, the yelling didn’t hurt her...but he didn’t really believe it all that much. She’d insisted on helping, and the last thing he was going to do was to make her feel useless. But that didn’t get the repairs far, and he decided it was best to just leave it to her when she was better. Whenever that ended up being.

Besides, there was something else he needed to do. Something he’d avoided out of worry that bringing it up would simply cause trouble. But ignoring it would likely make everything worse. So, after allowing Jen to sleep for a few more hours, he quietly slipped into the room and sat in a small seat next to the medical bed. Her eyes half opened, Jen smiled slightly and said tiredly, “Hey.”

“Hey,” he returned the smile and reached over to take her hand in his, “Any better?”

She shrugged as best as anyone laying down with a complete body ache could, “Somewhat...” her voice trailed off and her expression changed a moment. She could feel something...distant, but still close. After a moment, she asked quietly, “What’s wrong?”

Titus’ smile weakened slightly. He was glad she could recognize emotions well, but that didn’t alleviate the trouble he was having in finding the right words. Find the right words? It sounded like he was attempting to lie to her. No. No, just use the truth. After a deep breath and gently squeezing her hand, Titus said, “I’m worried about you, Jen. Ever since we left Coruscant you’ve been...more aggressive. Especially down there with Nine. Its dangerous to do that, I know that better than anyone.”

He was surprised when Jen simply looked confused, “You, Akan, and Shadow fight. You’re all aggressive. You get things done when it’s the only choice left, just like you should. There’s no difference...”

Titus found himself nodding, but then stopped himself, “No, I’m sorry, its not that simple and I shouldn’t be so evasive about it,” pausing, he took a deep breath, “Its not your actions that worry me. It’s the feelings. Of all people, you know I can tell.”

“You’re starting to sound like Akan,” she mumbled, a grin tugging at her face. It was almost as if she didn’t think he was being serious. Maybe she didn’t.

“I mean it, Jen. This is serious.”

She sighed, “Nine killed all those people just to get our attention! She murdered all of them! I don’t understand how the rest of you can just pass that over like its nothing!”

“We don’t,” Titus said, keeping his voice as calm as he could, hoping she would follow his example, “And you’re right, she did murder them. She had no right to, but she did. But you can’t fight with that clouding your mind. You know that...and now I think you’re finally learning how hard it is to do.”

Jen’s expression was neutral, but her voice had calmed down, “I’m just angry. What was done to Sh...Marix was bad enough, especially to see it first hand...but now...Nine is killing people just to get attention.”

“Anger is natural, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Not even the most perfect Jedi can be without it. Its part of being human,” he took a breath an gently rested his other hand over hers, “But you can control it. You must. I don’t want to lose you, Jen. I can’t. You’ve brought light back into my life, and I don’t ever want to lose it again.”

She managed a smile, “I’ll always stand by your side.”

Nodding slowly, Titus let out a last stress-releasing sigh, “I know that. I just wish we could leave right now and never worry about any of this again.”

“But we can’t,” Jen said, shaking her head, “Our friends are out there and knowing them they’re in over their heads. They’re family, Titus, as much as you and I are.”

Again, he nodded, “Of course. But they’re going to have to learn to do things on their own...we can’t always be there to jump in at the last minute.”

“We can try,” she grinned.

That finally got a smile out of him, “I guess we can do that, though.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 147: Relative Sanity*

“That’s stupid, Akan,” Shadow said, standing there with her hands on her hips and looking about as annoyed as she sounded. Of course, Akan was trying to fight a grin back at her higher pitched voice. Why he found it funny to see her stuck as a human, he wasn’t sure...but it was. He didn’t mind being human...obviously. He’d grown up human. Lived most of his life human.  But Shadow hadn’t, and it was obvious.

“Its not stupid!” he replied, wandering over to a very comfortable chair but not actually sitting in it. Instead he just leaned over the back, looking past the shorter Shadow and out into the skyline of the late afternoon of Nar Shaddaa. There was a soft orange glow to everything, and he was doing his best to ignore the blue glow of the ‘Halpak Industries’ sign. Closing his eyes, Akan grumbled, “Its intelligent. The last thing he would expect is for us to walk right into the lobby and ask to meet him. He’ll never know it was us.”

“Yes. He. Will. How many times do I have to tell you that?!” she threw up her arms in frustration and stormed over to the wall to glare at it, knowing she might have to throw something at Akan if she kept her focus on him, “He will smell us! That doesn’t change!”

“It should.”

“It doesn’t!”

Akan sighed. Alright. New strategy, “Even if it doesn’t change, how could he notice the smell if we’re just in the lobby?”

“He could have his office right there,” she said, glancing over her shoulder a moment before the feeling to harm Akan returned and she had to look away again.

Rolling his eyes, Akan said, “A guy that puts his name on everything would have his office at the very top so he could be above the galaxy.”

“Sounds like you have some experience with that,” Shadow grinned slightly and walked back towards Akan, getting bored with just glaring a hole in the wall.

“It’s a pilot thing,” he said with a shrug, not in the mood to argue anymore than he had to at this point. At least he’d been able to take that damned tunic off. The high collar had been far too high and he felt like he couldn’t breathe in it. Shadow, on the other hand, seemed quiet comfortable in his clothes...even though they were big on her. She was probably just doing that out of spite. Probably? Nah. Definitely. Seeing that she wasn’t going to bend at all(neither was he, of course, but sometimes you just had to move on), Akan tried a completely different approach, “So what was your idea, then?”

Shadow wandered around a large couch before plopping down on it and laying back. She idly rested her head off the side and stared at the currently upside-down world while she said, “Well, we know where he is, so searching for him isn’t necessary anymore. I figured we could find some places near the building and see what they know. Just general things to work with until the Voorts get here.”

_Why so cautious all of a sudden?_ Marix’s voice slipping into her thoughts in that usual annoying way.

Shadow mentally rolled her eyes. _Ket isn’t a fool and you know it. The more careful we are, the better chance we’ll have._

_It’s a trap and you know it._

_Exactly why we should take our time_ Shadow sat up straight and looked over to Akan again, “We have to do this slowly, Akan. This is a trap. Ket loves traps and he’s good with them. And just because we know that this is a trap doesn’t mean we can do anything about it. If we take this slowly, there’s more a chance that we’ll succeed and...and make it out alive...and with Loki.”

To her surprise, Akan nodded. The sun had set now, leaving the smuggler’s moon to b e lit only by the many smaller lights across the countless buildings. Looking off into the darker sections, Akan asked idly, “So what do we do now?”

“First off,” Shadow said rising her hand and getting to her feet, “You put that tunic on and tidy yourself up to look more important. Then, we go and ask some questions.”

It took Akan a good long time do ‘tidy himself up’, as his version of tidy was very different from that of the rest of the galaxy. Even Shadow understood the concept, at least. His constant ‘better yet?’ question was eventually only countered by Shadow yelling back ‘Cut your hair!’. Which he should. No self respecting noble would look that scruffy. But that seemed to be the one thing he wasn’t going to do. Ah well...she’d cut it while he was asleep if it came to that.

So finally, they took to the streets of Nar Shaddaa. Shadow led the way through the maze of catwalks and balconies, around buildings and up at least three before they could finally see the Halpak building again. Of course, reaching anywhere near that was going to take more time...it took an hour. Amazingly, Akan didn’t complain the entire time, and had remained silent and done a very good job in his current role.  They passed by a countless number of bars, clubs, and really anything else one could imagine. They passed at least twice that many different species, to the point where even Shadow had given up figuring them out.

Now they walked towards the base of the Halpak tower. It was three blocks away from the look of things, and Shadow had decided that they would take a left...now. She made sure Akan knew this by giving him a sharp look over her shoulder and the usual order through their link. Weaving through the crowd, Shadow walked over to a fairly interesting looking bar. Passing by an older looking male Twi’lek at the door, Shadow glanced over her shoulder to check on Akan. He wasn’t there. She stopped and looked around. Nothing.

[Dammit, Akan!] she growled through the link and then charged back after him. No wonder he was so quiet. Keep his thoughts quiet and she’d not detect his plan to go ahead with his original idea. Idiot! Again, she made a mental note to beat him sane...but flagged the note as ‘urgent’ this time.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 148: Waiting for the Right Moment*

After a few more hours, Jen was up and doing her best to repair the hyperdrive. At first, Titus had tried to help, but it had soon become obvious he was getting in the way. So, he’d left her to work, stepping out of the engine room just as she was cursing the hyperdrive again. It took ten hours total until Jen finally decided it might work. Even then, she hadn’t been sure. Considering the bad shape of the Alderaan as a whole, the fact that they were still alive was amazing enough. If the hyperdrive could just give them one jump to Nar Shaddaa, then they could pick up a completely new one. Sure, it would be expensive, but money was rarely a problem on the Smuggler’s Moon.

“If we can limp down to the moon there shouldn’t be too much of a problem,” Jen commented as she slid into her seat in the cockpit. Idly, she glanced over a few of the sensor readings, noting that there was nothing at all anywhere near. Good. Of course, she avoided looking at the small screen that Titus had up to display the internal damage to the ship. That would just be more depressing in the end.

“Not a terribly comforting idea to limp to a place like that,” Titus said as he worked on manually plotting a course to Nar Shaddaa. The navcomputer had been torn apart for pieces to fix the hyperdrive with. A cruel irony that neither of them were laughing about.

She shrugged, reaching over to help him out, “Its better than asking for help to be pulled down to the planet.”

“True,” he grinned slightly, “But sometimes its nice to let others do the work.”

Jen raised an eyebrow at that and tapped him on the side of the head, “You just want to go broke on a vacation, don’t you?”

Titus shrugged and smiled weakly, “Might as well lose what’s left of my money to something like that. Though that might mean selling Alderaan...”

“Ahh, but its not technically yours to sell!” she laughed and sat back, waiting for the last few numbers to be processed into the computer.

But Titus shook his head, “Of course it is. Remember that mention of this being our ship? Not yours?”

“Of course I do!” Jen said, laughing again, “But you forgot that half of this ship is Akan’s!”

“Technicalities,” Titus said, waving his hand, “He probably forgot about that by now.”

“Good point.”

“But you can ask him if you’d like,” Titus said as he pulled the hyperdrive levers. Thankfully, the stars extended and they shot off to Nar Shaddaa. He’d half expected those to have been his last words...and those would have been very bad last words. Especially to Jen.

* * * *​
Sitting at his desk on the top level of his tower, Ket Halpak was watching the holo on his desk with extreme interest. About ten minutes earlier, two humans had walked into the small lobby at the bottom level of the building and started asking questions. The woman at the desk had sent word to him immediately, as some of the questions were a bit odd. He would have gone down himself, but he had been busy prepping a large cargo shipment and sent Nine instead. She had stayed out of sight, and was only now returning.

Nine walked across that horribly long distance from the turbolift, between the columns that lined out a pathway, and straight to his desk. When she arrived, he switched off the holo and looked up at her expectantly. She nodded, “It’s the brats.”

“You’re sure?” he leaned back in his chair, knowing the answer to that question but asking it just for the sake of asking.

“Of course,” she said, half glaring at him, “Shall I follow them?”

“No,” Ket leaned forward again and shook his head, “We still need a little more time and those questions they were asking sounded more like they were trying to gauge the building’s layout and security in a very...unique way. Apparently, the male had said he ran some kind of mercenary group that could easily help out. Stupid questions, really, and anyone with half a rain would know they were a front,” he then completely changed the subject to more important matters, “Are the last of the droids finished yet?”

Nine nodded in the usual formal and stiff way, “About an hour ago. I was preparing to go and get them aboard Loki so we can leave as soon as is necessary.”

But Ket shook his head, “They won’t be coming with us. I want you to scatted them out through the main corridors and stairwells. Put them in two and four droid groups and stagger them across the floors. Keep it random, but not too random.”

“Of course. When should we shut down the turbolift and other systems?”

“We’ll wait until the last minute for that,” Ket said, getting to his feet and stepping around the desk to walk with her to the turbolift, “I believe we can send the rest of the work away now. I believe I’ll not fire them all like I’d originally thought. This business is fairly profitable...I’ll let them fight amongst themselves to see who gets to keep it.”

“You almost sound like you plan to come back,” Nine commented with a curious look on her face.

Ket simply smiled, “One never knows what the future will hold. Perhaps once we are finished at home, a short trip here for...the sake of nostalgia will be nice.”

“Perhaps it will,” Nine said, actually sounding happy at that for once, “Should we put a sign to mark the place where Marix dies?”

As they rounded the corner, Ket allowed himself a short laugh, “We’d have to leave the body. I believe it will be much more useful to bring it with us. Imagine the look on the Empress’ face when she sees you carry the body of her daughter in.”

“Make sure to record it,” Nine said with a devilish grin on her face.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 149: Human Insanity*

Shadow was not going to yell at Akan. She didn’t need to. He already knew how furious she was about his idiocy. Now, any slight advantage in secrecy they may have had was gone. There was no doubt that Ket knew they were there. So as they walked back the streets back to their very nice room in silence. Or at least Shadow was silent. Akan had tried saying something at least a couple times but she didn’t hear him. To Shadow, he hadn’t spoke. That was how good she was at ignoring. Most people knew someone was speaking and just tuned it out. In Shadow’s case, the person had never spoken any of the words, and therefore was able to ignore without even a ‘hm?’ if something relevant was said. Nothing relevant would be said. Idiot.

And then her eyes locked onto someone as they walked past. There was an odd feeling and she nearly slammed into a large Trandoshan. Dodging around and falling into step next to Akan again, Shadow took one last glance back...but he was gone. He? Yes. He. Who? Didn’t matter. That was Marix’s line of thinking, at least. Shadow was busy trying to understand. It wasn’t the first time she’d been...distracted like that. In fact, it had occurred numerous times on their walk back. Each time her eyes seemed to lock onto a human and cause her to walk into someone. But why? She thought carefully about the other instances.

They had all been human...or at least near human. Alright, there’s one. There had to be more than that. Did there? Yes. Of course there had to be. Had to be. Definitely. Her mind started wandering as her eyes found another human and she walked into a lamp post on the side of the high walkway. Shadow cursed, and even whimpered slightly, rubbing her forehead and catching up to Akan...again. He glanced back to her, raising an eyebrow at seeing a bruise on her forehead, “You okay?”

She didn’t answer, though she did hear him. Yes. She was fine. He knew that. Fine. Where was she? Ah. Right. Why did that keep happening? Think. Calm. Look foreword and avoid distraction. Think. Think. Why was that so hard?! Damn humans! So confusing! Wait...all human. Right. Okay. Humans. What else? Ah ha! All males. Male. Why? What did that mean? She mentally whimpered and muttered something about humans being confusing and odd and crazy and...and...

Her eyes had found another and her head was turning. But before her mind caught up with her eyes, she walking into Akan. Hard. Stumbling back and nearly falling down, Shadow cursed the human race again, wondering why she hadn’t picked another less confusing body. Akan had asked something. This time, she hadn’t heard, but it wasn’t on purpose. He was. And...it was. Why couldn’t she...think straight?!

“Stop...looking at me like that,” Shadow said very slowly and deliberately, almost having to force the words out.

Akan raised an eyebrow and asked, “Like what?”

“...that,” again, Shadow’s voice was forced.

“What?”

“...that!! Stop. It.”

“But I’m not doing anything!” Akan looked honest in that....but...he was...and...how could he not know?! He had to be doing that on purpose! It wasn’t really that bad...but...yes it was!! She couldn’t think! Couldn’t...couldn’t...think straight at least! Or understand most of the other thoughts. Marix did...but she didn’t seem to be divulging any new information. In fact, that traitor seemed to be hiding in a little corner giggling to herself like a small child. This wasn’t fair. Shadow didn’t understand a thing that was going on and nothing was helping and...and..and..he was still looking at her like that!!

“Stop it!!” she whimpered more than yelled, trying to push past him and walk very far away despite the part of her that was curious as to what was actually going on. That part was likely Marix. Traitor. This wasn’t fair.

“I would stop it if I knew what it was!!” Akan grumbled sharply, catching up with her and putting a hand on her shoulder to get her to stop, “What am I doing wrong?!”

She hadn’t heard that last question. Instead, for some reason, she had become hypersensitive to the fact that there was a hand on her shoulder. And he was still looking at her. Shadow didn’t understand anything about it, and couldn’t even find anything comparable. There wasn’t a fear...no...no danger. No. Then what? His hand was still there!!! But she couldn’t move. Slowly, Shadow opened her mouth, but only a small ‘uh’ noise came out.

Akan leaned down a little, tilting his head to the side in a curiously Alraxian motion(though it did look odd from a human). There was a mixed expression of both concern and confusion on his face, “You’re...not okay.”

She nodded her head very slowly. Or rather, her head nodded without asking her brain if it was alright to do that. It was like she didn’t have control of what was going on and that was making it worse and she still didn’t understand anything and he was still looking at her like...like...that!!

“You alive in there...?” Akan asked, obviously seeing the panic that was racing through her. The link would give that away in a second, especially because she wasn’t even thinking about the link it all...which meant she wasn’t protection her thoughts. 

Again, Shadow nodded. Ignoring the people around them, who were actually ignoring them too, Akan shrugged and let out a sigh, “Come on...lets just get back and figure out what to do next from there.”

He turned and pulled his hand away. Shadow’s body reacted without asking permission for the second time, grabbing his hand before it got very far. He spun back around, even more confusion on his face at that. She was holding his hand in both of hers, looking down at them. After a short moment, she took a small step forward and looked up to Akan with a lost expression on her face.

Akan didn’t know what to do. Something was wrong, definitely, but he couldn’t understand the thought processes flying through their link. They were all crazy and far too fast to be understood. But she was acting oddly. Very oddly. That much he could figure out. And now she was looking at him looking for some kind of answer. Help. Something like that. Carefully, he tried retrieving his hand but she stepped forward with it and didn’t let go. This brought her extremely close, and she looked straight up to him with that same look of confusion and helplessness on her face.

Looking down slightly, Akan wondered if the best course of action would be to simply run away. Somehow, he doubted that was going to work at this point. He started to say something, but noticed she was leaning up slightly to do something that he doubted she had any idea she was about to do. Shadow got very, very close, leaning up a little more...then Akan’s comm beeped. Loudly. So loudly that Shadow jumped back, letting go of Akan’s hand and looking around in panic. What had just happened?! What was that?! Were humans always so...so...crazy?! She had been about to...about to...

_Wouldn’t have been that bad_ Marix picked that moment to comment. Shadow was intelligent enough not to respond, regaining control of herself in those few seconds and forgetting anything that had or had almost happened. 

Akan was already talking into the comlink, “Right. We’ll meet you there.”

He then clicked off the comm and looked to Shadow, a more businesslike expression on his face this time, “Voorts just arrived in system. They’ll be setting down not far from here. Lets go.”

Shadow nodded and followed him. Her eyes stayed ahead of her and this time she kept complete control of everything. Everything. _Oh, come on...can’t be a child for the rest of our life._

Again, Shadow did not respond to Marix. In fact, to Shadow, Marix hadn’t even ‘said’ anything at all. This didn’t matter, Marix was happy enough to talk to herself. The irony in that was not lost on her, either.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 150: The Plunge*

Introductions were short, and the trip back to the nice room only slightly longer. By then, Akan and Shadow were back to their Alraxian bodies. The situation had been explained, and currently the discussion had turned to one that had Akan at its center.

“Why in the hell did you walk right in there?!” surprisingly, that was Jen yelling at him. He would have expected it from Titus, but currently he was standing back silent as Jen did the yelling.

“You wanted us to just sit around without even a general idea of what that place is like?” Akan asked, trying to keep his voice calm as he motioned to the building not far off...the blue Halpak logo glowing brightly in the night’s darkness.

Jen gave him a long, slow look then sighed, “Even I know it wasn’t a smart move.”

“It was the only move,” he replied slowly, looking over to Shadow a moment, “Even she knows that, whether she likes it or not.”

Shadow opened her mouth to say something, but Akan’s other voice interrupted her. [Not now. We’ve already had this argument and I’m not in any mood to fight the both of you. If you’d like to step in and stop this, however, you’re welcome.]

Jen was starting to respond, already having gotten out the first couple of syllables before there was another surprise. It was not Shadow who stepped in, but it was Titus, speaking loudly to quiet them but calmly, “Enough. What’s done is done. There’s no point bickering about the past,” he paused a moment, stepping over to the window to motion to the top level of Halpak’s building...which had lights on, “I’d wager this Halpak is right up there. Now, if I were him right now, and I knew that we were here and were coming to get him, then I’d expect a simple attack. We land on the top of his building, take it from there. Would he really expect us to come in through the very entrance that we scouted earlier when its obvious that he knows we know about it?”

They all went silent a moment to think on it. It made sense...mostly, at least. But despite this, Shadow was shaking her head, “Ket will expect anything. It would be safer to go the direct route. He enjoys playing...games with his prey.”

“But we don’t know how defended that roof top is,” Titus pointed out, idly looking up towards it though he couldn’t see if there was anything on top, “Would he really expect us to move in so soon after you two checked it out?”

“Like I said, he’d expect anything,” Shadow commented dryly, though she shrugged and looked to both Akan and Jen a moment before saying, “But I think we should go ahead and move now. This waiting around is pointless and the more time he has to prepare the worse off we’ll be.”

Little else was said. There were no possessions to gather up, as they had been left in the two ships. The weapons they needed, they carried. Silently, the four of them made the trek across the balconies and walkways that crisscrossed most of the Smuggler’s Moon. Though it took some time to reach the building’s entrance, Nal Hutta’s lone star was still hidden away to leave the moon of Nar Shaddaa still in night. Not that it mattered. Or at least, hopefully it wouldn’t matter.

Carefully and slowly, they approached the building. The entrance was black, no lights on and looked to be closed. That was odd. Barely an hour earlier it was bright and open. This change was not lost on either of the two Alraxians who had taken the lead. After a careful few moments of looking around, Akan tried the simple thing and stepped close to the door. It slid open. Unlocked. But dark. Empty, too. So far, not good. They moved in farther, looking around the dark lobby they had seen before. The Voorts also stepped in, only able to see by virtue of the few lights from outside that were illuminating the building softly.

“The turbolift’s dead,” Akan said over his shoulder, grumbling more than anything. This was such a wonderful start.

“There’s a hallway back this way,” Jen said, then added after looking more carefully, “...I think...”

“I see it,” Shadow said with a nod, stepping over the desk and to the hallway off to the left. There was actually a soft light that direction, faint but still enough to be easily seen in the general black of the hallway leading to it. Seeing no where else to go, and all collectively hoping for another turbolift somewhere at the end of it. It was a long hallway, ending in a t-shaped junction. To the left was a closed door, and to the right...stairs. Actual stairs.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Akan exhaled, nearly whimpering at the sight of the stairs and how steep they were before turning again. There was light, at least, but that didn’t bother him as much as the idea of walking up the entire way to get to the top. Turbolifts were invented to avoid such things, as when buildings became this height, it was nearly an impossible walk.

Titus turned and hit the switch to open the door. A storage closet. An empty storage closet. He sighed, having actually expected that. Shadow took a few steps forward, bringing herself into the lead before saying quietly, “Its just like him. Tire us out. I told you, he likes games.”

“Walking right into a trap,” Jen whispered, more to herself than anyone.

Shadow had nodded to that, “Multiple traps, knowing Ket. But there isn’t any other choice.”

So they walked. The stairs went up, turned right, and then up again. After that, they opened up to a large corridor, which had a very distinct appearance of being maze-like. Without speaking, they just went forward...following Shadow and at least a bit of the Force. Around one corner not too far off, was another set of stairs going up. After glancing back to the others, she led the way up them. They went up four flights instead of just two, leading them to a ver similar looking set of corridors and hallways.

As they walked forward, looking down the other corridors to find the next set of stairs(or even a turbolift if they were very lucky), Jen asked the question they were all thinking at one level or another, “Are we going to have to do this the entire way up?”

“Probably,” Shadow answered flatly, not liking it either but finding that she was focusing more. Ket Halpak was up there and nothing was going to get in the way of that. He was the one who’d been behind all of this insanity with Sadrak in some way...and that she needed to know. That and whatever it was he was up to. He had to be up to something. Otherwise, he’d still be sitting quietly without drawing attention to himself.

Four levels later, the tedious walk through nearly identical hallways was getting to them. If only the stairwells had been in the exact spot each time, but no...no, they had to search for it. They found no other doorways or any indications that this was anything beyond a maze. But as they searched that sixth level for the next stairwell, they head a noise. It was easy to notice in the emptiness that they’d gotten used to, but that did not comfort them. The sounds were not quiet, and it was easy to recognize them as metal on metal. Walking. Getting louder.

The four of them stood back, watching the corner ahead of them in that tense moment to see what it was coming around it. Waiting. Always waiting. But they didn’t have to wait long. Stepping around the corner was a droid. It was nearly two and a half meters tall, clad in perfectly polished metal. The general shape was vaguely Alraxian, almost like Shadow in her metal body but not quite. The eyes were set back deep, and had a soft green glow to them. Soft and piercing. The droid looked powerful. And as it continued to walk forward, they noticed that both arms had very long, very sharp, and above all, very metal blades extending out from the wrists. The hands flexed oddly as it raised its left arm, and though it had no face and made no noise, it almost seemed like the droid was challenging them.

And as two more identical droids stepped around the corner behind the first, the four of them noticed an odd shimmering from the metal of the droids’ bodies. It shimmered slightly. But not in the way light could do...in a way that hinted at actual movement. They exchanged careful glances for a moment. There was something else here...something much more. And then, without warning, the slow and powerful plodding of the droids ended. Without any warning at all, the slow walk became a charge. An extremely fast charge that didn’t seem at all possible from the powerful and large droids. But they charged anyway, despite all reason. They charged down the cramped hallway straight for the two Alraxians, and Akan couldn’t help but wish he hadn’t taken the lead. 

((_Sorry for the lack of update yesterday. Was exhausted and passed out earlier than usual. But now we've reached the point I've been iching for! Hopefully you'll enjoy reading this stuff as much as we did playing it!_))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 151: Weapons of War*

“The last group of droids has been loaded onto Loki,” Nine said, stepping over to Ket’s desk and idly having a seat on it. She leaned back some to watch what was grabbing his attention on the small holoprojector on the other side of his desk. Oh. Her. Rolling her eyes and watching the two other Alraxians and those humans walking through the halls, Nine spoke up a little louder, “The brat is wandering around up here somewhere, too.”

Ket just nodded, obviously much more interested in watching his new toys than anything else. Sometimes she couldn’t help but wonder if his mind really was deluded by the need for revenge. Maybe getting his tail cut off had taken most of his sanity with it...no matter, he was still useful in the end. Sighing loudly, she tried again, “Perhaps it is time for us to leave, Ket.”

He glanced at her a moment before looking back to the holo, speaking distractedly, “Leave now? We should at least see how the droids perform.”

“She will likely defeat them,” Nine said honestly, even though she didn’t like that.

He just shrugged, “Perhaps. But that says nothing for their performance. She is an anomaly among her people.”

“Then why watch it at all?” Nine snapped back, sounding very annoyed at this point, “They will do their job and tear through every other Alraxian. The longer we wait, the closer she gets.”

“It doesn’t matter if she gets here,” Ket said, finally looking her in the eyes, “The brat will deal with her. Besides...that human woman is interesting. I would like to meet her in person. Sadrak had such...unique things to say about her before he died.”

Nine sighed and rolled her eyes again. Fine. So they would wait. Nine couldn’t help but find it boring. Why should she have to watch all of the fighting? It would be much more entertaining to be involved in it! But no...right now she needed to conserve her energy. Why Ket insisted on toying with the clone, however, Nine would never understand. If he was going to kill her, he should just go ahead and do it. But no, he wanted to play. To have his fun. To get his revenge on the Empire for what he felt were horrible insults. Whatever. Nine honestly didn’t care about any of that. For her, all that returning to the Empire meant was a chance for power. And fun, of course...but Nine’s twisted version of fun was even twisted by a psychopathic killer’s point of view.

* * * *​
The three droids charged at them like lightning. So fast that Shadow, who had been leading the way, had no chance to react before the lead droid was upon her. One bladed arm swept at her neck, and she easily ducked low under it, starting to side step around and sweep its feet out from under it. But she didn’t get a chance. Halfway through her movement, a sharp pain shot through her torso. The pain blinded her for a moment before she saw that the droid had copied her move, sending a blade straight through her stomach in the process. How had it been so fast...? How did it know...? As blue coloured blood seeped from the wound, Shadow remorphed her body, starting around the wound and spreading outward. 

The blade was removed and a moment later, her body was also metal. Finally a use for this morph...no matter how odd it felt to be droid-like. Yet this didn’t phase the droid in front of her, which was already jabbing at her with another blade from its left arm. She reached up with her arm to block it, and in a loud clang they collided, with the force of the impact shattering the blade. If she could have smiled in the metal body, she would have. Since she couldn’t, she simply sent the feeling through the link to Akan...Akan! But Shadow didn’t get a chance to look back to the others, as there was a horrific event occurring right in front of her two hollow eyes. Ducking a swing at her neck again, she stepped forward and placed a heavy punch to the droid’s stomach. Though her eyes were on the blade that had snapped off. It was reforming. Growing. Morphing. It shouldn’t be able to do that! It shouldn’t! How could it?!

The others had a few moments to watch the flashes of movement between Shadow and the lead droid before a second had plowed around and was charging forward. Akan was next in line, and was already activating his lightsaber. The snap-hiss of its activation was accompanied only a half second later by a loud cutting noise unique to lightsabers. In the drawing of his weapon, he had brought it through a swing and sliced off an outstretched arm. The cut off half flew behind him, bouncing off a wall and nearly hitting Jen in the face. Titus then grabbed her arm and pulled her back a good couple of meters just before Akan swung again with his lightsaber, a long and powerful horizontal arc. It took off another arm of the droid in a second loud sparking noise, but by now the first arm had also reformed and was coming in towards Akan’s face.

He ducked under it, then saw the other arm reforming mid swing towards him, and took a quick step back. The second strike missed, thankfully, but the droid was still after him, and he was surprised to receive a heavy kick to the chest. Akan hit the hard floor and slid back with his head spinning from the force of the blow. He looked up, about to get to his feet, and saw the droid was moving to impale him. There was another snap-hiss above him, a humming around and a flash of orange right over him. Sparks flew, and with a thud, half a droid fell next to him. The upper half. And it was still moving. 

The torso sized droid ignored its newest attacker, turning to face Akan as the lower half of its body began to reform into legs. But that didn’t matter to it. One bladed arm shot towards him and Akan quickly rolled out of the way. Remembering that the Voorts were just behind him, he controlled his own lightsaber swing to hack off the droid’s head. More sparks flew, and the lower half of the torso stopped its reforming. But now, the severed head had its own body growing out of it. Neck...torso...arms...

“By the Force, how do we kill these things?!” Akan cried out, getting to his feet and risking a quick glance to Shadow. She was now dealing with two of those droids...and didn’t look like she was doing too well. There were nicks and scratches all across her metal body, and on the ground were multiple limbs and pieces of the droids that she’d gotten rid of...yet the two droids were still in one piece.

Shadow jumped back out of the way of an upwards strike from the first droid, her feet landing hard on the ground before she charged forward again. A metal fist clanged violently against the first droid’s skull, denting it and cracking off a large amount of the metal. The droid stumbled back and its companion stepped forward, swinging a bladed arm at Shadow’s torso. She sidestepped the attack and grabbed the metal wrist, ripping the droid off of its feet and tossing it onto its back with an echoing thud. Of course, this didn’t stop the droid, which lashed out with a kick the second it had hit the ground. The foot collided with Shadow’s stomach, sending her back and right into the fist of the first droid. It hit the back of her metallic skull and scrambled her thought for a moment, just long enough for another good strike to her back to land.

Ignoring the droid that was just getting to its feet again, she spun around to face the first, her foot lashing up for a heavy kick. It hit, again slamming into the droid’s still dented face. Interesting...the skull hadn’t remorphed. The loud, metallic crack of her foot hitting the droid’s skull, this time knocking off the front plating on the face. Underneath, she could see a skeletal structure of more ‘normal’ looking metal. And behind it, an orange coloured circular object. Still, the face didn’t remorph. That gave Shadow an idea. And the time Shadow took to think that up gave her another strike to the back of her head. She stumbled forward into the first droid, which struck her across the face with the flat end of one of the blades. As she was batted between the two, trying to find the chance to actually retaliate, she called out to Akan in the only way she could in this body. [The heads! Try that!!]

“Shadow says go after the head!” Akan relayed to Titus, who was next to him. They both had a few good scratches across their bodies, and Jen was standing behind them feeling helpless. 

As they both ducked a horizontal strike for their heads and stepped back to avoid the second attack, Titus lashed out withe a vertical strike to at least keep the droid back, yelling to Akan, “We already did that!”

“I know!” Akan growled back, swinging his lightsaber upwards to prevent losing his limbs. He was already beat up enough as it was, and there simply wasn’t the time for him to divide his focus between defending and remorphing.  Together, the two of them swung their lightsaber at another attack, both blades taking off a separate piece of the same arm, when Akan thought of something, “Well, we only got the neck. Try the actual head?”

“Worth a shot,” Titus said with a nod. But that would meant getting just a little closer. Unconsciously, they waited for one of them to move first. Surprisingly, it was Akan who stepped close to the droid, raising his lightsaber to block the strike of one metal arm. The Force alerted him to the inevitable second strike, which he managed to turn into a punch to his torso instead of being skewed, but at least two ribs were broken from the force of the blow, and he went stumbling face first into the nearby wall. But this was the distraction that was needed. Titus took the opening provided to stab forward with the tip of his orange lightsaber, sending it straight through the skull of the droid. There was a crackle, then a contained explosion just before he pulled the blade out. And finally, the droid dropped to the ground amongst the many other pieces of it that littered the corridor. 

But Shadow didn’t see this. In fact, she couldn’t see much at the moment beyond silver torsos and fists. Her metal body was dented, cracked, and broken in countless places as the two droids beat her senseless, leaving her no opening whatsoever. But finally, upon hearing the loud thud behind her and feeling Akan’s face hit the wall(somehow that just added to the pain in her metal face...the fact that it was ‘pain’ was odd enough), she forced an opening. Taking another hit to her spine, this one from a blade that she could feel hacked off a good portion of her side, Shadow reached up to the damage droid in front of her with a strong right hook. The strike hit, colliding with the broken skull-plates and suddenly impacting with that circular orange thing...which felt odd in the second before it shattered and exploded against her hand. 

She felt her metal hand melt slightly from the heat of it, but didn’t care when she watched the body collapse without remorphing or even moving at all. Of course, there was still one droid left and it didn’t seem to care that two of its companions had fallen. It did care, however, about beating Shadow even more, and she received this through a punch to the back of her skull that send her sprawling onto the ‘dead’ droid now on the floor in front of her. Spinning around to look up, she had a quick moment to see the droid was diving down towards her. Shadow lifted her feet up and kicked the droid in the chest, sending it back slightly. Slightly was enough, and both Titus and Shadow were surprised at the distinct sound of blaster fire. Two shots streaked out from behind Titus. The first hit the back of the droid’s skull just as the thing stumbled back, shattering the plating and giving the two Voorts a view of the inside of the skull. The second shot hit exactly the same place, but this time impacted the orange object within the skull, detonating it in a tiny flash and sending the droid to the ground.

Shadow leaned up and her emotionless metal face looked straight past Titus to see Jen, holding her blaster in both hands and breathing heavily like she’d been fighting as hard as the rest of them. She had, but in a different way. Morphing her body back to the normal Alraxian form, she groaned and got to her feet. She still ached. And her skull still hurt...a lot...she looked over to see Akan in a very painful position against the wall, face first torso bent back at the ground. He wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t unconscious either. The groan that faded into a painful whimper gave that away.

Titus deactivated his lightsaber and stepped over to the young man, helping him back to his feet as Akan managed to remorph his pained body. Yet he still looked exhausted. They all did. After Akan said a quiet thanks to him, Titus looked over to Jen and smiled, “Nice shot.”

She shrugged and holstered the blaster, “Its better than just standing there watching you all get torn apart.”

Shadow nodded, reaching to her waist and then tossing a small object to Jen. The woman caught it and went slightly wide eyed. But Shadow nodded again, saying, “Use it. You know how to by now.”

The woman nodded, looking carefully over Shadow’s ancient lightsaber. She honestly didn’t know what to say...and so went silent and held the weapon close. Still breathing heavily and after running a hand through his hair, Akan asked what they were all thinking, “And how many more times do we have to do this?”

Giving him a slow look as his hair fell messily in front of his face again, Shadow shrugged, “More than we’d like, I expect. Come on...lets keep moving before more appear.”

And so they started on again, pressed forward by Shadows need to reach Ket. It wasn’t completely rational and they could have all done with at least a few more minutes of rest...but she wouldn’t let it happen. They all knew she’d go on without them if she had to, and so they pressed on with her. That is, until they reached the next level and a problem.

As usual, it was Akan’s sarcasm that broke the silence of their decision making, “Now I know I got hit on the head a few times...but Shadow, I could swear to you I’m seeing two stairwells that both go up.”

“You’re not seeing double,” Titus said, patting Akan on the shoulder, “Though I wish you were.”

“I have a bad feeling that they go to different levels,” Jen said through a long sigh.

Seeing Shadow nod didn’t help, “We split up then. Jen, you come with me and we’ll go up the left. You two go right.”

Akan was about to ask about changing those group arrangements, but Shadow had picked up on these thoughts and answered his question privately. [You know as well as I do that the two of them won’t be able to handle those droids. We need one of us to a group. I know they’re tough, Akan, but you’ve got to learn to use all your strengths as an Alraxian. Trust me.]

And so they split up as Shadow had suggested, heading up separate stairwells to who knew what, with an entire building to climb, still. Sitting up in his top office, Ket Halpak smiled. Much, much better than he had expected. Though it would make things less interesting if they died...but it didn’t matter in the end, simply took away some of the fun of returning to the Empire. At least it was an interesting thing to view...though it would be a bit difficult to pay attention to both of the holoprojections now on his desk.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 152: Tired and Broken*

Nine was pacing. She had been pacing in front of Ket’s desk for the last twenty minutes, having gotten bored of watching his toys. She was currently just as bored of pacing back and forth, however there wasn’t much else she could do at this point. And it was something at least. Though trying to ignore Ket’s constant giggles was becoming tiresome. Add to that a rowring and skittering sound down near the entrance to the column-lined ‘office’, and she was trapped between idiots. Seemed like the brat was entertaining himself back there. Sighing, she shook her head and stepped back over to Ket.

He looked up from the two holoprojections and smiled happily. Pointing to one, he announced, “This human woman is very interesting, indeed! Not much skill with that lightsaber, but she manages to wield it well enough anyway.”

“What level are they up to?” Nine asked, stepping around the desk to look at the holos properly.

Ket was still pointing to the same one, glancing over his shoulder to her, “Well, the human and our little toy are up to level fifty three,” he then pointed over to the other, “The males are at fifty four, though they’ve had a bit of an easier time. Somehow, they managed to sneak up behind one of the smaller groups of droids and took them out from behind.”

“I told you they would eventually,” commented Nine, more off hand than anything.

“Yes, of course,” Ket admitted, not really caring anyway, “There should be meeting up together again in two more levels. Well, one for the males if they wait...but there’s a few droids there to hold them until the females arrive.”

Nine raised an eyebrow, but still not surprised at how planned out Ket had this, “And then?”

“And then...” he glanced at her again, a proud smile on his face, “Then one more level and they’ll run into the last of that batch of droids. Then they’ll be here and we can say goodbye in person.”

“How many droids are left on that level?”

Ket took a moment to think about it, then waved his hand vaguely, “Seven or so. I don’t remember, exactly. Lost count watching these. Very entertaining. She fights so viciously. But its controlled. Nothing like...like...”

“Me.”

“Yes. You,” he rolled his eyes and poked the holo of the young Alraxian female, “It reminds me so much of Marix.”

Nine quickly changed the subject, “So you plan to wait until they get here to leave?”

He gave her a careful look, noting the quick change in both her tone and the subject, but nodded anyway, “Yes, I’m sorry, but it doesn’t look like those droids will be enough to take her down here.”

“She will figure out their purpose and follow us,” Nine stated flatly, not hinting at how much this annoyed her. She would probably never understand Ket’s need to play with his prey before just killing it.

“Of course she will,” he said with a chuckle, “But the brat should slow her down and give us time to reach our contacts. Then we can distribute the droids and by then she won’t even know where in the Empire we end up.”

“Until the attack,” again, a flat and simple comment from Nine.

“Obviously,” Ket rolled his eyes and looked back to the holoprojections. His understanding of Nine’s need to state even the most simple of facts was just as bad as her understanding of his need to toy with his prey.

* * * *​
Shadow had never felt so tired in her entire life. Marix agreed. Fighter after fight with those damned droids and she was exhausted. The stairs didn’t help. Nothing helped. She was too tired to focus on the Force. Too tired to even morph anymore. She was no longer in that metal body, mostly out of worry she wouldn’t ever be able to morph back. There were cuts, bruises, and scars all across her body, a very uncharacteristic sight on Shadow. She needed food...rest...sleep. But they still had to go up. Always up. Damn Ket. Damn him and that clone.

“There’s the next stairwell,” Jen panted, pointing forward with the purple blade of Shadow’s lightsaber. Shadow nodded tiredly and walked as fast as she could with her. Jen didn’t look any better. She was as bruised and beaten as Shadow was, and her right arm had a long, vertical slash across it that they’d attempted to patch up three levels down. Those metal blades on the droids’ arms were very, very sharp. At least it was her left arm, which meant she could still wield the lightsaber effectively enough. Sure, she wasn’t as quick with it as Akan or Titus, but she could cut and defend herself. The Force assisted in that so much that she was thanking it with every step she took. The Force was probably the only thing keeping her standing at this point.

And yet again, the two of them began to climb a steep flight of stairs. Each step was harder to take than the previous one, and Shadow was feeling the weight of her fatigue in a way that Alraxian rarely ever did. It was worrying to her, and if not for Marix, she would have thought she was dying. But thankfully, Marix at least understood fatigue and exhaustion at an intellectual level. Enough to reassure them that they weren’t dying, instead that they needed to eat badly. Eat and then sleep for a few days.

A noise echoed down the stairwell before they even reached the turn to head up the second half of it. The noise was familiar to both of them. It was a loud, sizzling spark of metal that was unique to a cutting lightsaber. Somehow, that noise ignited a new spark of energy within the two of them. With a quick glance between them, they managed to speed up their climb. They quickly rounded the corner to the second half of the stairwell, looking up to see the usual hallway at the top. But unlike each of the other times, the dim lights were accented by vaguely coloured flashes.

Reaching the top of the stairs, they looked straight down the corridor to see the backs of both Titus and Akan. Adding to that, there were two orange blades and a blue-green one, flashing and slicing at the remaining droid in front of them. Behind them were the usual pieces of droid limbs and even a couple of other body parts littering the floor. There was a loud thud, and in a moment, the droid in front of the Akan and Titus was down. Their heavy breathing echoed loudly through the silent corridor, and Shadow realized it was probably not the best idea to sneak up on them at a time like this.

[Boo.]

Akan jumped. In fact, he nearly fell on his face after tripping over a piece of droid. When he spun around, his wide eyed, surprised look turned into a glare. Shadow managed a apologetic look, though it was slowly being overtaken by a grin. Titus turned around and smiled at seeing them. Lightsabers were deactivated and there was a moment of greetings and score comparing. Apparently, they’d fought through the same amount of droids. And from the look of both Akan and Titus, it was believable. They looked as exhausted as Shadow and Jen did, with the same amount of bruises and cuts. Akan had his scruffy hair to add to it, making him look like something that even the local sewer spit out.

It wasn’t long before they were back to business, though, searching for the stairwell to the next level. There were two going down, of course, but this level proved to be more of a maze than the others and it took them nearly ten minutes to find the one going up. And as one group, again, they moved up together. By default of having found it first, Akan and Titus were in the lead. For once, even Shadow wasn’t going to complain about being in the back. Especially when they reached the next level. This one wasn’t a maze of corridors. This was a wide open chamber, and directly on the opposite side was another stairwell. But it wasn’t empty.

Around the center of the room were more of the droids. Eight of them, to be exact. Four of them held heavy, repeating blaster rifles. Weapons usually mounted on tripods for stable firing, and these droids were holding them like pistols. The four others were simply like the countless other droids they’d encountered. Bladed arms only. But did they really need anything else? Of course not...but obviously, need had nothing to do with this. Four lightsaber blades were activated and a set of sharp claws were unsheathed. A second later, the repeating rifles opened fire. Akan and Titus did their best to deflect the shots back, but four rifles that shot blaster bolt after blaster bolt in an endless stream every second was something that neither of them could keep up defending against in their tired states.

The first shot to get past either of them hit Akan in the shoulder. The force of the shot sent him stumbling back into Shadow, who was behind him. It also caused his right arm, which was holding the lightsaber, to fall to the side and leave him undefended, allowing more of the barrage of blaster bolts to hit. Shadow climbed over him, knowing there was nothing she could do right now but get in close and kill these droids. She pushed off Akan, sending him to the ground and, thankfully, out of the line of fire, while sending her diving at the nearest of the droids. Her claws dug into the droid’s skull and prying inward to destroy the ‘brain’ as quickly as possible. Though she got the skull plating open, an arm grabbed her and flung her across the room. Shadow hit the floor hard before sliding into the wall. As the ‘normal’ droids began to approach the two Voorts, one of the blaster equipped ones turned to Shadow, not even letting go of the weapon’s trigger.

She didn’t close her eyes as the staggered, red line of blaster fire arced its way towards her, which meant she actually saw the droid fly straight up in the ceiling at the speed of lightning. It hit head first, crushing it in violent sparks before the droid’s remaining pieces fell back to the ground. A nearby droid noticed this, and turned to Shadow in a run, preparing to dive at her with its bladed arms first before she could even get to her feet. But again, something happened. This time, instead of up, the droid went left in a flash, streaking off before shattering against the far wall. She then noticed that the blaster fire had stopped, and looked back to the main group to see only droids left standing. The remaining ones had been scattered across the room and were all in various shapes of disrepair. But all the skulls were smashed, and none of them moved.

The two that were left were charging at...Jen? Where was Titus?! Shadow’s eyes raced and she saw the man face first on the ground, not far from where Akan had fallen. He had likely been taken down in the same way. Just too much. But no, he was moving. Looking up to the two droids charging forward at the two of them. And then, Shadow watched in an almost horrified interest, as Jen yelled something unintelligible. One arm outstretched, and from it, violent arcs of blue lightning shot out. They went right over Titus, engulfing the two droids and causing them to spark and shake before the shimmering metal of their armor actually melted. Smoke suddenly exploded out from the skulls, and it all stopped.

The two droids fell, melted heaps of scrap metal. And Jen stood alone in the room. The only one still standing. Eight of those droids, all taken down by one exhausted woman. And yet she still stood. Shadow was crawling over to check on Akan, knowing he was alive but mentally nudging him back to consciousness. Titus had managed to sit up, and in a moment Jen was in his arms, clinging to him and sobbing violently. Through it all, Titus stroked her hair and held her close, saying quietly, “Its okay...its okay, Jen. Its almost over, now. Its okay...”

Through the sobs, she whispered an apology. She repeated it again and again as the tears slowly faded away again. But somehow, none of this got through to Titus or Shadow. Both were too caught up in the moment to step back and think. And the one of them who would be the one to actually stop and think about it was unconscious, with Shadow doing her best to wake him. They had to keep moving. She could feel Ket near. Yet even Marix didn’t realize how this was blinding her to what was really going on.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 153: The Jai*

“They should be here by now,” Nine growled, having gone back to pacing.

Ket smiled and leaned back in his chair. He was going to miss this chair. Sure, he could take it with him...but really, how could anyone make a gloating, ‘I win, you loose’ exit while carrying a chair? It just didn’t work. So he was at least going to enjoy the last few minutes of it...though he was having to resist the urge to push off the desk and roll around more. Sadly, there wasn’t anymore time for that. Nine was right, they should have arrived already. But Nine wasn’t watching the holos, and therefore didn’t see the reason for the delay.

“They took a break,” he said idly, watching the holo that showed the four of them sitting and recovering from the serious beating they’d taken over the last couple of hours. Honestly, Ket couldn’t blame them. Especially after those very interesting actions by the human female just a few minutes ago. He’d had his doubts before, but she might just make waiting until the last second to leave worthwhile. His mind had already worked out how to bring it to a very entertaining conclusion, and from the looks of things it would be much simpler than most would have expected. The only regret he had was that he wouldn’t be able to stay around and watch the fun.

He smiled anyway. There would be stories. Word would get out. And if the clone survived, she might just take the story to the Empire, herself. Even better. But then again, if he had to take the story he would. Sure, it wouldn’t be accurate, but Ket knew how to tell a good story. Especially to his enemy. And then he sighed, seeing that the four of them were starting to get to their feet. Glancing through the holoprojection, Ket said, “They’re on their way now. Say your goodbye to the little brat and anything you happen to have gotten attached to in the place, and then lets get to our places.”

Nine simply pivoted on her foot and walked right past him, glaring at him. One day she’d learn to appreciate sarcasm. Maybe. Probably not. When she passed him by, she hissed, “You cannot continue to insist on this showing off, Halpak.”

Definitely not. It seemed like, no matter what, some things just wouldn’t ever change. Oh well. She’d be happier, if Nine could be happy that was, once they had left Nar Shaddaa. Then there would be only one last need to show off. But that one, even Nine would appreciate. Getting up out of his chair and giving it one last look, Ket turned and followed Nine to the turbolift on the wall behind his desk.

* * * *​
They hadn’t talked at all. It was an odd silence considering what had just happened, but none of them could find a way to break it. Titus simply held Jen close, doing his best to comfort her when he knew how impossible that was. He was as afraid as she was, having truly realized what had happened only minutes earlier. He couldn’t say anything, though. What could he say that would help? Nothing. He had tried thinking back to his own past, and had quickly realized that anyone that had tried to say things to him would just have been blown off. In fact, they were. He could see that now, years later.

And now Jen was on the edge. Everyone tread close to the Dark Side at least once in their lives, so it shouldn’t have worried him as much as it did. But this was Jen. She was kindest person he’d seen in thousands and thousands throughout the galaxy. And here she was, sobbing on his shoulder after brushing so very close to the edge. But she had walked away from it. So close, and she somehow walked away. What he hadn’t done when he was younger. But still, somehow, this didn’t comfort him.

Next to them, Shadow was doing her best to get Akan conscious again. This had ended up simply becoming a constant mental prodding through their link. It had worked before, it should work again. And besides, it took very little effort, allowing her time to rest and regain at least some energy. Not enough to remorph all of the cuts, scratches and bruises she had acquired, but definitely enough to hang on for another fight that was going to be inevitable. Eventually, Akan started to respond to the prodding. At first, it was just a few thoughts that actually made sense. Or at least, formed coherent ideas compared to the blank nothing or the random everything that unconsciousness and dreaming would produce. After a few more minutes, an eye opened and then another.

[What happened...?]

She rolled her eyes. Of course he’d ask a stupid question like that. Why couldn’t it be something interesting? Or nothing at all, even. She poked a large, blackened portion of his jacket. [You got shot.] she then poked four more black marks. [...multiple times.]

He tilted his head up some to look at the scorch marks on his jacket, though his neck couldn’t bend enough to get a good view of one of them at the moment. [And I’m not dead...why?]

[You seem to have a habit of living.] Shadow ‘said’ with a shrug, not completely meaning it as a sarcastic comment but at the same time, knowing he would take it that way. When he smiled slightly, she figured it had worked and explained a bit more. [Usually, Alraxians don’t black out. Our bodies don’t work that way, normally. The only time that happens is if you’re low on energy and suffer serious wounds. The body and mind pretty much shut down so that the rest of the body’s energy can be used to remorph the wounds an keep you alive.]

“Handy,” Akan said, finding his voice and sitting up finally. His throat still hurt, but truthfully, everything hurt still. Wait a second... “Hold on, Shadow. If my body just did that and healed those wounds, then why does everything still hurt?”

Shadow actually shrugged, “I’m no expert. You see, I’ve never been like you. I don’t attract blaster fire. So lets just leave it at this. You’ve got a habit of staying alive, but this is balanced by a life of aches and pains, which you then push on everyone else around you in endless complaints.”

Slowly, a grin started to appear on Akan’s face, and it eventually turned into quiet chuckling, “That was a joke, wasn’t it?”

“Not completely,” Shadow answered quickly, but then managed a grin of her own, “You complain so much all the time that even Marix thinks you only live to whine.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he grumbled, looking to the Voorts and knowing he should ask what had happened. He could see that all the droids were in pieces and crushed. He could see something had happened. But something held him back from asking what that something was. 

And when he got close to saying something, Shadow interrupted him by making another comment, “Votes. We both believe in your ability to whine,” and before he could comment, she, too, turned to the Voorts and said carefully, “Ket is close. We need to keep going.”

Titus looked to the two Alraxians, an expression of pain on his face that was quickly washed away by determination. He nodded, and pulled Jen back slightly. Her face was still wet with tears, but she felt calmer. That was what she needed. Calm. Looking her in the eyes, Titus managed to get himself to smile. Quietly, he whispered to her, “She’s right. Let’s get this over with and then you cash in on that vacation.”

Jen’s looked up into his eyes and smiled, laughed slightly even. She nodded a few times and started to get to her feet. But Titus held her there for a moment, looking into her eyes again and searching for something. He didn’t even know what it was he was searching for...or if he found it or not. But the thoughts ended when he kissed her. A few moments later, the two of them were up and stepping over to the Alraxians...both of whom were idly toeing at the droid remains.

There was a silent agreement to go on, this time with the two Alraxians taking the lead, but before they got far, Jen reached over and caught Shadow’s arm. She turned around to give Jen a curious look, and found herself looking at the hilt of her lightsaber. With a calm, steady voice that didn’t seem to fit the expression on her face, Jen said quietly, “I’m not ready for this.”

Shadow just looked at the woman in disbelief for a moment before finally nodding and slowly taking the weapon back. As she hooked the weapon to a small spot on her morphsuit, she said to Jen, “Words of true wisdom. You may be more ready for it than you think.”

That got a slightly embarrassed smile on Jen’s face before she motioned them all forward to the stairwell that was at the opposite end of the open room. It took a couple of seconds to actually push both Shadow and Akan along, but once they got the idea it wasn’t too much trouble. She exchanged another smile with Titus, and for a moment it was just like old times. Before everything. Before this day. If only it could have hung on for longer than it did.

The stairwell was very wide compared to the others. It could have easily fit an average sized landspeeder if the steep angle of the steps wouldn’t cause trouble with the repulsorlifts. The stairs also went up for much longer than any of the others. Four turns. Up. Left. Up. Right. Up. Left. Up...Right...then up one last time. It seemed like the stairwell was designed to create tension, as the more they walked the easier it became to notice the sounds of their own footsteps and breathing. How heavy they both were. How tired they all were.

And then they stepped out of the stairwell into the monstrously gigantic room ahead of them. The ceiling was at least twenty meters high, with great columns lining an open, carpeted walkway. How many columns there were was impossible to tell, as they were staggered in a very odd pattern, though behind some of them, great windows could be seen. Ahead of them, about forty or so meters, the room made an L-shaped turn, columns, royal looking carpet, and all. And it was silent. Far too silent.

Shadow looked back to the two Voorts, raising a hand slightly to motion for them to stay back some. She then nodded to Akan and the two of them began to walk down the edges of the carpet, leaving a the center open between them. Each step they took was slow, deliberate, and silent. The only real sound either of them could hear was their own breathing...echoing through their skulls as they tried to listen for something. Anything. This couldn’t be empty. That was too easy. Too...a click.

The Force suddenly screamed a panic through Shadow’s mind and she reacted to its warning. Quickly, she dove to the left, rolling across the floor towards a nearby column just as a series of four large, serrated, metal spikes arced out from the carpet below right where she had been standing. She was now down on her haunches, barely a half meter from the now-retracting blades. Her eyes looked up from them to the currently frozen Akan. Nothing needed to be said. Even the Voorts didn’t need to hear an ‘I told you so’ when it came to Halpak’s love of traps. Maybe they hadn’t believe that it would be so literal. Now they did. And now they would all be listening much more carefully. The carpet wasn’t there just for show. It was hiding the floor. Simple and perfect.

Slowly getting back to her feet, Shadow started the careful walk forward again. Akan glanced back to the Voorts, who had now split apart and were each following the paths of the Alraxians. Jen was following Akan’s, stepping where he had and using the Force to make sure of it, and Titus was doing the same with Shadow’s path, making special note to the entire area she’d been in when the blades had cut through the carpet.

They made it five more meters before Shadow stopped, motioning for the rest of them to do the same. Had she just heard something? A skittering noise off in the columns? Carefully, Shadow turned her head and looked around. Nothing. She turned back forward, getting ready to take another step before...was that it again? A sliding noise. Like...like a cat that couldn’t grip onto a metal floor and was trying to stop itself after a run. Or was she just paranoid? No. No she’d heard something. Slowly, she looked back to Akan. Through their link, he knew what she was looking for, but just shrugged.

If the need to hear everything wasn’t as important, Shadow would have sighed or insulted him. But she was focusing now. She _had_ heard a noise. And it was close...and..

“RAWR!!!” Shadow heard the pathetic attempt at a vicious growl the moment before claws latched onto her back and a set of sharp teeth bit straight into her neck. Shadow’s cry of pain was deafening compared to the previous silence. Reaching back in a panic, she tried to pry the...the pain off, but couldn’t reach it. It moved, claws raking into her back and teeth biting again and again.

As Shadow flailed and stepped around in a panic, now growling from the pain, she screamed at anyone who was listening, “Get it off!! Get if off me!!”

She heard footsteps and then felt the claws digging into her back even more. A second later, Shadow felt the claws latching on tighter as they were pulled...pulled!! It was pulling on her too!! Letting out another growl that faded into a whimper, Shadow cried over her shoulder, “Off!! Get it off!!”

“I’m trying!!” Akan’s voice yelled back, far too loudly. At this point, though, she didn’t care. It was clawing her and he was pulling it and it was clawing tighter and he was still pulling on it and...and...

“Don’t try like that!!” she screamed, reaching back and managing to get a grip on something...fur covered. Just as she latched onto the fur, her hand was bit hard. She could feel the teeth actually grinding the bones in her hand!

“I’m...doing the best I...can...” with each pause in Akan’s yells, he pulled harder and the claws dug in deeper...as did the teeth. Akan was not helping! He was just making it worse!! And then suddenly, without any warning at all from Akan, damn him, he yanked even harder. This time, it got the thing off of her back...but the claws took a good portion of Shadow with them, sharp and very severe pains wracking through her entire back and hand. The pain was too much, and her vision blurred into a white hot nothing. She didn’t black out, but instead fell to her knees and curled up, trying to urge her body to remorph and stop bleeding everywhere...trying...trying...

The Voorts had run to catch up, now standing a meter or so back and staring at what Akan was holding...just as Akan was staring. Held by the waist in both hands at arms length from Akan and flailing around madly was a small, fur covered...feline thing. It had thick black coloured fur with a single, blue stripe that ran from the fur on the top of its head all the way down to the stubby tail. And though it was madly trying to get out of his grip, the thing wasn’t actually clawing him at all. Instead it squirmed violently back and forth, pushing on his arms but not using claws. It was still facing Shadow and looked to be doing everything in its power to get free to maul her.

Though Shadow had not managed to heal her wounds very well, she groaned and managed to get up onto all fours. Her groan seemed to insight another burst of energy from the thing in Akan’s arms, which made another weak attempt at a roar before twisting around in his grip. This time, it managed to slip free, bounding to the ground as Akan failed to catch it again before the thing dove at Shadow, claws extended again. Shadow’s reflexes took over, her arm lashing out and backhanding the small creature roughly.

The cracking noise was accompanied by a sharp whimper before the creature hit the floor and slid into a nearby column. Slowly, as Shadow got back to her feet, she turned to look at the curled up thing. It was Jen who broke the renewed silence, “Is that...that what I think it is?”

Shadow nodded, still breathing heavily and deciding to use the one word explanation, “...Jai...”

“What?” Jen looked to Titus, who shrugged.

But Akan knew what that meant. The link was a nice advantage sometimes. And seeing that Shadow was still trying to focus her remaining energy on healing the still bleeding wounds, he fielded the question, “A child...”

“Alraxian child,” Shadow finished for him.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 154: How Far We've Fallen*

“A cute little brat, isn’t he?” a voice echoed down the large chamber. All of their attention was immediately pulled away from the unmoving Alraxian child to the turn in the corridor. There was no one there. Just as empty as it had been before. But that voice hadn’t been from a comm system. It really had echoed from around that corner. And the Voorts were on it.

Ignoring the fact that there could very easily be more traps under their feet, the two humans ran past the Alraxians and to the corner. Around it, the columns spread out, revealing great glasteel windows that were starting to get a soft orange glow. The sun was rising. About twenty meters in front of them was a single desk and an empty chair behind it. The desk was clean and looked as if it had never been used. But past it, about another twenty or so meters, a set of small steps rose up to an open turbolift door that was flanked by two wide open windows. Standing there in the turbolift were two Alraxians.

The female was easily recognized as the clone, Delta Nine, standing tall and with an emotionless face. She watched them in a bored way, nothing like the male standing next to her. He was just as tall as Nine, broad shouldered yet he looked more like a planetary governor than a warrior. It was in the face. The short, neat black hair, strong lines in the face that reminded Jen of Titus, and two piercing, silver eyes. And he was smiling. Proudly. That arrogant smile that was always accompanied with some kind of ‘I’ve won, and here’s how...’ speech. The smile grew even more a moment later, and Titus knew why.

Shadow and Akan had caught up. From the looks of it, Shadow had been half-carried by Akan. Only half-carried because Shadow always refused such assistance. She’d probably only accepted it because of other variables that were in the situation. The main one being that Alraxian smiling at them. But when the two of them stopped and Shadow’s eyes fell on the Alraxians at the opposite end of the room, she seemed to gain a small surge of energy. Enough to stand on her own and growl.

Halpak laughed at that, sounding genuinely amused by the sound, “I am so sorry, my dear, but we really don’t have time to play. You must understand that it pushed our schedule to even wait and say hello...or goodbye, depending on your point of view, of course.”

“You’re not going anywhere, tail-less!” Shadow snapped back, taking a few careful steps over to the desk. The Voorts and Akan then noticed that her description of Halpak as ‘tail-less’ wasn’t just an insult. In fact, it looked like he had a simple stump for a tail.

And at those words, the amusement was drained from Halpak’s face, quickly replaced by a very dangerous look of rage. Viciously, he yelled back, his voice echoing through the chamber eerily, “Don’t think I don’t plan to return the favor!” silence hung in the room after that, before Halpak’s voice calmed again, though his expression did not, “I truly must apologize to you all. We must be going as the Mrrakesh are not the most patient of people.”

He then reached for a panel within the turbolift. He stopped, though, at hearing Shadow’s voice again, “So now you’ll sell your own people out and kill them too?! I should have taken more than your tail!”

Halpak laughed slightly, “My people? You actually can think of them as my people? When they take me away from my family and my life, treat me like dirt and turn me into some mindless assassin just because my eyes are a different colour?! You know as well as I do that they are not my people! They aren’t yours either, no matter what you may want to think! They’d throw you out in a second and call for your death if the people found out what you really are! Or rather, when they found out.”

But Shadow didn’t have another chance to speak. Footsteps caused her to go silent as she looked to the source. Jen. The woman was charged forward, past the desk and right up the steps. She had no weapon in her hands, but there was a soft glow growing from her fist. She got within a meter of Halpak before he took notice of her, simply reaching out with a hand lazily. A heavy wall of the Force itself collided with Jen, sending her rolling back down the steps. Halpak exchanged a look with Nine, then walked out of the turbolift, casually down the steps and in front of Jen’s unmoving body.

Reaching down, he lifted her up onto her feet again...but did so with only the Force. Her eyes were open, a maddening look in them and he just smiled to her, saying quietly, “I was right to watch you. I’m sorry I can’t stay any longer to enjoy the fun. I hope you enjoy it, though.”

Then, after a quiet word that even Nine didn’t hear, he flung her to the side, sending Jen flying into the desk hard. The force of her hitting it shattered the fake-wooden desk, and Titus finally found himself able to move again. Calling her name, he quickly ran to the mess she was buried amongst, kneeling down and trying to dig her out quickly. At the same time, both Shadow and Akan had started towards Halpak, but neither of them got close enough before he was in the turbolift, waving to them with a smile, and gone.

Titus didn’t care. He got a large piece of the desk off of Jen and was relieved to see she was still alive. Her eyes were even open. A smile reached Titus’ face somehow, and he did his best to help her up. But to his surprise, Jen batted his arm away roughly. It seemed like something clicked in her eyes and they were like nothing he’d ever seen in her before. Suddenly, she lashed out and kicked him hard in the chest. A moment later, she scrambled to her feet and back away from the three of them.

“Jen!” Titus called out instinctively, catching his breath and getting to his feet. There was a look of worry on his face as he carefully walked towards her again.

Quickly, Jen backed away from him, up the steps and off to one side, screaming at him, “Get away from me!”

But Titus still took a step forward, though it was slower and more careful time. He took a moment to find his voice, and it came out sounding as terrified as the look on his face, “Jen...its me...come on...I’m not going to hurt you...”

“Stay away from me, Sith!” she cried out, taking another step back and hitting the glasteel window behind her. She glanced at it in a moment of panic, looking very much like a cornered animal. Looking back to them, Jen’s eyes ran over the two Alraxians and then back to Titus, “You lied to me! You lied to me and I loved you!”

Titus opened his mouth, but no words came out. He could feel a change in her, yet couldn’t describe it beyond that it was wrong. Not able to find any words, he simply took another small step forward, reaching a hand out towards her. The look that this got from Jen was like venom. And Akan stood in horror as he watched it all with a sense of deja vu. Jen said something else...but he didn’t hear it. It was all a blur. 

The next moment, Akan watched as the glasteel behind Jen was shattered by an unseen force. Distantly, Akan heard Jen speak something...and though again, he didn’t actually grasp the words, the feeling was enough. The feeling was also easy to describe. Hate. Anger. Everything he’d been afraid of from the very beginning. Without another word, Jen took a single step back, out of the shattered window and out of sight. And then there was silence. It was a silence that didn’t last lost.

“What did he do to her?!” Titus screamed, spinning around to glare straight at Shadow.

But she had no words. She didn’t know what to say...or to think. Jen was gone. Halpak was gone. Nine was gone. And she couldn’t help but feel that it was her fault. She shouldn’t have hesitated and let Halpak talk. She should have listened to Akan, no matter how paranoid his claims had been. And so Shadow just stood there, frozen with shock for the first time in her life.

“What did you do to her?!” Titus yelled, his face bending and twisting to match the rage in his voice. But still, he got no answer. And his hands were on his lightsaber again, taking the weapon from his belt and looking across the room to Shadow. His voice marred by anger to the point where it barely even sounded lie his own anymore, Voort growled, “This is your fault! You knew she shouldn’t have been here! She wasn’t ready! This is all your fault!”

And then, with a snap-hiss from the lightsaber, the orange blade came to life. It came to life in motion as Voort charged forward, straight to the still unmoving Shadow. And Akan watched. He watched in slow motion as Voort got closer and closer. He watched as the lightsaber rose, then began its fall towards Shadow. And he couldn’t move. His body was frozen with the same terror and horrible realization of what was happening...and yet Voort still charged. The blade still fell towards Shadow. And somewhere, Halpak was laughing to himself.

((_Sorry for the later than usual update. Net was down last night. Still planning on the usual timed update for tonight...hopefully._))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 155: Human and Animal*

An orange streak was slowly cascading downwards. It had only been a few seconds, but to Shadow, it had lasted an eternity. And then, just as she had expected to feel the lightsaber cutting her in two, there was a bright white flash in front of her eyes. A loud crackling sound was accompanying it, and her eyes followed the white light upwards to see that it faded into that orange. Odd...she looked down, but could only see white. Then, she started to look right, following the constant white until it faded into another colour. Into a soft, blue-green.

It was then that she realized the white light that the two others had collided to create was only centimeters from her head. Wavering slightly...towards her...back...then towards again...and then it was gone. The white was pushed back until she could see clearly again. Voort had been pushed back, now a good two meters away and holding his lightsaber up...but not looking to Shadow. His voice was hoarse, but filled with both pain and anger, “Get out of the way, Akan!”

A figure stepped in front of Shadow. She knew the back of Akan’s head well, having given it a good punch more than once. The white hair and the metallic blue stripe were bathed in the light of his lightsaber, held out in front of him in a way that Shadow could only see its tip above his head. And his ears were flat. Something she’d not seen from him before. But he spoke calmly, in a voice that was far too much like her own, “I’m not moving, Voort.”

“She killed Jen!” Voort screamed, pointing over Akan’s shoulder to Shadow.

But Akan shook his head, “No. She didn’t,” and for a moment, through the link, Shadow felt a strange hesitation from Akan. But it was gone as quickly as it had appeared, and his voice spoke again, sounding as calm as before, “I did. Its my fault, Voort. Mine.”

“Y-y-you...” Voort’s eyes looked Akan over for a moment. Through the Force, the two Alraxians could feel his mind working that out. Convincing himself. Making it true. Yes. It was Akan’s fault. He’d been so worried in the first place he should have stepped in and done something about it! But no...he’d just complained and whined! And he stood right there, almost gloating about it.

It had not been the most intelligent thing to say if Akan had wanted to stop what happened next. But it was too late. It was something that had been building up and waiting to boil over since they’d first encountered each other. A curse escaping his lips, Titus Voort charged at Akan, lightsaber swinging at the young Alraxian’s neck. Akan’s lightsaber was there to meet Voort’s, catching it easily with a loud explosion of energy. The white-hot light of their lightsabers colliding again faded as Voort pulled his blade back, spinning around for another horizontal strike, but this time aimed at Akan’s waist. Inverting his blade, Akan parried the strike with ease, causing another flash of white. 

There was a second snap-hiss and Akan caught a quick glimpse of the other end of Voort’s double-bladed lightsaber swinging around at him. But this time, Voort’s blade met no resistance. Akan ducked low, rolling left and out of the way. He got to his feet, spinning his wrist around to bring his lightsaber up into a better defensive position.  Voort reversed the momentum from his missed swing, pulling back and down with the opposite blade. Akan caught it high, batting the attack away before spinning right and catching the second orange blade. 

The Force gave a quick warning, and he ducked again under another strike. But this time, a knee met him, catching him hard in the face. Akan stumbled back, ignoring the pain(what was one more pain at this point, anyway?) And quickly sidestepping a vertical swing aimed to cut him two. Under his foot, there was a soft click. So soft, that he barely heard it below the sounds of the three whirring and cracking lightsaber blades. Perhaps he hadn’t heard it...maybe it was the Force. Either way, he reacted to the ‘sound’, rolling to the left again just as a series of serrated spikes shot up where he had been standing.

Voort had been forced to take a step back, staring down at the blades for a short moment before looking back to Akan. He didn’t wait for the blades to completely retract before attacking again, instead jumping over both the blades and Akan, landing behind the young Alraxian. Pivoting around to face the man, Akan had his lightsaber up to defend the strike meant to cut him across the waist. He deflected the strike upwards, forcing Voort’s second attack to come in from a low angle. Instead of blocking it, Akan jumped over the orange blade, flipping to the left and landing in time to bat away a high attack to his head.

Pushing the blade away as he did forced the second, lower one to rise up towards his right leg without Voort even having to force it. Quickly, in conjunction with yet another left step, Akan raised his right leg up and out of the way. His trouser leg was sliced in the process, but his actual leg got only a few singed hairs. With the sidestep, he also pivoted around to Voort’s back, deflecting away a horizontal swing as Voort spun around to follow him. The two blades held there for a long moment, centimeters from Akan’s face. And they had a moment to watch each other’s eyes. Voort’s pained and enraged matching against Akan’s emotionless, yet full of something he didn’t completely understand. Using all the strength he could manage, Akan pushed Voort back, just enough so that the other man would have to take a couple steps forward to attack again.

And instead of standing and waiting, Akan drew upon the Force and used it to assist his back flip. He landed a good ten meters on the other side of the large room, glasteel from the shattered window now crackling as he landed and shifted his weight. Holding the his blue-green lightsaber in front of him with both hands, Akan called out, “We don’t have to keep doing this, Voort!”

The other man steadied himself and held the double-bladed lightsaber low in front of his body, glaring across the room to Akan, “You should have just let me kill your animal friend, then!”

Akan glanced to Shadow, still standing there...but now a good distance from the both of them. She hadn’t moved, though her eyes seemed to be watching the both of them. He couldn’t feel her through the link. Or maybe he was too focused on the task at hand. Voort wasn’t going to back down. Not anymore. Knowing he was at a disadvantage, Akan took his lightsaber into his right hand and extended his left to Shadow.

From her waist, a small object broke off and tumbled through the air towards Akan. He caught the ancient lightsaber in his free hand without any trouble, immediately noticing the feel of the weapon. So very similar to his own...but this wasn’t the time for that. He spun the hilt around until it was in the right position, then thumbed on the activation switch. A soft, purple glow joined the blue-green glow from his own lightsaber. Holding both of them up in front of him, Akan said calmly, “I’m an animal now, too, Voort.”

((_Been trying to get a piece of art to accompany this and the next update...hand is not listening to brain, so it might not appear until later, though._))


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## dpdx

I can't help thinking, in a metagame sense, that by now the PCs (that survive) must be wallowing in XP, once the GM gives it to them. Or did they get it in mid-session? Jen's Force Lift (?) on the droids to the ceiling was genius.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

dpdx said:
			
		

> I can't help thinking, in a metagame sense, that by now the PCs (that survive) must be wallowing in XP, once the GM gives it to them. Or did they get it in mid-session? Jen's Force Lift (?) on the droids to the ceiling was genius.



 We used that break after the hoards of droids(skimmed past it because it really was the same thing over and over again) to level up. Yes, lots of XP was given, but it was building up anyway from what I remember. Shadow's and Voort's players especially liked it, as they had been higher level(through the insanity that converting from the old D6 system to d20 caused) and didn't get to level up nearly as much as Akan and Jen.

And Jen was using Move Object with a bit of help from a Dark Side enhanced Force Point(s). Agreed, it was genious. Especially since everyone else was getting their tails handed to them.

Off to work on the next update...


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 156: Orange Glow*

The sun was rising over the Smuggler’s Moon of Nar Shaddaa. Across the city, an orange glow was bathing the many buildings. But the sunlight had yet to reach the Halpak Industries tower. A nearby building was blocking the sun, leaving the only sources of light in that top level as the dim lightning across the high ceiling and the four lightsaber blades. A deep red carpet covered the floor between them...two orange blades hovering like a staff on the left side and on the right, a blue-green and purple blade, crossed near the floor. Standing between them, but back away a few meters, was a humanoid figure...standing there unmoved, only eyes watching the events developing in front of her.

The scene held frozen in time for an eternally long few minute. Then, with a whirring hum as the double-bladed lightsaber was swung off to the side, another light joined in. From Voort’s now-free left hand, a blue glow developed before a half second before arcing out like lightning through the air. Quickly, Akan dropped and rolled to his right, off towards the shattered window and the turbolift and away from the corrupted trail of Force lightning that had nearly followed him. The roll brought him up onto his feet again, and Akan was back in the same defensive stance again...watching. Waiting.

He could smell the corrosion in the air, something unnatural about it. Though he had never experienced that before, Akan had a feeling his stronger Alraxian sense of smell was adding to the trouble...but there was still something else. The air that the lightning had touched was radiating a sense of wrongness. Of actual pain and anger.

Voort growled a curse, easily coming to the conclusion that things would not be that simple. Knowing he had held the upper hand for the first part of their duel, he pressed forward again. Akan took a step back, keeping one foot behind him to brace himself for the hard impact of the charging Voort. But just before reaching Akan, Voort changed his strike, moving from an overhead slash to simply preparing to run Akan through. Akan had only a half second to react, spinning left and batting the thrusting orange blade away with Shadow’s lightsaber in his off hand in a weak-wristed backhand spin. One half of the attack batted off to the side forced the latter half to swing in exactly where Akan was spinning to.

With the help of the Force to speed his reactions, Akan’s blue-green lightsaber was up and behind him as he stopped his spin halfway through. A strong force then slammed into the blade over his shoulder, and Akan put all of his energy into holding the blades there and not letting them dig into his back. He was now standing with his back to Voort, both of his lightsaber blades in painfully awkward positions but still managing to hold the two ends of Voort’s lightsaber back. 

The four blades held their for a short moment before Voort used the opening in front of him. Bringing his weapon up to allow a bit more room, the man delivered a strong kick to the center of Akan’s spine. There was a crack and Akan stumbled forward, though his back arched up and provided and easy target for Voort. But again, the already fast Alraxian reflexes, added in with the Force to assist even more, saved Akan. Just as Voort’s blade swung horizontally to take off Akan’s upper torso, the young Alraxian reversed and ducked forward.

The second after the hum of the lightsaber strike shot over his back, Akan again reversed his momentum, this time with even more help from the Force, and back flipped straight over Voort. Landing barely a meter behind Voort provided no assistance, as the other man was continuing his swing all the way around towards where Akan now stood. But this time, the lightsaber blades were sweeping low. As they swung in from his left, Akan again jumped, this time straight over the first blade, flipping to the side. But halfway through his jump, which Voort had anticipated, the second half of the orange lightsaber rose up to a vertical position to catch the Alraxian. Mid-flip and upside down, Akan’s blue-green blade slapped the vertical orange blade to the side just enough that he only got singed across the shoulder.

Akan only landed on his right foot as Voort spun to attack again.  Off balance, but somehow still up thanks to his tail(though the mechanics of how this was possible was still completely beyond Akan), Akan’s lightsaber parried a strike to his torso. As the second strike came in and Akan got the purple blade up to deflect the high strike away, his left foot finally found the ground again. But it didn’t find even ground, instead, he realized that he had already reached the steps. 

With a growl, Voort attacked in a vicious series of strikes with both ends of his lightsaber in a completely unpredictable pattern. Akan’s saving grace was that he stepped back each time, giving him just enough room to actually see where the attacks were coming from and getting his lightsabers there before they even got close...at least, that was the idea. Up the steps in a second, Akan caught a heavy strike straight for his face with both of his blades. Blue-green, purple, and orange all met a few centimeters from his nose in a consuming white. The crackling and humming of the blades drowned out any other noise, but Akan knew that Voort was growling a curse.

And then, suddenly, Voort pulled back. The resistance gone, Akan lurched forward. In a horrifying moment, he realized that he was completely open and had no chance of getting any kind of defense up in time. But a lightsaber strike never came. Instead, Akan felt a heavy impact on his chest, like a starfighter had flown into him. He gasped as the wind was knocked out of him and lost grip of Shadow’s lightsaber. However, this quickly became the least of his worries.

Instead of slamming into the glasteel window that Akan had assumed was behind him, he went straight out the shattered window that Jen had made earlier. He didn’t have time to panic. As his horizontal movement became a vertical fall, Akan gripped his lightsaber tightly as his mind raced through a thousand ways to not become a gooey mess on the ground below. His mind never found one, but his body did. Reacting with older instincts that he didn’t even completely understand, Akan’s now-free hand unsheathed its claws and he reached out for the building wall. The strong claws dug straight into the heavy, durasteel frame of the Halpak tower, dragging down on it for a short second before actually bringing him to a stop.

Akan breathed. Then looked up and realized he had only fallen about ten meters. Only. Ha! Thumbing off the activation switch of his lightsaber and clumsily clipping it onto his belt, Akan got his other hand, claws extended, into the building side. His arms were already aching. The pains of the previous climb mixed with the impossible strains that just kept mounting up, and Akan knew he didn’t have the energy to remorph tired muscles and broken ribs. But despite all of this, he called on the Force to keep him going just a little longer...and he climbed back up.

Getting back up to the window, Akan pulled himself over to see Voort’s lightsaber once again slashing towards Shadow. Flipping himself onto the ground and not even bothering to get to his feet, Akan reached out with both his right hand and the Force. Quickly, he found Voort’s lightsaber and pulled on it hard. The blade yanked away from Shadow and out of Voort’s grip, flying over his head and dropping to the ground a few meters away. Voort spun around to see Akan getting to his feet and drawing his lightsaber again. 

He also saw the grin on Akan’s face., “Didn’t Shadow ever tell you I have a bad habit of living?”

Voort didn’t say anything, but started forward at Akan as he reached out for his weapon. Akan activated the blade on his own weapon again, reaching out with his free hand and pulling Shadow’s weapon back into his left. The purple blade came to life in a loud snap-hiss just as the two orange blades from Voort’s lightsaber did. And they charged at each again.

Akan got to Voort first, swinging his lightsaber in his first attack towards the man’s feet. Voort’s quick step back avoided it, and at the same time he jabbed forwards with his own blade. Akan’s off hand parried the thrust away, feet bringing him around Voort for another strike at the man’s back. They traded attacks, back and forth at lightning speed, moving the same direction. Neither was pushed back or was pushing the other, as they simply both moved that direction, spinning around each other to find and opening and each time finding it to be defended just in time.

Their movement brought them into the maze of columns off to the left of the shattered desk. Akan ducked and rolled out of the way of a strike aimed to take his head off, swinging his blue-green blade upwards as he got to his feet. Voort sidestepped the attack, swinging the back end of his lightsaber upwards towards Akan’s left leg. The purple blade in his off hand was there, though, catching the strike and batting the weapon out of the way. There was a half second of an opening that Akan took, swinging the purple blade in a long, diagonal arc. Voort ducked under it, again sidestepping and actually taking a step back.

Turning to face him, Akan deflected another quick series of strikes before following up with his own. Pressing hard as he planted his feet and trying to force the other man into the column. Voort found on opening in the attacks, raising his lightsaber and then swinging it down to cut Akan in two. Akan got both of his blades there in time, catching the orange blade in a v-between his two lightsabers above his head. Looking under them and straining to hold Voort’s blade up, Akan shook his head and repeated himself, “We don’t have to do this!”

But Voort didn’t even respond this time. The man’s face consumed by grief and rage as he poured more and more strength into force the three lightsaber blades down on Akan. And he was. Slowly, he was forcing the orange blade down and Akan’s two with it. Slowly. And as the crackling of the blades grew louder and the white of their collision point grew larger in his eyes, Akan knew that reasoning wasn’t going to work...yet. He wasn’t going to kill this man. No matter what.

And so, to back him off again and try again, Akan lashed out with a strong kick to the man’s stomach. His foot hit hard, forcing Voort back into the column behind him. There was a soft click. Voort probably didn’t hear it, but Akan did. And the moment his ears picked it up, a look of horror washed over his face, yet he didn’t move. A half second later, Voort’s eyes went wide, a similar look crossing his own face as Akan watched three, sharp and serrated knife-like blades extend out of the column and through Voort’s chest.

The double bladed lightsaber dropped to the ground, deactivating as it clanked on the metal floor below. And Akan stared at the man in front of him, literally skewered on the column. Yet there was something else on Voort’s face. In his eyes, there was a hint of a smile, though his mouth still showed fear and pain. But as the blood crept through the wounds, he looked straight into Akan’s eyes and gasped, “Find her...”

Akan stared, mouth open in a silent shock, as Titus Voort went limp, his eyes falling shut as his head dropped. There were no thoughts. Or rather, so many that none got through. And then, finally, Akan’s exhaustion caught up with him. As the sun rose up higher, finally peaking into the Halpak building and bathing the room in an orange glow, Akan lost consciousness.


----------



## Mirage_Patrick

*need another post quickly!!!*

wow

looking forward (to the extent of obsession) to the next post...gotta know what happens


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 157: Are We Alive?*

For Shadow, the events that occurred before her eyes were all a blur...yet a strangely focused blur, as if time itself had collapsed into a quick few moments that had been so clear she couldn’t get them out of her head. Her shock at what happened to Jen...then Voort nearly killing her...then the vicious fight between Voort and Akan...it had all faded away as she realized that Akan had collapsed. She could feel his mind, exhausted even more than she was. He had exerted himself so much just to get to the top of this horrible tower, and then...then chaos let loose. She still wasn’t even sure how Akan had stayed conscious for so long. There wasn’t any rational reason for it. All his energy had been used up in remorphing and fighting their way up here, and somehow he had found a second wind to first save her life once...fight the fallen Voort back, then save her life again.

But now he had passed out and Voort was dead. Killed by sheer chance. Akan wasn’t going to kill Voort, despite everything the young Alraxian had said through the time the they had all known each other. And so a simple defensive move had resulted in exactly what he had been trying to avoid. Shadow couldn’t blame him. She wasn’t the kind of person to misplace something like that so foolishly. The real fault here was Halpak...and to a point, her. Him for manipulating all of these damned events to culminate here on the Smuggler’s Moon. And her for dismissing everything Akan had tried to warn her of. But it was too late for that now. And despite the fact that a part of her needed to find Jen’s body, Shadow knew that she had other priorities.

The next few hours passed in another odd blur. She would later remember removing Voort from the three blood covered blades and laying him out in the center of the chamber, fitting a shrine of sorts over him from the remains of the desk that had been shattered from Jen’s impact. Marix knew the irony in this, but dismissed it for the time. After that, she could recall moving to Akan and picking him up, carrying him over one shoulder as she started towards the exit. Now they had time. Time to rewire the turbolift.

And halfway back down that column lined corridor, Shadow saw the small, black furred, blue striped body of the jai. He hadn’t moved from where he had fallen, but she could tell he was still alive. If she had been thinking and not just acting and doing what ‘should’ be done, Shadow probably wouldn’t have scooped the jai up and carried him out in the crook of her arm. But she did. One Alraxian in each arm, Shadow eventually made it back to ‘their’ room at the top of the nearby tower. She had deposited the two unconscious Alraxians there and gone off back into the morning of Nar Shaddaa. Off to call in some old favors. Off to get them a ship.

* * * *​
Slowly, the nothingness of unconsciousness gave way to the pains of consciousness. Akan was still exhausted, and therefore figured that he hadn’t been out too long. His head was spinning and he felt hungry...so very hungry. That was probably why he felt so dizzy and tired and achy and...well, somehow he had a feeling that the hunger was the reason. He could hear noises around him distantly. Beeps, buzzing sounds, and similar noises echoed around him for a few minutes. Eventually, his ears stopped focusing on certain sounds and he could hear a breathing near him.

It took some time before he finally found the strength to open his eyes. The blurry world around him slowly came into focus, and Akan could see a viewport in front of him, the blue tunnel of hyperspace cascading ahead of him. There in front of him was a large console and Akan realized he was sitting in a chair that had been leaned back. Slowly turning to look to his left, he could see Shadow sitting upright and watching him with an odd look on her face.

It wasn’t the usual emotionless stare, but something else. He could feel it through their link, but simply couldn’t describe it. But it was something. And something was more than anything he could remember. After blinking a couple of times to refocus the world again, he tried to sit up. Shadow, however, reached over and put a hand on his chest to stop him, saying quietly, “Just rest.”

“How long...?” Akan found his voice, and not even thinking to use the link for a more simple communication.

Shadow sighed and looked out the viewport a moment, saying in that same quiet, almost depressed voice, “Thirteen standard hours,” there was a pause before she anticipated his next questions, then she said, “I got us a ship. You’re X-Wing’s in the cargo hold in back.”

Akan’s eyes didn’t move away from watching Shadow, and his voice steadied somewhat as he got used to consciousness again, “Where are we going?”

“There’s a gate to the Empire’s territory at the edge of the Unknown Regions,” Shadow said, turning back to him, her voice almost a whisper, “We should be there in a about three days.”

“What about–“

”Don’t,” Shadow said, cutting off any questions about either of the Voorts. Her voice was still calm, though, “I’m sorry, but my...our people are in danger. I know that Ket is going there. There just...isn’t...isn’t time to waste. We have to stop him.”

Akan nodded, slowly bringing his seat upright and ignoring the dizzy feeling that the new position brought with it. An odd question found its way into Akan’s mind, and he found himself asking it before having a chance to even think, “Have you slept at all?”

Shadow shook her head, “I was busy getting you out and getting this ship and then plotting the right coordinates...but I’m fine. I ate. You need to eat. The food isn’t great, but there’s a mess of sorts on this thing that you should use.”

“I’ll eat if you sleep,” Akan mumbled, feeling her exhaustion through the link as he heard his own stomach growl slightly.

To his surprise, though, Shadow didn’t argue. She simply nodded and got to her feet, reaching over to help him up. Standing was interesting, as Akan realized how weak his body really was. Shadow allowed him a moment to orient himself, holding him up as best she could while trying to ignore her own exhaustion. The short walk down the central corridor to the nearest of the quarters in the fairly large sized ship was interesting, as Akan was still getting used to how weak he was.

But when they finally got to the room and the door had slid open to reveal the nice sized bed, it was Akan who was keeping Shadow on her feet. Her absolute exhaustion was finally catching up with her. He helped her to the bed, laying her down on it and finding himself sitting next to her. Something was bugging him, and yet he knew that it wasn’t something she wanted to hear.

Shadow easily picked up on his thoughts, even in her half-awake state. The look she gave him was an old one that he recognized easily. It was the ‘just say it’ look that was usually accompanied with Shadow rolling her eyes at him. But for some reason, it suddenly became hard to say. He took a few deep breaths, trying to ignore the images that were forcing their way into his mind before stuttering out, “I...I didn’t mean...I didn’t mean for that to happen. I didn’t mean to...to...”

He trailed off as tears started to well up in his eyes. Carefully, Shadow reached over and took his hand in hers. Akan took this as her trying to comfort him in the usual awkward way that she did. And maybe it was at some level...but she was falling asleep and becoming more and more terrified as she did so. Now that the adrenaline rush was completely gone, her duties of getting them out of there and on their way to save their people passed for the time, she worried it was all a dream. What if Akan was dead, too? What if they were all gone? What if the Darkwing still lived?!

As she fell asleep, her grip on Akan’s hand tightened. It was her only reminder that it was real. That he was really still alive. That she was. That all wasn’t lost...that maybe, somehow, they would get to the Hidden Worlds before Ket let loose whatever it was he planned to let loose. Vaguely feeling Shadow’s thoughts through the link and the tight grip on his hand, Akan went no where. It didn’t matter how hungry he was for some reason. To Shadow, it didn’t either.

He was alive. They were alive. Despite all of that...he was still alive.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 158: The Jai*

Shadow had slept for many long hours. Akan found himself just sitting there the whole time, somehow ignoring the desperate need for food. But then again, it wasn’t hard to sit there and think. His mind was still reeling from what had happened. What had gone wrong. There wasn’t any such thing as coincidence in the galaxy. Akan had learned that even before his introduction to the Force. Everything happened for a reason. Be it destiny, the will of the Force, or just simply the way things worked, it didn’t matter.

It didn’t matter because no matter how Aan looked at it, Voort was still dead. For so long, Akan had wanted that. And now he regretted all of it, easily realizing how childish he had been. Voort had been right. They were so very much alike. But what did that matter now? It changed nothing. If he could have only stayed there on Nar Shaddaa to at least look on Voort’s body one last time. To pay final respects, as it were. Make amends and hope that, somehow, Titus Voort had not died in darkness. The man’s last words were what brought that to Akan’s mind. ‘Find her’. But now they were gone from that horrible moon. Light-years away on the other side of the galaxy and still traveling farther. Shadow was right, though. They couldn’t just let Halpak run off.

His thoughts had trailed off when the grip on his hand had loosened. Akan glanced down and noticed Shadow had actually let go of his hand. Through the link, he could feel she was very asleep. And his hunger grew again. Very carefully, he got up from the bed and wandered through the ship to find the small galley. As he got the substances that somehow qualified as ‘food’ and even while he ate it at a furious rate, Akan made sure to keep a good focus on the link. Just so she knew he was still there. So he knew she was. Just the two of them, now. Somehow, that didn’t feel right.

Akan’s ear twitched at an odd sound. It was echoing into the room only faintly. It continued for a few minutes with Akan trying to ignore it and continue eating. Finally, curiosity overcame the slowly fading hunger and Akan stalked off to follow the it. He passed through two different rooms in the ship, one that was likely a lounge and then a small cargo hold of sorts. Then, off to the side in the cargo hold, he found another short corridor. At the end of it was a door which was muffling the sound.

A loud, constant noise that almost sounded like some kind of dying animal. Slowly, Akan walked to the door and leaned the side of his head against it to listen better. Of course, that only worked for humans, as Alraxian ear position made the whole process of leaning against a wall odd...especially when the ears had a habit of folding back. But none the less, it confirmed that the source of the very loud, and very annoying sound was behind the door. Carefully, Akan pressed the switch to open the door.

It slid open with a soft hiss, revealing a small quarters. There was a desk on one well, a table near the other, and a large bed in the center. And on that bed, was a small, black furred and blue striped Alraxian child, wailing at the top of his lungs. The door opening seemed to quadruple the volume at which the child was wailing at, and Akan reached up to cover his ears to find it as another odd thing to attempt as an Alraxian.

Finding it wasn’t working anyway, he yelled as loud as he could, “Alright! Shut up! I hear you!!”

The wailing stopped suddenly. For a moment, he could only see a bundled up ball of fur, but as the short silence gave way the sniffling and whimpering, two large eyes appeared. They were a bright green, offsetting the darker colours of the fur in a very odd way. Slowly, a head rose up and the small child sat up from his lying position to perch on the edge of the bed in an extremely feline way. Tears could be seen on his eyes still, and he sniffled a couple of times before going silent again. Just watching Akan with those two big eyes in a very curious way, obviously trying to figure out what the rest of his plan had been after someone answered his wailing. Since no conclusion was reached, the child simply watching Akan.

Feeling slightly unnerved by the young Alraxian’s look, Akan had to stop himself from leaving and hiding. It wasn’t that he was worried at all, but something in the child’s eyes...almost expecting something that Akan didn’t understand. Instead, he took a careful step closer to the bed, quietly asking, “Why were you yelling?”

After a long blink and flick of his stubby tail, the small Alraxian tilted his head. Akan could see the child working through a series of thoughts. Finally, the little child spoke in a way that Akan could tell he was still learning Basic, “All alone.”

“I have a feeling that’s because you tried to maul Shadow,” grumbled Akan, trying not to roll his eyes in the process. For some reason, this comment went completely over the child’s head. Instead of saying something else, the little child’s ears rose up noticeably and he leaned forward over the bed towards Akan.

Another few seconds passed where the child seemed to be analyzing Akan. Then, just after nearly falling off the bed for leaning too far, the child mumbled, “...’m hungry...”

At this, Akan let out a sight and threw his hands into the air. He couldn’t help but glare up at the ceiling before cursing the universe. He was not here to take care of some child! In fact, Akan was likely the most unqualified person in the galaxy for such a job. Next to Shadow, of course, but that wasn’t the point right now. Without another word, and not even thinking that it might not be the best thing to do, Akan quickly escaped that room and found his way back to the galley and his still half-full plate of food. He was still hungry.

Of course, he didn’t miss the soft pattering of footsteps behind him as he walked, but Akan did do his best to pretend it was not happening. A moment after Akan sat back own at the single table, the child hopped up, too. But not into a chair, onto the table itself. Slowly, the small Alraxian padded across the table on all fours to Akan’s plate. Completely ignoring Akan, the child leaned in and sniffed the food before pawing at it a couple of times and then finally attempting to eat some of it. Sighing, Akan reached down to get his own food.

His hand was met with a growl. Not vicious at all, and about as dangerous sounding as a protocol droid. It actually got a grin on Akan’s face, and he leaned down a little to be at eye level with the child who had gone back to eating the small piece of meat. Finally, Akan gave in and asked the inevitable question, “So what’s your name, little guy?”

The child finished his meat and then padded closer to Akan before sitting straight again. For a moment, his two big, green eyes stared into Akan’s curiously. Then, he said in a strangely happy voice, “I Tobias...” then, he slowly tilted his head to the side and leaned in a little closer to Akan, “Who you?”

“I Akan,” the older Alraxian mimicked the child’s voice almost perfectly and idly reached over to poke Tobias very gently on the nose, “You’re not so bad, you know.”

Slowly, the child leaned in closer, then gently poke Akan’s nose with a small hand, “Why I be bad?”

A sound behind Akan got both of their attention. Shadow wearily stepped into the room, still looking half asleep. In a second, Tobias’ happy mood was gone and he growled again, though this time it was at least slightly more dangerous. Shadow’s eyes widened just as the small child pounced over Akan, claws extended and diving straight for her face.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 159: Ultimatum*

“By the Force, kill it!!” Shadow screamed as the Alraxian child pounced her, attaching to her face with his claws and raking them across any part of her that happened to be there. The force of his pounce sent her to the ground, landing on her tail with a loud yelp. At the same time, Tobias clawed his way to her neck, diving in and sinking his small, but still very sharp, teeth in.

Akan was there in a second, trying to do his best to ignore the extreme pain he could feel through the link. Quickly, he reached down and grabbed Tobias around the waist, getting a claw scraping across his hand in the process. Ignoring it, though, Akan yanked the child off of Shadow and pulled his away. For a long moment, Tobias continued to flail and growl and attempt to go back to pouncing Shadow, but then something changed again.

Slowly, he calmed down and then turned to look straight into Akan’s eyes. The child looked just like he had before Shadow had walked in. Curious. Tobias even smiled slightly, but when he turned to look back to Shadow, growled. She was getting to her feet again, rubbing her tail and trying not to think about all of the other pains. Tobias went back to struggling to get out of Akan’s grip and pounce her, hissing and spitting in the process.

“Fine!” Shadow yelled, throwing her hands in the air, “I know when I’m not wanted!”

She then turned and stormed out of the small room, forgetting the fact that she was still hungry. Once she had left, Tobias went silent for a moment. Akan stepped back over to the table with the food and dropped the young Alraxian down onto it. Tobias made an ‘oof’ noise when he landed, but idly padded over to the plate again and found another piece of food to eat, completely ignoring what had just happened.

After a moment, he seemed to notice Akan was still there, and swallowed a piece of meat before looking up to him, “Akan play?”

“No,” he said, glancing back to the exit of the room, “Akan had things to do.”

Tobias sniffled and gave him a big eyed look, “Please Akan play?”

But Akan resisted the attempt at persuasion and shook his head, “Not right now, little guy. You just stay here and eat, I’ll be back.”

Akan then turned and left, heading towards Shadow’s quarters.

Inside, Shadow sat glaring at the wall. She was hungry. But that...that thing was vicious. Outside the door, she heard a sudden thud and a loud, “Sithspit!”. Her forehead ached distantly, and Shadow couldn’t help a slight grin. Akan had gotten too used to Loki, who’s doors would just iris open when one got close to them.

Still grinning slightly, she said, “Its not locked.”

But the door only opened slightly, and Shadow quickly asked, “Is that fur ball with you?”

“No, he’s back eating,” Akan said, and then was suddenly grabbed by the collar and yanked into the room. Shadow peaked her head out, looked both ways to make sure, then hid back in and made sure the door had closed. When she looked back to him, Shadow noticed he was holding something. She sniffed the air. Her eyes widened and she nearly pounced his hands, getting the food and eating it happily.

Akan rolled his eyes, “Just like him.”

Sitting down on the bed, she said between bites, “What’s its...um...his name?”

“He says its Tobias.”

Shadow froze. Shaking slightly, she nodded and mumbled, “Of course...makes sense.”

“What do you mean?” Akan asked, looking a bit worried and having a seat on the bed next to her.

She sighed and looked down at the floor, remembering all those years ago, “Tobias was the name of my brother. He was...eaten by a Dragon when we were young.”

Silent again, the old images ran through her mind. Two large Dragons had somehow found their small camp. Only seven of the twelve children had survived, and it had been Shadow’s blade that had killed the largest of the two predators. Her older brother, Tobias, had been killed right in front of her eyes. His own twin, Asya, died at birth, and he had been the only one of her siblings, beyond her own twin, to actually like Shadow...Marix. Trying to forget that again, Shadow looked up and said quietly, “He’s the perfect weapon. They know I won’t kill the future.”

“Why is he so...” Akan trailed off, waving his hand vaguely.

Shadow understood, through the help of the link, and thought about it a moment, “I don’t know, but I’ve got a few guesses.”

Before she could say anything else, they both heard a scratching and sniffling noise at the door. Shadow’s eyes locked on the noise, near the bottom of the door, then moved to Akan. [I’m not going anywhere near him.]

Akan rolled his eyes and got up, stepping over to the door and ignoring Shadow’s sudden outburst, “Are you insane!! At least let me hide!!”

But Akan had hit the switch to open the door already. In a blur, he was pounced. Well, his leg was pounced. In a painful few seconds, Tobias clawed his way up Akan until he perched on his shoulder. Tobias purred into Akan’s ear then said happily, “No hungry anymore! Akan play now!”

So far, Tobias hadn’t looked behind him to see Shadow clinging to the bed and realizing she couldn’t escape or even hide anywhere. Akan turned his head as best he could to look into the two big, emerald eyes that were now at eye level with him and said, “Akan play under one condition.”

“Condit...condition?” Tobias played with the word a moment before figuring it out and waiting.

“You will tell me why you keep trying to attack Shadow, and you have to promise not to attack her anymore,” Akan said calmly, but in a very stern voice.

After a short silence, Tobias whispered, “That’s two conditions.”

“I guess it is,” Akan said, grinning just slightly as the small Alraxian clung to his shoulder, “But you still have to meet them before Akan will play.”

There was another silence, and Akan could feel and see the little Alraxian thinking about it all. It didn’t take long before a curious look appeared on his face, “Who?”

“The other Alraxian,” Akan said slowly, doing his best not to indicate that Shadow was right behind them. It probably wasn’t best to show him that just yet.

“Evil One,” Tobias hissed slightly, claws digging into his shoulder a little more. It also confirmed that it wasn’t the best idea to show Shadow was behind them.

Akan raised an eyebrow, “Evil...?”

Tobias nodded furiously, grabbing Akan’s head and turning to look straight in his eyes with an almost panicked expression. Surprised at this, and trying to ignore the pain in his neck for having to look at the Alraxian who was so close to him. Quietly, and very carefully, Akan asked a simple question, “Why?”

Tobias froze up, not able to come up with an answer to that and simply staring blankly now. Slowly, Akan lifted Tobias up off of his shoulder, holding the small child by the scruff of his neck. He then turned around so that they both faced Shadow. Her eyes went wide, not having expected him to be so..so.. “Are you mad?!”

“Quiet,” Akan snapped as Tobias started to move again, hissing and spitting and attempting to get free to maul Shadow. She struggled back a bit onto the bed, eyeing the child. His fur was now standing on end now. Akan lifted Tobias up a little more and shook his gently, “You be quiet, too.”

The tone of Akan’s voice got Tobias to shut up...except for a low snarling. Akan then indicated towards the panicked looking Shadow with his free hand, “See? She’s not evil.”

Tobias only growled. Rolling his eyes, Akan turned the small Alraxian to look him in the eyes and said sternly, “I’m going to put you down on the floor. If you attack her, Akan’s not going to play and you’re going to be in trouble.”

“You are mad!!” Shadow yelped, not moving but still eyeing the jai, “You can’t let go! I’ll be in pain!!”

Quickly, she started to cover any and all bare skin. Yes, Shadow knew what Akan was trying to do...but still, she would be in pain! Akan ignored her, kneeling down on the floor and setting Tobias down. Slowly, he let go of the jai, saying quietly, “Remember. Hurt her, and no play.”

Tobias went back to hissing and snarling, reared back to pounce, then froze again. His black fur was standing on end to the point where Shadow could see his skin beneath. There were a few short heartbeats where nothing happened. Then, suddenly, he wailed and pounced up at her. Quickly, and having been ready for it, Akan reached down and scooped the jai up. As he spun around and walked out of the room, Shadow let out a long sigh of relief, collapsing back on the bed and clinging to the food she still held.

Walking to a nearby room, Akan carried the now calm Tobias in and dropped him on a small bed. The little Alraxian purred and pounced at Akan’s hand as he withdrew it. Akan, however, batted Tobias back roughly and said angrily, “Alright, little guy, here’s the deal. Akan will not play until you leave Shadow alone. Once you stop trying to attack her, Akan will play. Until then, you’re staying in here so you can’t hurt anyone.”

He dug through his pocket a moment and pulled out a small comlink, placing it on the bed in front of the confused looking Alraxian, “See this? When you’re ready to be good, you press this little button and I’ll come back. If you cry or yell into it, I’m going to just ignore you. Understand?”

Tobias sniffled and picked up the small, egg-shaped comlink, sniffing it and inspecting it in about every way possible. Eventually he nodded slowly. Akan managed a half smile, “Good.”

He then turned and left the room, making sure to seal it as he did. This was why he had never liked children.

((_Oddly timed update because of the upgrade last night. Still the usual one coming later tonight/tommorrow._))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 160: Evil One...or Two?...or None?*

Alone in the large, empty room, Tobias whimpered and stared up at the closed door. Sniffling a little, he tried to understand what he had done wrong. It didn’t make sense, though! Didn’t Akan realize he was just trying to save him from the Evil One?

But...he said to...to leave Evil One alone or no play. But he had to kill her...or...or she would...it would save everyone! But no play! Sniffling again, Tobias padded over to the edge of the bed and stared up at it. Settling down finally, he turned back to the closed door.

What did he want more? Kill Evil One and save everyone...or play? And Akan had said that if he kept trying to kill Evil One that he wouldn’t play...at all...anymore...forever? Probably forever! Tobias sniffled again and picked up the small object Akan had given him.

After inspecting it for a few more moments, the small child mind won over and he started to press the button...repeatedly, and giggling happily the entire time.

* * * *​
Shadow and Akan had been in the cockpit of the ship, talking about what to do with Tobias. It was more of a discussion on how to keep him away from Shadow until they figured things out. After only a few minutes, the comlink giggled at them. There was a pause, then more giggling sounds from his pocket.

Grinning slightly, Akan reached to get the comlink, “I think it worked,” he then hit the switch on his comlink and said into it, “Need something, little guy?”

There was the sound of fur ruffling against the comlink. Tobias was probably nodding too close to it. Then, his voice sounded, too loud and almost too happy, “Will play! Want Akan play!!” a short pause, then an almost whispered, “...will listen to what Akan said...”

“Good,” Akan said, smiling proudly to Shadow, “I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”

‘Yay’s and purring sounds began to erupt from the small comlink before Akan cut it off.  He then noticed that Shadow was giving him a look. It was one he could have easily identified without the help of their link, “You think I’m insane, don’t you?”

“Think?!” she almost laughed at that, “No, Akan, I know you’re insane.”

“The more you’re around him the more he’ll get used to you,” Akan said, getting up and starting out of the cockpit.

Shadow’s look intensified as he began to escape and she whimpered, “It’ll bite me!” but Akan just kept walking. Realizing he was actually going to get that little fur ball, she scrambled out of the pilot’s chair and went after him, yelling down the corridor, “You must be out of your tree! I swear, you left the last of you sanity back on Endor!!”

[I’m not going to let him bite you...promise] Akan ‘said’ through their link as he turned a corner to find the room where Tobias was now padding around and waiting to escape.

For some reason, she continued after him, even if it was a bit slowly and she knew there was no talking him out of it anymore. She was going to need to find some kind of neck guard or something similar...[Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Jedi boy.]

Akan just rolled his eyes, reaching the door and hitting the switch to open it. There was a sudden ‘RAWR!’ and then his leg was pounced. In a few seconds, the little black furred Alraxian had climbed up Akan and perched on his left shoulder again. Purring loudly, Tobias leaned in and poked Akan’s nose again, happily saying, “Akan play!!”

Grinning, Akan reached up with his other arm and scratched the small Alraxian’s ear gently, “Akan play soon. First you have to learn to deal with Shady. If you’re good, she might even play...”

That got a slight growl from Tobias. Akan just sighed, “Think of if this way, little guy. She and I are a lot alike. If you’re nice to her, that means twice as many chances to play than with just me.”

Tobias seemed to take a long moment to think on that. Then, after coming to a careful crossroads, asked slowly, “Akan...Akan like Evil One?”

Careful to not move too much and throw Tobias off of his shoulder, Akan shook his head slowly, “No. Shadow like Akan. Akan not evil...so Shadow can’t be. Understand...?”

It took another moment before Tobias managed a slow, almost suspicious nod. Shadow picked that time to peak into the room. Somehow pushing away the fear or being bit and mauled, she said, “Come on, neck ache, I’m not so bad.”

He spun around on Akan’s shoulder and glared at her. She watched as he tensed up, his expression glazed over, then twitched. The child seem to be really fighting it though, and to his credit, all he did was slip off of Akan’s shoulder. Instinctively, Shadow quickly ran over to catch Tobias. And he bit her hand...hard. She bit her lip and rolled her eyes upwards, fighting back any kind of reaction at all. After a long moment, she managed to stare down at the vicious little thing, and ground out, “I can’t play if you bite my hand off.”

[Tobias kill Evil One.] that was spoke straight into her mind, not through a link like she shared with Akan, but through the natural link that all Alraxians shared. It was enough that Akan had no idea what was being said, and was staring with a slightly worried look.

[Why?] Shadow replied, shifting how she held Tobias so that all his weight wasn’t bearing down on her hand through teeth. [Has Evil One harmed Tobias?]

[Ye—Evil One must die.]

[Answer me.] Shadow pressed, her ‘voice’ stern and using at least a small amount of the Force to push it. [Has Evil One harmed Tobias?]

[Y—...no] the last part was nearly whispered, and it had almost seemed to Shadow that she had thought it for a moment.

Shadow looked down at the two eyes that were now looking up at her, though Tobias’ teeth didn’t let go. [Then why harm Evil One? If Tobias harm Evil One for no reason, then Tobias Evil One and must kill self...even though harming self against orders.] the last part she added after a second thought, praying that those actually were his orders.

He didn’t answer, but Shadow got an idea. Waving Akan away with her tail(as both hands were occupied), she started down the corridor, casually asking Tobias. [Tobias like Evil One’s blood?]

[Blood of Evil One tastes...tastes...]

[Just like the blood of Tobias...or Akan...or anyone else.] Shadow finished for him, though that had obviously not been what he was going to say. [Same. No different at all.]

Clinging by his front paws and letting go with his teeth, Tobias resorted to the less tiring form of communication. Though he didn’t actually speak, he opened his mouth and mumbled something that was likely close to admitting defeat. Good. Shadow smiled inwardly and stepped into the small ‘fresher room. [Shadow know what Tobias think is different. Tobias told that Evil One is Cursed One with silver eyes...]

The small child looked up at her, hatred marring his features and growling slightly. His claws dug into her wrist a little more, too, “...Evil One...”

He was obviously looking into her eyes, which were an odd silvery-purple. Exactly what he had been told. She lifted him up a little and said, “Shadow have something to show Tobias...if Tobias is interested.”

A pause as Tobias examined Shadow’s features, trying to find any hint of deception. Slowly, he nodded slowly, “...yes...Tobias want to know.”

“Tobias let Shadow touch his eyes?” there was an even longer pause after that, and his claws dug in deeper. But again, he nodded carefully. Then, very slowly and very carefully so as not to scare him anymore, she reached down to his eyes with her free hand and touched them gently. Yes...altered just slightly. It wasn’t too much trouble to reverse the alteration, as it was simply an illusion created through the Force...even though it was strong. She then lifted him up and turned him to face the mirror she now stood in front of, taking her hand off of his eyes to see.

The emerald eyes were now a brilliant silver mixed with the green. Suddenly, Tobias hissed and let go of her. He dropped to the floor and looked ready to scamper off, but Shadow swooped down and picked him up again. Tobias hissed, spit, and growled, trying to get free of her grip. Ignoring his struggling, she just held him by the waist. [See? Tobias Evil One, too. Tobias just like Shadow...so is Tobias evil?]

She moved to hold him by the scruff of his neck, which caused him to struggle even more despite the fact that it was doing him no good. He was now just wailing as he had been when Akan had first found him, screaming at the top of his lungs and lashing out with claws in all directions. [NO!! Tobias not evil!! Tobias kill!! Tobias ki– Tobias ki–] he suddenly froze up, going limp in Shadow’s hand and looking like he wasn’t even breathing anymore. It was at least another minute until his small chest slowly began to rise and fall again. So he had passed out.

It didn’t surprise her. He was a tough little jai, to be truthful. Considering what he had likely been though...Shadow shifted to hold him more properly and walked back to the quarters. Finding that Akan wasn’t there, she simply placed Tobias on the pillow on the bed before wandering off to find Akan.

She found him back in the cockpit, and had a seat before saying quietly, “He’s...he’s asleep. His own doing, so don’t look at me like that. When he wakes up he will...probably be a little confused. I’d suggest you let me talk to him.”

Akan raised an eyebrow, sitting up some and looking down the corridor a moment, “Just don’t kill the little guy, okay?”

Shadow gave him a look. Slowly, a grin grew on her face and Akan started to get worried. Feeling that through the link, she grinned even more and said quietly, “Could you maybe...just maybe, like him?”

He went red. In fact, all of his skin tinted a slight reddish colour. Shadow laughed openly at that, and Akan quickly tried to hide, “Shut up! Its not that! Its just...just that...” he trailed off a moment, then sighed and gave in, “...maybe just a little...”

She was still laughing when he made a quick escape from the cockpit. After finally calming down, she smiled proudly to herself. Good. That meant he could watch the little brat like he was meant to. Shadow stopped her thoughts at that. Like who was meant what? Even Marix didn’t completely comprehend that thought, and because of that, they both ignored it and moved on. Idly finding the monitor to Tobias’ room, she flipped on the screen and watched. Now, to wait until he woke up...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 161: Between Hells*

It was only two and a half hours before the already familiar wailing sound echoed through the starship. Shadow yawned and gave the chrono one last look before wandering back to the room. Seventeen more hours in hyperspace and then they’d have to make about five more short, very careful jumps. But that was Akan’s side of things. She knew the coordinates...he could actually do the work. For once.

Another four hours passed before Shadow emerged from the room, covered in scratches, bruises, and at least a few bite marks. Surprisingly, though, there was a happy look on her face and a small black and blue furred thing curled up in the crook of her arm. Finding Akan, she handed him the small bundle and smiled proudly.

“You know,” she said off hand, “He’s a lot like you. Tried to morph. Very slow and not very good at it.”

“Is that a hint...?” Akan raised an eyebrow, carefully holding the purring Alraxian in his arms.

Shadow grinned, “You’re quick,” she then turned to wander off and meditate before catching a thought through the link. That got her grin to grow, “And no, I’m not telling you what happened. That’s between me and him. But he won’t be attacking me anymore, so don’t worry about it. Now, if you don’t mind babysitting, I’m going to go remorph and clean up.”

Without even letting him respond, Shadow escaped to the ‘fresher, smiling to herself again in the process. That was one thing down, now if only Akan would pick up on that other hint and ask for her help. He should know by now that they had a short amount of time to prepare before insanity hit...now she could only hope he’d take advantage of that.

After Shadow had gone, Akan idly scratch Tobias’ ear, walking the other direction down the central corridor in the transport. He’d gotten used to its set up now, and actually liked it...to a point. A thought struck him, and Akan spun around to go check on his X-Wing. As he walked, the purring noise slowly stopped, giving way to a long, but small yawn. The two big eyes slowly opened, blinking a few times before Akan noticed the silver in them now. Interesting...

And then the eyes noticed him. The half asleep look quickly disappeared and suddenly gave way to insane happiness. Tobias purred loudly again, before suddenly bounding up and pouncing Akan as best as was possible. The little Alraxian latched onto Akan’s shoulder and surprised him enough to cause him to loose his balance. In a loud yelp, thud, and playful laugh, Akan found himself in the middle of the corridor on his back. Toby was perched up on his chest, leaning over to look down into Akan’s eyes with a grin on his face. Crawling up just a little more, Toby reached down and poked Akan’s nose, “Akan alive?”

He couldn’t help laughing at that, “Yes, Toby, Akan is alive. Making yourself comfortable?”

The little Alraxian nodded a few thousand times in a matter of seconds before padding in circles across Akan’s chest and finally curling up. Akan managed to tilt his head to look down to the now purring Tobias, “I assume I’m not allowed to move?”

“Uh-uh,” Tobias said, shaking his head. Or something. Probably his head. It was hard to tell with him curled up like that. Before Akan could protest at all, a door opened and Shadow nearly stepped on him. She was now more normal looking and even her morphsuit showed no signs of damage. 

She rolled her eyes and gave Akan a look, “You do have a quarters to sleep in...” she prodded Akan with her foot, “You’re blocking the whole corridor.”

Tobias and Akan exchanged innocent looks with each other. Shadow could see them plotting something and gave Akan a good kick for it, “You two can play later, too.”

Both Akan and Tobias made eerily similar, “Awwwwww...” sounds.

As they sat back up, Shadow went back to brushing her hair and not clipping her ear in the process. She stepped over Akan and walked back to the cargo bay quietly, mentally poking Akan anyway. Still wondering if he’d figure out what he needed to do. She went off to finish brushing her hair and then tail fur straight(which was challenging to reach at times) then meditated. Calmed herself...trying to forget the fact that they were going to a place that had every right to kill her the second she appeared.

Another few hours passed, and Tobias was asleep again. He and Akan had played for the entire time, and even Akan was exhausted. The little Alraxian had far too much energy. Looking over at the small form curled up on the bed a moment, Akan turned and wandered back to the cargo hold. He found Shadow sitting cross-legged in front of his X-Wing. Her eyes were closed and she didn’t seem to take notice of him at all.

Well, until he got within two meters of her. Then, an ear turned towards him and her tail twitched. Soon, an eye also opened and gave him a curious look, though she stayed silent. Akan sighed, almost feeling like he was being forced into this even though it was something that needed to be asked. After having a seat, he said quietly to the floor, “I need your help.”

That got Shadow’s other eye opened, though her expression didn’t change at all, “Oh?”

Again, Akan sighed, “Don’t act like you have no idea what I’m talking about. We’re in between hells and I can’t keep up with you. You know as well, in fact, probably better, than I do. I can’t afford to make any mistakes anymore...not after...”

He trailed off, not needing to say the last part. Not after Jen. Not after Voort. Not after Nar Shaddaa. Shadow nodded to that, saying truthfully, “Yes, but I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what to help you with.”

“Everything,” Akan said quickly, “Anything. I can fight. I can fly. I can shoot...but it isn’t good enough.”

“You have more than just the ability to fight, fly, and shoot,” Shadow pointed out, “And I guess that’s what your hinting at. You’re slow and you morph with the skill of a child. We can start with fixing that. From there, it should make other things easier for you.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 162: History Lesson*

For six hours, they stayed in the cargo hold and practiced. Well, Akan practiced. Four of those hours composed of morphing. Back and forth through a countless number of forms. Back and forth until Akan could do it without thinking about it. Back and forth until it was natural for him. True, four hours was not nearly enough to become an expert, but it was the most time he’d spent actually focusing on anymore than just remorphing scars and such.  He still wasn’t as good as Shadow, but could at least keep up with her now without being yelled at. She figured that it was the best they could do for now, and it was definitely an improvement.

The next two hours was a more practical use of the morphing...combined with Shadow teaching him some fighting techniques. This essentially devolved into sparring, which further devolved into a game of ‘you can’t hit me, but I can’t hit you!’.

Now they stood opposite one another. Akan had remorphed the scratch that had gone across his face, while Shadow had just finished remorphing the hand his thrumming lightsaber had lopped off as payment. The lightsaber was considered fair play, surprisingly enough...and Shadow didn’t mind. It was another challenge to avoid and he was much more predictable when he was using that anyway. Not that she was going to tell him that just yet. Maybe after they were done.

“Something’s been bothering me,” Akan spoke up suddenly, the first words that had been spoke in a few hours beyond explicatives and instructions. When Shadow stopped looking like she was about attempt to maul him again, he asked, “How is it that you can just remorph a limb? I mean, Ket...Ket had a stub for a tail. Couldn’t he have just fixed it?”

“It only works to a point,” Shadow said, stretching a little and taking the moment to rub a few achy limbs, “If you wait too long, its irreparable. Of course, it doesn’t happen too often...you’re usually dead in a situation like that.”

“And I assume he was in a situation like that?” asked Akan carefully, feeling through the link how touchy of a subject Ket was. Especially after Nar Shaddaa.

Shadow nodded simply, “Marix...I...did it. By our culture, loss of a tail is loss of one’s honour. When it happened though, it was a more frantic situation. I still don’t know why I didn’t just kill him there. It was before Marix...I...whatever, left. He and I were on a mission together, off in Mrrakesh space. He...was playing both sides. We were ambushed and he turned on me. I killed the attackers only because we were lucky enough that they were young. If they’d been any older, they would have torn me apart. I should have killed Ket, too, but...well...you know by now that Tam-Day-U are not meant to feel. Judgement was clouded and humiliating him seemed to be the correct thing to do. I took nearly all of his tail and made sure he saw it before knocking him unconscious and leaving him for dead.”

“Ah...” Akan trailed off, not have expected such a long answer. He thumbed off his lightsaber and suddenly found the silence that the lack of the humming sound was unnerving. So, he resorted to an old standby, “So we shouldn’t expect him to provide us with dinner next time we see him?”

“Oh, he’ll provide dinner,” Shadow grumbled, noting Akan’s sarcasm but ignoring it for the moment, “But expect poison or something worse. Probably something worse.”

A silence then hung in the air of the cargo bay. It didn’t last long, and it was Shadow who broke it, saying seriously, “Listen, Akan, I don’t even know if we can get to the Hidden Worlds. Technically, I should be killed the second I enter the territory again. And even if we do get in...this isn’t going to be like anything you’ve ever experienced. Ket wants revenge. For what I did, for what my mother did...for what all of the Alraxian Empire did. Or at least, what he thinks we did. Those droids he has...those things we fought. They’re the perfect weapon for wiping out my...our people. Sure, you and I can fight them to a point, but we are anomalies among Alraxians. Our race are peaceful people. Except for the small force of defense soldiers, the Empress’ personal guard, and the Tam-Day-U, no Alraxians have any idea what to do in a fight. A real fight, at least.”

She paused and sighed, looking to the X-Wing that was behind Akan a moment, “The Imperial Defense soldiers are glorified border guards. They’ve never dealt with anything more than simple pirates who don’t use weapons and petty theft. The Empress’ guard are just that...her’s. There aren’t enough to protect anyone else. And the Tam-Day-U...we...we don’t exist. Even if we did, the people would not want us to fight for them.”

“So its you and me against Ket, Nine, and a handful of his droids?” Akan asked off hand, not liking where this was going at all. They’d been up against some bad odds before...but then they’d had help. Friends. Now it felt so alone...

But Shadow shook her head, “I have a bad feeling that its worse than that. Ever since I left him for dead, he’s had connections with the Mrrakesh. Probably long before that, too, but its not worth thinking about. He couldn’t have taken a huge compliment of those droids with him onboard Loki. That would only hold enough to take a couple of planets. We may not have considerable training, but if backed into a corner, most Alraxians can at least bear their claws and put up a fight. Either way, its just not enough troops to take down the entire Empire with.”

So that’s where this was going. Akan sighed, skipping ahead and just asking the necessary question, “What kind of standing army do the Mrrakesh have?”

Shadow ran a hand through her hair nervously, not looking like she wanted to answer it. He gave her a mental nudge through the link and she gave in, “The Mrrakesh are to Alraxians what Alraxians are to Humans. Stronger, faster, bigger...maybe not smarter, but that’s dependent on the individual anyway. You have to understand, a single adult Mrrakesh can easily kill three times his number in Tam-Day-U without help. That isn’t even counting the Mrrakesh as a soldier. They always have a large standing army. The only thing that keeps them from invading the Empire and enslaving us are the alliances with the other major races. But throw Ket into the mix with his droids and it imbalances everything.”

Akan didn’t even mention the possibility that they were already too late. That just wasn’t an option at this point. He wasn’t even doing this to protect the Alraxian Empire. Sure, it was important to do, but he knew barely anything about them. Instead, he had to do this as a sort of penance. For his arrogance and stupidity that caused the death of the Voorts. Of his friends.

And then, suddenly, a sharp pain ripped through him. It was like nothing he’d felt before...it wasn’t from anything external. It was inside him. Burning. Aching. Ripping at his insides. He opened his mouth to yelp but couldn’t even make a noise. The pain was so intense that his vision went from hot white, to black, then to nearly every other colour possible. He barely even felt himself hit the deck, though the noise echoed loudly through his ears. Gritting his teeth and trying to breathe, stop the pain, or just something, Akan could see Shadow hit the ground in front of him...looking about the same. And it kept getting stronger. Stronger and strong until it hurt to think...it hurt to do anything...and defying all logic, it hurt to hurt.

Shadow tried to inhale, to breathe, but it wasn’t any good. Instead of air, it seemed like she only brought in more pain. More intense, hot pain. From where?! What was going on?! Fighting through the intense pain which was arcing all through her body in every way imaginable, Shadow tried desperately to find the source. But there wasn’t a reason! They weren’t sick, neither of them had pushed themselves too far and that still didn’t make sense for something like this!! And then a thought flicked through her mind. A thought that Marix latched onto and tried to feed through the link to Akan. But she couldn’t find a way to do it, for once. Her mind ached as much as everything else.

With the strong force of will to ignore the intense pain that was added into everything else, Shadow managed to find her voice...though it was pained and hard to understand, “Ak...nn!! Breathe!! Just...arrrrgh! Brea-arrgh! Growing-nnnn...couple more...ahhh! More...more hours...argh...just...breathe!”

And then, following her own words, she forced herself to breathe. Forced it in a way that hurt even more. Her eyes couldn’t see anymore, and distantly, she could hearing wailing. Whether it was her’s or not, she couldn’t tell anymore. The pain was too intense. The pain that every single Alraxian eventually ran into and had to fight through.

And if it didn’t kill them...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 163: All Grown Up...and Up.*

There were many levels of pain. Most people only ever experienced a few, and it was rarely anything that got into the deeper levels. Even most soldiers and fighters never lived long enough to experience most of the types of pain. Of course, those other levels of pain wouldn’t exist if someone in the galaxy didn’t experience them. Akan was now under the impression that a thousand years of people not experiencing the deepest levels of pain was now being handed over to him. It was such a deep and burning pain that every few minutes his body would become numb to it before it grew in strength again. How he was managing to stay conscious through it all, Akan was completely unaware of. His mind was so very focused on forcing himself to breathe that any other thoughts beyond ‘ow’ and curses directed at whatever created the universe were lost on him.

The truly amazing part, well, amazing when looked at from an outside point of view at least, was that every single Alraxian adult had gone through this. Alraxian children lived for roughly forty standard years before reaching adulthood. It was essentially a side effect of their natural ability to change shape. Alraxian ‘children’ were mostly androgynous, though as they grew older, more gender specific features would begin to develop. And then, at twenty cycles by the Alraxian calendar(forty by the rest of the galactic standard), everything kicked into overdrive. In roughly two hours, the equivalent of ten years of human development occurred. It was like going from thirteen to twenty three in the blink of a galactic eye.

And of course, it was no surprise that not every Alraxian survived it. Very many simply passed out from the extreme pain. It wasn’t long after that in which they suffocated, as the body’s usually involuntary action of breathing became the brain’s sole focus. It was a way to ignore the brunt of the pain and keep the brain occupied, but of course it was also a very dangerous thing. Not only that, but many Alraxians simply couldn’t take the pain and died of shock. A rare few died from bones growing too much or muscles not developing, but those genetic defects had been mostly bred or manually taken out of the population.

But none of that really mattered to Akan or Shadow. What did matter that it hurt. To Akan, this was unfair. He’d died once already and it sure hadn’t felt anywhere near as bad as this. Shadow had four times as much like experience on him, though. And she saw it that way simply because she had the combined life of Marix and Shadow. Sure, the first half of those lives were exactly the same, but experiencing it twice counted in their...her...whoever’s mind it was now.

And then something odd happened. Or at least, odd compared to the last two hours of white hot pain that continually got worse and worse. The unending pain just ended. Maybe it was gradual, maybe it had taken the whole third hour. Neither Shadow nor Akan noticed it, though. The pain was simply gone. Well, mostly gone. Enough that they could actually begin to see again and the cargo bay was coming back into focus. They were both face down, and Shadow was the first to groan into the durasteel deck.

“...my everything hurts...” Shadow’s voice sounded different to her ears...which did still hurt. But her voice was...was...something at least. Higher? More like her mother’s voice, a haunting non-voice stated through her mind. That got her entire body to shudder. And she couldn’t help but notice that it took longer for the shudder to travel through her entire body than usual.

Akan’s groan was next, and she was surprised at how much deeper it sounded. Not so much that he sounded like a completely different person, but at least enough that she did a mental double take. She then opened her eyes to see what Akan complained about next, “...what is all of this...?”

She tilted her head up to look at him, seeing that he was eyeing a small piece of white material that she soon realized was surrounding the both of them. There was also another substance that was mixed in with it, but Shadow did her best to ignore the fact that it was vomit and very near to her face. Though when she did identify what the white material was, she wasn’t all that surprise. [Morphsuits...they look dead.]

The best thing Akan could manage was a nod. That went a long way to explaining why he was so cold. Slowly, Akan managed to push himself up into a sitting position. Of course, he couldn’t help but notice that his sitting height was nearly at the level of where his shoulders used to be. He glanced to Shadow a moment, then suddenly found himself having to pry his gaze away. She was lying there on her stomach looking exhausted and growling at not being able to move and yet...his eyes kind of locked.

It was one of those times when clothes would have been helpful. Typical that the morphsuits were mysteriously destroyed. This also was one of those points where Akan could really have used an Alraxian mentality to go with the body he’d been given. But no, he was still a human at heart...well, mind. Which meant that he didn’t have the Alraxian lack of modesty. He’d learned of it the hard way more than once while back on Endor for those couple of months. When Shadow would just shed any clothes and dive into a river, he’d gone white and managed to look the other way.

Shadow shook her head, trying to clear her mind of the echoes of ‘ow’ that were still there. Grumbling to herself about being broken, she pushed herself up off the deck floor and realized just how much longer her arms were. That got a grin on her face. If her arms were longer...that meant her legs were longer...which meant she might just be taller— but something was wrong. There was more...more weight than usual. Slowly, and slightly worried Shadow looked down. She managed a whimper. That wasn’t right! She shouldn’t...that shouldn’t...she whimpered again. In the back of her head, Marix made some comment about final proof that they were female. From the sound of it, there were bets riding on that.

But Shadow mentally glared at the voice. _Traitor._

Ignoring the...problems, Shadow sat up and let her head stop spinning. For a long while, they just sat there in silence, trying to let the last echoes of the pain fade away finally. Akan had gone to staring at the X-Wing, finding that it was much safer than letting his eyes...wander. That had never happened before! Well, it had...but he was younger. A lot younger. He had gone through puberty once so he never had to experience it again! Yet another reminder was put up on a mental datapad to beat the creator of the universe silly when Akan met with it.

Eventually, he managed to speak, though trying to ignore how much different his voice sounded, “Its...cold...”

There was a silence in which Shadow’s mind caught up with that voice that was screaming about the cold. Then, she nodded suddenly, panicked about how cold it was. It was dangerously cold! She should have thought about that! They were in their morphsuits for so long that their body temperature was regulated and they didn’t even notice it! As quickly as she could, Shadow got to her feet.

She then realized that her head was a lot closed to the ceiling than it had ever been before. In fact, she had to be at least two point four meters tall now!! She was finally tall! Not the runt anymore, HA!  And then Akan stood up. In that short moment, her triumph was defeated as her eye level ended up even with his neck. His neck!! He’d grown more than she had! They should have grown the same amount! That wasn’t fair! That was cheating! He had cheated!

Roughly, she poked his chest, “You cheated!”

He just stared blankly at her, then realized he was staring and looked up. Shadow just rolled her eyes, not understand what had him so worked up and then walked out into the main corridor. She did so without stumbling, putting all of her will into walking straight. Besides, falling now meant a much longer fall and probably more pain. In a short time, she made it to her quarters and got out the few possessions she had with her. Out of a small bag, she pulled two morphsuits and tossed one of the small bundles to Akan.

Catching it, Akan still had the blank look on his face, “Um...aren’t these kind of...of...small?”

Shadow nodded and stretched the suit out, holding it against her, “It will take a few minutes but it should grow enough. The others...died because of the sudden growth. How they can stand morphing and not that is beyond me, though, so don’t ask.”

Akan just nodded, doing as she’d said more out of modesty than anything. Her tail flicked behind her, now much longer than it had been...as everything was now. Except for their surroundings, which all seemed to have shrunk. Eventually, he escaped to find Toby, seeing that the little jai(who was now very, very little in comparison) was curled up on Akan’s bed, purring loudly in his sleep. He couldn’t help a smile, though it was also from the fact that the morphsuit had finally grown to the correct size and he could wear one again.

The next few minutes were a blur. His mind hadn’t really caught up with all that had happened(and was also a bit..distracted with a certain image that had seemed to burn itself into his mind, but that wasn’t the point), and when the beeping noises that indicated the end of the jump through hyperspace had gone off, Akan had simply reacted. He used to other coordinates Shadow had plotted in and made five short, roundabout jumps through a part of space that the ship’s navcomputer had no data on. Jumping through hyperspace on the faith that Shadow knew what she was talking about. 

Through the short last jump, his mind wandered again. Wandered through the chaos that he’d currently figured out what his life. The beeping sounded and he reached for the hyperspace levels again. But this time, when the starship reverted to realspace they weren’t in empty black.

“Shadow!!” he yelled back over his shoulder, not realizing how much louder his voice was than usual. That was going to take some getting used to. It only took her a minute to arrive with a questioning look on her face, but it took at least another minute for Akan to find his voice again. She looked...morphsuits had always been tight and figure hugging. However, Shadow now had a very, very definite figure now. Half of his silence was surprise, the other was something he tried to ignore before peeling his eyes away and pointing out the viewport, “What is that?!”

It was huge. A gigantic, bright silver ring which was shining in a soft blue from a nearby star. Blue...blue...always blue...but that wasn’t what was so amazing. The diameter of the ring had to have been at least twice the size of a Super Star Destroyer. It hung there in front of them, and Akan couldn’t help but notice that looking through the center of the ring showed no stars at all...while all around the exterior the little white dots could be seen far away.

“That,” Shadow said with a grin on her face, speaking in a voice that almost sounded happy, “That is the border. Fly in and find us a bay to land in!”


----------



## Mirage_Patrick

*saying hi*

Loving the story.  still recovering from the death and fall to the darkside of the Voorts.  Speaking of which, how did the player's handle it?  Curious as to what they will be bringing in to replace their old characters (assuming Jen in an NPC).


----------



## aros

*the fate of the voorts*

so maybe im missing something but it sorta seems as if their actions were designed to kill of the characters.  why?  or is there a more logical reason for their demise?


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

What happened was we lost Jen's player. She had to disappear for some real life reasons and we figured out a good way to work with it. So Jen's going out was on purpose. For Titus, though, it was figured that he would essentialy lose it without her. And the whole Akan vs. Titus had been brewing up since the very beginning. It seemed like even when they got along there was this 'I'm going to kill you' tension between them.

THAT part was left up to the dice. Its the only player vs. player combat I've been involved in and it was loads of fun. Nothing was fudged, and Akan nearly got himself killed(which would have been interesting...) So Titus' death wasn't planned, and Akan really was going to try to just knock him out and talk things through afterwards.

Both me(Akan's player) and Titus' player kind of let our guard down with those traps. We got lucky in avoiding them(as they were, apparently, all over the place and that fight moved like crazy) and then that last one just popped up when both Akan and Titus were nearly dead.

He does have another character that we'll meet in a little while...but it was just the three of us until finally getting a new player in. That didn't happen until after this whole Halpak adventure, though, so its still a little while off.

Glad you guys are enjoying this.


----------



## aros

*happenings explained*

funny i thought you were the DM but apparently not.  im sorta curious whats gonna happen with the jai.  all three characters are PC's and then voorts replacement will show up a lil later?  or is voorts player say playing the jai until his replacement can show up?  and yes i am enjoying it a lot.  so thanks


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

aros said:
			
		

> funny i thought you were the DM but apparently not.  im sorta curious whats gonna happen with the jai.  all three characters are PC's and then voorts replacement will show up a lil later?  or is voorts player say playing the jai until his replacement can show up?  and yes i am enjoying it a lot.  so thanks



 We rotated the GM, with the GM's player becoming an NPC. Another usual no-no along with player vs. player combat, but both worked perfectly for us. The way I've written this, its harder to tell who was running the game, but we all had very different styles.

The Voort vs. Akan fight was run by Shadow's player(as she wasn't involved in it). Most of Arranis stuff was run by Titus' player, with the first adventure being run by me and Jen's player mostly. This is the point where Shadow's player started running the game, especially since the whole Alraxian thing was her creation, so she knew all about the place.

As for little Toby, he's an NPC run by...well, actually all of us. Usually, the player who Toby was closest to was allowed to run him, as he's fairly simple. He's also great. I love the little guy, though Shadow's player was about as annoyed with him as Shadow is. He's also not done being a plot point...his next important thing happens in the next update. Though its a bit indirect. This was a break before Voort's new PC appeared. I'll make sure to mention when he appears. 

And I'm off to write the next update...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 164: Phoning Home*

Their shuttle set down in the very large, all white coloured docking bay that had been nearest. Apparently, the entire ring was littered with them, and they were amazing. Nothing like anything Akan had ever seen. It all looked metal, right down to the shine from the floodlights the shuttle produced within the dark landing bay, but there were no panels. It was all one, single, every extending piece of...of...something. As Akan powered down the systems in the shuttle, he made sure to keep those floodlights on.

Shadow hadn’t mentioned that there wouldn’t be any lights. Of course, she did say something about it being empty. Apparently they’d have to find the equivalent of a comm system and call in to ‘home’. Which meant searching this gigantic ring to find the ‘comm’ room.

Satisfied with things, Akan got up and wandered back to his quarters. The door slid open to reveal Toby, sitting at the edge of the bed on his haunches. The little Alraxian was leaning forward towards the door, purring slightly as his hands played with a small...small...Akan’s belt! With lightsaber attached and blaster in the holster! Akan tried to step in, but banged his head on the doorframe. He cursed and ducked down, having forgotten how tall he was now.

As Akan got closed, Tobias had to look up much farther than usual. So much so that he ended up falling over backwards with a pathetic sounding ‘oof!’. Akan grinned, grabbing his belt while the little jai had let go of it and said, “You look like you’re waiting on something, little guy?”

Tobias got back up before finding a better position to sit in to stare up at Akan. He nodded a lot, but not so much that it made him loose his balance again, “Goin’ on adventure!”

“Oh, you are?” Akan’s grin grew as he tried to fit the belt on. It was...smaller. Grumbling, he figured out how to adjust it.

By the time he’d gotten it right, Tobias was nodding again, “Uh-huh! Goin’ with you!”

“You decided this for yourself?” he raised an eyebrow, though reached down and picked up the jai anyway.

Surprisingly, Tobias didn’t nod. Instead, he shook his head after enjoying the longer trip up to a comfortable spot in Akan’s arms, “Nope! Mo—....she said I go with you!”

He was pointing over Akan’s shoulder. Akan turned around to see Shadow standing there tapping her hand on her hip and looking bored as usual. Her tail flicked for a moment and he saw something...odd in her eyes that quickly passed when she motioned past her, “Come on, let’s get going.”

“In a rush?” Akan asked with a grin, walking that direction anyway. She fell into step next to him, though he couldn’t help but notice it was a little closer than usual, and didn’t say a word before they were out of the ship and in the expansive landing bay.

The deck below them even felt like metal... “What is this stuff?!” Akan finally gave in and asked while Tobias found a more comfortable spot to rest in his arms, yet still having the ability to look everywhere and anywhere at the exact same moment.

“Think of it like a living rock,” Shadow said, waving her hand at the deck as she led the way to a circular door that looked very similar to those that Loki had. Loki...he shook those thoughts off. It wasn’t worth it right now. And besides, Shadow was still talking and it was hard to ignore how much more...female she sounded for once, “Its grown and sentient enough that it should know we’re here.”

The door in front of them irised open to reveal a black nothing. Then lights kicked on. Bright, numerous lights. The corridor was like a long, endless arch, going both left and right with no end in sight either way. Shadow smiled proudly and motioned to the right, “Well, it knows we’re here. I’ll go this way and see what I can find. You two go that way.”

She started walking off. Akan tore his eyes away from staring and realized there was something very important he needed to know, “What am I looking for?!”

Shadow stopped. She stood there a moment before glancing over her shoulder and waving her hand vaguely, “Round pedestal thingie with about ten different coloured crystals in a big, wide open empty room.”

“Thank you so much for that wonderful description,” Akan grumbled, rolling his eyes and starting the other direction with a sigh.

Both of them went their separate ways for a long time. Well, it felt like a long time. In reality, it took Akan and Tobias only ten minutes to find the room that vaguely looked like Shadow’s description. Big, wide open and empty were close, at least. It was more like huge, wide open, and mostly empty. The room was like a giant oval, at least fifty meters in diameter. At the center was a pedestal like she’d said, with a bunch of crystals all in it. Tobias was now on Akan’s shoulder, and purred happily, “We found it first! We found it first!”

Akan grinned and looked at the thing, which was about waist height. All of the crystals were raised up from the pearl white pedastal. Akan bit his lip a moment. [We found it, Shady. Um...now what?]

“Press one! Press one!!” Tobias insisted, nearly pouncing off Akan and onto the entire pedestal. Akan held onto him carefully, not liking that idea just yet.

[You should be able to start with any of them...] Shadow’s voice echoed through his head. He could feel her mentally grumbling at having to walk all the way back. But with a smile, Akan looked to the little jai perched on his shoulder, “Which one should we press, little guy?”

Tobias looked hard at all of them, thinking with a long, unending ‘hmmmm....’ that had replaced his purr. After a minute, he suddenly yelled out and pointed, “Blue one! Press the blue one!”

Akan rolled his eyes. Always the damn blue with these Alraxians. One day he was going to figure out the rationale behind it. And if there wasn’t one...well, just another reason to beat the galaxy’s creator senseless when the time came. However, he reached down and pressed the small blue crystal that was near the center. The pedestal shimmered, and all but the blue crystal sank into the base. A second later, two others, a red and green one, then rose up next to the still slightly depressed blue crystal.

“Um...is it a riddle or something?’ Akan asked no one in particular.

Tobias, of course, still had his own ideas, “Blue one again! Blue one agaaaain!”

To that, Akan could only shrug. But as he reached for the blue crystal, Shadow’s voice suddenly yelled through his mind. [NO! Do NOT press the blue one! Not the blue one! Um...what are the other two?]

[Its rude to listen in on thoughts.] Akan sent through the link in a flat, sarcastic tone. [Red on the right, green on the left.]

[Um...green should work.] Shadow ‘said’ with so little assurance in her ‘voice’ that Akan almost wanted to press the blue one again just in case. But Shadow wasn’t done, and just couldn’t resist a comment. [I’m not just listening in on your thoughts. This link provides much more...interesting access.]

He knew that. He’d always known that. Yet, the way she said that made him shiver. Ignoring the odd look from Tobias, Akan reached down and depressed the green crystal. This time, all three crystals sunk into the pedestal. Then, in a flash that surprised both he and Tobias, something shot out and expanded from the center. It only took a second, but suddenly they were literally standing in the galactic core.

Planets...stars...even little asteroids all over the place! And they weren’t even holograms! Akan could reach and touch them. Some were even moved out of the way by where he currently stood. Taking a step back, they found their spot and others moved out of his way. He identified at least a dozen of the Core worlds before noticing that there was something odd. An entire second of the Unknown Regions was mapped out. In fact, it was a huge section with thousands of planets clustered together.

[Go to that part and it should focus on it.] Shadow’s voice startled him out of the sudden awe of the moment. Sure, he’d seen holograms like this...but you couldn’t touch them! Not like this. And they weren’t so...so...extravagant. Tobias had hopped out of his arms, padding over to play with some of the planets, batting them around and even pouncing a few of them with happy grrs. Akan ignored his urge to do the same and walked over to the section of space that was completely unknown to him.

As he did so, the entire...thing refocused. The galaxy fade away and the section he’d walked into now filled the whole room. Tobias had yelped in surprise at the sudden change, having thought he was being overrun by the moving planets. Akan looked around in amazement, not having expected there to be so many planets in such a small section of space that was so unexplored. [What do I do now...?]

There was a short pause before Shadow’s voice sounded in his head again. [Find a small, green planet with three moons. One of the moons is also green, so its fairly easy to find. When you find it...press it.]

“Oh, yes,” Akan grumbled as he walked around looking, “Easy to find, yes. A thousand planets and I have to find one with three moons. And its green! So helpful.”

[You do know that you’re thinking that, too, yes?] Shadow’s voice almost sounded like she had an evil grin on her face. She probably did. And Akan cursed. Sometimes the link wasn’t fair.

And to his surprise, and slight annoyance, actually, he found the planet within only a couple of minutes. It was near the pedestal, which he found somehow even more annoying. It should be far flung and not in the center of everything. That was boring. But despite this, he reached up to the planet which was at eye level with him and pressed it gently. A small blue(of course it was blue) ring surrounded it, then there was a beep.

The pedestal shimmered again, and in a moment the face of an Alraxian appeared. It had soft brown markings and gave Akan a critical look, “Hyne rheloi heth-nah. Abanon Nar.”

“Um...what?” so it wasn’t the best thing to say, but Akan was no first contact specialist. He was bad enough with languages as it was, and the Alraxian on the other end of the holo(which was definitely a holo) didn’t look like the happiest person in the galaxy.

Hearing Akan didn’t seem to help, and the eyes became a turbolaser-like glare, “Identify yourself at once!”

“I...ah...I..um...I’m Akan...Ta...um...Akan BlueIce,” he finished very lamely. He’d made a quick decision that it was for some reason a good idea to use the name that Shadow kept pushing him to use. She’d told him time and time again that he was technically a BlueIce now, and this sure seemed like the perfect time to pull rank, as it were.

The Alraxian on the other end continued his glare for a moment, speaking slowly, “You do know that impersonating a member of the Imperial Family is punishable by death...don’t you?”

As those words were spoken, Akan couldn’t help but feel like there were weapons already aimed at him. But he held his ground and kept a straight face, “I’m not impersonating anyone! I’m...here with Shad—err, Marix. Marix BlueIce.”

At the sound of ‘Marix’, the other Alraxian’s eyes went wide. He scrambled from looking back and forth before managing to stutter, “Marix?! The Enaijai’la? You are her—I’m am sorry, my prince! I will put you through to your family immediately!”

And before Akan could say anything about the ‘prince’ or ‘your family’, the image changed. It shimmered and then he saw a familiar face. This Alraxian was female, with peaceful, bright green eyes and soft black-white hair. Black with a white stripe...the opposite of Shadow. In fact, she looked like a like Shadow. Or rather, Shadow looked a lot like her. The Empress had a surprised look on her face, but managed a slight smile, “Well, well, well. Last time I saw you, you weren’t in such good shape. Where is...Marix??”

He somehow managed to look only mildly embarrassed, remembering their short meeting back on that horrible swamp planet when they were still searching out Sadrak...Suddenly realizing he’d been asked a question, Akan shuffled his feet and said nervously, “She uh...um...over...that way...and...yeah she’s...um...coming...”

She grinned slightly at his reaction, “Stand up straight, boy, I’m not going to hurt you. What are you doing there?”

“Well um...we’re uh...” he trailed off, trying to stand up straight and get a hold of his voice. Why he was so nervous, Akan had no idea of, “Kind of having to...to come home.”

“Coming home?” the Empress’ face looked horrified for a short half second before returning to a neutral expression, “No! You cannot do that! It is forbidden! If you step foot in our space you will be killed! Don’t!...please don’t...”

He sighed and hung his head. That last part had sounded like she was actually begging, “We have to...there was a. A...uh...a problem,” and surprisingly, with that, his confidence started to return. Yes, they did have to do this. For the Voorts, if nothing else. And so his voice actually straightened out again, “We messed up and tried to stop it. But we couldn’t do anything about it...”

“Stop what?” she didn’t sound happy at all, and Akan really couldn’t blame her.

“His name was Halpak,” Akan said carefully, not wanting to step into dangerous ground, “Ket Halpak. He...got away from us and escaped here with one of the clones of Mar—“

”We know, boy,” the Empress cut him off swiftly, her expression fading into a sadness that he’d never seen on anyone’s face before, “There was an attack on an outlying colony yesterday.”

Very slowly, Akan asked the necessary question, “What...happened?”

She looked in a different direction, off over his shoulder, and said very quietly, “No one survived.”

He managed a nod, not really knowing what else could be said. Shadow should be running in soon. Then he could just step back and let her do the talking. He wasn’t good at this...especially with a species he knew barely anything about. The silence between the two of them was broken by the Empress, who quickly changed the subject, “So...how have you two been since I last saw you? Tell me of your exploits...I doubt it is anything boring with my daughter involved.”

Akan managed a nervous laugh, nodding slightly and saying, “We’re uh...fine. A lot has happened and I’m not really sure what to make of everything at this poin—argh! Ow!”

Tobias had gotten bored and latched onto Akan’s leg. In that painful way, he clawed his way up all of Akan(which took longer this time) and got up onto his shoulder. Oblivious to the holo of the Empress, Tobias purred into Akan’s ear and said, “Booored! Want Akan play!”

“Tobias, this isn’t exactly the best time to play,” Akan whispered, not knowing that the Empress could still hear him just fine. Even if she couldn’t, she could have read his lips.

There was a shocked look on the Empress’ face. She hadn’t failed to notice that the jai had black fur, and a stripe that was of the same colour of Akan’s. It was something Akan had still not realized, “What?! Who...whose is he?”

“Um..ah...he’s uh...” but before Akan could figure out the correct explanation, Shadow walked in.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 165: Mother and Daughter*

Akan had given up on stuttering when Shadow walked in. She looked like she’d just run a few kilometers, and when he thought about how big the place was...she might have. A few long strides brought her next to him, and Shadow gave him a nod before dodging a playful swipe from Tobias. Akan took a step to the side and out of the way, trying to find some way to occupy the little jai. They had bumped into a collection of floating planets, which seemed to do the job for the moment, as Toby pounced all around Akan’s shoulder to ‘kill’ the planets.

“Aza...” Shadow said quietly to her mother, who was just staring at her with a wide eyed look. She gave her mother a more careful look and said again, but louder, “Aza...”

Her mother then looked her over before replying. Akan didn’t understand a word of it, though he did get the general idea through the link and the way that the ‘discussion’ had quickly turned heated. There was growling, snarling, and old fashioned yelling from both sides and Shadow angrily swatted at a few planets. She also almost took of Akan’s head, but he strategically ducked from that, though Tobias fell off his shoulder and landed on the hard floor with a thud, a whimper, and a wail. Akan felt like wailing, too, as the jai had tried to latch onto him with claws during the fall...and his claws were sharp.

The wailing silenced the two arguing Alraxians, both of whom turned to give Akan a look that made him feel useless. He managed a weak smile and picked Tobias back up, grumbling something about it being Shadow’s fault in the first place. A long silence lasted between the two females before the Empress spoke again, calm, but soft and very strained. Her emotional speech lasted for a couple of minutes, and Shadow nodded her head and sighed a few times.

Finally, a few more words were exchanged before the Empress looked back to Akan and smiled softly, “Goodbye, tamai.”

She then moved away, and the image was replaced by another Alraxian that Akan recognized. It was an older looking man, with strong features but soft eyes and a smile on his face. His dark hair was well groomed, and Akan couldn’t help but notice Shadow’s eyes light up at seeing her father, “Dad!”

Cole smiled warmly, but raised a hand, “Just a quick word, daama. Thing’s are looking bad...I’ll be glad when you’re back here and safe. I’ll know we have our best back here to save us.”

“Daddy...” Shadow looked down at her feet, actually going red. Akan couldn’t help but stare in amazement. She was acting almost...normal!

“I mean it,” Cole went on, “My little girl really has grown up. Those challengers will be wetting themselves now,” he winked at her maliciously.

“Daddy, your...”

“An idealistic old man,” he finished with completely different words than she’d planned on saying, “Now I have to go. A council is being called and you know I’ve got to be there with your mother. If we don’t arrive in five days...” 

Tailing off into a sigh, Cole said quietly, “Well...I hope to see you soon, daama,” and then he turned to Akan(who was having no more trouble as Toby had bounded off to kill new planets) and gave him a wink, “Good job, saama.”

The older Alraxian’s gaze then found Tobias, who was pouncing from one end of the room to the next. Cole turned to Shadow, grinned, and before anything could be said, the image shimmered away into nothing. The only sound left in the room was the grrs and rawrs of Toby, and in the relative quiet, Shadow deactivated the comm line and most of the other things that Akan had turned on...except for the map surrounding them.

After a moment, she sighed, “Well, the good news is we may be allowed in.”

“And the bad news?” Akan stepped a little closer so he could idly lean against the pedestal.

“Ket and Nine have already hit,” Shadow’s voice was barely above a whisper, “A colony not far from here was completely wiped out. I’m...being held accountable. If they do let us in, I...no, we’ll be under house arrest.”

“Then what’s the point of going anyway?” Akan rolled his eyes, already not liking this. Too much red tape for his taste. In fact, none was best for him...but Akan had to remind himself that this was an odd culture and Shadow was technically the heir, which always meant red tape in any part of the universe, it seemed.

“You know we have to go,” she said over her shoulder as she turned to watch Toby pounce and kill a little gas ‘giant’, “But if you want, you can stay. Even if they let us in you won’t be able to set foot on the homeworld until you’ve pledged your loyalty and they can trust you.”

Akan really didn’t like that sound of that, “Pledge my loyalty?”

“Don’t worry about it right now,” she patted his arm gently, not even really noticing that she was doing it, “Right now, we’ve got about five days to teach you about what you’re walking into.”

((_Attached is the beginnings of Akan's character sketches like I did for Shadow. I had meant to do Voort next, but somehow Akan just came out on the paper..._))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 166: History Lesson*

Before they even went back to their ship, Shadow had started to explain about the Alraxian people. It only took a few minutes before it was obviously not Shadow talking at all, but Marix. That was obvious in the way that her tone shifted from the more...formal and stilted way that Shadow talked to a much more fluid and actually normal sounding voice that Akan had learned was Marix. That didn’t completely make sense to Akan, as Marix was just as repressed as Shadow had been...all he could figure was that whatever the Imperials had done to the clones had created another major wall.

She explained that there were Humans didn’t exist in enough number to be worth speaking of. According to the ancient Alraxian lore, they were the direct descendants of Humans. How that worked out, Akan wasn’t sure of. Without a time scale, there wasn’t really any point of reference to work from. Humans evolved into a race of feline shape shifters? Either that was complete myth or there was a key point in that which wasn’t being said.

But Akan managed to keep his mouth shut, letting Shadow...Marix...whoever, go on. She next spoke about the Mrrakesh. Like the Alraxians, the Mrrakesh supposedly grew out of the Humans that had once lived in that part of the Unknown Regions. The best comparison that Marix could find was that they looked like much larger Defel. Lupine humanoids, and this really made Akan bite his tongue. Of course there would be a wolf species to fight the cat species of the Alraxians.

On average, Mrrakesh males stood two and a half meters tall, with the females just under that. While this was about the same height as many Alraxian adults, the Mrrakesh were broad shouldered and overall...muscular. While they had the ability to change shape, it was essentially useless when compared with the Alraxians’. Mrrakesh could only morph between two forms: they’re natural form, and a wolflike form that was comparable to an Alarix...but, of course, bigger. There were stories of a Mrrakesh that had found a way to merge with an Alraxian to gain their essentially unlimited ability to morph., but Marix assured Akan that they were just stories. Bed time stories told to scare small children into being good.

But in the end, the truth was that the Mrrakesh were to Alraxians what Alraxians were to Humans. Faster, stronger, and all around a superior race. The only thing that kept Alraxians from being dominated by the Mrrakesh was the society differences. While Alraxians were more like a giant hive-mind, Mrrakesh were best compared with Hutts. Individualists, opportunists, and not above betraying one another to get ahead in the game. In fact, the whole society was based on this type of competition. The leader of the Mrrakesh Combine was the Mrrakesh who weaseled(or wolfed, in this case) his way to the top.

About four thousand years ago, a small group of true Sith found the Hidden Worlds. They created the Darkwings, and in the ensuing Darkwing Wars, the Mrrakesh sided with the Sith. The war lasted nearly two thousand years, ravaging all the worlds in both the Alraxian Empire and the Mrrakesh Combine. When it was finally ended and the Darkwings destroyed forever(supposedly, at least), a stalemate took its place. The stalemate has lasted since then, with the Mrrakesh pushing the borders of the Empire every so often just to see what they could get away with. Trade was established, however, and it seemed to some that the two races would finally stop fighting. Of course, those few that fell into that category were wishful thinkers. Every Enai knew that the Mrrakesh wouldn’t just sit around forever.

By now, Akan had brought the ship out of the ring and positioned them a good distance from the gigantic ring at Marix’s direction. Tobias had once again worn himself out and was asleep in Akan’s quarters. Akan and Marix sat in the cockpit, both trying to ignore how small the chairs currently felt as Marix found another subject to explain to him.

A smile actually appeared on her face, “We do have a strong ally, though. The Jendari lived in the Hidden Worlds long before the Humans arrived. They were with us as we grew, and helped us anytime we asked. They are the oldest and wisest species I have ever known, and we can always turn to them.”

Pausing to allow herself a sigh, Marix looked to Akan, “There are a few other species spread throughout the Empire, but talking about all of that could take years. Mind if we get past this to some boring stuff?”

Akan yawned, trying not to grin too, “Boring? Oh, no, go on.”

“Bah,” she reached over and cuffed him across the back of the head. It also got a grin on her face, as it took very little effort to reach him with such longer limbs. But after leaning back into her small chair, Marix idly watched the stars through the viewport, “When you greet someone, always make sure to keep your tail lower than you waist. Even if you don’t like someone, try to keep your tail straight and not show it through sticking it up or anything.”

“Bad idea to do that?” Akan raised an eyebrow, deciding that sarcasm his only refuge at this point.

She just gave him a glare, “Yes, it is. Now listen, although I only have eighteen brothers and sisters–“

”Only eighteen?!” he yelped, truly surprised, “How is eighteen an only?!”

“Shut up and listen,” Marix continued her glare and then went on, “There are at least fifty other children within the palace. As part of her duty, the Enai takes in the lost or wayward children of the Empire. She is the protector of the clan, and while the children become a part of her clan, they take up the name ‘ka before the clan name to signify their position,” at seeing Akan’s confused look, she waved a hand vaguely in the air, “Like...Ami Ka’BlueIce. Its more a formality these days, though.”

And then she went silent. The silence held in the cockpit for a long five minutes before Akan found himself...staring again. He peeled his eyes away and looked at the giant ring out there. So was that it? Had she told him all she was going to tell? Apparently, but Akan wasn’t dumb enough to think that was everything. At least she’d explained some basics to him. No matter what, this was going to be...interesting. If they even got in, of course.

Marix had gone silent because there really wasn’t anything left to say. Or at least, nothing left that she wanted to think about right now. So a colony on the Mrrakesh border had been attacked. It was a challenge, of course. But not to her. No, it was for the Enai...her mother. But could she really deal with this? The Empress was not a warrior. She was Red Star, a healer. She was a wonderful Empress, but there 
hadn’t been a war in the Hidden Worlds since the Darkwing Wars had ended. Her mother couldn’t refuse a direct challenge...it would no doubt come, soon. But the Enai couldn’t face Nine or Ket in single combat.

Sighing and closing her eyes, Marix retreated to think. There had to be a way out of it...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 167: Fourty Year Old Teenagers*

A few minutes later, Shadow escaped the cockpit to get to work and occupy herself. She gathered a few components together and hooked them together to the comm relay. It was a simple, yet primitive holoprojector that should be on the same frequency as the one on the ring. That way, they could actually stay here on the ship and wait to be contacted instead of having to go back and forth.

But once that was finished, she had nothing to do, and so wandered back to her quarters and sat...brooding. Thinking. If the Empire allowed her to return, Shadow would still be risking death. Assassinations for crimes that Nine committed. Crimes that she would be blamed for. Going back would mean that she and Akan would no doubt be arrested, keeping them both under constant watch, and restricting her abilities. Going back like this could make it even harder to find Ket and Nine, not to mention having to fight either of them.

If she didn’t go back...

No. No, that wasn’t an option. Though even if she went back, it would be under her mother’s direction. Shadow wouldn’t have free reign to choose what she felt was best, and though she could mention such things to her mother, it would be useless in the end. It was up to her mother whether or not Shadow was allowed to fight. Yet, it was expected of the Empress to fight, not of the Enai’la. Shadow could not fight Nine or Ket directly. Not unless...

There was a knock on the door. It didn’t surprise Shadow, and she sighed. The knock was too high up on the door to be Tobias. Without even a shred of enthusiasm in her voice, Shadow spoke at the still closed door, “What?”

“Mind if I come in...?” it was odd to hear Akan’s voice so...high up. The fact that it sounded deeper was something she’d given up on thinking about. Not feeling like getting up off of her comfortable spot sitting on the bed, Shadow did what Akan would call cheating.

Reaching out with the Force, Shadow found the switch and opened the door without even getting up. It slid open with a swish, Akan standing there looking surprised that she wasn’t anywhere near the door. But obviously noticing she wasn’t in the best of moods, he didn’t comment, instead just ducking to get in and stepping over to have a seat on the edge of the bed next to her.

She gave him a sideways look and repeated, “What?”

The look he was getting was close enough to a glare that Akan quickly went to staring at the floor. He shuffled his feet some, suddenly wishing he’d just left her alone like she had probably wanted. Then, realizing she was only getting more annoyed with the silence, he said quietly, “Its could be worse, you know.”

“How, Akan?! How could it possibly be worse?!” Shadow said angrily, though not actually raising her voice too much, “If we even get let in, we still can’t do anything! If I help mother, I’ll be killed! If I don’t, she’ll be killed!”

Whatever it was that Akan had originally been planning to say had been completely lost on him. He managed to look helpless before whimpering and mumbling, “I...I’m sorry.”

At hearing those words, the look became a real glare and Shadow yelled at him, “And what good does that do?! None!”

Akan glanced up towards the door, feeling even worse. She was right, though...it didn’t do any good. What good was he in this, anyway? None, at all. All he knew, she’d told him, and it obviously wasn’t enough. And to make things worse, he could feel Shadow’s tension and worry through the link. She probably didn’t even realize that it was driving him just as crazy as it was her.

Slowly, he shook his head, having worked himself up in thinking and just as angry as she was now, “Fine! Even when I try, you don’t care! Eventually you’re going to have to wake up and realize that you’re not in this alone anymore! I may not like it, but I have to suffer through all of this, too!!”

As she growled a curse at him, Akan got to his feet and stormed out of the room. Walking back towards his own quarters, Tobias appeared, tried to play, and got growled at. Having never heard anything like that from Akan before, the little jai shrieked in surprise and tore off the other direction in panic.

Finding his quarters, Akan made sure to lock the door and sat on his bed, ignoring the slightly warm patch of blankets where Tobias had been curled up. He sat there for a while in silence, fuming about things that didn’t even make sense. It really was like being a kid all over again, angry for no reason and then mad at himself because of it. It was impossibly unhelpful and made him feel even more out of control. But he would be calm. Akan knew that he was dangerous...at least, dangerous to himself. It had taken the loss of the Voorts for him to realize that. But in the end, he had learned. He wished Jen had been there so he could prove to her that he really had learned.

There was a pawing at the bottom of the door. Sighing, Akan said calmly, “No, Tobias, I don’t want to play.”

He heard a soft whimpering before more pawing.

“Tobias,” Akan said with a harder edge to his voice, “I said I don’t want to play.”

Another whimper, then quietly, “No want play...”

“What do you want, then?”

“Want sleep...” Tobias mumbled through the door, and Akan couldn’t help but wonder how much the little jai could sleep. It seemed like the child was lost in a cycle of bursts of energy then hours of sleep. But Tobias was still babbling on, “...just want sleep and...and everyone all locked away and it cold...cold and locked away...its not fair...and its cold...and...and...”

Akan rolled his eyes, giving and walking over to the door. He hit the switch to see the little black-furred Alraxian looking up to him with the most pathetic, big eyed ‘pay attention to me’ look. Leaning and scooping up the jai in his arms, Akan asked, “Is that it?”

Tobias sniffled and clung to Akan very slightly, looking up to him with an almost pleading look, “...and...and...bad dreams...”

“Awww, c’mon, little guy,” he carried Tobias over to the bed and dropped the jai down. As Toby padded around idly, Akan stretched and rested back on the bed. Deciding that sleep might be a good idea for helping his mind to calm down, Akan closed his eyes. In another moment, he felt a soft something against his forehead. Opening an eye, Akan saw Tobias was already asleep, curled up next to Akan’s head. He smiled and closed his eye again. Amazing how calming it was to have the jai around...

A few minutes later, the door slid open. Shadow stood there looking slightly surprised to find the two of them asleep. She had calmed down and had decided that apologizing was probably a good idea. That was more at the encouragement of Marix, who understood things like that and at least had the slight idea that both of them were a little bit more than just slightly...off lately. Just one more thing to add to the troubles, really.

But at seeing them asleep, she decided it could wait. Quietly, she told the lights to switch off, and then before stepping out of the room, said, “Goodnight.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

No update tonight. Sorry about the last couple of days. My brain has fried and I've been kind of busy with other things. I will force myself to sit down, relax, and update tommorrow, though.


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## dpdx

No worries, AMG. RL happens to us all, even those of us w/o Story Hours. You update when you're ready, and we'll keep reading.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 168: Annoyances and Anger*

Long hours passed. Time was slow when all you could do was wait. It just hung there in the ship, the same way the ship hung in the blackness of space. The only thing to give any kind of sense of movement was that huge floating ring, a black nothing in the center of it. At least the rest of space had little white holes of light here and there, giving some semblance of sanity in the universe. Some proof that the ship wasn’t alone in the vast galaxy. Some hint that maybe, somewhere out there, all of this really mattered.  Except within the blackness of the ring. Sometimes simple words were all that could describe complex situations. This was one of them. This was, in its purest form, annoying.

As Shadow sat in the small room of the ship that was technically the lounge. However, there were no chairs, tables, or places other than the metal deck to lounge on. There was, though, a large, open viewport that encompassed a half of the room. Sitting there next to the window, meditating as best was possible in the circumstances, it was easy to lose oneself and forget that it was actually metal all around. But it was impossible to focus completely. Too many worries, too many thoughts, and then other things that she didn’t even understand. The other things were the problem, really. Worries and thoughts were old problems that could be worked through. But the rest was just...distracting in a way that didn’t make any sense to her.

And of course, right on cue as usual, there was a soft hiss on the other side of the room as the door opened. Opening her eyes, Shadow turned and looked to Akan, surprised to see he was holding something. She got to her feet as he quietly walked over and noticed the thing in his arms was Tobias, curled up and probably still asleep. Through their link, she could feel Akan running through a question but instead of letting him ask it, one of those other things took hold and she asked quietly while reaching out towards the small, black furred child, “May I...?”

There was a pause, and it was obvious that Akan had been surprised by that. Another moment passed before he nodded somewhat uneasily and carefully handed the jai over. She awkwardly cradled Tobias in her arms, watching as his stub of a tail twitched slightly. The soft purring noise didn’t falter at all and after a couple of minutes of silence, Shadow said quietly, “Brat or not, he is the future. It is our...our responsibility to protect that for him.”

Akan raised an eyebrow at that, taking a quick second to glance past her and out the viewport, “You alright?”

“I don’t know,” she said slowly after having to think about it. Turning, she walked over to the viewport again, “This isn’t like what we’ve done before, Akan. We’re not just trying to save our own tails anymore. My...our people are out there and they are going to die without us. And if we go, its even more likely that we will die.”

“The two of us can’t make that much of a difference,” Akan said, his voice flat and easily expressing the worry over that.

She glanced over her shoulder, “You’d be surprised. But you do deserve to know that we’re probably not going to live through this.”

“I hate feeling like I’m just along for the ride,” grumbled Akan under his breath, picking up on the fact that she was only including him to be polite.

“This is my burden, Akan,” Shadow said sharply, though quietly enough to hopefully not wake Tobias. There was a  fierce look in her eyes, though her voice calmed again, “Your honour is harmed enough by even being with me. I’m not going to let you bring yourself any lower just so you can be a noble Jedi.”

Akan nearly threw up his arms in frustration and barely managed to keep his voice at a normal level, “Honour?! What the hell does honour have to do with anything”

“Everything!” she snapped back harshly, turning to face him so she didn’t have to keep hurting her neck to look over her shoulder.

“I don’t care!” he was yelling now, forgetting about Tobias and for some reason unable to control the sudden...anger, “Honour doesn’t matter! I’m not here to be some tourist! I am here to fight. To help you. You have no right to prevent that when you know you need my help!”

Before she could yell back at him, Tobias woke up with a wail. Shadow glared at the screaming little child before storming over to Akan and shoving Tobias into him. As Akan tried to quiet the child, Shadow said slowly and dangerously, “I have every right to! I know where we are going better than you. I know you better than you do! You are not ready for any of this. You’re barely able to stop acting like a child and you want to run in there lightsaber ablaze?! That won’t work here, Akan.”

Without another word, she stalked off past him and out of the lounge, fuming to the point that she was nearly physically steaming. Akan was just as angry, but had been left to try and quiet the still screaming Tobias. And after that finally happened, the child drifted back to sleep again. It left Akan to look out into space, out into that damned emptiness within the huge ring. Through it all, though, he couldn’t help but shake the feeling that there was much more through it. More than even Shadow realized. But when he tried to reach out to her through the link, he was surprised to find a wall there. A nothing.

It was an emptiness as black as the spot within the ring. Through the Force, Akan could feel Shadow as a bubble of boiling anger somewhere else in the ship...but through the link, nothing. Nothing. Even with Tobias there in his arms, Akan couldn’t help but being overwhelmed by the feeling of loneliness. So overpowering that he found himself unable to even think anymore. And for the first time, Akan truly understood how powerful the link he shared with Shadow was...now that he was cut off from it.

((_A short one, but I'm exhausted tonight. Can't figure out why, either. Got to get back into the groove of updating daily and these will get better again. _))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 169: Homeward*

Two days went by. Shadow had locked herself in the cargo bay, meditating and trying not to focus on how stupid Akan was acting. No, not stupid...childish. He was stuck with some damned sense of Jedi nobility that he only used when it was convenient for him. Of course, he seemed to pick the worst times to start spouting off about it. Especially now. Of all times, he had to revert to that now.

And so, after a few hours of fuming on it and simply getting more and more angry, Shadow cut him off. Despite a very quiet voice that objected only once, she blocked their link. It was amazingly easy to focus again. No random thoughts flying around, no constantly being bothered when Akan got bored, and especially no having him picking through her thoughts when she wasn’t paying enough attention. But still...

No. No, there was no ‘but still’. And this was quickly put to rest with a calming technique and then more fierce meditation coupled with a bit of unarmed practice. She was going to need it. It had been a long time since having to deal with anything like what they were willingly walking into.

Akan, on the other hand, wasn’t doing so well. The absence of the link ended up reverting him back to how he’d been after Mare had died all those years ago. It had become something to fall back on, if only for the knowledge that he wasn’t fighting alone anymore. A reason to keep going, reminding him every minute that his life wasn’t just his own anymore. And now it was gone. Silent and blocked off, leaving him alone in the galaxy again.

So he sat there in the starship’s lounge, staring blankly out at the field of stars. He tried to think, to focus through the numbness that had grown again, but couldn’t seem to manage it. Just like when Mare had died. He’d been too weak then, and he’d come out of it a mess. New Republic SpecForce had only allowed him to work for them because of his skill at getting the job done, which was the result of a hatred that had developed for anything that happened to have anything resembling the world “Empire” on it.

But somehow, through what should have been an impossible course of events, he was brought back from it. Sure, it had taken leaving the New Republic and three long years of freelance work, but without any of that he would have never met the Verpine named Ansion. He’d died and been reborn...literally. And not long after his physical rebirth, a mental one came from the assistance of Jen and the constant fallback that the link with Shadow had provided. And now they were both gone. They were both gone, and he couldn’t help but feel at fault for it. Just like Mare. Just when things were working, Akan always found a way to screw things up and get people killed.

Unlike before, though, no cold hatred or anger grew out of being cut off from the link. Instead, he just went numb. Akan sat there unmoving, his mind focused on nothing as he stared blankly into that hole in space that the Alraxian ring created. Even Tobias couldn’t get anything out of him, no matter how loud he wailed for food or to play or just for simple attention.

On the third day of waiting, the makeshift comm unit Shadow had built flickered to life. She had been working through a rigorous series of exercises to hone her body and mind but was hyper-aware of her surroundings. This meant that the second a hint of a change appeared on the unit across from her in the cargo bay, she stopped what she was doing and moved over to sit in front of it. In a moment, the flickering formed into a well crafted and slightly blue tinted three dimensional image of the Empress. Her mother did not smile, though her eyes seemed to hint at something more than the somber look Shadow had gotten used to seeing over the years.

In slow, deliberate tones, the Empress said simply, “You will be allowed entrance. Coordinates have been transmitted with this communication. We will meet you there to bring you home.”

There was a pause in which the Empress gave Shadow the chance to speak, but she didn’t. When the awkward silence ended up lasting too long, the older Alraxian simply inclined her head before her image flickered away. Shadow sat there just staring at the now empty space for a long moment, her mind going over her mother’s last word. Home. And despite all the danger, all the fear, and all the death that awaited her there, she couldn’t help but smile. Home.

With a quick speed she pulled out the datapad that had been lodged into the makeshift comm device, getting to her feet and walking over to the exit of the cargo bay. Shadow unlocked the door, which opened with a swish to the cool air of the ship’s main corridor, and walked straight to the cockpit. Her longer legs took her there in at least half the time that it usually took, and she took no time to look at any of the doors she passed by. Only a couple of them were open, both of which had piles of boxes or chairs that Tobias had managed to drag in to climb and hit the switch to open them.

In a matter of minutes, Shadow was in the pilot’s chair and had uploaded the nav data to the starship’s computer. Shifting uncomfortably in the relatively small seat, she then got the sublight engines online and positioned the ship in front of the gigantic ring...waiting. Five minutes passed with nothing happening other than a beep from the computer to indicate the hyperspace coordinates were plotted and ready. But that meant nothing.

The only accessible hyperspace route lay through the ring, and the fact that it had a black center instead of stars showing through was a hint to not attempt flying straight through. Not that many wayward travelers happened upon it, but there were those one in a million chances that had to be planned for. Besides, what other system in the galaxy could attest to such amazingly perfect border control?

Then the blackness within the ring shimmered. It shimmered in a way that black nothingness shouldn’t be able to do, and slowly small white dots began to seep through. Like an oozing liquid, the light from the distant stars slowly poked through until the veil had completely faded away. Shadow smiled again, before reaching for the hyperspace levers. Shadow had seen this a thousand times at least...the stars slowly extending, more and more until suddenly they shot past and the galaxy ahead became a swirling, endless blue tunnel. But never before had she been so nervous. Home. Home and then what? The planning had only gone this far. Beyond this, everything was going to have to be made up on the spot.

Not that this was a bad thing, of course, but it was definitely something that the Alraxian people wouldn’t like. Of course, they’d like being killed by the war droids created by a traitorous member of their race much less than change. At least, that was the assumption.

((_Seeing the Revenge of the Sith trailer has me all geared up for some crazy lightsaber action. Sadly, not much of that for a little while...May 19th can't come soon enough._))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 170: Silent Welcomings*

An hour in hyperspace, and then Shadow brought the transport back to realspace. The blue of hyperspace gave way to a distant, binary star system. The light from the two small, blue stars bathed the cockpit even from the great distance they were from the stars. But that was all there was. Two stars and the blackness of space. Silently, Shadow waited, her eyes watching both the ship’s sensors and the endless black beyond the viewport.

It only took a few minutes of waiting before there was a shift in the distance. Watching anything revert back to realspace was always disorienting, as the object always seemed to stretch into place while at the same time appearing out of no where and into where it stopped. After Shadow’s eyes refocused from watching just such an occurrence, she couldn’t help the hint of a smile. Besides, no one was around to see so did it even matter it was there? Sitting there in space, occupying a huge amount of the former blackness that filled the viewport, was a ship similar to Loki. Similar enough to remind her of the ship, a painful reminder of a lost friend.

But this ship was much different. It was literally comparing a child to a parent, similar but still unique. And the ship would have dwarfed Loki. Though it held a shape close to Loki’s, the ship was larger than a Super Star Destroyer. The full ten kilometers of the Empress’ ship was hard to really comprehend without a form of reference, but Shadow knew how bit that Thor was. She could imagine a moon nearby, with Thor taking up a large amount of its surface.

A short, one word communication came through, and Shadow didn’t even respond to it. There was no response needed other than to follow the instructions. So she maneuvered the starship towards the gigantic ship, bringing the sublight drives online and watching the blackness slowly disappearing from the viewport in front of her. It was only a few more minutes before the ship set down within one of the large landing bays. The fact that they were allowed to set this metal ship down inside of the Empress’ flagship was something Shadow hadn’t expected.

Without looking out the viewport to the landing bay outside, Shadow powered down the ship’s systems and stepped back out of the cockpit. She found Akan sitting in the lounge, and wordlessly pulled him to his feet and led him to the ship’s exit. Tobias wandered after them, looking bored but not overly energetic for once. Instead, he just padded along after them, with Akan walking like a lifeless zombie behind a stiff, emotionless Shadow. It was really a wonderful way to present themselves for the first time.

The access ramp down, Shadow led the way to the soft, cream colour deck. The whole landing bay was the same cream colour, though not even all over. It seemed to flow like water. Standing halfway between the metal ship and the entrance to the landing bay was a large group of Alraxians. Twelve very large, very dangerous looking Alraxians flanked two others. The royal guards looked nervous as the Empress and Emperor approached the metal ship and the three who had walked off of it.

Immediately, Shadow fell to one knee, her face looking straight at the cream coloured deck. Tobias gave her a curious stare from behind, almost looking like he was considering the possibility of pouncing her while she wasn’t paying attention, though he did nothing. Akan just stood there, staring somewhat blankly at the Alraxians who now stood within arms reach of them.

“Marix...you do not have to kneel to me,” the Empress said in a soothing voice, her long limbs reaching down and pulling Shadow up to her feet with surprising strength. Mother and daughter then stood looking eye to eye with each other, and it was almost like looking into the past and the future. Shadow really did look like her mother...though her eyes were still aimed at the floor.

The Empress went on anyway, “You’ve grown.”

Shadow just nodded, keeping quiet with all of the guards around. All of whom were gripping their weapons more tightly than usual and looked ready to pounce at the slightest twitch. Shadow’s mother glanced over her shoulder to her mate, and both shared a slight grin, “Quiet as ever...” he nose twitched slightly, and the grin grew very slightly, “You do know that those morphsuits you’re wearing have a very noticeable smell to them...”

“We grew...” Shadow mumbled quietly, “...was all we had to fit...”

The Empress smiled and then without warning, embraced her daughter. Shadow stood there unmoving before her mother pulled back and motioned behind her, “Come. Clothes and perhaps a bath can be arranged immediately.”

And so they were lead off. The moment they were out of the landing bay they had been assaulted by other Alraxians who measured them, made a fuss about whatever it was they did and led them off. Shadow, Akan, and Tobias were given baths, though the jai finally found something to do and did all he could to splash everything and anything within range. Clothes had been dropped off, and they had soon been dressed in them, which Shadow still didn’t like, especially since they nearly put her in a dress. Flowing robes were settled on and then the helpers went to fixing her hair.

Akan had been easy to deal with, as his numb, zombie like state meant he didn’t put up the fight he usually would have to being treated like he couldn’t do anything himself. He was led from the bath to a small, well furnished room, though it had taken nearly three Alraxians to get him there...and they’d almost been carrying him. Once he was in the room, they disappeared off to do whatever else they did, having said something in Alraxian that Akan didn’t hear, though he wouldn’t have understood it even if he had. For a short time, he simply stood there in the center of the room, but eventually sank to the floor on a soft, grey-white rug.

The last however long it had been hadn’t seemed to register for him. Back and forth. Tended to, bathed, clothed, then almost carried and he’d said and done nothing. Lost in his own mind, Akan simply stared into space. He wondered why he’d even come to this place. A place that wasn’t his home...a place far away from wherever that home really was. Many times, he tried to reach through the link but every time was met with the same nothing. The same emptiness.

One of the Alraxians had returned a few minutes later, opening the door and letting a now clean Tobias into the room. It had been an effort to cheer Akan up, as these Alraxians weren’t stupid. One didn’t need the Force to see something was wrong. But Akan just sat there in the center of the room as Tobias did everything he could think of to get attention. After ten minutes, the little Alraxian had given up and was wailing. Quickly, the same attendant as before slipped into the room and whisked Tobias off, though she was outwardly surprised at the thickness of the air within the room. The sheer loneliness was almost tangible in the air, and the Force didn’t make it any better.

So after dropping off Tobias with the other children on the ship, the female attendant went off to do something about this. She went to find the boy’s father.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 171: A New Son*

Technically, he was not Akan’s father. At least, from Akan’s point of view it was that way. From the Alraxian point of view, as had been explained by Shadow long before, Akan was now part of the same family. That meant that it a twisted, culturally odd way, Cole, the Empress’ mate and the Emperor, was Akan’s father. Having only met the kid once before, and even then for only a short time, Cole wasn’t exactly the best person in the Empire to be doing this...but then again, maybe he was. Besides, it was probably a good idea to at least get to know his newest son.

The young Red Star who had found him led him back to the room that Akan was in, and Cole nodded his thanks before the door irised open and he stepped in. He was surprised at the thickness in the air, but at the same time had at least been warned of it. The young man was sitting in the center of the room on his knees, curled up slightly and staring down at the rug under him. He couldn’t help but smile slightly at the colour of Akan’s hair...that blue. It proved that Marix at least had some sense of humor. 

But noticing that the boy was sitting there, perfectly still, Cole figured it might have been worse than was originally thought and said quietly to the Red Star, “Bring the Empress.”

She nodded, then slipped off down the corridor. Cole took a deep breath, then stepped over and sat down next to Akan, tilting down to try and look at his face, “Come on, boy, you’re not dead, are you?”

Not surprisingly, Akan didn’t move at all. But Cole kept his determination, very carefully putting a hand on the other Alraxian’s shoulder, “Sit up, come on...tell me what’s wrong,” he paused to receive no reaction, then allowed himself a slight grin, “I bet I’d be right if I guessed it had something to do with my daughter...”

That got a reaction. Akan sat up just a little more and his eyes looked very carefully towards Cole. At that, the older Alraxian smiled a little more and patted Akan’s shoulder somewhat awkwardly, “So I’m right. Come on and tell me what’s wrong. You can’t just sit here sulking for the rest of your life, you know.”

Akan sat up a little more, turning to give Cole a somewhat curious look. He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn’t find his voice and just gave up again, going back to staring at the rug under him. Cole sighed inwardly. This wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d hoped. Whatever it was his daughter had done, it obviously was something major. Or it might not be. Mood swings and irrational behavior weren’t all that uncommon after Alraxians grew up for the first few weeks. Cole had seen the worst of it all with his other sons and somehow this was even harder...maybe it was the less violent nature of it.

[Feror...] he called across his own link with the Empress, [Bring Marix with you.]

And then he turned back to Akan, trying a different tactic, “Alright, if you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to. Why don’t you at least tell me your name? Never did have time for that last time we met...”

“Akan,” the young man’s voice was actually surprising to hear, but how hoarse he sounded wasn’t.

Cole nodded and held his smile, “Akan...well, that’s a start. See? That wasn’t so bad. Now, I’m obligated to ask you this next question just as much as your obligated to answer in detail, alright?”

The younger Alraxian turned to look Cole straight in the fact finally, a look of pure confusion on his face. Eventually, Akan nodded, but more out of curiosity than anything. A very large grin grew on Cole’s face, and he patted Akan’s shoulder again, “Good, good...now, you have to forgive this but I’m a father and Marix is my daughter, so this is just a part of the job. You’ll understand one day. How about you tell me how the two of you met and what you’ve been doing up until now? I’d say a father deserves to know what his daughter’s been up to...even if she won’t tell.”

The confused look didn’t leave Akan face, and he couldn’t help but think there was another level to that question that he wasn’t grasping. It took him a little bit, but Akan soon managed to find his voice again and just talked. He told Cole about Ansion, Endor and Jen...about Voort and their hunt for Sadrak...about the Darkwing and the dead world of Arranis...and then about Ket and Nine...and then, finally, Akan told Cole about Nar Shaddaa. His voice remained hoarse and pained through it all, and many times he had to stop to force back painful memories, but once it was done and over with, Akan could speak at a steady rate.

And after Akan was done, Cole had been having at least some trouble keeping the smile on his face. They had been through a lot. It wasn’t surprising, of course, but it was the truth. At the end of it all, though, Akan still hadn’t said what the current problem was. Cole had hoped it would have led him into talking about it but apparently it wasn’t going to be that easy. So, very calmly, he asked Akan, “So what’s wrong?”

But the young man turned away again, looking down at the floor and away from Cole. He sighed. It wasn’t nearly as easy as it might have been. It was almost like Akan was fighting him to keep silent. This wasn’t his area of expertise, and he couldn’t help wondering what was keeping his mate. Considering the situation, though, and the feelings he could get through their link, she was dealing with a similar situation with Marix. Though it couldn’t have been that similar...Marix had never been anywhere near this emotional. She couldn’t have changed that much in the time she’d been gone...

((_Another short one for the next couple of days, probably. Yes, its my fault, but I have an excuse! Got a free Sneak Preview of Matrix Online that I can play until Tuesday...very, very fun game and I'm surprised I stopped long enough to write this. _))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 172: Mother and Daughter*

After Shadow had been dressed and her hair ‘fixed’, the attendants slipped out of the small room. As they left, her mother walked in. Shadow did her best not to take notice that they were both wearing very similar things and instead looked back down to the ground again as the two royal guards stepped in behind her mother. The two large guards gave Shadow critical looks, obviously looking for an excuse to use the large weapons they carried. But her mother simply ignored the guards, stepping over to Shadow and putting an arm on her shoulder.

“Something’s bothering you...” she said quietly, almost as if she was keeping the two guards from hearing.

But, of course, Shadow did nothing but stare down at the floor. Her mother let out an audible sigh, and then surprised Shadow by embracing her. Still keeping her voice quiet, the Empress said softly, “I’m so sorry, Marix. I’ve missed your whole life...”

She trailed off, expecting her daughter to simply push her away and keep up her usual ice cold way of acting. But that didn’t happen, and even Shadow wasn’t sure why. She was instead overpowered by a very confusing emotion and buried her face in her mother’s shoulder, crying silently.

Shadow’s mother looked at her daughter in stunned amazement, but very gently rubbed her back, then her ear, until the crying faded into another odd noise from Shadow. It was a soft, but still somewhat pained, purring. Her mother smiled slightly, saying into her ear, “It’s okay...things will work out as they should...”

A buzzing sound from the door jolted Shadow back into the moment. She pulled back from her mother, the emotion completely leaving her face as she said, “E-enter...”

The door irised open and the two guards turned to look at a young Alraxian girl. The brilliant reddish colour her skin had taken easily showed how flustered she was as she bowed, “My lady. Empress, the Emperor...he uh...he wishes you to join him immediately. He said it was...a um, small emergency.”

The Empress nodded her head and smiled warmly to the child, “Thank you, I’m sure everything is fine. If you would clean up here I’ll be on my way.”

As she turned to leave, her mate’s voice sounded through her mind. [Feror...Bring Marix with you.]

[We’re on our way now.] she responded before turning back to her daughter, “Marix, you come, too.”

She then turned back to the door and stepped out, the two guards falling into step behind her and giving Shadow a good push to keep her back. Shadow didn’t react, instead simply following a few paces behind the two guards. Other than her immediate family and a select few others, the royal guards were the only others to know what she was. That had always made them uneasy, a trained killer so close to the Empress, and now they seemed even more on edge than usual.

It was a surprisingly long walk which reminded Shadow just how big Thor was. Immediately, Shadow regretted that thought as it reminded her of Loki. Off in the hands of Nine and Ket...she let out a small sniffle, and in a flash of movement one of the guard’s bladed weapons was at her neck. Hearing the movement, her mother spun around and growled, “What are you doing?!”

Of course, the guard holding the blade managed to look innocent, “I apologize, my lady...I just thought...”

“Thought nothing!” the Empress yelled with surprising force and weight in her voice, “Do not ever turn on my daughter! Do you understand?”

“But, my lady–“

”Never!” hissed the Empress loudly, causing the royal guard to jerk away from Shadow and continue to look shocked. 

He stood up straight before bowing, “I apologize, my lady.”

“You should not be apologizing to me!” she snapped with a sharp glare in her eyes.

“Apologize to...?” the guard’s gaze slowly looked over to Shadow, “But–“

”Yes!” the Empress growled violently, far past simply being angry.

“Mother...no,” Shadow forced the words out, slowly and quietly, her eyes back to staring down at the floor.

Her mother turned to her with a shocked look on her face, “He treats you worse than a servant, Marix!”

“I know my place, mother,” Shadow responded quickly and calmly before turning to the guard and dropping to a knee, “I apologize.”

Somehow, the Empress managed to look even more shocked than before, “Get up! Before someone else sees you!”

Quickly and strongly, she pulled her daughter back up to her feet and gave her a sharp look that only a mother could deliver. The guards looked to each other nervously as the Empress turned back and stormed in the direction they had been going already. They fell into step behind her, and Shadow sighed inwardly, glad that nothing else had come of that. Though she couldn’t help wondering where her mother was leading them and what this ‘small emergency’ was. She shouldn’t have been needed for this.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 173: A Family*

It was amazing that Akan and Shadow had set out to deal with Ket and Nine, but upon arriving got caught up in...other thing. Truthfully, Shadow had expected it, though not like this. Ceremony, formality, and other annoying things attached with being a member of the royal family, not to mention that she was technically next in line to be the Empress, were all what she had expected. Akan had even been warned of it, though he didn’t completely grasp what it was they were going to have to be dealing with.

But never in a hundred years would he have expected to arrive and completely forget about Ket and Nine. He had never anticipated anything like this happening...but here he was, sitting and still slightly numb as his...adopted father talked on. Adopted wasn’t exactly right, but Akan couldn’t think of what was right, so it worked. Currently, Cole was probing Akan to talk with the assistance of the Force. He was also very good at it.

“You still haven’t told me what she’s done,” Cole was saying, patting Akan’s shoulder and giving him a very fatherly look. After a moment of Akan turning away, Cole grinned and raised up his other hand, “Fine, you don’t have to tell me. Its not that hard to figure out, anyway. You feel alone, don’t you?”

Akan turned back enough for Cole to see the surprised expression on the young man’s face. Cole’s grin grew when Akan mumbled, “How do you know...?”

“I may be old, but I’m no fool, boy,” he paused a moment to shift to a more comfortable sitting position. After it was obvious that he was using the Force to dig a little deeper, Cole went on, “From Marix, yes? She stopped talking with you?”

Seeing the reaction from Akan’s expression when the words were spoken only proved Cole right. He very awkwardly reached over and drew the boy into a hug, “I know this is hard on you, but you’re home now...the both of you are. You have to understand, though, that the person you knew is not the daughter I knew. I wish I could have known her when you had the chance to...life could only have been better for her there,” he sighed, “Here it is...difficult. Her every move is watched and she has many responsibilities...should she make a wrong move, she could be killed. She is probably...probably believes that it is best to remain silent to protect the both of you.”

As usual, things happened right when they needed to. In this case, the door on the other side of the room opened up and the Empress walked in. She stepped calmly into the room, the two guards quickly taking up positions on either side of the door as Shadow entered last. For a moment, the Empress simply looked down at her mate and her newest son, immediately knowing what was the problem. The boy looked like a mess, both physically and through the Force. He felt terrible.

“Leave us,” she said sharply in Alraxian to the two guards. When they hesitated, she gave them a sharp glare and they then quickly exited.

The Empress then turned her gaze to her daughter as Cole explained the situation as he knew it. It sounded as if they were linked very strong. A rare gift, and one that neither of them likely understood. 

Shadow was conveniently staring down at the floor. Akan looked up past the Empress to Shadow, opening his mouth to say something but finding that the words disappeared. When nothing came out, he stared back down at the rug helplessly. Shadow hadn’t even looked at him. She didn’t want to. He might see her tear stained face or her still red eyes...if he noticed...the thought just trailed off into nothing.

“Aren’t you at least going to look at him?” her mother asked suddenly, breaking the silence that had gathered in the room. But there was more than just words with that, the question almost burning into Shadow’s skull...just as her mother had intended. Her face slowly turned a bright shade of red before she spun around and bolted out the door.

“Bring her back in here, now!” the Empress growled at the top of her lungs after her fleeing daughter. After a short series of growls and other sounds, the two guards moved back in the room carrying the struggling Shadow between them. They tossed her to the ground violently and she landed on her hands and knees just in front of Akan and her father.

The Empress then gave a growl and a glare between both her daughter and the guards before signaling them to leave again. Once they were out of the room, she looked up to the ceiling slightly, “Thor, seal the room I’m in.”

[Yes, my lady.] a soft, very Loki-like voice echoed through all of their minds. In a silence that followed, Shadow slowly and carefully looked up and saw Akan. Saying he looked terrible would be like asking Darth Vader if he had a thing for black.

She turned to look away, suddenly disgusted with herself. After a moment of quick decision, Shadow opened the link up to him just slightly. It was enough that some of his thoughts seeped into her mind and she became even more sick with herself. But a little colour returned to Akan’s face, and at the familiar feeling of someone else’s thoughts(no matter how odd that had been before), his own mind started to make a little more sense. Such a small thing as the link had such a powerful effect...so much so that Akan couldn’t help wondering if it really was small.

Seeing some life returning to the boy, Cole looked up to his mate and nodded slightly. The Empress returned the nod and very carefully sat down next to Shadow before awkwardly putting an arm around her lost daughter. Softly, she said to her daughter, “Its alright. Please tell us what’s wrong, Marix...”

As Shadow’s mother spoke, all of them could feel the Force weaving its way through her words. A simple trick, yes, but one that was very helpful. It rarely failed to work, as it did not force the subject to speak but instead soothed and calmed them so that they truly knew it was alright. Shadow looked up slightly, her voice barely above a somewhat hoarse whisper, “I shouldn’t have come back...I...I’ve already failed all of you...”

Her mother brought her into a tight hug, “You’ve failed no one, Marix. You have only just arrived, and there is nothing you can do yet. You know that...”

Shadow nodded slightly, enough for her mother to decide she had said what she needed to say before turning to Akan. The Force flowing through her words for a second time, the Empress asked, “You are my newest son, Akan, and I would not have you suffer anymore. Tell me what is wrong.”

He looked up some, first to Cole then to Shadow then finally to the Empress. Though, for at least a moment, he could have sworn he was just looking at an older Shadow. But it passed, and he found his voice, quietly answering, “I’m alone here...”

At that, the Empress raised an eyebrow, looking to her mate but speaking to Akan, “You don’t look to be alone. Perhaps you should give things a chance here. You should know by now that you have a family here, and that means you’ll never be alone.”

Akan didn’t nod, but he at least looked like he accepted that. Seeing this, the Empress looked between both Akan and Shadow and spoke more sternly, “Links are not something to be taken for granted. They are far more important than either of you seem to understand, and learning that may take years.” 

Then she pulled away from her daughter and looked to Cole. He nodded and they both got to their feet. Before leaving the room, the Empress spoke in a much more formal tone, “I’ll be sending a few people in two hours to prepare the both of you and make you look presentable.”

And then the parents left. Akan and Shadow just sat there across from each other without moving or saying anything for at least ten minutes. Then, finally becoming aware of the silence, Akan stumbled out a word, “S...Shadow..”

His voice was forced, and Shadow could hear the tears being fought back. Slowly, he moved over and surprised them both by hugging her, saying quietly, “I’m sorry...I should listen to what you say more. Especially here...I’m sorry for being so...arrogant.”

There was a short moment when Shadow just sat there, perfectly still and with an emotionless expression on her face. It was long enough that Akan couldn’t help but worry her old ice cold manner had come back for good. And then in a second, it faded away and her lips curved into a trembling smile. She hugged him back, resting her head on Akan’s shoulder and ignoring the tears. She had no idea what to apologize for first. Instead of trying and knowing that she’d mess it up anyway, she simply allowed their link to do the work.

A few more minutes went by and Akan sat back slightly before a question found its way into his head. The Empress had mentioned something... “Why do we have to be made presentable?”

Shadow bit her lip, though the weak smile managed to stay, “Remember that thing about you having to swear allegiance? Well, you have to do it before they’ll let you set foot on the planet. I think we’ll be getting there later tonight...”

“Oh...” he trailed off a moment, slightly worried about what all of that really meant. Not that he could avoid it, “And after that...?”

“Get the latest intelligence and then start our hunt as soon as possible.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 174: They Think...*

After a two hours, just as the Empress had said, a group of attendants tracked down Akan and Shadow. They had gone wandering, with Akan amazed at just how big the ship was. It was literally a flying planet, with thousands of people on board that he couldn’t see serving any purpose beyond...living there. Just as they had found Tobias playing in a park of sorts, the attendants found them.

To Akan’s surprise, though, there were only two of them. For some reason he’d expected at least twelve. Probably what Cole had said about Shadow being watched so closely...but his thoughts were cut short as they were dragged off from the large, open park into a long white corridor.

The taller of the two other Alraxians had started talking in strongly accented Basic, “Your mother has arranged quarters for you. Since we’ll be arriving late, it will just be easier to travel to the palace in the morning.”

Shadow just nodded, for some reason not liking the sound of any of this. There was something wrong here, but she couldn’t yet put her finger on just what that something was. And then they stopped at a door and the taller Alraxian started speaking again, “The child’s room is joined to yours. Your mother has had clothes prepared for you to wear to the feast tonight. Some Needai will be along to assist you before the occasion, so make sure to be here in an hour.”

Then the cream white door irised open to show a very nice sized room with a large bed. Off to one wall, another door could be seen. Toby’s room. But there was still something wrong. They were missing a person. Biting her lip, Shadow very slowly stated the obvious, “...there’s only one room and two of us...”

And of course, the woman just laughed and patted Shadow on the shoulder, “And they say you don’t have a sense of humor!”

With that and a wink, she pushed them into the room and wandered off. Her laughing could be heard as the door irised shut again. Tobias plopped down out of Akan’s arms and charged over to the other door, which opened to reveal a smaller room with a Toby sized cot and a large collection of toys. A devious laugh escaped him and he bounded in to attack something.

Shadow was slowly walked across the large room, staring in horror as her mind started to work things out, “I think...”

But she just trailed off, deciding it was best not to think about. Instead, she looked over the very nice rug and then over to the large wardrobe and then to the bed. Her mouth opened again, “They think...”

Again, she trailed off, but this time walking over to the wardrobe, “But that’s not...and I don’t...”

Opening the wardrobe silenced her again. It was very, very full. On one side, a set of black and gold trim outfits that looked to be for her, and on the other...white and gold trimmed outfits that were too big for her. In fact, they looked like they’d fit Akan perfectly. Not only that, but there were many other things in different colours all through it. 

She managed to only turn a slight pink colour before whimpering, “All the clothes are...are...mixed together...” slowly, she looked over to Akan with a wide eyed look, “And they think...”

Cutting herself off, Shadow closed her eyes and willed it all back to the way it should be. There would be another door on the other side of Tobias’ door to Akan’s room. There would be one or two outfits of hers in the wardrobe. Nothing else. Carefully, she opened one eye. Nothing. It was all the same. She managed another whimper.

Akan sighed and looked around a moment. Then, after deciding it was the root of the problem, said very slowly, “Don’t...don’t worry about it. I’ll just um...sleep on the rug or in with Toby. There’s got to be some extra sheets or blankets or something.”

“No,” she said a little too quickly, almost cutting Akan off in the process. Shadow calmed her voice, took a deep breath, and shook her head before taking a seat on the large bed, “You don’t have to sleep on the floor. They’re going to assume whatever they assume no matter what, anyway. Besides, the bed is...pretty big. There’s more than enough room,” her voice trailed off into a growl at the ceiling, “Besides, the Force is conspiring against us! I swear, if you did sleep on the floor something would go wrong. Heat would go out or you’d sleepwalk and end up in the damned bed anyway. And then they’d still assume the same damn thing they would if you sleep on the floor so you might as well take half the bed and sleep comfortably!”

Throwing her hands up in a sigh, she flopped back on the bed and closed her eyes. Fine. The Force was against her. It could be worse. Her mind ran through that a moment and found one way it could be. And if he thought she and Akan were...well...if he thought like everyone else, very bad things would happen. Hopefully he wouldn’t. But then again, Shadow knew the Empire well enough to figure out the damned thing would be across the whole Empire in a matter of hours. There were probably already stories and rumors and...and...she sighed and gave up thinking.

It wasn’t fair. This was supposed to have been simple. Go in, stop Ket and Nine, leave. But no. Of course not. Family had to step in. They had to jump in and start being...being...family! Making assumptions about things they shouldn’t be assuming! It wasn’t fair.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 175: Welcome Home*

They had escaped to go explore the gigantic ship for a little while, but didn’t get far. Realizing that they were nearly gone an hour already, they raced back(with Akan taking about three wrong turns and taking up more time) and just managed to slip into the room before the Needai did. And the second the large group of attendants appeared in the room, both Akan and Shadow were assaulted with brushes, combs, and the like.

After a few minutes, Akan carefully opened his eyes to find himself wearing a somewhat loose fitting black tunic with a very shiny silver lining. For the size of the thing, it was strangely light, though he couldn’t help but miss the weight a lightsaber and blaster would add to the hip. Somehow, though, he doubted those would be a good idea to carry, and even if he’d wanted to, it was unlikely he could get past all of these...people. He was trying to ignore them as they were fussing about his hair for the seventh or eight time. Threatening to cut it because it was too long, too messy, and made him look scruffy. Each time they ‘fixed’ it, he ‘fixed’ it back, which got him a lot of glares until they finally gave up on trying.

And then, a half hour after the madness had started, he was out in the hallway standing there and looking lost. Shadow had been pushed off to another room and he suddenly felt very alone without having her to hide behind. At least two of the Needai had attempted conversation with him, but he didn’t know enough Alraxian and they didn’t know enough Basic. It was probably a good thing though, considering the way they were all smiling.

Just as he turned to ask, the door across the corridor slid open silently and Shadow was almost literally shoved out. She took a big, forced step out to stop herself from lurching and falling over, and immediately went a soft shade of red. Shy?! That wasn’t the Shadow he knew...of course, the Shadow he knew wouldn’t have been caught dead in what she was wearing. It was a long, flowing white dress with golden thread etched alone the edges. The bright white fabric was draped off of her, tight across the chest and then long and flowing at the feet. She wore some kind of golden headband, along with a necklace of the same gold colour, and if that wasn’t enough, seeing her hair actually neat, tidy, and in some odd style was shocking on its own.

Akan couldn’t help looking a bit surprised. She looked...well... “Good.”

“What?” she snapped and turned suddenly to give him a sharp look.

“Ah...nothing,” he trailed off just as one of the Needai stood in front of them to give them both critical looks. A few other adjustments were made to the both of them, and then their arms were linked. The woman made a soft purring noise and then motioned for them to lead the way.

Shadow tried to unlink her arm twice before giving up. That woman was dangerous enough without being provoked. This wasn’t fair. Akan’s brain sounded like it had melted and now she was stuck in some dress doing the damned royal thing.

As they walked down the long corridors to who knew where, Akan asked very quietly, even though he ‘spoke’ through their link. [Where exactly are we going...?]

Not turning her head, Shadow responded fairly quickly. [Food...well, eventually food.]

[Eventually?] Akan didn’t like the sound of that.

This time, she nodded just slightly. [That thing you’ve been putting off. It’s a pretty big deal, too. Not often a new Human swears loyalty to the Empire...even less often that Human happens to be a Jedi.]

[I’m not a Jedi.]

[To everyone else you are.] Shadow said simply as they rounded a corner down another long corridor that they still couldn’t see the end of. [I hope you know what you’re doing by now. Loyalty and honour are paramount among our people, Akan. Promises are not made unless they are held. You’re making a promise here, a serious one. You are going to be swearing to protect any of your clan mates if they are wronged, just as they will do for you.]

There was a pause as Akan thought about that. But really, what other choice was there? None. He sighed slightly just as they entered a gigantic, open chamber. It was filled with Alraxians, hundreds of them...no, thousands at least. A short path was made leading around a larger group and up to a circular pad raised about five meters up. As they walked towards it, all of the Alraxian’s eyes watched them. There were smiles, pointing, talking, and for once, Akan was glad he couldn’t understand Alraxian. Considering that Shadow had gone even more red, it was probably a very, very good thing.

Finally, they walked up to the raised section to see twelve guards around it. In the center, was a large, glowing circle and the Empress and Emperor. Both of them were dressed in clothes hauntingly similar to what Shadow and Akan wore, which somehow was unsurprising. At the edge, Shadow was held back at sword point, another thing that surprised Akan. Those looked metal...sharp, too. If those were so dangerous to Alraxians, why in the name of the Force did each of the guards have them?!

The Empress’ voice snapped him back to the moment as she asked him to morph Human. He did so, not noticing the fact that his clothes still fit perfectly. Instead, he realized just how much taller all of the Alraxians were. Shadow was probably back there grinning, too. It’d been so long...

All around, he could see large smiles forming on the faces of all of the Alraxians. Upon seeing him as a Human, the nearest guard nodded slightly and stepped to the side. Taking the cue, Akan very slowly stepped into the circle opposite of the Empress. Cole withdrew a small dagger with an elegantly carved hilt and a deep set rune and handed it to the Empress. She took it and then looked to Akan with a smile before stepping forward and placing the very sharp metal blade against his neck, “It is better to throw yourself onto this blade than to enter this sacred place without the intent to keep your word. How do you enter?”

A hushed silence literally swept across the room. All eyes were on Akan...Akan’s eyes were down on the hilt of the blade that was at his neck. For a moment, he’d actually expected Shadow to tell him what to say. There had to be a formal, correct answer to that question. Quickly, his mind ran through unfamiliar territory until he found something that might just be right, even if it wasn’t the expected answer.

“With serenity of mind and peace of heart,” he said slowly, not raising his voice but having a feeling the entire ship could hear him just fine. It was a slight alteration of the Jedi Code, and felt oddly appropriate, though he couldn’t help but wonder why he was back to the whole Jedi thing yet again.

The circle glowed slightly around them as he spoke, and the Empress held a neutral expression as she spoke again, “You will swear to stand by your Enai, whoever she may be, in times of sickness and health?”

“I will.”

There wasn’t another slight glow from the circle at that, but the Empress continued, “In times of prosperity and in times of war, you will stand by her and abide by her laws?”

“I will.”

“By your mind and your heart, you will keep this promise for as long as you live?”

“Yes, I will.”

A smile crept onto the Empress’ face, “Your promise is set, and your loyalty now lies with the Enai.”

The blade was pulled back and Akan had a feeling there was probably something else he needed to do. A quick half second later, he figured it out and bowed as best he could manage. He’d joined the military because it was easier to salute than bow...and besides, there was a right way to salute. With bowing, you might get it wrong and then what? Off with the head if you were lucky. But then again, Akan didn’t really know much about royalty beyond the old holodramas, so that skewed his opinion a good bit.

As he rose, the Empress held out her hand. Akan took it and she smiled warmly, “Welcome to the clan. Please, return to your true form.”

Akan did so before he’d even realized it, and suddenly figured out that he’d been answering the same way. The Force. She was using the Force to get answers out of him...but it was invasive or forceful, instead, simply looking inside him and making sure he answered truthfully. And now as it faded away, Akan felt suddenly drained. His mind had been opened for the Empress and others to see, and that wasn’t something that was easy on anyone.

He swayed slightly, disoriented and for some reason unable to stand up straight anymore. Shadow noticed this and was allowed through by the guards. After having rushed over to steady him, she hugged him slightly and smiled until the realization that all of those people were watching...no, eyeing them. The emotion faded from her face and she instead pointed over Akan’s shoulder to the open window there, “Look...”

Hanging there in the viewport was a large, blue and green planet with wisps of clouds here and there. Circling the planet were three brightly coloured moons, two of which almost looked like miniature versions of the planet while the third was a reddish colour. Shadow couldn’t help a smile again at that, “Welcome home...”

“Yeah...home...” Akan smiled weakly, his voice quieter than usual and sounding as drained as he looked, “Um...where is it?”

“Open your eyes,” Shadow whispered, grinning suddenly and trying not to laugh.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 176: All That Time, and We're Just Here for the View*

After Akan was given a few minutes to recover, they were all led by the guards to a large, rectangular table that seemed to just go on and on. They ate an equally large meal, and Akan had given up on the questions of ‘What’s this?’ after about ten minutes when he decided that the names weren’t anymore comforting than how the food looked. But at least it tasted good. Very good. But he was starved, so anything was likely to taste good.

An hour or so later, they were allowed to go back to their quarters. Of course, a contingent of Needai accompanied them and once they arrived in the room both Akan and Shadow were helped to change into more simply nightclothes. If Akan hadn’t been so drained, he’s have complained. He was sure he still knew how to put on clothes just fine by himself, even if no one seemed to like what he chose to wear.

When the Needai finally left, Akan had enough energy to poke his head in to Tobias’ room. The toys had been scattered around and some of them had been built into a kind of fort. It took Akan a moment to find the little Alraxian who had dragged his cot off to one corner and then passed out...under it. The only indication of that was a short, stubby blue and black tail sticking out from the blanket draped over the cot. Akan managed a tired grin before plodding over to his little corner of the big bed and collapsing onto it, asleep in just a few more moments.

Shadow had paced some, thinking on a thousand things that barely even made sense to her. There was still something wrong. She’d tried to get at least some information on any other attacks or even intercepted communications, but it seemed like there was nothing. Nothing at all. Under any other circumstance, it would have seemed as if she was being blocked out from the information. But she’d worked around that, prying in places she truly shouldn’t have been prying when no one was looking and turning up nothing at all.

But that still gave her a bad feeling. Nothing meant one of two things. Either there truly was nothing, and Ket was biding his time for some disturbing reason, or someone was blocking the information. But not from her, from everyone. Neither of those possibilities were good ones, and both were merely speculations on Shadow’s part. Finally frustrating herself too much, she found a comfortable spot to lay in the bed until sleep finally took her.

It was hard to determine how long one slept in a starship. The soft rising sun of any planet was far more comforting to wake to than anything there was aboard a ship, if only for the fact that you could have a relative idea of the time. Instead, on ships, one simply awoke when they awoke and found their own odd sleeping rhythm. When Shadow awoke, she was relatively sure it had at least been a good few hours. But how long she had slept or even if she was still tired were not on her mind.

She was warm. As her brain interpreted the waking world around her, she blinked slightly. Not only did Shadow feel warm, but there was an odd constrained feeling too...as if she was closed in. And then she noticed that what she assumed to be the blanket in front of her eyes was moving slightly. Back and forth in a rhythm that coincided with the sounds of deep breathing. Akan. Right. No surprise...but...slowly, she tilted her head up to see him inches away, lying there with...his eyes were open. He was awake! The hair on the back of her neck and her tail fur rose slightly as she gave him a confused look. How had he gotten so...so close?! And why did she feel so constrained, still?! Tilted her head slightly, she saw an arm that was resting over her. Oh. Oh!

Akan’s eyes were open and he looked to be awake enough to be equally surprised. From the link, she could tell he had awoken in a similar confusion, and through it, they both came to a mutual agreement and sprang apart to the opposite ends of the bed. Akan eventually sat up, staring blankly at the wall across from him and opening his mouth to apologize. He didn’t, immediately sensing that it would only turn Shadow’s confusion into anger. That wasn’t something worth dealing with.

Thankfully, the door irised open and a few Needai slipped into the room. In a flurry of movement that Akan hated to admit he was getting used to, they were dressed and then ushered out and down the hallway. Apparently, they were late and had slept in. There was snickering and grinning at the end of that being said, and that did nothing but worry Akan even more. Shadow was right about this being annoying. Quickly, the two of them were ushered to the docking bay and into a smaller ship, which immediately left the much larger Thor and started straight for the planet below.

Akan watched quietly from the observation lounge as the large, blue green planet of Alraxia grew in size. Within moments, they had entered the atmosphere and the ship was traversing across endless forests and rivers. It was truly a beautiful planet, like nothing he’d seen anywhere else. Of course, Akan had been so used to the Core worlds that seeing any stretch of forest was unusual. Passing farther south, the forests gave way to grassy plains, and Akan noticed at least two large green things moving around.

Shadow pointed out that those were the dragons. Powerful and dangerous creatures, obviously, but something to be respected as much as feared. And then, as suddenly as the plains had appeared, they passed away and a great sea replaced them. The water was calm, and a clear blue green colour. Off in the distance, Akan spotted a few islands but the ship never passed over them, instead banking more eastward. From the shining and glittering sea, they passed over land again. It looked similar enough to what he’d seen before, but there was far more life to be seen moving around...though he didn’t actually pick out any dragons this time. Hills rose up and trees grew over them, thick and dark in many places.

And then, amidst the trees and backed near low mountains, Akan saw the palace. It was shaped like a gigantic U, a white marble colour encompassing all of it. The outer edges were dotted with smaller houses of many different shapes, a few with small pools of gleaming blue water near them. Slowly, though, they gave way to larger towers that eventually ended in the center with the gigantic, cylindrical shaped building. It seemed to be even more white than the rest of the place and there were courtyards littered everywhere among a few other buildings that surrounded it. Here and there, Akan could see small plant like structures. It only took him a moment to notice one literally opening up while they descended.

“Flowers?” he raised an eyebrow and turned a confused looked to the silent Shadow.

She showed no emotion, as usual, and then explained, “Are you surprised? Ships are alive, clothes are alive...why not the buildings too?”

“Good point,” Akan shrugged, “Something bothering you?”

“I just want to get to what we’re here to do,” Shadow said flatly, “The sooner we deal with Ket and Nine the sooner we can leave. It seems like my family has other plans, though.”

Akan did his best to look reassuring despite having barely any knowledge on the details of the situation, “It could be worse.”

“Oh, trust me, it is worse,” her response was grumbled and tired as the ship slowly set down on the flower-like landing pad, “You do know by now that its not me who has to deal with this. It may be my honour that’s tainted by Nine, but my mother is still Enai and this is her fight.”

“Wait...so you’re telling me we’re coming here to just lounge around while others do the fighting?!” Akan looked genuinely surprised at this, which only served to annoy Shadow. He should have figured out what was going on by now. If he spent less time playing with his lightsaber and more time using his brain he might have understood these things and figured out what she was avoiding.

“For now,” she answered quietly, finishing it in her mind but doing her best to keep it from him. For now...at least until her mother was challenged by Nine. Then the problems would arise. It was bound to happen, too, and how could the Empress refuse a challenge from such a disgusting enemy? It would be expected of her to fight. Shadow knew the outcome of that fight all too well.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Akan’s voice was just as quiet as her’s, and he probably hadn’t even meant her to hear that.

The ship set down and as Shadow stood up to leave, she said over her shoulder, “You and me both.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 176: Summons*

The Empress and a few others had already arrived at the palace earlier in the morning, and so as Shadow and Akan walked down the access ramp there they all stood again. The Empress, the Emperor, a cadre of royal guards, and a couple other Alraxians. One, a deep ebony skinned Alraxian with only slightly lighter hair and an old look to his face, caught Shadow’s eye, if only for a second. Recognizing him right away, and not ignoring the two child guards flanking him, she quickly looked straight to the Empress again. Ignoring him wouldn’t make him go away, but right now it was the best she could do.

The Enai simply inclined her head to them with a smile before falling into step in front of them. She and her mate led Akan, Shadow, and the guards through a series of green courtyards and fountains and everything else Akan associated with those cliched tales of royalty. There were Alraxians all over the place, all with different markings and colours, and every time that Shadow was spotted there was cheering. So much so that Shadow was having trouble fighting back a blush.

And then they were inside the corridors of the huge palace, weaving through hallway after cream colour hallway. They passed doors with markings on them that Akan didn’t recognize, though he assumed it was the written form of the Alraxian language. Eventually, the Empress led them to a section of the palace where none of the doors were marked. Akan had gotten good and lost by now, having taken so many turns this way and that, that he wondered if he could every escape the place and see sunlight again.

Then, almost suddenly, they stopped in front of a door. Shadow’s mother turned and smiled warmly to the two of them, “Here we are. Clothes have been made in advance for the both of you so that shouldn’t be any problem. The jai is already with the other children in the nursery. If you require anything, well...I’m sure you know how to use the palace, Marix.”

Shadow nodded instinctively, turning to the door which irised open as she approached. She didn’t even look at the familiar blankness to her old room as she took a step in. A thought crossed her mind, and she stopped, turning around to face her mother and Akan who was still standing in the hallway looking lost, “Wait...mother. Where’s Akan staying?”

It was one of the few times that she had ever seen a blank, almost confused look on her mother’s face. That wasn’t a good sign, “...mother?”

“Come now, you two are keeping us waiting,” the Empress said, putting a hand on Akan’s shoulder and prodding him through the door.

“Oh...” was all that Shadow managed to say before Akan was inside and the door shut behind him, nearly catching his tail in the process.

Shadow managed a sigh and grumbled something about hating her family under her breath. Akan took the time to look around the small, blank room. It definitely fit Shadow well. Nothing on the cream walls. Only one piece of furniture, a wardrobe like on the large ship, and that probably had rarely been opened. There was a closet that was probably just as unused, and the bed gave off an aura of emptiness. In fact, the whole room did.

She wandered over to the closet and opened it to have a quick look in before sighing. The thing had been filled with clothes for the both of them. No surprise, really, but that didn’t change the fact that it was disheartening. She turned back to see Akan still standing there at the door looking lost. Rolling her eyes Shadow said, “Planning to just stand there for the whole time we’re here?”

“It feels safe right here,” Akan said quietly, noting the irony that he was in a room alone with Shadow, of all people, and he felt ‘safe’. There were a thousand things wrong with that, none of which needed to be pointed out. Even Akan wasn’t that daft. But either way, the comment made Shadow’s tail twitch. She wasn’t even sure why, and got slightly annoyed by it.

But for some strange reason, a grin slowly crept onto her face. At seeing that, Akan could only react as any sane person would and look terrified, “Oh, no...what did I do now?”

The grin just grew, “Such an ego. What makes you think I’m grinning at something you did? I could just be grinning because you’re making a complete fool of yourself...”

Akan opened his mouth to counter that, but Shadow stepped forward and cut him off, “Oh! And did I happen to mention that your tail brushed up against the wall a ways back and all your fur is standing on end?”

“Huh...?” he reached around to grab his tail, giving it a critical look, “Hey, there’s nothing wrong at—AHH!”

In his moment of defenseless, he was pounced. It was almost like old times as they struggled to ‘win’, with Shadow cheating by tickling him instead of using claws. But she was getting the upper hand, and as she was trying to pin him and claim victory, the door opened up behind them.

“Marix! I’ve come to welcome you home!....” there was a long silence then as everyone froze. Shadow’s twin brother, Alyx, coughed politely before blushing, “Um...I’ll um...save it for later.”

Quickly, Alyx retreated and the door irised closed again. She was sitting over Akan who was tilted his head back all of the way to look at where Alyx had been. Shadow had a horrified look on her face, and Akan just looked confused. Mainly confused because watching Alyx walk away upside down was...well, confusing.

“I really hate my family,” Shadow whimpered, still staring at the now closed door.

Akan could only manage a nod. For a moment, he thought about taking advantage of the situation and ‘winning’ their little contest, but there was a beep from the door. So someone had the decency to at least knock before entering this time. Quickly, both of them got to their feet. Shadow then called to the door, “Enter.”

In the usual way, the door irised open. Standing there was a young Alraxian girl, probably only a few years older that Tobias. But there was an empty look in her eyes, and Akan couldn’t help but be reminded by Shadow...at least, how Shadow had been at one point. She also was missing half of one ear, and didn’t even speak. Instead, just stared knowingly to Shadow.

Shadow nodded and then looked to Akan with a dangerously serious expression on her face, “I...I should return later...”

And then she left. Staring at the closed door, and not liking this at all Akan said quietly, “You’d better.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 176: Family Matters*

Akan barely had a chance to turn and look out the small window behind the bed before there was a beep from the door. He couldn’t help a sigh of annoyance, which was only heightened by the fact that he didn’t even get to say ‘Go away’. Instead, the door opened and an Alraxian woman barged straight in. She was about his height, with long lilac hair that had Akan’s eyes widening in surprise. Most people would probably have described her as beautiful, but Akan was still thrown off by the odd coloured hair. Two very bright blue eyes scoured the entire room before locking on Akan.

A stern expression on her face faded into one that Akan couldn’t even make sense of. She was smiling, though, “Apologize...thought I Marix was here.”

Her voice was soft and somewhat musical, and as she spoke her eyes looked him over from head to tail and then back again. The woman’s dark skin tinted a slightly yellow colour, and while Akan hadn’t completely learned to grasp the silent form of communication that Alraxians had, he knew that he didn’t like this. When he didn’t actually say anything, the smile on her face grew and that odd expression with it, “New you are? Boy from the stars, they call you...Jedi even...,” her gaze drifted over him one more time, and this time he read her expression as something at least close to amusement, “No one say Star Boy look so good.”

Akan took a very large step back at hearing that. With those words, he’d also managed to pinpoint what exactly that look in her eyes was. Predatory. And the way she kept looking him over like some meal was making him feel even more uneasy. Somehow, he doubted she actually wanted to kill him. The fact that this was terrifying would likely have been humorous if Akan was watching this from the sidelines.

Seeing his discomfort only caused her smile to grow. She even took another step forward, causing Akan to become hyper aware that he was going to be cornered in about two more steps, “Maybe like you Jedi Boy better?”

If he had ever found her attractive for the slightest of moments, hearing her speak would have killed all interest. Not her voice itself, as it was as dangerous as she looked to be when it came to attractiveness, but from the way she butchered Basic. Sure, she knew the words, but grammar and sentence structure really helped out when it came to general understanding.

But his mind locked onto what she’d said, and in a strangely angry sounding voice from what he was used to hearing from himself, Akan allowed himself a low growl, “Don’t call me Jedi Boy.”

The fact that this was Shadow’s nickname for him had nothing at all to do with it. Nothing. Nope. Nothing at all. He just didn’t like it. But with Shadow, he didn’t have to tell her that. She knew because of the link. He was always just as annoyed when she called him that. Always. Definitely. Even if he did grin. Or laugh. Or do his best to just act annoyed. But it still had nothing to do with Shadow at all.

Despite the almost threatening tone in his voice, the woman still stepped forward and grinned, “No like it?” but she just shrugged and gave the room one more look before eyeing him again, “You tell Marix something for me, please?”

“What?” Akan nearly hissed the word, having decided to just get this over with as soon as possible. Then she’d leave. Then she’d stop inspecting him like some meal.

“Tell her cousin Kato will speak to her. She see me quick if she get back,” the Alraxian woman, Kato, smiled and stepped forward one more time. Her skin went through a few different colours, all with tinges of that same yellow to them. Very carefully, she reached up and brushed his hair back. Or at least tried to. When she touched his fringe he immediately reacted by reaching up and grabbing her wrist.

He didn’t even take notice of how Shadow-like his reaction had been. Instead, his focus was staring Kato straight in the eyes. Akan squeezed her wrist a little too hard before throwing it back at her, forcing himself not to do anything else. Her skin took on a more blue coloured tint and she sighed, rubbing her wrist noticeably. But her voice stayed the same, soft and musical and a little too friendly, “You tell her quick. Important.”

And then, with one last soft touch of his shoulder, Kato spun around and exited the room. Akan stood as menacingly as he could until the door silently irised closed before letting out a long sigh and nearly collapsing onto the bed. Why that woman...Kato, whatever, got him so worked up was beyond him. But she did get him worked up. No, it was more than just worked up. She got him angry. And he couldn’t even explain why, which just made things worse. Whatever it was, he didn’t understand it, and probably would like it even less if he did.

Out of frustration he kicked the nearby wall hard. To his surprise, the hard surface actually absorbed his foot very slightly, and in his mind he heard a Loki-like voice. [That hurt.]

Or at least, Akan thought he heard it. Honestly, he was pretty sure that the words didn’t arrive in his brain in Basic, but somewhere in his head they were being translated. Well, somewhere they were being translated and interpreted. Upon realizing he’d actually ‘heard’ a voice, he did the only sensible thing he could think of.

Akan turned back to the wall, nodded his head politely, and apologized to it, “Sorry.”

The fact that he had just apologized to a wall was lost on him for the moment. [Forgiveness.] it said to him in the same tone. An odd sensation ran up his spine and Akan couldn’t help looking up to the ceiling slightly. [You are future.]

“Huh?” Akan raised an eyebrow and stepped back to sit on the bed. Talking to a wall was one thing, and if he was really going crazy it was probably best to do so on a comfortable bed.

The ‘wall’ seemed to think about his question for a moment before attempting something else. [Many futures. Many gone. You are...unknown to me. But like other before you.]

“What do you mean, unknown?” Akan asked up, wondering idly if talking to the ceiling would help this all make more sense, “And what other before me?”

Off next to the wardrobe, a small holoprojector-like device activated and Akan watched a small image of the current Emperor, Cole, appeared. And then he understood what the wall had been telling him, “Oh! You mean I’m like Cole? He was...was human at one point, yes?”

[Like you.] the wall confirmed as the holoprojection shut off.

With a deep breath, Akan looked around the room once more. He’d only woken up a couple of hours earlier, but for some reason he felt absolutely exhausted. It didn’t help that Shadow was gone and he had no idea of anything about this place...and that little encounter with Kato had drained him, though he didn’t exactly know why it had. But why didn’t matter. Idly, he asked the room in general, “What’s the best way to get some sleep in this place?”

[Close your eyes, lay back, and promise not to kick anymore walls.] the voice answered just a second after he’d asked. 

Akan couldn’t help but grin as he flopped back on the large bed. Closing his eyes, Akan said more quietly, “I’m sorry about that...I didn’t exactly know. And that...that Kato or whatever the Sith her name is. She just really...annoyed me. But I promise not to kick anymore walls.”

[Enaijai’la Kato is in line for the throne.] the room announced to Akan. [Though she is a...a...]

It paused. For five minutes, the whatever it was searched for the correct word. And then, when it finally had it, the voice actually sounded smug. [A runner up.]

Through a yawn, Akan said, “Well, I guess I know who’s first in line...though I can’t help but wonder where I fit into this mess.”

Akan didn’t exactly wait for an answer, though. [That would make you ah...] it realized that the occupant of the small room had fallen asleep. While the palace itself never slept, it did understand the concept well enough. [Night night.]

Bored, if a palace could be bored at least, it kept its attention on him anyway. Besides, it wasn’t needed anywhere else for anything beyond the usual. Opening doors, running water, fixing this and that. But here was a new person. Not only new, but a Jedi from the rumors...and the palace heard enough rumors to know which ones to pay attention to. It had knowledge passing back close to fifteen thousand standard years, and while the Jedi were featured fairly well in Alraxian history...these days, there were none. The palace was not going to pass up such an interesting opportunity, even if it only watched him sleep.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 177: Eyes in the Dark*

Shadow arrived back at the palace well into the night. The small ship simply landed, tossed her off, and then left her. Overall, to say she looked like she’d taken a beating would have been putting it lightly. It was probably a good thing her clothes hadn’t been the elaborate type that the Needai constantly tried to dress her in, because the simple ones she currently wore were as torn and ripped as she was. Unsteadily, she made he way from the landing pad to the palace interior.

Just as she stepped into the building, the palace notified her that Kato required speaking with her. Shadow couldn’t help groaning at that. Things were bad enough already, and adding Kato into the mix only made things worse. It took a long time to make her way through the seemingly endless corridors and hallways of the palace before reaching Kato’s quarters, and once arriving Shadow barely had the energy to press the buzzer.

A sharp, “What?!” echoed inside for a moment before the door opened up and Kato stood there glaring. No surprise. Many saw Kato as the sweet, pretty girl in line for the throne. It was obvious she wasn’t stupid, but she rarely let on to just how much she knew about what was going on. That Kato that Shadow knew, though, was everything but that, and definitely nothing polite. She also happened to have the knowledge that Sh...Marix was Tam-Day-U. How she knew this was unknown, but she definitely knew.

“In,” Kato snapped and Shadow followed the order in a second. A single step brought her into the room and the door shut behind her, “You have some nerve coming back here.”

The words were laced with venom and Kato made a point to claw slowly at one of the large cuts on Shadow’s shoulder. She twitched and did her best to ignore the pain, holding her voice steady, “You require something?”

Kato flicked some blood off of her fingers onto Shadow and rolled her eyes, “You will do what you came here to do and then you will leave.”

“You alone know about me outside of my family,” Shadow said with a surprising amount of anger in her voice considering the current situation and how badly she felt, “Do not think you can spread that knowledge for your own advantage. You should know the danger involved in threatening someone like me...”

A foot then connected with Shadow’s gut, getting a gasp out of her before she crumbled against the wall behind her and slumped to the ground. Kato glared down at her and kicked hard again, growling, “Do not threaten me, scum. Now get out of here.”

With that, she against kicked Shadow, this time hard across the side of the head. Trying to ignore the dizziness and knowing she couldn’t fight back, Shadow slowly got to her feet and left the room. In the hallway outside, she nearly collapsed. She was hungry...so hungry...and tired. And she hurt. Everything hurt. She didn’t have the energy to remorph, and even if she had, her orders were strictly against that. Disobeying those orders would simply make things even worse.

Eventually, Shadow made it to her room and opened the door to step in. Not even noticing Akan asleep on the bed, she stumbled past to the wardrobe and got out something that wasn’t torn to pieces before taking the next few minutes to change into them. She then took a few minutes to patch up the more noticeable wounds across her face as best as possible. The entire time, Shadow didn’t even think. She simply did what she did and then finally ended up in the bed to sleep. Entirely empty of mind, in a way she hadn’t been since the Empire’s testing on Marix. Not the Alraxian Empire, though.

* * * *​
Hours later but still before dawn, another transport arrived at the palace and deposited a single, tall Alraxian. He walked with purpose, quickly through the palace to a certain room. There, he waited. In a couple minutes, Kato strode in, haughty as ever. She gave him a simple nod before stepping over beside him and looking at the small image that had his attention.

“You should have just killed her, Faban,” Kato said eventually to the ebony skinned Alraxian. It was the same man that Akan had seen watching them when they’d first arrived.

He glanced at Kato over his shoulder and rolled his eyes, “Oh, really? Is she that much of a problem for you?”

When Kato just growled at him, Faban smiled, “She will die in time. But she is the Empress to be, she cannot simply be killed.”

“Even by you?”

“Especially not by me,” he answered with a nod, “At least, not in the open. And her death will be in the open.”

Kato went silent a moment to watch the image. On it, she could see Marix and Akan asleep. It annoyed her to no end that Marix had her head on the male’s chest and an arm around him. In fact, it annoyed her to the point that her skin took on a noticeable red tint. Eventually, she growled in a low voice, “What of her Nothlit?”

This time, Faban turned his two deep set eyes to watch Kato carefully. But after a pause, he said simply, “I must test him. If he passes the test, we will make the necessary arrangements.”

“Do not kill her until those arrangements are made,” Kato said very slowly and very dangerously.

But her anger only seemed to amuse the much older Alraxian, “Emotion clouds judgement. But be patient, Kato. Both of our interests lie along the same path.”

“Yes, yes,” she sighed and walked across the small room, pacing some, “So you always say. But what of this clone and Halpak, hm? That little problem doesn’t seem to lie along that path!”

“If you are going to be Empress, you must learn patience,” Faban said again calmly, “Things are being set in motion to deal with all of these troubles.”

Stopping her pacing, Kato turned to glare at the ebony skinned Alraxian across from her, “That’s so very insightful, Faban! Just get things done!” throwing her arms up in annoyance, she turned and stormed towards the door, “If you require anything else you know how to find me!”

And then she left. Faban watched her go and then turned back to the small image of Marix and that boy. So she had followed orders at least. The wounds were still there. However, she had the nerve to feel still. Faban had thought that would have been worked out of her through the previous night. But apparently she had been away too long and her training had been forgotten. It was going to take much more drastic measures to get his weapon back. More drastic measures that he was already prepared for.

The link with that boy would have to be severed anyway, if he were to survive as Kato wished. Cutting the two of them off would likely make it much easier for Marix to accept her former position. Where she was meant to be. Watching them silently, Faban decided that it would be no trouble at all to speed that up. Severing that link would do nothing but good. Besides, it should never have been there in the first place if the girl had followed her orders. He’d need to find out what went wrong there, too. Eventually, at least.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 178: No One Else*

Shadow awoke a few hours after sunrise. She didn’t even register the fact that she was using Akan as a pillow. In fact, she didn’t even notice he was there. Without a word, she simply climbed out of bed and walked over to the wardrobe to find some suitable clothes. When she stepped back into the main room from the small washroom, changed and clean, Akan was sitting up on the bed looking only half away.

Seeing him, she jumped slightly, and Akan couldn’t help but notice she felt...odd through the link. At least it was there, but she didn’t feel right at all. Dulled and...well, everything she wasn’t. After a moment, she composed herself and bowed, “I apologize...”

“For what?” Akan asked in a groggy voice as he got to his feet and raised an eyebrow.

Shadow didn’t answer for a moment, but eventually said carefully, “Ah...um...breakfast is served in the main hall, ah...Akan.”

The way she’d said his name made it sound like it had taken a large amount of effort. Almost like putting a name to a face of an old acquaintance that one hadn’t seen for years. Noticing that she was still staring down at the floor, Akan asked, “Shadow...what’s wrong? Back to not even looking at me?”

He attempted to reach over and lift her face up so she couldn’t keep staring down, but her eyes then averted. He sighed in annoyance and wasn’t surprised when she didn’t answer. Grumbling something under his breath he stepped past her to find something to wear. After picking out something that would not in any way match and putting it on, he walked back to see her still standing there in the same place.

“Fine!” he grumbled, “Be that way. Can you at least lead the way and show me where the food is?”

This time, she did look at him, an expression of shock and almost horror on her face, “Me...l...l...lead the way?!”

She braced herself for a moment, and when nothing happened, she realized he was actually serious. Was he mad?! Didn’t he know what she was?! But he had said...and...very carefully, she peaked out the door to see no one was there. Good. Quickly, and as carefully as she could, Shadow shuffled down the hallways, leading Akan to the main hall and hoping to the Force that no one would see them.

They made it without any trouble to the entrance of the main hall where two guards stood. The two of them tensed as she passed, and Shadow did her best to ignore the low growl from the both of them. Suddenly, though, a sharp pain rocked through her as she was jerked back by her tail. Somehow, Shadow stifled a yelp of pain.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the guard who had yanked her back growled, glaring down at her and looking ready to kill her in a second.

Very quietly, she said, “I was...leading the way to the breakfast hall.”

“You don’t lead the way anywhere!” the second guard snapped before looking past her to Akan and motioning for him to pass.

Part of Akan really wanted to just deck the guards then and there, but somehow he doubted it was a good idea. Strange things were going on, and he needed time to figure them out before acting so rashly. Shadow was strange enough...but he walked into the room without trouble, and the guards held Shadow back until she was a respectable distance behind him.

The room itself was large and had a very happy feel to it. There were two tables occupied by around twenty or so different Alraxians. The larger one with adults, and the smaller with a group of children of various ages. A silence had appeared as they walked in, and everyone had turned to watch them. Shadow waited for Akan to start for the adult’s table, and did her best to stay just behind him as they walked.

Then, a familiar voice rang out loudly through the silence, “AKAN!!!”

Suddenly, from amongst the smaller table, the little black furred and blue striped form of Tobias scrambled out and rushed at Akan. A moment later, all of the other children charged, eager to find out what Tobias was so excited about. In a second, Tobias latched onto Akan and climbed up him with his claws as usual. Akan didn’t even cringe, though, as he’d somehow gotten used to the little Alraxian clawing his way up, “Hey, little guy. What have you been up to?”

Sitting up in Akan’s arms, Tobias’ eyes went wide as he waved down to all the children that were now encircling them and purring, “I met all these...these people!! And you know what? They like to play!!”

Akan laughed and knelt down to set Tobias down, “Sounds good. I’ll come torture you later, but right now I’m hungry. Go and eat, alright?”

Toby nodded, then all the children scurried away like a swarm of creatures. Grinning, Akan finished heading over to the table and found the two empty seats. Shadow was just standing there behind one, and Akan couldn’t help but wonder what was wrong with her. Shrugging to himself, he sat down anyway just as a large plate of food was placed in front of him.

Shadow had a seat next to him afterwards, and also recieved a fairly good portion of food. Generally, though, she was ignored. Everyone was interested in talking with the newcomer, and her mother and farther were talking amongst themselves on the other end of the table with a couple of the other elders. Next to Shadow, sat her twin Alyx, who’d felt obligated to sit there despite what anyone else may have felt.

She was his twin, and next to her he was the runt of the litter. But she could fight. He wasn’t a warrior. Compared to her, he was even small and wiry. But that didn’t matter. After eating some, he looked across Shadow to Akan and grinned, “The children seem to like you.”

Since Akan had his mouth full, the comment was answered only with a slight nod. Alyx grinned slightly and added, “The new jai...he looks like he could be your son.”

Studiously, Shadow ignored that comment as did Akan. He at least gave the smaller Alyx a sideways glance, but said nothing before diving into more food. He was hungry. Yes. Hungry. So very hungry that he couldn’t bother to comment on such things. Of course, this only got a bigger grin on Alyx’s face, “He must be trouble...I really always thought I’d wait a little longer before having a...”

He slowly trailed off as a shadow loomed over his small figure. Looking up, he saw the much larger frame of their eldest brother, Gawain, standing there glaring down at him, “If you smart, you not sit next to freak, eh?”

Alyx slowly turned to stare down at his plate, turning a very deep shade of red in the process. Almost under his breath, he said, “I’ll sit where I want.”

“You degrade yourself sitting there!” Gawain growled loud enough that the rest of the room went silent. All eyes fell on them...and Akan, who at least a couple noticed had reached for his belt twice to come away with nothing. He really wished he had his lightsaber with him.

“He can sit where he wants, Gawain,” surprisingly, that had been Shadow’s voice. Spoken quietly and calmly while she continued to look down like her twin brother.

“Who are you to speak?!” he roared before stepping closer and punching her hard in the back. The blow sent her face first into the table, and she resisted the urge to jump back up and snap his neck right there. But the guards were watching now. Watching and waiting. Waiting for her to make one move...just one move so that they could kill her. 

Instead of fighting back, then, she slowly sat back up and silently cleaned the food off of her face. But Gawain wasn’t finished yet. Grabbing her plate and glass he threw them across the room. A second later he grabbed her shoulder and twisted her around and out of her seat, “Go eat your food!”

That was it. Akan had had it. Despite the fact that Gawain was still taller than he was, and built like a starship, Akan stood up swiftly. No longer caring about having left his lightsaber behind, Akan simply lashed out with a very strong punch to Gawain’s face. It hit. Hard. The taller Alraxian growled and let go of Shadow, stumbling back more in surprise than from pain. 

Just as he recovered from the blow and prepared to lash out at Akan, the Empress yelled, “ENOUGH!”

The anger in her voice startled everyone at the table, and surprised Gawain enough that he stopped mid punch. He froze and turned to face her. In Alraxian, the Empress growled an order, to which Gawain replied in a heated fashion. But his protests were met by the two guards, who grabbed him and hauled him out of the room.

“Lock him up until I can face him!” the Empress called after them. 

There was only a short silence that followed, and a moment later a summons came from a young Sunrunner. For the first time in her life, Shadow was glad for the summons even if she had to go and meet with Faban. With as much dignity and strength as she could, so got up from the table, bowed as best she could, then left.

And so, everyone stared at Akan, standing there behind the chair he’d thrown to the ground. He was still in a fighting stance, and the adrenaline rush had faded into red hot anger. Dangerous anger. No longer able to just hold it in, he spoke in the coldly dangerous voice that was seething with anger, “I know that our cultures are very different. And I know that because of this, we’re never going to agree on many things...but...something like that, would never, ever, happen where I come from,” slowly, his voice was losing its control and fading into simple yelling, “I don’t know what any of you people are up to, and I don’t even care anymore! I just know that one of you is doing something to her. And I’m going to find out who, and when I do, I will hunt you down and show you why no one, now matter how important you may think you are, will ever mess with anyone I care about again!”

He paused a moment to take a breath, then glared at the table and yelled, “I will not lose anyone else to you damned Alraxians! You’ve taken enough from me already, and I won’t have you taking Shadow!”

Without another word, he stormed out of the room.


----------



## Mirage_Patrick

have i mentioned that I love this story?   

I was sitting reading the post before this one and think "man, Akan will get upset if he finds out"...guess he found out.

Needless to say I am eagerly looking forward to how this all plays out


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 179: Without a Shadow*

When Shadow didn’t return that night, Akan’s general anger started to turn into worry. Her absence the next morning only made it worse. On top of that, was their link. It must have been a time honoured pastime of the Alraxians to mess with links, as Shadow just felt...wrong. Or very un-Shadow, at least. Distant and odd and barely even there in the first place. In fact, every so often, he couldn’t help wondering if the link was actually with two completely different people and fading in and out between them.

It didn’t help that everyone avoided his questions about her. Even if he did manage to draw anyone in, they always spoke swiftly and in the past tense. That did nothing but get Akan angry again, but not so much so to have an outburst like before. The guards were watching him now...not like they watched Shadow, but definitely keeping an eye on him just in case.

At least Tobias was oblivious to any tensions. For the first time in his life, he had other Alraxians his own age to play with. But that wasn’t enough for him, of course. His favorite toy, Akan, was becoming difficult to play with at times. On one such occasion, Alyx watched the little Alraxian trying to get Akan to play. Seeing the effort fail was oddly depressing. He still felt ashamed at Akan’s words two days earlier. But there wasn’t anything he could do! At least, nothing he could do without getting into some serious trouble.

But Alyx knew where his twin was. He also knew how to get to her. He knew, and no matter how much he wanted to help Akan...he just couldn’t. Feeling miserable, he’d wandered off to try the only other thing he could think of. He tried to contact Kyren. Kyren would be able to fix all this...but the communication’s man had said that Kyren couldn’t be reached. Apparently, there had been a skirmish over another of the border planets and Kyren may or may not have been involved.

His mother had found out about the inquires and, yes, it had gotten him into trouble. After a lecture, Alyx gave up and went off to find something else to do. Something that he didn’t have to worry about so much. There was a reason Marix was his twin...she was supposed to deal with these kind of things.

Out in one of the large gardens, Tobias had gotten Akan to play. Sort of. Sort of because it was more an ambush than a ‘play’ situation. Tobias, along with four of his friends, had latched on. The four little Alraxians attached to his legs and Tobias on Akan’s shoulder, all of them straining and ‘grrr’ing as they tried to pull the much larger Akan down. It had to be because he’d refused to play so long! They’d gotten smart and brought more than usual and now—

“AH!” Akan yelped as, somehow, one of the children managed to get his weight to shift in just the right way. With a thud, his vision went blurry and he fell back to the grass below, five little Alraxians suddenly scampering over him and making a myriad of different noises that all amounted to something close to victory. But Akan wasn’t out yet. With a menacing laugh, he reached up and grabbed on of the children by the scruff of the neck.

From off on the other side of the garden, Cole watched the young man and the little Alraxians. He couldn’t help a smile at watching them. The boy might be a bit...well, delinquent, but he would be a good father. Hopefully the father that Cole had always wished he’d been for Marix. But there hadn’t been a choice, and wishing didn’t do anyone any good.

The boy cared for her, that much was obvious. Cole couldn’t help but wonder how that had come about. They had said she would be devoid of emotions and anything like that would be impossible...but then again, they hadn’t figured she’d be leaving to a larger part of the galaxy and getting involved in who knew what. What would they say now? Not only returning, but with a Jedi. And not just a Jedi, but an Alraxian Jedi. Already, the word was spreading fast, and there was going to be no slowing it.

But they were wrong, then. They were wrong because Akan did care. Cole could see it without any trouble at all. The reasons that many over the Network were considering him to be so delinquent or a bit...off were simply because he cared more than any of them did. More than Cole did, and he was her father. Looking up, he watched as a small Kanyak came in to land not far off. 

So this was it, then. The boy probably didn’t even know how much rested on his shoulders. He probably didn’t have any idea of the significance of being a Jedi, either. Marix didn’t know. She couldn’t. She’d probably have thought twice about bringing him with her if she knew. Not that he’d be killed, but it was going to complicate things eventually. And there was something else. Something that had been bothering Cole since the moment Akan had joined the Clan.

Seeing the young man as a Human had triggered it. Something in his appearance that was familiar...distantly familiar. And now it was starting to bug Cole even more. So he made a decision. Perhaps his mate had noticed the same thing. If she hadn’t, that was fine and Cole could just pass up the feeling to being old...but if she did notice it. If she’d been thinking the same thing...then it would have to be looked into. No matter how crazy it was. No matter how much of a coincidence it could be. No matter how much of a long shot it was, Cole still couldn’t shake the feeling that Akan’s face was familiar in an odd way.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 180: Friend of a Friend*

The children had eventually padded off, pouncing each other and growling the whole way. As Akan got back to his feet, he looked up to see a small ship passing over and quickly dropping in altitude. He watched it go over and then disappear behind another of the large buildings before sighing. It reminded him of Loki. Sure, it was exactly the same...but it was close enough. And reminding him of Loki reminded him of everything else. There were too many things that needed to be done and he was stuck here in the middle of who knew where without any idea of what to do. Well, that wasn’t true. He knew what to do. That was simple: Get Shadow back. Of course, the how was what caused it to be a problem. So did the where.

“Marix...?” a voice sounded behind him. Akan raised an eyebrow, turning around to see a new Alraxian standing not to far off. He was taller than Akan, with short, emerald coloured hair. The colour was not lost on Akan. In fact, for a moment, it was all Akan could see until the man suddenly rushed over and grabbed Akan by the collar, “Where is she?! What have you done with her?!”

Roughly, Akan forced the man off and took a step back, “Hold on a second there, pal. Who the hell are you, anyway?!”

But before any response could be made, Akan threw up his arms, “And don’t touch me! I’ve had it with this damned, Alraxian touchy feely crap! That is one thing I’ve had damn well enough of and...”

Slowly, Akan trailed off. Not only because the large Alraxian was glaring at him, but because a memory clicked. Not Akan’s memory, but Shadow’s. Which was...odd in its own right. The link had provided them with a bit of memories that had seeped through on both ends. And one of those stray Shadow memories put a name with a face. Kyren. This was Kyren! Trustworthy. Right...now...

“Um...sorry about that,” Akan said quietly, taking another small step back just in case and noting Kyren’s expression went from glaring to somewhat confused, “Just a little jumpy lately. Name’s Akan. You would be...Kyren, right? Because if you are, then we’ve got to talk.”

Still, Kyren said nothing. His face was a very odd mix of deep set rage and outright confusion. Akan couldn’t really blame him, though. Sighing, he shrugged, “Well...nice to meet you, too. Unless you’d like to assist me in the impossible, then I’ll be moving along and leaving you be again.”

Giving up, Akan turned and started back to the palace to get some things gathered up. But as he got close, Kyren reached over and yanked Akan up off of his feet to bring them eye to eye. The confusion turning back to anger, Kyren growled, “Listen! I didn’t understand half of what you just said! I’ve just come back from losing all of my pack in a battle against Marix calling herself ‘Nine’! So if you don’t start making sense and tell me what’s going on I’m going to tear your tail off and feed it back to you until you DO make sense!”

There was a pause. Akan didn’t doubt that Kyren would do that. For a short moment, the two Alraxian men stared each other down. Then, slowly, Kyren’s face softened and he let go of Akan, dropping him a few centimeters back down to his feet. The tension faded away between them and Akan slowly explained what was going on from his understanding. About Nine and Ket...and then about Shadow, saying she had been summoned and hadn’t seen her since.

“Summoned?” Kyren sighed heavily and shook his head, then gave Akan a critical look, “Why aren’t you part of the Network?”

But Akan just held up a hand, “Not important right now. What is important is that I need to find where my weapon is being kept. Then, I need to find out where she is.”

“Get me some food and we’ll talk,” Kyren said tiredly before sitting down in the grass. Akan sighed but went anyway, taking nearly half an hour to actually find the kitchen and getting lost twice on the way out. Someone finally led him back, and Akan dropped the plate of food in front of Kyren.

“I’m not feeding you,” he grumbled as Kyren dove into the food, “Now you’ve got your food, so let’s talk.”

“Was she okay when she was summoned?” Kyren asked, a little desperately, between large bites of food, “Tell me what she was like...how she was acting. What she looked like...I...haven’t seen her in ages...”

Akan raised an eyebrow at that. A little bit of something at least close to obsession was in Kyren’s voice. But Akan told him anyway. He talked about how she’d been before they’d gotten to Alraxian space. For some reason, Akan found himself emphasizing how well they got along and such. He then went on about how she’d changed in the last couple of days. Through all of it, though, Akan omitted anything about how Shadow looked. That was conscious, too.

“She was just all...rigid and acting like some kind of servant,” Akan finished, waving a hand vaguely, “Unlike herself. Can’t even feel her through the link right anymore.”

He sighed and trailed off. It was that bad. He felt like...”No,” he mumbled quietly to himself, “Don’t start thinking like that, Akan. You just need to get some rest and then we can go and get my Shadow back.”

Kyren suddenly went stiff. Seeing this, Akan raised an eyebrow, “Are you alright?”

Suddenly, Kyren’s arm lashed out and grabbed Akan’s shoulder, “Just...just what did you mean by ‘my’?”

Truthfully, Kyren wasn’t all that sure who ‘Shadow’ was, but the Network was slowly informing him of the other details. Apparently, this Akan referred to Marix as Shadow. Why, wasn’t really known, but then again, the general opinion of Akan was that he was good kid, but just slightly unhinged.

But Akan’s face was suddenly confused as he shrugged Kyren’s hand off, “What are you talking about? You’re hearing things. Look, I’m really tired, and I’m going to go get some sleep.”

“You said...my...” Kyren grabbed Akan before he could leave, still not giving up on it.

Cornered, Akan’s face went red. He stumbled over a few non-words for a few minutes before finally managing, “Didn’t say my...nothing at all.”

Kyren sighed, “Fine. Look, I’ll see what I can do. Meet me here tomorrow morning at sunrise. Then we’ll do what we can. But you have to understand, where Marix is, is a very dangerous place for the rest of us. You’ve better be ready for failure. I don’t even know if we can find the place.”

“In the morning,” Akan said, ignoring the doubtful words and getting up and heading off to his...Shadow’s...their...whoever’s room it was.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 181: Search for Nothing*

Akan lay back in the large bed silently. He’d been there for a couple of hours and still hadn’t fallen asleep. It wasn’t a surprise, really, but it was becoming annoying. He’d talked with the Palace some, but eventually it got to the point where he wasn’t being all that polite. So he just lay there thinking. The bed felt bigger than it had the nights before. It also felt colder. And lonely...he’d gotten used to having Sha—

His thoughts were cut off by a familiar sound. Pawing at the door. Or rather, weak scratching. It was low to the ground, and Akan had a pretty good idea of what the source was. He asked the Palace to open the door, which it did. Sitting there, looking as pathetic as possible, was Tobias. He was sniffling and whimpering, and upon seeing the door open, he silently padded in and over to the foot of the bed. As he climbed up onto the bed and padded over closer to Akan, who sat up, the door irised closed silently. Tobias was crying. No, no he wasn’t crying anymore, but he’d definitely been crying not a few minutes earlier.

As the little Alraxian crawled over to sit next to him, Akan asked, “What is it, little guy? Shouldn’t you be with your nanny and the other children?”

Tobias whimpered and plopped down near Akan’s legs. He looked up to Akan with big, pathetic eyes that one of his friends had taught him how to use and mumbled, “Monsters under bed...come to save you...”

It was a lie. An obvious one, at that, but Akan smiled anyway. Reaching down he picked up Tobias and placed him on the pillow next to where Akan had been resting his head, “Oh, really? And you were crying...? Come on, Toby, tell me the truth.”

In response, Tobias rolled over and buried his head in the pillow, curling up like a stereotypical feline and mumbling something about being afraid of monsters. Akan smiled and lay back again with Tobias’s fur covered body at eye level, “Its alright, little guy, no monsters here. Just get some sleep.”

Hours later, Akan awoke. Tobias was still asleep, and was purring softly. It was hard to actually get up with such a calming sound. But, seeing it was near sunrise, even though it was pouring rain, he carefully climbed out of bed and pulled some simple clothes. He then quietly slipped out of the room, making sure to drop by the room Tobias had been supposed to be sleeping in(even though it took a while to find it) and mentioning to the adults there where the little guy was. They weren’t happy that he’d escaped in the night, but they’d get over it.

He then made his way out to the courtyard from before, seeing a figure out in the pouring rain and waving him over. Akan ignore the rain and walked over to the taller Kyren and was handed an object wrapped in heavy cloth. Turning and starting towards a nearby landing pad, Kyren said, “I assume that’s what you wanted. It was trouble enough getting a hold of it. You could have mentioned it was metal.”

Akan followed Kyren, unwrapping the layers of cloth to find the gleaming metal of his lightsaber. Smiling to himself, and glad he’d worn a belt, he found a way to hook the thing on to a comfortable spot just as they reached a small Kanyak. The ship looked almost exactly like Loki, just about half his size. The ramp was down, and as he followed Kyren up, Akan heard a familiar sounding voice.

[Why, Kyren, you’ve made a friend! I had thought that was impossible!]

“Shut up, Hermes,” Kyren growled at the walls as a short couple of steps brought them into a tight, two seated cockpit.

[A little snappy today, Kyren?] the ship asked idly, sounding almost as sarcastic as Akan was used to hearing from himself. [Can’t imagine why...or could you be jealo—]

The ship went silent as Kyren dug his claws into the chair. He then went back to getting Hermes’ systems online, and the ship turned its attention to Akan. [Good to see a new face, Kyren’s been getting boring. Now, if you wouldn’t mind sitting down and shutting up for a while, I’ll get this done faster than he can.]

There was a growl from Kyren as he heard this, but in a matter of moments they were up in orbit around Alraxia. Still sounding annoyed, Kyren grumbled, “Now shut up and keep your eyes open for anything unusual. You’ll know what we’re looking for if you see it. We’re going to be out here a while.”

Akan turned from looking out at the unfamiliar stars to give Kyren a sharp look, “I’m not shutting up. We’re out here because I wanted to get out here, remember? So if anyone’s in charge, I am. I don’t care who’s ship this is and even then, the ship could be in charge for all I care! Whoever you are, you definitely aren’t the person Shadow remembers. You may look like him, but you sure as hell aren’t him. I may not have known you, but she knew you and I’ve got that to go on. And the Kyren she knew was a good friend and someone she could trust,” Akan had purposely put a certain emphasis on the word ‘friend’, though he wasn’t conscious of the why, “ Not some jerk who orders everyone around and looks down on anyone he’s not met before.”

At that, Kyren turned and growled, “Listen, Akan, Marix never had any friends. We worked together. All we ever had were respect and understanding. She never even knew the term friend and sure didn’t know anything about—“ Kyren suddenly cut himself off, though Akan knew exactly where that one had been going.

[He’s always like this.] Hermes suddenly cut in, sounding like he was trying to be helpful. [Just not a morning Alraxian, if you ask me.]

Kyren ignored the ship, “A lot has happened since Marix left, and I’m not about to listen to some idiot outsider telling me I should be nicer. Where we’re going, that’ll just get us killed,” and then his voice suddenly lowered as he looked down slightly, “And she never cared how I acted as long as I...I just didn’t get the way.”

Akan raised an eyebrow at that. There was much more to Kyren than he wanted to let anyone else know of, that much was obvious. But he didn’t snap back and continue the argument, instead, Akan used some old Jedi calming techniques and said more quietly, “Listen, I’m sorry...its just that the person you knew is not the person I know. The Marix...the Shadow I know was a good person, even if she didn’t like to admit it. She wasn’t devoid of emotions, though I know she always feared she was,” he sighed, his mind following the thoughts to something he didn’t really want to admit to anyone, but then gave in and said it anyway, “What happened to her here in this place...in this part of the galaxy, whatever you want to call it. It scarred her...deeply. Its probably something she’ll never get over. I...I didn’t want her coming back to that. This is why...she’s...she’s just falling back into the one thing I know she isn’t.”

Silence. Kyren was just looking at him, and obviously didn’t know what to say. After a moment of the awkward silence, Akan sighed and said, “Look, let’s try this again. Marix didn’t have friends, fine. But that shouldn’t stop you and I from getting along, right? Besides, I’ve got a feeling she’ll just be annoyed if we don’t get along and that wouldn’t be a good idea.”

Chuckling just slightly, but keeping his voice terse and straight, Kyren nodded, “Alright, fine, we’re friends. Just understand that you really don’t know anything about this place. Its obvious. Chaos, you don’t even know who has her! For now, just please listen to me so you don’t get all of us killed,” and then, very quietly, he added, “Besides, I would have helped you for her anyway...”

Another silence. A couple of minutes passed before Kyren leaned forward and took the control again, taking them out of orbit and near another, though dead looking, planet in the system. As they came to a stop, he said, “I’m honestly not all that sure what we’re looking for. I do know that the training ground for the Cursed is mobile, and never stays in one place. It could be a station or an asteroid or just a large ship. Stay alert and help out Hermes is he asks.”

“What about you?” Akan asked calmly looking over the blank space around the ship.

“I need to rest,” Kyren said, leaning back in the chair and closing his eyes. In a matter of moments, he was asleep, and Akan sat there feeling out of place. But this was something he could do, at least, and he wasn’t tired. Keep eyes open for anything that looked odd. Akan didn’t mention the fact that nearly everything out here looked odd. That probably wouldn’t have helped. Making himself comfortable, he sat back and watched the stars.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 182: Blackmail*

Kyren had only been asleep for about ten minutes before Hermes decided to speak up a concern. [I detect metal...]

At first, Akan looked over to Kyren, half expecting the other Alraxian to wake up and say something. When he didn’t, and with a mental pressing from Hermes continued, Akan just said simply, “Don’t worry about it.”

The only answer to that was a mental equivalent of a nod, which even Akan didn’t completely understand. It was one of the many things he’d learned to just not think about to hard and accept. The Force had been the first, and it seemed like the galaxy was full of such things. Hermes, though, was taking great interest in this newcomer. He had noticed Kyren’s reactions to this other male, and while every so often it was favorable, there was a definite bent towards competition. Kyren’s pheromones seemed to indicate he felt this other male was some kind of threat...and whether he knew it or not, so did Akan’s.

[Would you like to talk?] Hermes asked in an oddly polite tone, then went on to add. [There is little else to do while we search. You know Loki, my brother, do you not?]

That brought a smile to Akan’s face, “You’re Loki’s brother? Of course, I know him. Good little...um...big ship. Wish I could have gotten to know him better...]

The light shut off suddenly, and a few of the smaller buttons blinked out for a second as Hermes suddenly panicked. [Something has happened to Loki?! Is he alright?!]

Akan realized he’d spoken as if Loki was dead, and quickly cut in, waving his hands but not even knowing if the ship could see him doing that, “No! No, Loki’s alright...he’s fine...its just...just complicated. That’s why we have to find Shadow...then things should stop being complicated.”

Slowly, the lights came bac on as Hermes calmed down and regained his concentration. [Shadow? I do not understand...what is Shadow?]

“Marix,” Akan answered quickly, trying not to sound annoyed. He wasn’t, of course, it was just becoming tedious to have to constantly restate things like that

[Ah, I see!] Hermes sounded oddly proud of the understanding, and it brought a smile to Akan’s face. It really reminded him of Loki...and even the Palace to an extent. Happy to learn anything new and only able to show it through their ‘voice’. [The Empress to be...yes, she and my brother were paired at birth. He is destined to be one of the greatest! Tell me of him! I have not seen him in so very long...]

“I honestly don’t know enough about your kind to say much that’s useful,” Akan said weakly with a shrug, still smiling and also trying to keep his attention on watching out the viewport, “He’s just Loki.”

Akan was surprised when he heard a mental noise equal to a nod, and then Hermes said happily. [Chaos is indeed memorable and unique.] the ship paused and check on Kyren, noting that the Alraxian was deep asleep, though his ear twitched just slightly. Satisfied with Kyren’s curren condition, Hermes’ ‘voice’ changed slightly in its tone. [I hope that you and he get along well. It would be difficult is the Empress to be’s ship and her mate did not get along. May I ask how you and she met? How many litters do the two of you plan to have? I would greatly like to hear it firsthand from you instead of over the Network once its been exaggerated.]

Akan just froze. After a moment, his ear twitched very noticeably, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t ignore the invisible gaze of Hermes. It took at least a minute before he mumbled very slowly and quietly, “...y...yes...Loki and I get along fine, yes. So where is this place? We could miss it with all of this talking.”

[You did not answer my question. Why will you not? Are you ashamed? Or afraid? Come now, at least tell me how you met.]

“...we met working together for a mercenary group...” Akan grumbled quietly, obviously seeing he was cornered and trying to find some way to not speak anymore, “Happy, now? Good.”

Hermes laughed in his mind, which echoed through Akan’s skull annoyingly. [Yes, yes...love does grow in odd places, does it not? But I am glad. The Empire will be strong.]

Before Akan could find a way to hide, Hermes ‘accidently’ tipped back Akan’s chair and one of the arms extended and wrapped over his chest to prevent him from getting up. [You seem nervous. I would gladly share your troubles if you wish to talk. I would not even tell Kyren. But you must understand, as Loki’s brother, I wish to know more about his Pilot’s mate.]

At that moment, Akan made a mental note to kill Hermes. Or at least find out if neutering a Kanyak was possible. Either way, he would find a way to get revenge on this evil ship, Jedi way be damned. Through gritted teeth and glaring up at the ceiling, Akan spoke, “Stop calling me that! I’m not her...! I never...! I mean we never...!! What is with you damn people?!”

[Hush, you’ll wake Kyren and he will hear you.] Hermes commented softly, though he was very obviously amused. [Perhaps I could tell him more than I understand if you do not share more with me. Though I am not sure you know, a lifebond means nothing if it is not...ah...reinforced. My Pilot would then stand a chance to be the father of the Empress to be’s cubs. I know from your pheromones that you do not want this. So, I am...] Hermes paused for a half second, then his voice went on sounding smug. [I am...blackmailing you. I believe that is the word. So, you tell me about you and the Empress to be, and I will not inform Kyren that he still has a chance. Oh, and in case you have any ideas in involving violence or that weapon of yours, I have prepared it in a message to send to the herd so that word will spread...and Kyren will hear of it within minutes.]

Silence. Slowly, Akan forced a defeated smile on his face, speaking slowly through gritted teeth, “Hermes...I’m going to kill you one day.”

[That is all well...now, will you talk or shall I wake Kyren?]

“You win...” Akan whimpered, giving up on any kind of resistance and wondering how Hermes got to be so cruel, “We just...travel to together. Have for the past year or so now. I don’t know how long its been. I don’t understand why all you people keep jumping to conclusions! She’s just a good friend!” he paused a moment to calm his voice, hyper-aware of Kyren right next to him, “She’s saved my life more times than I can count and I know I’ve kept her alive at least twice. We trust each other and work well together. Its that simple...I’m not keeping anything from anyone, it’s the truth. There’s nothing...I just don’t want her getting hurt.”

He trailed off, then suddenly realized where he’d ended than and quickly added, “...be...ah...because I don’t want to get hurt.”

Akan had never claimed to be any good at recoveries, and if he had, it would likely have been just as bad of a lie. He was even worse about it when cornered, and Akan was sure as hell cornered at the moment. Hermes, though, was obviously still curious. [You are telling me that you do not realize you and she are mates? Yet, I am sure you understand the link the two of you share. Curious. Surely you and she...for you to have gone from outsider to Alraxian...you must have...] slowly, the hold on Akan was loosened as Hermes tried to think and understand. [Bringing you into her species. It is what an Alraxian does should they choose a mate of a species not their own. Though through morphing they are compatible with any other species, it is...dangerous. There are a few rare cases with no trouble, but on a whole, the half breeds are a disturbingly horrifying mix. So...to have offspring, either the Alraxian or their mate must give up their species. Obviously, the Empress to be cannot give up her species, and so you agreed and partook of the ceremony. Yet you have not even touched her? You are very protective of her, not only from harm but from other males...yet you cry that it is nothing more than friendship. You avoid details about the both of you...]

Hermes gave Akan the equivalent of a grin, though it was a toothy, Shadow-like grin if Akan had ever felt one. [You will tell me again about how you met. In detail. And of how you became Alraxian. I swear to you, I will tell no one. That is...of course, unless you do not share it with me.]

Akan sighed a defeated sigh, slumping back against the chair, “We just ended up with the same group somehow...worked together, worked well...we didn’t exactly get along too well, though. And then, just sparring, she...it was an accident. A little slip up and she nearly killed me. So she just...did this...and...and now I have this body. She was just keeping me alive...”

[And you feel nothing at all towards her? So you would not mind if Kyren were to give himself to her, then? You must understand, he has loved her since they were young. She saved his life, too. He has cared for no one else since the day she pulled him from his wrecked house. Now that he has grown, he loves her in a different way. As you insist that you and she are only friends, you would not stand in his way?”

“Of course I would stand in the way!!” Akan suddenly blurted out before his brain had even thought about an answer. Suddenly realizing he’d said that, Akan closed his eyes and tried to not exist, mumbling, “He doesn’t know her...none of you do. She’s not the person that everyone things she is. She’s nothing at all like she used to be. I knew she shouldn’t have come back here. Its all going wrong everywhere and...and there’s not a damned thing I can do about it!” he growled and nearly kicked at a console, but heard Kyren grumble in his sleep.

Akan stayed silent a moment, making sure that the other stayed asleep. Hermes, still sounding somewhat amused, cut into the silence. [She is a soldier, yes. After years of a RedStar as Empress, a soldier will be a change but she will be a good leader for us all. If she were not here, who would stop these killings?]

“She’s not stopping a thing a the moment,” Akan grumbled, though he was slightly relieved at the very tiny change in direction of the conversation, “But once we get her back we’ll deal with this and we’ll get your brother back.”

[The thing we are looking for is...is a myth, truthfully.] Hermes admitted. [It could very well be anywhere in the Empire, we have only rumors and speculation to go on. You should get some rest. You will need it.]

Laughing shortly, Akan managed a real smile, “I should do a lot of things. There’s not time, though...someone’s messing with my link to her again. I can’t feel her right. Someone’s...someone’s trying to get her back to the way she was before she left here. We have to get to her before its too late.”

[You could get out and look yourself.] grumbled Hermes, annoyed for a moment. [I doubt you’d have anymore luck than—...wait, I think I may have something. Wake Kyren quickly, I must cloak.]

Akan nodded as his chair was sat up and things moved straight into business mode finally. He reached over and roughly tapped Kyren on the head, letting out some earlier annoyance by annoying Kyren. Cruel? Yes. Un-Jedi like? Of course. But he’d been blackmailed and if kicking a puppy was all he could do right now, it sure made Akan feel better. Kyren grumbled something, shifted then sat up, glaring at Akan, “Oh...you.”

His attention then went to Hermes, and the ship quickly informed Kyren of the possible findings. It was confirmed, and though nothing could be seen physically anywhere near, Akan could definitely feel something. After a moment, Kyren turned to Akan, “We’re going to have to use an illegal device. You cannot tell anyone that it is installed aboard Hermes.”

“Not a word,” Akan said with a nod. And then, the ship slowly faded out of normal sight. Ahead of them, Akan saw at least a slight shimmer. The shimmer grew into a large blackness, and in another few moments he found that Hermes had set down in a small, all black landing bay much like on Thor.

Kyren grinned, pointing off towards a small grey door at the other end of the bay, “Hermes, stay alert. Akan, keep your eyes open and lets go for a walk.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 183: Breaking the Sacred Laws*

They had left Hermes and walked across the almost invisible deck to the grey door. The worst part was that their footsteps didn’t even echo. There was no noise beyond their breathing. When they reached the door, it slid open silently revealing stark white corridors. Akan and Kyren exchanged glances, and somehow Akan lost the mental vote. So, he took the lead, stepping into the empty corridor first. Despite the emptiness, though, Akan could feel life. Dim, and still a good distance off, but it was there. 

It was there, and it there was something distinctly wrong with it. Akan knew how the Dark Side felt, but this wasn’t it. Maybe close, but something else entirely. Life without life was the best he could figure, and even that didn’t make sense. Shrugging the thoughts off, Akan continued the walk through the empty, silent corridors. Finding what he assumed to be a turbolift(which it wasn’t, of course, but was close enough) Akan stepped over to it and inside.

There were no buttons or switches, and the door almost swished closed right on Kyren’s tail. A moment later, the feeling of movement consumed the both of them as the lift rose for a few seconds. When it opened, ahead of them was a long causeway, with a stark white wall on the left and a railing looking down at a lower level to the right. Akan stepped out and looked down over the railing, seeing at least twenty or so Alraxians. They were...no, not sparring. It was far too violent to be sparring, and there was a very distinct smell of blood in the air. Some would morph here and there, but most stayed Alraxian.

And then they stopped. All of them froze before quickly moving and forming on line, staring ahead but not up to where Akan and Kyren were. Akan glanced to Kyren, saying very quietly, “I think that’s a bad sign.”

Kyren just nodded, looking down to see if there was any indication as to why they had stopped. But there wasn’t, of course. That would make things far too easy. And before he could comment, a cold, dead hand landed on his shoulder, burning as it did so. Kyren yelped painfully, glancing over his shoulder to see a hauntingly familiar sight. It was Marix...it had to be...but she was..was...metal! How?! And it burned!!

Akan felt the same burning from the hand that was tightly gripping his shoulder, but he ignored it. He ignored it because he knew exactly what it was, not feeling the surprise or the panic that Kyren currently was. Slowly, though, he turned to look over his shoulder to the sleek, metal form of Marix, looking into those two empty, black eyes. He said nothing, nor thought anything ‘at’ her through the link. It wouldn’t do any good. He didn’t even need the link to feel that she wouldn’t respond. It was far too easy to feel through the Force that they were too late. Of course, too late to stop something didn’t mean it was too late to do anything...and Akan wasn’t about to just give up, even if he was suddenly depressed at the sight and the feeling.

After a short moment where Akan and Marix simply stared at each other, she easily lifted the two males up and dropped them over the railing. Kyren, still reeling from the shock of seeing Marix as she was and the pain of the metal against his skin, landed on the hard floor on his back. It didn’t crack, but his head snapped back and his vision went all blurry as he lay on the deck groaning. Akan fell next to him, hitting hard on his side but ignoring it as best he could and quickly rolling up to his feet. The other Alraxians were barely two meters away, staring blankly passed him.

And then there was a voice, “Young men, you have broken our most sacred laws to come here...and I know you intend to break the greatest of them all. You may not have her back.”

Akan spun around, hand resting on the lightsaber at his belt, to face a familiar looking Alraxian. He was older, yet not at all weak, with dark ebony skin and tabby markings across his short hair and tail. The Alraxian had a few scars here and there, but they didn’t draw attention like his deep set, pale blue eyes did. It was the same Alraxian Akan had seen as they’d first arrived at the Palace.

Not one to let the chance for a good cliche to pass, though, Akan said simply, “You can’t have her. I don’t care about what you, or any of your species thinks. You can’t have her.”

Somehow, Akan resisted the urge to simply draw his lightsaber and cut down the man. He did grip the weapon still attached to his belt a little tighter, though. There was a thud, and the metal bodied Marix landed right behind the older Alraxian. He glanced at her, smiled, then turned back to Akan, “Can’t have her? She is the property of the Empire, young man, not yours,” his eyes shifted to her and the smile grew slightly, “And what property, hm? Never have I seen such a thing except in the old bedtime stories. This is exactly what we have strived for over the centuries! The obedience of a simple program and the power of a living being!”

For a moment, the Alraxian paused, then watched as Kyren very slowly got to his feet, “You have question for me? No? Well then, let’s get right to it, shall we?” again, he turned to Marix, “Commander, the Knight.”

Akan winced in expectation of what happened to Kyren, instead. In a quick flash of movement, Marix’s silver metal body dashed across and swung a heavy punch at Kyren’s jaw. He didn’t even make a noise beyond the crack of his bones and then the noise of his body crumbling to the deck a second time. This time, though, Kyren was unconscious.

“Now, young man, I believe we have some business to take care of,” the older Alraxian commented, turning his gaze back to Akan, “You have come where you should know, for something you should not have knowledge of. For this alone, you could be killed. I must admit, I admire your courage. It is not something seen in many Alraxians these days...standing here in a room with twenty perfectly training assassins and not even showing fear. You could be killed before that weapon leaves your belt, yet you come here for her knowing this danger. Can it be that you care so much?”

He smiled, taking a calm step forward, an oddly fluid motion for such an older looking creature. Akan did not answer, though, simply standing up straight and ready, his mind slowly sinking into the Force to keep his well aware of everything. How he was finding this calm, though, was beyond him...he just was. After a silence, the other Alraxian simply shrugged and said, “I could understand that, believe me. I had a daughter once, and I loved her more than life itself. Is it not ironic she was born a cursed one? Despite all of that, I did my duty and she became a weapon of the Empire. I did my duty, and she did her’s. She never failed. And then...when she came of age, she slit her own throat in public, her final duty...the one that this Commander here should have done long ago.”

The older Alraxian took another step forward and sighed, “But as I see you are unwilling to speak, we shall dispense with the rest of this wasted time. I know what you are, but I have never seen your kind before. The legends speak of your kind as invincible warriors with mighty weapons like the one you so desperately cling to now. I will see how these stories match up to reality,” he then looked past Akan to a young looking Alraxian boy just behind him, then nodded to the boy, “You. Kill the Jedi.”

All of the other Alraxians, including the metallic Marix, took a step back except for the boy. Akan turned to face the boy, hand still on his lightsaber and a foot planted back. He felt one with the Force in a way he’d never felt before. Even though it went against everything he usually felt, he waited...he waited and he watched, his mind a soothing calm despite everything. And then the boy pounced.

Akan barely twisted to the left, avoiding a fist to the jaw but instead taking a knee to the gut. He grunted, but held his ground and sidestepped another fist. Stepping behind the boy, Akan quickly lashed out with his left hand, backhanding the boy hard across the back of the head. It sent the young Alraxian stumbling forward, giving Akan time to step back. Just as the boy turned back around, a loud snap-hiss cut through the air and the familiar blue-green blade sat in front of Akan’s body.

Calmly, he said through the loudly humming blade, “I don’t want to hurt you, kid.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 184: Freedom*

The rest of the Alraxians all stepped back and out of the way, giving both Akan and the young boy facing him a good amount of room. There was a strong silence that permeated the room, broken only by the constant hum of Akan’s lightsaber, firmly resting in his hands in front of him. No response came to Akan’s comment, but he wasn’t surprised.

And then the boy charged, claws unsheathed as he moved. Akan took a quick step to the left, taking one hand off of his lightsaber and reaching out with the Force, calling it to him and focusing it. The boy didn’t get within a meter, as a giant, invisible grip took him and tossed him off to the side and across the deck with a loud, echoing thud. But the young Alraxian didn’t seem to be phased at all by the attack. Just as he hit, he rolled up and got to his feet again, then charged forward.

Akan attempted again to call upon the Force and toss the young assassin off to the side, but this time his opponent had been expecting it. He demonstrated considerable training in the Force by shrugging off Akan’s second attempt. Realizing he was going to have to defend himself the old fashioned way, Akan quickly brought both hands to his lightsaber and brought it up just in time to stop the young boy. Or so he thought. Akan should have expected what happened, but had been so into the moment that he simply reacted in the way he would have if he was fighting with anyone else.

But this Alraxian, as with all of the others in the room save Kyren and himself, was not like anyone else. The boy didn’t even look at the blue-green blade humming in front of Akan, staring right past it to Akan’s eyes. He charged straight through the blade, losing the tip of his left ear, and entire left shoulder and arm in the process. And the boy’s face didn’t even show any slight hint of pain as his right arm slashed across Akan’s chest, leaving deep claws marks there before Akan brought the hilt of his lightsaber down hard on the back of the boy’s head.

The young assassin crumbled to the deck next to his severed arm and shoulder, somehow still breathing. Despite being Alraxian himself, Akan was still amazed at the trauma that their bodies could take and still survive. Lightsaber still humming and now resting at his side, Akan turned back to face the older Alraxian, “What was the point of that?”

The older man looked from Akan to the still breathing body down at his feet. Calmly, he reached out with a free hand, and Akan could feel the Force flowing. Akan glanced down to see the bodies’ head snap violently to the left, and the breathing suddenly stopped. Flatly, the older Alraxian said, “Failure is not an option,” he then calmly looked to the metal Marix at his side, “Commander, take him down.”

She simply nodded and took two steps forward. But she didn’t move, standing there staring at Akan with the two black, lifeless eyes. Seeing what was coming, Akan deactivated his lightsaber. The hum gone, it was truly silent in the large room. As usual, Akan broke the silence, saying simply, “I won’t fight you.”

Slowly, Marix’s silver metal head turned to face the old Alraxian again. He glared and pointed to Akan, “Take him down.”

Suddenly, there was a flash of movement, and Marix was right in front of Akan, her hard fist digging into his stomach. He gasped, stumbled back slightly, but just gripped his lightsaber tighter and gritted his teeth before planting his feet again and standing up straight, “I’m not doing this.”

Violently, she lashed out with her other arm, backhanding him hard across the face and this time sending him straight to the hard deck next to the corpse of the boy. There had been a loud crack from his jaw, which had definitely broken from the hit, but as he looked up again, expecting to see the inevitable strike while he was down...Akan saw something different. Standing over him and staring down emotionlessly was not a metal being. It wasn’t a bright silver, shining Marix. It was Shadow...in the flesh, literally. Her two silvery purple eyes watched him, and just for a second, Akan saw a flash in them...but it was gone before he could be sure he’d seen it.

Leaving his lightsaber there on the deck, Akan slowly got back up to his feet and stared down into Shadow’s eyes again. Her head tilted up slightly so she could meet his gaze, and yet still there was that blank, nothingness on her face.

“Commander!” the old Alraxian growled from behind her, but her ear didn’t even turn his direction. And the two of them stood there, Akan staring straight into her eyes and trying to find something he recognized. Something that he knew. And Shadow...Shadow doing something he couldn’t read. From behind them, the old man’s voice roared, “Commander, finish him!”

Shadow blinked, then her arm suddenly shot up and grabbed Akan by the neck. He stood perfectly still as she slowly began to squeeze his neck, crushing his throat slowly. But she didn’t use her claws. It wasn’t lost on Akan as he began to gasp for breath. Shadow could have killed him in a second if she just unsheathed her claws straight into his throat, but she just choked him, slowly and almost unsteadily. Akan watched as her hand began to shake, and then suddenly she released her grip.

Very softly, almost whispering it, Shadow said, “No.”

“What?!” the old man hissed, taking a couple of steps forward.

“I said no,” Shadow spoke calmly, her voice slowly rising with each new word. She turned calmly around to face Faban Sunrunner, openly showing him the emotion on her face. The glare, “I am no longer yours, Faban. I am to be your Empress. And this he your Emperor. You will free me, or I will end this myself.”

“Yes...” gasped Akan. Sure, she’d only crushed his throat, but it had still hurt and he was still trying to catch his breath, “No killing Empressess or Emperors...its not allowed,” his voice then lowered a moment, and he whispered, “That you in there this time...?”

Ignoring Faban, Shadow turned back to face Akan. She smiled warmly, something he had only seen on her face a few select times, and put a hand on his shoulder, “The one and only. I...I’ll have to explain later.”

“No!” Faban roared again, “No, this is not how it works! You are the Empire’s! You are mine!”

“I am the Empire, Faban!” Shadow snapped, spinning around again. If it had been any other time, Akan would have grinned from the fact that he could see Faban clearly over Shadow’s head. Shadow would have also probably elbowed him in the gut for that, too. But she stared across the room at the older Alraxian, as did all of the others in the room, and said calmly, “You will free me, now.”

A snarl on his face, Faban looked back to the other Alraxians, “Tam-Day-U! Neth lath bellak!”

The rank of Alraxians all turned to face Shadow. The two that had been holding Kyren’s unconscious body simply let him drop to the deck. But Shadow just glared at them all, her arms spreading out slightly in a very protective motion as she stood in front of Akan. In Alraxian, she hissed, “Disregard order.”

All of them froze again, their bodies losing the tense, ready to pounce feeling as they waited. Faban, of course, screamed at them to kill the two of them again. But Shadow shook her head, again speaking in Alraxian and saying something that Akan couldn’t understand...again. But this time, they all turned to face Faban. Akan couldn’t help his grin.

Seeing his situation, Faban sighed heavily. He then looked back to Shadow, a hate filled look in his eyes as he growled, “Very well. You are free.”

He then turned and stormed out of the large room. Shadow looked to the others and told them to go and eat and sleep. They all nodded as one, then also retreated, leaving only Shadow, Akan, Kyren, and the corpse of the young boy in the room. Shadow gave a satisfied purr, and smiled slightly. More to herself than anyone else, she said, “For once, I’m grateful to the Empire that made me what I am.”

Suddenly, she was attacked. Or at least, that was her first impression. A moment later, she realized that it was just Akan hugging her tightly. Very firmly, he said into her ear, “Don’t ever...ever do that again.”

“What...? Stand up for myself? I suppose you’re right, I will get into a lot of trouble for this...” Shadow trailed off, slowly realizing that he was crushing her slightly. Awkwardly, she mumbled, “Um...you’re...hurting me.”

Akan went a deep red, his mind catching up with his actions, and quickly let go of her, “Sorry...”

She just nodded, kneeling down to look at the body of the boy. Sighing, she rested a hand on his forehead, “He never had a name. But he is better off now...the Force will take care of him.”

Standing up, she patted Akan on the shoulder before stepping over to pick up the unconscious Kyren, “I assume Hermes is with you. Let’s...let’s go home, Akan.”

After lifting up Kyren without too much trouble, she walked past Akan to lead the way out. They walked to the door to leave the room when she stopped. She stopped, and she turned to face Akan again, a smile slowly finding its way onto her face again, “Thank you.”

Again, Akan went red, though he wasn’t completely sure why. Weakly, and slightly shakily, he mumbled, “Um...you’re welcome?”

But she was already walking again, and Akan had to jog slightly to catch up. He couldn’t wait to be out of this place...though the link still didn’t feel right. At least Shadow was back. And something was very definitely different in her now. The smile had proven that. So maybe it wasn’t all bad...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 185: Knew All Along...*

They were silent as Shadow led the way back to Hermes, still carrying Kyren without much trouble. When they made it back into the dark hangar, Hermes was still there, and Akan mentioned quietly, “He’s probably ready to go. He and I...um...talked some. I did most of the talking, actually.”

“Yes...” Shadow said, nodding and leading the way over to the ship, “Loki always said that he was very good at observing and...ah...blackmail.”

“So I’ve heard,” Akan grumbled as they stepped up the access ramp that was still down. They both greeted Hermes, who seemed rather nervous when compared to his excitement from before they’d arrived. Shadow placed Kyren in the tiny, single quarters behind the cockpit before stepping back into the cockpit and having a seat in the pilot’s chair. Akan plopped down in his usual spot in the co-pilot’s seat just as Shadow took control and brought Hermes out of the near invisible hangar and angled him back towards Alraxia. Once the course was plotted, Hermes took control and had them rocketing through the emptiness of space towards home.

And then Akan decided it was time to bring up the important question, “So...Shadow...what happened to our link?”

Shadow bit her lip and looked down at one of the consoles before sighing slightly, “I’m not sure. I...I did some of it, but not this much. I believe someone has tampered with it.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Akan commented, “Isn’t it a link between you and me because of the whole giving me a body thing? How can that be taken away or altered or whatever?”

“There are...rituals,” Shadow admitted somewhat weakly, “I will look into it when we get back. Things will be much...much different. I am free now. The guards will likely still be as nervous as always but they’ll have to tolerate me for once. I also need to...to do a few other things,” she grinned weakly and looked over to Akan, “I haven’t exactly been the best sister in the galaxy for Alyx.”

Akan nodded, deciding that none of that was really bad. But still, there was a reason they were here, and so that brought up his next question, “What’s going to happen when we get back? Are we going to just sit around more or are we actually going to get to business?”

Shadow sighed and shrugged weakly, “There’s been no new information in the last couple of days. The border is huge and we can’t just go charging off into Mrrakesh space. They’re waiting for something, and we’re going to have to wait, too.”

“What are they waiting for?” Akan asked the next obvious question. But this went unanswered. Shadow just hung her head and looked the other way. That simply confirmed that there was a lot more going on that he wasn’t privy to. Which was becoming annoying, “Shadow, I’ve about had it with this. Its about time you stopped hiding things from me and tell me what’s really going on. I keep getting...told things and winked and such and it doesn’t make any sense. When I ask, everyone always laughs and says you know.”

Turning back to look at him, Shadow blinked with a somewhat blank look on her face, “I um...I’ve been truthful with you. I’ve told you everything.”

What had they told him?! Maybe they...no. No, she’d told him everything. Definitely everything. There wasn’t anything else. She was absolutely sure of it, though for some reason Marix was being quiet. It was that suspicious form of quiet where it was obvious she knew something but was enjoying watching the chaos far too much. And then Akan cut in again, grumbling, “Just ask Hermes.”

She did. She regretted it. In just a few moments, she’d gone from her usual tanned skin tone to a very bright shade of pink. Shadow looked to Akan again, coughed, and mumbled something that wasn’t a word in any language. After realizing this, she bit her lip and then tried again, “Yes...that...well...um...at the time. I mean...there wasn’t time. You were dying and...and there wasn’t a choice...so at the time...I didn’t...I mean...um...I couldn’t think of anything else...”

The way her voice had fallen to a very heated whisper only got her skin to turn a brighter shade of pink. At the same time, Akan could swear she was actually giving off heat. Turning a little red himself, but not so much as she had, he nodded, “I-I understand. I just thought...you know, with everything they said that...that you knew. I’m...I’m sorry...”

Silence. A long one. One that lasted long enough for Shadow to see Alraxian slowly growing in the viewport in front of them. Very slowly, and very calmly, she forced the next words out, “I did know.”

Shadow then coughed again. Akan stared blankly at her. She...she knew?! The whole time, she’d known that he was...and they were...and...she knew?! It’d been nearly a year, probably more even, and the entire time...she knew!! And she didn’t tell him! He opened his mouth, but no words came out. She knew...did that mean she...? No. No. It was the only choice. She just made a decision. But if she knew...then maybe....no! It was just covering a mistake! Nothing more! But she knew...

Inside Shadow’s mind, a discussion had erupted. Or rather, been forced from one side and avoided by the other. It was Marix, of course, who had started it. _Its quite rude to ignore him after saying something like that._

The only response that Shadow gave was a mental grumbling of non-words. This went on for a while, and of course, Marix was making perfect sense of it. It wasn’t as if the words really mattered anyway. They were all just thoughts, and as their minds were the same, they were all shared thoughts. The ‘speaking’ of it was all just a way of keeping the ‘both’ of them from going more insane than they already were.

Finally, Marix cut into Shadow’s stream of nothings. _By the way, he was a good choice._

_Shut. Up._ Shadow’s ability to find words had miraculously returned in a second.

Marix just ‘smiled’ at Shadow. _We cannot continue on like this for much longer. You know as well as I do that we must be Marix and not Marix and Shadow._

Shadow quickly went right back to the non-words. Marix found it very interesting how it seemed that Shadow continued to fall back to Akan with each of those. She obviously knew about it, but it seemed to be conveniently ignored. Again, Marix cut into Shadow’s wordless thoughts. _Its because of the emotions isn’t it? They are...confusing. You will get used to them._

This time, there was no response. It wasn’t a problem. It was probably because Alraxian was now filling the viewport. She smiled openly again as they moved through the atmosphere. Home...really home this time. Home and free. There were so many things she needed to make up for. And then, and the end of it all, was Ket and Nine. It really was amazing how the two of them had become a footnote to her family.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Just wanted to give my excuse for the lack of updates in the last two nights. Last night was Midnight Madness over at Toys R Us and I now have Revenge of the Sith loot. So blame that lack of update on George Lucas. 

As for tonight...I'm simply exhausted and can't think straight enough to write. Should have an update tommorrow and then get back into the one per day thing again. Promise.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 186: All the Pieces...*

They arrived at the palace and set down in what had to be record time. Shadow complimented Hermes on it and then picked went back and picked up Kyren before stepping out onto the palace ground to see Akan standing there and shuffling his feet. She placed Kyren back on his feet as he was slowly coming back to consciousness.

Upon opening his eyes, they went wide and he stumbled back, slamming the back of his head into Hermes’ hull with a loud thud. Kyren cursed, but used the ship to support himself, “You...Marix...?! What....what happened?”

She grinned proudly and shrugged, “I’ve been freed.”

Kyren gaped. He blinked a couple of times, then mumbled, “F...free?”

“Yes, free,” Shadow’s grin widened, “You hit your head too hard? Or just deaf?”

“You...fr...” he went back to gaping, then suddenly ran up and picked her up, dancing around some and laughing. Suddenly, Kyren became aware of this and immediately dropped her back down with a cough an a shrug.

She just smiled and then glanced off towards the afternoon sun, “Lets go talk.”

And then she jumped up, morphing to a small bird in the process and flying off. Kyren was right behind her, though a little slower when it came to morphing. As the two of them flew off, Akan stood staring blankly.

“I guess I’ll...I’ll just...stay...here...” he trailed off and sighed watching the spot in the blue, afternoon sky. For a long while he just stood there, feeling abandoned for good reason. To add to it, he still couldn’t feel her through the link. Well, not correctly anyway. There was something there, definitely, but it just didn’t feel like the Shadow he was used to. Something was still wrong...and she just...just ran off like that. Not even a word. Not even a glance. Nothing.

Running a hand through his hair, Akan tore his eyes away from the sky and slowly made his way to the palace interior. He quietly wandered the halls, going no where in particular and just trying to ignore the fact that he hurt. Hurt when he shouldn’t be hurting. When nothing made sense...nothing at all and here he was stuck in this damned place all alone. His only connection to the entire section of the galaxy around him was Shadow and she was off doing her own thing...as usual. But she usually at least said something...she usually...

His thoughts were cut off when something in his mind just started blinking. He recognized it as a warning through the Force, but not one in the sense of danger. Immediately, Akan new what it was. Or rather, who.

From behind him, a soft and familiar voice purred, “Mmm...did not see Jedi Boy at breakfast...”

“I was busy,” Akan growled, turning to face Kato, who stood all together too close to him and looked very much like she knew it.

She smiled, idly pulling back some of her lilac hair from out of her eyes, “Mmmhmm...have not seen Jedi Boy at all today. What you have been busy with...hmm?”

Kato slowly reached up towards him and Akan very quickly took a step back and to the side, dodging her hand without any trouble and glaring at her. But, of course, she just took another step forward, smiling anyway but not attempting anything again. Though he felt something...something odd. Through the Force. Yes...or close. No, no it was definitely the Force. Where else would something like that come from? It was the Force. Had to be.

When he didn’t say anything, Kato said slowly, “You no eat breakfast...I think you hungry now, hm? Late for lunch, but food could be arranged...”

He was hungry. In fact, hearing her mention it only made Akan remember he hadn’t eaten anything at all for a very long while. Betraying him, his stomach growled. That got a bigger smile on Kato’s face, but Akan quickly responded, “I’m fine. I don’t need anything.”

Quickly, Akan then turned around and marched off the other direction as fast as he could. After rounding two corners, he realized he was lost. The damn palace was just too big and everything seemed to look exactly the same. Of course, when he turned around to see if there was anyone that spoke Basic who would lead him around, he saw only Kato, who was just turning the corner and smiled to see him.

Casually striding over to him, she tipped her head to the side and asked, “Need you help...?”

“I’m fine,” Akan said again firmly, though his mind was racing with trying to figure out where exactly his...Shadow’s...their room was. But he found nothing, though there was that odd feeling again through the Force.

It was quickly followed by Kato pointing behind her, “I lead you to room?”

He stared at her blankly. Seeing this, she smiled again and took his hand and started walking down the other direction. For some reason he didn’t resist and just let himself be dragged(lightly) along through the long hallways. Kato was radiating something through the Force and it was only annoying him in a very odd way that didn’t make sense. But thankfully, after a few turns and long walks, they stopped in front of a door and Kato motioned to it, “You tired...rest. But need eat later.”

She squeezed his hand before letting go and then sweeping off and out of sight. Akan stared. He couldn’t really help it. She did look...well...female. Sighing and mentally kicking himself, he stepped to the door, which irised open to the familiar, but empty, room. Akan found the bed and collapsed back onto it.

Yes, he was tired. Yes, he was hungry. But something was still very wrong in this place. Something he couldn’t put his finger on. It was getting beyond the point of just being an annoyance, and Akan did his best to use some old Jedi calmly techniques to think straight. There were so many pieces to the puzzle, and Akan didn’t even know half of the pieces...honestly, he didn’t even know the puzzle, but that was just a technicality at this point.

So he calmed himself and thought. What were the pieces he knew? Well, himself and Shadow were two. Kyren was a possibility but Akan wasn’t sure on that. Kato was another possibility, though his instinct was telling him she definitely was a piece in whatever it was. His instinct also told him that the older Alraxian Faban was another piece. Ket and Nine were two more, without a doubt, though they felt so distant lately that it took him time to even think of them. So what else? Was that it? All that he knew...?

Akan sighed. It was. Even if those were all of the pieces, not knowing how they connected made things impossible. But they couldn’t be all of it. There were loose connections at best that he knew of, and there was definitely more going on. Much more. Maybe he should talk to the Empress or Cole...no. Not until he understood more. And to do that he needed Shadow. And she was off with Kyren...off with Kyren and ignoring Akan.

That was obviously not helping the whole situation. Somehow, Akan had a feeling that her being ‘free’ didn’t really change a thing in the grand scheme of things. Whatever the grand scheme of things happened to be. Why couldn’t it just have been Ket and Nine? It was so much easier when there was a clear cut enemy. This was why Akan had never liked politics. And here he was...stuck in the middle of it all, in a place he didn’t understand with people that he understood even less.

And he was alone in it all. Alone when there should have been someone there.


----------



## Mirage_Patrick

<looks around for a new post, sees none, wonders away unhappy>


anway...loving the story...really interested on how it turns out


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 187: Why*

Shadow idly hummed to herself as she strolled down the corridors of the palace to find Akan. Kyren was off getting food and would probably be waiting on the two of them to return. At least, Shadow said they’d be back, and she planned to be, but she couldn’t judge what Akan would do. It was...odd. The link just wasn’t there. It should have been, because she’d stopped doing the things she’d done around Faban, but it didn’t come back.

Reaching her room(it was definitely still her’s), the door irised open and she slowly stepped in, looking around for Akan. He was on the bed, and quickly sat up upon the door opening. Akan looked slightly panicked, as if he’d been expecting someone else, and he sighed with relief when the door shut and he saw no one with her. And for some reason, Shadow just stood there.

It was at least five minutes of the two of them staring at each other blankly, not moving at all, before Akan mumbled a stupid question that had no relevance whatsoever, “Have you ah...um...seen Toby since you got back?”

Shadow managed to look confused for a second before shaking her head. There was a question on the tip of her tongue, but it was just as pointless as the one Akan had asked. Instead, a sudden thought that she’d kept back for a while rose up. In a second, she was grinning, but not that worrying grin that Akan was so used to...and that in itself was worrying.

And then, without any warning, Shadow pounced him, laughing and grinning before finally pinning him down, “I did it! Can you believe it?! Free! HA! Now there won’t be any problems! I can do whatever, now! Maybe even start a fam—“

She suddenly cut herself off, not even completely sure why. Akan stared up at her somewhat confused, and again a long silence hung in the air. Eventually, Akan started to notice how uncomfortable it was(not to say a thing about the odd way that Shadow was holding him down), and attempted another somewhat pathetic attempt at conversation, “So...that means we can um...get Ket and Nine now?”

Shadow’s blank expression faded into a sullen one and she slumped slightly, “I don’t know. I will have to...speak with my mother. She is still the one who will decide what we do...and...and...”

“...and?” Akan tilted his head a little as she tried to look away, despite the fact that she was directly over him.

“And nothing,” Shadow finished quickly, a little too quickly and the both of them noticed it. Quickly, a smile developed on her face, something Akan was still getting used to seeing, “But we’ll deal with that when we get there. Now we don’t have to worry about being watched all the time...of course, we will be, but not in that way. So I can show you around the planet!”

She added a short purr at the end of it, which somehow jolted Akan back into the reality of just how close she was. Why that was making him so nervous, he had no idea. But, quickly, he nodded and suggested, “Maybe you should go track down Toby? The little guy would probably like seeing you.”

After raising an eyebrow, Shadow shrugged and hopped off of him to her feet, “Fine, but you’re dealing with the brat.”

Pivoting on one foot, Shadow turned and headed out of the room towards where she figured the little Toby would be. All the while, she couldn’t help plotting what to do with him. Maybe feed him to a Dragon. Nah...that would be cruel...maybe just come really close to feeding him to a Dragon. She grinned. Perfect.

It only took a couple of minutes to walk to the right place, and the door opened up to reveal about fifteen little Alraxians playing in a very large room. Some were playing little games involving grring at each other and pouncing, others had some small blocks that would sprout legs and crawl across the room sometimes, and others were just pawing at the walls and trying to climb up from the look of it. Off to the left was a large, open window where the keepers likely were watching from.

Upon Shadow’s entrance, all of the children stopped and stared up at her with big, curious eyes. Suddenly, from in the middle of one of the larger groups, a familiar voice cried out, “SHADY!!”

Tobias pounced over two of the other children, climbing over another and falling on his face. That didn’t seem to deter him, though, as he quickly got back to his feet and bounded over to he, purring loudly. When he got close, Toby pounced up at her, and Shadow only caught him out of reflex. A second later, all the other children were at her feet, purring and giggling at something.

She raised an eyebrow, but looked down to Toby in her arms, “Come on, lets get out of here.”

“But we not allowed go anywhere,” Toby announced in the drone like voice of a child repeating a rule that he never intended to follow.

Stepping back out into the hallway anyway, Shadow shrugged and said, “Yes, well, you’re allowed now.”

“Why?” was the quick response just as the door behind them shut again.

“Because Akan told me to come and get you,” Shadow said flatly.

At Akan’s name, the little child’s eyes lit up and he smiled, but he only said, “Why?”

“I don’t know,” Shadow grumbled, “He’s an idiot.”

“Why?”

This time, Shadow gave the child a sideways glance, noting that he had a neutral expression on his face. Somewhat annoyed, she answered anyway, “He was probably born that way.”

“Why?”

“Because he asked too many questions as a little child!” Shadow yelled as they turned a corner towards her room again.

Of course, the response from Toby was, “Why?”

“Because!” she snapped as they finally reached the door.

It irised open to reveal Akan standing there looking somewhat nervous. Though when he saw the two of them, he smiled. And, of course, Toby looked up to Shadow and asked simply, “Why?”

“GAH!” she growled and suddenly through Tobias at Akan, “Take the little brat!”

In mid air, the child spun around and clung to Akan, who caught him without trouble. Grinning now, Akan looked down to Tobias, “Why do I get the feeling you’re asking for trouble?”

Tobias looked up to Akan and purred before looking straight over to Shadow, “Why?”

“That’s it!” Shadow yelled, stomping her way over to the two of them, “I’m feeding you to the Dragons! I don’t care what anyone says, you’ll probably taste good, anyway!”

She reached out and grabbing Tobias’s waist, doing her best to wrench him away from Akan. Akan held on for some foolish reason, but at the same time, Tobias’ claws dug into Akan’s chest as he wailed, “Why! Why! Why! Why!”

Somehow, Akan and Tobias managed to save the child from Shadow, and on some random idea, Akan ran past her, laughing as Tobias yelled, “Why!” over and over again.

They charged down the hallway towards where Akan remembered the nearest exit to the outside was. Behind them, Shadow chased as fast as she could, screaming about revenge and pushing anyone that happened to get in the way off to the side. Surprisingly, these Alraxians only grinned, obviously happy to see their Enai’la happy, even if she was screaming about feeding the child to Dragons.

It settled many worries, and word would soon spread quickly. That was one less worry. At least, for most of them. At least one Alraxian that they pushed by just growled in annoyance, but Kato was annoyed easily...especially considering the circumstances of what rushed right passed her.

((_Late because of a server problem last night. Things slowed down when I was about to post it and instead of waiting it out I went to bed. Forgive me! _))


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Just wanted to make a note that its going to be another early afternoon update on its way. I've got to get into a better sleeping pattern and will probably be shifting to a different schedule on which to get these things posted. However, big update tommorrow.

Promise.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 188: Parallel Histories*

After only a few minutes, Tobias escaped both Akan and Shadow, bounding off into the palace and back to play with the rest of his new friends. Akan couldn’t help but feel at least slightly hurt by this, but it really wasn’t important. The little guy was happy and at least he wasn’t hanging around so much to be impossibly annoying.

And besides, Shadow was already running across the grass covered courtyard in the other direction, yelling back, “Come on, Akan! I’ll show you my world!”

She then jumped, morphed into a bird, and started to fly off. Akan chased after her, yelling up at the small bird, “Wait! Hey! Why can’t...we...just...walk,” he sighed and rolled his eyes, “Not that you can hear me, of course.”

With a sigh, he gave in. A few moments later, a similar looking bird caught up with her. Noticing he’d caught up, Shadow smiled mentally. It was odd normally, but with the link being all strange, it was even worse than usual. So was her ‘voice’, which was obvious projected through the Force instead of their link. [You sound like every other Alraxian! ‘I don’t wanna morph!’ ‘Its too much work!’ Blah blah blah blah!]

[Oh, shut up.] was the only reply he could think of, but he quickly added to it. [So where are we going, anyway?]

[There’s some ancient temples off on an island to the north.] Shadow answered, swerving back and forth through the air and obviously having far too much fun flying around as a bird. 

Akan found himself looking down, noticing that the land under them had already faded into a beautiful, blue-green seas. Water that was oddly reminiscent of Akan’s lightsaber. And somehow, that tangential thought brought a question to his mind. [How ancient is ancient to an Alraxian, anyway?]

The Force rippled with a positive feeling from Shadow, one that he interpreted as a smile while she tried to figure it out in ‘galactic’ standard time. [Ooohh...about twenty thousand years ancient.]

[Wow...ancient.] Akan responded lamely, then both of them went quiet.

Keeping up talking like that took far too much effort. While through the link it only required thinking in just the right way to ‘talk’, using the Force meant one had to project your thoughts right at the other person and focus on it so that it was understood. All in all, when mixed with the fact that they were flying hundreds of meters above the ground where predators could be seen, it was just easier to wait until they arrived to do any talking. But the issue of predators brought up something that Shadow would need to talk with him about.

Essentially, everything on the planet had a habit of feeding on Alraxians. The only actual advantage that Alraxians had was their ability to heal wounds through morphing. Beyond that, everything was bigger, faster, stronger, and definitely meaner. While certain ones could be tamed, it wasn’t something that was worth even thinking about when out away from the protected cities. Everyone of the Alraxian’s cities had a powerful energy field around it, meant to keep predators out.

It was lowered and raised constantly as Alraxians and such moved through, but only in certain spots. Like little doorways in a giant, invisible dome. Small enough that larger predators, such as the Dragons, couldn’t get through. Wandering outside the shield was usually considered stupid, and very few did so without a ship. But Shadow being Shadow, she’d always snuck out even if she got scolded by her mother every single time. This time though, she wouldn’t be...hopefully.

After only a few minutes, Shadow started dropping closer to the water, and Akan soon saw why. There was an island. It was small from the altitude they were at, but he realized that the tree covered island was actually close to the size of the gigantic palace they’d left. Jutting out from the green trees, in multiple places, was an obvious structure. Though whatever it was made of, Akan couldn’t figure. At points, he could see a greyish stone, but it would drop below the tree line and there would be a definite shine of metal. Metal! What in the name of the Force was metal doing like that? Most Alraxians could barely stand to touch it, let alone live in a place or build some place made of it.

Shadow led the way down, through the thick trees and to the soft ground below. In a few more moments, they were themselves again, and Akan couldn’t help but be happy to be standing on solid ground again. They were surrounded by trees. Akan could feel the whole place bursting with life, but whatever there was seemed to be keeping its distance. Shadow stretched, grinned, and then led the way forward without a word.

He followed through the trees and the thick vegetation all around them, and it took only a few minutes before his feet were no longer walking on the soft dirt, but instead made an echoing sound that only metal could make. He had been looking down at the dulled silver at his feet and had completely missed the fact that this was the first step into an open ‘cave’ of metal. Akan blinked, then realized that it was just a building and they’d stepped in through a large whole in the wall where trees were growing all around.

“Looks like home...” Akan commented, getting used to the feel of the metal under his feet again as Shadow nodded and led the way across the small room to a set of stairs. She went up. He followed...slightly curious as to why she’d gone so silent all of a sudden. The steps were steep, and went up for a good distance into another half opened room. This one, though, was above the tree line.

Stepping up into the room, Akan could immediately see all the way across the island, the bright green of the tree tops a very welcome sight. It really felt so alive. He then had a look around the room. It looked like a very, very old style of design that you could find in the lower levels of Coruscant. His eyes trailed over the metal walls to where Shadow had walked to. She was grinning and leaning on a computer. It had to be a computer. Sure, it was old...very, very old, but it was an actual computer! There was even a slot or two for datacards! And a holoprojector!

“Thought you’d like it,” Shadow commented with a grin at seeing his surprise, “Not many people know its here...and yes, it still works.”

To prove it, Shadow hit a switch on one of the outstretched consoles. The main screen on the wall flickered, as did the holoprojector, and then both switched on, showing a symbol that Akan knew only from the history holos. And not just any history holos. It had been on the datapads and such that he’d found in the lower levels of Coruscant years and years ago. It was the symbol of the Jedi of the Old Republic. The Jedi. The real Jedi...before the Purge. The Jedi that even Akan dreamed of as heroes and saviors. The people he wished he could be...and knew he wasn’t, no matter how hard he tried.

“Wait a second...” something else hit him. Something else that had been bugging him since arriving at this place. Quickly, he walked over and pointed to it, “That’s...that’s the symbol of the ancient Jedi Order!”

It was a question without being a question. But to his surprise, Shadow didn’t nod like he’d expected. Instead, she gave him a confused look and shook her head, “Noooo....that’s the Empress’ insignia.”

So he’d been right. He had seen it before! It was all over the palace, in fact. Above nearly every entrance, was that design...one he’d seen before years ago on an ancient datapad. And here it was, the symbol of the Empress of the Alraxian Empire out in the Unknown Regions. 

Akan said slowly, “It may be...but its also the symbol of the ancient Jedi Order,” he went silent a moment and bit his lip, holding back the question she probably didn’t even have an answer to. But no, it needed to be asked. It was begging to be asked.

“That ancient weapon you’ve got is a lightsaber. It’s the weapon of the Empress, you said,” Akan said, carefully putting down all the pieces, “But again, its also the weapon of the Jedi Knights. The symbol of the old Jedi Order is all over the place here...but it’s the symbol of the Empress. Obviously, there’s a connection...but, how?”

Shadow just shrugged, “I dunno. There are some old stories about Jedi, but they’re just stories. Legend says that the Jedi helped to end the Darkwing Wars thousands of years ago. Its not like our people haven’t ventured to the rest of the galaxy here and there, either, so they could have popped up in one way or another.”

“But look at this place!” Akan said, his voice echoing through the room, “Its like Coruscant...but here on Alraxia! There were Jedi here!”

“You know, Akan, there’s an easier way to do this than speculating,” Shadow said, idly tapping a finger on the wall, having given up on being subtle about it anymore. When he gave her a ‘huh?’ look, she nodded towards the computer, “You could ask it.”

It was so obvious that he’d missed it. In a matter of moments, the computer was speaking in a form of Basic that was definitely ancient. He could understand it, but it was accented and some of the words were pronounced oddly. And the first thing it told them was that it was the history of Jedi Outpost Eight Seven. And as it told of what the place was, how it had been set up, and continued on, Akan stared at that small Jedi symbol in the holoprojector and just listened...amazed at every word, and not even completely sure of what it all meant.


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## trexmaster

Wow ! Just read the entire thread (took me a couple days actually) and ... man ... wow ! What a great SH ! And you even update it really often ! Really, really cool !

Loved the part when Akan burst out at the royal table ! Must've felt good to punch at least one of those pompous 4ssh0les' (sorry, had to edit that so it wouldn't be "corrected")  But I still wonder if he'll one day be able to admit, both to himself and to Shadow, that he loves her. But please don't answer that and just keep the updates comming


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## aros

but what did the computer say!!!! ahhh dont stop now!!!


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 189: News by Moonlight*

Truthfully, the reason for the challenge in understanding all of the information that the ancient computer gave was simple. There were gaps. A huge amount of gaps. What was there was mostly things that Akan had known from what Shadow had said about legends and stories. The Sith and the Darkwing Wars, a group of Jedi arriving and ending the war and driving back the Sith. Now he knew, though, what happened to those Jedi. They did not simply go back. They stayed. The outpost was proof of it, and apparently, there were many, many others throughout the Alraxian Empire...and maybe even in the bordering Mrrakesh worlds.

Why the Jedi stayed behind, and even how many did, was one of the gaps. What exactly the Jedi did to end the Darkwing Wars was also broken into pieces. From reports of some of the battles, there had to have been at least two million Sith warriors, not including the Darkwings they had created. How was such a large number stopped when, according to the data, the rest of the Great Hyperspace War, as it was labeled, was being fought on the exact opposite side of the galaxy? How had the Jedi even found the place? How had the Sith? And then there were other things...

Things that got Akan’s attention much more than just the history. Short passages dealing with ‘adapting the species to their new environment’, ‘implications of the species’ genetic similarities’, and even many sections on ‘the true nature of the Force’. The latter all echoed what Shadow had taught him, and what Akan had come to learn was what the Alraxians as a whole believed. No Dark Side and no Light Side. Just the Force. It is the individual that is the darkness or the light. This was not anything new to the Jedi Order, from what Akan had learned...but he couldn’t believe that a group of Jedi Knights so very long ago would have developed the ideas to the point that they were embraced by the Alraxians.

And that just led to what was really bothering him. The connection between the Jedi and the Alraxians. It was something much, much more than just the Jedi ending the Darkwing Wars. It had to be. If it wasn’t, then the Alraxians wouldn’t be using a Jedi symbol for their Empress’ insignia. They wouldn’t have a lightsaber as the Empress’ weapon. He also wouldn’t be hearing the word ‘Jedi’ in the midst of them speaking in Alraxian while they gave him sideways looks. There were no Jedi alive anymore in the Empire, that he was sure of. Yet he didn’t know how long it had been. Perhaps there had been Jedi around for thousands of years...but no, even with a heretical idea like the one the Alraxians believed, the society would have more influences of it. But they were all just simple little things that hinted more than told. Just like the records in the computer.

But then the computer mentioned something else. It said that the Jendari were very close with the ancient Jedi, and were the keepers of the Jedi’s relics and records. The Jendari, essentially, ran a small Jedi Library in the Alraxian Empire. Or at least, twenty thousand years ago they did. But it was still something that caught his interest. Shadow had once told him that the Jendari were the Alraxian’s closest allies. She spoke of them as wise, and a species that had lived in this part of the galaxy long enough to have seen the birth of both the Alraxians and the Mrrakesh. They were old when the Sith arrived. And that meant that they had to know something.

For four hours, they listened to the computer. Night had fallen at least an hour earlier, but with the light that was coming in, it felt more like dusk. Akan took no notice of this. Partially because he had no idea what to expect even after days on the planet, but mostly because he was trying to rewire the computer to fill the gaps in the history and information. Shadow had tried to help, but he was being a little crazy about it and kept her away.

With a sigh, she turned and started to walk towards the stairs to leave, saying over her shoulder, “Come on, we should go...people will probably be worrying now.”

Then she caught sight of something outside the ruined wall. The sky was way too bright. Alraxia’s star should have set long ago. Sure, one of the moons would provide a little light...but not this much. Slowly, she walked over to the edge of the room and looked outside. She couldn’t help a slight gasp at what she saw. All three of Alraxia’s moons hung in different positions in the sky, and all of them were full. Very slowly, Shadow called back, “A-Akan...you should come and see this...”

Though he had passed her off the first time, Akan noticed the change in tone of her voice and turned to see her staring blankly up and out into the sky. He got up and walked over next to her, looking up and his eyes widening in surprise. It wasn’t just how bright they were, but the brilliant colours. One of the moons was a simple grey colour, boring but still radiant. Another looked like a tiny version of Alraxia, blue and green in the blackness. The third was a completely ice blue colour, and was actually hard to look at considering the brightness of it.

Shadow watched him for a moment then heard a noise. It was soft, and she was almost surprised when she didn’t jump and try to kill something. Instead, she looked around, saying quietly, “I think there’s something...” 

And then Shadow trailed off upon seeing the source of the sound. From the wall next to them, a lizard about the size of Shadow’s hand worked its way into the moon light. She grinned slightly and looked back up again, “Heh...even the lizard came out to see.”

When he didn’t seem to be responding at all, Shadow turned to glance at him to make sure he was still breathing. He was still there, staring up at the moons, and instead of saying anything, Shadow found herself somewhat lost for words. It was kind of strange...his white hair was a silvery colour from the moonlight, and the blue stripe was gleaming.

She stared for a moment before looking away, embarrassed with herself for thinking it. Though it was true...he did look good.

Akan had been pretty much lost in his own thought, though whatever those thoughts were, even he wasn’t sure. It was just...amazing. He’d seen hundreds of planets and countless more full moons, but nothing ever like this. Suddenly, he realized she’d said something, “Oh! Oh...yes...lizard...yes...”

Trailing off lamely, Akan couldn’t help but feel even more foolish. He couldn’t even figure out completely why...well, no, he had an idea...no, no. But...well...maybe it was the way...the way she was looking at him. It was unnerving. So much so that, for a moment, it felt as if the entire galaxy was staring at him and screaming at him to do something.  Knowing his luck, it probably was. Just do something. Anything besides standing there like an idiot after such a stupid sentence.

But he was good at just standing around like an idiot! That’s what one learned to do in the military! Stand there, shut up, and do what you’re told. You don’t think. Why that didn’t work in the rest of his life, Akan didn’t know. It really wasn’t fair.

Giving into the wishes of the galaxy, Akan tried again, “Its...its um...nice.”

Nice. Yes, its nice. Great choice of words. Even an idiot that couldn’t speak Basic could find a better word to describe it than ‘nice’. So, like a good idiot, Akan didn’t just stop there, and continued to attempt making sense, “How often does this happen...?”	

Shadow shuffled her feet, looked slightly more embarrassed, then said quietly, “I um...I don’t know...”

Great! Just great! Now he was making her feel stupid, too. That just didn’t seem to help anything. Whatever this ‘anything’ was, of course, he didn’t know. Akan nearly sighed, but instead mumbled, “Oh...I guess that uhh—“

He was silenced when she placed a finger over his lips. His mind had literally gone blank in that second. That little voice that was in the back of his head taunting him had suddenly disappeared, and all he could find in its place was the equivalent of a ‘You’re on your own’ sign. And he sure felt on his own. The galaxy wasn’t saying anything to him anymore, and the Force sure as hell was being eerily silent.

And she was staring at him. She wasn’t trying to hide it, either. It did nothing but heighten his confusion. Yet...she...her hair was shining slightly. And her eyes...he’d never really noticed the way that the silver in them made the violent all that more brilliant. And the way she stood...positioned so that the moonlight made almost all of her shine slightly. Slowly, Akan found himself reaching up and resting a hand on her cheek. To his surprise(more so than the fact that he hadn’t tried to move his arm), she rubbed her cheek against his hand and purred slightly.

This only lasted for a few very long seconds, before the purring quickly came to a stop. Shadow looked up to him at first confused, and then straight on to being utterly lost. Very slightly, she tilted her head up took look at him as though to ask a question.

She didn’t.

He didn’t care.

As she took a small step forward, Akan saw an expression on her face that he’d never seen before. Something he didn’t have a word for. Not that he had words for much at the moment, anyway. Without even realizing it, Akan slowly leaned down towards her, his hand not moving from her cheek. In an instant, their lips met. Both of them held the kiss for what felt like an eternity, though only a few moments later, the both of them slowly pulled back at almost the same time, eyes locked the other’s.

A thousand thoughts that didn’t even make sense raced through both of their minds as they held each other’s gaze. Neither of them broke it, and neither of them knew what to do. Akan’s mind had gone from blank, to sheer insanity, then straight back to blank again. His hand still hadn’t moved, and they were both still very close.

There was an incredibly long moment in Shadow’s mind before thought caught up to action and started screaming. She blinked once. Her lips were tingling as much as her spine was. Still looking up at him, Shadow opened her mouth to say something. No words came out. She had no idea what to say. So, of course, she closed her mouth again and stood there staring.

_That was...new..._ Marix cut into her thoughts, and all Shadow could do was agree.

And then, after another incredibly long pause, both Akan and Shadow, even without the link, came to the same conclusion. It would never, ever be spoken of again. Starting now.

“We should get back,” Shadow said, her voice still shaky, though they both ignored it. Akan just nodded, and seconds later, the two birds were off of the island and flying back to the palace, trying not to think. Neither of them spoke.

* * * *​
From down near the base of the ancient ‘Temple’, two figures emerged. Both were Alraxians. One male and one female. They were still staring up at the second level of the ancient building where the two others had been. Slowly, the male asked, “Did you see that...?”

“Yeah...” the female nodded slowly.

“So what do we do...?” he asked, blinking and taking everything in slightly.

“I’m not sure...” she replied slowly.

A long silence then passed as the two of them passed along what they’d seen through the Network. Then, the female shrugged, “Who’d have thought we’d come all the way out here to stupid the full moons’ effects on reptiles and...”

The male laughed and nodded, “And you said it was boring.”

She smiled and indicated the objects they were carrying, “Come on, lets get back to the lab and put this data in. We can send it when we get there...” she trailed off a moment to look up at the spot one more time, her smile growing, “The Empire is going to get to see their next Enai is safe and happy on her return.”

“Safe?” the male laughed, obviously indicating the descriptions of the Enai’s mate as being slightly unhinged and just a little bit dangerous.

“Oh, hush,” she batted his arm and they started off to get back and spread the news.


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## trexmaster

Gnaaaahhhh !!! I. WANT. MORE !

Btw, great work AMG (yeah, yeah I know, already said it, but more compliments can't hurt  ).


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 190: Twisted Ways*

Faban Sunrunner sat silently at his home on Alraxia, far from the Palace, thankfully. He was still very annoyed with what had occurred, but they were larger and more important matters to tend to. It had taken much talking with the Dark Council, such a stupid name, but for some reason they wouldn’t change it, but he finally gave in and had worked out a way for a landing to occur. It should have already happened by now, but he was still nervous about it. Nervous despite everything he knew. But risks had to be taken if he was to keep the Empire out of that child’s hands. She would do no good for any of them.

And that should have been the hard work.

But, typically, more mundane matters were the ones making everything complicated. And, as usual in the last few days, it was Kato. Yes, she would make a good, strong Empress, but it seemed like the simplest and most foolish things were affecting her better judgement lately. At first, she’d just screamed at him about Marix’s returning. Faban just let her scream and scream until she finally realized that, in the end, it didn’t effect anything.

And then came the topic that he’d been waiting for. Kato asked about her link with the young man. Faban assured her that everything had been completed, and after convincing her to calm down and just allow herself to feel, Kato smiled and finally stopped babbling on with the complaints.

So the boy would live. He had to. If not for Kato’s selfishness, than for the small piece of information that Faban had uncovered. It was something he had not told Kato, however, and something he didn’t plan to tell anyone until it was confirmed. He needed to check a few more records, and then report it to the Empress. Such a cool irony to have her give the final comfirmation.

* * * *​
Neither Shadow nor Akan spoke at all on the way back to the palace or even for hours after they arrived. Though night had fallen, it was still far too early to sleep, which would have been an easy escape. So instead, they both sat in their room. Akan on the bed, idly fidgeting and thinking to himself and Shadow in a chair on the other side of the room, sharpening a small, metal dagger. She had pulled it from a miniature ‘armory’ hidden in her closet. Despite everything, they refused to go anywhere without the other. It was too dangerous. With both of them together, there was someone else there to agree that what might have happened had not actually happened...but if only one of them was there...the possibilities were dangerous.

Of course, the silence was doing no good but making Akan think more. His mind hadn’t stopped racing and, from the look on Shadow’s face, neither had her’s. At least it was even. But it was getting late, and ever since they’d gotten back they’d just been sitting in the room like this. Taking a deep breath, he attempted yet again to voice a simple thing that probably didn’t even need to be mentioned in the first place.

This time, though, his voice actually worked, even if it was barely above a croaked whisper, “Um...I...I’m...um...hungry...shouldn’t we go eat or something?”

Distantly hearing him mention something about hunger, Shadow stopped what she was doing and said calmly, “Food is good.”

She then got to her feet, carefully examining the dagger before sheathing it and placing it on her belt. It was time to prove she could wear a weapon openly...especially around her family. Looking over to Akan as he also stood up, she added, “I think we’ve missed the actual meal, but if we beg at the kitchen I think we can get something.”

As one, they hurried to the door. Somehow, though, Akan was there faster, and in her haste, Shadow nearly slammed into him. She quickly backed up to avoid it, but instead tripped over the chair behind her. She yelped involuntarily, and Akan instinctively spun around to catch her. Of course, Shadow batted his arms away and hit the floor hard. 

Grumbling a curse, she got to her feet, dusted herself off, then led the way out of the room and off to the kitchen. Their walk down the hallways was not without incident, though. They passed an Alraxian woman who, upon seeing them, smiled and said something in Alraxian that Akan didn’t understand. But Shadow’s scowl showed that she knew what had been said, as did the fact that she reached back and grabbed Akan’s arm. She then swiftly dragged him along as fast as she could.

But of course, that was still the easy part. The hard part was very literally hard, as Shadow rounded a corner too tightly and dragged him straight into a wall. He yelped, whimpered, and that got them even more attention and grins. Grumbling something about him being useless, Shadow slowed down but finally got them to the kitchen. After a few more minutes, they convinced the cooks to make them some food, and it wasn’t long before they were sitting next to each other, silently eating.

The silence didn’t last long, though, especially considering that there was a question begging to be asked. Akan waited until he’d finished one of the very good tasting pieces of meat before asking it, “...what were they saying?”

When she coughed and nearly choked on some vegetable, it was really all the answer Akan needed, not to mention all that Shadow was going to give before slowly and calmly going back to her food. Akan sighed and just went back to his own plate. But there was something else. Something in a familiar place that did not in any way feel familiar. It had been there since Shadow had first disappeared when they’d arrived at the Palace. It was the link. It had to be...he could only describe it as a certain spot in his mind dedicated to the link itself.

It had faded away for a time, and then was slowly growing...yet he felt nothing from Shadow. He was sure of that now...after...after...after nothing had happened. But there was something. Something different and odd and...altogether wrong. He had gotten so very used to Shadow’s mind being almost literally half of his, that anything else felt like a sickening attachment. And the feeling was growing.

And then the Force had its fun with the universe, because at that moment, Kato strode in. She looked to Akan and smiled as she passed, and then returned a few moments later with food of her own. Calmly, she had a seat on the other side of Akan, sitting close enough that she was shoulder to shoulder with him. With a smile on her face, she said softly, “Good evening, Jedi Boy.”

After the last two words, a low growl could be heard on the other side of Akan from Shadow. But Kato just ignored her, raising an eyebrow at Akan’s lack of noticeable reaction, “You are alright? You seem...unhappy.”

Akan felt something odd, which caused him to hesitate. The hesitation lasted long enough that Shadow had frozen, wondering why he wasn’t saying anything and just sitting there blankly. She was as relieved as Akan was when he managed to find his voice and firmly state, “I’m fine.”

He then shifted and move to sit closer to Shadow, doing his absolute best not to glance over at Kato. Doing his best not to...not to what?! Why had he even hesitated a moment ago? What was wrong with him?! And what were those...not those, that feeling. That sickeningly close feeling that was wracking through his mind. In a second, his eyes widened as he realized what the source of the problem was.

It hit him in a moment and he was even more disgusted than he had been before. Just when things were working out, one more thing had to go horribly wrong...the galaxy just had to find new ways to collapse in on him. It took every ounce of willpower that Akan had left to not tear Kato apart. But even if he hadn’t fought against that, he was too sickened to move.

Shadow was staring blankly at him, though not able to feel him through their link, the Force gave insight to the pain. His eyes found her’s and she didn’t even have to ask the stupid ‘what’s wrong?’ question. It took a moment for her to get the answer to the question that didn’t need to be asked, and Akan’s voice came out hoarse and sounding as if he’d been punched hard in the stomach, “The link...I know what’s happened to it...Kato...”

He trailed off, unable to continue without feeling even more so like he was going to be sick. But it was all that needed to be said. Immediately, Shadow put the pieces together and knew exactly what he meant. In a second, she was up on her feet, pushing Akan away from Kato and drawing her dagger in the same motion.

As the metal blade hung in the air only centimeters from Kato’s face, Shadow snarled, “You foul, twisted...”

Surprised at her cousin’s sudden reaction, she drew back slightly and snarled back, a glare in her once soft eyes, “You dare call me twisted?!”

“I’m not the one who learned to speak Trade to seduce someone else’s mate!” Shadow yelled at the top of her lungs, taking a full step forward so that the large dagger was once again in front of Kato’s face.

A look of panic washed through Kato’s eyes for a half second, but then she growled an order. And old one that might have worked a day ago. But when Shadow only twitched, Kato went pale. At that, Shadow could only smile a cruel smile, “That will not work on me now, cousin.”

Slowly, Kato got to her feet, with Shadow’s metal blade following her all the way up. They stood eye to eye, and though Kato was still pale coloured, she held Shadow’s glare and said firmly, “Then at least fight me hand to hand.”

“You aren’t worth it!” Shadow snapped, inching the blade just slightly closer, enough to be almost touching the pretty faced Kato’s soft cheek, “I could drive this blade into you and no one could do anything about it now!”

“You would gain your freedom and lose your honour?” Kato asked quickly and angrily, her body tense and ready for anything.

But Shadow only responded by slashing across Kato’s cheek with the blade, slicing a long and deep cut before she jammed the dagger hard into the table. Kato didn’t whimper, but obviously was in pain from the way she winced, though even Shadow was surprised that Kato let the blue blood continue to run down her face. But when the metal was gone, Kato started moving.

She lashed out with a fist to Shadow’s face, which was caught, and Shadow then swiftly broke Kato’s hand with a very loud crack that echoed through the room. Kato cried out in pain, but didn’t give up. She pulled back slightly, just enough to give her room to kick at Shadow. But even though Kato was fast, Shadow was faster. She caught her cousins’ foot, broke that, too, and then pushed Kato off to the ground. The lilac haired Alraxian hit the ground with both a thud and a cry, and in a second more sounds joined.

The guards had come, and with them, Shadow’s brother Gawain, who growled across the room to her, “No fighting here, scum!”

But by now, Akan had gotten himself composed. Seeing Shadow harming Kato helped in a twisted way. And seeing Gawain was moving towards Shadow with a glare in his eyes, Akan got to his feet, ripped the dagger out of the table, and threw it. It didn’t hit Gawain, but it flew past his nose only millimeters away before sticking into the wall behind him. That made him freeze, as with the rest of the guards who were suddenly looking both to Akan and Shadow.

There was a stand off, with the only noise Kato’s whimpering on the floor. And then another person entered the room...Alyx, Marix’s twin. He looked around in horror, and quickly caught onto the situation. Immediately, he called to his sister, “Come on...you know you can’t fight her here!”

Shadow looked past all of the guards to her twin, then back to the squirming Kato. She could fight, but she had not been trained to morph, it seemed. When Shadow nodded, all of the guards and Gawain took a single step forward. At this, she snarled at them all, “You have no reason to detain me. Go about your duties, now!”

She reached out with the Force and the small dagger wrenched itself out of the wall and flew back across the room(nearly hitting Gawain in the head again) before landing easily in Shadow’s grip. For a moment, everyone hesitated, not know what she was going to do. When she sheathed the blade, much of the new tension left the room. Shadow then turned to look to Akan, who was standing behind her still looking stunned and confused.

Ignoring the guards that were now slowly and carefully approaching, Shadow knelt down next to Kato and lifted up her cousin by the throat. Holding her there a moment before asking venomously, “What did you do to my link?! How do I get it back?! Must I kill you? Because I’m going to find a way to kill you one way or another!”

Kato gasped and croaked out a series of non-words, unable to breathe in Shadow’s firm grip. When she passed out, Shadow snarled and let her cousin drop back to the floor. Disgusted, Shadow got back to her feet and growled, “Filth.”

Then she walked over to Akan and carefully helped him to sit down again. The guards were still approaching, but no longer her and Akan...but Kato. That was a first...though it didn’t matter to her. She carefully sat next to him and did the only thing she could think of to help reassure him by resting a hand gently on his shoulder. Shadow didn’t know what to say. Their link was naturally between the two of them...to have it ripped away and given to someone else was something that was simply not done. Yes, it was possible, but it was also painful and wrong. Like attaching the limb of a Wookie to the body of a Human. It was wrong, and the body itself would attempt to reject it...but in the case of rejecting a link, death was the only result.

Shadow silently prayed for a way to make things right.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 191: Healing Wounds*

An hour later and half the palace was awake and up. Shadow’s mother and father were doing their best to calm people down and slowly people were starting to go back to bed. Faban had been called to the palace from his dwelling on the other side of the planet, and he currently stood a few meters away, scowling at Marix and Akan. Akan had just finished speaking with Cole, who now had at least a slightly better understanding of the situation and what needed to be done.

Now, though, she was being lectured by both her mother and father about not fighting in the palace...and especially for using the metal dagger. As her mother talked and healed her wounds, Shadow rolled her eyes. But Cole saw this and clipped her across the back of the head for it. She looked up to glare at him, and that got her clipped across the back of the head again, but this time from her mother. Shadow gave up, and slumped down to be as uncooperative as possible.

And then finally, her mother at the point of screaming at her, Shadow responded simply. She pointed to Faban, and said in not-to-polite words that if he didn’t fix the link, because somehow it had to be his fault, that she would kill him right there in front of everyone.

That, of course, got her two more smacks. Though they were definitely because both of her parents knew she was being serious. A few more minutes passed as Faban denied any knowledge of the occurrences before, finally, he stepped over in front of her.

The older Alraxian leaned down to touch Shadow’s head, but she jerked back and nearly punched him. The only thing that stopped it was Kyren, who was doing his job and keeping the peace...which currently meant catching Shadow’s fist before it reached Faban. But this did not deter her. Something in Faban’s eyes enraged her even more. He knew all about it. She could feel it.

And so, it was only a short time before Kyren was holding her down to the chair as she struggled and cursed. Faban moved down and firmly placed his hands on either side of Shadow’s head, and, of course, she growled and tried to do anything to him. But Kyren held her tightly as Faban put his forehead to her’s. An odd sensation ran through her head for a long second, and then it suddenly turned into a sharp pain.

The pain faded away when Faban let go of her and got back to his feet. Without a word, though looking very annoyed, the old man turned and immediately left the room. But Shadow barely noticed it. She was focused on the change. She grinned suddenly. [I seeee you...]

Akan looked up suddenly, his eyes wide in surprise. A smile slowly worked its way onto his features, and a familiar ‘voice’ echoed through her head. [...thank you.]

Shadow then found herself looking around the room. Her mother had moved over to speak with Kato, and Shadow couldn’t help more of a grin when she saw that her cousin was crying. It wasn’t enough to be completely satisfied, but it was a start, at least.

It was another half an hour before she and Akan were allowed to go to bed. They both quietly reached the room, and though neither of them said anything...they didn’t need to. They could feel each other’s minds again, a little weaker than before, but it would eventually return completely. It was enough, though, that they didn’t really need to speak. Idly, she wandered over to the cupboard and opened it. Shadow was surprised to find more than just her usual two tunics and armor. Now, there was a huge number of clothes...for the both of them, in more styles than she knew existed.

She picked out a plain, clean tunic and tossed it onto the bed. With a sigh, she pulled off her own shirt and wandered into the bathroom, placing the now bloodied shirt off to the side and looking at the old scars. She could vaguely see two scars across her back...Kato’s from a few days earlier. Muttering to herself, she idly traced along the scar across her chest. It was an older one, but a scar was a scar.

“Akan...” she called back into the main room, “How bad are they?”

Not that he needed to walk to look...he’d been watching her. Staring. It wasn’t his fault. He really didn’t mean to...but it was hard not to. She wasn’t wearing anything beyond her trousers and he still wasn’t completely used to the whole Alraxian lack of modesty.

“Huh?” he snapped back into reality, realizing she’d asked a question, then remembered it, “Oh!...right...”

Somewhat nervously, he walked over and stood behind her to examine the scars along her back, trying to ignore that he could see clearly over her and into the mirror where her reflection was. Forcing that back, though, he looked down at the scars, “All the way down your back...they really don’t look good...I can um...try to fix them. I know I’m not very good at it...but I could try.”

When she nodded, he placed a hand over the scar that was higher up. The second that his hand touched her skin, Shadow froze, but then suddenly she jumped away and actually squeaked. Realizing what she’d done, she mumbled something that didn’t make sense, went a deep shade of red, and tried not to look at his face in the mirror. After a deep breath, she steeled herself this time.

Akan gave her a confused look(as the link didn’t make any sense of it, either), and then decided that it was best not to ask. Slowly and more carefully, he tried again, placing one hand over each scar and channeling the Force through them. The entire time, her muscles were tense and she was still a deep shade of red. But at least her breathing was under control. Though in front of her, where he couldn’t see(even in the mirror), she was clenching and unclenching her fists.

Eventually, the scars faded away, though it left Akan even more tired than he already was. Healing was not his thing, and he was really surprised he’d managed to do as much as he did. Once they were gone, though, he idly rubbed her back, telling himself he was making sure they were completely gone.

Shadow was surprised, but couldn’t help but admit that his rubbing her back felt good. She was surprised more to find herself purring, but didn’t stop and didn’t move. Both Akan and Shadow knew that there was at least one scar left. At least ten minutes passed before Akan yawned. It was the kind of yawn that made him stretch, too, like a big cat. She grinned, and in an odd moment for herself, realized he actually could see over her in the mirror. Which meant...

A new sense of modesty shot through her, and Shadow quickly walked back into the main room, picking up the clean tunic and pulled it on. Besides, they needed to get some sleep. It had been a long day. Akan walked back confused, finding that Shadow was already climbing into the bed. She looked at him and grinned, “Plan on sleeping in your clothes?”

There was a level to that which Marix caught and grinned at, though Shadow didn’t...Akan didn’t either, thankfully. Instead, he looked lost, whimpered, and then looked more lost. She smiled and pointed to a cabinet, “Second drawer from the bottom.”

In another few minutes, Akan was in nightclothes and climbed into the bed. The lights went off, and there was silence. It was the kind of silence where you could hear every single sound far too well. Finally, Akan broke it, “Is everything back to normal now...?”

Shadow shrugged, and though Akan didn’t see it, he felt the blankets move from it, “I...think so. The link will return to its strength over time...and...and Kato will stay away from you.”

Akan nodded, closing his eyes a moment, “So what do we do tomorrow?”

“I have to talk with mother about some things...don’t worry about it now,” she said calmly, and then the silence returned. It lasted a few more seconds before Akan felt Shadow shift closer, and heard her voice in the darkness, “...back rub good.”

She was about as subtle as a thermal detonator. But Akan smiled and rolled over to move closer. He carefully slid his hands up the back of her shirt and rubbed her back until she’d fallen asleep. A few minutes later, he, too, fell asleep. It was so easy to fall asleep to the sound of purring...


----------



## Angcuru

So I've reached the latest post.  

DAMNIT!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 192: Another Flight*

The next morning, Shadow had disappeared early for a long talk with her mother. Out of boredom, Akan had wandered the palace, starting to finally feel stuck in the place. He really wanted to get out and...well, do something. Sitting around while Ket and Nine were out there was not in any way comforting. So, knowing by now that there was nothing he could do about it, he found the best way possible of taking his mind off things. Akan found Toby, and stayed with him and all of the little children until they were literally dragged off from him at ‘nap time’.

Akan wasn’t an expert on children, but they seemed far too wild to go to sleep anytime within the next few years. He wasn’t stupid enough to mention it to the caretakers, who seemed dangerous in the way they herded the children away. He had gotten some kind of comment from one of them, though it had been in Alraxian and Akan could only assume it was good because the woman had been smiling and she patted his shoulder.

He then found his way back to the room(probably the only place he was sure of the location of within the palace). Shadow was there, pacing and looking more agitated than usual.

Noticing this immediately, he took a moment to think on his next actions. Something, asking the ‘what’s wrong?’ question could get oneself injured when dealing with her. At that thought, though, she gave him a sharp look. The link...he’d forgotten about it. Grinning weakly, he said, “So...um...what’s the news?”

Shadow’s near-glare held on her face for a moment but it eventually softened and she said calmly, “Let’s talk about it later. How about some more exploring?”

Akan raised an eyebrow at that. He didn’t need the link to know that something was bothering her. Of course, the link sure helped, and also hinted that there was a good amount she wasn’t going to tell him. It also told him that she was trying to get out of the palace for a break...not to talk. It was unlikely he would learn anything from her for a while, then. But Akan nodded anyway, and in a matter of minutes, they were outside and leaving the palace again.

Two birds flying off away from the safety of the palace and out the other direction than they’d gone the day before. Over a series of large, tree covered mountains for a great distance before the forest itself took over again and the land flattened. Though Akan could see water off to his left, it was no where in sight in any other direction. The trees were a much brighter shade of green than Akan was used to seeing, and so he found it was hard to not watch. It was more a turbolaser green than a tree green...

That meant that more than a few times, he looked back in front of him to find that Shadow wasn’t in sight. Thankfully, the link provided clues to where she’d moved to, and it was never far off. Slowly, as they passed over the seemingly endless forest, they both began to descend towards the tree line below. And then something happened.

Akan wasn’t even completely sure what it was that happened, as his eyes weren’t able to completely catch every single movement. But what he did see, though, was a bright flash of a soft blue(which annoyed him, as blue seemed to be everywhere when it came to Alraxians) that shot up out of the trees not far ahead of them. In another microsecond, Akan saw it hit Shadow...no, no he didn’t see it. He felt it. If anything was proof the link was back, that was. It felt like a shock through his...Shadow’s body. It was extremely strong, and so he could imagine how much worse it was for her.

This was proven when time returned to its normal speed and he watched her falling out of the sky. He also saw her body morph back to its Alraxian form, which told him she was unconscious. And considering that they were still a few hundred meters above the tree line(and Akan didn’t even know how high the trees were), that was a bad thing. And a bird could not catch an Alraxian.

Allowing himself to react quickly instead of taking to much time to think, Akan quickly reverted back to his own Alraxian form, and angled himself to fall faster, catching up with her. Catching Shadow was no problem, though, as the second he had her he realized that it was only half of the battle...they were still falling. But he had to keep hold of her! He couldn’t morph to something else...

An idea formed in his mind. It was an idea he wasn’t sure could work, but it was something he tried anyway. The trees rushing up at an incredible speed, Akan focused and willed his body to change...or rather, a part of his body. To his relief, it worked. In a second, two feathered wings sprouted from his back and immediately spread out to slow their fall. They did...to a point.

Akan, however, was no expert on how wings worked. When a sudden, very sharp pain ripped through the new appendages and he saw that the speed of their and combined weight had just torn the wings, he out just how little he knew. The pain was impossible as he felt the rushing air ripping and tearing at the wings. His eyes managed a short glance down to realize it was too late to try anything else, and instead of fighting the trees that they were about to hit, Akan rolled over to take the brunt of the fall away from the still unconscious Shadow.

But again, he hadn’t taken the time to completely think things through. The already damaged wings were now below him and were the first to hit the trees, getting caught on one of the upper limbs and tearing off another large section. Yelping in pain, Akan literally tumbled through the closest tree from branch to branch, breaking through most of them from the speed of the fall but momentarily catching on one here and there as it tore through whatever got caught.

And then, in a second, the rushing movement came to a sudden, extremely painful halt. He hit the ground. He hit the ground hard. The loud snapping noise when he hit could easily have been Akan’s spine, though his head then jerked back and had its own impact with the hard ground below. He felt a sharp, intense pain, and then blacked out immediately. But he was holding Shadow tightly, and as far as he could tell before losing consciousness, he’d taken the brunt of the trees and the fall. It was amazing that in that tiny moment before his head hit the ground that he was able to actually hope she was alright, and at the same time, still worry as to what had actually been the thing that shot up out of the trees.


----------



## trexmaster

AMG, you sure have a gift for cliffhangers...
Can't wait for tomorrow's post !


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Finally getting to changing my update times to sometime before midnight. Sorry for the lack of update last night, but I couldn't get away from something until it was late. I'll attach that something, too.


----------



## Angcuru

Holy Darth Tap-Dancing Vader, Batman!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 193: Round One, The Chase*

When the blackness faded into a dim feeling of consciousness, Shadow noted three things. First, her head hurt...badly. It was spinning and, at the same time, seemed to be trying to escape out of her ears. The last thing she remembered was a flash and then a feeling that she could only compare to a starship slamming into her as it went into hyperspace. Since she was still alive, it probably wasn’t that severe...but damn, it felt it.

Second, she noticed that, oddly enough, she was somewhat comfortable. This confused her more, as did the fact that she felt slightly trapped...and the ground was moving slightly. Rising, rather. No, rising an falling...slowly, and at fairly regular intervals. This didn’t come close to making any sense until she managed to get her eyes open. Actually, that didn’t help at first, since all she saw was a white blur. Blinking, and sitting up slightly, the white blur turned into Akan’s chest. Through the link, she couldn’t feel his mind working, so at first, she panicked and poked him hard in the chest. 

Remembering he was breathing though, she sat up completely and looked down at him to see his eyes were closed. Under his head, the ground was slightly blotched with a blueish colour which made Shadow cringe. Blood. Not just any blood. Very carefully, she moved over and lifted his head up to see the source of it. At least it wasn’t that bad of an opening, and she managed to coax his unconscious body into remorphing the wound before he lost too much more blood.

And then, a sense of horror washed over her as she noticed the third thing. Sniffing the air had brought the usual smells of the forests of Alraxia, but it was suddenly drowned out by something else. Something foreign, something different, and something completely wrong. And she knew exactly what it was. But how?! Now unable to fight back the panic, she grabbed Akan by the shoulders and shook him until he regained consciousness. It wasn’t the best strategy, but it was all she could think of at the moment and it ended up working.

Akan’s eyes blinked a few times and he managed to look more dazed than hurt, “Huh...? Wha happened...?”

Helping him sit up a little too quickly, Shadow said in a stern and worried voice, “I smell Mrrakesh.”

“Wha...?” Akan’s dazed look held for a long moment before the link filled him in on things and helped him get back to working speed, “How...?”

“I don’t know!” she snapped quietly, glancing around the trees but seeing nothing but a few small animals, “There haven’t been Mrrakesh on Alraxia since the Wars!”

“So this is...bad?” obviously, Akan’s mental processes were not yet up to normal.

“Yes, its bad!” Shadow growled, shaking him again for good measure. Maybe it would rattle his brain into place... “A single Mrrakesh could easily kill the both of us! Not to mention that if one knows the location of Alraxia then this whole damned truce is gone!”

Growling to herself, Shadow pulled them both to their feet and started moving. The scent was all around, but not close...it was one. A male, no doubt. He’d been all around the area...where was he now?! Just get away and hide and try to find a way to get to him...

Dragging Akan along, she slid down a larger hill into a small ditch. After taking a quick moment to look around, she looked straight to Akan, “Listen to me. We have to find the Mrrakesh and capture him. If he’s alone, its probably already too late to stop him from reporting the coordinates of this planet...”

“And if he’s not alone...?” Akan asked very hesitantly, his eyes scanning the trees around them and finding nothing.

“If he’s not alone...” she paused, sighed, and said simply, “If he’s not alone, don’t have any regrets. If there’s anything that needs to be said, say it now, because if he isn’t alone, we probably survive.”

Silence. A tense silence. Akan stared at her for a moment, and when he said nothing, she nodded and took something off her small belt. Placing it in his hands, she said, “Normally, I would send my companion back to bring more help...” Shadow smiled slightly, “But normally, my companion is not you.”

The moment it was in his hands, Akan knew exactly what she was handing him. He knew the shape and feel of his lightsaber’s hilt better than anyone. Holding the weapon in his hand, Akan couldn’t help looking surprise, though, “How did you...?”

The smile on Shadow’s face turned into a grin, “I can morph metal, remember? You really should be less dense...” and then, the smile faded and she was suddenly back to business, “Stay low, stay hidden, but keep me in sight. When I tell you, attack...not before. Understand?”

Akan nodded, noting how much planning she was doing before they’d even found out if there was one or more. Well, you could only really plan for one of those situations, anyway. As he nodded, Shadow’s body changed. In a few moments, a metal Alraxian stood in front of him. She nodded, turned, and climbed out of the ditch without another word.

Though in her metal body, Shadow could not smell the Mrrakesh, she already had picked out where the strongest scent was. So she walked through the thick trees and underbrush, a bright shining figure that caught light from nearly everything. And then she saw something. Through the trees, there were large stones. Almost like marble but more of a grey colour to them...but Shadow recognized them instantly, and her eyes scanned the entire forest in front of her. The tree cover was there...but it lessened in large, open paths. Lining the paths were both trees and literal buildings made of stone. Of course, the buildings were crumbling and dead, but this was it. It was the first city. Ironic that the Mrrakesh would hide there...

Slowly, and knowing that Akan was following a short distance behind, Shadow continue towards the old city. As she got closer, a feeling of being watched began to grow. Two more steps, putting her only a few meters from the first of the buildings, and a voice called out from ahead of her.

“Are you the one he sent to deliver the message to me?” the voice echoed through the trees in heavily accented Trade, strong and yet uncertain. But a messenger?! The Mrrakesh had a contact on Alraxia?! How?! True, it would explain how he got to the planet...but...it didn’t make sense!

Shadow did not respond. She couldn’t. Not only could the body she was in not speak, but even if she could, she was at a loss for words. A long minute passed before the Mrrakesh appeared from behind a building. He was tall, well over two and a half meters, with a wolf like appearance. He wore a simple tunic that definitely helped him to blend into the forest, though it was hard for a Mrrakesh to blend anywhere on Alraxia. In his hands, was the weapon that had shot her out of the sky. It most resembled a blaster rifle...or at least something that had evolved from the same basic idea of a few thousand years.

The weapon was trained carefully on her as the Mrrakesh slowly approached, “What are you?!”

Shadow’s response to that was simple. She dove at the Mrrakesh and tried to pin him to the ground. There was a surprised look that crossed his face, but he took a quick step to the side with amazing speed. Just as she reached where he was, the butt of his rifle was slammed hard into the back of her skull. It hit her with a very loud, metallic pang noise, and sent her off balance and into the ground face first.

[Any time now...] she sent through the link while getting back to her feet. Despite the general durability of the metal body, it wasn’t nearly as fast as she was. Which meant that the Mrrakesh was even faster.

And as the Mrrakesh gave her another strong hit with his rifle, a loud snap-hiss from the behind the him, though, caused him to spin around in surprise. Even Shadow was somewhat surprised, not sure how Akan had managed to get all the way back there, but it didn’t matter. As Akan charged forward, lightsaber up and ready, Shadow used the momentary distraction to also attack. But the Mrrakesh was still to fast. Whipping around, the much larger male grabbed both of her arms and used her momentum to literally fling her at Akan.

She hit him hard. Hard enough to nearly knock him out again and force him to lose his grip on his lightsaber, which went tumbling off in the other direction before hitting a tree and deactivating. In a very painful moment, Akan found him pinned between the metal Shadow and a rock digging into his spine. After weakly growling a curse under his breath, he attempted to lift her off. It was impossible for a moment, but then her body slowly morphed back to her Alraxian form and she was off.

Before he could say anything to her, she was getting to her feet and charged after the Mrrakesh, who had taken the moment to run off down what had once likely been a street. [We can’t let him get away!]

Akan nodded, also getting up to his feet and running after her, his right arm reaching out and calling his lightsaber to him. It arrived in his hand just as he had a chance to see the Mrrakesh jump onto something that resembled a speeder bike. There was enough of a break in the trees for him to shoot up out of it, and from the looks of things, that was what he planned to do.

A loud whir echoed through the ancient city as the engine came to life, and after a short glance back at the two approaching Alraxians, the Mrrakesh gunned the vehicle up and away. Shadow was jumping up, morphing the whole time into something...Akan wasn’t paying enough attention to notice what it was. Instead, he had gotten an idea...one that had less than a second to pull off.

Quickly, still charging forward, Akan thumbed his lightsaber’s activation switch mid swing, letting go of the weapon and hurling it up towards where the Mrrakesh’s vehicle would have to pass through. Using the Force to guide it just as the vehicle started its lightning fast rocket out, Akan managed to succeed...but barely. Through a long arc, the tip of the blade managed to slice off the back end of the vehicle, causing a small explosion and a huge plume of black smoke to rise out of it.

As quickly as it had gone up, the Mrrakesh and his speeder bike like vehicle were only rising from momentum now, and in a moment they disappeared back below the treetops. Shadow had stopped her movement, but not her morph, so there in front of him stood a very anxious looking Dragon. It nodded to him and motioned to its back. [Get on, now!!]

Akan nodded, climbed onto the spot between her wings, and held on tight as Shadow got into the air and followed the trail of smoke back to where it had fallen. The faster they moved, the better. If the Mrrakesh had too much time, he’d set up traps...that would only make things worse. At the same time, though, they needed to know where his ship was. Maybe if they could cut him off...no. No, just stick with him. And with that thought, she descended back into the trees, urging Akan off and morphing mid run as they passed the downed vehicle and she led the way after the strong scent of the escaping Mrrakesh.


----------



## Mirage_Patrick

<starts shking due to story withdraw>


must......get......more.....


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 194: Torn*

As fast as their legs could propel them, Shadow and Akan ran through the trees after the Mrrakesh. He couldn’t be far off. They could hear the movement, even thought they weren’t able to see him. And though Akan was charging on as fast as she was, he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d be of any use with his lightsaber gone. But he went on anyway, deciding to do whatever he could, no matter how small it may be.

“He’s heading for his ship,” Shadow growled as she jumped over a small patch of downed limbs and continued on.

“And you know this...how?” Akan asked through his heavy breathing. Sure, the body was stronger and could take more than a Human’s, but running constantly like this was still tiring.

She gave him a sharp look before moving around a tree, “Trust me.”

Not that he didn’t, of course, so that was the end of it. The thick trees slowly began to spread out, leaving more room and less of a need to worry so much about tripping. Shadow, still leading the way, was the first to hear a soft noise in the distance...it was like an electronic sizzle, and while she knew she heard it, she didn’t take time to think about what it was. And then she realized what it was.

Near panic crossing her face, she spun around to attempt to stop herself, reaching out and pushing Akan back hard enough that he nearly flipped over before hitting the ground hard. She had been moving too fast, though, and didn’t have someone to stop her like she’d done for Akan. Instead, she hit it.

It, specifically, was impossible to see until her body impacted with the normally invisible wall of energy. When she ran into it, there was a loud sizzling noise and the entire thing pulsed a soft red colour, out and as far as both of them could see. In the moment of impact, an intense and indescribable pain wracked through her body, so much so that when she opened her mouth to cry out, there was no sound as she hurt too much. It was only for a half second, but the pain was so intense that it felt like it lasted for hours before Shadow was thrown back from the barrier, hitting a tree and falling limp to the ground...limp, but conscious, and still hurting.

Akan blinked. Not only had he nearly landed on his tail, but a moment later he felt the echoes of Shadow’s pain and had frozen from it, gritting his teeth and trying to fight it back. And then, it was gone. It was gone, and yet he still felt Shadow there. He looked up to see her slumped against a nearby tree, and quickly crawled over and asked near frantically, “What happened?!”

Shadow’s eyes managed to move to look at him, but nothing else did. He could tell she was trying to force her mouth to move, but soon gave up on that and tried another form of communication. [...morph. Morph Mrrakesh and go after him...]

Akan looked over his shoulder towards the distinct scent he’d identified as the Mrrakesh. After a short moment, he turned back and shook his head, “I can’t do it without you.”

[Beat him...to the ship...] Shadow was straining to even think the words through their link.

“I’m not leaving you here,” Akan stubbornly stated, putting a hand on her shoulder(though she was too numb to feel it) to emphasize the point.

Her eyes managed to glare at him. [Go. Find the ship...stop him from leaving.]

But, of course, Akan didn’t move. He looked as torn as he felt. He did need to go. He needed to stop this because right now, he was the only thing that was standing in the way of the Mrrakesh and the ship. And yet...he couldn’t just leave her there, helpless. He couldn’t.

“No...” Akan said again, shaking his head, “I can’t leave you here. I...I can’t do this on my own, and you know it.”

Somehow, Shadow gathered up the strength to move her arm, grabbing his tightly as her expression sharpened. She also forced the words out through the echoes of pain and numbness, “Go! If...he gets away, it won’t matter!”

Akan stared at her for a long minute...a long minute that gave the Mrrakesh more time to get away. A long minute that didn’t do anything but work against them. And yet he let it pass, fighting with himself over what he should do. The whole time, he knew there wasn’t a right choice. But there was one that had to be made. And it was inevitable, with his fighting it only causing things to work out worse in the long run.

A mix of anger, confusion, and determination on his face, Akan stood up. It took every bit of willpower he had to turn around and head towards where the Mrrakesh had gone. It took even more to find the form within his mind to will his body to change...and once on the other side of the barrier, which had allowed him to pass through as a Mrrakesh, he immediately returned to his Alraxian body. One last time, he looked over his shoulder to Shadow. Biting his lip to stay silent and mentally kicking himself onward, Akan turned and went forward into the trees and let the Force guide him to the ship.

((_Sorry for the lack of update yesterday...had a rough couple of days with lots going on. Things should be evening out some more now._))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 195: Ultimatum*

Within five minutes, Akan had found the ship. Or at least, he was pretty sure it was what he was looking for. It was not, in any way, anything like a Kanyak. In fact, it reminded him more of a small, but probably very old, bulk freighter design. There were even hints of a Corellian design to it. At first he started to come up with wild ideas of how that would be possible, but then it dawned on Akan how little he really knew of the Mrrakesh. But now he knew something new. They had ships with designs he could sabotage. Or at least...that was the idea. Reaching out with the Force and finding that he could sense nothing nearby, he carefully approached the ship and headed around to the back to tear apart the drives.

Back behind him a good distance, Shadow sat trying to get feeling back in her body. She still couldn’t move, but her thinking was at least less fuzzy and she could focus on Akan through the link. But that was about it. As Shadow focused on trying to move her legs, her ear twitched. It twitched, and then swivelled to the side to find the sound she thought she’d heard.

No...no she’s just imagined it. Or...yes, she’d heard it. That crackling noise again. Which meant that...no, it wasn’t Akan, he was off...off...trying to do something at least. And if it wasn’t Akan...

“Ahhh, thought I smelled something,” the heavily accented voice of the Mrrakesh commented as he stepped out of the brush in front of her. Slowly, the large creature walked over to her, a smile on his lupine features.

[Akan...do what you’re doing quickly. He’s here...] Shadow sent through the link, and at it, she was surprised to see a surprised look on the Mrrakesh’s face.

It then formed into a glare as he reached down with one arm and yanked her up by the neck, “I can sense your thought-speech, ‘raxian.” he glare at her and she returned it as best as she could.

Easily carrying her limp body in one hand, he walked back towards the ship, “You will tell me where your companion is.”

While Shadow didn’t say anything(and couldn’t, even if she’d wanted to), she managed to find the energy to growl weakly. At that, the Mrrakesh simply laughed, sounding honestly amused as he came to a stop and smiled, “No matter. I believe he will find us. Feel free to scream, this will hurt.”

Then, swiftly and easily, the Mrrakesh lifted Shadow up a little more before thrusting her forward. In a half second, she impacted with the invisible wall again. It cracked and nearly exploded with noise, and suddenly she could feel her all of her body again. Of course, it wasn’t the feeling she’d like to have returned. To say that it felt like white hot, searing burning inside and outside of her body was a horrible understatement. If her throat hurt from the painful scream she let out involuntarily, she couldn’t tell, as a second later the Mrrakesh yanked her back and she’d gone numb with pain again.

He smiled again and tilted his head slightly, an ear listening closely to the surroundings, “Surely your companion heard that...” the Mrrakesh idly reached up and rubbed his ear with a free hand, “I doubt much of the planet missed it.”

A couple of minutes of silence passed and Shadow found herself back to square one, even having trouble focusing her eyes. Through the link, Akan was sending questioning feelings and trying to ask what was going on without asking(as he seemed to be smart enough to pick up that straight talking through the link was a bad idea), but she couldn’t even find the will to think in just the right way to send the thoughts through the link.

There was a sigh from the Mrrakesh, and he looked back down to her again, “I would suggest bracing yourself. This will continue to hurt...and much more, I expect.”

Holding her off to his side, the Mrrakesh then stepped forward and through the ‘shield’. For him, it was a simple experience in which he felt nothing at all, and the shield simple crackled and changed colour slightly. Of course, for Shadow, it was another excruciating few moments of pain. He allowed her to linger there for about half a minute before completely pulling her through, and then that smile was back, “That one was a bit muffled, I believe...shall we try again?”

Shadow couldn’t answer, of course. But he didn’t move her to it again. Instead, he froze. Shadow couldn’t help but wonder why, and then ‘heard’ the reason. [That ship won’t be flying anymore...almost back to you.]

Her eyes just widened in both surprise and a form of rage. [This is no time for heroics, Akan!]

The Mrrakesh was looking around and sniffing the air slowly. Though he’d probably only detected Akan’s ‘words’ slightly, he easily picked up on Shadow’s response. A dangerous growl in the back of his throat, the Mrrakesh lifted her up and glared. He did not say anything, however, and instead continued to scan the trees and bushes around.

Slowly, Akan reached a place where he could see the Mrrakesh holding Shadow up in one arm. He knelt down carefully behind a larger tree, only about fifteen meters away from them. For a long time, the Mrrakesh only looked around, his eyes passing right over Akan more than once. He even felt a presence reaching out with the Force, but managed to keep himself hidden from that, too.

And then the Mrrakesh roared, “Show yourself! I know you are there! Show yourself or I will be forced to harm the female!”

Akan glared. It was the only thing he could think of doing that wouldn’t give his position away. He had no opening...nothing...had to wait. Shadow could take it. Through their link, he could feel that...it was hard, and it hurt, but she could do it. So as she fought against the pain, he fought against the urge to try and do something stupid.

When no answer came, the Mrrakesh simply thrust Shadow into the barrier again. Though Akan could hear her scream, it didn’t bother him as much as the fact that he could feel it...distantly, so that it didn’t actually hurt him, but instead tingled and flowed through his skin like nothing he could describe. And then it stopped.

It stopped, and the Mrrakesh called out again. And again, Akan said nothing, though his claws dug into the tree, holding him there as the Mrrakesh threw Shadow into the barrier again. Twice more, the events repeated themselves, each time, Akan’s claws digging in deeper to the tree and Shadow’s voice growing more and more hoarse. Then, finally, it stopped.

“Fine!” the Mrrakesh called out, letting go of Shadow and allowing her to drop down to her knees. One of the Mrrakesh’s hands came around and grabbed the side of her head, while the other pulled out an object that Akan recognized far too well...taking Akan’s lightsaber, the Mrrakesh thrust the hilt of the weapon hard into Shadow’s forehead, and called out, “No more games! Show yourself, or she dies!”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 196: All's Normal Here*

If it had been any other person in the entire galaxy, Akan would have made an intelligent decision. If it anyone at all besides Shadow with a lightsaber hilt to the skull, he would have found another way. And yet...it wasn’t anyone else. It wasn’t anyone else and it was a Mrrakesh who sounded very, very serious holding the weapon. He shouldn’t have thrown the damned thing in the first place! He shouldn’t have...no. Not the time. The Mrrakesh wasn’t bluffing. Akan could feel it.

And so, he did the stupid thing and immediately stood up from his cover before calling out, “I’m here!”

I’m here. Stupid words to a stupid move. Why didn’t he just use the Force and rip the weapon away? Or throw the Mrrakesh back? Or...or anything?! But no, it was too late now. The Mrrakesh had heard the words and turned to face Akan, a grin on his lupine features. He tipped his head slightly and replied calmly, “Keep your hands in my view and step forward slowly.”

So he had another chance. Another chance to rip the weapon away...to dive forward, using the Force to enhance his speed so that he could reach the Mrrakesh before the blade could ignite. He could...could morph into nearly anything! The possibilities were endless and in each one of them, the result was the same. The weapon away, and Shadow safe. Nothing wrong with it at all...and yet...Akan just stepped forward slowly, his hands out at his sides, palms out and open.

“Three steps to your left, then turn away, and start walking forward,” the Mrrakesh ordered Akan, lifting up Shadow again as Akan did as he was told.

And so, in silence, Akan led the way back to the Mrrakesh’s ship. He knew the way, now, but did his best to walk slow enough to take directions from the large creature. From the sound of things, at least the Mrrakesh didn’t seem to know his ship wasn’t going to fly. Hopefully...Akan pulled what he assumed were the right things, though it was of such an ancient design that he couldn’t help the urge to just rip all the parts out. But it was definitely a sublight drive, and he’d done everything he could to make sure it wouldn’t work short of blowing it up...which he’d have done if he’d had something to do it with.

When they reached the ship, the Mrrakesh ordered him to stop. Of course, Akan did. He could feel a slight annoyance from the wolf-like creature, and Akan figured it had to do with being stuck carrying Shadow’s still numb body. Or at least...slightly numb. Akan could feel through the link that Shadow was biding her time quietly...focusing, getting ready, but not moving anything at all as to give anything away. They weren’t dead yet, at least.

“Stand here, and do not move. If you move, she dies,” the Mrrakesh said simply before walking over to a side of the ship and hitting a small switch. With a loud hiss, a boarding ramp descended, and the Mrrakesh stepped up. A couple of moments later, he returned, still holding Shadow, but also carrying a small circlet like object in one hand.

He let Shadow drop to the ground with a thud, and she lay there, eyes open and watching carefully. She knew what it was. The link told Akan that...but she still didn’t say anything. Still staying silent...waiting...waiting and hoping he didn’t make another stupid move.

Still standing next to Shadow’s body, the lightsaber hilt held down so that the blade would activate and still reach her, the Mrrakesh threw the object to Akan, “Put it on your head and press the switch on the right. I do not need to tell you the consequences if you do not.”

Akan caught it, but didn’t nod. No, he didn’t need to be told. What he did need to know was what it was. And yet...that just didn’t matter. There wasn’t nothing he could do. Akan couldn’t take on this Mrrakesh alone. And so, he slipped the small circular band around his head. It was small, and feeling around he did find the tiny switch under his right ear.

His hand over the switch, he looked at the Mrrakesh, eye to eye, trying to find any hint. But there was nothing...nothing but a silent warning. And Akan knew how little choice he really had at this point. And with little choice, that left the only thing he could think of. Shadow would find a way...she had to. He had no idea what was going to happen anymore.

“Akan, wait no!!” Shadow suddenly screamed, her voice scratchy but back. It was, however, too late. He’d pressed the switch, and from the circle, a shroud of soft green(at least it wasn’t blue...) Energy descended down from it and encased his skull. Akan felt a sudden jolt, and then fell into blackness, collapsing to the ground.

So not only one stupid thing in that second, but two. Shadow should have stayed silent. Her yell was responded to with a sudden snap-hiss, and she barely had enough time to roll to the side, the blue-green blade singing some of her longer hairs. But she was moving. 

Sliding around, her head back and legs sweeping around, Shadow quickly took the Mrrakesh’s feet out from under him. He fell onto his face, hitting hard just as Shadow got up to her feet, shaky but manageable. She still hurt, but was fighting through it, using every shred of willpower to keep her body moving. Wildly, the Mrrakesh swung the lightsaber back behind him, obviously hoping she’d try to pounce onto his back and tear his throat out. But she wasn’t that stupid, and so the lightsaber caught only air.

She did, however, grab his large wrist while it was extended behind him, and twist it hard. There was a loud snap as she broke his wrist, and the lightsaber was wrenched free, falling off to the side harmlessly. A foot lashed back at Shadow, and she had no way to avoid it, and so was forced back by an incredible strength as it caught her in the stomach. When Shadow stumbled back, the Mrrakesh quickly got back up to his own feet, standing up nearly a meter taller than her as his own minor morphing ability healed the broken wrist. That was, essentially, the extent of the Mrrakesh’s ability to morph...thankfully.

“You would have both made good slaves!” he growled before diving forward at her. Shadow ducked under a punch to her face, rolling to the left and underneath the starship. When she got back to a crouched position, she had in her hand the hilt of the lightsaber, but held it back and out of the Mrrakesh’s view.

He was crouched down lower, still not underneath the ship like she was but looking very ready to dive at her again if necessary. He’d tested her speed now. There wouldn’t be any more playing around...this Mrrakesh would kill her immediately. Or at least, he would try.

And then he dove forward again. Shadow ducked and sidestepped just as she had before, which the Mrrakesh had obviously been expecting. His attack was aimed for the dodge this time, a fist swinging in to her face which would easily crush Shadow’s skull. But then there was a sudden snap-hiss and the underside of the ship was suddenly bathed in a blue-green light. But it faded into a bright white blur, which shot right across the Mrrakesh’s face, and sliced off his extended right arm. In another sudden, long white flash, the Mrrakesh felt his other arm being cut off, and the sudden pain and surprise caused him to stumble back just long enough for Shadow to spin the lightsaber around, and jam the but of the weapon into his head, knocking the Mrrakesh out.

The adrenaline rush faded, and all that was left was Shadow’s heavy breathing and the low humming of Akan’s lightsaber, held in a reverse grip in her left hand. She couldn’t resist a slight smile. Even with such an unusual grip, she’s actually managed to take the Mrrakesh alive! But that wasn’t important anymore.

Deactivating the blade, Shadow dashed over to Akan’s unconscious body, dropping the lightsaber to the ground and kneeling next to him. She quickly lifted up his head and found the small switch on the device. After pressing it, the green veil retreated back into the circlet, and she immediately ripped it off of his head and tossed it to the side. Somewhat roughly, Shadow shifted Akan and rested both hands on his face, patting him not so gently, “Come on, you idiot, wake up!”

It took a few minutes before his eyes opened and she started to feel his mind coming back through the link. Allowing herself a sigh of relief, Shadow let Akan’s head rest in her lap again, tired of holding half of him up anyway. A couple more minutes passed before Akan seemed to catch up with the situation, and as usual, he put on an idiotic grin as he asked groggily, “...so’d I do good?”

Shadow rolled her eyes before glaring down at him, “No. No you didn’t. I did.”

“Ah...right...” Akan’s grin grew and his eyes even showed it, though she was pretty sure he still wasn’t all there...if he ever was, that is, “Nothing new, then.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 197: Never Lost*

The palace had gone crazy upon their return. Honestly, Akan couldn’t blame them. He knew little in general, but the idea of a Mrrakesh on the planet even worried him at this point, so he could at least imagine how they all felt. Immediately, the unconscious Mrrakesh had been taken to a holding room, with four guards in the room and another six outside. Considering how fast and strong the creature was, again, Akan wasn’t surprised.

They had just finished a long talk with the Empress. Or rather, Shadow had, and Akan had stood around as they spoke in Alraxian and tried to learn what he could through the link. But that wasn’t even working all that well. Shadow was blocking him out. It was easy to tell. So instead, he’d just stood there trying to look like he wasn’t as bored, or annoyed at being left out, as he really felt.

Now, walking down the corridors of the gigantic palace, Akan noticed something else. It was in Shadow’s walk. Stiff. Formal. Like...like she’d acted before. Before that whole incident on the facility when she’d been freed. Her face was that emotionless blank again, and it was, to say the least, annoying.

After stepping into their room, Shadow walked over and removed a few clothes from the wardrobe before stepping into the small washroom to change. Standing around, still comfortable in his clothes, Akan finally asked, “So what’s going on?”

“I will interrogate the Mrrakesh,” Shadow’s voice echoed back into the main room, flat and straight to the point.

“Somehow, I doubt he’s going to be cooperative,” Akan commented, idly tugging at the high collar of the jumper he wore. Why all the clothes had such high collars that itched so much he’d never understand...

“You are correct,” her voice echoed in a second time, “But I will not speak with him.”

Akan caught onto that one, at least, “Well, I guess the Force is one way to interrogate a prisoner.”

“It is the only way with a Mrrakesh,” Shadow said as she stepped out of the washroom, now wearing a formal looking, jet black and gold piped tunic, “He will not reveal his contact, otherwise.”

Akan nodded at that, noting that Shadow was putting a belt on that had the small dagger attached to it. He half grinned upon noticing that, but instead asked, “How could he possibly have a contact among the Alraxians? I mean, I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know the intricacies of the system here, but that just seems...impossible.”

Shadow’s eyes locked with his, just as emotionless as before but a very unique, Shadow-esque stength behind the colour of them, “It should be. However, it is obviously possible, as there is no other way for him to have found this planet.”

“Could it be Ket?” he asked as she started to leave the room and Akan fell into step with her.

But Shadow shook her head, “No. No, Ket is still out near the border. He is not here on Alraxia, and the Mrrakesh was waiting for a contact here.”

“Ah...” Akan’s voice was mostly drowned out by the soft noise of the door closing behind him.

They walked in relative silence down the hallways, passing frantic Alraxians here and there. Through the Force, Akan could feel the panic. It was hard to keep his own mood calm, but with a little help from the Force, he was able to. Alright, so that was a lie he was telling himself. The real reason was that he was too busy being bugged by Shadow being back to her old self to even think about any of the important ramifications of what else was going on.

And then she stopped. It surprised him, and he nearly walked into her(which would have meant walked over her), as he knew the room wasn’t anywhere near from the lack of guards within the cream coloured hallway. Raising an eyebrow, he looked to Shadow, “What is it?”

Slowly, she turned to face him, looking up with the same calm nothing in her eyes. Slowly, Shadow said, “If you are not prepared for what is about to happen in that room, do not come in. It will not be pleasant for anyone, and could very well be dangerous.”

Akan bit his lip and nodded. But she didn’t start walking again. Why...? Ah, he could sense it. She knew he wanted to say something. Though Shadow was blocking him through the link, he wasn’t doing the same to her and she had fairly free access to his thoughts.

Upon realizing she’d silently asked ‘what is it?’, Akan shuffled his feet and finally spit it out, “What’s wrong with you, Shady?”

She blinked, and looked genuinely confused, “Nothing is...wrong.”

“Yes, there is!” he suddenly snapped, loud enough that at least one Alraxian down at the opposite end had stopped to watch. Lowering his voice and trying to calm himself, he said quietly, almost grinding the words out, “Listen...it took me long enough to get you to the point where you’d at least pretend to smile. I...I don’t think I can pull it off again and I...I just...” he trailed off pathetically, before finally mumbling in the general direction of the floor, “...I can’t lose you to that again...”

For the longest moment, there was nothing. She simply stood there, blankly watching him again. And then, in an instant, the ice melted and Shadow smiled again. Carefully, she reached up and rested a hand on his face, looking into his eyes, with the smile as bright in her eyes as it was on her face, and said softly, “You always look past what’s right in front of you and try to see the worst. You’ve never lost me, Akan,” she paused, and slowly the smile changed into a slightly more worried expression, “Its going to get nasty in there and I...I know I can handle it. But I...I don’t want you to have to see me like I’m going to be in there. I won’t stop you if you want to come in, but I...I don’t want you to.”

Another silence. A silence in which Akan became keenly aware that the one Alraxian who had been watching had become about five. Pushing that away, he managed to nod, “Alright. I understand. Just don’t do anything stupid.”

That got a grin on Shadow’s face as she turned to continue onward towards the interrogation room, “Come now, that’s why I’m the one mother asked to interrogate him and not you.”

Akan tried just rolling his eyes, but he couldn’t fight back laughing after only a few more steps.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 198: Contact*

The Mrrakesh was seated in a small, blank room. In each corner, an Alraxian guard stood with a sword at their side. A metal sword. Not that it would have the same effect on a Mrrakesh as it would on an Alraxian, but they were still sharp, and they could still hurt. He was sat down in a simple, boring chair, arms, legs, and neck all strapped down. He didn’t struggle. He couldn’t. The straps were more for show, as he could have easily broken them if he could move. But there was another force holding him down, a simple energy field on the chair itself that simply couldn’t be fought again.

In front of him, stood Shadow and Kyren. Akan had remained outside, which kept the tension down at least slightly more for the both of them...though for completely different reasons. Kyren was there to assist, though even he knew his presence was just like the straps that held the Mrrakesh. Superficial. Just for appearances. Marix could do it all by herself, and likely would, but as a Knight, it was his duty to be there. 

The room was silent to their ears. To all of their minds, however, there was a flurry of activity. Even the guards, with only a touch of sensitivity to the Force, could feel it. While Marix attempted to probe the Mrrakesh’s mind, Kyren attempted to distract him. It was almost like a game, but there were two sides. With their minds prying into the Mrrakesh’s, they were both left open, and the Mrrakesh was not lost to that. And so he probed them at the same time, taunting and prying...trying to weaken their resolve.

And it continued to almost work.

_‘Who is your contact on Alraxia?’_ Shadow pried deep for that answer. Deeper and deeper, finding only blocks and mental walls, funneling her probing to the exact wrong place each time. And at the end of it, she always heard the same thing.

_‘You are the Fire.’_

She had growled the first time, but seeing the grin that got on the Mrrakesh’s face, she resisted each other time. He didn’t deserve the pleasure. Kyren wasn’t doing so well, and Shadow could see it on his face. He reacted too much, and so the Mrrakesh was still grinning.

An hour of this passed. A long, rigorous hour that, in the end, confirmed nothing. Nearly on the brink of ordering the guards to beat the answer out of the Mrrakesh, Shadow grabbed Kyren’s arm and calmly dragged him out of the room. Outside, she let out a angered growl and started to punch at the wall, only stopping when she felt the Palace perform the equivalent of wincing.

“I assume its not going too well,” asked Akan in an off hand manner as he stood off to the side, curiously eyeing the two of them.

Shadow just sighed, and Kyren only shook his head. Still, they both remained silent. Akan tried questioning Shadow through the link, but got only annoyance at his attempt at what she’d been fighting with for the past hour. Sighing, himself, Akan leaned back and looked up to the ceiling in the hallway they stood in, “Going to try again?”

Again, Kyren shook his head, this time grumbling under his breath, “It wouldn’t do any good.”

To Akan’s surprise, Shadow nodded, “It will require more time...too much more. And he’s enjoying it far too much.”

“So, may I suggest something?” Akan said, finally stepping forward slightly.

Both of the other two looked to him with raised eyebrows, but it was Kyren who asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well,” he replied, a grin slowly growing on his face, “We could try figuring this out the old fashioned way.”

“What do you mean?” Kyren asked again, almost sounding like he was taking out his annoyance on Akan at the moment in trying to get answers to something.

Akan’s grin only grew and his eyes fell on Shadow, who was figuring it out through the link, “Well, you can’t rely on the Force for everything. Sometimes, you have to stop and think. So...help me out here. We know, with absolute certainty, that the Mrrakesh has to have a contact here on Alraxia to even be here in the first place, correct?”

“Correct,” Shadow answered, already knowing where this was going from the link, but talking it out anyway. Doing this out loud just seemed to help, and Kyren might catch something one of them didn’t.

“Alright,” Akan nodded and raised two fingers, “Second, the Mrrakesh’s contact would have to be someone with enough influence and power to hide the landing of the Mrrakesh. Now, I don’t know the planetary defense here, but I highly doubt a metal ship would get anywhere near here without something being tampered with.”

Kyren slowly nodded, “Yes, but we already figured that.”

Akan’s hand opened up to tell Kyren to wait, “Just work with me on this one. So, knowing only those two things should limit the amount of possible suspects in this.”

“Of course,” Kyren answered quickly, “But like I said, we figured that much out already. It still doesn’t narrow it down enough to do us any good.”

Again, Akan just nodded, looking between both Shadow and Kyren while saying slowly, “I understand that. Again, I don’t know every detail, and I sure as hell don’t know every possible person with enough power to pull off what needs to be pulled off, but I still have an idea.”

Silence. A short silence in which Shadow was waiting to see if Kyren would say anything else. He didn’t. So far, he was keeping up. After the few seconds she waited for, Shadow turned to look at Akan and nodded, “Keep going.”

“There is one Alraxian that I know of who likely has that kind of power, is on this planet as we speak, and who I’ve just had a bad feeling about since I first saw him,” after finished, Akan looked straight to Kyren.

Kyren blinked. It only took him a few seconds before realizing what Akan was actually suggesting, and his eyes went wide with surprise, “No! No, that’s not possible!”

When he looked to Shadow for an agreement, she simply nodded. Seeing that, Kyren stopped and calmed down slightly. There was another short silence and he looked back to Akan, disbelief still on his face, “You can’t mean who I think you mean.”

“I’m willing to bet my life on it,” Akan stated simply, “It fits perfectly.”

“But...but no...” Kyren mumbled, shaking his head again, “Not Faban Sunrunner.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 199: Answers to Questions Never Asked*

After it was pointed out how late it was getting, any further interrogation attempts for the night were put aside. The suspicious and speculations could be worked out in the morning when everyone had gotten sleep. Especially Shadow. She was just tired. Mentally and physically. After a short goodnight to Kyren, she ushered Akan down through the hallways until reaching their room and quickly moving off to change.

Akan found himself doing the same, but couldn’t help asking a question towards the small washroom where Shadow was, “Alright, I know you told me to shut up for the night already, but I’ve got to ask you something.”

A groan echoed into the room. A moment later, Shadow’s head appeared, and she glared right into Akan’s eyes, “What?”

“Even if I’m right, and Faban is the Mrrakesh’s contact, what does any of this have to do with Ket?”

It was a simple question, really, but an important one. They were here to deal with Ket and Nine. The things they were doing should, therefore, work towards that goal. So far, they’d gotten absolutely no where. In fact, they may have even gone backwards.

Shadow sighed, the glare fading from her eyes as she disappeared back into the washroom. Her voice was muffled as it made its way into the room where Akan stood, “It might not have anything to do with him.”

“But knowing out luck...” Akan trailed off as Shadow stepped into the room and flopped down onto the bed.

She waved a hand idly up in the air, “Yes, yes, it probably does have something to do with it, but I don’t know,” she went silent a moment before lifting herself up just enough to look straight at him again, “Done, yet? Or do you plan to keep me up all night with questions?”

“Fine, fine, I’m done...” Akan grumbled. A few minutes later, the lights were off and both of them were deep asleep. Exhaustion from the long day finally taking its toll. But at least the day was over. Or, at least, by the time they woke up, it would be.

* * * *​
Hours later, Akan awoke to find the sunlight on his face. After grumbling a meaningless series of words, he opened his eyes and yawned loudly. He was keenly aware of the fact that the bed was not as warm as it usually was, and with his eyes open, noticed that Shadow wasn’t there. Why this confused him, Akan couldn’t be sure, but just as he started to look around, he heard a familiar voice.

“Do you realize you missed breakfast?” Shadow asked, a grin in her voice and even seeping through the link.

Akan blinked again before yawning and managing to sit up. Shadow was sitting at the foot of the bed, looking like she was sharpening the dagger or some kind of weapon. She was, of course, grinning over her shoulder, and laughed when his stomach growled.

The laugh only confused him more. Finally, in a groggy and still not completely away voice, Akan asked, “What’s with you this morning?”

“Afternoon, actually,” she raised the dagger idly, as if almost threatening him, “If you keep sleeping like that everyone’s going to think you’re lazy.”

“...I’m not lazy?” Akan asked, doing his best to keep a straight face.

She rolled her eyes, flicking the dagger his direction a little, “Yes, I know you’re lazy but the whole Palace doesn’t need to,” she glanced back in front of her, then lowered her voice, “...they know damned well enough already and we don’t need to give them more ammunition for rumors...”

Akan said nothing on that. It was one of those things he’d already learned to just ignore, and maybe it would go away. So far, it wasn’t, but one never knew what the future would hold. Well, that is, if you weren’t someone who the Force seemed to enjoy playing jokes on. Which meant that he knew exactly what would happen, and there was nothing he could do about it. So, all he could really do was go on pretending it didn’t exist. No matter what. Even if it had been an interesting night a couple days before...

Shadow suddenly turned and glared over her shoulder. Akan’s eyes went wide with surprise, having forgotten how easily thoughts could pass through their link if one didn’t make sure to keep them in check. Being half awake was not the best time for keeping thoughts in check, as was evidenced by Shadow’s newfound annoyance.

And then, suddenly, there was another change. She dropped the dagger, and Akan heard it clank down on the ground. Or he thought he did. He knew it made the noise, but was preoccupied as Shadow suddenly grinned and pounced. He managed to catch Shadow’s wrists before the extended claws reached his face. Looking up, Akan saw that there was a very large grin on Shadow’s face as she growled playfully, “Mother said I was allowed to claw you for missing breakfast for the last two days as long as no one sees the marks.”

Shakily holding up Shadow’s clawed hands, Akan whimpered slightly, “They’ll be noticeable on my face!”

“Not if you remorph!” she laughed again, using her strength to press down more and nearly reaching his nose. Using the Force, Akan pulled a surge of energy through his body, and forced Shadow off of him, rolling them to the side and off the bed.

There were two yelps, a thud, and an ‘oof’ as they fell off of the bed, and when Shadow’s head stopped spinning, she found the situation was reversed. Akan was now pinning her down, claws out and slowly forcing down at her face. He grinned maliciously, “I don’t think she’d mind if I did the same to you!”

Then, suddenly, Shadow decided to cheat. Well, it was only cheating in Akan’s mind. She let go of his hands, shifting slightly so that his claws hit the floor instead of her face, and then attacked. Except not with her claws. Instead, she tickled him.

Caught off guard, Akan yelped, tried to escape, but soon found himself stuck between a wall and Shadow, who was doing a very good job at only letting him breathe just enough. Just as Shadow finished pinning Akan down properly, sitting over him and claiming victory, there was a sound.

With a soft swish, the door irised open, and both Akan and Shadow turned to see one of her younger sisters(probably not that much older than Tobias, actually) eye them both curiously. After a moment of taking in the situation, she said softly, “Momma says you and he go see her now.”

It was then that Shadow realized her sister was grinning. Through the Force, the little girl was giving off an odd feeling of happiness...more so than usual for a child of her age. Suddenly curious, she nodded to her sister and then got up off of Akan. Helping him up, she motioned for him to follow, “Come on.”

“What do you think she wants...?” Akan asked as they started out into the hallway, his voice still somewhat breathless as he got used to being able to breathe normally again.

Shadow just shrugged, not saying anything and trying to figure things out herself. But probing through the Force did no good. Thankfully, it didn’t take long at all to reach the small court room in which the Empress, Emperor, and another Alraxian stood. The two guards at the door stiffened as Shadow passed, but did nothing else.

The room itself was not what Akan would consider small. Sure, it was smaller than the gigantic dinning hall, and most of the other rooms, but it was still huge. There were a few interesting columns that set out a pathway leading to the Empress’ throne, which was more of a comfortable looking chair than most thrones that Akan always imagined.  The Empress was smiling, her soft eyes showing the same kind of happiness that they had seen in Shadow’s younger sister. At her right, in a similar chair, sat the Emperor, a very large grin on his face, not at all hiding the fact that he knew something the two of them didn’t and was enjoying watching them try to understand what was going on.

But Akan found his eyes locking onto the third Alraxian. This one stood on the Empress’ left. He had short, if not a little scruffy looking, hair composed of about every shade of brown. His skin was as tan as most Alraxians, and his two, pale green eyes watched both Akan and Shadow with an interesting sense of curiosity. Through the Force, Akan could tell that this Alraxian was the only one in the room that looked to be as curious and confused as he and Shadow did.

“Who is this, mother?” Shadow asked once the two of them had stepped close and done the usual bowing thing.

The Empress’ smile only broadened as she rose. Her eyes fell onto Akan, and an arm motioned to the Alraxian at her left. In a very motherly, happy voice, she said, “I believe this is someone you need to meet. Cole has done his own checking, so we are sure of this. Akan, this is Navik Keros...he is your father.”


----------



## Angcuru

On, snap!


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## DethStryke

Angcuru said:
			
		

> On, snap!




Indeed. The snap heard 'round the world.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 200: My Son*

Silence. Slowly, with a completely lost look on his face, Akan looked to the Alraxian that the Empress had just called his father. The man...Alraxian, whatever, looked just a shocked and surprised at what the Empress had said as Akan figured he looked. After a short moment of staring at him, Akan slowly turned to look to Shadow. She was grinning. It was a very big grin and she was obviously trying not to start laughing. When he looked to her parents, Akan noticed they had the same expression.

Numerous times, he opened his mouth to try and say something, but couldn’t ever manage to get anything out. They weren’t playing a joke on him...despite the grinning, they were serious. And it had been checked on...and his...his...and Navik looked just as he did, which meant he wasn’t in on it, which meant they definitely were telling the truth...which meant...

And then his brain popped again and stopped working. Akan had only ever thought about his parents when he’d been very young and jumping from ship to ship alone. But that was near twenty years ago, and since then, Akan hadn’t once ever even thought about either of his parents. They were there, he lived, it was all that mattered. Sure, he’d been resentful for those first few years, but surviving meant focusing on more important things.

Which is why he just stood there looking at the rest of them, especially this Navik Keros, for any answers. They’d all obviously expected some other reaction from Akan, especially Shadow, but instead he’d reacted in a way that would have been expected from her. But what was supposed to say? Or do? What if the Alraxian really was his father?! That didn’t even make sense! He wasn’t Alraxian, he was Human...changed species only from a simple mistake when it got right down to it. And yet...through the Force...there was something...

Navik Keros blinked, slowly recovering from his own shock at what had just been said. First, he turned and looked straight to the Empress, and managed to speak, “This is...Jyren? My little Jyren...?”

The Empress’ smile couldn’t grow anymore, but she simply nodded. It was Cole, though, who leaned forward to say, “I checked it out. Ever since I saw the kid, I thought there was something, so I decided to see.”

Slowly, the shocked look on Navik’s face faded into a smile as he looked back to Akan...Jyren...whatever his name was now. He then took a step forward and suddenly brought Akan into a very strong hug, actually lifting him up slightly in the process, “My little Jyren! I never thought I’d see you again!”

He laughed before placing Akan back down onto his feet, Navik’s hands still on the young Alraxian’s shoulders as he looked him over and smiled. When he remained silent, though, the Empress also took a step forward and looked to Akan, “Aren’t you going to say anything to him?”

Again, all eyes fell onto him. A few more moments passed before Akan finally managed remember the basics of speaking, “I...I don’t know what I’m supposed to say...”

“You aren’t supposed to say anything,” Navik said, shaking him very gently.

Slowly, Akan looked into the other Alraxian’s eyes. He almost didn’t speak again, but then said, “I’m sorry but I just...I just don’t have anything to say to you. Maybe if you’d been around fifteen years ago I’d at least have yelled at you but...but I just don’t have anything to say.”

There was a short silence, and slowly, Navik nodded, the smile fading from his face, “I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there for you.”

“I was, too,” Akan said flatly, almost a hint of spite seeping into his tone, “But that was along time ago. I fought in a war when I was just a child. I watched someone I loved die in that war, and I grew up. I watched myself kill a man that should have taken my life. And you know what? Through all of that, only once did I ever wonder where my father was. I wanted to know why he wasn’t there to make things right like a father is supposed to do. But he wasn’t. For all I knew...for all I hoped he was dead. So I moved on, and it never mattered anymore.”

Another silence. Even Shadow was stunned by how harsh Akan’s words and tone had grown. Navik sighed and nodded again, a look of despair coming over him, “I deserve worse. I know that apologizing won’t change what happened, but I did what I had to.”

“What you had to?!” Akan suddenly snapped, pushing the older Alraxian back forcefully as his voice reached a yell, “You had to abandon a small child in the middle of a galaxy caught in a war without anything?! You had to just throw me away without even a place to go?! I lived on the streets of so many planets I can’t even remember all the names, anymore! That wasn’t living! It surviving, but it wasn’t living! And you had to?!”

Akan’s words echoed through the chamber, and even the two guards had tensed, glancing between each other and wondering if they needed to do anything. Biting her lip, Shadow glanced from her parents and back to Akan. [Calm down...]

“You shut up!” he lashed around, growling at Shadow. This time, the guards did take a step in his direction, but the Empress waved them back. Slowly, though, Akan did calm down. It started, at least, when the Empress turned to him, her usual calm and soothing eyes also assisted with the Force to push him along gently.

A minutes passed before Akan ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes. He was about to say something, when Navik stepped forward and hugged him again, speaking quietly, “I’m sorry, Jyren...it was a cruel thing I did but I didn’t know what else to do, and I couldn’t go back once it was done. I...when you were very young, your mother died when a Dragon attacked the settlement we were building. It was foolish to think we could encroach on the creature’s territory but we did it anyway...”

Akan started to notice that the older Alraxian’s voice was becoming more tense, and he was obviously fighting back the painful memories, “When your mother died, I knew this place was too dangerous for you. Humans are too fragile to live here...so I did what I thought was right. I...I took you away from the Empire and to the Humans of the galaxy. I thought you’d be safe...I didn’t know anything of the politics there. Not the recent ones from after you were born, at least. I just thought you’d be safe there...”

Somehow, Akan managed to nod, pulling back slightly from the older Alraxian and looking him in the eyes, “My mother was Human? I thought...thought it wasn’t possible for Alraxians to breed with other species without one of the two giving up their species...”

“It is...possible,” Navik nodded, giving the Empress a sideways glance for a moment, “I am the Ambassador for the Empress to the other species of the Empire. Obviously, I could not give up my species. Your mother...your mother was a strong, determined woman. If I had asked her, she would have joined us as Alraxians, but I never could. And so...well, you are living proof that its possible. But um...” he laughed slightly, “You were ah...human last time I saw you.”

Finally, Akan grinned, “Its been a long time.”

Navik Keros laughed and nodded, “You still look like your mother, though. I could pick you out in a crowd no matter species you are. You have her eyes.”

“Um...” Shadow raised a hand to cut in as politely as she could, “Could you both, ah...morph human? I’m a bit curious.”

Both of them nodded and complied. When it was done, there was much more of a resemblance to be seen than when they were both Alraxian. Akan looked mostly the same, actually, but Navik had almost the exact same colour hair, and their faces were constructed almost like copies. For the second time, Navik looked Akan over, grinning again, “My little Jyren...not so little anymore.”

“How...how did you meet my mother?” Akan suddenly asked, completely forgetting that anyone else was in the room and trying to put all the pieces together. Slowly, they were falling into place and things were making sense, but there were still at least a few pieces missing.

“She found us, actually,” Navik nodded to the Empress, “It would be about thirty years ago by the calendar she used. She was a Jedi Knight, running from something, though she refused to ever tell me anything about it. Only that the she’d fled from a place that she could never go back to. When she found out that we had a history with Jedi, she dug up everything she could. Without your mother’s efforts, we wouldn’t know half of the things we do today. But when she died...I...well, I told you that much, already.”

And the last piece of the puzzle finally fell into place. It explained why he felt like this place was familiar. Why it had that odd feeling of being home. It wasn’t because of the link with Shadow, it was because he really was home, and at least some part of him knew it. It brought a smile to Akan’s face as he thought of something else, immediately making another connection. Slowly, Akan reached down and detached the lightsaber from his belt.

Taking it in two hands, he held the weapon up to show...to show his father. At that, Akan saw a smile on his father’s face like nothing he’d ever seen on anyone in his entire life. He reached down and slowly took the weapon from Akan’s hands, saying quietly, “It was your mother’s. I left it with you because I thought you have at least something. She always said you should have it when you were old enough,” still smiling, Navik handed the weapon back to his son, “You don’t know how proud I am to know you kept it.”

Once Akan had clipped the lightsaber back onto his belt, his father brought him into another tight hug, and said, “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you when I should have been.”

“You did what you had to do...” Jyren replied quietly, finally returning the hug.

Off to their side, Cole very carefully wrapped an arm around Shadow’s waist. Leaning down a little, he whispered, “Sorry I wasn’t there for you, either.”

To his surprise, Shadow put an arm around him and rested her head on his shoulder. It almost made her father jump, and that only got a short laugh from her when she whispered back, “You’re forgiven this time.”

Pulling back from the hug, Navik smiled and said, “Tomorrow, we’ll all be traveling the to the Capital for a celebration of...of...” he trailed off, something suddenly dawning on him, “Jyren...can you...you morph back to Alraxian again?”

Nodding, though slightly worried at this point, Akan...Jyren...he...did as asked. Slowly, his father looked from him to Shadow, and a look of surprised washed over the man, “My lady!”

He started to bow. Started, only because Shadow escaped her own father’s grip to run over and stop Navik halfway. Standing him up completely again, she shook her head, “No formalities...please.”

“Of...of course,” he nodded, and then looked to his son one more time, “Jyren you’re...you’re the...” a sudden, huge smile grew on his father’s face, “You are the one everyone’s been talking about! My son! My son and the Empress to be!”

That again...always that, but for some reason, it was impossible to escape this time. Still surprised, Navik laughed happily and rested a hand on Jyren’s shoulder, “My son! Please, will you come with me to my home for the night? You’re uh...ah...” he nodded to Shadow, “She is welcome to join us, of course.”

Shadow shook her head, stepping back slightly. But Akan reached out to her through the link, literally pleading. [Please don’t leave me alone in this one.]

After a moment, Shadow sighed and nodded. When she did so, Navik smiled and carefully put a hand on her shoulder as well. He then looked past her to the Empress and bowed, “We will be ready to join you in the morning for the journey to the Capital.”

The Empress nodded, but said nothing. As Navik Keros led his son and Shadow out of the room, both the Empress and Emperor heard one last thing from the proud father, “My son!”

They couldn’t help but smile.

_((Couple things. This is update #200, so I thought I'd throw out a few stats. This Story Hour has been going for almost exactly 6 months now. With Times New Roman, Size 10 Font in Wordperfect, the document is now 351 Pages long with 335,576 words.))_


----------



## trexmaster

Hahahahahahaha !
Man, what can I say ? You keep it as good as ever !
Thank you so much for one of the best moments of my days


----------



## Mirage_Patrick

ok....so first thing I do when I get to work is to download this thread....

...and now I am sitting here with a bit of tear in my eyes.



Great story


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 201: Human Ways*

They went south. A great distance south into what Shadow told Ak---Jyren...Jyren now. She seemed to b e adapting to that better than he was. It was easy to just say ‘you’. But according to her, they had gone into the Blackflame Clan’s territory. They came to a stop in a rolling, tall grass covered field. It was like nothing Jyren had seen on the planet. He’d been so used to forests and...and forests that he hadn’t even thought about grasslands.

Off in the distance, he could see structures, not unlike what the Palace was made of, but it looked more separated compared to the single gigantic Palace. But that was in the distance, and his father had his full attention now. The three of them walked through the tall grass as the wind calmly whisked towards them. Jyren...he was still going over the name a thousand times in his head. Shadow had caught onto it at one point, and informed him that it meant something close to ‘Last Warrior’, which he couldn’t help but find appropriate, considering. It was a good name...it felt right. It felt like him. 

Raan...Raan Maxwell. Where had that come from? It was so long ago that he didn’t even feel a connection to the name anymore. Almost as if it was just another person...well, in a way it was. More than one way. So much had changed since those days. He’d learned to survive on that name. He learned what friendship was with that name. He’d learned what real love was...and what real loss was. The meaning of life and death, and all of it just connected to two words. Two words that were his, and his alone for so many years. But where had the name come from? It just seemed to have always been there...

Now, Akan Tavos, he remembered well. For a while, he’d just told himself that it was something he’d thought up on the moment. That day he decided to just disappear. But there was more to it than that. There was something in that name. Something more than just sounds that he’d come up with to use as a new identity. And, truthfully, he still wasn’t sure of it, but he now made a point to find out. It was important...or at least, felt important.

Jyren. Jyren...Keros. His real name. Given to him by parents he’d never known until now...or at least, one of thme. But no, he was not Jyren Keros even now. Despite that, he was a part of the BlueIce family, still. Why that mattered, and why it even occurred to him, he didn’t know, but it was there, and it was true. Jyren BlueIce. Jyren...BlueIce. His past, present, and probably even future, all in just two words. It really was perfect.

“What are you smiling about?” Shadow interrupted his thoughts, and he was actually surprised that she’d spoken out loud. Probably...no, definitely trying to get his father’s attention him, too. She seemed to enjoy observing them and took at least some delight in watching Jyren get lost and confused.

“Ah...nothing,” Jyren mumbled, squirming a little as he knew she had been working through his thoughts and knew the answer anyway. She was just trying to get him worked up. He could see it in the grin tugging at her face and the thoughts through the link. She was actually...happy.

His father stopped them a moment and looked out across the fields. Glancing to Jyren, he smiled and motioned ahead of them, “Your mother and I used to bring you out here when you were just learning to walk. You would try to hide in the grass and sneak up on us,” the smile became a familiar grin, “...you were very good at it for your age.”

“He’s lost the edge,” Shadow added sarcastically.

In a few more moments, they’d all sat down in the grass, and Jyren couldn’t help but grin when he noticed that, while he and his father sat with their shoulders comfortably over the grass, Shadow was up to her chin. He was smart enough to only grin, though, as she glared at him when he thought it. Slowly, they started to talk. His father asked him about the war he’d fought in...and Jyren just found himself talking about it as a neutral observer. He wasn’t that person anymore, anyway.

And then, the conversation made its way to why they were back to Alraxia in the first place. As an ambassador, his father knew of the details of what was going on, so not much had to be explained. But it seemed to be going in circles.

For the third time, his father was shaking his head and saying, “It will not come to war, Jyren. There has not been a war for nearly five thousand years, and the Mrrakesh would never risk it with the strength of the alliances within the Empire.”

And Shadow, every single time, nodded and agreed. Finally, though Jyren was getting annoyed and glared at the ground, “You’ve said its come close before, but you’ve also said that there hasn’t been a Mrrakesh on this planet since the Darkwing Wars. Think about it. Put the pieces together! There is a traitor with a great deal of power to get that Mrrakesh here and it can’t be just a one time thing! Its too much of coincidence that Ket and Nine just happen to be lying low.”

“They are lying low because even the Mrrakesh would destroy them for risking a real war,” Shadow said flatly.

“You saw the droids!” he yelled suddenly, “There weren’t just a handful! They are waiting for us! I can feel a trap forming!”

“You are paranoid, son,” his father said calmly, resting a hand on Jyren’s shoulder, “The day after tomorrow, I will begin talks with the Mrrakesh. This will not come to a war. We don’t have wars. We don’t even have a military! The Mrrakesh don’t even have a military!”

“But Halpak does,” Jyren said slowly, grinding the word out one at a time.

Shadow actually nodded, “Yes, and we’ll deal with him, but the Mrrakesh aren’t stupid. Ket is the target, here, don’t get yourself confused.”

For some reason, that was just too much. Something in Jyren just clicked and he glared to both of the Alraxians next to him, “Have you all gone blind?! There was a Mrrakesh on this planet! Here! That can’t just happen! Why would Halpak have anything to do with that when he’s got his own army?! They are connected, but there is still more! If you don’t step back and look at the whole picture you’re going to get lost with the details!”

“We are not Humans!” Shadow snapped back harshly. The words silenced everyone for a short moment before she said a little calmer, but just as harshly, “Yes, Ket is greedy and out for revenge. Yes, the Mrrakesh would love to have the Empire. But neither Ket nor the Mrrakesh are stupid enough to gamble everything by attacking the Empire itself. They can’t. They know it.”

“They can’t do it alone, yes,” he responded simply, “But why not together? One has an army, the other the urge to take these planets. If you don’t see that, then I don’t even know why we’re here in the first place!”

“You don’t know anything about this, that’s the damned problem!” Shadow yelled at him suddenly, “You are not Human anymore! We are not! We do not work like Humans!”

She then stood up, and turned to storm off. After two steps, however, she turned back and bowed to Navik, saying flatly, “I apologize, but I will not stay here with your son. Maybe he will listen to you.”

And then she was gone. Between father and son, there was a long silence, and then, slowly, Navik said quietly “One day, you’ll have to tell me how the two of you met.”

Jyren, suddenly confused by the change in subject after the outburst, turned to stare blankly at his father. The older Alraxian just laughed and patted his son on the back gently, “She is very beautiful, son. There will always be little things though...learn to work through them and you’ll do fine.”

“What...?” he still looked just as confused as before, but had at least managed to speak instead of leaving his mouth wide open.

Again, his father laughed, getting to his feet and offering a hand. Jyren took it, and as he was pulled to his feet, Navik said, “Come, lets go. I’d like to show you our...my home before we eat.”

_((Thanks for the compliments. Just so you guys know, there's at least one more big moment on its way soon before we cut right into some action again. I believe its also something a few of you are waiting on, too. Hope no one minds the 'slow' stuff.))_


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 202: Home at Last*

It was so much like the Palace that, if he didn’t look up and see the darkening sky above, Jyren would have believed he was still in the endless corridors. But this city was not one gigantic building. It was hundreds, constructed in much the same way, but with streets instead of hallways. There were no alleyways between the buildings, and though some were of different construction than those adjacent, they all flowed from one shape to the next. Near the middle of one of the long rows, Navik stopped and the door irised open to reveal a short entrance way.

Jyren followed his father in, and was soon given a small tour of the home. There were still traces of a family all throughout. If not directly like the small table with two extra places, but indirectly in the overall feel of the building. When Navik showed him his study, Jyren only noticed one thing. Or rather, three things.

Resting on top of the single desk in the room were three holos. Navik had started to lead Jyren out when he had noticed them, and Jyren slowly walked over and stared at them. The first showed two adult humans, male and female, and a small child. Right away, Jyren recognized the male as his father, looking almost exactly the same as he did now, only without the lines and weight of time along his face. The child, held by both of the adults, was obviously himself probably not even a year old, but smiling happily at something out of view. But it was the young woman who had Jyren’s attention. She was probably only a few years older than he was in that holo, with soft features and a warm smile. Two bright ice blue eyes had the same warmth to them, though Jyren could see a strength and even a dangerous edge within them. But, ironically enough, it was the woman’s hair that caught the most of his attention. Shoulder length, straight brown hair, the fringe of it hanging off in front of her face on the right side, touching just above the nose.

He grinned at that, glancing through his own hair, even if it was a metallic blue in front of his eyes, to see such a similar look in his mother. She was so young, there...

Next to that holo was another of a child, probably around a couple years old then. He sat on patch of grass with a small toy of some animal that Jyren didn’t recognize in his hands. Again, there was a smile on his face. One thing that Jyren could see in it that he couldn’t see in the other was in the child’s eyes. It wasn’t something that couldn’t be put into words, but it was him.

And then the last of the three holos, he found himself reaching over and picking up the small projection device to hold it close. It was of his mother. She wasn’t much older than in the first image, but Jyren was more focused on just how she looked. The way she stood there, looking forward with a smile. He couldn’t help but see himself there, and it was haunting in a way...but only for a moment. And when that moment had gone, a smile found its way onto Jyren’s face.

He felt his father’s hand resting on his shoulder then, and turned to look at the older Alraxian. Quietly, Jyren said, “I wish I could have known her.”

Navik looked over his son’s shoulder to the holo in his hand and nodded, “So do I.”

There was a short silence between them, and then Jyren turned to place the holo back on its place. But as he reached, his father grabbed his hand and said, “No. You keep that.”

“I can’t keep this,” Jyren whispered softly, turning around and instead handing it back to his father.

But Navik wouldn’t take it, and shook his head, “Yes, you can. You need something to remember her by.”

The odd tension suddenly faded when Jyren smiled broadly, and Navik couldn’t help but see the similarity to the boy’s mother. Again, Jyren handed the holo to his father with one hand, the other reaching down and taking the lightsaber off of his belt, “I already have that...and she’s saved my life a thousand times.”

His father smiled, too, though Jyren could see tears in the old Alraxian’s eyes as he nodded and took the holo. After it was placed back on the desk, Navik turned and led his son to the last room in the home. Somewhat nervously, he opened the door to reveal something completely different than the rest of the building.

In contrast to the soft, cream coloured walls of the rest of the home, this small room was a bright red. The floor was a brilliant shade of blue and there were multicolored toys of every sort all around. In one corner, was a bed, with bright red sheets and a small toy that Jyren recognized from the holo sitting on the pillow. Very carefully, almost as if he had to push through an invisible barrier, Jyren stepped into the room.

Behind him, his father said quietly, “I...I never moved anything...I’m sorry its so...childish, you can have my bed if you’d like and I’ll find a spot in my study. I usually sleep in there anyway...”

“No,” Jyren shook his head walking over to the bed and picked up the small, palm sized toy. It was a most similar to a dragon, green, with bright red wings, and a short stubby tail. It was soft...calmingly soft, which didn’t even make sense. But it was. Somewhat distractedly, he said over his shoulder, “No, I’d like to...to stay in here.”

“But the bed’s so small...” his father mumbled, obviously embarrassed at having kept the room this way for nearly twenty years.

But Jyren just smiled and turned to look to his father again, “I don’t mind.”

Slowly, his father seemed to accept it and nodded, “I’ll get you some blankets later. Come...its about meal time, and this isn’t the Palace. If you aren’t there to eat, you’ll just have to starve.”

Still smiling, Jyren nodded and followed his father out of the room. Before they left for the meal, though, his father stopped and took a deep breath, “If you...if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to announce to the Clan that you are my son.”

When Jyren fidgeted and looked ready to object, Navik laughed, “So much like your mother. She was the same way with the formalities. But, please, I would be...I would be even more honoured than I already am to tell my Clan mates that my son has returned, a Jedi Knight, and the Emperor to be.”

For a split second, Jyren nearly shook his head. He nearly started to say that he wasn’t anything close to a Jedi Knight. He nearly told his father that he had no idea what was going on with the political end of things. He nearly said a thousand other things that, in the end, really didn’t matter. But he didn’t. Slowly, Jyren nodded and said as calmly as he could, “I would be more honoured just to be seen as your son.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 203: Sleep*

Jyren was led to the large, open room that was currently occupied by a very large number of Alraxians, of all shapes, sizes, and colours. It was an interesting sight, and he might have liked it if they weren’t all staring at him when he and his father entered. After being led to a seat, he stood a moment while his father talked. It was in Alraxian, so he didn’t actually understand a word of it, but from the smiles and stares, he knew what was being said. It was the whole ‘you know how this is! Guess what? Its my son!’ speech.

And by the end, Jyren was sitting and staring very intently at the table while there was a very loud applause. Food was already in front of them, and as the noise died down into simple conversation, his father had a seat next to him and motioned for him to eat. The food was good. It never wasn’t, truthfully. While his father talked with a the others around, Jyren did his best to just sit and eat quietly.

On his other side, a female Alraxian, probably about his ‘age’, sat and tried to start idle conversation. She could speak Basic...better than Kato could, at least, but Jyren wasn’t in much of a mood to talk. In fact, as the minutes passed by, he found his appetite was also gone. And he knew exactly why.

He was angry with himself. Angry with Shadow. Angry with...everything, really. He knew he was right. He knew that war was inevitable in this situation. He knew there was so much going on that there wasn’t a thing that could be done to stop it...and yet, even Shadow didn’t believe him. And she didn’t because she knew that it wouldn’t come to war. She knew there was a lot going on, but that it was still containable. She knew what had to be done to stop it.

Through the link, this was obvious. But he was as right as she was, and it was a stupid argument anyway. It didn’t change what would happen. It didn’t change what they needed to be doing. But no...instead of finding Ket and stopping things from going any farther, they argued and sat around. And tomorrow, there was supposed to be some kind of celebration. Celebration of what?! What was there to celebrate? It didn’t make any sense.

He left early, nodding politely to the young woman, and then walking back to the small house alone. Jyren walked back slowly, though, taking in the sights and noting that the streets were empty. Everyone was back there...eating. Such a social species. His. It was all still dawning on him that this really was home, and at least walking down the quiet street alone gave him time to think about that rather than worry about what was going to happen.

Arriving back at the house, Jyren’s first inclination was to simply lay down on the sheets that had been lain out on the floor in the small, bright coloured room for him, but he found himself walking back into his father’s study. Walking back and picking up that holo of his mother again. Slowly, Jyren sat down in his father’s chair, staring at the human woman without even knowing what to think. He didn’t even know her name. A day earlier, he hadn’t even known she existed. And here it was...the mother he’d always quietly begged the Force for.

How could he have even guessed that he would find this on Alraxia? What were the chances? It wasn’t coincidence. If anything, it simply proved that there really was no such thing as coincidence. It was just too perfect. Too...clean. So much so that Jyren nearly second guessed it. But no...it was true. He could feel it. That Alraxian was his father...this planet was his home. This...this woman who look so much like him was his mother. Hidden away in a corner of the galaxy no one knew about.

Sighing, Jyren finally placed the holo back next to the others and retreated from the room. He lay down on the floor of his old room just as he heard the door open. His father was back. Jyren had told him that he was tired...so as not to make his father worry, Jyren used a simple technique to slow his breathing and mimic sleep. A couple of minutes later, the door opened slowly and his father peeked in. For a split second, Jyren wondered if the older Alraxian could tell he wasn’t sleeping, but when his father stepped out and quietly closed the door, he didn’t worry about it anymore.

Jyren couldn’t sleep. This place was home...but it wasn’t right. He missed...he missed the room in the Palace. He missed the bed. He missed...he missed Shadow. All the more reason to be angry with himself for bickering about such a stupid thing. It was amazing, his skill for destroying days that should have been so wonderful. That night, Jyren simply lay there in the red room, doing nothing but beating himself up all night.

* * * *​
Shadow had returned to the Palace still annoyed. So much so that she didn’t speak to anyone, even Kyren, for the rest of the day. She ate, yes, but sat silent and left as soon as she could. To calm herself, she went out into one of the courtyards and ran through as many strenuous training forms as she could. Exhausting her body and mind with focus on technique and perfection.

For hours, Shadow stayed out in the courtyard. Well into the night, to the point where one of the moons provided enough light that it felt like dawn. But eventually, when tiredness had finally taken its toll, Shadow retreated to her room. Changing into simple nightclothes, she half spoke to where Ak—Jyren usually was, but caught herself just as she’d opened her mouth.

Sighing and wondering why he had to make thing so difficult all of the time, she switch the lights off and climbed into the cold bed. It felt bigger than usual. Much bigger...and colder. Grumbling to herself, she closed her eyes and forced all thought away so that she could sleep.

But just as she did so, there was a scratching noise from the door. At first, she buried her head under the pillow, but the sound simply continued. Over and over and over again in a soft, but constant repetition.

Finally, with a growl, Shadow took her head out from under the pillow and yelled at the door, “Akan isn’t here, Toby! Go back to the nursery!”

For a moment, the scratching stopped. It stopped for long enough that Shadow figured the little brat had actually left. It was naive to think that. The door opened. Silently, but enough light came in to cause Shadow to groan again. She heard the sounds of soft movement before the door closed.

Then, quietly, a familiar voice called out into the dark room, “...Akan...?”

“I said he’s not here,” Shadow grumbled, rolling over to face the other direction and forcing her eyes to stay closed. Maybe the child would just go away. Again, a naive thought. Or rather, stupid.

She heard nothing for a long moment, and then a sudden weight appeared at her feet. Shadow froze and tried to not exist as the weight moved, one small appendage at a time, up to her back. When she felt the weight shift and begin to settle down, Shadow groaned again and said, “No, Toby...go back to your own bed...”

There was a whimper. It was that whimper that was obviously before a bursting of tears that would last for who knew how long. At hearing that, and knowing what would follow, Shadow finally gave up, “Fine...”

She grumbled it and rolled over, idly wondering if she could just crush him. But instead, she shifted so that he lay against her chest, and brought an arm over him. Her excuse was that the arm was meant to shut him up. It didn’t work, but that didn’t matter. When he started to purr quietly, Shadow opened one eye and said, “...just be quiet and go to sleep or I’m calling your nanny.”

The noise stopped, and just before she closed her eye again, she saw him staring up at her in near terror. But when Shadow closed her eye again to go to sleep, she could feel Tobias’ tension fade. Just as she was finally fading back into sleep, she heard a soft, muffled voice, “...night, momma...”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 204: And We Haven't Even Left Yet*

There was a noise. It was...muffled...no...just soft...no, that wasn’t right. It was...getting louder. Much louder. And it hurt. Shadow groaned at the noise, still half asleep and attempting to write it off as dreaming. But it didn’t go away. In fact, it got louder. Much louder. Slowly, Shadow became aware that the sound, which was almost a constant rhythm was accompanied by a similar shifting in weight on the bed every few seconds.

Finally, though, the impossibly loud noise started to make sense. Or rather, it became words, “Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Waaaake up! Wake up! Wake up wake up wake uuuuup!!!”

Shadow’s eyes opened to see Toby bouncing around on the pillow next to her, yelling at the top of his lungs. It was amazing how something so small could yell so loudly. But he wasn’t being quiet, even at seeing her eyes open. Another few seconds of his yelling passed before she suddenly yelled back, “ALRIGHT! I’m up! Be Quiet!!”

He did. Amazingly enough, there was one last “wake up!” and then he plopped down and purred, a big smile on his face as he started to pad around pouncing at the folds in the blankets around him. As he did this, Shadow sat up and yawned, blinking as she started to slowly wake up. But something wasn’t right. Something was different...it was too...too dark. Why wasn’t the morning light coming in the window...?”

She looked behind her out the window. It was black. Black. BLACK! Pitch black!! Suddenly growling in anger, Shadow spun around and yanked Tobias up to hold him at eye level where she could glare properly, “The sun isn’t even up yet!! You woke me up before dawn! I can’t believe you woke me up before dawn?! Its not even close!!”

Her loud voice didn’t seem to phase the small child, as he only blinked and his ears twitched slightly. After a moment of the two of them staring eye to eye, Tobias got bored and started trying to bite at her arms playfully. This did nothing but get Shadow even more angry, and she growled again in frustration, shifted him under her arm and buried her face back in the pillow again. There were a few muffled sounds from Toby as he tried to fight, but eventually he stopped moving...asleep again. Somehow, Shadow managed to follow.

Hours later, Shadow awoke to the sunlight. Yawning, she opened her eyes, glad that it was actually a decent time to awaken. However, just as she started to sit up, Shadow noticed there was a problem. Tobias had moved. Somehow escaping her hold he had curled up on her stomach. Carefully, she poked him, grumbling something about him needing to wake up.

He didn’t move. Glaring tiredly, Shadow attempted to poke him again, but more roughly. The little child shifted slightly, but didn’t wake up. Typical. He wakes her up in the middle of the night and then sleeps like a rock in the morning. She made a note to never let Aka...Jyren go away without taking the brat with him.

After a few minutes, though, Tobias was awake and clinging to her like a parasite. She had tolerated it for a short time...getting out of the bed and walking across the room. But upon detaching him, he started wailing. Immediately, she let him cling again, if only to shut the noise off. It made things interesting, though, as he made an effort to wail as loud as he possibly could every time she detached him or even pulled on him. That, of course, made showering difficult, but she took a devious pleasure in cleaning him like her nanny had used to do with her.

Once dressed(which was also difficult), she exited her room to find that things were already getting ready for them to leave. In fact, her parents were already aboard the ship, as was Kyren(who would be leading the Guards) and a few others. Before leaving Alraxia, they would make a quick detour south to pick up both Jyren and his father. Shadow just hoped it would happen soon, as she was starting to get tired of having extra weight attached to her while she walked.

When she stepped out into the courtyard where their ship was, a few of the attendants came over, bowed, and then attempted to pry Tobias off of her. This, of course, meant more wailing and claws digging into her. After only a few seconds, she pushed the attendants away and yelled “FINE! He can come!”

The youngest of the attendants seemed to expect this, bowing and then quickly disappearing into the Palace. A few minutes later she returned with a small pack for Tobias, which he actually willingly let go of Shadow to put on before clinging again. Shadow then walked over to the ship, climbing into the large Kanyak to find that she was the last one to arrive. No surprise.

Her mother and father smiled to her, and while she scanned the area for Kyren, she walked right over to an empty chair and collapsed into it. Tobias was suddenly wild again, climbing all over her and pouncing anything that moved, but Shadow did nothing. She felt far too tired to deal with him, and tried to just ignore the small jai climbing all over her.

It was only a few minutes later that Jyren and his father stepped into the ship. The young man looked tired, but not nearly as much as Shadow did. She didn’t seem to notice him, though, too busy with her eyes closed and trying to ignore the wild Tobias. He didn’t head over to her, though, instead following his father over to where the Empress and Emperor sat.

As Navik smiled and sat next to the Empress, immediately starting up a conversation, the Emperor sat up and pulled Jyren off to the side. The older Alraxian glanced across the cabin from Shadow and then back to Jyren. Quietly, he said, “I hear the jai woke her up in the middle of the night yelling at the top of his lungs...he’s had at least three crying fits since this morning and hasn’t let go of her since,” slowly, a grin grew on Cole’s face and he nodded towards his daughter, lowering his voice to a whisper, “Go be her Jedi hero.”

Jyren raised an eyebrow at that, but was pushed off by the older Alraxian and didn’t have a chance to say anything. He got within a meter before Tobias caught sight of him. The little child’s eyes suddenly lit up, “AKAN!!”

In a flash, Tobias jumped from Shadow’s leg to Jyren’s chest, and he was caught and lifted up. Jyren grinned as the jai poked his nose, “Not Akan anymore. Jyren now.”

“Jy...ren...?” Tobias idly played with the words, but suddenly nodded deciding that it had made sense in some way.

Slowly, Shadow sat up, acknowledging Jyren through their link instead of out loud. He started to have a seat next to her when Tobias poked him, “Akan always play...Jyren play?”

“Not right now, Toby,” he answered, starting to put him down on the floor, “Go find something to do, and I’ll play later.”

Once on the floor, Tobias stared up with a hurt look, sniffling and mumbling as he padded off in the other direction “...like Akan better...”

The parents all heard that, and, of course, grinned.

Jyren looked down at Shadow, noting that she felt as bad through the link as she looked. But who was he to dodge fate and not ask the stupid question she was waiting on? Having a seat next to her, Jyren asked, “You alright?”

Shadow just gave him a stare that would melt durasteel. Thankfully, he’d built up an immunity to that. So he just nodded and then lowered his voice, “I’m sorry about yesterday.”

That got some life into her. She returned the nod, then surprised him by leaning over and hugging him, mumbling, “I’m sorry, too...” as she started to make herself comfortable on her shoulder, she grumbled, “...you’re not allowed to go anywhere without Toby ever, ever again...”

Jyren grinned. At least, for a few seconds. Then, both of them noticed that all eyes were on them, with those unique smiles that only parents could use. A mutual thought passed through the link, and Shadow got to her feet before offering Jyren a hand, “Come on, lets go talk some place quiet.”

He nodded and took her hand, “Yeah, I’ve got a few hundred questions for you.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 205: Questions and Arguements...Just Like Old Times*

It had started as simple small talk. Pointless conversation as Shadow was waking up, and Jyren was doing his best to make sure she wasn’t still angry at him. She was, but too tired to really care. They’d found a small room not far away, and idly sat on the single couch looking out at the passing stars in front. The ship was in hyperspace...and, apparently, would be for many hours.

Shadow had given up after about ten minutes, yawned, and rested her head on his shoulder again. Having been awoken so early by Tobias was still getting to her. Of course, she couldn’t just sit there for long, and eventually gave in and tickled Jyren. The attack lasted for a few minutes before Jyren laughed and managed to pull her wrists away, still pinned down and stuck.

“So...uh...where are we going?” he asked, finally catching his breath.

“It’s a um...” she trailed off a moment, struggling to get one arm free. She succeeded, and laughed as the attack continued, also speaking through their link as she did. [Celebration for the Crown Princess and her...ah...ticklish mate, apparently.]

At that, he froze. What other reaction was there? She managed an apologetic look and shrugged weakly, “After that...I get free reign to hunt Nine, though.”

“That’s good news, at least,” Jyren grumbled, finally sitting back up and rubbing the back of his head. He sighed, and looked at her again, “Is there nothing we can do about all of this?”

She hung her head and returned the sigh, “I...there is a way but...” she trailed off, then, on noticing that it seemed to get Jyren’s attention, Shadow looked out the viewport ahead of them and said quietly, “I am, whether I like or not, royalty...you must have seen royalty back in the Core Worlds. They...something...unions for political reasons.”

That got his attention even more. So much more, because Jyren picked up on the traces of her thoughts through the link. He managed a whimper, before mumbling, “No. No, that can’t happen.”

“Mother is a healer...she’s not a fighter,” Shadow said towards the floor, “It would be...expected of me. I know it has already been talked about.”

“No,” this time, Jyren spoke more firmly, almost angrily, “You can’t...you can’t leave...”

Carefully she avoided looking his direction, “I wouldn’t leave...I mean...I...he would come here...and I could still see you. Just...just when he allowed...”

“That’s not happening,” Jyren ground out the words through gritted teeth this time, not even completely sure why he was so angry all of a sudden.

Reluctantly, Shadow said, “I cannot see a way out of it...it is the only way to avoid the war.”

“Then we’ll fight the war.”

Silence. It lasted for five long minutes before the link started to become more active. Eventually, something came to Jyren’s mind and he said more positively, “Oh! I wanted to ask you something...what is this, exactly?”

Slowly, he pulled the small, Dragon toy out of his pocket. He’d kept it with him for some reason. Shadow turned back and looked at the small thing, and then said flatly, “It is an Oony. It is a toy of some kind. It doesn’t seem to do anything but waste space, though.”

The last sentence caused Jyren to actually feel hurt for some odd reason, “Its not a waste of space, at all!”

“Then what does it do?” Shadow turned to regard him carefully, a look of honest curiosity on her face.

“It...it...” he trailed off, trying to actually describe it in words. How could you? It was a toy! You played with it! And yet...she didn’t seem to grasp that. Such a simple concept made no sense to her. He sighed heavily and looked the other direction, “Forget it.”

“No,” she reached over to touch his shoulder to get him to turn back, “Please, explain it to me.”

“I can’t!” Jyren snapped back suddenly, “I...I shouldn’t have said anything! I should have known you wouldn’t understand! You never can understand anything so simple!”

“How am I supposed to understand if you just yell at me?!” Shadow growled, now angry, too.

“I said, forget it! It doesn’t matter!”

“If it doesn’t matter, then why bring it up in the first place?!” she glared at the back of his head, idly trying to burn a hole through his thick skull.

“Because...because...” again, Jyren sighed, “This was an important part of a life I didn’t even know I had! I thought that...I thought that you might at least understand that. I didn’t think you’d get angry and start yelling at me. I was wrong.”

“You were the one who started yelling,” she nodded simply, “If you’re just going to bring something up and then yell at me without answering an honest question then you should just keep your mouth shut.”

Jyren turned back to face her, an equally angry look on his face, “Its not something that can be explained! Not everything is that simple!”

“You just said it was simple!”

“Its not!” he growled, his face getting slightly red as the obvious holes in his words got pointed out.

She simply met his gaze, a cold, emotionless look in her eyes, “I never had anything like that, Jyren. You know that. If you wanted to bring that up simply to hurt me, then I applaud you for such a great success.”

Swiftly, Shadow stood and left the room, heading back out to the main cabin and ignoring everyone there to lay down and catch up on some sleep. Jyren just sat in the same room, staring down at the floor. She was right, of course. He was stupid to try to bring something like that up. Why did he get so angry, though? It didn’t make sense! Nothing did, in fact.

Sighing, he closed his eyes. It was like being a teenager all over again. He’d done that once. Twice was far, far too much for anyone to have to live through. One day, he was due for some payback from the Force. After all this negative feedback he’d been given for the last twenty years, he deserved at least something to make up for it all. It was funny, though, because it was right there in front of him, just waiting for him to stop sulking and open his eyes. But that took effort, and Jyren was too busy sulking to care about what might be right there.

_((Kind of short, sorry. Kind of tired today, and I'll try to get a longer and meatier update tomorrow. Again, sorry about the slowness and lack of action. Just stick with it a little while longer, we'll hit the payoff moment, then things gun it again.))_


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 206: Our Own Private World*

Eventually, Jyren risked heading back into the main cabin. He found that his father and the Empress were still involved in some conversation, with Tobias idly sitting between them and watching curiously. Why Toby was actually sitting still, Jyren couldn’t understand, but he figured it couldn’t be all that bad. Cole was watching him. In fact, it was a very serious look, and when he noticed that Jyren was looking at him, the Emperor started nodding to his right.

This continued for a couple minutes before Jyren realized what Cole might be hinting at, and slowly, Jyren looked that direction. Shadow was laying back in a chair, eyes closed and feeling asleep. Ah. So that was it. With a sigh and a nod to Cole, Jyren walked over and had a seat next to Shadow. At the shift in weight, she was immediately awake, though her eyes stayed closed and she only shifted slightly.

However, through the link, she said flatly. [Oh...you.]

Jyren forced himself to not react, simply leaning back and closing his eyes, trying to ignore that they were being watched again. When his eyes closed, though, something slightly odd happened. The link grew slightly stronger, and he could feel the Force doing something, and suddenly he could see. Standing in front of him, a blank white nothing surrounding her, was Shadow. He stood not far away, and glanced around to see the white nothing became a flurry of colours and random images behind him.

Somehow managing to ignore how...odd it was, he took a few steps forward and said quietly, “Look, Shady...I’m sorry. I really am.”

Staring at him, she said nothing for a long moment, then, “You’ve said that before.”

“I...I know...” he hung his head and sighed, the colours behind him shifting to a much softer and somewhat depressing tones, “I’m sorry for a lot of things. But I do mean it...I made mistakes, and I’m trying to admit to them. I just...just want you to be able to let me in.”

“This is in, Jyren,” she said simply, motioning around them, “I have let you closer to me than anyone has ever been. And yet, every single time I let you in, you wound me. And I, you, it seems. I am beginning to question the wisdom in letting you in, in the first place.”

Jyren bit his lip and looked back up, the colours behind him going slightly wild as a thousand thoughts ran through his mind. He latched onto one, and then said softly, “No one gets along perfectly...you just have to...to work through the problems.”

Shadow nodded, “Which is why I’ve let you in again, against all sanity. Look around me. See this? I have control. Look at you...you have no control over your emotions and thoughts at all. They run wild and you act without thinking. Its gotten us both into trouble, and gotten us both hurt.”

“So has your controlled way of working,” Jyren added at the end of that, as delicately as he possibly could without sounding insulting.

To his surprise, she nodded again. And then, the white nothing behind her became a familiar sight. It was her room...their room...whatever. Idly, she walked over and had a seat on the bed, “If you do not learn at least some control, you are going to get us both killed.”

To that, Jyren could only nod as he walked over and had a seat next to her on the soft bed...the soft bed that wasn’t even really there. Odd...shaking off those thoughts, the world behind him shivered and she caught a glimpse of the two of them from a couple nights ago. The same image that had been spreading through the Empire like wildfire. But it was gone in a second, and she raised an eyebrow at it, “What was your home like?”

The sudden change in subject surprise Jyren. It was so surprising that he found himself answering before thinking about it, “It was...empty. It felt nice, but at the same time, it hurt. I don’t ever want to go back there.”

“You mean you’re not going to show me you’re home?” there was a slight grin tugging at the edge of her lips at that as she tilted her head to look him in the eye.

“I...I just don’t really want to go back,” he mumbled, sounding more like Tobias than anyone else.

Shadow’s face became as stern as her voice, “I want to see your home.”

Then, behind Jyren, she saw that...that image again. The two of them...she shivered at the thought and then decided it was worth bringing up, “Are you having trouble? That is the second time you’ve...I’ve...that has appeared.”

Realizing that his thoughts were displaying themselves so easily, Jyren went a deep crimson. As did the world behind him. Quickly, he said the only thing that he could think of, “I...I’m sorry!

“No,” Shadow shook her head, “No, its alright. I...it was...I had never done anything like that before...it was kind of nice.”

He froze. When she saw him freeze like that, Shadow started to worry she’d done something wrong. But slowly, he looked over to her with a somewhat terrified expression on his face. His mouth opened, but he didn’t managed to speak at all. And then he opened his eyes.

When Jyren’s eyes opened, the real world was back. Just that easily, he was back in the cabin with Shadow sitting next to him. Slowly, she opened her eyes and managed to look apologetic, still slightly worried that she’d done something wrong. In fact, fairly sure she had. However, after politely ignoring the fact that anyone else was in the cabin, she leaned over and hugged him again, saying quietly, “You’re forgiven this time.”

Then, Shadow rested her head on his shoulder and fell asleep. Jyren sat there somewhat lost for a few moments before glancing up to see that things were back to ‘normal’. His father and the Empress were talking again...Toby was idly playing with some toy between them. And...and Cole. The Alraxian was grinned proudly, and, when he thought that no one but Jyren was looking, he gave him a little victory sign.

The Empress caught it, though, and just rolled her eyes.

_((Little thing for you guys. I've started an Art Thread down in the Art Forum that I'll be updating pretty regularly, and a good amount of the content will probably be Story Hour art. Currently, I've put up that picture of Jyren's mother, though its not finished yet.))_


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 207: No Regrets*

Hours passed uneventfully as the trip to the Capital world continued. But, finally, it came to an end. They were ushered to a large, open section of the ship just before exiting hyperspace so that a the planet below could be seen. When the blue of hyperspace faded, not far away, hanging in the star pocketed blackness of space was a planet, not at all unlike Alraxia. Soft greens and blues rolled across it, and as they got closer, Jyren noticed that there seemed to be more greens than blues, which mostly looked like rivers more than oceans.

In a few more minutes, they were skimming through the atmosphere of the planet, and Jyren watched a distant white approaching. It grew to the point that he realized that the...city they were approaching was probably at least five times the size of the Alraxian Palace. The pearl white city consisted of flowery towers, domes, and walkways that crisscrossed the multiple levels. It was like a miniature, pearly coloured Coruscant.

Jyren was so caught up in looking over the hundreds of different shaped buildings and towers that he almost missed the one they were approaching. It was the centerpiece, and looked almost exactly like the Palace, simply transplanted in the middle of this insane mass of structures. By the time they were over it and the ship was setting down, he could no longer see anything but white in all directions except for up, and even then it was hard to see very far due to the density.

When the ship had finally set down, they all were ushered out and to a large delegation of guards and other Alraxians. But as they were pushed into the all too familiar looking interior hallways Shadow and her mother went off one direction, with Cole staying behind and speaking with some other Alraxians, and Jyren found himself and his father going the other way. He managed to be polite enough to just go along with it until the guards and other people disappeared, leaving he and his father in a room that resembled a living space.

“Where’d Shadow go?” he asked it fairly quickly as his father had a seat in a large chair.

“To get prepared, I would expect,” Navik motioned for his son to have a seat in another of the chairs.

Jyren did after pacing for a moment, then looked down at the elaborately decorated carpet lining the floor, “So what exactly is going on? She never really told me...”

Navik leaned back in the chair and answered his son fairly quickly, “It is a celebration for ah...the two of you.”

Before his father could say anything else, though, Jyren turned to regard the older Alraxian with a dangerous look. But his father just laughed quietly and went on, “Don’t blame me, son, you’re the one who asked the question. Besides, I don’t know why you’re so touchy whenever anyone says anything about her. There’s nothing wrong with it. Its not like you could have done better.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Jyren nearly yelped, his claws digging into the chair’s arms very slightly out of reflex more than anything.

His father just pointed, “That’s exactly my point, son. Every time anyone says anything about her you go crazy. Just calm down...we aren’t going to criticize either
of you. Despite what some may say about royalty, they still deserve a choice, and you should be glad for that.”

Slowly, his father’s words started to actually make sense. Which was a problem. Jyren, now a deep shade of crimson, stared down at the floor and mumbled, “There’s nothing like that. It was all an accident. You all just assume too much.”

“Oh, we do...?” Navik fought to keep the smile off of his face, “You sound like I did twenty five years ago.”

For some odd reason, that got Jyren’s attention and he looked up to meet his father’s gaze, “What happened then?”

Navik smiled then, “I met your mother for the first time.”

Jyren growled and furiously turned away again, more annoyed at himself for openly walking into that than anything else. It was like he couldn’t think straight anymore! And it wasn’t fair! When he grumbled the same excuses again, his father scoffed at them.

“Come now, Jyren, if we’re all assuming so much why do you keep feeding us things to assume about?” his father was not sounding anything other than honest, and that was why Jyren did try to find something to throw at the older Alraxian. He looked up again with a questioning glance, and his father just rolled his eyes, “You know exactly what I’m talking about, son! If we’re assuming too much then why are you so defensive about it? Why was she clinging to you the entire flight here? What about that child, hm? And really, I suppose the best question is, why did you kiss her?”

Silence. Silence in which Jyren became so warm that it was amazing the chair didn’t burn under him. Jyren tried to speak something to defend himself, but only incomprehensible noises escaped. This lasted for a few minutes before his father got up and walked over to him. Calmly, the older Alraxian knelt down in front of his son and reached up to rest a hand on the young man’s face.

Looking his son in the eyes, Navik said quietly, “Its alright, Jyren, you don’t have to defend yourself to me. I trust you. I can’t not trust you. Not now that I can see you here. Just, please Jyren, understand that no matter what you do, I will always be proud of you. And so will your mother. But don’t you ever, ever be ashamed of your choices. And don’t ever have any regrets about what could have been or what should have been...alright?”

Another short silence before Jyren slowly nodded. His father was right. So very right. All his life, Jyren had been dragging himself down with regrets. And here, in this corner of the galaxy hidden away from everything he thought he knew, it looked like all of those regrets were being undone. He had a family...he had a reason to keep going...he had...he had something he thought he’d lost.

But before he could say anything, his father smiled and pulled them both to their feet, “Come on, lets go get you ready for tonight. Its my job to do this diplomacy and dressing up, so I’m used to it...however, from the look on your face, I doubt you like it, so lets just get it over with fast and then you can enjoy the party, hm?”

Jyren simply nodded again, and his father then led him out of the room. It was going to be a long night. A very, very long night. And at the end of it...possibly a light.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 208: Enjoy Yourself*

Being dressed like he had no idea how to do it himself was something that Jyren would never get used to. He made a point to never like it either, as the damned attendants had a habit of moving him around and bending him in places that shouldn’t be bent without at least giving him some warning. Being bathed was not all that different, but he did his best to just not think about that. At least they didn’t try talking to him. They seemed far too busy for that, and Jyren had no idea what exactly he’d say in the first place.

Three long hours later, the flurry of activity was over, and Jyren found himself clean, neat, and dressed. Thankfully, there was no argument over his hair this time, and they seemed to accept that he could at least look slightly scruffy. The tunic he wore was...interesting, to say the least. It was a flat silver piped in blue that matched his stripe, which was definitely not a coincidence, and had a very high collar. Something was attached to the back of his neck, which dug in and hurt for a moment before he forgot about it altogether. It was explained to him that it was a small device to keep him warm enough, as the planet was not nearly the same general temperature as Alraxia and he wore no morphsuit to fix it.

So, the high collar was likely to keep the thing hidden, but that didn’t mean it was any good. He found it actually dug into his skin when he tried to look down, and it itched far too much. At least the trousers and boots were comfortable. In fact, all of it was except for the damned collar.

After ten minutes of tugging at it and wondering where his father had disappeared to, the door to the small room opened, and an older Alraxian woman motioned for him to follow her. Not one to argue or even question at this point, Jyren nodded and was led down the long, seemingly endless hallways. Jyren wondered if it was normal to see no one else around, but ended up deciding that it probably was...considering how huge it was.

And then they stopped, the Alraxian woman bowed to him and said softly, “Please wait here for a moment.”

When Jyren nodded, she smiled and stepped into a nearby door. So he just stood there. Waiting. Waiting on what? He was lost enough as it was, so what did one more question really add at this point? Bored, he found himself idly rocking back and forth and looking around at the blank, nondescript hallways. And then the door opened again.

It slid open quietly in that usual iris-like motion, and a vaguely familiar figure stepped out. It was Shadow. It...it had to be. She just looked...all...different. For one, her hair was shining slightly and up in some interesting style so that it only fell to her shoulders. She wore a long, flowing off white dress that hugged her torso until flowing out, and it was lined with a soft gold colour. On her face, was a scowl. At least something was the same.

Of course, she’d stepped out while he’d been swaying back and forth, and Jyren nearly fell on his face in surprise. Somehow managing to catch himself, he managed a weak smile and nervous laugh. Her scowl did not fade. A few silent moments passed before she rolled her eyes, “If you don’t close your mouth you’re going to swallow a bug and choke.”

Realizing he’d been gaping, Jyren quickly snapped his mouth shut, and nearly bit off a chunk of his tongue in the process. Thankfully, though, this was the end of his idiocy for the next few minutes, as Shadow was ushered out of the doorway by an attendant. She was then pushed over to him and, like before, their arms were linked and they were then pushed off down the hallway.

[This again...?] Jyren asked, trying to do his best to watch in front of him and not constantly glance over to look at her...

She sighed out loud and nodded...not that he saw her nod, of course. [Worse. Trust me. Much, much worse. Just smile, nod, and let everyone talk, and it’ll all be over with in a few hours.]

[A few...a few hours?!]

[Exactly.] she didn’t sound pleased, either.

They walked for what seemed like ages before being stopped before a pair of large doors, twice their size. Jyren and Shadow exchanged worried looks for the short moment before they opened. Because when they did, it really was all over. Slowly, the doors opened to reveal a gigantic, domed room that could probably fit at least five large space transports. There were stairs to upper levels, columns all over, and large windows directly opposite them, showing the outside...which was now dusk, and gave an interesting view of the rest of the city. But none of that really got either of their attention.

It was the people. Hundreds of them. And not just Alraxians. There were so many different species that Jyren lost count after he got to about fifty. And all of them stared straight at the two of them. All of those eyes. It was a silent moment before the two of them were ushered in along the pathway that was opened up for them between the crowd, and it eventually led to the center of the room, with the Empress, Emperor, and Jyren’s father standing there waiting.

The three of them smiled warmly upon seeing the two young Alraxians. When they came to a stop, the Empress turned and spoke to the huge crowd gathered around. She spoke in Alraxian, so Jyren had no idea what was being said. However, at the end of it, there were cheers and the once silent chamber was suddenly ablaze with conversation in at least five different languages. The Empress then looked to Jyren and Shadow and they were led to one end of the huge room where a seemingly endless series of tables were set up.

Along most of them, was every single kind of food one could imagine...and then some. But at the end of it all, where they now stood, was a table filled with what could easily have been someone’s junk. However, at that thought, Shadow had elbowed him in the ribs. [Those are gifts, not junk!]

[Gifts...?] he glanced from her to the...the things all over that table.

[Yes, gifts.] Shadow rolled her eyes again. [If you’d stop staring at me for a moment and actually listen to what I’ve said, you’d have remembered this is a celebration for us. Can you figure the rest out or do I need to kick you in front of all these people?]

He didn’t answer. He would have, but the Empress started speaking in Basic to the two of them, “There is a group that would like to personally deliver their gift to you.”

Smiling, she stepped to the side to reveal five tall, thin creatures. Attached to their arms, were soft, feathery wings, and their heads were just as avian. The five of them walked over to Jyren and Shadow and bowed deeply. Jyren didn’t need Shadow to tell them these were the Jendari she’d talked about before. They gave off an aura of calm and...and...he couldn’t pinpoint it, but they were amazing creatures.

In perfect Basic, with no accent at all, the Jendari in front looked to Jyren, an interesting smile on the avian face, “We have waited many years to see you again, young Jyren.”

All eyes were on him again. Even Shadow’s. Why that one extra pair of eyes made it worse, he wasn’t sure, but it definitely did. Not sure what he could say, but knowing that everyone was waiting on him Jyren stumbled out, “...you...you have?”

Shadow rolled her eyes...well, mentally. In a way, she couldn’t blame him, but in another, it was just far more satisfying to blame him. He’d get over it...well, no, he was always going to be a bit iffy when it came to thinking, but it could be worse. How...? She blinked, shook off those odd thoughts again, and looked to the Jendari again.

The Jendari simply held his smile and nodded, reaching back and to one of the others, who handed him a small object. Very gracefully, the Jendari’s arm pulled around and presented a small, somewhat translucent green cube object to Jyren, “Your mother wished for you to have this. We are all very sorry she could not give it to you herself.”

Carefully, Jyren took the small cube, finding it was about the size of his palm and felt...interesting. Or maybe he was just nervous. After looking at it a moment, he went slightly red and looked back up to the Jendari, “Thank you very much but...what is it?”

Reaching out to rest a fragile hand on his shoulder, the Jendari just said, “When the time is right, you will know.”

Typical. So very typical. And yet...somehow, it was satisfying. Jyren smiled slowly, and nodded, glancing down to the small cube, then to the hand on his shoulder. He followed the winged arm back to the Jendari’s thin body and bowed, “Thank you. Somehow, I feel that receiving this from you is just as good as receiving it from my mother.”

When the Jendari nodded, the Empress turned and said something to the rest of the crowd, spoke something else, and everyone started moving. Some went for food, others simply to talk. Most, though, made their way to Jyren and Shadow, if only to say a few words in person.

It slowly began to fade off after a few minutes, and the Empress stepped over to them, leaning down and whispering to her daughter, “No running out on this. Enjoy yourself...please.”

Surprisingly, Shadow nodded, and the Empress smiled as she then walked off to join her mate, Jyren’s father, and the Jendari that had presented the gift to him...which was now in a pocket. Finally finding an opening, Shadow took Jyren’s arm again, and led him to a slightly less densely occupied section. They then both became aware of music, and when Shadow looked around, she sighed, then shrugged and looked to him, “They’re going to expect us to dance.”

“I don’t dance.”

“Neither do I,” Shadow grumbled, noticing that there were a few more eyes on them again, and that her father seemed to be trying to secretly signal Jyren for something...not that it made any sense. Sometimes, she truly did not understand that man, “However, I have been ordered to enjoy myself, and that means doing what they all think we should.”

“Wonderful...” Jyren sighed, “But thankfully, there’s a problem.”

“Oh, there is?” Shadow raised an eyebrow, idly leading him a little closer to where her parents were so they’d actually see she wasn’t trying to disappear.

Jyren nodded, a smile slowly finding its way onto his face, “Of course there is. I don’t know how to dance...especially this formal stuff.”

“That won’t get you out of anything,” she poked him somewhat roughly in the side, “Besides, its not that hard. I’ll teach you.”

He looked shocked, “Wait, wait...you actually know how to dance? Not only that, but you sound like you actually want to! What have you done with Shadow?”

Laughing slightly, she smiled and shrugged, “I was told to enjoy myself. Maybe it won’t be so bad...”

“You really have done something to Shady, haven’t you?” Jyren asked, finding out it was already too late for sarcasm. Of course, Cole was still trying to say something to him through not-so-discreet hand signals and motioning. None of them made any sense to Jyren, and besides, he was suddenly caught up in being taught how to dance by...of all people, Shadow. Already, he could tell it was going to be a very interesting night.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 209: Three Simple Words*

It was no surprise that somehow the two of them had migrated to pretty much the center of the dance floor. Migrated wasn’t exactly the correct word, though, as everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch them...and both Shadow and Jyren had simply walked to a point where they were equally distant from all of the eyes. It was the only safe place, it seemed.

With a sigh, Jyren looked from the crowd and back to Shadow. Very quietly, he whispered, “They’re waiting on us...aren’t they?”

“You catch on quick,” Shadow grumbled, rolling her eyes. A short moment passed after she looked over Jyren’s shoulder to see her mother nod. Sighing, Shadow looked back to Jyren, “If we just get this over with, they’ll all stop staring again.”

“All?”

“...most,” she admitted with a weak shrug. Then, carefully, she reached over and took his arm. After placing it around her waist, Shadow then got the rest of things set up ‘correctly’, and sighed into his shoulder, mumbling, “Step on my feet and I swear I’m going to kill you. Its hard enough to not break my ankles in these damned shoes.”

Jyren didn’t answer. What answer was there? He knew he was dead. It was a given. There was past experience weighing in to seal his fate. So, with death imminent in the next minute, he gave in and it started simply. By the time the two of them started actually ‘dancing’, if one could really call it that, the watching eyes began to slowly turn to one another as they talked, commented, and some couples joined in, thankfully.

Amazingly, Jyren didn’t step on her feet. He blamed that on their link, giving him the advantage of knowing exactly where not to step...though that led to some very awkward dodging, and he bumped into at least five people in the process of trying to save his life.

After another minute, Shadow looked up to him with a curious look on her face, “You lied.”

“What do you mean?” he knew exactly what she meant, but was smart enough to play innocent. That was another intelligent way of not getting himself killed. Another was not in any way speaking the thoughts that kept coming up when he looked at her.

Her curious expression became a mild glare as they dodged another pair behind him, “You’ve done this before. I can tell.”

“You sound like an expert,” Jyren commented, dodging her accusation as subtly as a turbolaser blast.

Of course, that only got the glare to increase slightly, “You could have told me, you know.”

That was interesting...she almost sounded...hurt that he hadn’t told her. Taken aback by that odd sound in Shadow’s voice, Jyren stumbled for a moment again, nearly falling tripping over his own feet, before mumbling and shrugging, “It wasn’t worth mentioning...I uh...it wasn’t ah...it wasn’t exactly a wonderful time.”

Shadow’s glare faded into a grin as she picked up on some of his stray thoughts through the link. The curiosity returned, and as they continued to dodge others, finding a fairly simply rhythm in the dancing so that it was like they were just walking normally, she couldn’t help poking him in the back, “Details. I’m curious now.”

He sighed, but decided that talking was at least an easy way of distracting himself from all of the insanity and the thoughts that weren’t going away, “A couple of weeks before the assault on Coruscant, there was some formal thing we Zephyrs had to attend with a few other Squadrons. I uh...well...Mare kind of tried teaching me to dance then. I stepped on her feet three times before tripping over my own, falling to the side, taking out another pilot and bringing Mare down with me because I was dumb enough to not let go. And, of course, I hit my head falling down, so it all went blurry.”

Shadow stifled a laugh. It didn’t work too well, and instead she ended up giggling into his shoulder for a minute before calming herself, grinning, and nodding, “At least you’ve grown up a little since then. Now you’re only half tripping.”

Not really knowing what to say to that, Jyren simply went on with what they were doing and glanced over Shadow’s head. He caught Cole’s eye, who grinned and started motioning again. Sighing, Jyren decided it was best to not try figuring that out, and looked back to Shadow. She was...she was looking back. Why that was unnerving, he didn’t know or even really want to know, but it was, and he nearly fell over again.

Realizing he was getting stuck focusing on those odd thoughts and messing up more, he quickly latched onto a random question and asked it, “So uh...what happens tomorrow?”

“I start my hunt for Nine,” Shadow said simply, a slight hint of relief in her voice at the conversation returning. He wasn’t alone in trying to fight off the curious thoughts, but he was lucky to not have the still somewhat distinct ‘Marix’ personality berating her with comments that could not ever be acknowledged. Even if he didn’t look all that bad...and even if she didn’t mind what she was wearing...and...NO! No, that was all wrong and best ignored. Yes. Of course. But he was right there and it was impossible to just ignore them and...and...

“You?” Jyren interrupted her thoughts, “You mean us.”

“I mean me,” Shadow said, again relieved at being able to speak and not think, “You can’t go with me.”

“What?!” he nearly yelled it, and at least two others around them stopped and stared in surprise. Somehow, Jyren managed to not freeze, though, “Why am I even here, then?! I have to go with you. I can’t just...sit around here.”

“I know how you feel its just...just...” she trailed off, knowing exactly what she should say but not saying it and keeping it well hidden from the link. It was just that he couldn’t go. He couldn’t. She wouldn’t be able to focus. She couldn’t fine Nine if she had to worry about him...she couldn’t...shrugging off those odd thoughts one more time, she managed to keep a straight face, “Its my task.”

Why Jyren didn’t argue with that was as much beyond him as about everything was. But something was starting to take hold. She was going to go do it on her own. He could feel it. He knew he couldn’t argue. And he also knew what the stakes really were...she couldn’t take Nine and Ket alone. She would get herself...no, them killed. And he couldn’t do anything about it. Or...well...why not? What was the point of fighting it anymore?

He sighed heavily, took a deep breath, and said quietly, “Listen...Shady. I...I know I can’t fight you on this...so I just...I just need to say something.”

Shadow blinked, slightly confused as the link wasn’t making anymore sense than his words were. She didn’t even ask him to say it, instead just nodding and looking up to him curiously, trying to search his expression for at least something other than confusion.

And then, somewhat nervously, Jyren spoke the three words he probably should have spoken months ago. And though it was quiet enough that only Shadow heard them, across the large chamber, Cole smiled proudly and leaned over to tell the Empress, who also smiled as they both turned to watch distantly. Reading lips was a skill that Cole never regretted possessing.

_((And on a completely unrelated note. Happy Birthday to me. ))_


----------



## Angcuru

Yaaaay! *sets off fireworks*

That's to Jyren/Akan's admittance of love, and to yer B-Day, of course.


----------



## trexmaster

Woohoo !

Happy B-Day mister AMG !


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 210: Friends and...More?*

Shadow had stopped moving. In fact, she’d near frozen, a look of confusion and shock on her face. Though her eyes were looking up in Jyren’s general direction, it was fairly obvious no one was currently in...or at least, that whoever was there was busy trying to sort things out. Which was, of course, very true. While she had a heated and confused mental argument with the small part of her that was still distinctly Marix, somehow she stuttered out a series of words that were almost a sentence, “You...you uh...you what...?”

If Jyren said anything, she didn’t hear it. The link sure wasn’t helping at the moment, either. And neither was Marix. In fact, Shadow wasn’t being helpful to herself, either. While her mind was an insane mess of a thousand different thoughts and ideas that all, in the end, led to the same thing in a roundabout insane way, Shadow somehow noticed that Jyren was standing there looking...a bit like he’d done something wrong.

The expression written across his features was something she could only compare to what Tobias looked like when he knew he was pushing his luck. It was most used during the flurries of ‘why’s. But that was not something one usually saw on Jyren’s face. And though Shadow continued to stand there and stare in confusion, Marix took hold with what needed to be done. Shocking Shadow, she found herself leaning forward(...and up slightly, but that was dutifully ignored) and gently resting her cheek against his.

Quietly, to make sure that no one else around them(who had stopped to stare, but this, too, was ignored) could hear, she whispered, “I...I...I love you...too...”

By the time the words were out, she was already yelling at Marix for taking of advantage of the situation and doing something stupid. What was she saying?! This wasn’t right! He really was out of his tree! She was too! They all were!...so what was the problem? Did that really make things bad? If they crazy, why not be crazy together? What did THAT mean?!

Well...they were stuck together for life. And despite everything, they did get along fairly well...and he was...somehow, that thought faded away. What appeared in its place was a simple question. Wasn’t it too late? She’d already said...said...that...so what good was trying to convince herself otherwise when it really was too late to convince anyone? The question stopped all thought processes, as there was only one answer to that. There wasn’t any point in trying to convince herself otherwise anymore.

And then she realized he’d said something. Blinking and jumping slightly as she was rocketed back into reality, Shadow asked quickly, and in a slightly higher pitched voice than usual, “What was that?”

“Ah...um...they’re all staring at us again,” Jyren mumbled into her ear, which happened to be almost exactly at his mouth, since she’d stopped leaning up a moment earlier. Her ear twitched and flattened for a moment before her eyes darted back and forth. They were all staring. Intently. With grins.

“Come on,” Shadow’s hand on his shoulder slid down to his arm, and she quickly turned to literally drag him out of the center and away from all the attention. Surprisingly enough, it worked. While some still stared, many just went back to dancing or talking or whatever they were doing before. Quickly and somewhat roughly, Shadow dragged Jyren out of the main crowd. When they were out of the largest portion of it, she quickly looked both ways for a place where everyone couldn’t stare. Why, she didn’t know. But the link and her thought both confirmed it was a good idea at this point.

Her eyes locked on the window at the far side of the huge, domed room. With a quick glance to Jyren, who nodded at the mutual thought passing through the link, they both darted for the window. There was a series of doors lower down when they got there, and they exited the interior to find a large, pearly white balcony. Most notable, however, was that it was empty.

Jyren let out a sigh of relief as the collective sounds of all the talking inside were drowned out by the closing door. Shadow did the same, but shivered slightly at the cold as she walked over and leaned out across the railing to look over the huge city.

For a moment, Jyren stood back and stared. Then, when she caught onto this through the link and she managed a mild glare over her shoulder at him, he mumbled an incoherent excuse and wandered over to stand next to her. Neither of them said anything, though. Neither of them knew what to say. So, they simply looked out over the city and the star dotted night sky above. Or at least, that was what Jyren was telling himself.

More so than not, he found himself glancing down to the side to look at Shadow. She was doing a good job at not doing the same, but every so often, he’d catch her eyes moving and she would panic. The panic was only noticeable through seeing her tail twitch and the short burst of insanity through the link before it faded into the nor normal confusion.

One thing he did notice, though, was that she was still shivering. And after a moment of a short, one sided argument with himself, Jyren decided to try something. Very carefully, and very slowly, he reached over to put an arm around Shadow. When his hand touched her shoulder, however she jumped, made a surprised squeak, and took a large step out of the way. Honestly, it had been a reflex caused out of surprise more than anything else. Carefully, Shadow looked over to see the same lost expression as before on Jyren’s face, and she knew he was wondering why he’d done the wrong thing.

She heard him sigh before Jyren turned to look back over the city. There was another internal argument with Marix before Shadow was almost literally pushed to step back over again. Somewhat cautiously, she also reached over to rest an arm around his waist. It got nearly the same reaction out of him, but when he realized that, a grin appeared on his face. He tried again to bring an arm around her, but this time she didn’t jump away, and instead stood there at least a little tense. A little being a complete lie, of course. She was tense enough to probably jump out of her skin if he moved again.

A few more silent minutes passed. Jyren was surprised, though, when he heard Shadow’s voice very quietly break the silence and ask, “So...what happens now?”

Glancing down to her(not that he hadn’t already been, of course), Jyren managed a very slight shrug, “I um...I don’t know...is anything supposed to?”

Shadow thought on this for a few moments. It was a good question. But she still didn’t have an answer to it, and so shrugged just as he had, “I don’t know, either...I mean...there has to be something different between being friends and...and...”

Though she trailed off into silence, Jyren nodded slightly, “I think there is...”

“What is it?” she asked, looking up and searching his eyes for the answer, as the link was still useless.  It was a genuine question. She really wanted to understand all of this insanity. Of course, it didn’t occur to her that it might not be something that simple.

Biting his lip, Jyren tried to think, and then reached up to tap his forehead, “You feel that right...?”

After realizing that he meant the link and not tapping on his skull, Shadow nodded slowly.

“I think...I think that’s it...”

Shadow thought about it. Was that what all that insanity was? All that stuff that just didn’t make sense? That was the difference? Maybe...well, why not? But she couldn’t figure out anything else to say, and so they fell into silence again. This one didn’t last nearly as long, though, and it was Jyren that broke it this time.

“You want to go back inside...?” he asked very slowly, “You’re um...shivering still...”

A quick glance behind them and then Shadow looked back and shook her head, “I’ll be alright...you should be glad you get to wear so much, though. I still don’t understand why I can’t have sleeves or anything close...”

Jyren couldn’t help glancing over her again when she said that, and mumbled lamely, “You look...good...”

She blinked, a little surprised, but somehow managed to only go slightly red, “Thank you...” a pause, then she grinned and the red faded again, “You know we’re never going to live this down, don’t you?”

That got a short laugh out of Jyren and he nodded, “It um...could be worse, right?”

“You’ve seen my family,” she said, nodding back behind them, “If it could get worse than them, I’d be amazed.”

Jyren nodded again with a grin, but noticed she was still shivering and, for some reason, latched onto that for a third time. Or at least, he tried to. But just as he was about to say something about it again, his stomach growled...loudly. That got a large grin on Shadow’s face and she nudged him slightly, “You could have just said you were hungry, you know.”

He mumbled something that probably wasn’t a sentence and went a slight red colour. Still grinning, she poked his chest again and motioned back behind them, “Fine, come on...we can get some food and then escape to our room so they don’t keep staring at us all night. We’ve got at least a few hours to figure things out...”

“A few hours...?” he asked a stupid question as she took his hand and they walked back to the door.

She nodded, for once looking slightly sad about it, “In the morning, I’ll find Nine and end this.”


----------



## Mr. Draco

Finally finished reading through the whole story hour to date.  Took about a week of on-and-off work.  But, I have to say, that was AWESOME.  Absolutely, completely, amazingly, freaking awesome.  Major kudos to you and your group for being able to both hold that campaign going and getting this typed up here in all its glory for us to read and share.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Apologies for the lack of updates the last couple of days...I seem to have come down with something. Not exactly a cold but bad enough that I can't get myself to write(or sketch for that matter).

Hopefully, I'll be feeling better tomorrow and be able to get back to posting daily updates.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 211: One Last Night*

They were all back to staring the second Jyren and Shadow were back inside. One would think it would be something that could be ignored after it happens so often...but Jyren found that it was just the opposite. The longer it lasted, the harder it was to resist the urge to scream, find a corner, and hide out for a few years. The next best thing was what was currently happening. He was being dragged through the crowd by Shadow fast enough that he couldn’t actually make out any of the eyes.

In a moment, the two of them were back to the gigantic series of tables that held an uncountable amount of food. Lots didn’t even accurately describe how much food there was. So, for a moment, Jyren just stood there and stared at it all. But, for the second time, his stomach growled in protest of his not-eating and, again, Shadow heard it. She grinned again prodding him along in front of her while he held two plates.

At first, he didn’t even know what was happening, but soon there was food appearing on the two plates. As quickly as she could, Shadow was pushing him along and finding the ‘best’ foods she could. Of course, best wasn’t accurate, as everything was good and it was more a matter of what she could reach or not. Five minutes, and both of the plates were piled with so much food that Jyren was actually having trouble holding them.

As Shadow then started pushing him off towards the exit...well, around the back wall to hide them from the sight of the parent’s. None of them would like it if they left, most likely. But, thankfully, Shadow picked up on the idea that Jyren was nearly dropping the food, and took one of the plates while she led him around the long way. They shared a mutual grin while sneaking right behind both of their fathers, probably no more than a couple meters behind the two men and neither of their tails even twitched.

Very slowly, they snuck out the main exit, seemingly unnoticed. Well, except for the two guards at the door who watched them both still sneaking past once they were out in the hallway. The guards glanced to each other, shrugged, and one grinned slightly.

When Shadow made it around the first corner outside of the main chamber, she let out a triumphant, “Ha!”

Jyren grinned as he followed her, but watched in slightly confusion as she starting hopping on one foot down the hallway in front of him, “You alright...”

She grumbled something over her shoulder before managing to get one of the high-heeled shoes off with one hand, then switched feet, yelping suddenly at her bare foot touching the cold floor. She got the other shoe off, danced around from foot to foot again, then looked to Jyren, “Stop standing there! This is cold!”

He held his grin, but stood there and didn’t move, “What if I like this spot?”

Her eyes formed a mock glare, “You want to find out just how cold this floor is?”

The threat would have been more...well threatening if she wasn’t still bouncing from foot to foot every few seconds. Still grinning, Jyren said, “I’m quite comfortable, actually. Besides, you look like you’re having fun.”

And then the inevitable occurred. Shadow pounced. However, Jyren had just enough time to sidestep to the left, laugh, and run as fast as he could down the hallway in front of him. Behind him, Shadow yelled a curse and he could hear her feet chasing after him, and feel her annoyance at the cold through the link. All in all, he was winning.

Making two turns(following Shadow’s own remembering of where their room was supposed to be), Jyren found another very long corridor ahead of him. He glanced behind him a moment to see Shadow barrel around the corridor, then realized she was actually catching up. Quickly, he turned back and continued forward.

Then something hit him in the back of the head. It hit hard, with a sharp point against his skull. It did nothing but just hurt, and when he glanced behind him to see what it was Jyren knew he’d made a mistake. Shadow’s second shoe hit him square in the forehead, sending him stumbling back in surprise more than pain. But he lost his balance(and the plate he’d been carefully running with), and the next thing he knew he was on his back and his head was spinning.

Just as he started to sit up, he heard an “HA!” and then was pounced. This time, Shadow found her mark, and his head found the soft mix of food and floor that was now scattered across the ground underneath him. As Jyren’s vision slowly came back into focus, he saw her idly sitting over him and picking off pieces of food to eat. Deciding it was the best thing he could think to do, he groaned.

That did get a reaction. She raised an eyebrow and actually looked down to him. But instead of a question, she picked some brown thing off from next to his head and shrugged, “You’ll live.”

He groaned again.

Rolling her eyes, Shadow sighed, “Fine. Fine...I’ll make sure you aren’t completely broken.”

She leaned forward while reaching to lift his head up off the floor. With her free hand, Shadow idly picked away at the food his head had landed on, forgetting completely about the fact that he may or may not have a concussion. He’d live. And besides, some of the best stuff hand landed under him...

There was a muffled whimpering noise. Slowly, she looked down. Then, she made the same whimpering noise...noticing where she’d pulled his head up to while trying to lean over him. Carefully and slowly, Shadow sat back up and let his head down, her face as red as his...in fact, most of both of them had gone red. Slowly, she mumbled an apology, “I uh...didn’t know that...dresses um...did that...”

	They both looked past each other for a long moment. Then, finally, Shadow got up and pulled him to his feet. Ignoring the food all over the ground, she picked up her plate(which was now only half full as she’d been eating things while chasing after him), and quietly led the way back to their room.

It was huge. Well, huge compared to the room in the Palace. In fact, the room was actually three rooms. One, a large, semi-circular living area, with furniture, interesting pieces of art, and a large window near the opposite end. That alone was larger than the room in the Palace. Off to the left, Shadow found the bedroom, which was just as big, and just as packed with a gigantic wardrobe(likely fully packed with clothes), a desk, and another door that likely led to the washroom. That wasn’t even mentioning the bed, which was, as with everything in this place, huge. Shadow idly placed the plate down on the desk as she wandered around, looking over every section of the place as she used to do looking for dangerous areas or listening devices. Not that they were likely to be found, but it had become habit.

Jyren had just stood back, finding that he was staring at her but not actually doing anything to change that. Once she had finished, Shadow sighed and sat down on the bed. She glanced up to Jyren just as he sat next to her, but then went to staring down at the floor, “I’m sorry.”

She couldn’t see his face react to that, but she knew he was surprised. He stuttered out a series of non-words before making sense of his thoughts and asking quietly, “For what?”

Shadow shrugged and motioned around them, “For this...” she then reached over and poked his leg gently, “For that...most everything, actually.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Jyren said, still not completely understanding what she meant, but trying to fill in the holes through the use of the link “I...I’ve told you before I do kind of...well...I like this body. It still takes some getting used to but it isn’t all that bad and...and the rest of this, well...at least we aren’t stuck in it alone.”

She blinked slightly, then very carefully looked over to him, “We will be.”

“You really aren’t going to let me go with you after Nine, are you?” it was less a question and more a stating of fact by this point.

With a sigh, Shadow nodded, “You can’t come with me...Nine will...she...she will go after you to distract me. And I...I cannot do this if I have to worry about you.”

“We’ve done things like this before,” Jyren said, trying for the last time to convince her to let him fight, too.

But Shadow shook her head, “Nine is different. You just have to trust me on that...and...and someone has to stay here and protect our family.”

He bit his lower lip and managed a slow, forced nod, “I...I understand. I still don’t like it...but I understand.”

Silence. A silence that was becoming all too common lately. It was unnerving. It was so quiet that it was loud. It was...it was starting to drive the both of them crazy. But neither knew what to do about it. Well...no, there were ideas. It was easier, though, to just ignore them and let the long silences continue. But not this time.

This time, Jyren acted. He reached down to rest a hand on Shadow’s face before leaning down and kissing her.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 212: The Morning After...*

It was a long night, but not nearly long enough. Neither Jyren nor Shadow got any sleep worth counting, and it seemed that the sun was peaking into the window of the bedroom only minutes after they’d first entered. But it had been all night. And it was over. Slowly, the mood was changing between them as the inevitable was beginning to rear its head.

Shadow was going to go off on her own, and there wasn’t anything he could do about it. It had been a subject gone over far too many times that night, but the situation had never changed. Jyren knew it wouldn’t, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try and fight it to the last moment. And now, the last moment was being reached.

“You realize that me going wouldn’t actually change the fact that if you screw up we both die, right?” Jyren asked, not pulling any punches at this hour as they were getting dressed.

Shadow finished pulling on her tunic and idly glanced over her shoulder to him, “And that’s more likely to happen if you’re there with me. We’ve been over this already. I know you don’t like it but...this is my fight. Not to mention you’re the only one I’d trust protecting our family.”

He rolled his eyes, grumbling as he was fighting with his own tunic...the collar, specifically, which was too high and too tight and itched and...he sighed and grumbled actual words, “A day ago you were wishing death on our parents and Toby...now you’ve changed your mind all of a sudden. I think it’s an excuse so I won’t steal the show and ruin this whole matriarchal society.”

Shadow caught his grin, but just rolled her eyes right back and turned to give him a critical look, “Your trousers are on backwards, Jedi Boy.”

Jyren’s grin faded. He glanced down, went red, then mumbled something about having wondered why he had been having so much trouble with his tail. As he quickly fixed this problem, Shadow pulled on a belt and continued speaking, “Besides, a lot of things have changed since yesterday.”

Trailing off with a slight smile on her face, Shadow looked at herself in the mirror again. She now wore a flat tunic of a colour that was almost jet black but just a slight shade lighter. Her hair was also simply let loose, not in some horrible style as it had been the night before. It felt good to not be all dressed up and just be...herself. And comfortable. Though truthfully, the dress wasn’t all that bad...

Glancing behind her, Shadow looked at the piece of clothing which was still on the floor near the bed. She’d be killed if anyone saw it down there like that. One little wrinkle in the thing was bad enough, but on the floor like that? That was a death wish. So, she walked over and picked it up, straightening it out as best as possible and folding as well as she could before placing it on the bed.

She then saw Jyren’s suit in about the same condition, but before she could reach down to fix that, too, Shadow became very aware of struggling sounds from Jyren’s direction. That couldn’t be a good thing...it took her a moment to decide looking was a good idea, and she saw a scene that made him look like he was almost strangling himself.

It took Shadow another moment to realize he was fighting with the high collar on his tunic. He caught that she was watching him and mumbled, “...I hate these stupid high collars. They itch and they hurt and I can’t look down without choking myself...and its too tight...how do you people live with these?!”

Shadow sighed and walked over to him, reaching up to adjust the collar for him, “It’s a wonder you haven’t gotten yourself killed with that lightsaber by now with your skills...”

“I can dress myself fine, thankyouverymuch,” Jyren grumbled under his breath, but was smart enough to stand there and not move as Shadow fixed the collar, “I don’t see why you people need such dangerous clothes, though.”

Rolling her eyes again, she patted his neck, “Its to hide the chip you keep forgetting you wear back there, dear. Now are you sure you’ve got all your clothes on straight or do I need to make sure?”

There was a pause where Jyren was either thinking about that or trying to come up with some sarcastic comment. If it was the latter, he didn’t find one, instead just shaking his head but saying nothing. Shadow smiled and motioned towards the door, “Come on, lets get some food.”

But when she started for the door, she noticed that Jyren didn’t go anywhere. Stopping just two steps later, Shadow turned back around and asked what had to be asked, “What is it...?”

At first, he just shrugged. Then, smart enough to remember the link provided at least some insight for her, Jyren gave in and asked an honest question, “Why couldn’t this have happened months ago instead of now when you have to just run off like this?”

Ah. That. Carefully, Shadow walked back over to him and somewhat awkwardly drew him into a hug. She spoke in a quiet voice, “For one...we were children.”

“Well, yeah but...” he trailed off, returning the hug as he tried his last fight against reality, “...I should have said something a long time ago.”

“I should have, too,” Shadow admitted, pulling back a little to look him in the eyes, “But neither of us did. And besides, it might not have meant a thing then. You were still very caught up with Mare and I...well...I barely understand any of this right now, so I know it would have gone right over me before.”

“So we get a few hours and then that’s it?” Jyren asked, voicing a thought that was as much hers as it was his own.

But Shadow shrugged, “A few hours is better than not at all, right?”

“I guess...” he trailed off again, but then a grin slowly found its way onto his face, “You owe me two weeks in a remote part of the galaxy if we make it out of this.”

“Only two weeks?” Shadow started to grin, too, “You really aren’t a good negotiator, you know that?”

Jyren was going to make another comment. In fact, he got half of the first word out before a loud explosion drowned out the sound of his voice. Neither of them had a chance to reach before there was another, and then another, the entire floor shaking under them each time. And it didn’t stop. It just kept going as the two of them stood there in shock.

They knew what it was. They could feel it. And now, perfectly timed as usual, Ket’s attack had begun...on all places, the Capital world. Half the Empire away from Alraxia, where it had been expected. But now it was too late to think about things like that. Now it was too late for anything. In a moment, they were both running down the hallways to find and exit to at least see what exactly was happening.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 213: Bigger, Stronger, Faster...But Still Insane*

Chaos was putting it too simply. The bombardment...or at least, what Jyren assumed was a bombardment, didn’t let up at all. He followed Shadow through the hallways, running as fast as they could and trying to find someone. Anyone, at this point. It took two long, deafening minutes before they found a small group of Alraxians who were heading towards their left.

Quickly, Shadow grabbed one of the male’s arms and looked him in the eyes, “Where are you going?”

The Alraxian stuttered a moment, obviously still in a state of shock. When there was another explosion that couldn’t have been far off, he jumped and then found his voice, “W-why aren’t you off the planet by now?! We’re going for the last of the ships!”

Shadow and Jyren exchanged a quick look and an identical thoughts. It had only been a few minutes, and there was only one ship left? To Jyren, this was more of a surprise. He didn’t know there were so many all around, but it was still amazing to think how quickly most of the Alraxian’s had gone.

“What exactly is happening?!” was Shadow’s next question.

Again, the Alraxian stuttered, but didn’t take as long to find words this time, “I-I-I don’t know! They say it’s the Mrrakesh attacking! Probably the only one’s who know for sure are the Empress and the Knights.”

The Knights. Quickly, Shadow asked a third question, “Where are the Knights?”

“I saw a group heading towards the south end...” the Alraxian pointed down from the direction Jyren and Shadow had come from.

She sighed, but nodded and looked to Jyren, “Go with them to the ship and get out of here.”

Two steps past him to head for the Knights, and Shadow was stopped by Jyren grabbing her arm. She turned to look at him, seeing the expression on his face she’d been dreading. He knew that she had to go. She did, too. And it would have been easier if she had just gone and nothing had been said. Pretend it wasn’t happening. But Jyren had stopped that from being a possibility now.

“I have to,” she whispered, the words drowned out by another explosion. Not that Jyren didn’t know what she was saying, of course. A few more seconds passed before he nodded, squeezed her arm, and then let go. She actually hesitated for another second before turning and heading the other direction.

Jyren would have stood there and watched her run the other direction if the other Alraxian didn’t grab his arm and say, “Come on, we’ve got to go.”

He turned, and the two of them took two steps towards where the rest of the group had run off to minutes ago. Then, there was another explosion. This one, though, they only half heard. The second half was so loud that their ears couldn’t pick it up, and even if it could, the roar of the ceiling collapsing in drowned out everything else. Large pieces fell, and Jyren barely managed to get them both out of the way .

But it wasn’t the ceiling collapsing in that provided the real danger. It was what fell in with the ceiling. In the hole made by whatever had happened, Jyren watched two slightly shining forms drop down. He recognized them immediately. Two of Ket’s war droids. And they were down in a second, dropping on top of the chunks of the ceiling that had fallen between them.

And they weren’t dropping and standing there like in all those holodramas. They were moving right for Jyren and the other Alraxian, the large bladed-right arm already in mid swing by the time they’d landed. Quickly, Jyren pushed the Alraxian back and out of the way of the first droid’s slash, while at the same time ducking and rolling away from the second’s.

Getting to his feet, his lightsaber was already in hand, and he was still thanking the Force that he had it with him. The snap-hiss of the blade echoed through the corridor at the same time as another, distant explosion. The blue-green light reflected off the two droids as they focused on what was obviously a threat to them. And Jyren was confident. Last time he’d fought with these things felt like years ago...he’d been shorter, weaker, and didn’t have the advantage of knowing what the droids were capable of.

Now, though, things were different. He was no the same height as the droids, and so they no longer looked nearly as intimidating as before. It was amazing how much that helped to be able to look them in the...well...where their eyes would have been if the faces weren’t so skeletal. But there wasn’t much time for thinking, as the droids weren’t the kind to stand around and let him destroy them. They were going to kill him, and in their little droid brains, there wasn’t any other outcome.

Thankfully, the Force allowed for more possibilities than droid circuitry. With a quick , vertical slash, Jyren took of the blade-arm of the first droid, while sidestepping the second’s swing to cleave him into two. Drawing on the Force, he reached out and extended a hand towards the one-armed droid as it began to reform. But before a new arm replaced the old, an invisible wall hit it and crushed the metal against the wall behind it.

Which left Jyren to duck under a strike from the remaining war droid before lopping off its head without any trouble. Breathing heavily, he realized how easy it had been compared to last time. Deactivating his lightsaber, he turned to see that the other Alraxian was staring at him with a shocked look.

Jyren couldn’t help a grin, though the constant explosions didn’t exactly help. The Alraxian said something about going back to the ship, but for some reason Jyren didn’t actually hear it. Something was bugging him. Something was wrong. The droids? They had been easy...but no. No, that wasn’t it. Shadow, then? Maybe...she was alright. He could feel that. But...still, that didn’t feel right.

What was it?!

For some reason beyond his understanding(which he would later attribute to destiny or something mystical like that), he checked his pockets. Nothing. Nothing. Why was nothing bad? He wasn’t wearing the suit anymore so there shouldn’t be anything in these pockets...

That thing the Jendari had given him! It was still in his jacket pocket. His suit’s jacket pocket. His eyes widened. Quickly, Jyren looked to the Alraxian and pointed towards wherever it was they were originally going, “Go on without me! Tell them to wait if they can, but don’t wait on me if you have to!”

When he turned and started running back towards the room(and, ironically, the same direction Shadow had gone), Jyren heard the Alraxian yell in his direction, “Wait! What are you doing?!”

Turning the corner and already out of sight, Jyren yelled back the only answer he could think of, “I have no idea! Now go before my insanity spreads!”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 214: We Fight Alone*

It was stupid. Stupid and insane. Crazy even. So much so that it was even crazy by Jyren’s standards. He should be going the other way. He should have been running with the other Alraxian male to find the last Kanyak and leave before the chaos got more chaotic. But no. Jyren was going the other direction, back to a room that, by the sound of some of the explosions, might not have even been there anymore. And he still had no idea exactly what was happening.

Yes, Ket’s droids were there. And yes, the bombardment was continuing, but that was it. What was bombarding, and how many droids there were was completely beyond anything he knew. But, from the sound of things, a very large amount of ships had already left. How that had happened, he didn’t know...but not knowing things was strangely comforting.

The more he knew, the more insanely stupid running back for a tiny little item became. Slowly, the shakes and echoing sounds of the explosions began to die down...but that was more worrying than comforting. From Jyren’s knowledge of tactics, a bombardment would usually last until the majority of ground troops were down. But this was another part of the galaxy, and the troops were droids. So whether he was correct or not, Jyren couldn’t know, but that didn’t change the fact that it was still worrying.

And then, just as he reached the door to the room, there was a deafening explosion that couldn’t have been far off at all. The building shook enough that Jyren was thrown to the wall and nearly onto his face. Standing there for a moment, claws slightly dug into the wall, he looked ahead to see half of the hallway had collapsed inwards and sunlight was creeping in. There was, thankfully, no sign of any droids. But outside, distantly, he could hear a sound very similar to blaster fire.

Telling himself there was nothing he could do about that, and knowing that time was definitely a factor in this, Jyren forced himself to ignore the other things and get the door to the room open. It took using a lightsaber to cut a hole in the door to get in...and Jyren couldn’t help but notice that the sense of life he usually felt in the building was gone. Normally, that would hint that there were little people within...but since most Alraxian ‘technology’ was simply living things, he knew it was much more likely that the building was simply dead.

It was odd to step into the room and find it pretty much exactly as it had been left. Quickly, he ran over to the jacket from the night before which was tossed on the floor near the foot of the bed. Kneeling down, Jyren picked it up and scrambled through the two pockets.

Nothing.

Nothing?!

That wasn’t right...there should be something! Something. Something...where was that damned thing?! As quickly as he could without losing track of his thoughts, Jyren ran through the events of the night before. The Jendari gave him the small cube. He thanked them and pocketed it...pocketed it. Didn’t his trousers have pockets?

His eyes scanned the room for them. Where in the name of the Force did they end up?! He found them a moment later half under the bed. How they got there, he didn’t know, and probably didn’t want to know, but that’s where they were. Again, he searched pockets. All of them.

Nothing.

Nothing again?! He hadn’t been drunk, he should be remembering! He did remember! Well, everything except where the damn cube was. How could he possible forget the night before?! Alright. Not in the jacket. Not in trousers. Where else could it be?! Again, his eyes scanned the room. Where would it have gone?! He didn’t have time for this!

Getting to his feet, Jyren ran over to the large, half open wardrobe and opened the other half. Scouring through it, he found a fairly good sized pack. Not having time to search things, he got the pack open and went across the room just piling things in it. From his clothes from the night before, to Shadow’s nicely folded dress on the bed(which ended up unfolded by the time it was in the pack), to everything that had gotten scattered around the room in the night. And then, finally he found the small, slightly transparent cube.

It had taken taking all of the sheets off the bed and to find it...buried under one of the pillows. Again, he decided it was best not to figure out how or why it had ended up there. Quickly, he stuffed the thing into the top of the pack, closed it, and through the thing on his back.

In another second, he was back out in the hallway and running as fast as he could, even using the Force to push his body faster. Retracing his steps and then following the direction where he had been told the ship was took less than a minute at that speed. But when he reached the exit of the hallway to the outside and the awaiting Kanyak, he froze.

The sky was black and brown with ships of various makes and designs. The pearly white of the city was now an ashy grey, with smoke pocketing many sections and the bright sheen of metal droids almost everywhere. Many of the ships were still setting down, and just as they did, droids disembarked and charged out in various parts of the city. Some didn’t even land, with droids simply dropping from ten or fifteen meters up and landing in a run as the city was taken. There was blaster fire everywhere, and Jyren quickly noticed it was coming from the droids. It was nearly impossible to find any Alraxians or anything living that was being shot at

But they Kanyak on the platform dead ahead of him was still there, a ramp down and four Alraxian guards looking a mix of panicked and ready looking in all directions for any droids that would be nearby. When they saw Jyren, they frantically waved him over, and instinct took his body over so he simply ran at them without thinking about it. But he made it halfway across the platform before stopping again.

The link distracted him. Through it, he could feel Shadow’s calm demeanor suddenly change to one of worry. Immediately, he looked down a level below to see her standing with at least fifty other Alraxians. He could even see the emerald hair that indicated Kyren next to her. They were standing waiting on something, and Jyren could hear the same sound they could...metal footsteps pounding louder and louder.

But Shadow wasn’t looking forward. She had turned up and was staring straight at him. In that moment, he didn’t care about what had to be done. He didn’t care about protecting the Empress or Cole or Toby...he just wanted to be down there fighting with her like he should have been. And he nearly jumped the twenty meters down to do it. Nearly.

[Please go.]

It was the most forced and pain he’d ever heard in Shadow’s voice...mentally or out loud. She was begging him. Pleading him to leave the chaos. Jyren managed to take one step forward, but was still staring down at her despite the insanity around them. Despite the yelling of the guards, two of which were charging over to drag him in. Despite everything.

[Promise me you’ll come back.] was all he could think to respond with.

Even from the distance they were at, Jyren could see the pain in her eyes when she didn’t respond. Ignoring that he was about to be literally carried off, he pressed harder. [Promise me!]

Her ‘voice’ came back so quiet that even in his mind, he almost missed it. [...I can’t promise you that...]

And then the two guards reached him, screaming and yelling in Alraxian. They grabbed Jyren by the arms and dragged him to the ship. Just before Shadow disappeared behind the platform below his feet, Jyren said simply. [I love you.]

But she didn’t respond. She didn’t have a chance. Just as he finished the last word, a swarm of droids rounded the corner and the chaos broke out. Jyren could only hear blaster fire and screams as he was pulled into the Kanyak and the ship left the planet.


----------



## trexmaster

Whaaat ?! No post today ?!

<withdrawal symptoms starting to appear>
Must...have...more...SH...from...AMG

PS : Great writing, as usual 

PPS : Hmmm... I'm starting to think about writing my own SH...have any advices AMG ?


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 215: A Short Stand*

Originally, Shadow had found a large group of Knights and Guards in the direction that the Alraxian man had pointed her in. Of course, by the time she got there, they were already moving to a location where another of the ships was setting down. And so, Shadow did her job and took command. It was roundabout trek through half ruined hallways in the large building, which had apparently died in the initial bombardment. 

What, exactly, had done the bombardment was unknown, though, as all communications were cut off. Or rather, dulled. Like a heavy shroud placed over the planet, one could feel and extend outward within the immediate area, but any significant distance was impossible to communicate with, be it through the Network, the Force, or more ‘conventional’ means.

And so, they could only do their best to hold off the droids until all the ships were away. It was a miracle that so many escaped before the majority of the attack begun. Some very attentive Knight had caught sight of the first of the arriving ships, and had immediately sounded an alarm. Well over half of the Capital city was alerted by this, and were gone before the first of the droids even set foot on the ground. The others, though, were still on the planet and were the ones now being evacuated in the midst of the chaos.

While the droids were equipped with what seemed to be blaster rifles(or at least something roughly the same), they did little damage to the escaping ships, and none of the landing ships that brought the droids down seemed to have any weapons. Which meant all they had to do was get the people on the ships...but that was much, much harder than it had sounded. With so many hundreds of droids swarming through the city, it was impossible to not turn a corner and run into a group of them.

But now...now everything would be fine. The last transport was just leaving. And Jyren was on it. She couldn’t help a sigh of relief. But that was it. There was barely time for that before a force of droids charged around the corner. With a quick glance to Kyren at her side, and then a word to the Knights with her, they charged to meet the droids.

Blaster fire killed four of the Knights before they got close and then it was chaos. Claws and swords slashed as both droids and Alraxian wove between one another. Only a minute later, it was over. Shadow didn’t even know exactly what it was that had happened. She stood at the back of the pile of corpses...metal and organic. Turning back, Shadow saw that only five of the Knights had survived the insanity...and that was including Kyren. But it wasn’t over yet, not by a long shot.

All around them, more droids appeared. Some from the sky, some climbing up from lower levels, and others from the same direction the first had come from. And in just a second, they were surrounded. Shadow looked to the others, spinning the short sword in her hands as they simply nodded in response. So this was it. Perhaps she should have let Jyren stay. No. No, this wasn’t it. Fight. Fight and live. There were other ways off the planet. And they could get to them. But that meant fighting.

Blaster fire lit up the area. Shadow jumped, the Force aiding her and sending her up and over the droids. She kicked one across the back of the head, sending it stumbling into two others, just as she landed. The second her feet hit the ground, she spun left and her weapon slashed out, taking out legs of the nearest droid and sending it to the ground. Sure, it would remorph them and fight on, but dealing with a small number at a time was better than all at once.

Sliding to the right, Shadow avoided two quick sword slashes before beheading a nearby droid and parrying a strike from another. Two more droids lost their heads to her blade before a sword nearly took her arm off. She managed to pull out of the way, instead feeling the metal graze against her skin...painful enough. But then something went very wrong.

The droids just stopped. She had been anticipating a strike and dodged when nothing came, nearly losing her footing from the surprise. Shadow almost gave into the adrenaline and just started beheading more of the droids, but there was a loud thud that caught her attention.

Kyren’s body was thrown to the ground, unmoving and bleeding from multiple wounds, in front of her. But he had claw marks across his face and armor...not sword strikes. And she looked up just in time to see Nine tilt her head and smile, “And I almost thought I wouldn’t get to see you again, little one.”

Shadow growled before diving forward at Nine, her sword and claws pulling back to strike. But Nine was faster. She sidestepped Shadow’s attack, grabbed her by the skull, and then through her against the ground next to Kyren’s body. Shadow hit hard, and her head was spinning from the fact that Nine’s claws had dug into her. But Shadow wasn’t going to just go down with that. Another growl, and she was getting to her feet in one quick motion. Or at least, she attempted to.

But Nine’s foot caught her in the chest and sent Shadow back into the ground, “Now, now. I’d like to kill you now as much as you wish to die, but there are other priorities at the moment.”

Shadow then got a foot to the face, and everything went black...but Jyren was safe.


_((Advice on a SH? Don't update daily...that's only for the stupid, and insanely stupid.))_


----------



## Angcuru

He's right.  Updates are draining.  

I recommend taking one of two methods.  

1 - Post every few days with medium-sized update (5-6 pages MS word).

2 - Post once a week with a big ol' update of doom (11+ pages MS word).

Oh, and _nooooooooooo_!


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Going to try to update later tonight...somehow managed to get sick in the last day so writing requires thought which means more headache.

However, in the meantime, I've got a question for you readers. I'd like to put a new update in the Story Hour Samples thread, however I'm not completely sure which one to put up. Suggestions? Are there any updates that you just love the most? Things that you think define the feel and mood?


----------



## trexmaster

Well, personnaly, one of my favorites is update 178, where Akan completely loses his self-control when shadow's being treated like an animal by her cousin Gawain.

But to tell you the truth I can't choose one installment over any other because they're all so damn good that it becomes impossible to choose.


----------



## Angcuru

I wish you good health for I need my fix.


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## DethStryke

Amazing how many addicts you can make when you provide a steady stream of the drug. 

A fantastic story, very pulpy in the action. Would be an excellant popcorn movie, I think. AMG, I wish you good health as well. However, I am more interested in you moving back your commitment to perhaps once every two days. If you were to burn out in the middle, you may make many people's head explode!


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## Angcuru

Well, it's constant reinforcement.  He keeps providing daily updates and we lap it up.  When they stop, we wonder "Huh?  What happened.  Wher'z the updates?" and keep checking back.  When someone regularly misses an update we get used to it.  AMG is just taking advantage of his incapacitation to write an extra-long update and keep us hooked, you'll see.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

DethStryke said:
			
		

> However, I am more interested in you moving back your commitment to perhaps once every two days.




Nope, I'm sticking to my crusade of one update per day. It gets tough sometimes, especially being sick this past weekend, but for well over six months now, I've only missed a small percent of those days. Especially in the early posts, when many were done in the same day. Besides, it may be insane and stupid to do a one update per day schedule...but it seems to have earned me a reputation as an inhuman SH writer. THAT, I am proud of!  

Good news is, I'm doing better. Seems the whatever I had was a 2 and a half day illness going around town...other than a mild headache and a little sinus annoyance, I'm back to normal and there shall be an update tonight! 

However, a warning. This week already has one day pre-planned that WILL NOT have an update. Can you guess? That's right! Wednesday night/Thursday early early morning. I'll be seeing Revenge of the Sith at midnight, so if you guys want to get your daily Star Wars fix, I suggest also seeing it.


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## Angcuru

Mah.  Stupid payroll being delayed by a week and I have all of twenty bucks to budget.  Do me a favor and telepathically transmit the movie to me when you go see it.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 216: The Redstar*

Never in his life would Jyren have ever imagined an assault like had happened to the Capital. It made no tactical sense at all. The bombardment had not been from orbit, as there were only a small amount of ships there, which didn’t even fire on the escaping Kanyaks. Again, it made no sense. Why land thousands of troops to take a huge city and then let everyone go?!

There was more going on. There had to be. Either that, or Ket had gotten a serious decrease in intelligence in a very short amount of time. Of course, Jyren didn’t know many of the details of what had happened, as the ship was in a state of chaos, still.

Despite the fact that a majority of the people in the Capital had escaped alive, there were many, many injuries. Jyren was sitting in the cabin where the guards had dragged him...a large, open area aboard the good sized Kanyak. There were a few chairs here and there, but they were all occupied by the more seriously injured. He sat near the boarding ramp, on the ‘floor’(was it a deck if the ship was alive...? Jyren still couldn’t figure out all the correct terms) his back against the ‘wall’(or bulkhead...). The two guards stood not far from him, keeping an eye on him in a very noticeable way. He was also given a good amount of room on both sides.

Of course, none of this seemed to matter. He sat there...silent, and unmoving. Just staring forward with a blank expression on his face. He had looked like that since the link had gone silent. Redstar medics were moving from person to person, dealing with what they could, though it was obvious even they were taxed at this point. About seven or so minutes after leaving the planet, one of the Redstars made her way to Jyren.

She was probably about his age, a little shorter than he was, with medium length, brown-black hair and tail fur. Like all the Redstars, she emitted a soothing calm about her, and when she reached Jyren, she knelt down in front of him and looked him in the eyes. When he didn’t even blink, a slightly concerned look worked its way onto her features. After a quick look over, she found nothing but a couple small cuts that he hadn’t bothered to remorph for whatever reason. Quietly, she asked, “Are you alright?”

His eyes looked on her. What kind of question was that? Was he alright? Of course not! He was stuck in some hellish corner of the galaxy, Shadow was completely gone from the link despite the basic idea that she was alive, and he couldn’t do a single thing about anything. How could he be alright?!

The Redstar obviously picked up on these thoughts and rested a hand on his shoulder. At the same time, Jyren could feel her using the Force to attempt to calm him a little more, “You cannot always fight.”

That definitely got his attention. She hadn’t just picked up on his thoughts...she’d read them word for word. A mild glare formed on his features as he said a little too harshly, “What would you know about that? You barely know who I am.”

“I know enough,” she said, a smile forming on her face. It was not forced, and very natural, “I’m not here to fight with you.”

Surprisingly, Jyren slowly nodded, realizing he was just trying to let out the annoyance and anger he was keeping inside. Those were, of course, very dangerous to do...but he’d done it for years, what made now any different? The stupidity and arrogance in that was not, however, lost on him. So, realizing the Redstar was wanting him to talk to get his mind off of the situation, he tried changing the subject himself, “Where are we going?”

“A small planet not far from the Capital,” answered the Redstar, with an odd glance back to the two guards before she turned back to face him, “We are to meet with your mother and father, and join them on their ship.”

“We?” again, the subtleties in the Redstar’s word choices was not lost on him. This woman was not just picking words randomly.

She was obviously glad that he wasn’t an idiot, and so nodded with a smile still on her features, “Yes. I will stay with you for as long as I can. Don’t argue it...its not something you can do anything about. Besides, I know you don’t want to be in all of this all by yourself.”

Jyren laughed slightly, “Usually, I get angry when people read me like you’re doing.”

“But you’ve got other things to worry about now?” she read off the second half of that thought.

With a sigh, he just nodded. Sensing this was not a good direction to head things in, the Redstar quickly change things, “Come on, we’ll be there in matter of moments. On your feet.”

She hadn’t used the Force with that. Definitely not. He would have felt it...and yet, somehow, the way she said it, he just reacted. Not Jedi-like...but...but...motherly. That was it. Sure, he’d never truly experienced that, but he’d heard stories and that just felt right. She said it. It happened. Your brain was left wondering why it was ignored by the body. And when he found himself on his feet, with her idly dusting him off and straightening his tunic, he actually felt like his legs had betrayed him.

After a moment, she then reached down and picked up the pack he’d carried with him, eyed it a moment, then handed it to one of the guards who approached. Normally, Jyren would have said something about it. Be careful. Don’t let that out of my sight. Whatever. But he didn’t this time. Did he even need to? The Redstar was reading him like only Shadow could, so he probably didn’t. But then a thought came to mind. Something completely divergent, and only because the pack reminded him of the little one that Toby had carried on their way to the Capital...

Toby.

At that thought, the Redstar’s eyes widened in surprise, and she spoke a little too quickly, betraying a sense of worry, “Your son is safe, don’t worry.”

That was a lie. A blatant, horribly spoken lie. And she knew it when she’d spoken it. With a sudden, almost dangerous look in his eyes, Jyren looked down at the Redstar, “What happened?”

“He was ah...” she paused a moment, and if not for the fact that he could tell she was gathering information through the Alraxian Network he had no access to, he’d have thought she was just stalling, “He is alright. I promise you that...but he was...injured on the planet. He is...ah...unconscious, and will heal fine in the next few days.”

“Where is he?” the words came out before Jyren even knew he was speaking them. There was an urgency in them like he’d never had before. It was vital he saw Toby. He had no idea why...didn’t even think about the why. But he needed to. It was that simple.

Again, the Redstar was silent, and as she started to speak, stuttering slightly as she tried to make sense of things, Jyren couldn’t take it. This time, emotion won over reason. Suddenly, and very roughly, he grabbed her by the collar and forced her hard against the wall, growling loudly, “Where is he?!”

Silence. Not just her, but everyone in the entire cabin. The Redstar’s face was, somehow, amazingly calm, and though Jyren could feel the two guards coming to move him away, they stopped around two steps in. With a deep, calming breath, she looked into his eyes and rested a hand on his shoulder, “He is on the ship with your parents. After you speak with them, you will be able to see him. I understand this is difficult...but you must calm yourself.”

Slowly, the odd rage faded and Jyren nodded. Mumbling an apology, he went silent again. It seemed like it took no time at all before they docked with another Kanyak. The Redstar and guards led him to the ship, and they were immediately greeted by the Empress and Cole. However, after the quick hello and hugs, it was straight to business. And important business it was.

Leading Jyren to the main cabin, the Empress said simply, “We’ve recieved word that Ket is about to speak.”

So here it was. The explanation. The ultimatum. What else could it be? This was it. This was exactly what Ket had been working for. Despite working towards this point the entire time, knowing it would come eventually in some form, Jyren was suddenly terrified of what it actually would mean.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

While I'm thinking about it, I'd like to pimp a couple Story Hours to you guys. Why? Because I'm ALWAYS happy to see more Star Wars SHs here on the front page, and these two are good. Both of them are fairly new, so there's not much catching up to do. Besides, reading this one you're at least slightly predisposed to enjoy Star Wars, so give these two a chance if you've got the time:

Star Wars: Chasing the Stars!

Star Wars: A New Power

Alright, so I'm biased on the second one...but c'mon, as a player in that game, I'm duty bound to pimp it. Go and read about the only non-Force User in A New Power, the wonderful Kel Dor, Aasan! No, I don't know it is with me and 'A' names either.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 217: Until I Can No Longer Tell You To Stay...*

Just as they made it into the largest part of the Kanyak’s cabin, where nearly all of the Alraxians onboard the ship had gathered, a large holographic image of shimmered into existence up on the wall where everyone could see. At first, it was impossible to make out what was actually being seen. Just a blur of colour and odd shapes that didn’t seem to form anything. And then the image pulled back, and it was obvious what was being seen.

It was an Alraxian. Seated in a chair, with an odd, slightly shimmering visor over his...no, her face. Her ears could still be seen over it, but her mouth, eyes, and nose were completely covered. Jyren didn’t need to see her face to know it was Shadow. He didn’t even need to see the black striped, white hair...or the slightly torn and beat up clothes she wore. He could feel it through the link. Distant, though she was, somehow seeing her seemed to strengthen it, though that was about the only thing good to come from it.

He also knew the visor right away. It was of the same design that the Mrrakesh had used on him. Which meant she was...or rather, should have been unconscious. However, she was moving and struggling against some kind of bonds holding her to the chair. She wasn’t struggling very hard, though, so the visor still had some effect at least.

Throughout the room, as people began to realize who it was in the image, gasps and hushed words could be heard. Also, many eyes slowly glanced back at Jyren. Yes, he noticed...but for once, he didn’t care. His focus, as was the focus of the Empress and Cole, was still on the image.

It stayed the way it was, just Shadow feebly struggling, for a few moments before another figure stepped into view behind her. Even though Jyren had only seen him once, he could pick Ket Halpak out in a second. Not only did the lack of a tail give him away, but the way he carried himself and the smug expression were also dead giveaways. Smiling, Ket leaned one arm on Shadow’s shoulder and looked straight towards...Jyren could swear Ket was staring into his eyes as the Alraxian spoke in a casual manner.

“Good morning, Ferror,” Ket said with a smile, and the Empress simply stared back with a glare. He couldn’t see her...but the other Alraxians could, “I hope you enjoyed my little show. You wouldn’t believe how long I’ve had to wait to actually do that! But bragging can be left for a different time. I believe that you and I have some business...”

He couldn’t see her...but he could hear her. So, still maintaining her strong image for the others around, the Empress said sternly, “I will not play your games, Halpak.”

Before she could say anything else, he laughed, “Oh, of course not! You’ll send one of your little mindless assassins to deal with me! Just like you used to do for me! Maybe your weapon will actually succeed, even! But you know what, Ferror? It won’t matter. This will happen again.”

“Don’t try to sound so self-righteous,” she snapped, “You’re no liberator. You’re only looking for an excuse for your petty revenge.”

“Perhaps,” Ket shrugged, but then leaned down to look at Shadow.  He stood up again and walked around her, still looking towards them all, “But the why doesn’t really matter, now does it? I am here...and you know I’ll get that petty revenge no matter what. Otherwise...what would your tiny little Empire do without its heir? You know that we can’t have that!”

A short second of silence. It was long enough for Ket to speak up again as the Empress had been caught up in making a critical decision. He smiled and removed a small, oddly shaped device from a pocket before looking to Shadow and speaking over his shoulder, “We can keep going around in circles, but you know as well as I do where we’re going to end up. So, I’ll just cut straight to it, and make things simple. You will return to the Capital in one hour, alone, and we shall decide things honorably.”

Silence. Jyren didn’t know exactly what that meant, but he had a been feeling about it. The Empress nodded, and spoke in a calm voice, “Very well, then, I accept your challenge.”

A victorious smile found its way onto Ket’s features, and he shifted his gaze to almost exactly where Jyren stood, “I know the boy is there somewhere. Truly, I apologize for you getting caught up in all of this, but it was your own choice. This will hurt very much.”

The image went dead. And then, suddenly, a sharp pain shot through Jyren’s shoulder. But no...no, it was more like a phantom pain that wasn’t really his. Something that he’d understood long ago was through the link. It was like a deep burning right under the skin, and considering how intense it was, he was amazed Shadow wasn’t killed by it. But he didn’t make any noise beyond a surprised grunt...though he did stumble back in a slight shock.

The Redstar quickly stabled him as best as possible, and for the next ten minutes all eyes and attention was on him...for multiple reasons. Then...slowly, the pain faded. Or maybe he just got used to it. Either way, his vision cleared enough to see the Empress and Emperor standing in front of him looking both concerned and sad.

Finding his voice, Jyren spoke hoarsely, “I’ll go. Tell me where my X-Wing is...and I’ll go and finish this...”

The Empress shook her head and said softly, “I cannot let you do that.”

“You have to,” he responded before she’d even finished the last word, “This is my fight...that’s my...that’s...that is Shadow. This wouldn’t be like this if not for us...let me.”

“No,” this time, the Empress’ words were much more stern, though Jyren could still detect a strong sadness in them. He opened his mouth again to start cursing and began to push past them to find a ship to find his own X-Wing to find Shadow, but this time, the Empress grabbed him and looked him dead in the eyes, “Jyren. You cannot go.”

They stared eye to eye for a long time. He tried to read her...but couldn’t for some reason. She, on the other hand, looked to be reading him perfectly. And then, almost suddenly, she drew him into a very tight hug, whispering into his ear, “Listen to me...do not do anything until I can no longer tell you other wise. Until I can’t tell you not to. Do you understand? Until I can’t tell you to stay, you must remain here.”

She was sounding desperate...something Jyren had never seen or heard in the Empress. It was...worrying, to say the least. But before she could continue repeating it, and just as he noticed a hint of tears in her eyes, Cole pulled her back and spoke quietly, “Calm...if he doesn’t understand now then there’s nothing you can do about it.”

The older Alraxian then put an strong hand on Jyren’s shoulder and smiled as best he could, “Keep my daughter safe, son.”

As Cole began to pull the Empress away, it all dawned on Jyren suddenly. His eyes widened, and he reached out to grab her arm. Catching her wrist and stopping her, Jyren stepped forward and whispered sharply, “You don’t have to do this!”

An odd, haunting smile formed on the Empress’ features, and her hand twisted around to squeeze his arm gently, “It is my duty. When all is done...you will understand. But you must trust me until then. And after...love my daughter, stay at her side, and protect our people.”

And then, without realizing it, Jyren released his grip on the Empress. She nodded, held the soft smile, and then exited the cabin with her mate. Jyren just stared as they left. He couldn’t say anything else. There was nothing he could do. He wasn’t in control of anything at all...

Then, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder and also help to keep him standing straight. The only other in the cabin to have heard the quick conversation had been the Redstar, and she was keeping that well hidden as she spoke quietly, “Come and lay down...you need rest now.”

Jyren didn’t fight her as she helped him away from all the staring eyes. They knew the same thing he did...or at least part of it. They knew that their Empress was going to face Ket Halpak alone. They knew she had to. They didn’t know that Ket was more than match for her. They didn’t know that it was the last time any of them were ever going to see her face. They really know how much things were about to change.

Jyren did.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 218: My Son...Part II*

There was a very odd silence in the ship’s cabin after the Empress had left. After a few minutes, the silence and general staring in Jyren’s direction faded into hushed conversations. It provided an opportunity for Jyren to step out to a smaller, more out of the way place. With the help of the Redstar, he was able to find a quarters that was currently unoccupied. After some convincing, Jyren managed to convince her that he would be fine with a little rest. She nodded and left, but mentioned that she would come and get him if anything new happened.

And then, finally, Jyren was left alone in a small, generally nondescript bedroom. He sighed and collapsed back onto the bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling. Through the link, he could still feel phantom pains...not nearly as strong as before, but they were still there, all over. Shadow wasn’t exactly getting the royal treatment. Or maybe she was...it probably could have been worse.

So was this it, then? Take Shadow to lure the Empress out and deprive the Empire of its leader? It would seem that way but...why take the Capital? He didn’t have to do that if Shadow was the target. And why was Shadow still alive? Bait, obviously, but the challenge had been accepted and she wasn’t even necessary anymore...was she? Whatever Ket was up to, Jyren couldn’t make sense of it. It seemed like the Alraxian was leaving himself open...maybe that was it.

But no, Jyren knew well enough that he and Shadow were the real threats to Ket and Nine. And, with Shadow in his possession, Ket could simply kill them both and end the threats right there. So it couldn’t be a trap to lure Jyren in. That wasn’t even necessary.

Sitting up, he glanced over to the pack he’d been lugging around since leaving the palace. Why his thoughts suddenly drew him to it, Jyren didn’t know. But he picked it up, opened it, and dug through the clothes and other material he’d managed to stash within until finding the small cube and pulling it out.

Palm sized...slight translucent with a slight, bluish tint to it. There were a few lines along the surface, but they didn’t seem to be any kind of writing or anything beyond little designs. So what in the name of the Force was it?! Jyren stared at it for a few minutes.

Staring at it, however, did him no good. It looked exactly the same as it had for the last day and a half(or however long it had been). It felt odd, though...strangely light for its size. Sure, it was small, but the thing seemed to weigh less than a solid object of its size. Maybe it wasn’t solid? He could see through it to a point...but no, there looked to be some kind of inner workings in there. Something. It had to be something.

His hand shifted slightly around it, bringing his thumb across a slight, almost impossible to detect, indentation. He’d barely felt it, but the second he did, something happened. A holographic image was suddenly projected out of the top of the cube. It was the torso of a human woman...about half life size. Immediately, Jyren recognized the long, dark brown hair and the deep blue eyes.

It was the woman from his father’s holos. It was his mother.

The holo of Jyren’s mother blinked, then looked up to look him in the eyes. In a voice he couldn’t describe that sent feelings through him that were equally lost to words, she spoke, “I am Andrea Tavos, Gatekeeper of this holocron. Who seeks the knowledge held within?”

Jyren stared in shock, gaping slightly. Tavos?! That didn’t make sense! He’d made up that name!...hadn’t he? Yes. Yes, of course he had!! Then why did his...his mother have the same name?! That didn’t...didn’t make any sense at all!!

While his mind whirled through confusion, his mouth, having realizing there was a question presented, took the initiative and answered without the consent of the brain, “...mom?”

Alright, so the mouth didn’t come up with the best response. Truthfully, though, that was the brain’s job.

After the words were spoken, the holo flickered slightly, and the neutral expression changed. Now, there was a soft smile on her face. Again, his mother’s image spoke, but the tone of her voice had changed also, now like something he’d only heard from Shadow’s mother before, “Jyren...yes, I was your mother.”

Again, he just stared at the small image of the human woman. A holorecording was...talking to him. No, no not talking to him. That was normal. This one was conversing with him! Responding!! So, quickly, a question had to be asked. However, it didn’t come out all that well, “H-h-how?”

This time, the image didn’t suddenly jump into a change. Instead, it flowed like real movement...even blinking and other subtle movements as she spoke, “I have programmed the AI Gatekeeper within with my personality and knowledge...as the other Gatekeepers within have done. However, the Jendari have altered and updated the AI to the current time period...it has been a long time since my death.”

What an odd statement to hear...but that didn’t matter. Why would it?! Nodding without actually realizing it, Jyren decided to ask the next most obvious question, “What...what is this thing?”

His mother tilted her head to the side slightly as she looked straight into his eyes, “This is an ancient Jedi Holocron...a library of information on everything from the Jedi, to the Force, and even, if you are judged ready, the Sith. Even in my time, the knowledge of how to create these artifacts was long lost...I discovered this Holocron in one of the ancient Jedi Temples on Alraxia. After learning as much as I could, I programmed myself as a Gatekeeper for you.”

“For me...?” alright, so Jyren wasn’t doing a very good job with conversations at the moment. Really, though, it would be hard for anyone to in the same situation. This woman...his mother who he’d never known, was dead. Dead, and talking to him.

The holo did not pick up on his thoughts(since, thankfully, there were limits to holos, even), and nodded as she answered the question, “I sensed that you...would require my assistance one day.”

“You knew you were going to die...?” that question just came out as Jyren tried to make sense of everything.

But his mother shook her head, “No one can ever know that, Jyren. But if you listen to the Force, things have a way of working out just as they should...” she paused, obviously giving him a good look over for the first time, before saying quietly, “Something is troubling you...please, Jyren, tell me what is wrong. Tell me what has happened all of these years...I missed you growing up, and the Jendari’s information is nothing compared to hearing it from my son.”

Jyren blinked in surprise at the words of the holo. It was still a holo!! But it was speaking like a human! Like it had real emotions and feelings! And...it...she had actually looked at him! Not only that, but she’d read his emotions!!

“I don’t understand...” he mumbled, “How is any of this possible? How are you...you’re looking at me! Holos can’t do that! Not recordings!”

A warm smile formed on his mother’s features, and she even laughed softly, “Perhaps it would do you better to think of this as a droid, and not a recording. Does that make sense to you?”

He nodded...slowly. It did. Droids could think and react...and even read emotions from time to time. So she was a droid...no. No, she was not a droid. This was his mother. Not in the flesh, no, but it was her. It was her. Everything about her except for her physical body. He could...feel it. And despite that, it still completely stunned him that any of this was possible.

When he didn’t say anything else, her feature’s became a slightly concerned look, and as she spoke again, he could see actual pain on the transparent, holographic features, “Please talk with me...if something is urgent, I can attempt to provide you with guidance now, but I wish to know about my son. I want to know where you grew up...how you grew up...who you were with through it...I want to know if you followed our family’s path and learned the ways of the Force. I want to know everything I was not able to be there for...” and then, a very soft hint of a smile crept onto her face, “...and I want to know why my son looks to be an Alraxian.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 219: The Face of the Enemy*

Ket sat in the empty, colorless room directly across from Shadow. She was bound to the chair, drugged, and the visor was still over her face. And yet still, she struggled in a childlike way. No, she wasn’t going to succeed at breaking free, and she probably knew it...if, in fact, she could think through all of the drugs and the visor. But it was amazing that she still fought.

No. Actually it wasn’t. He would have been disappointed otherwise. She was trained as his replacement. As good as he was, and technically, supposed to be better. They had only participated in two missions together. In both, she had followed his orders and done the job they were given. But that didn’t matter to Ket then...he had already reached a point where his mental training had been broken.

 It wasn’t something anyone else had done...he was simply too much of a freethinker to follow orders so blindly. And so, he had done what any young Alraxian in his situation would have done. But it was foolish, and because of his actions, the Mrrakesh captured him. She was not caught, however, and didn’t even attempt to free him. Not that she would. She was a perfect Tam-Day-U. She followed her orders, and did not deviate from them. Saving him from the Mrrakesh was an unnecessary risk.

Yet, despite knowing this, Ket was still bitter. He had not been able to understand why she could simply ignore everything and give up her free will. It was the first steps to his decision that the Alraxian Empire had to be dealt with for the way they treated him. But it was only the first. What the Mrrakesh did to him solidified it...torture was not an accurate description of the pain he experience at their hands.

Ket was broken. Destroyed. Killed, in a sense. Even he knew that the shell of a body he walked in now was not inhabited by the same person who had occupied it all those years ago. He was still Ket Halpak...but twisted and ruined by the Mrrakesh. His mind nothing like it once was. His entire life nothing like it should have been. The Mrrakesh enjoyed it so much...

“And its all your fault!” he suddenly screamed at her, lashing out with his claws across her torso angrily. The moment of rage passed, though, and he sat staring at her again.

His mind was destroyed and twisted by the Mrrakesh due to her inability to see what should be done...and his body, his tail disgraced and taken from him by her. Three times, she had the chance to kill him. Twice, she’d taken a piece of his tail and simply let him live. That was worse than leaving him to the Mrrakesh. At least then it was before she had broken from her training as he had. She had acted out of emotion...anger. It was revenge to leave him alive.

But for what? What had he ever done to her?! Again and again this damned woman scarred him and left for dead, but never once had he harmed her! Never! Never until it had been too much for him to bear! This really was all her fault! Without her, none of this would have ever happened to him!

Again, he reached over to rake his claws across her in anger. But this time, he stopped himself. Stopped himself...and reached over to press the switch on the visor near her ear. It disappeared, revealing a defeated, but still very defiant face that he knew all too well. She blinked in a very groggy fashion, but upon realizing where she was, growling dangerously and started struggling much more violently.

Ket simply looked into her eyes. There was the usual defiance there...as with the other things he’d come to recognize over the years. But there was something else. He could feel it, too. Narrowing his eyes, he said simply, “You don’t even know why you fight with me anymore, do you?”

Her struggling stopped, and she glared right back into his eyes. She didn’t say anything, however. Perhaps it was because of the drugs...perhaps it was due to something else. Or perhaps, she simply had nothing to say. It didn’t matter. Leaning forward(but still out of her reach just in case), Ket finished his prying into her mind, “You’re even more twisted than I am! Isn’t it interesting? The Mrrakesh did it to me...but your own people did it to you. Ruined you and made you into less than you were...just because of the colour of your eyes.”

Shadow growled at him again and suddenly lashed out by sending a wave of the Force at him. Thankfully, Ket had been expecting this, and was also strong enough to resist the powerful attack, “Silent, as usual, I see. Just like when you the Mrrakesh have me. Or do you even remember that? I doubt you do. I doubt you even know anything about the Empire you fight for!”

He was just working himself up again, and becoming and more angry in the process. And so, before she could respond, he reached over and hit the switch on the visor again. In a moment, she was drowned back into nothingness. Yet she still sat tall in the same strong position. Ket sighed.

There was something very different about her than there ever had been. Something that Ket couldn’t pinpoint, and when he almost did, couldn’t make sense of it. But it didn’t matter. In less than an hour...the Empress would arrive and he would kill her. Then, he would have to kill Marix. Somehow, he had a feeling it was going to be much harder to do. Perhaps have Nine do it...no. No, this was not some faceless tool. This was Marix. He would show her respect even if she showed him none.

And then...and then he could finally leave this place. Go with Nine somewhere quiet and safe from the Mrrakesh and the Alraxians and actually live. But before that, he would have to find his son again. That boy did not deserve the pain he would experience in the Empire...and despite everything, he was Ket’s son. Maybe then things would finally be alright, and he could silence the savage voices in his mind.

Maybe.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 220: Of Destiny*

It took a surprisingly short amount of time to bring the...the holocron up to speed on the current events and Jyren’s past activities. It...she...whatever, seemed to catch onto things quickly enough that repeating or explaining again wasn’t required. Sure, he skimmed over things, but he knew he was working in a time limit. The Empress would be confronting Ket in a matter of minutes...

But at the same time, it was enthralling to be speaking with his mother...even if it wasn’t really her. It was damn close enough. He had quickly found that she was very much like himself in the way she spoke and the general attitude that the ‘recording’ displayed. Still amazed at how real the holo seemed to be, Jyren sighed and answered the question that had been presented to him, “Its not that I haven’t tried my best! But I’ve had nothing to go on except some old texts I found. And even those got lost...I just did what I felt was right. Probably not the best Jedi, but I tried to at least do the right thing.”

His mother’s image flickered slightly as it did every few minutes, “It is not an easy path to walk, Jyren, but doing the right thing is the core to it.”

“It can’t just be that simple,” he grumbled under his breath slightly, “The majority of the galaxy works on that principle.”

“No, it isn’t that simple, but it’s the start,” she said with a soft nod, “The Jedi teachings and ways evolved much in thousands of years. There is no one true path to being a Jedi. This holocron contains knowledge of a time that is long gone...its teachings are a kind that I never experienced in my own training. However, I feel that what you will find contained within here will provide you a much more accurate guide along the path.”

Jyren was silent for a moment, wondering if he should actually speak the thought that had come to mind. Would it hurt her? Could she be hurt? Surely it would be disappointing for a mother to hear after their long conversation up to this point...but would it be the same for this holocron? Why that worried him didn’t really make anymore sense.

So, very quietly, he said, “I don’t know if that path is for me. I’ve...told myself all my life I should. I wave around this...your lightsaber pretending to be a Jedi like I’ve done for the last however many years. But its never been more than a game in the end...and...and I don’t want to keep fighting.”

“No one wants to keep fighting,” the response was very quick, but not so much that it felt wrong or odd, “No one can tell you what path to follow. I can’t do that either. I can guide you, teach you, and help you...but the choice has to be yours, Jyren. It is not wrong to chose a new path. Look inward and think very carefully on it.”

He nodded. That made sense. It was the first time he’d even admitted to himself that he might not be on the right path. But he...he didn’t know. He would have to take time for that and not make some rash decision. But Jyren found himself shaking his head, “I don’t have any other choice...I...I need these skills. Especially here and...and especially now. I just wish I didn’t have to sit around all the time. I wish I could actually do something for once instead of always reacting.”

Again, the holo flickered, but this time Jyren had the feeling it was due to a change in its information, “Jyren. The Force works in ways that we cannot always understand. Sometimes all we can do is react to the situation presented to us. Life is little beyond how we react to it. Some beings convince themselves that they are in control, but they are at the mercy of the Force as much as the rest of us. That does not meant, however, that we do not have a choice. The Alraxians have had a very interesting concept of the Force that shaped the Jedi who found this place...and myself. They believe that the Force is what it is...and that our own individual choices make us dark or light or in between. But the Force itself is neither.”

“It makes sense,” Jyren shrugged.

The image nodded, “Yes, it does...but it is still a single point of view on something that even the greatest Jedi Masters have only barely been able to comprehend. Perhaps the Alraxians are right...but what if they aren’t? A great deal depends on the answer to that question.”

“You know you’re changing the subject on me?” Jyren asked with a slight grin tugging at his face.

His mother’s image smiled, “You would be amazed to know how well this holocron contains my personality...even my tendency to ramble on and on endlessly.”

Jyren couldn’t help a short laugh and shook his head, “I won’t complain. Not about that, at least...but if I complain about anything else that’s happened because of following Shadow out to this crazy place, you’re just going to have to live with it.”

There was a pause. This was odd, because usually the holo was very quick to respond. Before he could ask what it was, she spoke again, “Have you put any thought into why you are here?”

The question surprised him, so he stuttered slightly, “Ah...um...not really...I mean, I just...just followed Shadow here because I didn’t want her running off on her own and...other reasons...”

Another pause. Then, after obviously taking in the information, the holo said, “Everything you have told me and the Jendari have given to me tells me that you have done some very important things in this Empire. You have already strongly affected the people of these worlds...and I expect much more is about to change in the coming days.”

Jyren managed a nod. She was right. He had changed things...but so had Shadow. And things would continue to change. But that was the way of things! It was how the universe worked. Things changed. So, quietly and almost hesitantly, he mumbled, “Change happens...it would have happened anyway...”

“How can you be so sure of that?” the holo snapped back quickly and, almost, harshly, “In everything you have told me about yourself, you have minimized everything you have done to the work of others. You have managed to turn your own achievements into failures in your mind, and you seem to be incapable of any kind of confidence in your own actions. You have done the things to get you here. And now that you’re here and changing an entire culture...you put it on someone else as if you’re ashamed of it.”

He stared blankly at the image of his mother. She actually looked angry! And she sounded it, too! And...and...a small part of him could admit she was right. A very small part, and it wasn’t speaking up. When he was silent for a considerable amount of time, the image asked one simple question of him, “Have you ever thought it was the will of the Force that brought you here? That it is your destiny to do these things?”

There was no chance to answer. Instead, there was a knock on the door just before it irised open. The Redstar stuck her head in, and, completely ignoring the holocron and the holo image floating above it, looked straight to Jyren and said quickly, “Come! Its time.”

He knew what that meant. The entire Empire knew what that meant. Jyren nodded, looked to the image of his mother and she simply nodded, obviously knowing what was meant also. So, he didn’t feel bad finding the switch and turning it off. Jyren then put the item back in the pack and ran off to catch up with the Redstar in the main cabin. Everyone in the Empire was going to see this. But only a handful already knew what was going to happen.


----------



## Aranel

You messed up the Mrrakesh.
They're bigger therfore slower than 'Raxians.
Not too bad a retelling, though you skipped a load of the probably more pointless stuff that happened-it was kinda funny though.
Also, some of the bits you missed strengthened Shadow's character-oh well.

People, the 'Raxians and their galaxy are my own personal creation- the actual stories for them shouldn't take too much longer to finish, tough having seen a bit about them, could I have some feedback about them and the small portion of their 'verse you've seen left....Here


----------



## dpdx

Perhaps you could tell some vignettes about Shadow and her character then, Aranel? 

This is in my top three of favorite SHs, and I'm finding that my personal tolerance of Alraxians has increased with every update.

I for one would love to hear some extra from your point of view, not that AMG doesn't already give us _plenty_ of content to chew on, but I'd still like to hear more, especially now that it appears that Shadow's demise is near.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 221: One More Step Along the Path...*

The holoscreen in the ship’s main cabin was active by the time Jyren made it back. It was also packed full of Alraxians...many of them, he noticed, looked at least slightly injured from the attack. But some things were more important. Next to him, the Redstar stood, looking up at the screen with an oddly calm expression on her face. Odd, because Jyren could feel the tension that permeated the room. There were a few small spots of calm here and there, but it was not the norm.

The screen itself showed a fairly boring landscape for the moment. It was definitely a part of the Capital, though Jyren had seen so little of it that he couldn’t pinpoint the spot. But it looked similar to the flower-like landing platforms. The holorecorder, or whatever its Alraxian equivalent was...it was close enough that Jyren wasn’t making a distinction, was placed far enough back that it was easy to see most of the area.

And off to the left, standing tall and alone was the regal figure of the Empress. She no longer wore the flowing robes from only an hour earlier, but was now dressed in a tunic very similar to what Jyren had last seen Shadow in. Shadow...it’d still been less than a day and even thinking the name hurt. Not only did it somehow strengthen the phantom pain through the link...but it caused a pain in his chest that didn’t make any sense to him.

He closed his eyes and tried to focus through it, attempting a calming technique that rarely worked. Rarely because he didn’t put much faith in it in the first place. But it did enough, bringing his focus back into the moment where it needed to be, and not off dwelling somewhere else. Jyren then noticed that at the Empress’ side was a slightly shining thing. At first, he assumed it was a small bladed weapon like Shadow had...but when the Empress shifted her weight slightly, it was easily noticeable that this blade was about the size of a lightsaber. And metal.

It was like looking at Shadow however many years into the future. The way she carried herself...her hair...the tunic with the soft gold lining. Like mother like daughter. Amazingly so. That made it all the more difficult to look at...and she was just standing there.

That didn’t last for long, of course. Her attention suddenly was up a little higher, and a familiar figure stepped into view. Ket Halpak had a very interesting profile. The stub of a tail coupled with very angular features made it hard to recognize him as Alraxian at first glance. He stood tall, with a simple cloak draped over his shoulders. Jyren then realized that something was off...as Ket was opening his mouth and speaking but there was no sound. Odd. Wouldn’t this be a better moment for Ket if everyone could hear his gloating?

Or perhaps this wasn’t just him showing off. That was too simple. Jyren had learned by now that there was much more to Ket Halpak and his actions than would normally be expected. This confrontation with the Empress was a necessary event for whatever his goal was. Obviously, though, showing off to the entire Empire was not. They would see it...and that would likely still be more than enough. But Jyren found himself wanting to know what was being said. Maybe that was the point...deprive them all of sound and you grab their attention even more so.

And then, after what was most definitely a short conversation, the real events began. Ket was the one to move forward, brandishing a much smaller blade in his quick steps. The Empress had little problem in parrying his thrust and stepping to the side, and even ducking a claw slash from Ket’s off hand. She moved like Shadow...though noticeably slower to Jyren’s eye. And Ket was moving slow. Too slow.

Though it was impossible to hear the crash of the two blades together again and again, every single Alraxian could hear it in their minds. High...low...left...right...both Ket and the Empress seemed to be evenly matched, with the two of them trading attacks. They both moved with perfectly timed precision, so much so that it almost looked staged. At first. But then, as the moments passed and the slashes from Ket’s shorter blade became faster, Jyren picked up on the real reason.

Ket was toying with her. He had to be. With every one of his strikes, it was slow enough that she was given enough time to deflect or move out of the way or parry the blade each time. At the same time, they were obvious attacks. No surprises or attempts to misdirect the Empress’ attention. It was blatantly obvious to even an amateur swordsman where each of Ket’s strikes would be. And with the Empress’ strikes and slashes, Ket always move out of the way or parried them just at the last moment. It was too perfect for him to be really trying.

But she was. Jyren could see it in the way she moved. Hard, forceful, and strong. Each step, the Empress planted her foot and swung the sword like it would be the last. Each time, he could see a fire in her eyes so much like her daughter. And yet...she knew. Jyren could see that in her eyes, too. And yet she fought on with all of her strength. She was being treated like a plaything and she knew it...yet she still didn’t give in. It was a strength that Jyren had only seen in those old holodramas. Nothing he’d actually witnessed before. It was both depressing and awe inspiring at the same time.

Things were starting to move faster, though. Slowly, Ket was increasing the pace of his attacks and his footsteps. Unlike the Empress, his were soft and constant, using his footwork much like Shadow did to almost dance around their prey. And prey was definitely the right word. And as he started to move faster, it became more and more obvious how outclassed the Empress really was. A strike to her neck was parried just away from her skin, but Ket pushed off the blade and spun to the right, the blade slashing high against instead of the expected low, where the Empress’ sword had gone.

Instead of blade catching blade, his short weapon slashed across the Empress’s shoulder. A quick look of pain could be seen, and then intense concentration as she forced her body to not attempt remorphing the metal-inflicted wound. And somehow, she rolled with it instead of giving in. Taking a step back(which was, to Jyren, the first outward sign of Ket’s advantage), the Empress lashed out with her sword in an upwards, diagonal slice. In an amazing show of skill, Ket spun over the blade, leading completely off the ground and landing off to the Empress’ now-undefended left side.

Just as his feet set down, his blade was thrusting in at her. It dug into her torso almost completely, and there was a collective gasp from the Alraxians to accent the pained look that washed over the Empress’ face. But when Ket withdrew the blade, she still held strong, turning to face him and backing up slightly...sword raised shakily in a defensive position. A few more words were said, and Jyren soon found himself getting extremely angry with Ket.

Quietly, he whispered to himself, “Stop toying with her...you’ve proved your point, get it over with.”

The Redstar heard him. She looked up to him with a somewhat shocked look on her face, but Jyren gave no response to that. She was a healer, not a fighter. Maybe she understood that Ket was just playing with the Empress...but it didn’t really matter. The outcome of this was decided before it had begun, and Jyren just wanted it to be over so he didn’t have to watch this reflection of Shadow being tortured in front of his eyes.

Then, almost suddenly, the Empress was moving again. She feinted left, and then spun the other direction, her long blade arcing out in a horizontal slash for Ket’s neck. But Ket saw through the feint. He stepped into her and ducked, the blade flashing over his head just as he forced his body into her’s and she stumbled back. In a flash, though, he was moving again. It was unlikely that many of the other Alraxians actually saw Ket’s blade thrust straight up into the Empress’ throat, as it was done with such speed that the weapon was withdraw barely a second after.

But the wide eyed look could be seen on the Empress’ face for that last moment. Her sword did not leave her hand as it would have in a holodrama...leaving her body to fall to its knees before she finally collapsed like a true leader was supposed to. This was real. The blue stain of blood covering her neck and throat, the Empress simply fell forward and hit the ground face first, though sword still in her hand off to the side. Ket looked down at the body for a long moment, then simply turned and walked off, not even acknowledging the holorecording device and leaving everyone to see the corpse of their Empress.

Inside the cabin of the ship, there was a stunned silence. No one knew what to say. No one knew what to do. Many of them felt like they couldn’t breathe. And all of them, save Jyren, felt a presence suddenly lift out of themselves. Where once the Alraxian Network had been kept calm by the emotions and will of the Empress, there was a void. A horrible void. And it wasn’t long before panic began to fill it, and soon the ship.

But Jyren was eerily calm. He stared in silence at the holoscreen for a long moment, before looking to the Redstar at his side. She was staring at him. They all were. Questioning looks in their eyes. They wanted him to do something. They wanted him to say something. Anything.

_Until I can no longer tell you to stay._

The words echoed in Jyren’s mind. Nodding, he looked down to the Redstar and said firmly, “I need my ship.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 222: Promises*

In hindsight, Jyren knew that asking the Redstar for help wasn’t going to get him anywhere. But she was the closest, and the only one who he actually felt at least slightly comfortable speaking with. In only a few minutes, the entire ship(and likely the entire Alraxian Empire) had erupted into a panicked chaos. Thankfully, there were Redstars and guards to attempt calming people, though they were just as lost as to what was to be done.

The Empress was dead. The Empress-to-be was in the hands of the Empress’ killer. The common bond that held their entire species together had been severed, and no one knew how to deal with it. For all their lives, the Alraxians lived in an almost hive mind like existence. Thoughts, feelings, and news was transmitted through the natural Network, which was held together and maintained by the Empress. It was never disrupted. It couldn’t be. Or rather...shouldn’t be. This moment proved that it could happen. But as it was something none of them had ever even imagined, the reactions of panic and the chaos weren’t surprising.

So when Jyren recieved no response beyond a blank, lost look from the Redstar, he wasn’t too surprised. Taking a deep breath, and trying to get more of her attention, he asked more calmly, “Do you have any idea where the ship I came in is being kept?”

She blinked a few times before mumbling in a very distracted, hollow voice, “I...I don’t know...”

“It was metal,” Jyren attempted to elaborate while knowing that, with the Empress out of the way, every second was going to count, “It was all metal. Where would something like that be kept?”

“I...” she paused, finally really thinking on it. But she slowly shook her head, “I’m not sure...but it would not be anywhere near a city or groups of people.”

That was amazingly unhelpful. But again, it was doubtful she really knew anything about it in the first place. He wasn’t going to take a Kanyak, or any other living being with him to get Shadow. He wasn’t going to risk any other life. His was already on the line, as much as Shadow’s was...but enough had died because of his own mistakes, and he couldn’t help but feel responsible for what had happened to the Empress. So he would have to take his ship...where it was.

But before he could say anything else, an Alraxian that had pushed her way through the crowd stepped over to him and bowed. She looked older than the other, but the markings on her robes were similar enough that he identified her as another Redstar. Her tone of voice was softer, and much more controlled than anything he’d heard in the main cabin of the ship for the last few minutes, “My lord, I—“

Jyren cut her off with a wave of his hand, grumbling under his breath, “Don’t call me that.”

She paused, nodded slightly, “Your...your son is conscious. He wants to see you.”

Toby? Jyren sighed. There wasn’t time for this. There wasn’t time for anything. But then again...there never was. And so, almost against his better judgement, he followed her through the crowd of Alraxians. All of whom immediately turned to stare at him as he walked by. Yet another little hint at what he really didn’t want to be dealing with. He was no leader. These people wanted him to be...their eyes were begging for it, but he wasn’t one, and didn’t plan to be one.

Two short corridors and he was taken to a small bedroom that had obviously been converted into a makeshift infirmary. Though there were three beds in the room, only one was occupied. Closest to the door, laying back and attached to some kind of medical equipment that Jyren, unsurprisingly, didn’t recognize, was Tobias. The child’s eyes were half open, and he looked both tired and dazed. A couple of black marks could be seen along his face and much of his fur was singed, but the general feeling through the Force was that the child was doing much better than he looked.

Upon seeing Jyren step into the room, however, Tobias’ eyes opened up completely and a smile quickly formed on his small face, “Aka—“ he stopped, a look of serious concentration passed over him, then Toby tried again, “Jyren!”

Jyren grinned. He couldn’t help it. He walked over and sat on the bed next to Toby, “Hey, little guy. You doing alright?”

A little slower than normally, Tobias nodded. Jyren also noticed that the child’s voice was a bit softer and weaker, “Uh-huh,” he then pointed over Jyren’s shoulder to one of the Redstars, “She say I strongest jai in Empire.”

“Oh, she does?” Jyren looked over to her a moment but then back to Tobias, “I wouldn’t doubt it. She tells me you wanted to see me.”

“Uh-huh,” Tobias nodded again, his large eyes looking up at Jyren, “Everyone running around and...and scared...and...and no want you go away.”

“What do you mean?”

“You going away...” Tobias said, gently reaching out and poking Jyren’s leg.

“I’m not going anywhere, Toby.”

But the child shook his head, “Yes you are...you gonna go back to place where I get hurt.”

Jyren stared somewhat blankly at the little child. He hadn’t heard that from anyone. He couldn’t have. Tobias could only have known that if the Redstar he’d been with had told him...but she was still behind Jyren and hadn’t said a word since leaving the main cabin. Which left one option. Tobias had picked up on it with the Force.

No use hiding it then. Jyren sighed and put his hand on Toby’s shoulder, “I have to go back...but I won’t be gone long.”

Tobias regarded him for a very long minute, then asked, “Promise?”

“Of course, little guy.”

When Tobias seemed at least close to satisfied Jyren squeezed his shoulder gently before getting back to his feet. He made it three steps before Tobias suddenly spoke up again, “Daddy, wait!”

Jyren froze in place. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. Jyren wanted to tell Tobias he wasn’t his father. He wanted to tell him anything along those lines. But what would he say? Could he really tell this child that his father was the person who could be about to kill Shadow, and, due to the link, Jyren, too? Could he tell Tobias that his real father was probably going to be dead by the end of this if Jyren wasn’t? What would be the point? What good would it do?

None. Nothing that wouldn’t simply make things worse for the kid.

Sighing heavily, Jyren ran a hand through his hair and looked over his shoulder, “What is it, little guy?”

Tobias sat up a little more and looked straight across the room into Jyren’s eyes. There was something in that which Jyren couldn’t even interpret. He didn’t know children well enough to translate things like that. Quietly, Tobias said, “Bring momma back, too...”

Jyren took a deep breath. Was there really more than one answer to that? Of course not. So, Jyren nodded and said in a calm voice, “I will, Toby. I promise.”

And then, without another word, Jyren stepped out of the room and past the Redstars. They wouldn’t be able to help. He was off to find the ship’s hangar(or at least something close) on his own. He was going to have to do all of this on his own. But he didn’t make promises he couldn’t keep.


----------



## Angcuru

Sad with the Empress dying, but I can't help but smile when there's a Toby scene.   

And...ummm...did I miss a post or something where it was mentioned that Ket is Toby's dad?  Or is that just an educated guess on Jyren's part?


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Angcuru said:
			
		

> And...ummm...did I miss a post or something where it was mentioned that Ket is Toby's dad?  Or is that just an educated guess on Jyren's part?




Off the top of my head, I don't believe it was ever directly stated(other than Ket's own thoughts). But, between where they found him, what he was like, etc, it isn't too hard to figure out.

If all else fails, I can just invoke the ulimate plot device and just say "The Force!" and wave my hands around.


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## Angcuru

Well cover me in BBQ sauce 'cause I'm dumb as hell!    *name that show*


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 223: First Leg*

The ship did have a hangar. Or at least...what went for a hangar when it came to Kanyaks. Truthfully, it looked nothing like what Jyren was used to. The only similarity was a large amount of smaller ships scattered about and the fact that he could see a star field out beyond. There were six small ships there...all of which Jyren assumed to be younger Kanyaks. But they all looked so very different it was hard to tell if they were even the same species or not.

But he was sure they were alive. He could feel them through the Force. It was...still something that took getting used to. But most of them felt dimmed. Not dead, no, but...almost asleep. Probably asleep. If Kanyak’s slept. He hadn’t known Loki long enough to actually ask that question.

Loki...

No, don’t think about that. Focus. Focus.

After a deep breath, Jyren stepped into the hangar itself and walked past the ships, allowing the Force to guide his steps as he really had no idea where to go. There was no one else in the hangar...likely due to the events that had happened barely ten minutes earlier. The entire Empire would likely be in a state of shock for the next...next...probably a long time. Especially if he screwed this up or Ket killed Shadow before he got close enough to do anything.

And then he noticed something. One of the Kanyak’s mind’s was whirring at the speed of light. Immediately, it reminded Jyren of how Toby’s mind felt most of the time. Darting from place to place with no real destination other than somewhere that wasn’t where it currently was. Finding the source of it was easy, as his eyes followed the feeling straight to a very small looking, slightly blue-grey coloured Kanyak. It was probably no bigger than an X-Wing. Maybe even a little smaller...like a miniature Mon Calamari cruiser, really.

Stepping over to it, he decided that there was only one thing he could think of doing, “Hello?”

The wild thoughts suddenly found a focus. Jyren. He could almost hear a little dancing voice in the vague speech that found its way into his mind through the Force. [Hellooooo!! Who are yooooouuu?]

Somewhat surprised by the sing-song, slightly feminine voice, Jyren didn’t know what to say for a moment. His mind quickly came to the conclusion that this was child...probably around the equivalent of Toby’s age. It was worrying. Worrying...but at the moment, it seemed like he was stuck with it, “My name is Jyren. I need to go somewhere but don’t know exactly where it is.”

[Jyren!] the ship echoed his name, obviously trying it out rather than recognizing it. [I take you!! No other faster than meeee! They all old and sleeeeeeping!!]

Jyren somehow found himself envisioning a small child motioning to a group of adults while dancing around a new toy. That was oddly appropriate for the current situation, to be honest. But he found himself waving a hand and shaking his head(hoping that the ship could actually see that), “I’d love for you to take me where I need to go, but I don’t even know where that is. Unless you know anything about a metal ship.”

Pause. Silence. Then, starting softly, the little ship’s voice returned. [I know ooooold ones all says I no allowed go to one place. They say something about metal...maybe that what you look for?]

Jyren opened his mouth, but never got a chance to answer. Instead, the ship answered for him. [It is! It is!! I know where they no want me go! I take you! It be fuuun! And no take long because I fastestest!]

A small access ‘hatch’ irised open on the ship, and Jyren could see in straight to what looked like the cockpit. So it definitely was a small ship. Part of him was trying to be rational...saying that this ship was likely dangerous. Jyren liked Toby, but he wouldn’t dare entrust his life to the little kid at this point. And he felt like he was doing something eerily close by stepping towards the small Kanyak. 

But rational thought wasn’t getting very far anymore. This ship knew where his X-Wing probably was. With his X-Wing, he could get back to the Capital. There, he could get Shadow. After that...it didn’t matter. Maybe he should deal with Ket then and there...but Jyren was actually surprised with himself that he wasn’t even thinking about that. He was actually putting that off until later. Maybe even days later. The priority was to get Shadow. Both his and her life depended on that...as did most of the Empire, knowing their luck. 

And he’d made promises. Not only to Toby, but to Shadow’s parents. Now, there was only one way to honour them. He had to get Shadow off of that planet alive. Anything after that could be dealt with when it came up.

So he walked into the ship, and had a seat in the only chair within the cockpit...a miniature version of what he’d seen in both Loki and Hermes. Once he’d sat down, restraining straps latched across him and he noticed the ship was already moving. At the same time, Jyren could hear a humming sound in his head. The ship was humming! Suddenly, this looked like a bad idea all over again...but they were out of the hangar now, and shooting off to the stars.

“How long will it be until we get to this place?” Jyren asked, hoping that it wouldn’t be anywhere close to even an hour.

The humming paused a moment. [Not long! I fastest! Minutes! Minutes minutes!]

The ship then went on to make a song out of that. Jyren couldn’t help but grin slightly, and sat back as he noticed that there was actually a planet nearby. Not only that, but multiple other Kanyaks of various shapes and sizes littered space. It hadn’t been a star field he’d seen...it had been a field of starships. Probably every single ship that had left the Capital was here. It was a fleet like he’d not seen since that assault on Coruscant all those years ago...and this wasn’t a war fleet.

Amazingly was the only word he could find. Every single ship was unique, even more so than the great Mon Calamari cruisers they so resembled. But the Kanyak’s were no only unique in shape, size, and colour. Jyren could also feel a soft presence from each of them, just like he could feel from every living creature. And all of them were just slightly different. Add to that the thousands of Alraxians aboard all of the ships and the dead of space was overflowing with a feeling of life.

Pained, lost, and panicked life, yes...but life was life. 

They were descending down towards a yellow-green planet. No...no, they were descending towards a small, grey moon that was just off to the left of the planet. And they were moving fast. Though he sat in silence, the ship continued its little singing and humming to itself, which kept Jyren oddly entertained.

And then the moon was close enough that he could see the mostly dead surface. Not far from the horizon was a series of structures that was distinctly Alraxian. Though they were domed, it still retained the look of a planet of some sort, and gave off a feeling of life on the dead moon. It was only a few moments before they were setting down in a gigantic hangar, with even more Kanyaks all over the place. [We heeeere!!]

The straps over him let go, allowing Jyren to get to his feet, “Thank you for the ride.”

[Uh-huuuh...] this time, he noted the voice of the ship was trailing off in an almost yawn. It didn’t say anything else, and by the time Jyren had exited the ship, it was now a dimmed, sleeping presence in the Force. 

Again, Jyren smiled, and patted the ship gently, “Good night.”

With a deep breath, he turned to take in the sights of the place. No metal in sight. So it wasn’t this hangar. That was a start. But from the look of the place he’d gotten from the outside...it was comparable to the gigantic Palace. This could take a very long time finding just one ship. So, Jyren decided to attempt a different means of tracking down if the X-Wing was even where he now was. He reached out with the Force to find the presence of an Alraxian. Latching onto it, he started a makeshift hunt. An Alraxian here would surely know of something made of metal.

Hopefully.

If not...and if the ship wasn’t even here, Jyren had a feeling that coming here would be his last mistake.

_((Oh, and on the note of Toby...I don't believe it was mentioned straightforward who his father/mother was, but it was hinted and vaguely poked at since Ket made his appearance.))_


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 224: Blind Jump*

The corridors were empty. The building was empty. It was extremely unhelpful. There were no signs of any Alraxians anywhere that Jyren could find. Of course, the entire place was as big as the Palace, so he doubted he’d be able to explore it all and find them in his current haste anyway. Think.

No! No there isn’t time to think! Feel.

...but that takes time, too! If only Shadow was conscious enough for the link to provide more than a hazy blur! Why was she always getting caught, anyway?! What kind of assassin was she?! It seemed like no matter what, things always went back to this. Shadow was caught. He was going after her. This was, in fact, the root of all of the current problems that had ever developed to make his life more interesting. So, rightfully, he blamed her.

Not that it was a bad thing, of course. At least it was something consistent and stable in his life. Considering how rare that seemed to be, Jyren was to the point where he’d take whatever he could. And if that meant saving Shadow from whatever she’d gotten herself...no, them....into, then so be it. Its not like he hadn’t done it before. Maybe he should start charging for the service...

Nah. His life was on the line, too. A technicality she’d likely planned on. In fact, she probably does all of this on purpose just to get a cheap laugh. It wouldn’t be surprising at all. In fact...

No. Focus. There wasn’t time for anything but what was right in front of him. Focus. Feel...the ship had to be here. There wasn’t another option. Where? Reach out...focus...feel...but Jyren found nothing. At least, not what he was looking for. But then, suddenly, a thought came to mind. A new objective taking the lead, he ran over to a nearby wall and kicked it as hard as he could.

[Ow!]

Jyren grinned, and looked up around him, “I need to know if there’s any kind of metal ship here!”

The facility was silent, but then responded with a dry, somewhat annoyed ‘voice’. [...you could have asked instead of kicking me first.]

“It got your attention,” he shrugged and held the grin. So much like the Palace...so much like Loki...no. Focus. Don’t think about that now, “Please, I need to know right now if there’s a metal ship in this place, and I need to know where it is.”

[There is such an object in Hangar AG-284...but it is locked down and I am afraid you will not be able to access it unless you have the proper clearance to present.]

“Its _my_ ship,” Jyren growled sternly, glancing around to try and figure out which direction to go. He gave up on that one extremely quickly, “I need you to direct me to that hangar and open it up for me. I need my ship back.”

The facility felt like it was going to argue with him for a short moment. However, it seemed to be surprised by the fact that Jyren was claiming to actually own a metal ship! No Alraxian was that crazy! Which meant he was either brainless or was telling the truth. The facility itself wasn’t sure on this, but was curious enough to find out...so it started directing him in the proper path.

It took Jyren ten agonizing long minutes to reach the correct place. And when he got there, and the hangar door was opened, Jyren saw a familiar, and amazingly calming sight. His X-Wing. Well...no. Technically, it was the New Republic’s X-Wing that he’d stolen back on Coruscant. However, at this point, he doubted they even remembered it was gone...so it was as good as his anyway. Un-Jedi like? True. But it could have been worse.

He quickly ran down a small ramp leading to the center section where the X-Wing was placed. There were many interesting objects all littered around, and a few marks across the ship’s hull that he didn’t remember from before. The Alraxians had been experimenting with it. Hopefully they hadn’t done anything to the two systems he needed the most. The sublight drives and the hyperdrive. He really didn’t care if the rest of it was shot...even the repulsorlifts. Sure, it would make for rough landings, but at least he’d get there.

Shrugging the pack he still carried with him off and tossing it into the rear seat of the two-seat X-Wing, Jyren climbed into the forward one. Right away, his hands were running over the controls, getting the ship’s systems warmed up and online as quickly as he could. Thankfully, an initial look at everything showed that all the major systems were online and working fine...even if there were only five proton torpedoes left. If all went well, he wouldn’t need them anyway.

In another minute, the ship was lifting up and the canopy closing around him. Jyren shifted slightly into a more comfortable position, forgetting how the seats in this starfighter were not designed with tails in mind. And then, finally, the familiar sound of the X-Wing’s sublight drives kicking in echoed through the cockpit as the ship shot out of a large exit to the hangar just above where the starfighter had been set down. It felt amazing to be finally flying again...it felt so perfect. It was like coming home after so many years...he grinned at that thought, finally able to understand that statement after the recent revelations about his own past.

But as Jyren brought the starfighter through the maze of orbiting Kanyaks and away from the planet’s gravity well, another thought hit him. Something that hadn’t even crossed his mind the entire time. Something that, if Shadow had been with him when this revelation came to mind, would have gotten him hit across the back of the head for completely and utter stupidity.

He had no idea, at all, of the necessary hyperspace coordinates for the jump to the Capital. In fact, this entire Alraxian Empire was uncharted space to him, and, more importantly, to his X-Wing’s navcomputer. Jyren was blind. He sighed heavily. Made it this far...and still managed to miss such an important detail the entire time. It was mistakes like that which got people killed. A mistake like that one had cost Mare her life. 

He hadn’t really grown up all that much in the past three years, then. In the end, Jyren was still that kid in an X-Wing...bright eyed and naive. A good shot, a good pilot, but with no real sense of the galaxy or of what war really was like. After all these years, he had thought he was past that. That he’d actually learned from his mistakes and become a better person because of it. But here he was, making the same mistakes, at the same critical moments...and yet again, the life of someone he loved was on the line. But Jyren wasn’t dead yet. And if he wasn’t dead, then Shadow wasn’t dead. It was the one glimmer of hope he had to hang onto.

Think.

No! That was foolish! Thinking wouldn’t get him anywhere! It wasn’t like he could just plot a jump to a planet he didn’t know the location of off the top of his head! Thinking was only going to lead him down that path! Then what? Don’t think.

Don’t think?! No...feel. Feel! Of course! Use the link. Use the Force. And he did. Reaching out through the link and the Force at the same time, Jyren tried to feel out where exactly the planet was. Where Shadow was. Farther and farther he reached...and then he found it. He found her. With an invisible grip as tight as a vice, he held onto it so as not to lose it. If he lost it...lost his focus...he might never find it again. Focus. Feel.

Step one was finished. He had the location. He could feel it. Now came step two. Plot the jump. Plot the jump blindly, on his own, and without the help of the navcomputer or a droid. But don’t think about it. Let the Force guide it. Let the Force guide him...and he did. And in an amazingly short amount of time, Jyren had entered a set of complication coordinates into the X-Wing’s navcomputer. When his mind retreated from the Force and he looked down at the small screen with the coordinates sitting there, he knew just how insane it was.

Jyren knew that if had made just one tiny little mistake in that...he could end up literally in the middle of no where with no way to get back. He had no beacons to drop here to guide his way back. This was a one way trip. This was it. There weren’t going to be any second chances. And there weren’t any other choices, either.

His hand shaking just slightly, Jyren pulled the hyperspace levers.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 225: Right and Wrong*

He knew he should kill her. There was no other word but stupid to describe leaving her alive. She wouldn’t hesitate to take another piece of his life from him. It would be even more foolish to think that she would not have the chance to do it eventually. It would come. It always did. Which is why she needed to be killed now, when she didn’t have the upper hand.

Ket sighed and looked at Marix. Really looked at her. Beat up, scratched and burnt, with dried blood along multiple wounds that hadn’t been given the chance to be remorphed or even healed naturally. Yet she sat with a strength that only Marix could project. Perhaps that was why he couldn’t just kill her then and there. Respect. And to a point, he did respect her. He could see so much of himself in Marix. She could have been just like him. She could have followed the same path...yet she didn’t, and it baffled him as to why.

She had seen the same things that he had. Marix had experienced just as much torture at the hands of her own people as Ket had...possibly even more, considering that she was the daughter of the Empress...former Empress, actually, but that was a minor technicality. Why did she fight to protect the very people that treated her as little more than an ends to a means they wouldn’t even accept existed?! It made no sense...and yet, she did. Maybe Ket had missed something along the way...or perhaps Marix had. One of them had, he was sure of that, at least.

If Ket wasn’t sure that she would be as uncooperative as possible, he would have asked her directly. He would have found out why, and then been satisfied. Or maybe not. Things were rarely that simple. But at least then Ket could kill her without any hesitation. Was that the problem? He wanted to know more? But that was too simple. It was one thing to take the Alraxian Capital world, sending war droids in to kill anyone that resisted, and even to kill the Empress in what was, technically an honorable fight. 

However, it was something completely different to sit here across from the girl...no, woman who could have been in the same position he now was. This had been his partner in only two missions, and technically, that should have meant nothing. But by then, it did for Ket. She should have been a friend and someone he could trust...could have been. But she wasn’t. She was his enemy...and now, she was the Empress. She had to die. And it needed to be done quickly before things got more complicated.

Still, though, Ket sat across from her in the empty, nondescript room where she was being kept. Nine would have no problem killing her. She would do a good job, an even enjoy it. But Nine was busy...somewhere else not far away with the emerald haired Knight that had been fighting with Marix. Nine had, at first, just been observing the young man, but her twisted mind took hold fairly quickly. He had no idea that Nine was not the Marix he expected...and so Nine was using that to both learn little bits of information and use him.

Because of this, Nine hadn’t left that room for the last however many hours it had been. She was obviously enjoying the little ruse and her new toy far too much. Ket couldn’t help but wonder if that would cause a problem, but decided against acting on it. Keeping Nine busy was a good thing, as he had learned quickly that when she became bored, she grew agitated, and that usually meant attempting to pick fights just because she could.

But that was all distracting him from the task at hand. Before he could move on from this planet, Marix would have to be killed. This was a fact that he couldn’t escape, no matter how many times he attempted to avoid it. And there was another reason she would have to be killed soon. If given too much time, that boy would track them down. Ket could handle the boy without trouble, and even he and Nine could deal with both Marix and the boy, but there was still risk involved. Enough risk that it wasn’t worth allowing it to happen. Kill Marix...kill the boy...end the two only remaining threats within the Empire.

It was so simple, and yet he still didn’t do anything. And then, suddenly out of no where, Ket understood why. If he killed Marix here, bound and gagged, tied up and broken...weak and injured...he would be no better than her. It would be no different than how she had treated him. No different the Mrrakesh...who he still hated, but had found himself making use of to get exactly where he was now. And it was her fault. Her fault because in a situation just like this, she would have killed him and offered no mercy at all.

Ket was not Marix. He knew what was necessary, but also could feel what was right and wrong. To kill her in cold blood like this would be wrong, and he couldn’t bring himself to do it despite how sensible it was. It would likely be a mistake that could cost him everything...but that still didn’t change his actions. 

Slowly, Ket got to his feet. After one last, long look at Marix, he turned and left the room. Leaving her alive like this meant he had other priorities. Defense would have to be increased all over the city and in obit. The Mrrakesh starfighters would be needed now. He could not kill Marix, but he could kill the boy and achieve the same result.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 226: Rough Flight, Simple Landing*

Five minutes in the blue swirling hyperspace and Jyren was still having second thoughts. By this point, though, they could argued as third and fourth thoughts. And between them all, one thought continued to resurface. 

This was stupid.

Stupid and foolish and an act that only the brainless would ever have attempted. It was well beyond any of the crazy things he’d done before..and he’d done a very large number of crazy and idiotic things in his relatively short life. But this topped them all. So much so that Shadow likely wouldn’t have been able to add one of her usual insults directed at his intelligence. She’d probably just stare at him with a shocked look on her face without saying anything.

And yet, here Jyren was, watching the blue of hyperspace out of the canopy of his X-Wing. One hand still on the stick, a control device so rarely used by pilots anymore but one that Jyren felt uncomfortable when he wasn’t using it, with his other hand gripping the hyperspace levers a little too tightly. The chronometer on the HUD was not counting down as it normally did during a hyperspace jump. Normally, of course, the navcomputer was used and the chrono was tied in with that.

But this was not normally, as Jyren was continually reminding himself every few seconds. It was why he gripped the hyperspace levers so tightly. He was flying by the Force...literally. Retaining the calm that was necessary to stay in tune with the Force so that he didn’t pull the lever too early or too late was an impossibly difficult task. But somehow, he was managing it. There was no other choice. Even the slightest mistake in timing, and who know where he’d end up, or whether he’d even get there in one or a few billion pieces.

If he’d have actually been trained rather than self taught when it came to the Force, things would have been so much easier. But he wasn’t, and the most distracting thing for him was wishing that he was, so he pushed those thoughts away as best he could while just feeling. Feel. Letting the Force guide his hand and his mind. But how long was it going to be?! How long could he keep this up?! How...

Jyren’s suddenly panicked thoughts were cut off by what could only be described as an unseen, yet very strongly felt, spike. Without even thinking and simply reacting, Jyren realized his hand was pulling the hyperspace lever back. The force with which he jerked it back nearly ripped it off, but there was at least some restraint applied. One of those little things he was going to have to train himself to be careful with...as the Alraxian body was still much stronger than what the X-Wing was designed for.

But that was only a thought in the back of his head. The rest of him was frozen in silence, staring ahead through the canopy as he waited for whatever it was that would happen next. If it was the end...then at least he had tried. If it wasn’t...then...then he’d keep trying.

Hyperspace retreated into the black, emptiness of space. Empty?! Great. So he’d made the jump alive, but now he was stuck in the middle of who knew where! Truthfully, he’d been asking for it. Really...what were the chances? It was stupid to think it could actually work, even more so than the fact that Jyren had even attempted it. So now he could attempt to make another jump and at least try to find a planet...or...

Something started beeping. Jyren’s eyes shot across the console in front of him. The sensors had picked up something. The sensors had picked up something?! After blinking to make sure he wasn’t seeing things(and ignoring the fact that it would have no effect on his hearing), Jyren examined the sensor readout on the HUD. To the rear of the ship, the sensors were overflowing with moving objects...many of them heading his direction. So this wasn’t the middle of no where..

Both hands on the stick now, Jyren pulled the X-Wing around to face the objects. But he didn’t see them. Instead, he saw a planet. A planet he recognized since the last time he’d seen it had been barely two days earlier. It was the Capital world. He hadn’t missed...he’d just been facing the wrong direction. _That_ was something Shadow would definitely have insults for, though Jyren would do his best to hide the moment from her. 

But what were the sensors picking up?! Looking more carefully, he noticed that the planet looked to be dotted all across its surface. Some of them were moving. Ships. It had to be ships. And after a short glance back at the sensors to make sure, he reached out with the Force to try and figure out what was coming for him. But these ships weren’t alive like Kanyaks. These were metal. They were same ships he’d had quick glimpses of when leaving the planet.

And four of them were heading towards him. Out of an old instinct, Jyren powered up the X-Wing’s weapons as he opened up the S-Foils. His eyes scanned a few other of the ship’s systems to make sure the shields and engines were still operating properly. Jyren didn’t know what kind of weapons, if any, these ships had, but he wasn’t about to take any risks. Which meant that he was going to have to resist the natural urge to get into a fight if it came right down to it.

He wasn’t here for a dogfight. The X-Wing was fast, and from the speed that the other ships were approaching, faster than whatever was coming at him. Jyren needed to get onto the planet. Shadow was down there...he could feel her, both through the link and the Force, much more clearly as they got closer.

Keeping his mind and focus on the planet, Jyren’s eyes searched for the approaching ships. It didn’t take long for him to spot them heading straight for him in a diamond formation. From the front, they looked similar to Y-Wings, though with much thinner ‘wings’ which were set low, and a main body that looked more like it was the size of an Assault Transport rather than a starfighter. Though he couldn’t see any weapons, it didn’t take long for him to discover they were armed.

From the ships’ noses, sickeningly coloured dark green blasts of energy shot out at him as quickly as any laser blast. But it hadn’t yet. He saw it, but just like what used to happen in his days flying for the New Republic, Jyren’s natural talent in the Force gave him a quick sight of the danger with just enough time that he could react. Just in time, he pulled the stick and the X-Wing rolled off to the left while Jyren squeezed the trigger to return fire with a short series of bursts from his laser cannons.

But one roll wasn’t going to do it, as the ships were still firing on him. Pulling up, Jyren managed to time the maneuver so that the next series of shots went both over and under the ship. This time, though, he didn’t return fire, as the X-Wing shot over the formation in a dash towards the planet below. The sensors were showing the four ships arcing around to come after him from behind....no surprise. He really didn’t want to get hit, as the look of their lasers(if that’s even what they were) worried Jyren. He had no idea if his shields would even do anything if they weren’t actually lasers.

In another moment, the straight path he was attempting to follow to get down to the planet was abandoned. Now, Jyren was weaving and rolling back and forth as he did his best to avoid the shots of his pursuers. At least they weren’t good shots...or maybe they just weren’t used to shooting at something that maneuvered like an X-Wing could.  The fact that he was quickly pulling away from them proved that speed of his ship was at least partially factored in. And so far...he’d managed to avoid even a shield hit.

The sensors started beeping again. Jyren took a quick moment as he dove under a series of attacks to check the readings, and immediately realized he was going to have to do this differently. Four...no...five...no...six more ships of relatively the same size were heading straight for him from the planet. And now that he was getting extremely close to the planet, that meant they were practically on top of him. 

Hoping that the ships behind him would stop their attack to not hit those coming to cut him off, Jyren put more power to the sublight drives and charged straight for the new arrivals. The second he could even see a slight speck of what he knew was coming at him, Jyren squeezed the trigger and held it down, littering the space in front of him with a stream of bright red laser fire.

The next second seemed to happen in slow motion. Two of the ships heading straight for him detonated in flames as Jyren’s shots found their marks. At the same time, all of the ships around him opened fire despite the fact that they would likely end up hitting each other. In the midst of the barrage, Jyren suddenly found himself flying through a formation of dissipating flames instead of the attacking ships. He even managed to roll under a large piece of debris, which likely would have done serious damage to the shields.

But the second came to an end with a violent jolt that rocked his X-Wing. It nearly sent his face into the console in front of him, but thanks to the restraints, Jyren didn’t have to endure a head injury. The insanity that was now behind him seemed to prevent nearly all the original pursuing ships from being able to fire on him...though one had managed a shot that had got through. And, just as he’d feared, the shields were gone. At least it hadn’t gone through to the hull, but another hit like that would be it if the shields were taken out so quickly.

Now the X-Wing was charging through the Capital’s atmosphere. Due to the ships behind him having to maneuver out of the way to avoid any collisions with their allies, Jyren had been given enough of a lead to pull away even farther. And, as far as he could tell, there wasn’t anything else heading his direction. So Jyren focused on the ground below, scanning the immediate area for the large, central city. It didn’t take him long, and so he angled the ship to set down in the forest near the border. Though there weren’t any anti-ship defenses within the city itself, Jyren knew it would be stupid to just walk right in.

As he started to power down the ship’s systems and got the canopy open to the sparse forest borering the Capital City, Jyren couldn’t help but worry. Anyone would. It would be naive not to. That had been far too easy. Maybe Ket just hadn’t assembled any fighter defense...as far as Jyren knew, Kanyaks didn’t have weapons ‘built’ into them, so it really wouldn’t matter. Still, getting down to the planet and even this close to the city without even a hint of an attack was too easy. Something was up...but that didn’t change things.

He was on the ground. He was alive. That was all that was necessary for the moment. Now Jyren just had to get into that huge city, track down Shadow, get her out, then get off the planet...and he had to stay alive. He was going to need more than his lightsaber for this one. What he really needed was Shadow. She’d be able to think up a way to get in and get herself out while not getting killed. But that wasn’t going to happen...so it was up to Jyren. At least he’d have a chance to prove to her that he wasn’t completely useless.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 227: Jumping in Blind...again*

The scattered trees and rolling hills soon gave way to a valley, and at its base was the bottom of the gigantic city. Its upper levels and largest buildings actually reached out of the valley up to eye level, and it looked like some of the outer reaches were built as a makeshift wall. No...that wasn’t the right word. It was more like all the outer edges of the large buildings were backed up to wall off any outer threats, though there were gaps here and there that weren’t too hard to see.

But the soft, pearly white of the city below was dotted with other, darker greys that hadn’t been there the day before...hours before...however long it had been. They were also very easy to recognize as defensive emplacements. It didn’t take a soldier to see that, but Jyren found it at least helped. Almost every gap in the ‘wall’ was occupied by a small barricade and at least one turret...though he could only assume that was what they were, as they didn’t look like anything he’d ever seen before. At least that was staying consistent. Even a few of the roofs of buildings had defensive structures on them.

Maybe this wasn’t going to be so easy after all.

Staying low to the ground, Jyren carefully made his way from tree to tree before he could get a good view of the nearest of the gaps that could get him into the city. At least the tree cover mostly extended up to the buildings...though he’d be very easy to spot when he got any closer. The barricade between the walls looked to be about a meter high and was definitely made of metal. Behind it, Jyren could see two of the skeletal looking droids that Ket was using, and in between them a large three meter high weapon. It almost looked like half of a turbolaser cannon, just scaled down slightly.

This was definitely not going to be easy. Having no idea of the capabilities of the weapon, Jyren’s usual direct method of charging in lightsaber ablaze would likely get him killed. He just didn’t know enough to make it worth the risk...and this was not an attack. He was not here to drive out an occupying force. When it came right down to it, he didn’t care who held the city. But he did care that Shadow was there. That was why he was here. And that had to remain Jyren’s focus. Getting distracted with his usual idealistic methods of attack would get them both killed.

So he’d have to think up something different. What though? It wasn’t exactly Jyren’s best skill...even though he would rarely admit that. It was just that he’d gotten so used to direct methods that thinking up elaborate ideas and plans was pointless. But now it wasn’t. And yet again, he wished Shadow was here to help, even if it would defeat the purpose of getting her out in the first place.

What to do? Think. Calm...and think. Morph. Nearly endless possibilities! He could easily just sneak through as a little lizard or fly over as a bird! But he couldn’t take his weapons with him that way. And he wasn’t wearing the usual morphsuit under his clothes, so it would get just a little cold when he attempted to morph back...cold and weaponless wasn’t going to be useful. So that wasn’t going to work. Didn’t that mean all that was left was charging straight through?

No. No that still wasn’t a good idea. The key was to get in without being noticed...it was a city, after all. He still was going to have to find his way into wherever it was Shadow was being held. That would be a thousand times easier if he wasn’t running and avoiding being shot. So change the focus from breaking through to sneaking through. Alright...think.

Cause a distraction. Simple, but it usually worked. Even if the droids were as intelligent as Jyren figured they were from his previous encounters with them, they could be lured away if he provided the right kind of bait. So how? It wasn’t like he could split in two and get their attention that way...There wasn’t exactly time for him to play with what if ideas, either. Focus on the moment.

Taking a deep breath, Jyren did his best to run through an old calming technique. He slowly cleared his mind and just allowed it to find its way without him actually thinking through everything. And then an idea hit. Carefully, Jyren glanced around the tree he stood behind to give the structures a good look again. There was a blind spot on the left defense emplacement because the nearby building jutted out farther than the others. Use that...which meant going right. No, the center. There weren’t any roof-mounted guns there. He needed to get the two droids from the nearest one away so he could run right through...and then hope there would be a spot to duck into and give him a chance to look over the city from the inside.

How? That question, at least, was easily answered. Use the turrets. Not only would they definitely cause a distraction, but he could even get a look at their capabilities. A win-win situation, definitely. There was one turret on the far roof beyond the right-most of the defense emplacements that he could see. That one. There didn’t look to be any guards around it...and it looked like he could angle it to fire down into the nearby defense emplacement between the buildings.

Perfect. Almost too perfect, actually, but Jyren ignored that and decided to chalk it up to the Force finally paying him back for all that it’d thrown at him through the years. If it was the only break he ever got, and he succeeded in getting Shadow out alive...he’d never ask for anything else.

After a few long, deep breaths, Jyren closed his eyes and let himself sink into the Force. On this planet...on any planets here in the Alraxian Empire, it seemed, the Force was so easy to reach. The planets themselves were so rich and full of life. It did nothing but help. Slowly, he reached out to the roof-mounted turret, feeling its surface through the force and carefully angling it down to its new target. It only took a short moment, and once it was done, he ‘pulled’ the weapon’s trigger.

Suddenly, a loud, alien sounding shriek echoed to him, followed immediately by an unnecessarily large explosion. In fact, the shot ended up the turret along with the defense emplacement and half of the two adjacent buildings. The shock wave from the explosion hit Jyren like a speeder, sending him flat onto his backside and nearly onto his tail(which would have been extremely bad). But after shaking his head and looking up to see a thick, black smoke rising from the spot, he was very glad he hadn’t tried charging in.

Jyren was even more glad to see two...no, four droids running that direction, blaster rifles raised. So there had been more than two...but this was it. They were facing the other way, and nearly into the smoke. The path was clear and open as far as he could tell. And before he could give it a second thought, his feet were taking him as fast as they could straight across the grassy ground to the city’s edge.

Twice in one day, he’d made blind jumps. One had worked...he was about to find out how much he could push his luck. If luck had anything to do with it, that is. And Jyren figured that, if he survived, he’d have an answer to that for the first time in his life.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 228: View From Above*

Ket Halpak stood quietly on the balcony outside the hallway where Marix was being kept. It was quiet. Or rather, quiet again. Just a few moments ago the sound of one of the battery’s firing was quickly followed by a loud explosion. His eyes had not scanned the horizon long before finding the black plume of smoke and dust rising off at the city’s eastern edge.

Looking back now, Ket knew it had been naive to assume that the boy would arrive after the defenses were up and ready. But that was not the way of things. It was no surprise that he boy had already been on his way by the time Ket had sent out the word to fortify as much of the city’s border as possible(since it would be insane to land in the city itself, and the boy couldn’t have been that stupid). But that starfighter had come out of hyperspace before even the Mrrakesh ships had been in position. That, of course, made reaching the planet itself even easier.

It was pure luck that the ship had set down off to the east. That had been the area where the defenses were at least mostly finished. But they proved to be of little effort, it seemed...there were no reports coming in from the droids, which meant the boy wasn’t dead, and also meant they didn’t know where he was.

With a quiet sigh, Ket leaned forward on the railing and surveyed the city with eyes and a little touch of the Force. That young man was out there. He would be coming this direction, too. His link with Marix was strong...that much was obvious. Perhaps that was what Ket had sensed earlier as being so different about her. There had been rumors that made their way to him about Marix and this boy...

He hadn’t even taken the time to really think about them. It would explain much. In fact, it would explain everything...especially that new something he had sensed, and even seen, in Marix. She truly had changed then. Ket had assumed, just like the entire Empire, that she would end up in some political marriage. Even with his knowledge of her nature as a Tam’day’u, it was expected...she was the Empress-to-be after all. But never would Ket have thought she’d actually be capable of any emotions...and the rumors told of emotions far more complicated than most. It was beyond his understanding why these things made it harder to bring himself to what had to be done.

The both of them had to be killed. They were too dangerous, and wouldn’t hesitate to kill him given the chance. A moment ago, Ket had sent a large group of the war droids towards the eastern section of the city. It was unlikely they would all find this Jedi, but at least a few would. Anything to slow him down and prepare the large, cental building of the city. Already, the lower ground levels had all accesses barricaded and heavily guarded. That wouldn’t be enough. Roofs of nearby buildings raised up almost as high, which meant that nearly ever single level of this huge place was a possible access point.

Which, of course, just made things more complicated. There were thousands of these droids, yes, but they were already spread thin. This city was huge, and while there had only been a handful of losses in the initial landings, twice the number of droids Ket had brought with him wouldn’t have been enough to completely secure it. The only reason he came with so few was because he knew the Alraxians well enough to know they wouldn’t put up much of a fight if he attacked at the right time. They’d rather run and hide, scratching with dulled claws from the relative safety of their homeworld. Which meant that was the next place to strike.

Next, after Marix and her Jedi were dealt with. It always came right back to that.

But before his mind could wander any farther, Ket heard a noise behind him. To be literal, it wasn’t a noise, but rather a lack of noise that had caught his attention. Glancing over his shoulder, he nodded to Nine as she stepped over next to him, “Enjoying yourself?”

She smiled that dangerous, fanged smile that even Marix had never mastered, “Of course...it looks to me like you could use a little help with keeping uninvited guests away.”

Ket shrugged, “You have your job to do, I have mine...there’s nothing to worry about. Now, tell me, how is that Knight we captured doing?”

“I haven’t killed him, if that’s what you’re implying,” Nine almost snapped, easily catching the sarcasm in Ket’s voice. But her tone evened out again, “He is well. As far as he can see, I am his little Empress. Give me another hour and he’ll eat off the floor if I ask him to.”

“Ask him...?” Ket raised an eyebrow at that, though suppressed a grin.

Nine tilted her head to give him a calm, yet still dangerous sideways glance, “You would be amazed how much easier it is to control someone when they think they have free will.”

“Are you implying you control me?” Ket asked, knowing she wanted him to say it and genuinely curious at her answer.

The smile that grew on Nine’s face confirmed his thoughts, but she didn’t answer his question. Instead, she turned back to looking at the plume of black smoke, “He will be here soon. Would you like me to kill him or are you still relying on those toys of yours?”

Ket was silent for a long moment. Finally, he forced himself to think on the immediate problem instead of deflecting it for looking ahead at what would happen next. After a short minute, he said calmly, “Finish with that Knight and then take him to one of the ships. The sooner you leave for Alraxia, the sooner this will be done with. I will follow as soon as I can...the droids will tire and delay Marix’s Jedi, but you are right. They will not kill him. I will wait here and deal with him when he arrives.”

“Don’t play with him like you did with the Empress. He isn’t a match for you, but don’t give him the chance to steal the upper hand,” Nine commented as she turned and left.

He didn’t watch her go. Instead, he continued to look out over the city. She was right. Ket would need to accept the possibility that this so-called Jedi was a threat. He would have to keep his arrogance in check...and he could. Of course, it was always best to remind himself of that. It was too easy to let his ego get the better of him when dealing with the rest of these Alraxians. He simply was better than the rest of them. He’d been trained that way! But this boy was not Alraxian...in fact, he was the poison that had changed everything.

Without this boy, Marix would likely still be the same, and none of this would have happened. It would have been so much easier. At least it was interesting, though.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 229: Through the City*

She was close. She was close enough that Jyren could almost pinpoint where Shadow was in this huge city. But the link wasn’t just a one way street, either. Even with her end being severely dulled by that device, she was aware. Aware enough to feel how close he was. Through the link, Jyren could feel annoyance from her, which brought a grin to his face. At least she was still the same. Never liked him coming and digging her out whatever it was they’d both gotten her into. Not openly, at least.

Jyren could see the central building above the other rooftops. It dwarfed even the largest of towers which were nearby. And she was there. High up, probably not too far from where the two of them had stayed just a day ago. It would be a trap...Jyren had no doubts about that. But sometimes, the only way around a trap was straight through it. To be truthful, he was already dead in the middle of the trap. The entire city was the trap, and the approaching sounds that Jyren recognized as the heavy footsteps of war droids only helped to confirm it.

He didn’t have the energy to run across the city and fight through wave after wave of these droids. Eventually, it would get him killed. And he’d avoided a straight fight getting in, so he could avoid the same thing while inside. Hopefully.

With a quick glance around him, he noted that it was nearly a straight shot to the central building from where he was. It might not be the right side to be on for wherever Shadow was being kept, but the building was there. The streets would be a stupid way to get their, especially considering that there were already droids heading his way. Then how?

That question was answered easily. The buildings, generally, followed the same path as the street. Before his thoughts could be fleshed out into anymore detail, though, a squad of war droids rounded a corner ahead of him. There were at least ten. He could handle one...two, even. Maybe three. But not ten. Not even four. If that hadn’t kept him from a straight fight, nothing would have. Thankfully, it didn’t need to.

Blaster rifles lit up the street from the droids as they immediately opened fire. They weren’t stupid enough to wait and give Jyren any chances. But he had already been running to the nearest door on his right. When he reached the door, it didn’t open, and Jyren suddenly realized most all of the city had been killed in the assault. Not the people...but the city itself. With a quiet curse, he got his lightsaber off of his belt and the snap-hiss cut through the echo of the blaster rifles and the odd noises of them striking the building providing him with minimal cover.

He had cut through half of the door before the odds caught up with him. There was a sudden jolt in the Force which he failed to react to in time, and was then met with a sharp, and extremely painful blaster shot to the back. It burned through his morphsuit and skin, getting an involuntary yelp out of him. But then the blaster bolts stopped, just in time for another warning from the Force.

This time, Jyren didn’t hesitate. Allowing the Force to guide his movement, he stepped back from the door, ducking low at the same time. Not a second later, one of the metal sword-arms of the war droids slammed into the door at exactly the height of his neck. So they hadn’t just stood there and shot at him. He couldn’t help but wonder where the days of stormtroopers had gone. It seemed like so long ago.

But there wasn’t time to think. The war droid lashed out at Jyren with its free hand, hitting him hard over the back of the head and slamming him into the ground face first. His lightsaber still ablaze, Jyren ignored the pain as best he could and swung across at the droid’s legs. Hacking them off at the knees, the droid fell next to him, its strike to take off his head yet again diverted. Jyren was up on his feet as the war droid’s legs began to reform and two others charged at him. This was not going to get him anywhere but dead.

Reacting as quickly as he could, he drew the Force around him and leapt up. In a second, he landed on the rooftop, looking down at the droids. But in the same second, they were back to firing at him, so Jyren only managed a cursory glance before deciding it wasn’t worth the risk. He thumbed off the lightsaber but kept the hilt in his hand as he ran towards the central building of the city. Eventually, there were going to be droids up on the roofs after him. Most likely sooner than later.

But he didn’t look back to check, instead keeping his focus on the path ahead of him. Many of the buildings were connected so that there were no gaps, but side streets were spread out at random intervals meant he was calling upon the Force more than once to jump them and continue straight ahead. And it wasn’t tiring. It should have been, but it wasn’t. The adrenaline rush wasn’t anymore than any other fight, and yet he was running as fast as his legs could take him.

As usual, though, Jyren wasn’t given time to really think on the reasons. The unique sound of the war droid’s blaster rifles echoed to his ears again, just as the red bolts streaked past him, some hitting near his feet, and other singing his hair. Thumbing the activation switch on his lightsaber again, Jyren planted his feet and spun around. It was no use running if he was going to get shot in the back of the head. Four of the droids were up on the roofs chasing after him, about five or so buildings away and firing wildly.

Jyren kept his mind calm and deflected any of the bolts he could that got too close, trying to at least slow down the droids and give him another chance to get out of their weapons’ range. One shot did get redirected back so that it hit a droid right in the skeletal face, which stunned it slightly, but in another second, it was charging and firing a few steps behind the other three.

This was useless and they were just getting closer. Holding the lightsaber in one hand and still doing his best to defend himself with it, Jyren reached out with the Force as the droids neared him. He wrapped an invisible hand around the nearest of them before throwing it hard into the others. Two of the droids fell off the roof from the force of the throw, with the other two being sent back a good five or so meters and onto their backs. It was something, at least.

Spinning around, Jyren started running again, blue-green lightsaber blade still humming at his side. He was close now. Very close to the building. It dominated most of the skyline ahead of him, and the buildings were starting to rise up higher, forcing him to both climb and jump his way up as he moved forward. Now he was getting tired. Now it was all slowly catching up with him. But still, Jyren forced it out of his mind and continued forward as fast as he could.

And then, just as he climbed onto the highest of the buildings, just four rooftops from the mid levels of the central building and its flower-like landing pads, Jyren caught sight of something that shouldn’t have surprised him. Six of the war droids were on the last rooftop waiting for him. The second that his head had popped over the edge, they had started firing their blaster rifles. If Jyren had been intelligent, he would have ducked down and found another way. But he obviously wasn’t, as he got to his feet and brought his lightsaber up as he continued forward.

Though his eyes and senses were on defending himself from the shots as he charged, Jyren’s focus was on the huge central building above. There was a landing pad that extended out just above the building’s edge. It was at least fifteen meters above, but it was the closest point that was actually that building.

Blaster bolts shooting past him and deflecting off of his lightsaber, Jyren charged the war droids that were in his path. Two of them had stopped firing and were heading straight for him to cut him off. He ducked low under a horizontal swing from one of them, bringing his lightsaber up and cutting the droid into two. Not that it would do anything but slow the droid down, but that was all he needed to do right now. Jyren avoided being cut in two by a hair, and at least lost a small amount of tail fur in the process as he continued his movement and rolled away from the second droid’s attack.

But he didn’t turn around and finish it off or even attack it, instead continuing forward as fast as he could. The other droids then started firing at him again, ignoring the fact that they were probably going to hit the two that were now chasing after him. Calling the Force to him with nearly all of his focus, Jyren almost lost his head to a sudden strike from one of the droids that had been firing at him. He had gotten close enough that they were now reverting to simply trying to chop him up rather than shoot holes in him.

Jyren lashed out with one long, arcing swing of his lightsaber to force the droids away just as he pushed off and released the Force. His boy was propelled up in a flash, and he was rising up and to the empty landing platform only a moment later. But Jyren’s landing ended up worse than the takeoff. He came down on his left foot, but a sharp pain wracked through his leg and he fell hard onto his face, the lightsaber falling out of his hand and rolling off to the side.

Immediately, Jyren knew the source of the pain. His jump hadn’t gotten him away so cleanly after all. Glancing over his shoulder and down at his left leg, he could see a large amount of blue tinted blood seeping out of a long cut across the back of his leg. He nearly attempted to remorph the wound. But just before he did so, better reasoning caught hold of him and stopped him right away. Those swords were metal. Alraxians(save Shadow, at least) couldn’t remorph metal...it would kill him if he tried. This wound would have to heal the old fashioned way.

Not only that, but he had no time to lay there. Calling upon all the willpower he could managed, Jyren reached over and grabbed his lightsaber, deactivated it, and forced himself up onto his feet. He didn’t run down the platform to the building, as walking hurt more and more with each step. But Jyren continued on, feeling how close he was to Shadow. Before he’d even made it to the interior of the building, however, a single figure intercepted him.

It was no a droid. One of the droids would have shot him by then. When Jyren’s eyes had focused, he saw an Alraxian standing at the entrance to the building, not five meters away. Ket Halpak stood tall and strong, wearing the same simple clothes he had when he’d killed the Empress. His face displayed a calm exterior, and he spoke simply, “You are early...and injured, I see. It seems this won’t be the challenge I had expected.”

And then Ket charged at Jyren, drawing the small shortsword that had executed the Empress less than an hour earlier.


_((A note for everyone. If you'd like to see more art centered around this Story Hour, check out my Art Every Other Day or So thread. The link is in my sig, which you should be able to see in my first post on each page.))_


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 230: Short Reunion*

It was one thing to land on a leg with a deep cut from the back of the ankle up to the knee. It was something completely different to attempt to fight on the same injury. Standing was one thing, moving quickly to avoid a metal weapon that was aimed at doing far worse than a simple cut was most definitely something else. Jyren couldn’t help but think it was his destiny to be caught in situation after situation just like this one. Honestly, he could have really used a break from it just this once...but apparently that was far too much to ask.

And so half of his thoughts were on the aching pain in his left leg. Which meant that Jyren attempted to avoid Ket Halpak’s charging thrust with a sidestep to his right to avoid putting any extra weight on his left leg. It would have worked if Ket hadn’t been paying enough attention to see where the trail of blue blood across the platform led to...and the way that Jyren was avoiding putting weight on the leg. Instead, Jyren stepped right where Ket had been expecting, and though his metal blade was avoided by the younger Alraxian, Ket was now right next to Jyren.

Just as he came to a stop, Ket lashed out with his left arm, an elbow crashing right into Jyren’s face with a very loud crack. Jyren yelped and stumbled to his right, but then made the mistake of attempting to steady himself. The only way of doing that was by putting weight back onto his injured leg. Without thinking, Jyren did that anyway and was rewarded with a sharp tear of pain running up through his leg. This got a louder yelp out of him, more from surprise than anything, but he also lost his footing and once again hit the landing platform face first.

Ket wasn’t about to let this advantage slip away. He quickly turned and reversed the grip on his small blade. In one swift motion, he drove the weapon down to the back of the young Alraxian’s neck. A warning in the Force just as sharp as the pain in his leg shot through Jyren’s mind, and he could do nothing but react. He rolled to the right and away again, the blade missing his neck but instead slicing across his left shoulder. It didn’t dig in, but it did leave another good sized cut across his left side.

Gritting his teeth and trying to ignore the pain, Jyren found himself on his back, looking up to Ket who was moving in for another jab with the short blade. With his lightsaber still in his right hand, it only took a fraction of a second to thumb on the activation switch. The snap-hiss of the blade exploding from its hilt was cut off by a loud, metallic slice and a shower of sparks that rained down on Jyren. When the flash had faded, Jyren was still on his back, lightsaber across his torso and thrumming strongly. How Ket had gotten back out of the reach of the weapon and avoided the fate of his short blade, which had been cut into two very clean pieces, Jyren had no idea.

Ket tossed the useless hilt of his ruined blade off to the side, but surprised Jyren by not diving in for another kill. Halpak was trained in unarmed combat just as Shadow was, and wouldn’t ever need any kinds of weapons to deal with his targets. More than once, Shadow had beaten Jyren in their sparring matches while remaining unarmed and allowing him to use his lightsaber. There was no reason to believe that Ket wasn’t capable of the same, or even more considering how little Jyren knew of him. And when Jyren saw the other Alraxian wasn’t moving in to attack directly again, he knew to worry and became hyper alert.

Through the Force, Jyren suddenly picked up on what was happening. He had a quick warning as usual, which was just enough time to glance to his side and see the other half of Ket’s metal weapon shooting straight at Jyren. It may have been only half of the blade...but it was the sharp point, and it was diving right at Jyren like a missile, but directed with the accuracy of the Force. It was an awkward motion to bring his lightsaber around to catch the attack, but Jyren managed to do so with only centimeters to spare.

And by the time he heard the same metal noise of the blade being destroyed by the lightsaber, the Force was already sending him another wild jolt of a warning. Ket wasn’t waiting to see if his attack had worked. Jyren couldn’t keep this up. He couldn’t fight like this. Beat up, bleeding, and already exhausted by the time Ket had showed up. And it was obvious Ket was not playing around.

Dropping his lightsaber arm to the ground, Jyren reached across his body with his left, trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder that moving the arm caused. Ket got within a step before a violent and strong wave of the Force slammed into him, sending him flying up and across the platform. But Jyren didn’t hear a thud that should have been there from hitting the landing platform. He blinked, then let his eyes scan the immediate area. Nothing. Nothing?!

He was completely expecting a panicked warning through the Force, but recieved none. Jyren deactivated his lightsaber as he sat up, realizing just how narrow this section of the platform was. If he’d attempt even one more evasion of Ket’s strikes by going to the right, he’d have fallen off...slowly, realization dawned on him. The strength of Jyren’s attack had thrown Ket off the platform! So maybe there were some breaks every few hundred years!

But this wasn’t one to waste. Ket would be able to catch up in no time. Once again, Jyren tried to ignore the pain in his leg while he got to his feet. He used the Force to attempt to at least dampen the pain in both his shoulder and leg, while focusing on the link to find Shadow. It was strong now. Very strong...despite the fact that there was still a dulled numbness on her end, it was strongly dulled numbness. Not that it made any sense, but it was the best way that Jyren could explain it to himself.

So, limping as fast he could manage without falling over again, Jyren followed the feelings and strength of the link through the familiar corridors of the gigantic building. It took a three minutes of winding through sharp turn after sharp turn before finding the door that felt right. Ket had yet to appear...and Jyren had run into no one else. He hoped that meant the droids were all scouring the city, fortifying the border, and guarding other ‘important’ locations instead of waiting for him to step into the room in front of him.

But what other choice did he have?

Gripping his lightsaber tightly in one hand, Jyren gritted his teeth as he reached out with his left arm to press a small switch that had been put in next to the door...no doubt because the building itself was dead and the doors weren’t working ‘normally’. The door opened much more slowly that normally, obviously being pulled open instead of the natural movement it usually made. It was almost painful to watch, actually. But it opened up to a small, nondescript room that was devoid of any furniture...except for two distinctly Alraxian chair’s. That was easy to tell due to the design which allowed for tails to sit through the back more comfortably than in, say, an X-Wing’s seat. And sitting in one of them, looking at least a little worse than she had on the holo, was Shadow, with that sickly coloured visor still over her face and keeping her still and inactive.

Jyren immediately moved over to her, kneeling down as best as he could with his leg still cut(which was awkward, to say the least). After attaching the lightsaber back onto his belt, Jyren reached up to the side of Shadow’s face and pressed the small switch on the visor there. It quickly retracted, leaving only the small portion around her head which he then took off and tossed to the side. In a flash, the link was suddenly a flurry of activity again, and it felt amazingly good to have it back.

Shadow’s eyes opened slowly, and then widened suddenly at seeing Jyren so close. After she blinked a couple of times, the link calmed and she said in her usual tone, “You’re late...and you look terrible.”

He couldn’t help but grin slightly, noting that she was covered in scratches, bruises, and what looked like burn marks, “I figured we should match.”

Shadow rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to make another comment, but Jyren cut her off with a sudden kiss. Cliched? Yes, but he wasn’t complaining. And she didn’t either...though, for some reason, it seemed to have about the same mind-numbing effect that the visor did. The visor. They were on the Capital. Ket was near. Nine had to be, too.

The moment caught up with them and the reunion was quickly brought to a halt. Though there was still a faintly happy expression on Shadow’s face, her voice was serious, “Where’s Ket? And are you alright?”

“I don’t know, and mostly,” Jyren answered both questions quickly, then glanced back to the still open doorway, “How about we get out of here and then figure things out?”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Just a heads up...no update tonight and the next few days I can't promise any. My mother is having some major surgery tomorrow, and it seems that some older(and serious) problems have also reappeared, so she's ended up in the hospital earlier than expected. Since she's actually up in Georgia, its been hell trying to get in contact with anyone and find out what's going on exactly.

I just need to pass out...apologies, as I really do want to update, but just can't get myself to write.


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## aros

no need to apologize....writing and reading this story hour should be fun.  but there are always important times when you must put aside certain recreational pursuits to take care of that which is most dear.  in this case your mom.  i hope all the surgery goes well and she recovers fully and quickly.  best of luck


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## DethStryke

Exactly what Aros said.  I hope everything goes as smoothly and with as little complication as possible.

In addition, here's something to contemplate while in the waiting room: Why didn't Jyren lop off his leg above the knee with his lightsaber (or at least above the cut from the metal blade) and then reform it? It would have taken a fair amount of energy, of course, but I'm pretty sure it would have been better than limping around.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

DethStryke said:
			
		

> In addition, here's something to contemplate while in the waiting room: Why didn't Jyren lop off his leg above the knee with his lightsaber (or at least above the cut from the metal blade) and then reform it? It would have taken a fair amount of energy, of course, but I'm pretty sure it would have been better than limping around.




Dramatic effect.  

More seriously, it still does hurt to lop off one's leg, even if it can be reformed. Shadow would probably have done it if in the same situation(and if she had the problem with metal, of course), but there's definitely two different modes of thinking in there. Jyren isn't exactly the best when it comes to morphing and such. He could use it a whole lot more than he does, but it just doesn't cross his mind enough.

...something that always bugs Shadow. He's got tons of resources at his disposal but he still runs around like he's human.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 231: Like Minds*

Getting out was definitely an intelligent priority. However, it immediately proved to be a more difficult task than either Shadow or Jyren had expected. After Jyren had gotten the bindings off of her arms and ankles, Shadow stood up. Or at least, that had been the plan. Instead, she rose to up, swayed, then fell back into the chair suddenly. Jyren did managed to catch the chair so it didn’t fall over, but before he could ask the expected question, Shadow was answering it with a suddenly tired sounding mumble.

“Haven’t eaten...”

Though she trailed off, the link filled in the rest of the information and it made sense. In the past however many hours it had been, Shadow had been fighting, morphing to heal wounds, and then was captured. From the looks of it, she’d taken a serious beating, and at the same time hadn’t had any food. For an Alraxian body, which required an extremely large amount of food, especially wen morphing, all of those combined meant Shadow wasn’t going to be very useful until she had some real rest and food.

Which left one option.

“No,” Shadow growled, forcing more strength into her voice to emphasize her point. She had picked up on Jyren’s train of thought immediately...and obviously was not happy about it. She was not useless. She could walk just fine. There was no way that he was going to—

“We don’t really have much of a choice at this point,” Jyren cut off her thoughts(which he could feel through the link), and knelt down as best he could. Of course, this didn’t agree with his leg, and he nearly fell over again.

Shadow sighed and rolled her eyes, “There’s no way you can do this with your leg hurt like that. Just guard the door and give me a moment!”

“To do what?!” Jyren grumbled over his shoulder, stepping over to the door anyway. He gave her a moment anyway. The moment, though, only lasted for about five seconds. Then, he quickly turned back to her and stepped over, “We don’t have time to just sit around.”

Without another word, and giving Shadow no chance to argue the point any farther, Jyren did the one thing she would have killed him for if it was any other place. He picked her up. Even if it had seemed like a small thing, to her it wasn’t. It was admitting to failure and having to rely on someone else for such a simple thing as walking. She could do that on her own. She didn’t need anyone’s help!

But it was too late to argue, and yelling at Jyren now would have done no good. He was in one of his stubborn and idealistic Jedi moods again. Which meant he didn’t think things through all that well, and this was immediately apparent in the second problem that came up. With Shadow’s extra weight, that was putting even more weight on his leg...and also, now, the deep cut across his shoulder from holding her up. And he nearly dropped her from the jolt of pain. Nearly.

Instead, Jyren did something that Shadow was better known for. He completely ignored the pain and fought through it. It wasn’t like he had any choices left, that he could see. When Jyren got out the door, he was relieved to not be ambushed by droids, Ket, or a combination of the two. He then made a quick decision. Heading back the same direction he’d come from would likely be a very, very stupid idea.

“Shadow, we need to get out of here and to the east. Which way do I go?”

She looked up at him with a simple glare, “Put. Me. Down.”

Alright, so she was going to argue it. Not argue, though, but simply set down the simple truth. And Jyren, of course, had to be his usual self and stop, but not actually do what she’d said. And then, after grumbling a quiet “Fine” under his breath, he did put her down...carefully...and kept an arm around her to hold her up.

Grudgingly, Shadow allowed that little thing to stay while she forced through the exhaustion in her body and lead the way. If they weren’t both expecting to be killed at any moment, it would have been a hilarious sight...both of them limping along as fast as they could. Pathetic, actually. It seemed like no matter how good the two of them thought they were, it really didn’t matter in the end...they were still stuck in a worse situation than most people in the galaxy, and even being an Alraxian didn’t help. In fact, that just made things more complicated.

Typical, really. If it wasn’t one thing, it was everything else.

But that didn’t stop them from trying, and Shadow knew her way around the building enough to get them through the maze of corridors, even though it was sickening to feel the building was dead around them. It took them two minutes to run into the third complication of the day. This one was much more of a problem than the previous two had been.

In front of them, the corridor continued in a softly turning curve around the outer section of the building. Or it should have. Instead, the ceiling was collapsed in and blocking the way through. Jyren’s first thought was that they climb up and over, but through the link, Shadow shot that down. Going up was not the right direction. They needed to go down. Quickly, both of them scanned the area. No doors. Nothing...well, no, that wasn’t true. To the right was a short outcropping that led to a large, elaborate balcony.

“We’re going to have to go back and around,” Jyren commented, not having to state that they were in no shape to climb down the wall. To his surprise, Shadow agreed and they turned to head back.

It was naive to expect they would turn around and find an empty corridor. Naive and stupid. Both of them knew how life liked to throw one thing after another at them, and yet every time the two of them seemed to ignore that. So it really was laughable that both of them were surprised to find Ket standing and blocking their retreat.

He looked exactly the same as when Jyren had encountered him...though his clothes looked to have taken a bit of a beating. Whatever fall he’d taken, however, showed no effect on him. At least he wasn’t carrying a weapon now...but Jyren knew as well as Shadow did that Ket needed no weapon. He didn’t look like he was very happy, either.

When Ket remained silent, Jyren and Shadow exchanged quick looks. [We’re going to have to.]

Jyren heard Shadow’s words echo in his mind and knew she was right, but he fought against it anyway. [You know we can’t.]

[And we’re in no shape to fight him.] Shadow again stated something neither of them needed to actually hear.

[You’re insane.] Jyren’s tone held no humour at all as he looked to her. [You do know that, right?]

Shadow grinned, and, ignoring Ket, said out loud, “Proof the like attracts like.”

Then, with a good amount of help from the Force, Shadow and Jyren turned and ran back. At the blocked corridor, they turned and headed out to the balcony instead. Ket was after them as fast as he could run, and nearly caught them before they both jumped. But instinct and better thought stopped him from following. There was no building below on this side. Instead, it was straight down to the streets below. The ability to remorph injuries didn’t make one invulnerable...something that Ket couldn’t help but wonder if Marix had forgotten somewhere along the way.

Though he didn’t dive after them, Ket immediately headed back to order all of the droids to the area to kill them. They would not get off the planet alive, and it was time to prepare for the attack on Alraxia.


_((And we're back to daily updates! Hopefully. My mother's out of the hospital and doing fine. I sent the first season of the X-Files up there for her to watch while she's stuck in bed at home, so I've done my job as a good son. ))_


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## Angcuru

Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> _((And we're back to daily updates! Hopefully. My mother's out of the hospital and doing fine. I sent the first season of the X-Files up there for her to watch while she's stuck in bed at home, so I've done my job as a good son. ))_



Good to hear.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 232: Hand Off*

One day, there was going to be a point when these crazy ideas would stop working. One day, they would try again and fail. One day, this kind of thing would get Jyren and Shadow killed. And, as they plummeted down the however many meters from the top level of the central building on the Capital world to the street below, Jyren couldn’t help but figure this was that day. It wasn’t like he was reaching when coming to that conclusion, either.

Usually, he at least had a back up plan to get them out of whatever insanity Shadow dove into...or vice versa if Jyren was the one charging in first. If not, it was usually plainly obvious what the necessary course of action was...or the link was a flurry of activity as the two of them ran through any idea possible to get out of whatever problem had come up.

But this time was different. They fell silently...if one could call it truly silent as the air around them roared in their ears. But there was nothing else. The link was silent and empty, and no ideas came to mind as the street below continued to rush up.

[Morph. Now!] Shadow’s voice echoed through the link with a sharpness that almost made him react without thinking about it. But, thankfully, Jyren caught himself. He didn’t know the specifics of the Alraxian vulnerability to metal...and wasn’t willing to push it, even at this vital moment with only seconds left.

[It will kill us!] he yelled back, though yelling was in no was necessary through the link.

His arguing with her was probably not a good idea. Shadow was correct in thinking that it was only wasting the valuable few seconds they had, and so snapped back. [We’ll die if you don’t!]

Again, the tone of her ‘voice’ nearly forced Jyren’s body to act without his own approval. But, again, he held control and stopped himself. They were not going to die. They weren’t. And he wasn’t going to kill himself and Shadow just because it looked like the only possible thing to do. This was not going to be that day he continued to worry about. Not after all of this. Not after everything he’d fought through to get this far. 

Jyren wasn’t about to lose Shadow now.

His eyes looked down to find that there was probably about a second left until he did lose her. Almost distantly, Jyren heard Shadow ‘yell’ at him again through the link. She had barely enough energy to run in the first place to make the jump, morphing for her was definitely out of the question...as was calling upon the Force for assistance. Both would require too much energy and concentration for her at the moment.

But not for Jyren. He was tired, injured, and morphing was pretty much a death sentence for him...but he was still being pushed on by something he couldn’t put his finger on. It could have been pinned down to the Force, but somehow it felt like more than that. At this speed, the force of the landing would turn the both of them into goo, and it would likely be a short moment of extreme pain.

The instant this thought finished in Jyren’s mind, an idea had sparked. But the idea had no sparked in his conscious brain. With that, it would require him to actually get himself to make the necessary actions...and that would have taken longer than the half second they had left. So, instead, Jyren found himself reacting without realizing what he was actually doing.

In a moment, he felt the Force gather around him...no, not just him. Jyren could also feel Shadow in his ‘grip’ through the Force. And in that instant where he concentrated and focused like never before, Jyren knew exactly what he was doing. With every ounce of energy and strength Jyren could manage without passing out, he pushed outward with the Force and allowed himself to flow into it...allowed himself to simply act as an extension of the Force itself.

And he held the two of them.

Neither Shadow nor Jyren actually felt it, but when Shadow realized that she also hadn’t felt the ground, she looked down. They were both about a half meter above the hard, off-white street, and hovering motionless. She quickly looked over to Jyren, seeing his eyes were closed but feeling the Force flowing from him stronger than she’d ever felt before...not that it was surprising. Shadow knew he was capable of it, but continually held himself back.

Then his eyes opened, and his concentration was broken. Shadow let out an involuntary yelp when the Force let go of her and she dropped to the ground, though she was able to land on her feet and stay on them despite swaying slightly. Jyren, on the other hand, landed on his feet and let out a painful cry(and Shadow almost did, too, as she felt the same pain from his leg through the link) before he hit the ground face first.

And he didn’t move afterwards. Through their link, Shadow immediately noticed that his mind had gone strangely calm compared to how it usually darted from this to that and back again a thousand times over every second. He was unconscious. Shadow still felt the urgency to keep moving, and so didn’t even take the time to roll her eyes or sigh at his typically Jedi-like actions. She’d do it later, when there was time to put the full effort into the necessary sarcasm, a trait she was slowly picking up and very much enjoying.

Instead, she was back to her old methods. Pushing back the current limitations of her physical body, Shadow moved over to Jyren and picked him up. He wouldn’t complain...couldn’t, either, so it didn’t matter. With both the Force and her own strength of willpower keeping her standing straight and holding up his considerably larger body, Shadow looked down the street to the east. That was where they needed to go...and that was where Ket would send his droids.

So Shadow ran north, hopefully away from the full force of the defense that would no doubt be waiting at the eastern wall. She would turn west when around the gigantic central building so as to avoid any other major defenses, and they could make their way around from there.

Jyren had done his job. He had gotten to her, and freed her. But now it was her turn. Now it was time to prove to him that she could save his tail just the same...typical that he was unconscious and couldn’t see it. But at least she was doing it, and besides, she could make it sound worse than it was and use that to her advantage later.

Shadow had made it around the main building and was heading west by the time the telltale sounds of strong, metal feet began to echo down one of the nearby streets. They were getting louder, and that meant closer. They were also, from the sound of it, all over the west, north, and south of her. She could go east and hopefully outrun them and then break through whatever defenses there were, or she could continue west and hope to either sneak through or encounter only a small amount of them. Shadow was in no condition to fight, either way. She could run, and she could carry Jyren, but anything more was asking too much and she knew it.

Shadow ran to the west.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Sorry for the sporatic updates, but this may continue for at least another two weeks.

This week is the last week of the Summer A term, and I've also got some family in town so that's got me busy...especially since the family happens to be my 8 year old brother who I haven't seen since Christmas. I've got to torture him.  I'm still going to try to get updates up, but I refuse to post less than a single page. Also, they may appear at odd times compared to when I usually update.

Next week is going to be a bit tough for a regular schedule, also. Family goes off to the beach that week and there's a lack of internet access. Not only that, but I've got a couple Finals then, and I'm also dragging some friends down here.

After that week, though, its back to normal schedule wise and should be back to a more constant update schedule for this SH.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 233: One Step at a Time*

Two blocks and Shadow ran into trouble. While for most citizens of the galaxy, that would mean a problem was staring them in the face from a few feet off. But Shadow was unique among the inhabitants of the galaxy. She quite literally ran straight into the trouble, which was currently in the form of ten or so of Ket’s war droids. But ran into wasn’t completely accurate. That implied she hit a droid and then hit the ground hard. But, again, this was Shadow.

Instead, it was more accurate to describe her actions as running through trouble...through, and a little over, as she barreled around a corner to slam into a large war droid and then, just as it was hitting the ground, step onto its head and jump over the two quick slices from the weapon-arms of the other droids that flanked it. And she didn’t stop. She knew what these droids were capable of, and knew that even in a normal state of health, she couldn’t handle this many of them on her own. Especially holding Jyren draped over her shoulder and just adding more weight.

So Shadow just kept running as fast as she could make her legs move, ignoring the droids that she had quickly bolted past before turning down another, thankfully empty, street. But they weren’t stupid enough to let her run off that easily. A few seconds later, Shadow heard blaster fire behind her, and had to move in a much more random, zig-zag path down the long street to avoid being shot as the droids ran after her. She truly hoped they didn’t have any kind of communication that would bring all of the droids down on them.

There was close to half a kilometer to the edge of the city, and it wasn’t going to be a straight shot either. The Capital city was much like the central building in that it wasn’t made of straight lines and sharp corners. Instead, it was designed like the living organism it had been before Ket’s attack. Truthfully, there was no real logic to why some streets turned where they did or how some of the buildings were shaped...it was simply how the city had grown. And while Shadow appreciated this as much as any Alraxian compared to a place like Coruscant, she couldn’t help but wish for a straight run out of the city at this point.

It wasn’t just the turns and curves of the streets she ran through that caused this, but the feeling of the city itself. Dead. Literally. The attack had killed the city, and it was plainly obvious through the Force. All around her was an empty nothingness, almost like a void in the planet which was teaming with life. It was sickening to think that Ket was actually capable of such destruction. Even Shadow, who had been both trained as Ket had as a Tam’day’u and also turned into a weapon for the Galactic Empire, wasn’t able to kill like Ket had done. This simple truth was the only thing that held back the part of her that wanted to talk sense into Ket. If he could turn his back on both his people and their love of life itself, then talk was truly useless.

Her wandering thoughts were suddenly ceased by the inevitable. Rounding another corner, Shadow encountered another group of war droids. These, however, looked to be ready and waiting for her. If the way that the six of them stood in a line blocking the street didn’t give this away, the sudden barrage of blaster fire that shot out the second her foot was out from around the corner definitely did. Thanks to the Force and her own naturally quick reflexes, Shadow ducked back behind the building next to her as the blaster fire shot past and hit the walls of buildings opposite her.

And the second she had gotten out of the way and taken cover, the attacks stopped. No surprise. These droids were far too well programmed. Shadow didn’t even completely understand why. It wasn’t like there was any kind of resistance to encounter here beyond her, a handful of other Tam’day’u that were still recovering from their own situation to fight, and a small group of the Empress’ Knights that weren’t nearly well trained enough to deal with the droids. There were no actual soldiers or an army to speak of. Which meant there was still at least one more layer to dig through to find the real truth to what Ket was up to.

Quickly pushing the thoughts back for later, Shadow returned her focus to the moment. And it was a very good thing, too, as her ears swivelled around to pick up the sound of approaching metal footsteps. Reminding herself this was no time to fight, as there was still the heavy weight of Jyren unconscious and on her shoulder, Shadow retreated a few steps and looked around quickly.

Her eyes found a relatively flat looking rooftop nearby, to which she quickly jumped up to, again calling on the Force to push her exhausted body onwards more. Shadow hit the rooftop running, and only took three steps before leaping down to the street below again. Even if it was stupid, she risked a glance over her unoccupied shoulder to see that the war droids had already caught on and were turning to charge after her.

Never a break.

But Shadow didn’t stop moving. She wasn’t an idiot. And she was running as fast as she could as the droids charged after her, blaster arm’s blazing again. Thanks to the Force flowing through her limbs and keeping her from getting the both of them killed, Shadow was much faster than the war droids. And in a matter of moments, the curving and white streets and buildings gave way to the lightly forested land surrounding the city.

She didn’t turn back to see if she was still being pursued, but continued running until the tree cover grew thick and made it hard to even walk in. Finding a large tree and a patch of ground that looked at least partially comfortable, Shadow set Jyren down before collapsing next to him. She wouldn’t have left any tracks to follow. They were safe for now. Rest...recover...then move from there.

Yes, the escape had been a little too easy. Yes, the fact that the droids had probably stopped at the edge of the city was worrying. And yes, the strong feeling that something was very out of place remained. However, for now at least, Shadow felt they would be safe. Hopefully it would last long enough for her to be in good enough shape to stand up straight, because her drawing on the Force for so long had drained her in more ways than one. After resting her head on Jyren’s shoulder and b efore her thoughts became an incoherent mess of a thousand things, Shadow finally drifted off to sleep.

And sleep was still sleep...even if it was two days late.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 234: We Fight Alone...Together*

Jyren’s eyes opened slowly. Considering how he remembered his last few moments of consciousness, this was not accurate. Unless death meant waking up in a lightly forested area with a somewhat heavy weight on one’s shoulder. He blinked and thought about the last part of that.

Then, carefully and for some reason unsure of what he was going to find, Jyren’s eyes turned to look down. They were immediately met by a mass of white coloured hair, with a black patch up a little higher...and one ear pointing up. Well, if this was being dead, Jyren figured things could have been much, much worse. But his body ached. All of it. And something about that just seemed to go against the very nature of death. One should not continue to hurt.

They were alive. They were alive, and there weren’t a few thousand war droids around them. In fact, there weren’t any. Jyren couldn’t even see the Capital anymore. How did they get out all this way?

“I carried you,” Shadow mumbled into his shoulder sounding annoyed and only half awake.

“...why are we not dead?” Jyren asked. It was a simple, yet somehow vital question, even if he wasn’t the best with choice of words.

Shadow shifted slightly, but didn’t move her head, making her voice still sound slightly muffled, “Because I was intelligent enough not to try and fight off a thousand of those droids?”

Jyren raised an eyebrow, well aware that she couldn’t see it, but also aware that she could catch the feeling and intent through the link anyway. His voice was as tired and exhausted as hers was when he grumbled, “You’re suggesting I would have stood and fought?”

She shrugged, which ended up not actually as a shrug, but more like elbowing him in the chest. Shadow didn’t say anything, though, and left it up to him to decide what she meant. He did actually try to find out through the link, but Shadow was one step ahead, as usual, and was blocking him as best she could. So, deciding it wasn’t worth it, Jyren decided to bring up the next vital question that came to mind.

“If you didn’t stand and fight...why are we not surrounded by war droids?”

At this, Shadow didn’t have a quick response. After a moment where she realized she hadn’t taken the time to think about that prior to passing out, Shadow shrugged again and said quietly, “I don’t know.”

Silence.

They didn’t need to say anything, as they were both thinking it. Neither of them knew. And they were just laying there against a tree(or against Jyren, in Shadow’s case) in plain sight without even a single attempt at being alert. Ears went different directions as they searched for sounds of droids marching their direction. When this revealed nothing, both of them stretched out with the Force.

Again, nothing.

There was something very wrong with that, and the both of them knew it. This city had been assaulted by war droids, Shadow had been captured, and it had obviously been a considerable effort to create the thousands of war droids necessary for the attack. And Jyren had entered the city with huge defenses, escaped pursuit only to barely get away from Ket...twice. Then, Shadow had also had to escape from the droids. But why had they stopped?

That didn’t make sense. Ket obviously wanted them both dead. He’d had multiple changes but not actually gone through with it on any of them.

“We have to go back,” Jyren said quietly, though it had actually been Shadow’s thought and not his.

She nodded, obviously agreeing with it, “Ket doesn’t care about this planet.”

“He’s going to Alraxia, isn’t he?”

Shadow paused a moment to really think about that. She sighed and nodded, “Its what I would do.”

“But why come here at all?”

This time, Shadow didn’t have to think about it, “To kill my mother. Without her, the Empire will lose its central point.”

Jyren nodded, “I’ve seen what happened...but there’s still something wrong with all of this.”

Sitting up a little, Shadow nodded into his shoulder, “The only reason I can think he has all those droids is to attack the Mrrakesh when he’s done with us.”

That probably should have mattered to Jyren. Probably. However, it hadn’t been an answer to the question he’d been thinking, so he outright asked it, “Why didn’t Ket kill you when he had you?”

Shadow sighed and shrugged again. Her voice went quiet this time, just barely above a whisper, “I don’t know.”

Again, they were silent. That was a very important unknown that neither of them had any clue on. If Jyren had known Ket better, he might...but it was something well beyond Shadow, despite how far she’d come from Faban Sunrunner’s Tam’Day’U training.

But Shadow was working back into her usual self, the short sleep having helped far more than even she had expected. And so she didn’t spend too much time trying to figure out motives. Instead, Shadow looked at the situation in front of them and said flatly, “I’m going back to deal with Ket before he leaves the planet. You get back to whatever you got here in and wait.”

Shadow actually tried to get up then. She made it a few centimeters before Jyren reached over and grabbed her arm to pull her back. Surprised, even though she probably shouldn’t have been, Shadow immediately turned to look at him and growl. But she didn’t make it to the growling before Jyren said in a stern voice, “You aren’t going alone.”

“Yes,” Shadow responded in just as strong a voice, “I am. This is my fight. This has nothing to do with you, and I can’t deal with Ket if I have to worry about you.”

“Then don’t worry about me,” Jyren growled, his ears flat and anger obvious through the link, the Force, and on his face, “We tried this your way already, remember? You needed me. I’m not letting you run off like that again. We’re in this together. We have been ever since you gave me this damned body and we always will be. I’m coming with you.”

She almost glared. Almost. Instead, she picked up on something else through the link. Something that Jyren was trying to hide from her, and was likely the real reason for his stubbornness. Something had gotten into his head since she’d left the first time. It surprised him how much her voice went from the stern, soldierly voice to an almost soft one that Jyren had only heard from here a handful of times, “What is it?”

Shadow knew she’d hit the right thing when he tried to look down at the ground. She didn’t let him, of course, reaching over and resting a hand on his face to force him to look at her. Immediately realizing that he was trapped and couldn’t get out, Jyren sighed. Then, after taking a deep breath, he said quietly, “I can’t lose you.”

That wasn’t it...he was trying to avoid the question. So, Shadow pressed harder, her voice still soft, but now with an edge to it, “That isn’t it.”

“Yes, it is...” Jyren whispered, closing his eyes and obviously telling at least a partial truth, “I can’t lose you again. Not after everything that’s happened. We’ve been through too much.”

Shadow nodded very slowly, but pressed again, “There’s something else you aren’t telling me.”

Though he was still caught, Jyren seemed to have given in finally. With a nod, he said, “I promised your mother and father I would protect you.”

It was the second time in barely five minutes that Shadow nearly glared at him. She didn’t need protecting. He should have known that! Ever since that damned night however long ago Jyren was so protective. It didn’t make sense. He should know she could take care of herself!

But those thoughts betrayed the simple truth that Shadow continually got herself in over her head, and every single time, Jyren was there to pull her out...even if he nearly got himself killed most times. Her parents were gone. She hadn’t seen it, but she could feel it. The last thing they’d told Jyren was to protect her. It was...typical of them. But something in Shadow allowed it all to pass over.

So, surprising Jyren, she nodded and pulled him to his feet with her. With a somewhat awkward hug when they were both on their feet, Shadow said somewhat uneasily, “Fine. We’ll do this together.”


_((Alright, sorry for the delays on this update, but I've not been home lately. After today, I should be able to get another update up tomorrow, but after that I'm off to the beach again and won't have internet access. Updates will resume as normal next Tuesday, definitely, but possibly earlier...don't count on that, though.))_


----------



## Bibliophile

No problem at all!  It's an awesome story, and I'll be glad to see it when it returns!


----------



## trexmaster

THREAD UPAGE !

Even if there isn't any update (yet), this thread deserves to stay on the front page, for all the newcomers who might otherwise miss it.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 235: Of Metal and Old Friends*

As usual, things proved to be easier said than done. At the moment, the current problem was general physical health. Shadow was alright. In fact, she’d started walking without any trouble. Sure, she was tired and starving, but sleep, even though it had been barely an hour of sleep, worked wonders for her body. She could eat later.

But, just as she had started moving, Shadow suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of her left leg. Or rather, she felt something that should have been pain in her leg...but it was distant and she was walking fine. The pain wasn’t timed with her walking at all. Which meant...

Spinning around to look behind her, Shadow spotted Jyren a good five meters back and limping towards her as fast as he could manage. There was a neutral look on his face, but he was obviously fighting back pain with each step. She then took the time to actually notice he had a long, deep cut across his right shoulder. Why hadn’t he remorphed that?! Idiot! Didn’t he know that if he left it open and...and...it was half bleeding...she’d actually had her head resting on that shoulder! He was going to get the damned thing infected and get the both of them killed! With the ability to morph to the extent that Alraxians had, their immune system wasn’t exactly wonderful.

And if his leg was hurting so much that she felt it that strongly through the link, he really might just get them killed like that. Quickly, Shadow ran back to where he was and growled, “Why haven’t you remorphed those cuts?! If we die because you get an infected wound I’m going to kill you!”

Yes, she knew what she’d just said, but her point still stood...and Jyren knew she wasn’t lying. She’d find a way to do it. Which meant he had just a few seconds to make the necessary excuse. Even though it was the absolute truth, it was still an excuse and he knew it, “Metal!”

Shadow paused a moment from her anger to think. This lasted for a half second before she almost pounced his shoulder, eyes looking at the wound. At the same time, she was using the link to sift through his mind and find out what she could, while also using the Force to heal the wound at least slightly...not that she was that good at it, but some was better than nothing. And if anyone in the galaxy could multitask better than Shadow, Jyren wouldn’t believe it.

It took her a long half minute before she rolled her eyes. Then, grumbling under her breath, Shadow poked his shoulder, “Its fine. There’s nothing in it. You do realize that little pieces of metal don’t slide off of blades when they cut you, right?”

Jyren went red. What else could he do?! He didn’t know what he was looking for! He didn’t know what to do! He...he was making excuses in his own mind that she couldn’t even hear.

[I can. Now shut up and remorph it while I make sure your legs alright.] Shadow cut into his mind and she knelt down behind him. Quickly, she added. [Just in case you did something intelligent.]

Though he had passed out earlier, it had been at least some kind of rest for his physically exhausted body. Thanks to that, he at least had the energy to remorph the long gash across his shoulder. So in a moment, the lingering pain in his shoulder faded away as Jyren willed it in that odd way to pull itself back together. And not long after, Shadow stood up and gave a nod to indicate his leg was fine also.

With everything remorphed and back to relative normality, Jyren followed after Shadow, who had already started leading the way a second time. It was as they walked back, both looking beat up and exhausted despite remorphing and rest, when Jyren began to realize yet another very important factor that was currently missing.

Shadow picked up on his thought quickly. [No, I don’t have a plan yet.]

“Yet?” Jyren asked out loud, forgoing the speech through the link out of habit, “You mean I should expect one in the next few minutes before we start getting shot at again?”

“Shut up,” she rolled her eyes before turning them back in front of her to focus on what needed to be paid attention to. There was too much still wrong with this situation. Ket was no fool...and he wanted her(and Jyren, by default) dead. The Capital was not a planet known for its predators like Alraxia, so stranding them out in the forests was not a sound plan. Besides, Jyren had a ship out there somewhere. Maybe an ambush at the ship?

No...no that wasn’t Ket’s style. He would just kill them right away. Or rather, he should have. But he hadn’t. He hadn’t, and it was starting to drive Shadow crazy. Ket was making mistakes left and right, leaving too many chances for she and Jyren to get away alive. They shouldn’t be alive. As the Empress now, even if not technically official at this point, Shadow was even more of a threat to Ket, as she had the capability to pull the Alraxian Empire out of its current state of chaos. And that chaos had to be what Ket was aiming for. With it, he would have no trouble toppling what was left of the Empire.

There were still holes to be filled, and Shadow had the feeling they were going to have to fill them the hard way. Ket wasn’t one to talk. He wasn’t an idiot. So she came to a simple conclusion of what had to be done.

Get to Ket quickly.

“You will go no further.”

A voice cut through the trees around Shadow and Jyren like a knife. It was strong, dangerous, and familiar to the both of them. So much so that neither were surprised to turn around and see Delta Nine facing them. The older clone of Marix glared at her...original. No longer was Nine taller. They were both of even height and build, and the only way Jyren could tell them apart(save for the link, of course) was the morphsuit Shadow wore and the form fitting, off white armor that Nine had on. Jyren could only tell it was armor due to his link with Shadow, as she identified it immediately on sight.

[Why didn’t we sense her approaching?] Jyren asked through the link, quickly reaching out with the Force to make sure that Nine was alone. As far as he could tell, she was alone...but Jyren wasn’t so sure whether that was worth trusting at this point.

Shadow gave him a cursory glance out of the corner of her eyes, though made sure to keep her main focus and attention on Nine. [The same reason why you wouldn’t be able to sense me if I didn’t want you to.]

[Good point.] his response was emphasized with the slightest of nods. [Tell me we aren’t about to do what I think we’re about to do.]

[We don’t have much of a choice.]

It was the end of the stare down between Shadow and Nine...and while neither truly won it, both claimed a victory in that they didn’t lose either. But then Nine did something Shadow had no expected. Instead of attacking or even attempting a distraction before an attack, the clone took a step back and to the right. As her feet came to a stop, Nine’s voice could be heard quietly saying, “Kill the abomination.”

From behind a tree next to Nine, a figure stepped out. It was an Alraxian...a little taller, strongly built, and with thick, straight emerald coloured hair. He could be seen nodding before two anger filled eyes looked straight over into Shadow’s surprised face. His sword already in hand, Kyren Ka-BlueIce charged.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 236: A Pair of Idiots*

A very large part of Shadow refused to actually believe that it was Kyren. It was the part of her...or rather, the part of Marix, that had grown up with him. The one that had saved his life...and while, at that point at least, he had never even really been a friend, Kyren was also someone she could trust. He was like a brother to her. Shadow couldn’t even speak to Jyren the way she could with this emerald haired Alraxian Knight. And never could she have imagined that he would try to kill her.

Thankfully, Shadow’s reactions were not frozen as would have occurred with nearly anyone else in the galaxy caught in the same situation. So when Kyren’s two quick steps brought him right up to her, and his right arm rose up to slash across her face, Shadow was moving. She sidestepped left, ducking slightly as her hands shot up and snatched Kyren’s wrist. Gripping tightly and taking the half second she probably had considering the ferocity she could see in his eyes, Shadow growled under her breath, “Kyren! Stop it!”

He didn’t stop. In fact, he didn’t even so much as look her in the eye. Instead, he wrenched his held arms to the side, catching Shadow off balance and throwing her to the ground. His being stronger helped a bit, too. Shadow hit the ground hard, and while she heard a snap, was glad to realize it was not her spine(or tail for that matter), but a tree root below. Not that it didn’t hurt, of course.

[He thinks you’re Nine!] Jyren’s voice cried out through Shadow’s mind suddenly. His voice almost caused her to lose concentration, and if she had, Kyren’s claws would have landed in her neck instead of the dirt where she rolled away from and up to her feet.

Taking a step back and giving Jyren at least a half look out of the corner of her eye, she sent back a short, very annoyed sounding response. [I’ve gathered that much, thank you.]

She knew that he wanted to help her...but he knew that she’d kill him if he tried anything, especially with Kyren involved. But Shadow knew that wasn’t going to stop Jyren’s usual idealistic streak...but, for once, she couldn’t keep her full attention on him and attempt to stop any stupidity that he charged head first into. Shadow was far too busy worry about Kyren, who was relentlessly matching her every step and movement with an attack. While she was able to block or dodge all of them, it was still tiring and Shadow couldn’t help but notice that the still-silent Kyren was backing her into a rather large tree.

Exactly what she would have done in the same situation.

Follow that line of thought. How would she keep her opponent from getting out of this? And immediately Shadow had it. Her arm was up in a flash, catching Kyren’s again and she took another short moment to search his eyes for something other than the outright rage she could see. He didn’t give her time to speak. Instead of yanking free of her tight grip(which was actually lighter than it would have been had it been anyone but Kyren), his eyes glanced straight over her shoulder to the tree that now had to be barely a step behind Shadow.

When his eyes darted back down, Kyren pulled his arm down, along with Shadow’s that held his, and his leg swept under hers to bring her to the ground and then pin her. But it had been what Shadow was waiting for. Just as his leg would have reached hers, she brought her knee up into his chest hard. The hit caused Kyren to fall forward and Shadow relinquished her grip on his arm. She had a half second before he recovered, gained his footing again, and attempted something else that she would have to figure out again.

Which meant she had to reverse their positions immediately. Her arms one step ahead of her thoughts, Shadow had already reached up to Kyren’s shoulders to spring over and behind him. She had just pushed off and forced him down hard when Shadow made an admittedly stupid mistake.

She looked forward.

And when she looked forward, she didn’t see a blank space of forest that would not have distracted her. Instead, she saw Jyren. His lightsaber ablaze and charging straight for Nine like some completely brainless fool...this much she did have time to send through the link before her lapse in attention gave Kyren an advantage.

Before she could scream and yell at Jyren, a hard something slammed into the back of her head. She tumbled over Kyren’s back before hitting the ground face first, and also feeling a rock dig straight into her left calf. The second that happened, Shadow heard Jyren yelp. Looking up, she saw him just lifting his left leg before tumbling to the ground right in front of Nine, his lightsaber sliding out of his grip and off out of the way.

Her fall had caused his fall. He hadn’t been expecting it just like she hadn’t expected him to be so stupid in the first place.

They were both idiots.

And now they were both idiots face first in the dirt. Above her was Kyren, pouncing down to rip out her throat from behind and destroy what he seemed to think was the abomination of Marix BlueIce. And in front of her, Shadow could see Nine casually approaching the now dirt-covered Jyren. Even though it had only been a pain through the link, he would not have time to get to his feet before she was on him. And Nine would simply kill him outright...especially considering the look Shadow could see on the demented clone’s face.


_((As you can see, update time has now changed. I've got a good long hour and a half between classes this term, and have just discovered that I can access the wireless network here on my laptop. So, this is a perfect time for me to update every day.))_


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 237: Last Retreat*

It wasn’t as if Jyren had planned things to end up the way they did. In fact, he’d had a rather clever plan in his opinion. Nine hadn’t been watching him. She was grinning and intently watching Kyren’s attack on Shadow. Jyren was off to the side enough that he was in a blind spot of sorts. So it was a logical conclusion to reach that it was the perfect time to attack. He knew that he couldn’t fight Nine alone. He knew she would tear him to pieces in a second. But he also knew that he could take her down if given the upper hand.

No, it wasn’t Jedi-like or in any way honorable to attack and strike her down before she even had a chance to see what had happened. No, it wasn’t something Jyren would normally think even consider attempting. But this was different. Nine was not like anything he’d ever been up against. If given the same advantage, she’d take it without hesitation...which was why Jyren had been watching her so closely. He had been waiting for her to dive in and strike at Shadow from behind.

Something in him, though, made his feet start to move. Not that his brain rejected the idea when it caught up and his lightsaber was grabbed. Jyren had been only two steps away from running Nine through from the side when there was a sudden, extremely sharp pain that shot up through his left leg. In his rush to take down Nine, he was not able to control the sudden shock that flowed through the link, and immediately lost his footing. The next thing Jyren knew, he was face first in the dirt, and the familiar weight of the lightsaber was no longer in his right hand.

He looked up.

He looked up and wished he hadn’t. It only confirmed just how stupid a mistake he’d made. Nine hadn’t even see him until he’d made that involuntary yelp of surprise at hitting he ground. But now he had her full, undivided attention...and a grin to go with it.

Truthfully, it wasn’t a grin. Jyren just couldn’t think of a better word for it. The expression was close to what he’d seen on Shadow. Teeth showing and something that would have been a smile had the eyes not been so...glaringly dangerous. It was obvious that Nine was enjoying the moment, but there was also a deadly intent right on the surface that made the word grin horrible inaccurate. Off to his left, Jyren could vaguely hear he sounds of Shadow and Kyren moving, but that no longer was even a blip on his scanners.

The large foot resting in the dirt just centimeters from his face was blocking out pretty much everything else. In a short second, he felt a tight, altogether unfriendly grip wrap itself around his body. He was given a violent squeeze that could have easily broken most of his bones if pressed for a half second longer before being moved.

Struggling against the Force grip around him was near useless, as he couldn’t even move his next from side to side. As his body was lifted up off the ground to near eye level with Nine(near because he was now taller, but it was as close as she could make it and keep him off the ground...besides, she was intimidating enough even being shorter than him), the only thing hat really moved were his eyes. A lot of good that did him.

“I wondered how long it would take you to try something foolish,” Nine commented, idly looking down over him and then back into his eyes...well, no, more through them, but it was close enough as he was concerned. Jyren did want to put in that necessary sarcastic response. Not only did it fit with his usual personality, but anyone in his situation was essentially required to make such a quip. Laws of the Force and all that...according to all hose holodramas, at least, but who was really counting anyway?

But he couldn’t respond. The grip was as tight around his throat as it was around his entire body, and while he could still manage to breathe, Jyren wasn’t about to push his luck any farther than he already had in one day. Obviously, it had run out hours earlier. At least he’d made good use of it while it had been around.

Nine had actually paused to give him a chance to respond, and even though he didn’t, her expression remained the same. Still in that calm, cold, and very Shadow-like voice, she spoke, “I could still kill you right now and the clone there would live just long enough for my pet to get his satisfaction out of it.”

Jyren didn’t like the sound of that for obvious reasons. The fact that he felt the grip on him through the Force starting to tighten didn’t exactly help the situation either. So Jyren did the only thing he actually could that might have proved slightly useful.

[A little help!]

He wasn’t able to turn his head to see if Shadow looked his direction, but he did feel her attention shift. And, proving that she did get a good look at things while the grip began to crush his body, he got a quick response. [I’m a bit busy!]

The grip was most definitely tightening, and nothing Jyren could do would break it. Managing a harsh cough, the first sound out of him which actually hurt more than the one that had caused the cough, Jyren pushed his sarcasm as best he could in Shadow’s direction, hoping the poor attempt would show the severity of the situation. [If you’d like to continue being busy, I suggest helping!]

It was poor. It wasn’t even really sarcasm. It was all his currently-being-crushed brain could come up with in a short amount of words. And if that didn’t work, the link sure had to be letting Shadow know just how much trouble he’d gotten himself into this time. In fact, it may well have been the worst he’d ever managed...because of this, Shadow made a note to beat some sense into him afterwards, even if they didn’t live.

Jyren was too busy choking, fighting the pain of crushing bones and a loss of the ability to feel anything that didn’t hurt to push on the need for assistance anymore. Though a tiny part of his mind managed to be amazed that he hadn’t blacked out just yet...the same part was also wondering why Nine was being so dramatic and taking her time instead of just crushing him that instant. He didn’t actually realize that she wasn’t taking his time and his thought processes had just sped up to deal with the problem in as quick a manner as was possible.

But then, suddenly in front of his reddened vision, Jyren saw a blur of movement. A vaguely greenish blur shot straight from his left and impacted the black-striped form he knew was still most likely Nine. In that instant, the violent grip on his body relinquished, and he dropped back down to the ground, hitting it face first for the second time in a matter of minutes.

When he felt an arm on him, Jyren attempted to lash out but his body was still hurting too much to do anything but tap Shadow somewhat roughly in the side. His vision clearing up, Jyren looked up to Shadow, who’s face was a mix of anger, concern, more anger, and something bordering on downright rage. With a quick glance the other way, he saw the body of Kyren over Nine’s about ten meters away.

“That was a serious push,” Jyren grunted out as Shadow roughly yanked him up to his feet.

“You’re lucky it wasn’t you I sent flying,” she growled under her breath, turning to face the two other Alraxians as both clawed their way to their feet. Obviously, Shadow was planning on continuing this fight...but now Nine looked like she was going to be getting involved.

Jyren was not exactly pleased with this new situation. [We need to get out of here.]

[Not without Kyren.] Shadow responded sternly, obviously also picking up on the fact that ‘here’ meant the Capital world and not just this current location in the forest.

[We have to.]

Jyren didn’t add anything else. Shadow knew the reasons. She knew that the two of them couldn’t handle both Kyren and Nine, even together. She knew it would get the both of them killed...but she didn’t care. It was Kyren. She was not going to leave him behind like...like his.

[We don’t have a choice.] Jyren’s words interrupted her line of thought like a knife.

Shadow didn’t actually respond in any form of words. Instead, she glanced to Kyren before running the other direction. Before following her, Jyren reached out and pulled his lightsaber hilt back to him. Charging through the forest after Shadow, he couldn’t help worrying about the sudden absolute silence that was now flowing from her through the link.

[Its not over, Shady.]

[This is the last time we run.]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 238: Next Stage*

They had been given just enough of a head start that it wasn’t a frantic escape. One thing that Jyren immediately noticed, though, was that he was now leading the way. Shadow had gone silent, and no longer was heading towards the Capital. Somewhere along the way Jyren had started heading back towards where his X-Wing should be.

After ten minutes of running through the scattered trees, Shadow finally spoke up, though she didn’t actually stop. [This is wrong.]

That was new. Jyren couldn’t think of a time that she had ever sounded so...so...idealistic. Like him, really. He glanced over his shoulder to see her usual neutral expression was instead marked by concern and probably something close to anger. [We don’t have a choice, and you know it.]

[Kyren wouldn’t leave me.]

She nearly stopped after saying that, too. Jyren could feel her almost stop herself, though something somehow kept her moving. He didn’t know what to say, though. He wasn’t about to leave her after all he’d gone through to get this far on this horrible planet...but part of him felt like he should actually care what happened to Kyren. That part seemed to be impossible to find, and Jyren knew that couldn’t possibly be a good thing. This wasn’t some random individual...it was Kyren. Shadow’s only real friend in this corner of the galaxy. He only real person she had any connection to anymore, too. But Jyren couldn’t bring himself to care about this other Alraxian one bit...except, perhaps, at least a small amount of pity, but Jyren didn’t really even understand that.

The silence between them continued for a long while, but their pace didn’t slow at all. When they finally arrived at the small clearing with the X-Wing, Jyren had been expecting a trap. There was none. In fact, there wasn’t any sign of activity beyond his own leaving the ship all those hours ago. Again, something that just didn’t add up right. Even Shadow had stopped at the edge of the clearing, alert and ready for the nothing that was there.

When it became clear they were alone, Jyren moved over to the X-Wing and got the canopy open to climb in and prepare the starfighter to leave the planet. Shadow was still standing at the edge of the clearing. After reaching in and flipping on the main power switch and getting the sublight drives to warm up, Jyren looked over his shoulder to her, “Come one, Shady. We’ve go to go.”

But she’d come to a decision, “I’m not leaving without Kyren.”

Jyren sighed heavily. He then decided to play the card he’d held back, “Do you propose we stuff him in the cargo compartment?”

“I can morph to something small,” Shadow said calmly.

Fine. Card number two, then, “So you want someone who’s trying to kill you sitting in the cramped cockpit of an X-Wing in the perfect position to cut open my throat from behind?”

This time, Shadow didn’t have a quick answer. Sure, her mind ran through a thousand of them and she knew he heard all of them, but none of them were solid enough worth stating aloud. Jyren reached into the cockpit again, finishing up the last checks before the X-Wing could leave. By the time he’d turned back, Shadow had taken two steps closer and said firmly, “I will not leave him here with her.”

“And I’m not leaving you here with the both of them, Ket, and his whole damned army!” Jyren yelled, surprised at the sudden anger that jumped out of no where from inside of him. But there wasn’t time for this. This was just one of those times where arguments should be saved for later...but this was him, and this was Shadow. Neither of them were very good at not being stubborn, even at critical moments. Dropping down from the small ladder and back to the ground, Jyren looked straight into Shadow’s eyes, “I came here to get you. I didn’t come here to fight droids or Ket or Nine, or even to bring back Kyren. I came here for you.”

“Then leave!” Shadow growled at him angrily, “Keep being selfish and save your own tail! Go wherever you want but I’m staying here!”

“If you stay here, we’ll both be killed and Kyren will be in the same place just like he is right now!” Jyren snapped back, pointing off past her to the forest where they could both feel Kyren and Nine approaching, “Now stop doing exactly what you always accuse me of and actually think! If you want to do anything about any of this, we have to stop, regroup, and not rush in and get ourselves killed!”

He would have said more. The rant could very well have gone on for a full hour. And his mouth was even open to continue it...but a noise stopped it all. Off to the west there was an explosion. The west...the Capital. Both of them turned to see, but saw nothing to hint at what had happened. A few moments later, though, they saw something else.

Ships. Hundreds of them. All heading up into orbit. From this distance, it was impossible to tell what they were, but both Shadow and Jyren knew they were probably the landing craft used in the invasion. And they were all leaving. All of them. All of them were leaving.

They turned back and their eyes met. Ket’s entire landing force was leaving the planet. If they were leaving, it meant there was likely to be only one reason.

“He’s going home,” Shadow whispered quietly.

Jyren looked back from her up to the sky, then to his X-Wing, “Can we beat them there?”

It amazed him to see Shadow plow past him and climb into the rear seat of the X-Wing. He was right behind her, and heard her just as he sat down, “We can’t.”

“Then why are we rushing?” Jyren asked over his shoulder while hitting he switch to close the canopy and then cut in the repulsorlifts.

“Because I am the Empress,” Shadow said quietly in a voice that sounded so much like her mother’s, “And it is my duty to be there.”

Pulling the X-Wing around to follow the stream of starships ahead, Jyren cut in the sublight drives and opened the S-Foils to take a few shots anyway, “And its mine to be right there at your side.”

Shadow just nodded as her hands moved over the weapons controls she’d only used once before. But she had to do something. Something to get her mind off the fact that Kyren was back there with...with Nine of all creatures in the galaxy.

“We’ll go back for him,” Jyren whispered, even surprising himself.

Shadow nodded again, “I know...” after a deep breath and clearing her mind, she spoke more in her own usual voice, “Take as many of those transports as you can down. At least prove to Ket we aren’t tailless cowards like him.”

The weapons powered up right on cue.


_((Note to self...do NOT get out of once a day schedule. Man its hard to get back into that after such a long break from it. But I will. I'll force myself to, as I've go nothing better to do anyway, and I ENJOY writing this.))_


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 239: Flight*

The small X-Wing easily caught up with the large convoy of boxy transport ships. Jyren didn’t recognize the exact make of them, but they were vaguely familiar at certain points. Maybe it was just that soft blue glow of the sublight drives that reminded him of home...well, no, not home. This was home. But...that wasn’t the point, and he knew what he meant.

[Are you sure about that?] Shadow’s voice cut into his thoughts curiously, sounding oddly like her old self again. Why that was odd, he wasn’t sure.

“No, I’m not,” Jyren grumbled over his shoulder before looking ahead to the group of transports. They were now following the last...four. Shadow had managed to look back towards the Capital city while passing over it and reported what they both had expected. It was still there, yes, but it was burned, scorched, and more dead that it had been from the initial attack. As his weapons locked onto the nearest of the transports, Jyren sighed, “This isn’t going to do anything but annoy him. Its not like taking out a few of these ships full of droids are going to help protect Alraxia.”

Shadow sighed back and nodded, “But its something. Better than just watching them fly off safely without us even doing a single thing.”

“Good point,” he agreed just as he squeezed the trigger. Four red lances of light arced out from the X-Wing’s cannons to the nearest of the transports. The bulky ship didn’t even attempt to maneuver, which made Jyren immediately assume they had strong shields. So he was just about to report this to Shadow and get her to read the...the...five or so proton torpedoes he had left in this thing. But an explosion of light stopped him.

The shots impacted straight into the rear hull of the ship, detonating the plating(which was disturbingly light), and then engulfing the engines for a brief second before the entire transport went up in flames. Old instincts took over his body, and Jyren quickly pulled on the stick to bring the X-Wing out of the way of the mass of falling debris.

“They don’t have shields!” he yelled back, both surprised and excited by this fact.

Shadow didn’t respond. Instead, she watched the flaming metal fall past them and back down to the ground below. Kyren was down there still. As was Nine...and...and something else familiar, but it was too distant to identify as anymore than painful memories.

Deciding this might suddenly be more useful than before, Jyren took another shot of quad lasers at the next of the transports, this time foregoing he hull and aiming straight for the sublight drives. Again, the ship didn’t maneuver, and again, it burst into a fiery chunk of debris as they rocketed out of the atmosphere of the planet and into the space beyond.

Just as Jyren was bringing the targeting reticle over a third of the ships, Shadow cut in quickly, “We’ve got some friends on the way.”

A second later, the sensors beeped a warning and Jyren’s eyes looked over to see small specs of light angling around towards them. Biting his lower lip, he decided that Shadow should probably know an important piece of information, “We don’t have any shields.”

Alright, so he could have been more elegant about it. Much more elegant. This was immediately obvious in Shadow’s reaction, “What?!”

He went red on instinct and put more power to the engines to weave through the mass of landing transports and use them as cover, “I ran into these guys before...they um...knocked out the shield generator with one shot.”

“You were planning to let me know of this when?”

“...now?”

Jyren could feel her roll her eyes. He didn’t even need the Force or their link for that. He didn’t even really need the link to know of the death threats grumbling through her thoughts. Instead of speaking them, though, she brought up a valid complaint, “You didn’t fix them before we left?”

“Not really, no...” was the best answer he could think of while pretending he might have at least looked at the shield generator to confirm it was, in fact, fried and dead. At the same time, he’d been able to visually identify the approaching ships as four of those same Mrrakesh starfighters that had been trouble before.

“Not really?!” Shadow growled, nearly reaching over the seat to hit him across the back of the head. Instead, since he was weaving so close to some of those transports, she just flicked his ear angrily, “How do you ‘not really’ fix something that important?”

Jyren shrugged, trying to ignore the slight stinging sensation in his right ear, “Well, you know me.”

Another loud beeping sound echoed through the cockpit suddenly. At an immediate protest from the now annoyed Shadow, Jyren cut it off and simply reacted by diving down deeper into the formation of transports. He didn’t need to report that the beep meant the starfighter were now in ‘normal’ weapons range. Shadow figured that out when one of those green bursts shot right over them.

“Fly faster!” she yelled anyway, completely believing that saying it and willing it to happen would make it happen.

“I’m trying!” was one of those necessary responses that just burst out of Jyren’s mouth. He was, too. Cutting power from the weapons and diverting them to the engines worked fairly well, but the Mrrakesh ships were so fast it barely did any good.

And they were angry.

Or at least, Jyren figured that when they were firing wildly and hitting(and destroying) their own transport meant they were sufficiently annoyed. Rolling to the side and around a transport just before it detonated in a red-green fire, Jyren yelled, “Your plan worked! We’ve annoyed them!”

At his point, Shadow was literally holding on. There was a console and stick in front of her. Both her hands were wrapped around it and claws were about ready to dig in, “If I get sick you’re cleaning it up!”

His only answer to this was a very fast snap roll the other direction before suddenly pulling up and out of the way of another few shots. Now they were nearing the middle of the pack of transports, and while many were being shot down, there were still hundreds of them to hide behind. Jyren found this to be an extremely nice thing, and was becoming very adept and maneuvering right around one to use as a makeshift shield.

“Shadow!” he yelled back, suddenly realizing that there were two of them and a task requiring two people was coming up disturbingly quickly. He didn’t give her a chance to say ‘what’. She might have tried, but a sudden corkscrew dive forced her mouth shut. Pulling out of it and wrapping around another transport with green all around them, Jyren went on, “I need you to plot a hyperspace route out of here! Not to Alraxia! Get us back to the fleet that left here!”

This time, Shadow was able to say, “What?! I don’t even know where they–“ she went silent when a transport exploded far too close to them, and a piece of a war droid dented part of an S-Foil loud enough to make Shadow cringe. She didn’t like being the passenger, “Don’t do that again!”

“I’m trying not too!” he growled back, pushing faster to an edge of the transport formation so they could jump to hyperspace quickly, “Use the Force! Feel! Something! I don’t know just do it! I would but I’m a little busy!”

Shadow grumbled a complaint about not knowing the systems all that well, but went about attempting to plot he course anyway. She closed her eyes...not out of need to for using the Force, but simply so she could cut out having to look around at the insane flying Jyren was currently doing. At least it was keeping them alive.

Something exploded nearby.

Keeping them alive for the moment.

While her hands relinquished their death grip on the control stick and worked their way to the navcomputer in front of her, Shadow’s mind raced in and oddly calm fashion. With the help of the Force, she slowly reached out through the mental Network shared by all of her species. It was the quickest way to find them and...technically, the Empress was supposed to keep it together.

It took her a moment to ignore the sudden chaos she found where the Network ‘was’, but she then quickly asked a few necessary questions. Random answers to ‘where are you?’ flooded through the link, but she did find one that was actually helpful. A pilot responded, and although he was obviously as panicked as the rest of the Alraxians, he was at least calm enough to due his duty.

So she had a location...and a general idea of where it was. Another explosion(this one louder than before) nearly forced her to open her eyes and look, but a laugh from Jyren made her decide against it. Instead, she raced to her next task. Using what she had to actually get them to that location. Exactly how she did it, Shadow wasn’t even sure of. But with the help of the Force, the once blank navcomputer was suddenly programmed with a series of things Shadow didn’t actually understand. Which mean she’d opened her eyes.

“Done!” she said, slumping back in her seat and immediately going back to gripping the control stick. The adrenaline rush also came back in that second, as her eyes opened to at least three ships around them burning in that red-green fire while the X-Wing rolled around and spun towards an opening of blank space. There was he mechanical noise that she identified as the S-Foils closing, with the green shots arcing past them in all directions as the X-Wing continued its tight spin away.

Then she heard a familiar and extremely relieved noise. It was accompanied by the elongating of the stars ahead, and then a sudden blue tunnel that arced around the cockpit. Both of them let out a long sigh of relief. After a few seconds, Jyren tilted his head to look around the seat and to Shadow. He was grinning that maniacal grin of an idiot who’d lived through what should have been certain death, “Want to go again?”

“Not with you flying,” Shadow said with a mild glare, through it slowly formed into a smile.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 240: Once Again in Hyperspace*

Considering everything that had happened in the past couple of days(good and bad), the hyperspace flight was strangely quiet. Even the link was generally devoid of any kind of activity. Shadow was too busy dwelling on the fact that they’d left Kyren behind...and there was that odd feeling she’d gotten just before leaving. And Jyren...well...he was just not sure what he was supposed to do or say so he kept his mouth, and mind, shut. After everything, he figured it wasn’t worth it getting into an argument, and couldn’t help but worry any comment by him would become one.

“Thank you.”

The words broke through the silence of the cockpit about halfway through the jump(well, maybe...the ETA was very rough at this point). Jyren was surprised to hear the words in the first place, but then putting it together with the fact that Shadow had said them and he was even more surprised. Undoing the restraints so that he could turn around and look back around the seat to her, he raised an eyebrow, “For...?”

In typical Shadow fashion, she rolled her eyes, “You don’t have to push it.”

And, in typical Jyren fashion, he grinned, “Its what I’m best at.”

“That’s debatable,” Shadow said dryly, though there was a hint of a grin tugging at her face. After another short moment of silence, a question came to mind, “How in the Force did you manage to get away and do something this insane?”

Another typical expression crossed Jyren’s face...confusion, “What do you mean?”

The grin got slightly bigger, “The Redstars actually let you run off like this? Even though you’re technically Emperor now? How did you convince them of that? Dad...” she paused a moment, and though her expression didn’t change, Jyren felt a wave of sadness briefly through the link before Shadow tried again in a firmer voice, “Dad could never convince them to let him out of their sight when mother was away.”

Jyren grinned again, though this time it was forced. He may not have known Shadow’s parents well or for very long, but they were amazingly kind and wonderful people. He missed them more than he would have thought possible. Trying to keep that back, though, and focus on more positive things, he shrugged, “You know me. Stubborn to the last moment.”

“So you snuck out without them knowing?” Shadow asked, a real grin now completely filling her face.

He managed a sheepish look, “You could call it that. I prefer well timed escape.”

“They’re going to kill you when you get back.”

Jyren nodded proudly, “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

And then there was silence. Though it didn’t last very long, it felt like an eternity. Then, finally, Jyren asked in a much more subdued and quiet voice, “So what are we going to do?”

“I don’t know,” Shadow said honestly with a sigh and a shrug.

Silence attempted to creep back into the cramped cockpit of the X-Wing. It almost had its chance, as neither of them wanted to speak the next part. After a deep breath, though, Jyren did, “We’re in over our heads this time, aren’t we?”

“We’re always in over our heads,” Shadow admitted, attempting at least a bit of levity, though it didn’t work...for either of them, “There’s no way to stop that army.”

Another one of those things neither of them wanted to admit, even if it was true. So, the next logical thing was for Jyren, “Then we go after Ket.”

Shadow shook her head, “Its not that easy. Knowing Ket, that probably won’t stop the army...and...”

Her trailed off sentence was finished by Jyren, who picked up on the end of it through a mix of instinct and their link, “And then there’s still Nine.”

“And Kyren,” Shadow added quickly and almost angrily.

And then that brought up another one of those subjects neither of them wanted to mention...Shadow least of all. But it had to be. Everything had to be if they were going to get out of it alive. So, slowly and carefully, Jyren asked, “What happened to him?”

Shadow wished she had a real answer to that. But she didn’t, and simply sighed, “I don’t know. I just...Nine’s done something to him. He thinks that...that I’m her or she’s me or...I don’t know.”

“He could be more dangerous than Nine or Ket,” Jyren said quietly, not mentioning the why. He didn’t think he needed to, though Shadow was still completely oblivious to the fact that Kyren loved her. Jyren, on the other hand, had both quickly figured this out himself and had been told by the other’s ship, Hermes. It was exactly what made the Alraxian so very dangerous. If he felt as betrayed as it looked like he did...then he’d likely go to any lengths to get what he thought was revenge.

“I won’t kill him,” Shadow said with a venomous glare, finishing Jyren’s unsaid thoughts.

Jyren just nodded. What else could he do? Even if he didn’t like Kyren, he would be able to kill he man...he had helped Jyren so much. And he was Shadow’s closest friend, even if Kyren would have liked it to have been more. No, Jyren couldn’t kill him either, “We’ll think of something.”

Soon, hopefully. A shared thought. They were both good a cutting things close, but this may have finally been the time where they’d past that point of no return. Not only would the two of them suffer the consequences, but from the looks of things, Ket would simply wipe out the Alraxian civilization in the process.

It was all far too depressing. And then an odd thought popped into Jyren’s mind. It almost seemed out of place considering the circumstances and the turn their short conversation had taken. But it was there nonetheless. It was there, and he was grinning out of no where.

Shadow saw this and raised an eyebrow, obviously reconsidering his sanity, “Dare I ask?”

That go a short laugh out of Jyren, which only heightened Shadow’s worry, “Just thinking about Toby.”

“Oh,” Shadow suddenly slumped back in her seat and sighed, “That thing.”

“Come on, Shady,” Jyren said, doing his best to reach over and poke her but finding it completely impossible to do, “He’s not that bad and you know it.”

An icy look shot out from Shadow’s eyes, “You really are out of your tree. Hit your head a few times falling down, too.”

It was finally Jyren’s turn to roll his eyes, “The kid cares about you, Shady. Quit making him into some kind of villain.”

“The brat is annoying,” Shadow said, emphasizing the word brat far more than any others. Then, before he could say anything else, she waved a hand, “He likes you. Fine. Its how it should be. Go raise him like a good Alraxian father is supposed to. Just keep me out of it.”

Jyren resisted the sudden urge to sigh. Instead, he said simply, “Before I left, Toby made me promise I’d bring back his mommy.”

Silence.

Then, slowly, Shadow grinded out, “I am not his mother.”

“He doesn’t see it that way,” Jyren responded almost quickly enough to cut off Shadow’s last word, “Look, its not like I expected any of this either, but what are we supposed to do? Tell the whole damned Empire that Toby’s the son of the Alraxian trying to kill them all...oh! And his mother is an insane clone of you! That would go over well.”

Shadow sighed, but stayed as silent as she could and stared down at her hands resting in her lap.

So, not giving her a chance to escape out of this(it was Jyren’s revenge, really), he pushed harder, “Like it or not, he loves you.”

There was a grumbled sound from her that almost sounded like, “He’s not so bad”, but before Jyren could comment on this, Shadow’s head snapped up and she put a finger to his face, “If you ever, ever tell him I said that I will harm you in ways you’d never imagine.”

Jyren couldn’t help grinning, “Awww, I love you, too.”

“Shut up and fly, Jedi boy,” Shadow grumbled, slumping back into her seat again but this time closing her eyes. The link wasn’t all that much more polite, but he could feel a hint of a smile hidden somewhere. It was good enough for him.

Jyren. Two. Shadow...too many. But hey, a pair of victories wasn’t something he was going to complain about. Especially not when he knew Shadow was listening to his thoughts and rolling her eyes with a grin on her face. If only they didn’t have to exit hyperspace to the hellish galaxy that awaited.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 241: Never a Break*

There had been a long tense moment when the chrono for the hyperspace jump was reaching zero. So far, they hadn’t crashed through a star, planet, etc, but that was still a distinct possibility. So when it was under ten seconds, Jyren couldn’t help but wonder if it was worth pulling back the levers. But what other choice was there? Make it this far and then let fear finally take over? That was definitely not a good course of actions...besides, if he didn’t, Shadow would kill him for ‘not trusting her judgement’ or something similar.

So when the chrono hit zero, Jyren pulled the hyperspace levers back. The swirling blue suddenly disappeared, fading into the familiar bleak nothingness of space. The bleak nothingness of space which was currently occupied by at least one nearby planet and so many ships the sensor readings were impossible to decipher where one ended and another began.

That was a good sign at least.

“There’s Thor,” Shadow said, adding to it with an arm reaching over the seat and pointing...almost into Jyren’s eye.

He tilted his head slightly to avoid losing his sight, “Yes, um...thank you, I see it...err, him. Him?”

Shadow didn’t dignify that with an answer. Not that it really needed one all that much. Sometimes Jyren just needed to figure things out for himself. Most of the time, actually, but she usually just got frustrated and explained things to him anyway.

There was a long silence as Jyren adjusted their course for the very large ship that was literally impossible to miss, even against the planet which it orbited. In fact, the silence generally stayed until they were set down in one of the Kanyak’s hangers. That had been an ordeal in its own...convincing the ship it was alright to have the metal starfighter dock took nearly ten minutes, but eventually Shadow managed to win with her usual authoritatively dangerous voice.

When they finally were able to climb out of the cramped cockpit of the X-Wing, they were met by a large group of guards, Redstars, and Jyren’s father. The last was less surprising that it could have been, considering the circumstances. Not that it bothered either of them all that much. In all this chaos, it was nice to see at least one really familiar face...especially one that was family...

Immediately setting foot down on the creamy white deck, the two of them were mobbed. A cadre of Redstars had first gone for Jyren, but when he waved them off(and, of course, at Shadow) they change course. Not that this got Jyren off the hook. A second later, his father stepped over and embraced him in that dangerous fashion where the son couldn’t help but wonder if he father was trying to kill him or not.

“You’re even more reckless than your mother,” the older Alraxian growled with a chuckle into Jyren’s ear.

“I’m alive, aren’t I?” was the best Jyren could come up with when drained of his ability to breathe correctly.

At this, his father relinquished the vice grip and instead rested his hands on Jyren’s shoulders, “Yes, you are. Next time you do something like that, though, please let your old man know. I just got you back and I’m not losing you again.”

Jyren managed a sheepish look before nodding, “I will.”

“Good,” Navik Keros nodded proudly before motioning over his son’s shoulder towards where Shadow was, “Now its probably a good idea for you to go save her again.”

When Jyren glanced over his shoulder, he saw Shadow surrounded by five Redstars who were almost literally combing every inch of her for even slight injuries. The guards were doing their best to...well...guard, but had given up and just stood back watching in a form of stoic amusement.

Just when Jyren made it over, however, Shadow threw up her hands, “Dammit, leave me alone!!”

They did.

In fact, they even took a step back, with one of them backing into Jyren and jumping with a slight surprise. It wasn’t the words Shadow had used, but the force with which she’d spoke. It was the voice of someone on the edge of blatant murder, which wasn’t actually all that far from the truth of the moment, either. One of the older Redstars in the center of the formation managed a bow, “My lady, we were simply worried after...after...”

“I know!” Shadow yelled, angry at none of them in particular, “And I’m fine now! Now go and do whatever it is you people are supposed to be doing!”

There was a pause.

It ended when the same Redstar pointed out, “The, ah...situation is already under control here, my lady. This is what we are supposed to be doing.”

Shadow looked over the Redstars and straight to Jyren. [Typical.]

He shrugged, now completely out of his element again and doing his best to stand there and look like he almost knew what he was doing. The tension, though, slowly faded from the air, and one of the younger Redstars, who Jyren recognized as the woman who had been helping him the day...or two? However long it had been....carefully, she said, “Word has already been spread through the Network that you are alive...however, it would do some good if you ah...spoke openly so that everyone could see you.”

“We don’t have time for that,” Jyren suddenly cut in, though it was the exact same thing Shadow was about to say. Either way it was technically just an excuse to escape the formal necessities, but it did also have some hint of truth. When everyone turned to look at him, he suddenly realized it would have been better for Shadow to say it so he wouldn’t have to deal with all the critical eyes...especially from the guards. But it was too late for that, and when he got confirmation from Shadow to go ahead, he said it, “The army is moving. They’ve left the Capital...all of them.”

“Where would they go?” that was his father from behind, though the question was in all of their eyes. Except for the guards, of course, but they were still remaining silent, simply watching with calm eyes.

Jyren sighed. He kept forgetting these people hadn’t experience real war for thousands of years. They didn’t have the tactical minds to pick Ket’s plans apart...well, Jyren didn’t either, but at least he had some vague ideas, which was more than most Alraxians, “He’s going to Alraxia.”

The words seemed to echo through the hangar for far too long. None of them had expected to hear that...it was unimaginable. This whole everything was. And to top that off with an attack on their home planet by one of their own...that was nearly too much. Before anything could be said, however, a door irised open on the other side of the hangar and a guard ran in at full speed.

He ran straight to Shadow before kneeling and bowing his head. Then, without even waiting for her to say anything, spoke quickly, “My lady, we have recieved an incoming transmission.”

But he was shaking. The guard was shaking. Jyren and Shadow once again exchanged looks, but this time it was her turn to talk, “From who?”

“From...ah...” the guard paused, not completely believing it himself, “From you.”

Nine.

Without saying a thing, Shadow ran for the main section of the ship. Jyren followed, feeling the same deep set fear of what was to come. The two of them could only think of one reason why Nine would contact them. The same reason Ket had contacted Shadow’s mother the day or two before. She was going to issue a challenge. A challenge to the Empress.

Even though they’d just escaped it, the need for Shadow to confront her clone had just risen is head again. This time, though, the entire Empire would know about it. Considering the last time this had happened barely over a day before, it was definitely going to cause panic. Never a break, it seemed.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 242: Breathing*

The scene was hauntingly familiar, despite the fact that they were on a much larger ship this time. Hundreds of Alraxians were gathered around, guards and knights forming a perimeter of sorts to give Shadow, Jyren, his father, and the group of Redstars at least some breathing room. All around, whispered murmuring could be heard, but no actual words could be distinguished...for everyone but Jyren, the Network was also ablaze with activity.

Activity that quickly ended, as did any small noises around the gigantic cabin in the huge ship, Thor. What Jyren had come to figure as a form of a holoscreen was ‘built’(or grown, whatever) into the bulkhead(...interior?) Of the living ship at one end of he cabin. It was where everyone was looking, with Shadow standing in front, Jyren just behind her and his father next to him.

“I don’t like this,” he whispered quietly to the older Alraxian.

Navik Keros sighed and nodded, “No one does, son.”

Even if Jyren had figured something else to say(and he felt like he should...this was his father, and a man who deserved more than passing comments here and there after all these years), there was no longer a chance to speak. The image on the holoscreen shimmered slightly before forming a true image.

[Good luck.] Jyren sent through the link, only standing back from Shadow because he could feel she wanted(no, needed) to do this on her own.

She did allow herself a quick glance over her shoulder to him, though. [Luck’s not going to have anything to do with this...but thanks.]

When she turned back to face the screen, Shadow was looking into a mirror...well, if she had been grinning. Nine was. Shadow wasn’t. There was little other visible differences between the two of them. All of the Alraxians throughout the ship and even the fleet(if you could call it that) held their breath.

“No running away this time?” Nine asked, tilting her head and obviously trying to put on a show for the entire Empire which she very well knew was watching.

Shadow didn’t move, but her eyes did narrow and her ears flattened slightly, “I do not run.”

Alright, so that wasn’t a literal truth...but it was necessary. This was much, much more a show for the Alraxian Empire than it was for Nine, Shadow, or Jyren. The three of them knew where this had been, and where it was going...but the Alraxians didn’t...and they still couldn’t help but be unsure of their new Empress. It was her time to display resolve and strength, even if she had to lie.

The Empire collectively began breathing again.

Nine, however, laughed in that haunting laugh of a psychotic murderer. When the short laugh passed, her toothy smile remained...but she said nothing. When it became apparent exactly what she was waiting on to be said from Shadow, the Empire held its breath a second time.

“You have no honour, Nine,” Shadow said without emotion, “But to regain my honour and to protect the Empire, I challenge you...and only you.”

The Empire started breathing again.

Nine smiled, but something seemed to catch her eye out of view. It was only a slight shift, but Shadow caught it. Nine’s tone then quickly changed, “Coordinates have been sent. You have one hour before I grow impatient.”

And then it cut off. Shadow turned and saw the somewhat confused look on Jyren’s face. [She is not with Ket.]

[But what about...Kyren?]

Shadow did not show any sign of weakness, especially since all eyes were now on her and Jyren...and despite the fact that no one could hear them, it was obvious they were deciding what to do. [I will have to deal with that. Nine is more important now, though.]

Restraining a nod and trying to look as neutral as Shadow did, Jyren responded after a moment. [You can’t handle both of them at once.]

[Nine won’t try that.] then, noting the sudden confusion at this, Shadow clarified. [She will face me alone. It is the only way to prove how strong she is...the Empire will be watching.]

[She could still cheat.] Jyren admitted.

[But then she would look weak.]

The link echoed the silence of the cabin. It lasted for a few very long seconds.

Then. [You want me to stay here, don’t you?]

It was then that Shadow showed her first sign of emotion...a soft nod and a sad look. [You know why.]

Jyren took a step closer, suddenly not liking the fact that he wasn’t actually hearing her voice and instead just picking up on thoughts. Quietly, he whispered, “Can you do this alone?”

“I have to,” she whispered back, suddenly much more keenly aware of the fact that they were now speaking out loud and at least a few Alraxians would be able to hear them. She looked up to Jyren after catching a stray thought through the link. After a deep breath and a difficult decision, Shadow said quietly, “Do it.”

“Huh?” Jyren raised an eyebrow, oblivious as usual.

Shadow couldn’t help a hint of a grin, but it quickly faded when she completely realized what she was saying to him, “You don’t want to sit here and do nothing...and you don’t have to.”

It suddenly dawned on him just exactly what she was talking about, “You’re serious?”

She managed a slow nod, “I trust you.”

“Alone?” he raised an eyebrow, not sure if she was thinking that far along with him.

To his surprise, she nodded again, “Its too late any other way.”

Silence. Even those who had heard them didn’t know what was really being said. Half the conversation had been unspoken, anyway. Jyren even wondered if he was really on the same page as Shadow was. There was still that chance she actually meant something else...there was just no way...

“I’ll deal with Nine...you find Ket and protect our home,” Shadow said a little too loudly.

The few who heard and suddenly understood stared blankly at the two. Slowly, the realization grew that they both needed to move immediately. Separate paths again...suddenly not all that happy they’d actually agreed, Jyren embraced her tightly. Shadow returned the gesture and then surprised Jyren(well, and the Empire as a whole to a point) and kissed him.

[This is the one time you’re not allowed to do anything stupid.] she sent calmly through the link. That was, of course, ignoring the fact that the entire idea was, in the first place, not only stupid but completely and utterly insane.


----------



## Vexed

excellent! This is great stuff.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 243: Parting Words*

Though there was immediate rush to get both Shadow and Jyren moving, one small break was taken while a ship was arranged for Shadow. The two of them went to check on Toby, who’d been moved to the larger Thor not longer after Jyren had first left. It was amazing, though, that they found the little jai deep asleep. Apparently, it was the first real sleep he’d gotten in the past couple of days, as he’d attempted to stay up and wait on Jyren and Shadow to get back.

So the choice was made to let him sleep...it would be easier anyway. So after being given fresh clothes(simple, black jumpsuits with gold lining for Shadow and silver for Jyren) and getting back into the old morphsuits, they were ready to leave.

Even though they could only see the cadre of guards, Redstars, and Jyren’s father in the hangar with them, it was plainly obvious the entire Empire was watching in some form or another. The two of them stood in front of Jyren’s X-Wing in silence for a long few minutes.

It was Jyren who broke the silence, attempting a half smile and a little humour, “Here we go again, eh?”

The humour was lost on Shadow, though she did nod. The silence came back quickly, and it became immediately apparent to Jyren that she was wanting to say something but either didn’t like having people watching, didn’t know how to say it, or just wanted to wait as long as she could.

So, for a second time, Jyren tried to initiate a small conversation, “How are you getting to that...wherever it is?”

Shadow sighed at that, but answered at least, “I’ll be taking Hermes.”

Kyren’s ship.

Perhaps that was a problem. But he was a good ship...and Jyren knew Shadow would be safe with Hermes. It was Hermes who needed to be the one to worry. But again, that awkward silence fell over the two of them. Shadow was looking at him with a neutral expression, though Jyren could feel she was masking everything she could to retain a calm outward appearance. The fact that Shadow was seeming to have some trouble with this spoke loudly.

And then the silence was broken by Shadow as she took a deep breath. Her hand, which Jyren suddenly noticed had been held behind her back the entire time, withdrew and she reached out to extend something to him, “Take this with you.”

Jyren looked down to see her holding the metallic cylinder which he recognized right away to be ‘her’ lightsaber. The small Alraxian symbol at the bottom of the hilt was as much a dead giveaway as the sleek and almost organic design. But he shook his head, “I’ve already got one.”

Typically, Shadow also shook her head and thrust the object into his chest rather roughly, “And I don’t need one.”

He knew she was right about that, but still didn’t particularly like it. After her eyes slowly formed a stern, stubborn look that proved she’d made up her mind and would not be changing it within the next few thousand years, Jyren sighed, nodded, and took it from her hand.

Or tried to. When he grabbed it, her other hand reached up and held his. Quietly, she said, “It will keep you safe until I get to you.”

So that was the plan. They’d both thought about it, but neither had taken the time to actually say anything. The first one of them to finish their task would immediately head to the other. Considering that Shadow was only going to be dealing with Nine(and possibly Kyren, but that was put aside in thoughts) and Jyren was going after Ket and the army that would no doubt be protecting him...it was only logical to assume that, if she didn’t die of course, she’d be done first.

When he nodded, she let go and allowed him to hook the lightsaber on his belt next to the other. As a pair, the two weapons were nearly identical. Jyren couldn’t help but wonder if his mother had built hers after seeing the Alraxians’ design. It was too close to be any other way. But that wasn’t important right now.

After another of those long, awkward silences, Shadow took a step forward and embraced Jyren tightly. He, of course, returned the gesture and they both did their absolute best to ignore the sheer number of people that were undoubtedly watching.

Into her ear, he whispered, “Stay focused out there and be safe.”

He felt her nod into his shoulder before a muffled voice replied, “Same goes for you.”

However long passed in that moment, neither of them knew...it probably wasn’t long, though it felt like it was much, much shorter. But slowly they both came to accept that this was a necessary thing to do. They both had their jobs to do...and then things would be safe. That was the plan. It wouldn’t work perfectly, of course, but thankfully it was broad enough to take a good beating.

Then, after lifting her head up so her voice wasn’t muffled, Shadow said softly, “I love you.”

Jyren nearly said ‘I know’. Nearly, because, the second the thought came to mind, Shadow picked up on it and actually felt insulted. Or something like that...even if he’d been wrong, the plan was changed and his angle of attack took a more traditional turn, “I love you, too.”

And then, somewhat forcefully, they pulled apart. Shadow took a deep breath, managed a smile for him, and then turned to head for Hermes on the other side of Thor’s large, main hangar. Jyren stood next to his X-Wing an watched her go, not wanting to turn the other way but knowing he had to. Finally he did though, but instead of heading to his X-Wing, Jyren looked to the group a good distance away and to his father.

Father and son locked eyes. Conversation, be it through physical words or a mental link, was no needed. They both were right on the same page. Jyren wasn’t about to lose a father after all these years...and Navik Keros wasn’t about to lose his son, either.

With a smile of his own forming on his face, Jyren nodded to his father and then finally turned to climb into his X-Wing and head back to a familiar planet...wondering the whole time just how familiar it would be when he arrived.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 244: Silence and Learning*

The flight to Nine’s location, a surprisingly unoccupied planet not at all far from Alraxia, was nearly completely silent. The only noises were the usual inner workings and sounds of Kanyaks. Hermes had, at first, attempted to question Shadow about Kyren, but soon came to the conclusion that he wished to speak of it as little as she did. And so there was nothing else to say. Anything they did say would eventually lead down that path...sooner than later, most likely.

Shadow sat quietly in the small ship, finding another pain had grown. She missed Loki. It had been so long. She knew that Nine had definitely tricked the ship...but couldn’t help wondering, and worrying, what had happened since that initial theft...no...kidnaping. Would he just go on with Nine? Or did he even know?! If she sill had him...and Kyren was there, would Loki even believe the there was anything at all wrong with the Marix piloting him? Probably not. I made the situation all the more depressing...especially since she’d have to explain this all to Loki when she finally found him.

When. Not if.

Shadow didn’t leave friends behind anymore than Jyren did, and Loki was the one she’d known the longest. They had, quite literally, grown up together. Loki being hatched and raised specifically for her, and they bonded quickly. The only time she had been away from him was after Palpatine’s Empire had captured her and...and...

Yes, that had been a long time, but it was different. She had known Loki was safe...asleep and taking a well deserved rest while he waited for her to return. But now...now this was different. For all she knew, Loki thought he was with her the entire time. Which meant he may not believe that she really was the real Marix. And she was now. Though she still used the name Shadow, even when thinking of herself, she truly was Marix BlueIce. Eventually, that was going to have to be something she accepted.

Eventually.

[We are here.] Hermes cut in softly and cautiously.

Opening her eyes to an orange and green tinted world, Shadow sighed to herself and waited, leaving control to Hermes. He flew through the atmosphere and across the rocky, orange cliffs of the southern hemisphere before the scattered, oddly shaped trees began to appear. The planet, to a point, resembled Alraxia and the Capital...but then again, most worlds in the Empire did. The temperature would be warm enough that a morphsuit would not be required to keep her body warm, but Shadow would keep it on anyway. It was something familiar in a time of everything trying to go wrong.

Banking to the west and following the very specific coordinates, Hermes headed towards a large, open clearing. Exactly where they were supposed to be...and early, even. Nine would be watching and waiting. She would not be like Ket and put on a show, though it would likely be broadcast across the whole Empire. Shadow would have to be on her guard the second her foot stepped down into view.

“Thank you, Hermes,” she spoke quietly, standing up and readying herself for whatever was to occur out there.

* * * *​
Jyren’s flight to Alraxia was not nearly as silent as Shadow’s was. He spent the first few minutes in the swirling blue trying to sleep...knowing how badly he needed it. Typically, though, that hadn’t worked too well. Shifting in the uncomfortably human sized seat and trying not to sit on his tail became just as annoying after a short time, and then finally he decided he needed to stop brooding to himself and talk.

The soft blue, slightly shimmering image of his mother hung projected from the cube-shaped holocron in his hand. In a voice he’d already come to be strongly familiar with, she said, “If you do not believe in your abilities and trust in the Force, then you will fail.”

Obviously, he’d been venting and not saying the most productive things in the galaxy. Jyren nodded slowly, “I just don’t know what to believe anymore. I can’t even believe I’m actually doing this.”

“But you are doing it” his mother said in firm words, nodding her head at the same time, “If you go to this planet with even a seed of doubt, you will fail and lose everything you are fighting for.”

Jyren blinked, then grumbled, “Thank you for taking the pressure off of my shoulders. I feel so much better now, mother.”

Andrea Tavos’ image smiled gently, but she ignored his sarcasm. In fact, she went on as if he’d not even said a thing in the first place. There was a pause, a thoughtful look on her image’s face, and then she asked quietly, “What are you fighting for, Jyren?”

The question was simple. So simple, in fact, that it stopped him right in his tracks. He knew what he was fighting for, right?

...right?

His first mistake was to think about it, and he didn’t realize it until a few minutes later when he was no farther than before he’d started. Jyren sighed heavily, took a deep breath, and said quietly, “I’m fighting because I have to.”

“No, Jyren, you don’t have to,” his mother responded in an almost disturbingly calm voice. When he sared blankly at her image, she went on, “You have become so set in this need to fight and fight and fight that you haven’t even considered that this may not be your fight...or may not even be a fight at all.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but only an “Buh...” came out. There were no words at all forming. In fact, barely any sounds were forming either.

It was amazing how this holocron image of his mother took advantage of Jyren’s silence, “You have told me that you wish to be a Jedi. I can help you, and I can teach you...but I can do nothing for you if the only solution to a situation you can come up with is to fight. I may have learned much from the old Alraxian Force tradition, but that still does not change the fact that the Jedi way is not one in which violence is ever a solution. You do not simply charge in swinging a lightsaber at every situation presented to you.”

Jyren sighed heavily, hung his head, and managed a hint of a nod. She was right, of course. Not only was she right, but so was Shadow, who had been telling him the same thing in less blunt terms for a very long time. Looking down, Jyren’s eyes locked onto the two lightsabers hooked on his belt. They, along with the belt, to be truthful, looked horribly out of place when placed over the morphsuit he wore. Did they always look like that?

Glancing up, Jyren found at least some of his voice, “But there’s no other choice. Ket won’t listen to me...he’s got an entire army with him. Even without his army he’ll go on fighting...I can feel it. I...I have to stop him. I have to kill him.”

Except for the hum of the systems, the cockpit of Jyren’s X-Wing was silent. His mother had a knowing look on her face and was looking at him very closely. It made him feel like he had said something wrong. But there wasn’t anything else! Not now! Not after everything that had happened!

“Good,” the word nearly shocked Jyren. His mother had the usual soft smile on her face, “I did not say there was another way all of the time. Simply, that violence should never be your first solution.”

“But you said it is never the Jedi way...” Jyren mumbled, not really wanting to argue, but actually trying to understand.

His mother nodded, “It is not, and you must live with that. It is not an easy thing to accept, but the very nature of taking a life is contradictory to everything in the Jedi way. You must balance this contradiction with control of your emotions and give yourself to the Force. You must not be emotionless, but accept that what you are doing is not the best solution that could have happened. Learn from your mistakes, and hope to change things the next time...otherwise, you will quickly fall down a very dark path.”


((On another note, we're slowly nearing the 10k view mark. It's still a couple months off, probably, but I'd like to plan ahead and do some things. So, either here or in my art thread here I'd like to get some requests from you readers.

What would YOU like to see, sketch wise? Particular scenes, characters, whatever. Anything from the story hour is up for grabs, no matter how insane...I'll try every single one.))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 245: Over the Ocean and Through the Trees*

In the emptiness of space, there hung a nearby star. It was large, a bright yellow-orange, and shimmering in a way that was beyond comprehension. Multiple planes orbited the lone star, but it was the nearest one that was of interest. The turquoise and bright green sphere was only a tiny dot when compared to the star it orbited...but that did not make it any less important.

The planet was Alraxia. Covered in oceans and forests, all of which were much harder to see against a large series of metallic dots that lined is surface. Jyren’s X-Wing had exited hyperspace not long before, and he was now heading in system and trying to get a feel for the situation. Currently, it didn’t feel good.

The very fact that he could see what could only be Ket’s fleet was extremely unsettling. Not that it was any larger than before...but he’d never had the chance to see it against the Capital world like this. It brought a whole new perspective to things. It almost looked like a swarm of insects was surrounding and preparing to engulf the planet...which was not all that wrong when looked at from a certain point of view.

“I don’t know where he is...” Jyren said quietly, more to himself than the still active holocron, which rested on an unused panel off to his left side.

The holo of his mother nodded in that way that all mother’s could, “I should not have to tell you to reach out and feel.”

“No,” Jyren sighed, “You shouldn’t.”

But she did. It had been a long flight and he wasn’t exactly in the best of conditions anymore on the mental side of things. No longer was he so confident in...well...anything. His mother’s words on the Dark Side had confused him, as he’d gotten far too used to ignoring any such warnings and just doing what he needed to get the job done. But now that hung over his head far more than he would have ever expected.

The holocron surprised him again, though, and picked up on the unsaid thoughts, “Trust your feelings, but do not dwell on them,” she paused, then smiled softly, “You have a task in front of you that requires your concentration.”

Jyren nodded slowly as the X-Wing arced around towards the southern pole of Alraxia. He was heading that direction due to the lack of metal gleaming there, which he took to mean as either no, or a small amount at least, of those ships. At the same time, he started to reach out with the Force, not for anything in particular, but just feeling his way through this and looking for some hint of...well, anything.

Below, he could feel the strength of the life-covered planet...but above, emptiness. Or at least, mostly emptiness. There were a few pockets of dim light which he interpreted as living beings. None were very strong, either too distant, weak in the Force, or hiding themselves. All of them were equally possible at this point. And despite the fact that this hadn’t located Ket(which was, of course, at least a slight hope), Jyren had a destination.

If he was in Ket’s position, the first target would be the Palace, if only because it was a symbol, and Ket truly seemed to be after crushing those symbols first. So he started the X-Wing in that direction even before reaching the planet’s atmosphere.

There was a quick series of beeping noises from the sensors. Jyren cursed. Of course it wasn’t going to be easy. Glancing down at the panel, he saw six objects moving in quickly towards him from what would be the north section of the planet. Very, very quickly. So quickly, in fact, that Jyren only had about three minutes to decide whether to fight or run.

Alright, so that wasn’t a tough decision. The real choice was whether to fight while running or to just put everything to the sublight drives and go. He bit his lip as the chrono counted down. It wasn’t completely accurate, as these ships had an odd range on those weapons, but it was better than nothing. And at least the shields were back to working...which meant he could take one hit this time and survive. In all honesty, it wasn’t all that comforting, but it was something and Jyren wasn’t about to complain anymore.

Reaching up, he set the shields to full rear, not sure if that would even do him any good but deciding it was worth a try. Then, glancing down at the planet below, Jyren picked up on the location of the Palace and started his dive for it.

Just as the starfighter began its descent through Alraxia’s atmosphere, the other fighters had come into range. This was immediately apparent not through the sensors, but through the two bright green flashes that shot past his cockpit on both sides. Instinctively, Jyren glanced back over his shoulder. It was nearly useless in this two-seater, as he only really saw the gunner’s sea behind him. And got no real view of the ships on the X-Wing’s tail. Sighing at this realization, Jyren then turned back and, almost prying a hand off the control stick, reached over and switched the holocron off.

It was a distraction for the moment, and he needed to focus. He retook he stick just as the snubfighter exited the atmosphere, revealing one of the larger, blue-green oceans below. Jyren quickly arced the ship around to head north, but also tilted the nose down and started a steep dive. He fighters were right on him, though, and so the dive became more of a swerving and spinning fall as Jyren did his best to stay out of the way of the now-constant attack of the six fighters that were pursuing him.

Quickly diverting power from the weapon systems to the engines, Jyren did his best to push the X-Wing faster and faster, as the other ships were getting closer with every second. Just as his full attention went back to piloting, the realization of just how close he was to the surface of the water hit him. And, before the water also hit him(or rather, the X-Wing), Jyren pulled hard on the stick and half-rolled to avoid dunking only half of his starfighter into the water.

Skimming only five or so meters above the surface, Jyren heard two loud crashes behind him. With a quick, and truthfully, unwise, glance back, he saw huge plumes of water behind him, and quickly through them came four more of the fighters, still spewing their green-coloured weapon’s fire from underneath the two stubby wings. 

Now there was a problem Jyren hadn’t considered. This close to the ocean’s surface, it was near impossible to maneuver. Banking too hard to avoid the shots would mean submerging half one of the S-Foils. And, obviously, this would not be a good thing.

At least there were only four of them now.

A sharp jolt hit him through the Force, and Jyren immediately did his best to pull the X-Wing to the side without taking a dive into the ocean. It worked...to a point. The X-Wing didn’t drop into the water, but the warning through the Force proved useless, as a half second later the entire X-Wing rocked violently from a strong hit to the rear shields. But they held. Barely, yes...but he still had rear shields thanks to putting all the power to that side.

So it hadn’t been such a futile move after all. For that second, at least. Another second and it nearly was.

Jyren’s attention returned from the shield’s readout in his HUD to the viewport ahead of him. Very quickly, he realized that skimming the ocean on a planet like Alraxia was really not something he was going to try again if given the chance. Alraxia, or at least this section of the planet, did not have beaches. It had cliffs, and then densely forested mountains. Currently, a cliff was approaching at lightning speed.

Suddenly no longer caring that he was being shot at by four ships with some serious firepower, Jyren decided that, no, the shields wouldn’t do him any good if he slammed straight into the rock face. At least that was something. Not something he planned on, however. Almost praying it wasn’t too late, Jyren pulled the nose up as hard as he could. The X-Wing shot up at a steep angle, just barely passing over the rock wall and grazing through the tops of a collection of trees that rested there.

He didn’t continue the steep angle, but instead pulled down more to start skimming the tree line. Not learning from part mistakes, however, Jyren looked down to the sensor board. Two of the previous little dots were no longer visible. So it wasn’t all that bad.

A green energy blast grazed quiet literally grazed the top of the S-Foil on his left. Jyren’s eyes widened in surprise and tried to ignore the new scorch marks. He managed to bank to the side just in time to avoid a similar shot to the other S-Foil...one that would quiet definitely have taken the entire thing off and ended this flight before he’ d had a chance to at least thank Ket for such a warm greeting.

And then, as if to make things worse, there was a sudden roar that even Jyren could hear loudly through the cockpit and the sublight drives. A deep instinct in him that really wasn’t even his identified the sound right away, causing him to pull back on the stick again and start climbing up. When Jyren realized this, though, he didn’t fix the angle, as it became apparent that there were not green energy blasts following him up. Rolling the X-Wing to get a look down, Jyren looked...well, up through the cockpit at the ground below. 

A huge, reptilian creature with great wings had risen up out of the forest. Underneath it, a burning wreckage in the tree could be seen. There was still one of the fighters in one piece, though. It was no longer after Jyren, but instead spinning around and heading out towards the ocean. The...dragon, did not simply let the intruder on its territory escape. With an amazing speed that caused Jyren to realize why the Alraxians were so terrified of the creatures, the dragon darted out and its massive jaws suddenly clamped down on the rear of the fighter. There was a detonation, but it didn’t seem to phase the large reptile at all.

And then Jyren came to another realization...he wasn’t leaving the dragon’s area. Deciding it was mostly likely a bad thing, he rolled the ship back over so as to not get sick on himself, and put everything to the engines...heading north towards the Palace, which wasn’t very far off now.

He didn’t bother looking up, though. If he had, Jyren would have seen a sky eerily similar to the one on the Capital just days earlier.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 246: Knight Takes Queen*

The hatch irised open silently, revealing the entire area of the clearing to Shadow. Hermes had known well enough to set down at one edge, and even though it didn’t prevent anything from jumping at her from behind, it would limit the likelihood because of his size, even if he was small for a Kanyak. Shadow’s eyes surveyed the lightly grass-covered ground. There were patches of dirt here and there, kicked up by time more than anything else from the look of it, but this clearing was obviously not completely natural. At least a few of the spots looked like trees had been pulled out, roots and all. The general feeling of the area didn’t help this case, either.

All of her senses alert and ready, Shadow slowly stepped out onto the hard ground. When nothing jumped out or showed any signs of jumping out at her, she moved forward a few cautious steps. Nine was watching. She could feel it...no, not just Nine. The Empire was watching. The faint and still recovering Network revealed this, also proving to be at least a slight distraction.

After only a few steps away from Hermes, Shadow caught sight of movement directly in front of her. The vegetation shifted and moved before Nine stepped out, smiling that maniacal smile that was seemingly glued onto her face. Shadow remained emotionless, but keenly alert and her muscles ready for anything sudden as Nine continued forward.

Nine finally stopped her casual walk about two and a half meters in front of Shadow. Tilting her head, the clone said in a somewhat unnerving voice, “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.”

Shadow only narrowed her eyes. There was something wrong with this. Nine was acting like Ket...putting on a show. This wasn’t like her. She wasn’t the kind to just stand around and...wait. Not in a situation like this, and especially not when she’d had the upper hand and could have easily slain Shadow before stepping out of Hermes. It confirmed that the Empire was watching, yes, but that still worried Shadow. Nine didn’t play games...yet she was.

When Shadow failed to respond, Nine shrugged and stretched for a moment, her tail flicking back behind her in a gesture of at least slight annoyance. So she didn’t like putting on this little show. Good. That was at least one thing going for Shadow at the moment. There was silence for a long moment before they both came to an unsaid agreement. The talking was useless and wasting time. They were both there to finish things, even if both had different outcomes planned.

This time, with a sudden flash of movement, Nine was back to what Shadow expected of her. He clone darted to Shadow’s left at lightning speed, slashing at Shadow’s lower torso with sharp claws. Shadow spun back, grabbing Nine’s wrist in the process and attempting to use the momentum to fling her around and onto the ground. But Nine didn’t allow this to happen, instead reaching over with her free hand and raking her other claws along Shadow’s arm.

There was no sound of pain beyond the gritting of teeth from Shadow as she relinquished her grip on Nine and dropped back a few steps. Nine did not, of course, stop moving. Regaining her footing, she charged forward again, this time kicking up some of the loose dirt on the ground as a distraction. Shadow saw through it, quickly ducking under a high slash to her face before rolling to Nine’s side and lashing out with her own claws. She caught no skin, though, as Nine somehow managed to bend her torso out of the way of the claws.

Through all of this, Shadow had already remorphed he long claw marks across her arm, a minor inconvenience more than anything. When Nine attempted a third quick attack, this time moving low again and feinting to the right, Shadow was ready, thanks to the Force and her own natural instincts. She gave Nine a slight surprise by moving into the feint, and as Nine dove to where Shadow had been, a heavy kick met her instead. Shadow’s foot hit Nine hard across the side of the face, but somehow the kick that should have broken the clone nose(among other things), didn’t even phase her.

With an amazing reaction speed through what had to be an intense pain, Nine’s arms shot up and grabbed Shadow’s ankle before it could be pulled away. Nine roughly twisted the leg around, getting a snap from a joint before Shadow was thrown hard into the dirt. She hit hard, nearly landing on her tail, but before Nine could take advantage of the situation anymore, Shadow lashed out with a hard snap-kick from her still free right leg. This kick also caught Nine across the face, though on the other side this time.

The force of the kick caused Nine to stumble back a half step and loosen her grip on Shadow’s leg. It was enough. In another second, Shadow was back on her feet and Nine was attempting yet another charge forward. There was a growl in her throat this time as she forewent the use of her claws, instead her fist arced in at Shadow. She caught the attack, twisting Nine’s wrist around for a half second before Nine’s other fist hit her hard in the face. Before Shadow could stumble back, Nine’s leg swept her feet out from under her, and in another second, Shadow was on her back again.

Nine dove down this time, striking with a hard punch that only impacted with the ground as Shadow rolled to the side and then up onto her feet. Now, though, Shadow didn’t give Nine the chance to attack first. Instead, Shadow took advantage of the situation and darted around towards Nine’s back, striking out with a clawed hand towards the back of the clone’s neck.

Instead of ducking out of the way, however, Nine’s arm wrapped around and caught Shadow’s in the wrist before any damage could be done. Nine’s body then followed, as did a fist that dug hard into Shadow’s gut. This was ignored fairly easily, and Shadow returned the favor by grabbing the wrist with one and raking her claws across Nine’s face with the other.

That got a reaction.

Nine yelped suddenly, a sound more of anger and surprise than any kind of pain. When she tried to fall back and open her eyes again(which were still in the process of remorphing from a claw that had gashed through one), Nine was pulled back by Shadow’s grip on her other arm. Yanked back, Nine was met with a knee to the stomach, but even with the pain and her repairing vision, she wasn’t down.

With her free arm, Nine struck Shadow with all of her strength in the side of the head. The impact caused Shadow’s vision to blur and her head to spin...a side effect of this being she let go of Nine’s hand and nearly hit the ground from the sudden dizziness. Nine, as usual, used her opponent’s weakness to her advantage. Like a blaster bolt, she shot around Shadow, an arm suddenly wrapping around Shadow’s neck from behind and a clawed arm digging deep into her spine.

As Nine held her tightly, slowly depriving her of air, Shadow somehow managed to catch sight of a familiar figure. Taller than her(and Nine, for that matter), and about four or so meters in front of them. Though her vision was blurry, Shadow picked up on the emerald coloured hair and knew immediately it was Kyren.

This was only confirmed with Shadow heard Nine snap loudly, “Kill her now!”

So that was the plan. A Knight to kill the Empress. And in her impaired vision, Shadow sill managed to catch sight of the long blade in Kyren’s hand. Slowly, he was walking towards her, and Shadow could only fight unconsciousness as she tried to figure out what to do.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 247: Headfirst*

The palace was, thankfully, in the same place it had been left. The curved, U-shaped and cream coloured building was not, however, exactly as Jyren remember it. For one, the soft and barely visible shimmering of the shield was usually noticeable...something which he couldn’t see(or detect with sensors, but he didn’t know if that was possible anyway) at the moment. Also, Jyren didn’t remember the large collection of metal ships.

The same transports were scattered all across the area. Some still hovering above and slowly descending, with others down and spilling out droids. Jyren could feel life down there, and reaching out with the Force, could feel that the Knights were putting up the best fight they could. He wished he could be down there to help.

Pulling the X-Wing up to a higher altitude for a good view of the situation, Jyren sopped thinking to instead feel. Where was Ket? There had been ships in orbit, yes, but Jyren hadn’t felt anything to immediately give away the presence of the other Alraxian. So where was he? Storming the palace seemed to fit the idea that Jyren had come to attribute with Halpak, but he still couldn’t be sure. And there was that lingering worry about Shadow that was definitely not doing him any good.

“Sooner or later, they’re going to notice I’m sitting up here,” Jyren said calmly to the reactivated holocron.

The image of his mother nodded, “Yes, they are.”

“Are you sure you aren’t alive and this isn’t some kind of remote device?” Jyren asked critically, with a sharp glare at the image. He had been contemplating hitting the thing, but decided against it. She was better with sarcasm, dry remarks, and all those things he usually attributed to his own personality than he was. It was annoying. But, of course, the holocron didn’t answer his question, simply ‘standing’ and looking at him...that horrible stare of a mother(or a teacher) staring at the child and waiting for them to figure things out on their own.

He’d escaped it for near twenty years, but now it was right back to haunt him. Jyren had quickly come to the conclusion that, yes, the Force had a very cruel sense of humour...especially when it came to him. So think.

No! Don’t think. Feel.

It was harder than it sounded. Anyone could say ‘don’t think! Feel!’, but very few could really do it...Jyren couldn’t help but wonder if the Jedi of the Old Republic ever had the same problems. Probably not. In fact, it was probably just unique to him.

Calm down. Calm.

Taking a few deep breaths and closing his eyes so as not to continue staring at the sensor board, Jyren attempted to stop the tangent thoughts and focus on the task at hand. Almost like reaching out with an invisible hand, Jyren’s mind stretched out around the planet as far as he could reach. He felt hundreds(probably thousands, actually) of Alraxians below in the palace...some fighting, most hiding. These were not warriors. They needed people like Jyren and Shadow at times like this.

But right now they’d have to survive on their own.

Feel. Reach out...focus.

There! A spark in the Force seemed to jump out at Jyren. Ket was down there. Near the eastern edge of the city section! It had to be Ket. Immediately, Jyren opened his eyes and his hands took the controls. With a flurry of motion, he cut off the repulsorlifts and hit the sublight drives. Rolling around into a tight dive, Jyren then quickly hit the switch to open the S-Foils and power the weapons up. He wasn’t going to ignore all of those transports.

The image of his mother seemed to smile, but said nothing even when he reached over to shut the holocron off again. It was helpful, but would definitely get in the way at a time when he needed complete focus. He didn’t know if there were defenses set up, or if there were any more of those fighters nearby.

The second that a transport was in range of his weapons, the quad cannons lit up, red bolts of energy arcing down at the ship and hitting it in the rear engines. Like before, the lightly armored and unshielded craft went up(or rather, down in this case) in flames.  Banking away from the wreckage and pulling up from the straight dive, another of the ships came into his sights and, in a moment, it too was a fiery hulk of metal slowly falling to the ground below.

Again maneuvering to avoid slamming into the flaming ships, Jyren looked up to find some place near where he could feel Halpak to set the X-Wing down. There. It would be a long way, but it was an area that looked to be behind the attack line. It also helped that he could see no droids guarding.

Pulling down even farther, now just skimming over the top points of the flower-like palace, the X-Wing took out one more transport that was nearly down to unload another cadre of those war droids. He pulled up and over the dead ship before ending up nearly on top of his landing spot. Reacting quickly so he didn’t have to pull around again, Jyren immediately closed the S-Foils and cu the sublight drives out. The repulsors cut in automatically, and in a few more seconds the X-Wing was down.

Jyren was actually pushing the canopy to open faster, climbing out when there was just enough room and forgoing placing the ladder. Instead, he simply jumped the distance down...which was, admittedly, short for an Alraxian of his current height.

As the canopy closed with a soft hiss behind him, Jyren’s eyes and ears took in everything they could. Though he couldn’t see anything but a few bright flashes here and there, the sounds of the firefights were easy to identify. Not hesitating any longer, Jyren started across the small courtyard attached to the petal-like landing pad to the nearest entrance of the near endless hallways and corridors of the palace. The exterior quickly turned into that familiar cream coloured but horribly indistinct corridor of the palace...they all looked alike. This could be a while.

Glancing around a corner where he heard some sounds, Jyren saw the backs of about five Alraxians wearing what he could identify now as relatively heavy armor. Blasts of light could be seen in front of them, and one of them dropped. Alright, so maybe he could do some good.

Knowing that Ket was nearby but making a decision he felt was necessary(and a typical one for him, truthfully), Jyren reached to his belt and detached his lightsaber. After a moment’s thought, he also removed Shadow’s with his left hand. Why not use it?

The snap-hiss of the two blades activating echoed loudly through the corridor, causing at least one of the Alraxians to glance back and see Jyren charging forward. The Knight was looking to be smart enough to duck.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 248: One Sword, Two Lives*

There was an odd moment of silence and inaction in the clearing. The only sounds that could be clearly heard were the breathing of the three Alraxians. Shadow’s was the only one calm, strangely enough. On the back of her neck, she could feel the angry, half-growled breaths of Nine as she stared across at Kyren.

He had gotten about a meter away from the two of them, sword ready to thrust out at Shadow’s torso, but then had suddenly stopped. The hatred that had marred his face from before had been replaced by a blank, emotionless stare. And yet, somehow, he looked confused. Or maybe it was that he felt confused. Sometimes, especially when in such a critical moment, Shadow forgot the difference between the two.

“Kill her!” Nine snapped suddenly, causing Shadow’s left ear to twitch violently and bend down slightly. But Shadow didn’t give a single glance back to Nine.

The clone was holding Shadow’s wrist behind her back with one arm and the other arm was at Shadow’s neck...claws extended just enough to show that it would be a bad idea to struggle. Shadow knew this tactic well enough...it had been a favorite of hers for a very long time. The reason was simple. Struggle and die. Even Alraxians couldn’t survive if their throat was torn out.

But Kyren stayed in place. His blank eyes shifted from Nine, to Shadow, and then back. Shadow wanted to say something. No...needed to. But she couldn’t. If she spoke...if she told Kyren it was really her, yes he would believe it. She could see it in his eyes or feel it through the Force or something...she simply knew it, and that was all that mattered.  But if she tried anything, Nine would kill her before she had a chance. Anything including using the Force...Nine would be looking for that. No, was looking for that.

Which meant all Shadow could do was look in his eyes, hope, and trust him to make the right choice. Shadow hated feeling so helpless.

The hand that held the sword shook very slightly and Kyren glanced down for a half second before looking back up blankly at the two Marix’s faces. Almost identical, save for a scar on the one in the front and a deep set look of focus and probably insanity in the eyes of the other. But what did that mean? Did Kyren really know who Marix was in the first place? She had always been so distant...closed and hidden away. And they said that Tam-Day-U were dangerous and usually insane. Perhaps both of these were...but...no! One of them was his Marix. But which? Both had told him about how horrible and evil the other was. Both had said the same things...but the one in the back...she...she was different. She had protected him, comforted him, and even loved him. Everything he had always wanted and dreamed of.

Everything.

Or was it everything?

Both Nine and Shadow saw the moment in Kyren’s eyes when he had made the decision. His face went from blank to focused and ready. Neither of them moved, though. It was impossible to tell where his mind had gone. And then he charged forward.

It only took a couple of steps before Kyren reached them. His feet came to a stop an arm’s length from Shadow, the sword pulled back and ready to thrust forward. But suddenly his foot caught her’s, sending Shadow out of Nine’s grip and to the hard dirt below. Nine took a step back, pulling away and glancing off to the side as if smiling at an unseen holorecorder. Obviously, she assumed that Kyren meant to execute Shadow the old fashioned way.

But Nine had not caught the short glance Kyren made to Shadow just before. In that one look, Shadow knew what he had decided. And a half second later, so did Nine. The knowledge came in the form of the sword, thrusting with lightning speed right through the center of her chest.

The clone’s eyes went wide, a gasp of pain and surprise escaping her mouth. To add insult to fatal injury, Kyren twisted the sword, digging through Nine’s insides and forcing them to attempt to remorph on their own. Through the pain, however, Nine reached up and grabbed the sword. With an obvious last act of strength, she ripped the sword out of her chest and then out of Kyren’s hand. Blue blood streaming own her chest and body slowly remorphing while turning the deadly silvery colour of the non-living metal, Nine pulled the sword around so that she now held the hilt.

There was an unearthly scream of rage that escaped Nine and before Kyren could react, the clone swung the sword. It cut across Kyren from left shoulder to right hip, digging in deep and nearly taking his arm off in the process. He did not make a noise.

And then the metallic sheen spreading over Nine’s body encased her anger-filled face and the entirety of her body. The sword left its place in her hand, dropping to the ground right next to the now blood covered Shadow. Nine’s body hit the ground a second later with a thud. A third impact came when Kyren collapsed.

Shadow looked over to Nine, then immediately back to her other side where Kyren had fallen. He was still breathing, even gasping for air silently. Frantically, Shadow scrambled over to him...then she saw how deep the wound really was.

A familiar smile found its way onto Kyren’s face and he slowly reached up with the arm he could still feel to rest a hand on Shadow’s cheek. Very quietly, he said, “I love you, Marix.”

Shadow knew what that meant. In fact, she knew every meaning of it...both the words and of what was about to happen next. She had seen enough holodramas back as a smuggler to know what it meant. A panic actually raced across her and she tried to lift up Kyren’s head and find some sign of life in his open, blank eyes, “Please no, Kyren...”

But he didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. Shadow bit her lip as she stared down at the lifeless body, fighting back something she had experienced maybe only once before. Tears. The fight lasted for a long five minutes, but Shadow was never going to win it. After leaning down and resting her forehead against his, Shadow took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

She didn’t want to move. She didn’t want to, but knew she had to. Enough of her family had died already, and she wasn’t about to lose another. Jyren was going to need her.

That did not, however, take precedence over the moment. Or the return of that odd feeling from the Capital again. This time, though, somehow despite the pain and sadness that filled the air, Shadow realized what it was. If it had been any other time, she would have smiled. But now she couldn’t. So instead, she nodded to herself and stood up, picking up Kyren’s body as she did so.

Turning back towards Hermes and ignoring Nine’s corpse, Shadow headed to the small Kanyak. When she reached the ship, Hermes allowed her in but quickly developed the same inability to speak, think, or do anything upon realizing that Kyren was no longer alive. Shadow silently walked to the cockpit and placed Kyren down in his old seat, even strapping him in over the long wound.

She idly fixed his hair, then sighed and looked up to the ship’s ceiling, “Hermes...take Kyren back. Make sure he gets the full honour he deserves for his actions.”

There was the mental equivalent of a nod from the ship. There was silence a moment before Hermes picked up on a hidden meaning in what Shadow had said. [You are not coming with us...me?]

Shadow bit her lip again at the ship’s misstep. She felt exactly the same. But Shadow shook her head, “No, I’m not, Hermes.”

[But how will you leave here without me...?] Hermes asked slowly, obviously extremely concerned with the lives of all the Alraxians he knew now.

After another deep breath, Shadow patted Hermes’ hull, “Your brother is here.”

If Hermes could have smiled, he would have. It was one piece of good news that the ship needed badly, and something that would spread to the rest of the Empire to help the situation. [Loki.]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 249: An Old Friend*

As usual, Shadow was right. Having two lightsabers proved to be an extremely helpful asset when dealing with the war droids. Since they couldn’t actually block the energy blades, Jyren just had to hack at the metal droids until they stopped reforming. Usually that meant taking off the head...but Jyren was always careful and decided to take as many limbs as possible, too.

The Knights had, thankfully, backed off. It gave Jyren the room to really swing the lightsabers without having to keep part of his attention on not cutting something. And in a matter of minutes, the mass of war droids that the Knights had been attempted to hold back were filling the corridor in five times as many pieces as they arrived in. Overall, Jyren wasn’t going to complain.

Instinctively, Jyren shut off the lightsabers. So that he’d have a free hand, he clipped Shadow’s back onto his belt as he walked over to the five remaining Knights. Stepping in front of him, he pointed back down the corridor and asked, “Have you seen Halpak?”

The Knights stared blankly at him. After a pause, they looked to each other and spoke in Alraxian quickly. In it, Jyren heard at least one word he recognized...the Alraxian word for Emperor, except with the usual ‘la’ he’d been used to hearing on the end of it. Then the one in front of him turned and spoke a series of words that made absolutely not sense at all to him.

Jyren sighed. Typical, “You don’t understand Basic, do you?”

Another blank silence. Then Jyren thought about it and remembered their term for Basic and tried again, “Trade. Do you speak Trade?! Does anyone speak Trade in this damned place?”

Silence. The one in front of Jyren turned to a Knight next to him and ran of another series of what Jyren assumed to be words. Then the Knight turned back to Jyren and pointed to a break in the corridor that went right. Not completely sure of what was going on, Jyren decided he didn’t have much of a choice. So he shrugged, motioned that direction, and waited for the Knights to lead the way.

The six of them rounded the corner and then followed the long, identical hallway for two minutes before reaching another turn. They continued on until reaching a nondescript door(admittedly, all the doors were nondescript in the palace). When it irised open, Jyren looked in to see a large chamber like the dining hall...except there was no sign of any furniture. Instead, there was a countless number of Alraxians. Some armed with swords and wearing armor, definitely Knights, but most looked to be the usual civilian attendants that lived in the palace. There was also a large group of children, most of whom Jyren recognized...a fact which scared him on at least one level.

All eyes turned on him as the Knights led him to the larger group of Knights. The situation was...well, Jyren hoped it was explained. All he could tell was that the Knights he was with started talking with the others. For all he knew, they were discussing the best way to polish their armor. And considering just how polished most of it looked...they were experts.

After a few more moments in which Jyren started to grow self conscious, one of the Knights, who looked to be an authoritative type, motioned off into the crowd of Alraxians. A few Knights then charged off in, and Jyren shared an awkward silence with the other Knights...none of whom could understand a word he said. It was amazing how that could make the silence worse.

Then, finally, the other Knights returned from the crowd. At first, Jyren was relieved, feeling that they had at least found someone who could understand and do some translation. They had. And the second Jyren saw who, he decided that these Knights really could understand him and were just out to kill him.

The soft violet haired figure of Kato smiled in that annoying as hell smile and nodded to Jyren. The lead Knight was saying something to her, so her attention was, thankfully, not on Jyren. That changed. When the Knight had finished, Kato’s eyes shifted to Jyren, again doing that predatory examination of him that was impossibly unnerving before speaking in her usual silky voice, “Apparently, I am the only one here who can speak Trade well enough to understand you.”

“How wonderful,” Jyren grumbled, rolling his eyes and resisting the urge to harm Kato, “I need to know if they’ve seen Ket Halpak.”

Kato smiled to him again and opened her mouth to say something, but the glare in Jyren’s eyes, thankfully, shut her up. Instead, she turned to the Knights and spoke for a short time. The Knight had a long response for ‘no’...or at least, Jyren assumed it would be ‘no’. It was his luck, at least.

“The palace says there is an Alraxian two levels up,” Kato reported to Jyren, idly taking a small step forward and putting herself far too close to him.

He quickly reached up and pushed her back two steps, “Don’t try it. Especially not now. Tell them I need a group to go with me to get Ket.”

A hurt look passed over Kato’s face and she suddenly looked like Tobias did when he didn’t get his way. Somehow, this didn’t surprise Jyren. Slowly, she turned to the Knight and relayed the information. When this was done, it didn’t take long for Jyren to have a group of ten Knights ready to go with him. The others, a large majority thankfully, would stay here and keep the civilians as safe as possible. The palace was, thankfully, not relaying any information to Ket and so he would have to be doing his searching the old fashioned way.

At least that was something.

But when things were ready and the eleven of them started to leave the room, Jyren realized that he was getting in far more over his head than was necessary. He had no form of communication with these Knights. In this kind of situation, that would definitely be a bad thing.

So he made a choice, “Kato! Come here!”

He’d spoken in just the right way. It only took a short moment before Kato was, quite definitely, right there. She also had an odd expression on her face and was giving off an equally odd feeling through the Force. Jyren didn’t care. Roughly, he grabbed her wrist and smiled, “You’re coming, too.”

Before she could protest, Jyren led the way and literally dragged her along.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 250: Blue Walls*

There was a definite change in atmosphere when Jyren and the Knights(with Kato in tow, of course) arrived on the next level up. The cream white colours were now etched with black scorch marks and blue smears that were easily recognizable as Alraxian blood. But one didn’t need to see the blood to know Alraxian’s had been slaughtered. The hallways were literally filled with the bodies, all in various states of mutilation but none looking to have had a quick or painless end. Here and there, the armored corpse of a Knight could be spotted, but that was almost as rare as the metal of a lost war droid limb. There were no dead husks of metal to show that the war droids had been taken down.

Kato had been sick.

Twice.

In all honesty, Jyren couldn’t really blame her. Even though he was used to death, this was something completely different. His eyes did their best to simply glance over the carnage, not wanting to focus on any of them at all, especially the many smaller bodies that were undoubtedly children. But the visible pain was not all their was.

Through the Force, Jyren could feel an air of pain permeating through the entire building. The palace itself hurt. Biting his lip and thinking quickly, Jyren took a glance down the corridor to make sure that nothing was coming before stepping back to Kato and kneeling next to where she was crouched behind a couple of the Knights.

Getting her attention, he asked, “I need to know what Ket would be doing to hurt the Palace...and why, if anyone has any ideas.”

Kato nodded in that slow, distant nod of someone confronting death for the first time. Slowly, she relayed his request to the Knights. It took another couple of minutes as the Knights thought about it before he got a response.

“He could be extracting information from the Palace,” Kato translated slowly, “They said he tried the same thing on the Capital but the building there wasn’t strong enough to survive.”

Jyren didn’t like the sound of that. Ket was treating the palace like a prisoner. Extract information violently, and if it dies...oh well. He probably planned to kill the palace in the end, anyway. But why extract information from it in the first place?

That was something Jyren didn’t need to ask about. The palace was...older than old. Thousands and thousands of years of knowledge and information collected right here. Ket was not stupid. He wasn’t going to just destroy an important resource. One thing that was comforting was that Jyren found that Ket seemed to be thinking like...well, a human. Whatever had happened to Ket, his outlook on life and how to do things was something Jyren could relate to and understand...to a point at least. The whole reasons for all of this were still a blur for him. It was yet to all add up, and Jyren couldn’t help but feel like it never would.

But that didn’t change the fact that Ket was killing innocent people by the thousands. No matter what was planned, that alone meant he deserved a swift justice. Jyren took a deep breath after that thought. Something was innately wrong with it, and for some reason he couldn’t pinpoint just exactly why. It wasn’t evil to kill someone in a situation like this...was it? He sighed as he got to his feet again. The Force had been so simple when he’d simply used it here and there and didn’t have to worry about what was right or wrong. But maybe that had been the problem all along. Even if the Alraxians were right about the lack of a Dark Side, Jyren was slowly starting to come to the point of no longer wanting to risk that fact and find out the truth the hard way.

One of the Knights said something to him. When Kato started to translate it, Jyren waved her off, “I know what he said...and we’re going.”

After a deep, calming breath, Jyren stepped back to the front of the group and led the way down the hallway. All the while he allowed the Force to guide him, but at the same time was doing his best to block out the intense pain and death he could both feel and see. He had to focus through it. They all had to. The Knights seemed to be doing about as well as he was. On the edge, yes, but holding together and focusing on where they needed to go. At least he wasn’t alone.

The group turned left at the end of the hallway to find no end to the carnage. In fact, it was arguably worse.  Gripping his lightsaber a little tighter in his hand, Jyren stepped over the bodies and continued on. Ket was close. Very close. But there was something else. A lingering danger. A trap, definitely. Even knowing it was there, though, wouldn’t stop it from springing and possibly killing the whole lot of them.

A door opened. The only way Jyren noticed it was through the corner of his eye as the things made no noise at all. Immediately, he spun around to see it was between him and the Knights. No...the door wasn’t. The two droids that quite literally jumped out were. The snap-hiss of his lightsaber was echoed by a cry of pain from one of the Knights as a metal blade dug through his neck.

Jyren’s lightsaber went up by instinct, slicing in half a blade aimed at his face. Instead of cutting him, he got a good smack from the flat end of the ruined weapon. The pain was, thankfully, much more tolerable than losing one’s face. The next few moments were a blur for him. Jyren did not so much see as he did feel. The next thing he realized, two war droids were down and so were three of the five Knights.

The remainder of them stood in silence when the adrenaline rush faded, but it was one of the Knights who was the first to look into the still open door. Jyren leaned over to look, too, finding it to be a larger looking chamber. There were a few interestingly designed columns here and there, but the point that got all of their attention was a central cube-like structure about twice Jyren’s height and made of an odd, semi-translucent blue material that reminded him of crystals.

“One of the central um...brains for the palace,” Kato said quietly from about two meters away, translating something the taller of the two remaining Knights said.

Jyren nodded. No surprise there. After a quick thought, he looked to Kato and pointed back the way they’d came, “Get back to the others.”

Kato nodded slowly, a wide-eyed terror very apparent on her face. It took her a strangely long time to scramble up over the bodies and up to her feet before she made the same awkward escape down the hallway. Jyren sighed and looked to the two Knights. They both nodded, holding similar expressions to his own. They all knew what was likely to be found in there, and they didn’t need words anymore.

Lightsaber still bathing them in a soft blue-green light, Jyren stepped into the room, eyes and ears alert.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 251: The Trap*

It was one of those times where one had to wonder if everything was actually real. Maybe this was just a dream...it had been a thing for the pilots to laugh and watch cheesy holodramas so much that maybe Jyren was just dreaming this place. Really, it couldn’t be true, could it? The whole set up looked like something out of every single one of the bad ones...and they were rarely any good.

Not only was there that large, alien looking crystal in the center, but behind it in the round room(of course it was round, somehow that made it dramatic) was an opening to a large balcony outside. Jyren stood just inside the room, not even caring about Ket for the moment. Instead, he looked from the scene to the two Knights with him and gave them looks of disbelief. Unsurprisingly, they did not understand. So Jyren quickly gave up trying and looked around, both with his eyes and the Force...any second now...

“Yes, it is a bit cliched, isn’t it?” the familiar voice of Ket Halpak echoed through the room from an indistinct point. Ah, so that was why all these kind of encounters always happened in round rooms. One mystery solved, at least.

Jyren, of course, cheated and reached out with the Force to locate the other Alraxian. It took a half second and, again not surprisingly, the Alraxian was somewhere on the other side of that large, semi-translucent crystal. A darker blob that Jyren had assumed to be something inside of it moved and Ket stepped out casually on the other side.

The Alraxian managed a weak shrug, “I expected Marix.”

“I missed you, too,” Jyren grumbled under his breath, quickly noting that Ket was holding a sword eerily similar to the one that had caused so much trouble back on the Capital not very long ago.

“I believe this is when I tell you exactly what’s going on, you tell me how horrible I am, and then we fight, yes?” Ket suggested with a few idle steps forward. Jyren couldn’t help but notice the two Knights were at a complete loss as to what was going on. Just to be safe, he glanced to them both and held an arm in front of them to keep the back.

Turning back to Ket, Jyren shrugged, “That’s how I remember these things always working.”

“Then you wouldn’t mind a change of pace?” Ket said, a hint of a smile creeping onto his face this time. He paused a moment but held up a hand to stop Jyren from saying anything. The fact that it worked amazed even Jyren, “I’d prefer we skip the first parts and get straight to what we’re both here for?”

There was much, much more in that than was on the surface, and Jyren picked up on it right away. A slow realization crept onto his face, “You didn’t expect Marix. You came here to wait for me.”

While he did smile, Ket shook his head, “I believe I suggested we skip the section where I explain things.”

Why Jyren nodded was beyond him. Ket wasn’t a fool. This was too much in the open to be anymore than a simple trap just for Jyren...or Marix, really, but why would she be anywhere but where Nine was? And so Ket had staged one attack to put things in chaos, and then a second just to get Jyren. After that...did it really matter? With Jyren gone, so was Shadow and that was pretty much it for defense of the Empire. It was so simple when the pieces were put together that Ket didn’t even need to explain it all.

And now it was too late to turn back. The one time Shadow had actually let him go off and do his Jedi heroics was the one time she should have stopped him. It suddenly put into question just whether Jyren could handle Ket on his own. At first, sure he’d figured the tail-less Alraxian would be a challenge but still able to be dealt with. Now though...Ket had set all this up to separate him from Shadow. The two of them were stronger together. And while Nine was at least close to Shadow’s level, that was still beyond Jyren and he knew it. Jyren simply had the disadvantage of less experience. Ket was, from the looks of things, even more dangerous.

The worst part was that Ket was still just standing there, that damned grin on his face as he let Jyren work things out on his own. There was no way this had been all set up if Ket had any shred of confidence that Jyren would be a challenge for him. And, considering everything, he looked to be right. Jyren looked from the still thrumming lightsaber in his hand and then to the two Knights.

After a deep breath, he pointed back to the exit and motion with both his head and, inadvertently, his tail. It took pressing, but the Knights left the room and headed back the other direction. They didn’t need to see Jyren in this kind of situation. They had enough trouble to deal with than see his confidence completely sapped.

Turning back, Jyren looked to Ket and took yet another deep breath, “Lets get this over with.”

Ket smiled, nodded, and charged.

((Short update due to a major writing exam I've got to take in about ten minutes...sorry guys.))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 252: One Outcome*

When someone came at you full speed with sword in hand and intent to kill in the eyes, it was usually expected that said person would finish their charge in front of you. Ket, however, proved right away that he was not playing games. Halfway to Jyren, the Alraxian leapt up and over, landing facing the other direction but swinging back with the metal sword.

The maneuver had been done so quickly, obviously with the help of the Force, that Jyren had only enough time to duck as the sword arced over where his head had been. He wasted no time in spinning around, knowing that his eyes were as necessary as all his other senses at this point. Jyren’s natural reaction on facing Ket was to raise his lightsaber up towards where he could see a blurred sheen of movement heading down towards his shoulder.

The sword fell, but Jyren suddenly found that he was not dodging one end of a cut sword. Instead, Ket’s blade was pressed against the lightsaber and he was forcing Jyren back with a tremendous strength. It would have been a lie to say Jyren wasn’t surprised by this, though he knew it was something he should have expected. When Ket finally pulled back, Jyren lunged forward and nearly fell face first into the ground. Nearly because he caught himself and regained his balance...but the nearly only lasted a fraction of a second.

Ket slammed the hilt of his sword into Jyren’s spine, and the loud crack of the impact was followed by the rough thud of Jyren hitting the floor. Someone ignoring the pain, Jyren rolled away and managed to just avoid taking the blade of the sword through his chest. He had to keep moving quickly, however, as Ket was not letting up at all. When the sword swung down at him again, Jyren was able to swing his lightsaber up to meet the blade.

Holding Ket’s sword up at arms length from him, Jyren quickly swept the other’s feet out from under him. By the time Ket had hit the floor, Jyren was up on his feet. He did not, however, press an attack as Ket had done. Instead, Jyren pulled back and brought his lightsaber up in front of him...calming himself and attempting to use the Force to keep him aware of everything around him. It was an amazingly difficult task when someone like Ket was trying to kill you. 

And even well honed senses couldn’t be effective all of the time. A heavy, invisible hand hit Jyren hard in the chest, sending him back to the floor again and sliding across it towards the open balcony. At least that crystal thing hadn’t been behind him. It looked like it would have been painful to hit.

He was on his feet again just as Ket caught up. Jyren parried a quick strike to his side before ducking under a horizontal swing aimed at his head...something that Ket continued to attempt again and again, it seemed. Taking the small moment given to him by Ket’s heavy swing, Jyren took a step forward and thrust his lightsaber at Ket’s now-open torso.

Ket sidestepped the attack, using the momentum to slash at Jyren’s lower torso again. The attack was deflected again, with Jyren pulling his blade around to bat the other sword away. The two of them exchanged a surprisingly even number of strikes between them, but it was quickly obvious to both that Jyren was being backed up.  Before he knew it, Jyren was in the sunlight of the Alraxian star, nearly pressed against the balcony behind.

Jyren ducked and spun left to avoid a vertical swing from Ket, which instead took a large chunk of the balcony out. Better than Jyren’s arm...even if there was a twinge of pain through the Force from the palace. Regaining his footing, Jyren swung his blade with all his strength at his opponent’s neck, but instead of meeting metal or flesh, the blade only reached air. Before the attack even got close, Ket’s hand shot out and caught Jyren’s wrist. In one swift motion, using Jyren’s swing against him, Ket twisted Jyren’s wrist around and wrenched the lightsaber away. Just as  the blade’s safety hit in and it hit the ground deactivated, Jyren hit, too. Except he hit the wall on the other side first before once again meeting the floor face first.

One thing Jyren was getting the hang of, at least, was remorphing those broken bones that continually occurred. Not that it was easy, but it was taking less and less focus to do so each time. It also meant that Jyren was able to be up and react quickly enough to stay alive. This time, he was only halfway up when Ket was on him. A knee hit Jyren in the face, forcing him open and upright for the thrust of Ket’s sword.

But Jyren pulled the Force around him and then hit Ket as hard as he could with it. The other Alraxian was sent to the other side of the balcony, hitting the other corner but not falling off of his feet. Jyren took this moment to analyze the situation. Ket had chosen this place for the fight...which meant he likely had the advantage. A change of scenery was necessary.

With the Force, Jyren called his lightsaber back to him. The metal hilt shot past Ket, who was heading towards Jyren yet again. But this time, Jyren was not there when Ket arrived. Yet again calling upon the Force, Jyren leapt up and landing on the edge of the roof a few meters up and back. The roof was dome-like, slowly curving upwards to the central point which was likely also even to where the crystal was in the room below. Ket, of course, followed.

But before he was even on the ground, Ket launched his sword down at Jyren, throwing it like a torpedo...and with about the same speed, too. While Jyren managed to sidestep the sword which then dug deep into the ceiling, he didn’t completely avoid it. The sharp blade left a violent sting on Jyren’s lower right leg. It wasn’t a deep cut, but it suddenly took a great amount of effort to resist remorphing until he could be sure it was safe. So now Ket had him injured again.

Not only that, but Ket had landed right next to Jyren and there was another, smaller, blade now in his left hand. Ket landed while at the same time lunging the small dagger sized weapon at Jyren’s upper chest. The only reaction Jyren could manage was to lash out with a free hand and hit Ket’s arm hard enough to bat the attack away. Jyren had hoped to also force Ket to loose his grip on the blade, but that had been wishful thinking.

Quickly stepping back(and up slightly), Jyren reactivated his lightsaber and looked down at Ket. He wanted to say something. An insult. A witty remark. Sarcasm, even. Or plead for this to stop. Anything. But Jyren could see something in Ket’s eyes that he recognized all too well. It was the same deadly focus and determination that Shadow had. It was not something that could be reasoned with or even spoken to. As Ket came at him again, faster than before, Jyren knew there were only two outcomes to this now.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 253: The Roof*

The farther up the curved roof of the Palace that they went, the harder it was becoming to maintain stable footing. Jyren quickly figured that it wasn’t because the surface under him was changing, but simply because the curve was becoming much steeper as it reached its top. And the strong, gusting wind didn’t help, either. It was something that, now at least, he knew he should have thought about before attempting this. No, this wasn’t the highest point, but Jyren could still see farther than he liked to be able to.

But none of this was affecting Ket, it seemed. The taller Alraxian was relentless, barely giving Jyren anytime to take a breath. The change in location wasn’t having any negative effects on Ket like Jyren had hoped. That was, though, really not all that surprising.

Jyren was still backing up, parrying the swift strikes from the small blade that Ket held and simply doing his best to stay out of the way. At this point, he realized he needed a new plan. And that was the problem. He wasn’t used to fighting with a plan. He went in, activated his lightsaber, and things just went the way they were supposed to. Even Shadow was never this dangerous in the times the two of them had sparred. But then again, she hadn’t been trying to kill him...well, except for the first time, but that wasn’t the point.

Catching the flash of movement in the corner of his eye, Jyren jumped back and over the attempt to take him off of his feet. He landed just in time to twist to the side and out of the way of the tip of Ket’s blade. Jyren reacted as quickly as he could, backhanding Ket’s wrist in yet another attempt to disarm him. Not that it would do much, but it was something, at least.

At the impact, Ket spun back, and for a half second Jyren thought he’d lost his footing. He was, of course, wrong. Instead, Ket pulled around, small blade switched to his left hand and the right reaching back to nothing. It wasn’t hard to guess what that meant. As quickly as he could, Jyren took a hand off of his lightsaber and used the Force to pull the second hilt from his belt. The weapon landed in his left hand, violet coloured blade snapping to life, just as the larger sword that Ket had held before returned to his free hand.

Jyren instinctively raised the violet blade up to parry the falling metal sword that was now once again in Ket’s right hand. While Jyren did block the sword from cleaving him into two, the force of Ket’s swing nearly knocked the lightsaber out of Jyren’s hand. Instead, he stumbled back, but forced his body and senses not to lose their edge. And not a moment later did Jyren bring his own blue-green lightsaber to parry a quick strike from Ket’s smaller blade.

Again, the two of them exchanged lightning fast blows, but this time it was becoming painfully obvious that Ket had the upper hand. Jyren was managing to avoid taking any hits, but was too busy defending himself to even manage the slightest attempt at an attack. And so he was pushed back, farther up the rooftop to the top of the dome. As Ket’s attacks grew in strength and speed, Jyren knew exactly what the other Alraxian was going to attempt to do. He’d been forced up...now it was time to push him down, and it was much, much more likely that Jyren would slip going that direction.

Jumping over a swing to his legs, Jyren hit the ground blocking another violent strike from Ket’s sword...but this time with both lightsabers. Immediately, the smaller blade flashed in towards Jyren’s undefended torso. The only defense he could manage was to use all his strength to force Ket’s sword back, at the same time attempting to spin to the side and away from the lightning fast knife. It nearly worked. Nearly because he wasn’t completely run through by the blade, but instead it left a long slash across his lower right side.

The pain was disturbingly easy to ignore, to the point that it only seemed to fuel Jyren’s determination rather than slow him down at all. He quickly took advantage of the small lapse in Ket’s attacks to present an attack of his own. Due to how close they were, it was impossible to Jyren to actually bring his arms around and use his lightsabers, so instead he took Shadow’s old advice and used the other things available to him. With all the strength he could manage, Jyren sent his elbow into Ket’s face.

There was a crack before Jyren took a knee to the stomach. Between them, a short moment of pain passed in which they backed off a few shaky steps. It was all the time Jyren needed to come up with one of those absolutely insane ideas that always seemed to work. This time, though, even he knew that it was more stupid than insane. When Ket came at him again, Jyren sidestepped the first stab and ducking under the heavy swing of Ket’s sword. Because of this, he took a knee to the face, but ignored it with the same Shadow-like determination. The strike sent him back a couple of steps, but also gave him enough time to completely step out of the way of Ket’s next overhand swing of the large sword.

As he stepped around the other Alraxian, Jyren deactivated the lightsaber in his off hand and quickly slung it back to his belt in one quick motion. Reoriented, Ket stabbed again and Jyren’s torso. The attack was deflected with a quick swing of Jyren’s blue-green lightsaber, and he immediately ducked under another of those swings meant to take his head off. This time, it was quickly followed by the smaller blade sliding up towards Jyren’s face. Again, he moved to the side, this time using the Force to speed his body up and then lashing out with a leg to kick Ket’s hand. This time, finally, the blade fell out of Ket’s grip and flew off down the long slope of the roof.

Jyren rose up to meet the sword with his lightsaber just centimeters from his face. Still focusing on the Force, Jyren pushed the attack away before taking a strong kick to the chestplate. It sent him back almost far enough to send him tumbling down like the smaller blade had done. But he held his footing, and before Ket could move in for another relentless series of attacks, Jyren attacked.

Extending a free hand, Jyren put all of his strength into throwing Ket. The invisible wall of energy slammed into Ket, and despite his own defenses in the Force that were up and strong, the Alraxian was hurled off of the stable roof. As Ket fell away, hitting the hard roof and sliding across it on his back, Jyren ran after him.

As fast as he could, Jyren ran down the roof, sliding at least part of the time and nearly ending up in the same position Ket was stuck in. But somehow, Jyren managed to stay up. Just a second later, Ket left the roof and began to fall out of sight towards the lower levels of the Palace far below. Jyren continued down the sloping roof at full speed. Just before reaching the end, Jyren took a deep breath.

And then he jumped.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 254: Of Gravity*

One thing that Jyren always found to be vaguely interesting was that nearly all the planets he always ended up on, the gravity was about the same. It made him wonder if there really was any difference other than no gravity and some gravity. But the simple fact that he’d been on enough planets to experience the strength of its gravity didn’t say much for his intelligence. It was, sadly, not the first time he’d jumped off a building...and it probably wouldn’t be the last. It was, however, the first time he’d jumped off a building and come to the full realization of just how high up he had been prior to the jump. Usually, there would be something to land on relatively close below. Nothing a little assistance from the Force couldn’t handle. But now...

In all honesty, all that Jyren could really be sure of was that there was, in fact, some kind of place down there where he would, eventually, hit. There was a vague greenish colour all the way down, which gave him the idea that it was one of the many courtyard areas...but there weren’t any walkways or other areas anywhere near. Suddenly, Jyren became aware that his so-called ‘plan’ had been nothing more than pure insanity.

Maybe Shadow was right.

No, she definitely was. If anything confirmed it, the rushing air as he fell did. Jyren was, without a doubt, an idiot.

Not so far below Jyren, though, was Ket. The Alraxian hadn’t ‘righted’ himself in the air at all, still falling backwards and looking straight up towards where Jyren was. He hadn’t even attempted to morph! Jyren hadn’t either, but that wasn’t the point. After only a couple of seconds, Jyren felt a heavy grip on his body before he was yanked down faster. For obvious reasons, he wasn’t happy with that.

Suddenly, he was falling much faster than Ket and the other Alraxian was growing much closer(as was the green blur that was the ground, but Jyren was trying to ignore that part). Out of reflex, Jyren thumbed the activation switch on his lightsaber. In the loud roar of the rushing air it was impossible to hear the snap-hiss of the blade. Not that it really mattered, though.

In another short second Jyren was almost on top of Ket. And again, instinct took over where other more rational parts of the brain probably would have acted differently. Despite the fact that the two of them were falling at a very rapid speed to a quickly approaching and very solid ground below, Jyren swung his lightsaber in a long arc to cleave Ket in half.

Ket’s sword deflected the swing before pushing the weapon off to the side. A second later, Jyren’s faster momentum sent him slamming into the other Alraxian hard. Ket’s response was a sharp kick to Jyren’s gut that sent him ‘back’(or rather, up) very slightly. It was immediately followed by a quick, horizontal slash from Ket’s blade.

Jyren couldn’t avoid it, but managed to swing his lightsaber in and catch the metal sword before it cut across his chest. When Ket pulled back to thrust the blade and impale him, Jyren took the half second he had to kick Ket hard in the chest. The kick added enough speed to Ket’s fall that his sword-thrust fell short.

Short.

The thought yanked Jyren’s focus away from the Alraxian in front of him and instead to the ground beyond...or rather, below. There was, quite definitely, a very short distance between them and a painful landing now. So short, in fact, that Jyren was finally able to see the tops of trees and other plants throughout the large area. Ket obviously caught Jyren’s reaction to this new information, as he turned and glanced behind him.

The second he’d turned back, Ket put all of his strength into launching the sword the short distance up to Jyren. The point of the blade skyrocketed up the half meter distance in a blur, and Jyren could only attempt to twist away from it. He managed to avoid being completely impaled, instead one edge of the blade shot across his torso and left a long, deep gash before it shot up past him. Through the red that blurred his vision, Jyren caught sight of Ket changed shape before a large hawk-like bird shot off the other direction.

Cheater.

Jyren had never been very good at the whole morphing thing when it came to anything more than fixing simple wounds. Adding that inexperience to the unavoidable sight of the ground below and it was impossible for him to focus at all to even think straight. Except one thought continued to make it through.

He was an idiot.

But there was something just slightly off about that. If Jyren could have attached a word to it, the closest would have been distant, but then again that wasn’t all that right. The thought wasn’t distant...it just...wasn’t...his.

The realization of this hit Jyren about as hard as he expected the ground would. In the quick few seconds that he knew were still open for further living, Jyren spun around. He did not see the large cream-coloured, flower-like building that he had left not a minute before. Instead, he saw a brown colour. So much so that it completely encompassed everything in that direction. Jyren then quickly looked...back...no, up. The brown shape tapered off into a disturbingly familiar shape. His head snapped left and right(which were, thankfully, still left and right) to spot the two swept back, almost fish-like ‘wings’. The last place to look was ahead of him...which also happened to correspond with down. The brown shape came to a point at a nose.

As the whole shape slowly pulled out of its dive and started to arc up towards Jyren, he couldn’t help a slight grin. Maybe he would have grinned anyway...but it wouldn’t have been the same kind at least. Slowly, the entire shape began to tilt up, with Jyren inching closer and closer and almost sliding down the surface of it without even touching it.

Loki evened out about five meters above the tops of the trees in the courtyard. Jyren didn’t know this, though. Instead, he finally hit the top of the Kanyak, bouncing painfully on the strangely soft surface of the ship before realizing that he’d probably broken at least half of the bones in his lower body. Why that didn’t hurt, Jyren didn’t know...but it was better than the alternative.

He came fairly close to the alternative, however, and before Loki had set down on a nearby pad, Jyren had blacked out.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 255: Another Life*

It was almost disturbing how many times in his life that Jyren had awoken from the black emptiness of unconsciousness. It was also getting to the point of being annoying. Sometimes he couldn’t help but wish he would either die, or just not pass out in the first place...usually the latter. And so, yet again after doing something completely stupid, the blackness gave way to a fuzzy an incoherent thing that he had come to learn was called reality.

Slowly, the world around him came back into focus. There was a blurry thing in the way of the blue-ish coloured sky...a thing which he eventually identified as Shadow thanks to the black and white hair and a little help from the Force. Detecting where the annoyance was coming from was a surefire way to find Shadow whenever Jyren was involved. He blinked.

When he blinked, it seemed to kick in the rest of his senses. Namely, his hearing. He could hear a voice that was definitely Shadow’s, but she was speaking words that made absolutely no sense to him. The Alraxian language, then. Another voice responded...sounded female, too, but much younger. Almost how he remembered Shadow’s voice before the whole growing up ordeal. Which was, quite definitely, an ordeal more than anything else.

Jyren’s eyes finally finished focusing as a smaller Alraxian left the...courtyard. Still outside. Shadow then turned down to look at him with an expressionless glare, something only she was capable of, “This is why I don’t let you go off on your own.”

He couldn’t help a tired grin as he searched for his voice. Finding it didn’t make sense rationally, but he did, and spoke in the usual voice of someone who was just coming back to consciousness, “But it was fun...”

Shadow rolled her eyes, “Oh, yes, fun. One day you’re going to get it through that thick skull of yours that anytime you think ‘fun’ you really mean ‘stupid’.”

Jyren shrugged weakly before doing his best to sit up. Staring at the world from up and down was getting very tiring. Shadow reached over and helped him to sit up, idly keeping an arm around him as he tried to forget the dizziness, “I thought you’d be around earlier...”

“I had to make a stop on the way,” Shadow said quietly before nodding off to the side. Jyren slowly looked that direction, seeing a couple of young looking Alraxians that had a vaguely familiar look to them. They were leaving the courtyard slowly, and it was suddenly driving Jyren crazy just what was odd about them. He finally figured it out a few moments later.

It was the way they were walking. Or rather, stalking. There was a predatory bent to the way the two of them were moving. And that thought immediately triggered the positive response from Shadow through the link. Jyren turned back and raised an eyebrow, “You picked up some friends?”

She nodded, a hint of a smile tugging at her lips, “They don’t deserve to be kept locked up in that station...not only that, but you know as well as I do that they’re the only ones other than us that can fight.”

“How many of them?” Jyren asked, his eyes turning back to watch the two Tam’day’u disappearing into the palace.

“All of them,” Shadow responded quietly. When Jyren tried to figure this out, she immediately picked it up through the link and added, “About twenty five.”

Jyren nodded, but it made his head spin and so he nearly fell over again. Shadow quickly caught him a second time, this time helping him to rest his head on her shoulder. She started to idly scratch his ear while they sat there, but eventually Jyren mumbled, “How long was I out...?”

“Its almost been an hour,” she said softly.

Jyren nearly jerked up at that...of course, he couldn’t without passing out again, so instead his eyes darted up Shadow’s neck and to her eyes as best he could, “Ket.”

“Has not left the planet,” Shadow said a little too quickly. When this brought a confused feeling to Jyren, she sighed quietly and decided he was going to need to be updated on everything, “The Tam’day’u are clearing the Palace of those droids. They’ve been at it since we set down and they’re about a fourth of the way through the whole pace. The fleet of ships is still up in orbit, so Ket hasn’t left yet. No more transports have come down yet, but we’re expecting it to happen soon.”

Instinctively, Jyren nodded into her shoulder as she talked. When he found a break to cut in, though, he did, “He doesn’t care about the Palace...he did all this to separate us and kill me.”

“I know,” Shadow said with a nod, then tilted her head to glance down at him, “And he nearly did. But Ket isn’t just going to run. He’ll try again...and its no doubt there are hundreds more droids up there waiting.”

“Then we should go up and get him before he attacks again,” Jyren grumbled.

“That was my plan,” the words almost shocked Jyren into unconsciousness again. Shadow picked up on this and grinned, tapping his ear gently, “Why do you think I’m here waiting on you and not in the Palace?”

He nodded at that. It did make sense. Which brought up the next comment, “There are fighters up there...we should take the X-Wing since Loki doesn’t have any weapons.”

At that, there was a pause and the air itself seemed to hold still. It was only broken by the slightest of nods from Shadow, one that Jyren only noticed from feeling her chin touch his forehead gently. The feeling that rushed through the link suddenly worried Jyren as much as Shadow was, and he asked very quietly, “How is Loki...?”

Shadow took a deep, somewhat shaky breath before shaking her head and whispering, “I...I don’t know.”

Slowly, Jyren sat up and rested his hands on her shoulders while looking into her eyes, “What do you mean?”

Shadow’s eyes looked down at the ground, “He was...unconscious when I found him. I didn’t try to wake him up because he is...hurt badly. It was a miracle I could manually fly him in the first place...his wiring and neutral network have been tampered with and I don’t know how to fix it.”

Jyren bit his lower lip, “Someone does though, right?”

She nodded.

“Then he’ll be alright,” Jyren said, this time pulling Shadow into a hug. It was her turn to lay her head on his shoulder. But in the short moment of silence, another important question darted into Jyren’s mind. After spending some time working out how to go on with it, he just asked, “Nine...?”

Shadow just nodded again. But it was slow, and again Jyren knew something else was wrong. It didn’t take a genius to get to the next question.

“...Kyren?”

When Shadow seemed to freeze up, Jyren had his answer. He did his best to hold her close and to comfort her, but knew there wasn’t much he could do...and that he wasn’t all that good at it in the first place. So Kyren was dead. Jyren didn’t have to link the other Alraxian to realize how hard this hit Shadow. And it angered him. Yet another thing that Ket had done to harm Shadow. And Jyren was getting tired of it.

Ket was going to pay for all he’d done, and he was going to pay with his life.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 256: Our Own Private Hangar*

It had taken a long time for Jyren and Shadow to finally leave and head for the X-Wing. It had taken even longer to reach the starfighter, which was about five levels up and still in an area where the Tam’day’u were fighting the war droids. Thankfully, the ship looked to have been left alone. The only scorch marks and scratches were ones that Jyren already recognized. The starfighter had sure taken a beating since it came into his possession. Yes, he knew it was stolen, but didn’t particularly like thinking of it as anything but a theft of necessity.

As they both climbed into their respective seats and the canopy on the X-Wing lowered, Jyren looked over his shoulder and asked an important question, “You’re sure Ket is up there?”

“No,” Shadow said flatly, shifting around in the seat to find a good position where her tail wasn’t crushed and her head wasn’t hitting the top of the canopy. This thing really wasn’t designed for their body shape or height.

“No?” Jyren raised an eyebrow, but still went on warming up the engines anyway.

“No,” she repeated in the exact same tone, but then added, “But he’s no fool, and won’t just run off somewhere else on the planet. And he isn’t back at the Palace.”

Nodding slowly, Jyren began to bring the starfighter up and off of the flower-like landing pad, “So, yet again, we’re probably walking into a trap?”

“As usual,” Shadow said with a nod of her own. Because of his height over the back of the seat, she could still see his nodding...and she knew he could at least feel her’s through the link.

In another few moments, the X-Wing was flying up through Alraxia’s atmosphere, with Jyren simply heading up into orbit in a random place as he had no real idea where they were going at this point. Not that Shadow did either, but she was working on it while he was doing the flying. It was the best thing she could do to keep her mind off of everything else. 

“There’s a group of ships not far ahead of us,” Jyren said, breaking the silence as he looked over the sensor readings. After a moment, he added, “And a smaller group heading our direction. I think he wants us dead anyway he can get it.”

“You fly, I’ll figure out where he is,” Shadow said out loud, even though she knew she shouldn’t have to. It was the unstated plan they were already going with, but sometimes it seemed like she just needed to say things out loud for them to get through Jyren’s head.

Taking note of the sensors again, Jyren reached over and powered up the shields while at the same time opening up the S-Foils, “This may get rough.”

“Just fly,” Shadow almost growled, no longer really caring what he did as long as he kept them alive. Her eyes then closed to eliminate the distractions that were about to appear, and she immediately reached out with the Force to find Ket. If he was here, it would be easy to find him.

Jyren, on the other hand, kept his eyes open. It was a good thing to do when flying, especially when someone was about to start shooting. Another second after that thought raced through his mind, the sickening green coloured blasts of energy shot out from ahead and straight to the starfighter. The X-Wing immediately rolled away before arcing back and letting loose a long stream of red laser fire.

There was a brief flash before Jyren manage to weave the X-Wing straight through the formation of four...five...six?! Yes, it was about six of those fighters, five of which were now wrapping around to pursue, the sixth just drifting off on its original course. At least one of them took a hit.

As Jyren pressed the X-Wing faster and doubled the shields on the rear of the fighter, he could now get a good sight of the fleet of starships in orbit. A large number of them were heading down towards the planet, too. Transports. But still more were staying up in orbit...all of which in odd pincer like shapes that were completely alien to anything Jyren was used to seeing, “Shadow...?”

“I’m working on it!” she suddenly snapped back before he’d even finished saying her name.

“Please work faster,” Jyren mumbled, even though he knew she could still hear him. As he continued the haphazard and zig-zag flight to avoid the pursuing fighters’ attacks, Jyren couldn’t help but have the bad feeling that those larger ships also had weapons. That would definitely be a bad thing. He didn’t even consider the possibility of shields at this point.

But at least the fighters that were shooting at them weren’t good shots. They didn’t seem to be very good at predicting Jyren’s movements, and so he didn’t have too much trouble keeping out of the way(while, of course, taking some help from the Force). But it wasn’t their accuracy Jyren was worried about. There were enough of them that they could just fire in enough direction that, eventually, he’d have no where to move to without taking at least one hit. And while the X-Wing could take one, he wasn’t about to risk it if he didn’t have to.

And then, as the larger ships began to grow even larger in the viewport, Jyren came to terms with the simple fact that everything he did was some kind of cruel joke in the Force’s mind...or whatever it had, but it had to think to continually pull such cruel tricks. Green lances of...similar whatever that was began to spout up from the large ships. Though most of them were closer to the size of Corellian Corvettes, they seemed to have as many guns as a Star Destroyer.

In a second, the black of space was alight with a wave of green. Jyren’s first reaction was to even out the shields...probably useless but it made him feel better. His second reaction was an immediate change of course. Instead of heading straight for the center of the group, he decided that he might as well at least use the ships for cover as best he could. So, rather abruptly, the X-Wing cut down into a vertical dive. Even Jyren was amazed that the fighter was capable of such a maneuver. Clearly the pursuing fighters weren’t, as most of them overshot the X-Wing before trying to wrap around...though at least two were caught in the insanely huge barrage of fire from the larger cruisers.

The dive was taking them to a point that would be right next to the nearest of the ships, which now was definitely like a giant, flying claw. Its weapons were slowly following down, but thankfully they were slower than the speed of the X-Wing. But as he got closer to the starship, other nearby cruisers began to open fire, causing Alraxia’s orbit to look more like a crisscross of green lines than anything else. Somehow, Jyren navigated through it, finding the larger holes and getting as close as he could to the nearest of the ships.

When he was probably just a few meters off, Jyren pulled up and skimmed over the cruiser’s hull. It had stopped firing, at least...as had the others. So they weren’t dumb enough to shoot on the larger ships. He wove the X-Wing around some larger tower-like structures and things that were vaguely familiar but still altogether alien in design, before coming to the conclusion that he could not simply skim the surface of this for cover forever. Sooner or later, they’d find a way to take the little X-Wing down. So, more urgently, he said over his shoulder, “Shadow...”

She didn’t respond this time. Or rather, her response was delayed. When Jyren had decided to head for one of the even larger ships that wasn’t too far off, and had made a run for it, the three cruisers around him reopened their barrage of fire...as did the ship he was heading for. And then, right on cue, Shadow said, “Go back! He’s on the one you just passed!”

Typical. If Jyren had ever done something like that to Shadow, it would have been an offense worthy of death. The only good thing was that the X-Wing was extremely maneuverable and wasn’t having too much trouble avoiding the weapon’s fire. And the pursuing fighters seemed to have backed off.

“Is there a hangar or something?!” Jyren asked quickly as one shot came a little too close, skimming the aft shields as the X-Wing spun around and nearly breaking through completely.

“I don’t know,” Shadow admitted, now with her eyes open and completely aware of the insanity around them. She was holding on again.

“Fine, we make our own,” Jyren growled, now outright angry at every single one of these energy blasts. The ship they were heading for(for the second time) had stopped firing again, likely because the X-Wing was in too close. That was one good thing, “Arm a torpedo and fire it somewhere at the hull.”

Shadow nodded, not having to ask anything as it had been half her idea which he’d simply pulled through the link. Carefully, she reached over and took the stick that was in front of her. At least it didn’t control the ship right now. It didn’t take too long to remember how to arm the weapons, and in a second she was ready. When that happened, she didn’t need to ask when to fire. She knew the answer as well as Jyren did.

And in a second, the whole X-Wing shuddered as a bright blue proton torpedo rocketed away. Jyren made a mental note that there were only about two left now. It was also becoming easier to weave away from the other ships’ firing as less guns were able to come to bear on them now. Then there was a bright flash.

Normally, at the speed they were going and considering how hard it was to see, pulling up and out of the way would have been the wise choice. But Jyren wasn’t about to push his luck and put them in range of all the weapons again. So, instead, he pushed his luck and squeezed the trigger on the quad cannons for good measure, firing into the still burry place where the torpedo had hit.

And then he could see it. Just a few hundred meters away and there was a huge gap in the cruiser’s hull...large enough for the X-Wing to get in and probably just barely deep enough. As quickly as he could, Jyren closed the S-Foils and cut as much power from the engines as he could to slow them down. He even put the landing gears out for good measure...but stopping to enter carefully wasn’t an option, and so they continued in at a speed that was definitely too fast.

No one said ‘hang on.’ It wasn’t necessary. It was an obvious fact that it was time to hang on.  And then in a shatter and a crash, they ‘landed’ in the makeshift docking bay.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 257: Contagions*

“I really should have thought this one through,” Jyren grumbled as he rubbed his forehead. The landing had been rough, but the ship itself was still intact and Jyren figured his head would eventually stop spinning from the mild concussion. Shadow had been intelligent enough to brace herself, and so didn’t hit her head on anything. But, then again, the canopy didn’t curve down in front of her. He was nearly to the point of never flying the X-Wing unless he was morphed Human just so he didn’t have to deal with tail and height issues.

“Yes, you should have,” Shadow agreed with a nod, looking around them in the stark, empty grey area that looked like some kind of cargo hold. There was a large door(about Mrrakesh height, so well over three meters high) on the other side from where the X-Wing was sitting...but that was currently the problem.

“Most ships have safety systems that seal off hull breaches,” Jyren was now growling under his breath, angry at the starship they’d now crashed into more than anything.

Shadow sighed and rolled her eyes, finally giving in and reaching over to flick his ear, hoping the next thing would get through, “Most ships do. But this is a Mrrakesh ship. They aren’t accustom to taking damage.”

It was annoying, but true. Jyren had been running on the assumption that they’d have the chance to get in before some emergency system cut in and sealed the breach. But no, instead behind them was the emptiness of space, and at least one of the large, pincer shaped cruisers could still be seen. Jyren sighed in return, “I don’t suppose there’s any kind of energy shield?”

“I doubt it,” Shadow’s words were calm, flat, and in that tone she used when she was already busy working out a solution and was simply responding to Jyren so that he would eventually shut up. She found it was amazingly easy to deal with both Jyren and Tobias this way because eventually, they both got bored with her patronizing.

Jyren didn’t get annoyed, but instead caught on, “You’ve got an idea?”

“The Force is a powerful ally,” she said succinctly, and it was enough that Jyren started thinking along the same lines she was already working on.

And as he did so, his head naturally began to shake in disagreement, “Even I’m not that crazy.”

“So you’d like to fly out and try this again?” Shadow snapped back immediately. The suddenness of it surprised him into going quiet again.

Well, quiet for about a minute. Then, “Its still crazy.”

“No more so than anything you’ve dragged me into before.”

A pause. A long pause. Then, Jyren raised a hand in defeat, “Good point...though usually I make sure we are still capable of breathing.”

Shadow gave the back of Jyren’s head a look as if she was staring at a complete idiot. Sometimes, she wondered, “And you seem to think I’m not planning on that...?”

Jyren couldn’t come up with a witty response to that. It was probably a good thing, but it annoyed him anyway to lose so quickly. Sitting back and undoing the restraints, Shadow nodded to herself, “Though don’t think I won’t strangle you after we’re out of this.”

“I’m very glad you’re so optimistic,” he said with a sigh, eventually following suit and undoing his own restraints. It wasn’t like they did much good when he was this tall anyway. After they were out of the way, he glanced over his shoulder to her, “What do I need to do?”

“Open the canopy and go for that door as quickly as you can,” Shadow said, stretching very slightly and getting ready. When she caught him reaching for the switch, she immediately gave him a good smack across the back of the head, “Not now!”

Grumbling something under his breath, Jyren stopped and waited. Through the link, he could feel Shadow drawing the Force around them and focusing. Readying herself...preparing. It took five minutes. Five long, silent minutes. And then, finally, Shadow sent a signal through the link, forgetting the fact that he usually noticed speech much quicker. But this time, he did pick up on it.

When Jyren hit the switch that raised the canopy, he naturally expected the rush of air that always accompanied rapid decompression. It wouldn’t have been the first time he’d encountered it...but it would be the first without any kind of breather or face mask. He couldn’t help but wonder if it would feel different. But it wasn’t there. The canopy raised a good amount and there was no change.

Not that Jyren wasn’t holding his breath, of course.

Survival instinct kicked in a half second later and he immediately realized that Shadow had already pushed off and was heading to the door. Jyren followed as quickly as he could, trying to stay close...especially since he didn’t know exactly how far the small bubble in the Force that Shadow was projecting went.

When they hit the door and latched on with claws, there was no sound. It was worrying, but Shadow quickly pointed out through the link that their eyes hadn’t exploded so there was still pressure around them. At least some...Jyren was starting to feel a little lightheaded. He wasn’t alone in that, and Shadow hit the switch to open the door.

It didn’t open. Damn! Typical that there was an emergency lock on it! The thought of using a lightsaber to cut through it came to Jyren’s mind first, but Shadow shot that down before he’d even finished thinking it through. They needed to get in there without leaving a whole to decompress yet another part of the ship. She couldn’t hold the quickly dissipating air around them forever. Another idea came to both of their minds at the same time. Claws still out, both of them dug them in deeply to one side of the door, hoping it was the right side.

With all of their strength, they pulled. As they put more and more strength into pulling on the door, Jyren noticed that the ‘air’ around them was becoming lighter much quicker than before. He called upon the Force himself, but instead of assisting Shadow he used it to strengthen his own body so that he could pull even harder. Jyren didn’t know that the reason the air was fading out quicker was because Shadow was also doing the same thing.

There was a snap...one that they couldn’t hear, but definitely felt as a jolt that shuddered the door. Neither of them let up, and a crack soon appeared between the door and the wall. Red alarm lights could be seen blinking then, but they both ignored them to pull on the door with every shred of strength they could manage. It moved more, pushing against them as the computer systems tried to seal off the now-decompressing corridor. But it was still being pulled, and when Jyren saw there was enough room, he shoved Shadow through a little too roughly. Of course, she reacted by grabbed his arm and yanking him in after her.

This meant that both of them had let go of the door, which immediately slammed shut in a loud, echoing clank. Alarms could be heard now, with a soft red-orange colour blinking on lights that dotted the corridor. And the two Alraxians lay on the floor, face down and breathing hard. Shadow was actually starting to laugh. In a moment, after making sure he hadn’t lost a foot to the door, Jyren followed suit and embraced her tightly. He didn’t say anything, just glad to be able to hear her breathing openly, and also distantly amazed at how quickly the corridor had re-pressurized.

After they’d both stopped breathing so heavily, Shadow slowly stopping laughing and kissed him gently, “See? You’re a bad influence...that stupidity of your’s is contagious.”

Jyren laughed again as the two of them shakily got to their feet, “So does this mean you’re going to stop? I think you’ve better at it than I am.”

“I’m better at everything than you are,” she said with a grin, sticking out her tongue before pivoting around to head down the corridor, “Now let’s go find Ket.”

“He’ll be in the big room with a giant window open to space so that he can show off,” Jyren added as he fell into step with her. It was amazing how getting out of a near death situation put them in such good moods.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 258: Three Swords*

The corridors of the ship were unlike anything Jyren had encountered before. He had gotten so used to the creamy white...life of the Alraxian buildings that any kind of metallic surface looked odd, but this...this was different in a way that he couldn’t pinpoint. The walls were all in a greyish colour, with small, dim lights dispersed every couple of meters at mid-height on the wall. The ceilings were a good four meters up, and even as tall as Jyren and Shadow were as full grown Alraxians, it was intimidating to look up so much farther.

Perhaps what was bothering Jyren the most was how much it reminded him of an Imperial cruiser. Stark, empty walls that looked more like the walls of a prison cell than anything else. And there was no sense of life at all...empty and dead. After getting used to feeling the ships, buildings, or whatever it was being so literally alive, it was hard to step into something that wasn’t. The only reason the X-Wing didn’t bother him is because he knew what to expect...but this ship was familiar and yet altogether alien.

At least Shadow seemed to know where she was going.

“Are you alright?” Jyren asked after they’d followed the corridors for a long while. She’d gone silent, falling inward in the way she usually did when something was bothering her.

Thankfully, she didn’t try to lie, and just shook her head before saying quietly, “No, I’m not.”

“Going to say anything else?” he asked, picking up the pace a little so that he was walking more beside her than a step behind.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” Shadow answered bluntly. There was a short pause, then she picked up on his mental pushing and she sighed, “That could be me, you know.”

“We’ve been over this one before,” Jyren answer slowly, having figured that this problem had already been solved. It was proof that he didn’t really know Shadow as well as he sometimes thought he did.

Shadow sighed and stopped before turning to look at him with a blank expression on her face, “That doesn’t make it go away. Ket is...is just doing what he thinks is the right thing to do. They...we took him from his family, his life, and turned him into a killing device in a time where we claim to be peaceful. He has every right to want revenge.”

Jyren stared at her, obviously shocked at the implications in her words. It took him a few seconds to gather his thoughts into coherent words before finally saying, “He doesn’t have the right to kill innocent people. He doesn’t have any right to charge in here with an army and try to exterminate an entire species.”

At this, she said nothing in response. Thoughts ran through her head at a such a speed that Jyren couldn’t pick up on them at all. It was all a blur to him...and, in fact, to her. Then one thing came to the surface and Jyren caught it right away. He reached over and put a hand on her shoulder, “You are not like him. You may have been before...but you aren’t anymore. Don’t even start with that. If Ket is so right in what he does, why is he fighting this alone? What about the rest of the...what about the rest of you? He wasn’t alone.”

Shadow nodded slowly, but couldn’t help but catch Jyren’s rewording. But he was right, and she knew it. She’d known it the whole time, of course. But the thought still lingered in the back of her mind...that ingrained need for revenge that seemed to sit in the mind of every sentient species. After a deep breath, she nodded again and turned to continue leading the way.

They fell into silence again, mentally preparing for whatever it was that they were going to encounter, while still staying as alert as possible for any possible ambush. But none came. The ship was like a derelict...empty but for the two of them and a third beacon, glowing in the Force. Ket was strong...more so than he had demonstrated before. Jyren half hoped that it was just an illusion, but he knew better than that. With Shadow here, Ket would have to be at his best. This wasn’t a game anymore.

Two rides up on something that resembled a turbolift and they were up on what Shadow noted was probably some kind of observation level. There was only a single corridor leading to a door about ten meters down. So they followed it, and it was Jyren’s turn to hit the switch. The door opened with a hiss and a clank, revealing a very large, open room with a gigantic viewport that stretched across the entire circular shaped point at the opposite end. Along parts of the viewport were panels that glowed, most of them looked similar to star charts. More than an observation level, though...there looked to be other kinds of controls and systems being monitored. And, of course, standing at the opposite end and staring right across the room at them, was Ket Halpak.

His black hair faded into the view of space outside, but his tanned skin and bright green eyes could be seen very easily even from the distance Shadow and Jyren were at. Shadow stepped in first, walking across the floor until they were only about twenty meters from Ket. Jyren followed, glancing around and noting just how empty the place was.

“I hope you had a good landing,” Ket said, idly flicking his stub of a tail.

Neither of them responded to that. When a few seconds of silence went by, Shadow spoke in a stern, strong voice that sounded hauntingly similar to that of her mother’s, “You are alone in this now, Ket. Nine is dead, and you know as well as I do that the Mrrakesh will take the first chance they have to turn on you.”

It was the required offer of mercy that everyone gave in such a situation...but Shadow was not the kind of directly state it. Ket wasn’t a fool, though, and knew exactly what she meant. He shook his head and took a few casual steps forward, “You say that as if you believe I am not already prepared for that.”

Ket stopped only five meters in front of them, his arms casually behind his back. Shadow took the chance she had and started a slow walk around him, motioning out to the stars and the ships that could be seen through the viewport as a diversion, “The ships are of Mrrakesh design. They knew them better than you do.”

Ket did not say anything this time, but simply watched her as she stepped around so that she was now directly opposite Jyren...with Ket in the middle. But Ket simply smiled, obviously taking some kind of amusement from the situation, as he turned his back on Jyren to look to Shadow, “Marix, you know I am no fool. And I believe it is your turn to answer some things...in fact, I have but one question. Do you really think that you accomplish anything by killing me?” his hand waved out to the ships in a motion identical to Shadow’s, “You think those droids are linked to me?! Even if you kill me, they will not just stop! And the Mrrakesh will still come!”

“We will stop them,” Jyren cut in finally.

A short laugh escaped Ket as he glanced over his shoulder to Jyren. But then he turned back to Shadow, “Arrogance does befit an Alraxian. He has learned well,” Ket then trailed off and let out a sigh, “But this is wasting all of our time. I believe it is time to end this little game between us once and for all.”

His hand shot out to the left, and a metallic blade detached itself from the wall and launched itself into Ket’s grip. Jyren reached instinctively, detaching his lightsaber from his belt and activating it with the usual snap-hiss in one swift motion. Shadow bent down in a readied stance, but then something caught Jyren’s attention.

[Catch!] he sent through the link before taking one hand off of his lightsaber and getting the other one off of his belt. With some help from the Force, he tossed the hilt of the lightsaber over Ket, and it was caught by Shadow and activated as if she was an expert.

Ket smiled, looked back to Jyren and then to Shadow...and then the two Alraxians charged in, lightsabers ablaze.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 259: Together as One*

There was an energy in the observation chamber (Or maybe it was the main bridge...) of the ship that neither Shadow nor Jyren had ever felt before. It was not the first time the two of them had fought together, and, hopefully, it wouldn’t be the last. But something about the situation was just so much different than anything else they had experienced. The only thing close to it that Jyren could find was back on Nar Shadaa...killing Voort.  But Shadow hadn’t been involved in that at all. And Ket was not Titus Voort...Ket had never been someone that Jyren had ever trusted his life to, and truthfully, neither had Shadow.

Through the link and through the Force, Shadow and Jyren coordinated every step and every motion. Jyren went in first, lightsaber raised high and slashing down at Ket’s head. Ket pivoted back and out of the way, turning his back to Jyren again and bringing his blade around to deflect a strike from Shadow meant to skewer him. Quickly, Ket released a hand from his sword and lashed out with a swipe at Shadow, which she ducked under just before twisting out of the way of a vicious stab from Ket’s sword.

But with a blinding and amazing speed, the sword pulled back and wrapped around to parry a swing from Jyren that was aimed at Ket’s side. And again, Ket’s free hand was moving, this time to parry Shadow’s wrist, forcing back her swing of her violet coloured blade just long enough for Ket to spin around and slice at her neck. With a warning screaming at her through both the Force and the link, Shadow twisted her arm around to invert her lightsaber and bring the blade in position to catch Ket’s strike at the last second.

Jyren attempted to take advantage of Ket’s focus on Shadow(again), but before he was able to get anywhere near an attack, the other Alraxian’s leg lashed out and a foot caught Jyren dead center in the chest. It hit him hard enough that it sent Jyren onto his tail. There was a crack, a yelp, and a surge of surprise through the link that caused Shadow to lose concentration for a half second. Her strength holding back Ket’s blade wavered, and when his blade once again began pushing to her neck(now forcing her lightsaber down first), she decided a change in tactics was necessary.

Thumbing the deactivation switch on her lightsaber, Ket’s blade no longer had any resistance, and so arced in like a lightning bolt to Shadow’s neck. But she wasn’t standing still. Using the Force to speed up her reflexes even more, Shadow dropped to the deck plates, sending Ket’s sword over her head and only taking some of her hair instead of her entire head. But it didn’t only cut hairs...the force with which Ket was using was released so quickly that the swing went too far and the blade dug into the nearby wall, showering everything nearby in sparks.

An alarm went off in both the room and in Ket’s mind as he attempted to yank the blade out of the wall. Not hesitating, he instead let go of the sword’s hilt and spun back from it, leaving nothing but the wall to take Jyren’s lightsaber swing. More sparks flew, and at least two loud pops caught all of their attention(at a subconscious level, at least). But Jyren was still going. He swung his lightsaber at Ket’s head, but instead of ducking under it as Jyren was prepared for, Ket took full advantage of the high ceiling and leapt over. He landed behind Jyren, facing the other direction and right in front of his sword again.

Withdrawing the metal blade from the wall, Ket twisted around and swung the weapon down at Jyren’s undefended back. But a violet lightsaber blade got between them. Shadow held his sword there for a moment before forcing Ket’s sword back and then giving him a good kick to the stomach. Ket stumbled back just long enough for Jyren to pull around and stand next to Shadow.

There was a pause in the fighting, then. Ket took a couple steps back and eyed the two of them, his now-chipped metal sword held up in front of him. Jyren and Shadow held similar stances, different coloured lightsabers bathing the both of them in multicoloured light. And then there was another loud pop from the wall that now had a metal gash and a lightsaber burn in it. The pop turned into a crack, then there was a bright flash. All three reacted by stepping back from the blinding light and shielding their faces.

When the flash had faded...so had the lights in the room, though a couple of the viewport-consoles were still active and provided a soft glow next to them. The violet and blue-green lightsabers were the only real source of light anymore, and it provided an odd mix when the two colours clashed. Thankfully, Ket was just as easy to spot thanks to how his metal sword caught the light from the two lightsabers.

The break in the fight ended just as abruptly and randomly as it had came into life. A sizzling sound from the destroyed wall panel echoed at the same time Ket’s two strong footsteps did. Jyren parried the quick strike at his torso, batting Ket’s blade out of the way and off to the side to leave the Alraxian’s torso wide open. For Ket, though, that seemed to mean very little. Shadow swung her own blade in to the open target, attempting to cut Ket from right shoulder to left hip. But despite the odd position of his arm, Ket sidestepped the strike and then spun around to Shadow’s opposite side, a free hand lashing out at her face.

Shadow didn’t have time to react, and there was a loud crack when Ket’s fist impacted with her face. A foot fell back to stop herself from losing any ground, now working with Jyren and attempting to pin Ket against the wall. Limit his movement and he wouldn’t be able to keep up his defense for much longer. Jyren felt this through the link and quickly repositioned himself to try to box Ket in, at the same time swinging in at Ket’s knee to distract him.

Ket’s attention was on Shadow’s violet blade, though, and brought his sword up to parry her swing at his upper body. He simply pulled up his leg to dodge Jyren’s swing, then twisted to the side(and back close enough to the wall that he wouldn’t be able to do that again) so that Jyren’s upswing also caught only the empty air. And so they tried it again, this time switching so that Shadow provided the distraction on Ket’s opposite side...a predictable tactic, but something that could very well work. This time, though, Ket proved just how aware of his surroundings he really was. Instead of using the same defense he had before, he pulled the Force around him and then let it loose at the two others before their weapons got close.

The wave hit them hard, sending them back to the opposite side of the room and sliding into the wall. They were both up on their feet in a second, neither of them landing on their tails to cause the extra downtime.  Ket had moved away from his position against the wall, but hadn’t charged into them either. A warning in the Force shot through both of their minds, but it was Shadow who’s reflexes were fast enough.

“Move!” she yelled without even realizing it, and jumped into Jyren to push him to the side. The door had been wrenched out of its place by the Force and Ket had sent it flying at them. Both of them felt the rush of air as it narrowly missed their feet, and before they were even on the ground Shadow was looking over to where Ket...wasn’t.

She pulled herself off of Jyren and then yanked him to his feet a little too roughly, “Come on!”

Jyren nodded without making one of his usual comments and followed her into the corridor where Ket was waiting...


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 260: Close Quarter Brawl*

He hadn’t run. It was at least a mild surprise to both Jyren and Shadow to find Ket still in the corridor, turned to face them and ready. Both of them had gotten far too used to having to chase their target down, or be forced to deal with some other distraction. But Ket was there, standing strong, tall, and ready. Shadow and Jyren had to stop themselves from running headlong into him, and planted their feet a to leave a few meters in front of them.

There was a silence in the corridor, with only the dual thrumming of the two lightsabers to provide any sound at all. Jyren wanted to say something. He felt like he should. But what could he say to Ket? This Alraxian had built an army for the sole purpose of wiping out his own species because of the actions of only a handful. There was nothing to say that could possibly stop Ket from his current course now. Jyren could feel that through his link with Shadow, who was also feeling the need to speak, but knew just how useless it would be.

Shadow and Jyren exchanged a short glance before they both came to the silent agreement that talking really wasn’t going to do any good. Even if it wasn’t the Jedi way...and even if it made Shadow feel like she was doing the same thing as Ket. They had no choice now. He had left them none...and here on this ship, there wasn’t going to be an easy escape as there had been back down on the planet. Ket was up here for a reason, and it was all too clear to the two of them just how finite this would really be...one way or another.

And then the short silence between the three of them came to an end. A rush of air could be felt suddenly, and Jyren reacted to hold his ground from what he had expected to be a push to throw him off of his feet. It wasn’t. But holding his ground still managed to resist for a short few seconds before he was pulled from his feet and straight at Ket.

Shadow reacted as quickly as she could, stepping in and swinging her lightsaber to bat Ket’s sword out of the way, which was poised to run Jyren through. Instead, he slammed into Ket full on, sending them both to the deck plates with a loud thud and a crack from Ket. A knee pushed Jyren up roughly, and then it snapped upwards to kick him off and over Ket. Jyren was flipped over before landing on his own back with a similar crack. But Ket was still on the ground and on his back.

Not foolish enough to let such an advantage slip away, Shadow brought her lightsaber around and thrust it down at her opponent’s torso. Ket rolled out of the way, but the blade went down fast enough that it burned a scorch mark across his right side. As he moved, a leg swept around to take Shadow’s feet out from under her. Having expected this, Shadow had no trouble in jumped over Ket’s leg, and as she came down she swung the lightsaber down to cleave Ket into two.

This time, his sword was pulled around to catch her violet coloured blade. There was an odd crack of lightsaber impacting with the metal(a sound that seemed altogether wrong), and then Ket lashed out with the Force, throwing Shadow back against the wall. She hit hard, and her head snapped back to slam into the wall and cause her vision to go blurry for the time it took her body to bounce off the wall and then hit the deck face first. And Ket was back up on his feet in the tightly cramped corridor, spinning around to kick Shadow while she was down.

But Jyren was up, now, too. He interjected his own foot in Ket’s way, parrying the kick as if his leg was a lightsaber. Jyren hadn’t thought that it would hurt his shin as much as it did, but he figured things could have been worse. Then, unsurprisingly, Ket swung his metal sword in a long, sweeping arc meant to remove Jyren’s head from the rest of his body. Jyren brought his lightsaber up to parry the strike, but his footing was off from getting in the way of Ket and when Ket’s sword hit his lightsaber, Jyren lost his balance and was thrown against the opposite wall.

It was his left shoulder the emitted the crack this time, and Jyren had only a short half second to remorph the ruined bone before being forced to duck under another similar attack. This time, the sword went over his head and dug into the wall almost up to its hilt. Ket quickly removed his hand from the sword and took a sudden step back when a violet blur slashed through where he had been, and then had to duck under another long arc from Shadow’s weapon.

Now with Jyren and Shadow in between Ket and his weapon, the two of them pressed their attack even stronger. But when Jyren took his first step in to swing his blade as Shadow attacked to where Ket would likely dodge, a heavy wave of the Force slammed into the both of them again. Jyren was thrown back a good ten meters, landing on his tail(yet again) and sliding another meter before he stopped and was able to get back up to his feet. Shadow, however, managed to hold her ground. A hint of a sharp-toothed grin could be seen on her otherwise neutral face as she thrust her lightsaber right for one of Ket’s hearts.

He twisted out of the way, and when Shadow then yanked her blade around to simply cut Ket’s chest, he ducked and then rolled to the other side while lashing out with a vicious fist to her gut. The hit caused Shadow to curl up just slightly, but it was enough for Ket to flip over her and rip his sword out of its place in the wall. Again, sparks exploded as it was wrenched out, but Ket ignored it as he spun around to use his momentum for another attack.

Shadow didn’t turn around, she didn’t have time. Instead, her arms were back and she used the Force to get her lightsaber into the right spot. She caught his metal sword above the small of her back and forced it up a few centimeters before a leg shot back and caught him in the knee. It wasn’t where she was aiming, but she was having enough difficulty holding the sword back in her position. But it had been enough. The kick forced Ket back a half step, and that was just enough Shadow needed to spin around and face him again. Over his shoulder, she could see Jyren running at Ket.

Knowing exactly what to do, Shadow swung her lightsaber low at Ket’s knees, forcing him to stay up when Jyren reached them. Ket blocked her swing with his sword, then lurched forward to avoid the horizontal slash from behind that came from Jyren. There was another splash of sparks and bright lights as Jyren’s lightsaber instead dug across the wall, cutting deeply across the metal. Two of the nearby lights flickered, but managed to remain on.

But now they had Ket flanked, and there was so little horizontal room in the corridor that it would be nearly impossible for him to defend himself from both sides. That was Jyren’s thinking, at least...Shadow knew better. The first series of strikes from the two of them were dodged and parried with an amazing flexibility and speed that could only come from an Alraxian...or some other creature capable of reshaping their physical form. Then, reaching behind him, Ket caught a strike from Jyren that was dangerously close to relieving him of his ears. At the same time, Ket spun to the side and kicked Shadow’s arms, which were pulling her blade around to attack his undefended midsection. Her blade went into the wall, deep into it, and instead of just sparks, there was an explosion.

Shadow managed to pull the blade out of the wall soon enough to retrieve the weapon before the burst of flames exploded outwards. She was thrown back, as were Ket and Jyren, and then the lights within about ten meters all cut out. A second alarm then kicked in to accent the red glow coming from the distant door to the bridge they had originally been in. It was amazing how much ground they’d covered.

But that wasn’t important. Shadow didn’t wait for the smoke to clear before charging through to see both Ket and Jyren on their feet, with Ket facing him and viciously striking again and again. Stopping a few meters away, Shadow reached out with the Force and, to the surprise of both of the males, yanked Ket in her direction. But she didn’t wait for him to reach her. Shadow took two quick steps forward and jumped up, bringing a knee into Ket’s torso when he spun around to face her. Now too close for their weapons to be of any use, Ket simply swung a clawed hand at Shadow’s face.

She caught it, twisting his hand around before throwing him back a half meter. When he landed, her lightsaber was swinging up at him, and Ket only had a short second to bring his own sword down to parry the strike. This time, when Ket caught Shadow’s eyes glance over his shoulder, he didn’t simply wait for Jyren to move in. A door next to Shadow lurched open suddenly, and Ket took the tiny second of surprise the sound had caused to roughly kick Shadow in before diving in after her.

The door closed in front of Jyren, and he couldn’t find any switch to open it. Cursing, he pointed his lightsaber and started to cut through it.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 261: Defense...Offense...Defense*

With Jyren held back(not gone, Shadow had to continually kick her brain into not using that word), the entire situation changed. While Jyren relied on his lightsaber far more than any of his other talents, both Shadow and Ket had far different training ingrained in them. For the two of them, the weapons were simply methods of distracting their opponent, and rarely used for any actual attacks. And so their grips naturally shifted from the necessary two hands when dealing with Jyren’s way of fighting to a one handed, more open grip.

And things only got more dangerous. Shadow knew Jyren was alright, and doing his best to catch up, and so she forced herself to focus on the task at hand. The door had opened up to a much wider corridor, with no openings except the one they’d entered from and another a great distance on the opposite side of the room. But they were moving that direction.

Shadow quickly ducked under a swipe from Ket’s claws, spinning to the side to avoid the sweep of his sword that followed it barely a second later. Her own hand then lashed out for Ket’s face, but was blocked by a quickly moving forearm. Shadow reacted by taking a couple more steps back before parrying a sword strike at her side, batting the metal blade away before kicking at Ket’s torso.

This time, he wasn’t there to defend himself, and took her foot full on in the breastplate. There was a short snap of bone and he planted his feet to hold his ground before the wound was quite definitely remorphed. But it had provided at least a second, and it was a second that Shadow took advantage of, thrusting the point of her glowing lightsaber at his midsection.

Ket sidestepped being skewered(not that it would have killed him), and instead was cut across the side. A long burn mark appeared for a half second before being immediately healed, and there was no recognition of pain crossing Ket’s face. Using his momentum, Ket swung around and kicked at Shadow’s face. Instinctively, Shadow ducked, but then let other instincts kick in when she got a quick idea.

Before his leg had gone completely over her head, Shadow’s free hand shot up and grabbed Ket’s ankle, reversing his momentum and throwing his leg back the direction it had come from. The shock of this sent Ket off of his feet, spinning so that when he hit the deck, he hit face first.

And then Shadow hesitated.

Despite the fact that he was face first on the deck with no way to defend himself for that tiny fraction of a second, Shadow did not act. It was an almost worrying proof to her of just how much she had changed. She should have lopped his head off and been done with all of this. But she didn’t. She waited. She waited, and Ket took the chance he was given to roll over and swipe at her feet to send her to the deck, too.

Thankfully, Shadow jumped back to avoid this, but the damage was already done, and her advantage was gone as quickly as it had come. As Ket quickly got back to his feet, Shadow growled over the link to Jyren. [You’re a bad influence.]

There was a response, but Shadow didn’t hear it. She was too busy jumping back onto the defensive, losing ground with every strike she ducked under or parried. Each time, she stepped back. Catching Ket’s fist with her free hand, Shadow attempted to retake the initiative and push him back, knowing Jyren was close to breaking through the door. Her other hand spun the lightsaber around and she tried to thrust it straight though the arm she was holding.

Before her blade reached Ket’s arm, though, a heavy wall of the Force slammed into her. Shadow resisted the full brunt of the blow, but her arm was thrown back and she lost her grip on the lightsaber. The safety kicked in, and she heard the sharp hiss of the blade deactivating before the hilt bounced across the deck plates and hit the wall that was no longer very far behind her.

Ket smiled that cold smile he seemed to have developed in the last few years before forcing Shadow to release her grip on his fist by kicking her back roughly. She took another step back, and then the metal sword came slashing at her neck. Instinct taking over, Shadow ducked again, but Ket had been prepared for this and her face met with his knee.

Her nose made a noise that should not have been possible, but she ignored that and remorphed the broken bone as her head snapped back. But her awareness didn’t simply fade away with that. The Force screamed at her and Shadow pulled to the side to avoid a vertical slice from the sword. Now Ket was focusing on the blade again...

Shadow held a neutral expression as she blocked a kick meant to push her back another series of steps. Again, she sidestepped a swing of the sword, but this time purposefully stayed on the defensive despite the many openings Ket was leaving...though he likely knew they were there. She avoided another slash meant to cleave her into two before taking her last step back before reaching a wall. Or rather...a door. Part of her wanted to reached around for a switch and open it, but the rest of her realized this was exactly the right place to jump back on the offensive.

Ket thrust the metal blade at her chest with lightning speed, but Shadow did not move out of the way this time. Instead, her hand shot out and, with at least some help from the Force, she grabbed the metal sword. Everything froze. Ket looked from the hilt of his sword to the edge being held by Shadow...thick, blue coloured blood was leaking from the unseen palms of her hands onto the blade an the deck at their feet. His eyes then looked up to see there was a grin on her face.

“I believe you forgot that I do not fear metal,” Shadow said in the sarcastic tone she’d heard far too often from Jyren.

Ignoring her words, Ket lurched the blade free of her grip and then slashed across to remove her head from the rest of her body. Even if she could remorph metal, it would kill her. Again, Shadow did not move, but instead of catching the blade again her arm shot out and hit his wrist hard. So hard, in fact, that the swing was shot off in another direction, digging into the bulkhead neck to Shadow’s face. There was a flash, a shower of sparks, and then the door lurched open.

Shadow lost her balance and fell back through the door just as Jyren finished cutting through the one on the other end of the corridor.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 262: Fuel for the Fire*

It was amazingly infuriating just how thick the metal on the doors was. But finally, Jyren’s lightsaber finished cutting a hole about the right size for him to get through. Kicking the slab of metal inwards, Jyren immediately watched as Shadow, sans-lightsaber as far as he could tell, fell back into an open door. Ket’s sword was moving in a blur as he moved in after her.

Calling on the Force yet again, Jyren ran as fast as he could, lightsaber held up and ready to simply cleave Halpak into two pieces. It took barely a fraction of a second to reach the other end of the corridor, but Jyren caught sight of a sudden flash of movement from Ket. He had...turned his head just slightly. And a second later Jyren’s danger sense screamed at him. Instinct took over when his legs forced his body to stop moving, and both his arms extended to catch himself on the door that suddenly slammed shut in front of him.

At the speed he was going, that wasn’t nearly enough to stop himself, and so his face still hit the metal door. When the dizziness passed, Jyren cursed and glanced to a panel near the door that was cut and still spewing out sparks. He didn’t have to know how these systems worked to know the door was jammed. And the only way it could possibly have closed that quickly was if Ket had used the Force to close it on his own.

As he pulled back to begin cutting through a second door, the blue-green glow of his lightsaber bounced off of something near the corner of the room. Jyren glanced down to see the hilt of Shadow’s weapon sitting there. Now far too angry to even reach down and pick it up the old fashioned way, Jyren simply used the Force to call the second blade into his hand, activating it immediately.

Growling yet another curse, he dug both of the lightsaber blades so far into the door that he could only see the hilts. He was halfway through the door when a jolt of pain shot through his shoulder, and it took Jyren another short moment to realize it had been felt through the link. But he wasn’t dead...that counted for something at this point.

A hole was cut into the door within the next few seconds, and Jyren didn’t even bother to kick it in, instead simply charging through himself. And when he got through, he stopped.

“Sithspit,” Jyren cursed under his breath, finding no sign of Ket or Shadow at all. The room looked to be some kind of square shaped mess hall, with oddly shaped benches and chairs strewn about here and there. And there were four other doors beyond the one he’d entered from. Four doors, all closed, and absolutely no clue at all to which one Shadow and Ket had gone through.

[Which way?!] he shot the thought through the link with an ice that usually only came from Shadow. No response came. Shadow was obviously too busy defending herself to actually give Jyren any kind of clue to where he needed to be so he could stop being so useless. Angrily, Jyren kicked a nearby chair across the room.

The Force was providing no clue at all, which to Jyren could only mean that Ket was hiding their presence just to keep Jyren away. He didn’t stop to consider the possibility that he was far too angry to focus long enough. Didn’t, wouldn’t, and at this point, couldn’t. This was his fight as much as it was Shadow’s now, and he knew exactly why Ket was splitting them up...but that didn’t mean Jyren liked it at all. Besides, now that he wasn’t trying to stay alive, he actually had time to think about it.

Jyren picked a door off to the left. He ran over to it, half ready to simply cut the damned thing through right away. But seeing a small panel that looked to be intact, Jyren used the Force to hit a small switch that was there. In an amazing moment, the door actually opened. Jyren found himself looking down a small corridor that looked to end about twenty odd meters down in a T-shaped junction. Heading that direction in a run, he deactivated Shadow’s lightsaber and clipped it back to his belt. He was not in the mood to deal with the both of them.

Reaching the end, he looked both directions. To the right was another long corridor with a bunch of doors on both sides at what looked to be regular intervals. On the left it looked the same...but he could swear there was a long gash in one of the walls. At any other time, Jyren would have grinned. This time, however, he simply headed that direction as fast as he could, glancing at each of the doors as he passed and looking for more marks or any other signs of where they had been. Wherever they were, they were moving very quickly.

But soon he found himself heading for the door that was at the end of the corridor. There, he opened it the way it was meant to be open instead of pried open via lightsaber. When the door hissed open, it revealed an absolutely gigantic chamber that Jyren could only think was a hangar. There was a catwalk in front of him that ran parallel to the corridor that came to an abrupt end. A couple of other catwalks crisscrossed an area at least ten meters above the deck below, which was empty except for pieces of equipment that were probably involved in fueling, loading, and similar tasks. And on either side up on the catwalk level were two large rooms with big windows that looked to be control rooms. Jyren somehow missed the absence of an entrance to space.

He missed that fact because of a sound. A loud crash off towards the right had his eyes darting across the catwalk to two familiar figures. Shadow had been backed into a corner at the far end of the hangar, but quickly ducked and rolled under a strike at her neck, grabbing the meager railing on the other side and using it to swing down before dropping the entire distance down to the deck below.

When Ket started to follow her, Jyren charged to intercept, “Hey!”

It was stupid to announce an entrance like that, but if Ket hadn’t heard Jyren’s footsteps charging across the catwalk then the Alraxian had gone deaf. Ket turned to face him, and had a half second to bring his metal sword up to parry a very strong attack from Jyren’s lightsaber. The chipped sword caught Jyren’s blade before Ket put all his strength into throwing Jyren back. It didn’t send him back anymore than a single step, but it was enough for Ket to jump completely over Jyren and slash at his back.

This time, Jyren wasn’t fast enough to defend himself. The pain of the metal sword slicing across his back was dulled by the anger that had been building up for the last few minutes. Jyren let out a growl, but that was his only reaction except for turning to swing his lightsaber in a long arc meant to remove Ket’s legs from the rest of his body. Ket against parried this, but then suddenly his head jerked forward from a strong punch that Shadow delivered from the rear. It was the only time they were able to really surprise Ket. The Alraxian recovered from the shock of the strike and it was immediately back to the frantic series of strikes against the two Alraxians currently flanking him. Slowly, Jyren was being backed into the same corner Shadow had been in, but he took a turn to continue backing up towards the nearby control room.

He was on the defense for a reason. Yes, he had seen Shadow literally deflect Ket’s metal sword with only her arms, but Jyren did not at all like seeing(or feeling) that, so he was doing his best to keep his attacks in rapid succession so that Ket’s sword was always on him. Not that Ket left himself open, but it allowed Shadow more flexibility in her own defenses, which were getting stronger and more vicious with every passing second.

The Force flowed through all of them, strengthening tired limbs and soothing pained injuries...all the while pushing them harder and harder. For Shadow and Ket, it was controlled and used as they had been taught all those years ago. For Jyren, however, it was fueled by the annoyance and anger at everything Ket had done...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 263: It'll Be Okay*

The control room within the large hangar was almost identical to those Jyren was used to seeing. Consoles everywhere, a few chairs attached here and there, and just enough room to allow for commanders and other higher-ups to move in and crowd the place. And despite the fact that this was scaled for the much larger Mrrakesh, it was still not designed for any kind of fighting. Even the corridors of the ship hadn’t taken the beating that the control room had taken in only a minute.

Two consoles were simply destroyed masses of burnt and smoking metal, and at least one chair had been reduced to half its original size. Another console took a strong hit, this time from Shadow’s fist and so only was dented(though severely) as Ket ducked under the swing at his face and returned the attack with a kick to Shadow’s gut. The force of the blow sent her back two steps before she hit the console covered wall behind her with a loud metallic thud.

Ket did not follow up on his attack, however, as his attention immediately reversed direction to parry a lightsaber strike from Jyren. Ket’s metal sword caught the bright glowing lightsaber before batting it up and out of the way(and, of course, it then cut across the ceiling and the top of one corner of the wall). But again, Ket was unable to press any kind of attack as Shadow had recovered and was after him again.

His arm was up to block another swipe at his face, and then he quickly twisted to the side to avoid a kick. This time, though, he did not turn to allow Jyren to distract him. Instead, Ket spun his sword around before swinging it inwards at Shadow’s extended leg. She did not have the time to avoid the strike, and then there was a sudden extremely sharp pain that shot up through her leg as the sword cut all the way to the bone. Even though she quickly remorphed the deep cut when the blade was removed, the shock of the intense pain was still there, and caused a momentary lapse in Shadow’s(and Jyren’s, due to the link, as he had nearly fallen over from the shock going through his own leg) actions.

Ket was not one to simple allow such an advantage to simply disappear. Not this time. He pulled his metal sword around again, and swung with all of his strength to take Shadow’s head off. It was the only surefire way to end this, and he had the chance...finally.

“NO!” the voice from behind Ket was so sharp and hate filled that for a moment, Ket swore there was a fourth in the room. Instinct jerked his head back to look, though the his metal blade still arced down towards Shadow’s neck. But it never reached its target. Ket had a short fraction of a second to see a mass of blue lightning explode out from behind him before he was hit and launched off of his feet. The lightning burned and tore at Ket’s flesh as it launched him through the glassteel(or something close to it) window overlooking the hangar below. There was a loud crack as his spine hit it and the entire thing shattered, and at least a few separate flashes and loud explosions from consoles that also had to have been hit by the searing hot energy. 

And then the lights in the control room went out. Ket was still flying back from the impact of the lightning when he quickly realized he should have hit the hangar deck by then. He glanced down to note he had not actually dropped at all, then quickly realized that the artificial gravity had also been a casualty of the explosion of...whatever that was. But out of the darkness of the control room, there was movement. A blurry blue-green blade shimmered and spun around before Ket saw Jyren dive out after him, floating quickly and pulling his lightsaber back to swing with all his strength.

Unable to hold any footing, Ket simply reacted the only way he could and brought his metal blade up to parry Jyren’s strike. The lightsaber hit hard, so hard that it actually changed Ket’s direction and finally started to send him down. Jyren managed another quick and hard swing before he continued on in the other direction. Ket hit the deckplates fairly hard, but was able to right himself and turn to face Jyren’s direction. The young Alraxian had hit the wall at the same time Ket had ‘landed’, and had spun around to launch himself off of it and straight for Ket again.

Ket again blocked a vicious strike before Jyren’s entire body slammed into him. The momentum sent the two of them to the opposite side of the hangar, and in another second Ket hit the wall hard, with Jyren slamming the other Alraxian into it even harder for good measure. And out of the corner of his eye, Ket saw the blue-green light moving fast...too fast for him to be able to do anything about it.

“Jyren, don’t!!” Shadow’s voice yelled out from a position where she was floating in an attempt to get to them. But only Ket heard her. His eyes looked over Jyren and straight to Shadow in the last second before the bright lightsaber made his entire world go white before it became nothing at all. Ket Halpak felt no pain when Jyren’s lightsaber removed his head.

Shadow reached one wall and then pushed off of it to reach Jyren, doing her best to avoid looking over to the now free floating head. She stopped herself by latching onto Jyren’s shoulders, immediately growling into his ears, “What are you doing?!”

She then noticed he hadn’t actually moved. His arm was still across his body, lightsaber glowing after its finishing strike, with his other gripping Ket’s tunic tightly. And he was shaking. The sudden panic that shot through the link drowned out the anger that had risen in Shadow at Jyren’s actions. Part of her still wanted to scream at him...to yell at him for something he didn’t need to do. But another part that had been kept hidden away for a very long time resurfaced and she embraced him as best she could to try to calm him down. Quietly, she whispered, “It’s okay...it’ll be okay...it's over now...”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 264: Aftermath*

It took an eternity, but finally, Shadow managed to get Jyren responding again. After an even longer time she got him away from the hangar and they headed back to what was definitely the main bridge. It wasn’t all over. There was still the matter of the war droids. But it took far too long to actually reach the bridge again, as Shadow was forced to nearly carry Jyren the entire way. She was ignoring the burn marks and cuts across the walls as she retraced their steps. This was not the time to dwell on what had happened...at least, not for her. One of them had to remain focused.

Reaching the still lightless bridge nearly a half an hour after Ket had been killed, Shadow looked around to attempt and identify things. But the few consoles she could see under the windows were nothing like she was used to. It was nearly identical to the controls of the ships in the rest of the galaxy...something Jyren should be familiar with.

“Hey,” she said quietly, poking him in the side as she took his arm off of her shoulder. She turned to face him and looked up into eyes that were far too out of focus for him to be actually seeing, “Hey...come on, Jyren. I need your help.”

He didn’t react, and so she attempted another strategy. [We don’t have time for this now. Please...wake up, Jyren.]

His eyes glanced down to her, and though she didn’t feel like it, she forced a weak smile on her face. Shadow was no expert on making anyone feel any better, but at this point, she wasn’t above at least trying. When she came to decide he was finally paying attention, she motioned over to one of the center consoles under the largest of the window sections, “I need you to bring the systems online. Find out what you can about the rest of these ships and how many droids there are.”

Slowly, Jyren nodded, and she helped him over to the console. For a moment, he just stared at it, but then seemed to find the right thing and hit a couple of switches. On the window, a series of glowing symbols appeared. Jyren looked up and stared at it with confusion on his face. Shadow ignored it a moment and instead focused on trying to remember how to read Mrrakesh. It had been a long time.

“The middle one,” Shadow said, pointing to it but not actually touching the window. Jyren glanced from her and then to the symbols. After a moment, he reached up and touched it, and the entire ‘screen’ shimmered before another series of symbols and a couple vertical bars appeared.

Looking it over, Shadow relayed the information, “I think the ships are all slaved to this one.”

“And the droids?” Jyren’s voice was almost surprising to hear, as it was the first thing he’d actually said for over half an hour.

“It looks like these are all of the ships...” Shadow trailed off a moment and sighed, “I think they’re all here.”

Though he didn’t say anything else, Shadow picked up on a thought that appeared through the chaos that was still engulfing the link. Latching onto it and making sense of it, she nodded, “Can you plot the course?”

Jyren looked up at the odd symbols, “Read them for me.”

It took another half hour. After confirming that all of the ships were definitely slaved together, the only trouble was reading through the subsections to find the way to plot courses and then Jyren was able to work things out from there. When it was done, his eyes shifted from focusing on the symbols to the nearby Alraxian star.

“It will take an hour,” Jyren spoke very quietly as the scene outside the viewport began to shift.

They stood there in silence then, Jyren simply staring out as the star came into the center of the viewport. Shadow watched it a moment before sighing to herself and looking over to Jyren. The obvious things had been solved...but there was still a handful of others that needed to be dealt with. Later, though.

“Lets go,” she said, bringing an arm around his waist to walk him back to where the X-Wing was. Even for Shadow, the next few things were simply a blur. Unimportant and easily glazed over as her mind was dwelling on the other things. The next thing she knew they were back in the X-Wing and she was shakily flying them out of the hole and back to Alraxia below. Thankfully, none of the ships around them fired their weapons, but that was one of the smaller things Shadow had made sure was disabled while the course for the ships was set. She could fly the thing straight, at least.

“They’ll come for the ships, won’t they?” Jyren’s voice made her jump, as it broke the(admittedly uncomfortable) silence without any warning.

Though she had a slight idea of what he meant, Shadow was not ready to believe he’d been digging through all her thoughts just yet, “What do you mean?”

“The Mrrakesh,” he clarified in the same deadpan, half-whispered tone, “They’re going to come for these ships.”

“They’ll come for more than that,” she whispered, now angry at herself for not hiding those thoughts in the link. It was not something he needed to worry about. It was her problem. She was the Empress now.

But Jyren also quickly picked up on what she had hinted at, “An alliance?”

“That’s what they’ll call it,” Shadow said with a slow nod as the X-Wing slowly began its descent through the planet’s upper atmosphere, “But the Empire will just become a property of their Coalition.”

She said ‘the Empire’...she meant herself. But at this point, those two were one in the same. Jyren let out a long sigh, the loudest noise he’d made yet, “And there’s nothing we can do?”

“It will ensure peace,” Shadow whispered, trying to convince herself of that as much as anyone else.

“So make your people slaves instead of letting Halpak slaughter them?”

Blunt words...forceful, and with a touch of venom attached. Especially in the ‘your people’ part. Especially since Jyren sure as Hell meant himself more than anyone else. It silenced Shadow for a long time. Even though it was utterly tactless, he was right. He was right and she knew it before he’d even said it. She turned to look over the mountains below as they passed over them. There had to be a way...some loophole or...

Her mind latched onto something. An idea that would be pushing everything, but could possibly work. In front of her, she saw Jyren’s ears swivel back in her direction. Obviously, he picked up on it through the link. So very quietly, she said, “I have an idea...”

Like everything through the entire flight, the majority of the conversation was held through the link. Emotions and feelings relayed the necessary information far better than any words could.

“And...you’re sure it would work?” Jyren finally asked, sounding more like his old self again. There was at least a genuine sense of surprise, bordering on shock, that was seeping into his tone.

Shadow shook her head, “I’m not but...”

“But its worth a try.”

She nodded. It was worth a try. Was worth a try and... “It would make our people feel stronger if we are all unified.”

“So this is going to have to be public?” Jyren nearly whimpered. So he was as worried about it as she was.

But again, Shadow could only nod, “I don’t like that anymore than you do...but after everything that has happened and all that we’ve said and done...they expect it anyway. And we’ll have to no matter what...my mother would have...have seen to it...”

Jyren nodded slowly, and then mumbled very quietly, “So do we get to start using my name or are we still stuck with BlueIce?”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 265: Home Again*

The Palace was still a mess. But thankfully, the handful of Tam’day’u were clearing the building of war droids level by level. They were amazing to watch. Coldly efficient...like watching a dozen Shadows. Jyren had sat and watched quietly on a viewscreen of sorts that the Palace Guards had set up, but finally turned away and walked out to a nearby balcony to look over the rest of the Palace.

Shadow stood back and watched him quietly for a few minutes before going back to the guard and making sure everything was going smoothly. She didn’t mean the Tam’day’u, of course, as she knew that was working fine. Instead, she was inquiring about the course of Ket’s fleet and the return of many of the Kanyaks from the Alraxian ‘fleet’, if it could be called that. Slowly, everything was returning to something close to normal.

At least something things were...others...Shadow sighed. Others didn’t look like they would ever go back to anywhere near normal. Obvious things like the simple fact that she was now Empress were surprisingly easy to get used to. It was the smaller things...and, mostly, it was Jyren. Other than that very short conversation aboard the X-Wing, he’d been silent. The link was being blocked, too...that was the most worrying part. Time and time again he’d yelled at her for doing exactly that, and now he was doing it. She wished her mother was there. She would know what to do...what to say...

Running a hand through her hair, Shadow sighed again and looked past all of the guards and other people to the balcony where Jyren was. Never in her life had Shadow ever expected to actually miss her mother. Her father...of course, but the Empress? She’d been so...so...she’d been exactly what Shadow had needed. At the time, it was impossible to see that, but even she had been a child once.

Shadow. That in itself was childish. A name given to her by the smugglers all those years ago. And yes, she had been Shadow. The clone was Shadow...but...but ever since merging with Marix she knew that it was impossible to ignore the simple fact that she was Marix BlueIce. That was going to be even more true now. Shadow was not the Empress. In fact, only Jyren knew her by that name here. Marix was the one who was supposed to lead these people. She was the one who was supposed to be doing all of this...and truthfully, when it came right down to it, Marix was not all that different from Shadow, especially now that the two personalities had been given time to merge to the point where there wasn’t any extra internal arguments.

So says you now. Marix’s voice popped into her mind right on cue.

Shadow rolled her eyes. You’re just being difficult.

There was no response of any tangible nature to that. If a Knight hadn’t stepped over to alert her to the arrival a large portion of the Kanyaks, the little debate might have gone farther. But now there were things to set her mind to, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught a familiar profile stepping out onto the balcony to where Jyren was. Hopefully that would help, as she couldn’t think of anything to do anymore.

* * * *​
Navik Keros slowly walked over to where his son stood leaning on the cream white balcony and looking out over the expansive Palace. He had arrived barely five minutes earlier, having immediately tracked down Jyren the second he heard his son was there. He wanted to embrace the boy right away, but while Navik was no expert with the Force, he was intelligent enough to read emotions that were plainly obvious.

So, instead, he simply stopped next to his son and also leaned forward on the balcony. Jyren didn’t even seem to react. After waiting a moment and receiving no form of acknowledgment, Navik attempted to see if the boy hadn’t gone deaf, “I’m glad you’re alright, son.”

Jyren tilted his head and glanced over to his father out of the corner of his eye. Well, at least that was something. Carefully, Navik reached over and resting a hand on his son’s shoulder, “Jyren, you’ve averted an all out war and saved our people...gods, you even got the girl! What’s wrong?”

That seemed to at least slightly get through, as Jyren finally turned away from the view and looked to his father. He opened his mouth to say something, but Navik could see him lose the words. Jyren sighed, closed his eyes, and then reached to his belt. Still without a word, he removed the lightsaber and extended it to his father.

Again, Navik did not need the Force to get the idea, and shook his head before firmly saying, “No, Jyren. I won’t take it. That was your mother’s gift to you, and you know how important that is far better than I do.”

“And I don’t deserve it!” Jyren yelled suddenly, and loud enough that all conversation in the adjoining room silenced as heads turned to see what was going on. Most of them didn’t understand Basic, but the volume was enough to get attention. 

Navik Keros held his calm voice as he again shook his head, “No, son...you do deserve that. Your mother would be proud of everything you have done...of the man you’ve grown to be. I am proud of that. And, if the rumors I have heard are correct, Marix is, too.”

It almost got through. Almost...but Jyren was so much like his mother. Stubborn to the end. This time, he forced the hilt of the lightsaber into his father’s hand, “I don’t! I’ve misused that damned weapon enough!”

Knowing that pushing anymore would simply make things worse, Navik very slowly took the weapon from his son’s hands. Then, somewhat abruptly, he embraced Jyren tightly. Very quietly, Navik said, “I am proud of you, Jyren. I just wish your mother was here to say the same.”

He then turned let go of the slightly shorter Jyren before turning and walking back into the main room to find the Empress. Yes, there were many other things that were probably very important, but right now, it was his son that mattered right now. His damned stubborn son. Navik could only hope that Marix didn’t kill Jyren for that...the Force knew his mother had driven Navik insane because of that more times than he could count.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 266: Changes to Come*

Shadow had spent a chaotic and long hour trying to figure out what to do with the Empire. She wanted to avoid it...but it wasn’t something that could be avoided, especially after an attack on Alraxia and the death of her mother. But at least most Alraxians were alive and, generally, well. But now they were no longer hidden. It was obvious now that the coordinates for their homeworld would no longer be hidden from the Mrrakesh as it had been for thousands of years before. And it meant they were vulnerable...and so the people looked to her right away for something that she didn’t know how to provide: safety.

At least the Palace was nearly clear of those war droids now. The Tam’day’u were at the lowest levels now, and slowly the reports were seeping through the network of their exploits. It was at least doing something to improve their image among the ‘normal’ Alraxians, though many were still obviously terrified of the idea of trained killers running free in the Palace...even though they didn’t know that the new Empress was one of those trained killers.

And she had made some important decisions. Shadow was proud of that, but at the same time wasn’t completely sure how they would go over with the people of the Empire. And then, rather conveniently, she ran into Jyren’s father. Or rather, he ran into her.

For a half second, the older Alraxian looked like he was going to apologize, but when he realized who it was he’d nearly barreled over in the hallway, he stopped and grabbed her arm rough enough to cause the guards following Shadow to start reacting. Shadow nearly reacted violently, too, but when she caught something in Navik’s expression, she quickly waved the guards back and let him drag her to a more private section of the hallway.

“You were looking for me?” Shadow asked slowly, glancing down to where he was still gripping her arm. Not that it hurt, of course.

Navik Keros nodded before releasing her arm, “I am...sorry if you’re busy.”

“No,” she said shaking her head, “I could use a break. How do you do this all day?”

“You get used to it...” he responded with a shrug. He was an ambassador, yes, but that was close enough to what she was doing to be worth asking questions like that to. But instead of him saying anything about why he was looking for her, Navik went silent. In fact, she did, too. Both had a few thousand things to say but neither could think of what to say or when.

Finally, Shadow spoke up, “Listen, I wanted to ask you a few favors.”

“A few?” Navik raised an eyebrow and his ears swivelled around slightly.

She nodded, “You are a diplomat and uh...the only one I know. I want to ask you for some help on some important things we’re going to need to do in the wake of what’s happened today.”

A very neutral, or rather, diplomatic, expression passed over the older Alraxian’s face. For a long moment, he studied her. Then, finally, said, “You are going to leave, aren’t you?”

Shadow was stunned, so much so she wasn’t able to hide the look on her face. He hadn’t even used the Force for that. She’d have noticed that! Then how...? No, that didn’t matter. And so, Shadow slowly nodded, “I...I am not ready to be Empress. And Jyren is not ready for this either...we also...have something we must do in the other part of the galaxy.”

“So what do you need me to do?” Navik asked after another moment. He seemed to accept her reasoning without any questioning at all, but of all people, it wasn’t too surprising he seemed to understand. She barely knew him, to be honest, but she could tell he wasn’t completely daft.

“Obviously, I’ll still be Empress even if I’m not actually here...but...” Shadow paused a moment to try and find a good way to explain things before giving up, “The one person that would sit here in charge in my place I refuse to allow to rule. She has...already betrayed us enough to get that power and I will not give it to her willingly. You know the leaders of the other species within the Empire...I...I want you to set up a Council.”

That got a reaction from Navik. His eyes widened and there was a look of surprise plainly obvious before he said quietly, “You know that what you are saying sounds very much like the old prophecies and stories, yes?”

Shadow nodded and couldn’t help a slight grin, “That’s where I uh...got the idea.”

Navik smiled and laughed slightly, “It is a good idea, and I will do what I can. But that still does not solve all of the problems. I hear the Mrrakesh know where this planet is...you know as well as I do they will hunt us down unless...”

“Unless I marry their Prince,” Shadow grumbled, “Yes, I know.”

Silence. Navik stared at her as he waited for her explanation as she most definitely had a plan to get out of that...he could see it in her eyes. And finally, Shadow glanced back to the guards who were staring from a distance with questioning gazes before turning back to Jyren’s father, “We need more Knights...and they need to be more than simply border patrol.”

Navik Keros caught on to her train of thought immediately, “The Curs—...the Tam’day’u, yes? You are suggesting we build an army?”

“No!’ Shadow snapped suddenly, “No army! I...I know it will sound like that, but it cannot be. You know that as well as I do. The Tam’day’u can easily train Knights in combat techniques necessary in defending our people from the Mrrakesh. Building a defense force is something we can’t ignore at all. Especially not now. They will come.”

“So you don’t plan to marry their Prince?”

“Of course not,” she responded immediately and then calmed her tone, “I’ve found a loophole...I will...Jyren and I...”

When she trailed off and shuffled her feet while turning a slight red colour, Navik smiled and reached over to put a hand on her shoulder(which made the guards nearly jump), “From what I have seen, the two of you will be fine...you shouldn’t be embarrassed.”

Biting her lip, Shadow very slowly nodded as she stared down at her feet, “Well um...the Mrrakesh, as I think you probably know...they wouldn’t have a problem with that. They’d just ignore it and move on. Jyren would be thrown aside or simply killed and I and the Empire would just become property of the Mrrakesh. But if Jyren and I...if we ah...before the Mrrakesh arrive...our people will not allow anything like that to happen.”

Navik’s smile grew. She was right. The Mrrakesh had no problem with Shadow already having a mate at all. That situation was easy to deal with, as Jyren could be killed or Shadow could simply be taken away without any trouble. And, in fact, they likely would have been able to do it while her mother was still Empress. But now Shadow was the Empress of the Alraxian Empire. She was the figurehead, and the Alraxian that all the others in the Empire looked to. And Alraxians did not have more than one mate. It was why Kato fought so hard to get Jyren. If Shadow and Jyren were publicly married and the news was spread across the Network right away, it would be impossible for the Mrrakesh to do anything without causing an incident...and, amazingly enough, they would likely want to avoid such a thing as much as the Alraxians...especially if the Alraxian Knights were better trained and armed.

“You will make a strong Empress one day,” Navik said, squeezing her shoulder softly and nodding, “Until then, please just continue to be a strong woman like your mother and keep my son safe.”

As he spoke, he extended metallic object in his other hand to Shadow. She looked down to see Jyren’s lightsaber and then gave Navik a confused look, “That’s...Jyren’s, right?”

He nodded, “He gave it to me, yelling that he didn’t deserve to have it. He is so much like his mother...I...I know when not to fight that stubborn attitude. If that is also any indication of how much he is like her, then I can promise you he’ll be wishing he had this later...so I think it might be a good idea if you held it for him.”

That brought a smile to Shadow’s face and she nodded as she took the hilt of the lightsaber, “That sounds like Jyren. I’m sorry that he acted like that to you...I don’t know what to say to him.”

“Just talk with him,” the older Alraxian said quietly while nodding past her in a very unsubtle way, “As I said, Jyren is...is just like his mother. Its amazing how much of her I see in him. He acts just like her. If you just go and talk with him plainly he’ll probably tell you what’s wrong.”

“Tell him plainly?” Shadow asked, raising an eyebrow very slightly and tilting her head, “Tell me his mother didn’t have as thick a skull as he does?”

Navik laughed and nodded, “Sadly, he got that from me.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 267: Control*

Sometimes, it seemed like days would never end. This one, in particular, was the longest day that Shadow could ever remember. One thing to another...from Nine, to Kyren, to saving Jyren’s tail, to Ket, to putting the Empire back together, and now to dealing with Jyren being his impossible, moody self. She was honestly amazed that she hadn’t simply killed him after a few minutes of his attitude...or lack there of.

Maybe that was because he at least seemed to be listening to her, even if he wasn’t responding in any way, shape, or form. She had explained her ideas on what to do with the government of the Empire and the improvement of the Knights...not to mention something more important to Shadow: bringing the Tam’day’u back into Alraxian society. It wasn’t something she had outright mentioned to Navik, but it had been at least hinted at enough that she hoped he had gotten the point.

But it didn’t take long for her to have said everything. At first she attempted to simply give him a chance to finally say something, so she turned to look out across the Palace grounds from the balcony next to him. But the link simply stayed just as silent as the rest of him. He was just acting childish now, and she knew it. Trying to make a point. Or...or get sympathy. Or...or...she didn’t have a damned idea!

“Stop sulking like some damned child!” Shadow suddenly growled, punching his shoulder in a very unfriendly fashion.

It got his attention, though when he opened his mouth she already knew exactly what he was about to say, “I’m so—“

”NO!” Shadow snapped, almost screaming at him and ignoring the fact that they were probably being watched by so many Alraxians,. Claws extended now, she grabbed his shoulder and dug them in to yank him around and face her, “If you even attempt to finish that I swear I’ll throw you off this balcony right now!”

To his credit, Jyren’s only audible reaction was a sharp intake of breath to go with the wide eyed look frozen on his face...probably at least partially due to the very sharp claws that were dug completely into his shoulder. After giving him ten seconds to make sure he made the correct choice, Shadow’s voice quieted, though her tone in no way lightened, “Tell me what’s wrong.”

There was silence, but Shadow had at least expected it. She knew he wouldn’t open up that quickly, but instead of pushing him she simply left her claws in her skin as a reminder that he wouldn’t be able to ignore. And then, finally, his mouth changed from the gaping shock that had remained there and began to form words...it took Jyren’s voice another few seconds to finally start working, “I...I screwed up...”

“Damn right, you did!” she growled in response right away, but slowly retracted her claws. Her hand remorphed from the clawed form to the normal hand, but it remained on his shoulder...a softness contrasting so much with her voice that it left Jyren horribly confused. And Shadow could feel it...which meant he was opening up the link again.

But Jyren didn’t argue. He slowly looked down to the floor under them and nodded. He did not say anything, though, and it became obvious that Shadow was going to have to push him some more. But instead of yelling at him, she took a careful, if not slightly awkward, step closer so that he couldn’t simply look down between them and had to actually look at her. Calmly, in a voice that was not at all Shadow and very much Marix, she said, “If you try to keep everything hidden away again you’ll end up right where you were after Mare died.”

The shock and pain that shot through the link was no surprise was exactly what Shadow had expected...and hoped for. She may have been a twice trained killer and assassin, but Shadow knew that many times physical attacks were not the most effective. Anger faded quickly from the link as Jyren actually began to accept that she was telling the truth. He was doing the same thing...just like before...just like...

“And don’t even try apologizing now, either,” Shadow said quietly, cutting into his thoughts before they even reached that point.

He took a deep breath and, again, nodded slowly, “I couldn’t...couldn’t...I don’t know! I just...reacted. Just like you told me to...but I couldn’t...I don’t...didn’t...I couldn’t control it...and you were about to be...”

“So you don’t think I can protect myself without your help?” Shadow asked, cutting into his thoughts again to something that had been driving her crazy about him for a very long time now.

“No! I...no...” he sighed and attempted to find words despite the fact that he was cornered and had no escape.

Shadow at least spared him the humiliation of going on further with it and instead got straight to the point, “I am not helpless, Jyren. I do not need you to protect me at every turn,” she paused a moment to let it sink in before adding, “And you aren’t either...and don’t need me to protect you.”

To her surprise, Jyren’s mind didn’t even think about apologizing this time. He simply nodded again. Shadow watched him for a long moment before letting out a long breath, “You made a mistake, and a serious one at that. Ket was much more valuable alive than headless. But its too late for that now. What is done is done, and we will deal with it...together.”

“You really mean that, don’t you?” Jyren asked slowly, searching her eyes for some hint but finding nothing at all, “You can just completely ignore that I lost control and murdered Ket. You can completely ignore that I enjoyed it! I don’t have your control! I can’t...I...dammit, maybe you’re right and there isn’t a Dark Side, but how do you explain what I did, then?!”

Shadow waited a very short moment before responding, “I never said there wasn’t a Dark Side. What I said was that the Dark Side is not some evil, external force...it is in you. Your lack of control is exactly the problem. But you can learn control, Jyren. Don’t you understand that? You have fallen...and yes, you can lay there on the ground and just crawl away, or you can get back up and learn from your mistake.”

“I still can’t under—“

She cut him off by putting her hand over his mouth and shaking her head, “I know this is a lot to ask...but can we please let this go for now? I’m a bit...overwhelmed right now with everything else and it would be very nice to have one less thing.”

Silence. Then, slowly, Jyren nodded again, and Shadow could have sworn she saw the slightest hint of a smile tugging at his face. Still in a quiet voice, Jyren said, “Thank you.”

For some reason, Shadow could not fight back a smile, no matter how out of place it seemed to be in such a day, “You know that’s something you never, ever have to say to me.”

It amazed Shadow how good it made her feel when a smile appeared on Jyren’s face finally, “I know...but when has that ever stopped me?”

“You were smart enough not to apologize just a few minutes ago,” Shadow said with a grin as she nodded to the balcony off to their side.

He laughed somewhat nervously, “You would have actually thrown me off the balcony, too, wouldn’t you?”

There was no pause at all, only an honest nod from Shadow, “You know you didn’t need to ask that...” she trailed off then, and slowly realized that it probably hadn’t been the best thing to end on. And so, linking her arm with his, Shadow tugged Jyren slightly towards the room again, “Come on. I think your father deserves better treatment than you gave him.”

((A couple things...first, sporadic updates are due to the fact that I'm not at home(sadly, not at GenCon either) for this week. Second, this part is, if you couldn't tell, drawing to a close. When it reaches that point, I'm going to be slowing down from a daily(or close to it) posting schedule to something likely to be every other day. Why is this? Well, I'm going to be starting another Star Wars Story Hour once this part is done...I'll post more about that as we get close to the end of this part.))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 268: Almost Normal*

Slowly, the daylight faded and the Alraxian star set below the horizon. As day turned to night, the remainder of the refugees from the Capital arrived at Alraxia and were given a place to stay within the protection of the Palace. There were whispers and rumors that spread throughout all of the people in the Palace about the Tam’day’u and the other changes that were coming. But somehow, things seemed to be returning to a state of normality...or at least, as close as things could ever come back to what the people considered ‘normal’.

Shadow looked out the small window next to the bed in her...their room. It was one of those few pieces of normal left. The room was unchanged, even after so many years of being away from it. And still, after such a long day with so many things that would never return to how they had been before, the room was the same. Part of her was at least slightly surprised that there had been no fuss about she and Jyren being moved to another room. She was Empress now, after all. And her mother had one of the most elaborate rooms in the entire Palace, if not the entire Empire. But, thankfully, there seemed to be more important things to do than moving the new Empress to a new room when there would probably be a long argument involved about it.

Through the window, she could see the lights across the section of the Palace she could see slowly going off. Good. If people could sleep, then that was definitely a good sign. Distantly, Shadow wondered if she would be able to. The rational part of her immediately answered that...yes, she would be able to sleep. Considering that the night before she had slept possibly an hour tops, she would definitely sleep.

But had it really only been a day? Or did that even matter? She could still very clearly remember the night ‘before’...back on the Capital with Jyren. It had been an amazing night. But then...then the chaos of the invasion afterwards. And then everything went blurry. Yes, there were short naps here and there during the entire day, but she hadn’t actually slept for...for...for however long it had been. Maybe it was only one day. One long, long day...

“You alright?” Jyren asked as he stepped out of the small washroom running a hand through his hair and tilting his head to see if there was anything particularly interesting that she was looking at outside the window.

Shadow glanced to him for a moment before looking back outside, “As much as I can be right now..” she trailed off, then quietly asked, “How long has it been?”

There was a short pause as Jyren used the link to figure out just what she meant. When he’d figured it out, it then took another moment for him to stop and really make sense of the blur of time. Then, finally, he had a rough answer, “Nearly...three days now.”

“Three days?!” Shadow didn’t bother to hide her surprise at that.

Jyren nodded slowly, “Close to it...you were...you were gone for a while. And we slept a good while back on the Capital before we got off the planet.”

She could find no worthwhile response to that, and simply nodded. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes as they simply enjoyed being able to be there together without having to worry about being killed. It was...calming. Amazingly calming, considering everything. As Jyren leaned over to carefully bring an arm around her, he picked up on a thought that darted through the link. That got a slight sigh out of him, and he said quietly to one of her ears, “We’re not done, are we?”

Shadow, still somewhat tense about the whole...Jyren...thing, very slowly returned the gesture and leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. Somewhat annoyed he had caught onto that thought, she shook her head, “We’re done today, Jyren. And...hopefully, for at least another week.”

“Its better than nothing,” he said after a moment. But, he knew as well as she did, that it wasn’t over, and there was still at least one loose end left to tie up away from the Alraxian Empire.

She nodded, and opened her mouth to voice her agreement, but stopped when she heard a sound. It was quiet...almost inaudible. Shadow’s ear that wasn’t currently against Jyren’s shoulder swivelled around to attempt to make sense of the noise she was sure she was definitely not imagining. She focused on the sound for a moment. Soft...near the door...near the floor, actually...almost like...like scratching. Constant. It kept...

“Oh gods,” she mumbled without even realizing she’d said anything. Jyren glanced down at her for a moment before picking up on the sound and then immediately knowing what it was.

Where she grumbled, he grinned and nudged her, “I’m going to let him in.”

It wasn’t surprising to hear Shadow sigh dramatically. She pulled away from him and looked up with that flat, slightly angry expression on her face. Of course, she didn’t say anything, as Shadow knew that her mouth would betray her and she’d say something nice. Jyren caught this and his grin only grew. This time, he nudged her over to the washroom, “Changing in there will at least buy you a few minutes.”

As he headed over to the door, Shadow quickly escaped into the adjoining washroom. The door closed just as Jyren opened the main one. It irised open to reveal Tobias, sitting there on the floor in the hallway and feebly pawing at the door. He didn’t look all that much better, but the fact that he was back in normal clothes and not stuck in a medical bed was extremely good to see.

At seeing Jyren, Tobias’ eyes lit up. Jyren expected the child to pounce and climb up onto his shoulder as usual, but Tobias proved that he was still not completely better. He padded in and hugged Jyren’s leg tightly, purring loudly the entire time.

“Hey, little guy,” Jyren said quietly as he reached down to pick Toby up. Tobias simply purred and clung to Jyren when he stopped moving. He then realized that the child was at least partially asleep...that expression was one that was far too easy to identify on anyone. When Toby didn’t say anything, Jyren asked, “You snuck out of the nursery, didn’t you?”

There was a slow nod from Tobias, another obvious sign he wasn’t completely awake. He’d have at least attempted some kind of lie if he was awake. Jyren smiled and idly scratched Toby’s ear, “Its good to see you again, little guy.”

“‘s good t’ see ‘ou, too...” sounded a muffled voice from Jyren’s shoulder.

Jyren moved across the room and sat back on the bed, yawning and glancing off to the close door where he knew Shadow was hiding behind. To Toby, he asked, “You feeling better?”

“Uh-huh,” the same voice replied, though now Tobias was crawling around to sit the pillow and rest his head on Jyren’s shoulder...or at least, he was trying to. Jyren was then completely lost as to what to say, and so he did the best thing he could think of: be quiet and try not to wake Tobias up anymore.

And then the door opened. Jyren noticed Toby’s ears twitch around immediately, and he glanced over to see Shadow peeking out as if something was going to attack her. Toby didn’t move...and so Shadow took two steps out before stopping again.

Still, Toby didn’t move. Shadow let out a deep breath and then carefully tip-toed over to the bed. She got halfway under the blankets before the inevitable occurred. Jyren felt the ‘weight’ on his shoulder disappear and glanced over to see a Tobias-shaped(and coloured) object had suddenly latched onto Shadow’s arm and was purring extremely louldy.

Shadow groaned, but the sound was hard to hear under Toby’s purring. She flopped back onto the bed with a sigh and glared up at the ceiling. Jyren grinned. [Back to normal.]

[Shut up and go to sleep.]


----------



## trexmaster

WOOHOO ! An update for my BDay ! Thank you, thank you, thank you !


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 269: Reunited*

Morning came slowly, allowing for a very long and well deserved sleep. Tobias, however, did not. Far too soon after sunset he was wide awake and bouncing around the bed yelling for someone to wake up. Where the weak and injured child had gone was anyone’s guess, but it was suddenly much more apparent that Tobias had just been tired the night before. If he wasn’t fully recovered, both Jyren and Shadow were very afraid of what he would be like when he was. 

Finally, though, Jyren got up. This was not by choice. There had, in fact, been a very long series of words exchanged through the link before he was determined the loser and was forced to get up. What exactly happened, though, even Jyren wasn’t completely sure of...which was probably why Shadow won.

But Shadow wasn’t in bed much longer after Jyren disappeared with Toby. There was still something she’d been putting off that needed being done. And so, she was up and dressed not an hour later and stretching while trying to figure out exactly how to go about things. It was probably going to be another long day.

She did her best to ignore the guards that followed her...though they were intelligent enough to keep at a distance. They were as uncomfortable with the situation as she was. In their eyes, she had gone from the single most dangerous threat to the Empire to...well..to the Empire itself. A reversal like that, even when it was expected in the sense of ‘one day’, was enough to throw anyone off.

Outside, the Alraxian star was already starting the day off nice and warm. At least that was something. Alraxians moved back and forth across the courtyards, though everyone stopped at least for a second to stare at her. It was...unnerving, to say the least. But Shadow did her best to ignore, despite how long it was making this short walk feel.

But then, finally, she reached the small flower-like pad where Loki sat. Or rather, was. Not that he could ever really ‘sit’, as it were, but now Shadow couldn’t even come to see it as anything close to sitting. He just...he was just there. Unconscious. Dead, if you wanted to get right to it. But...not dead. She sighed and ran a hand over the large nose of the ship. After standing there for a few minutes, she patted the hull and walked over to step inside.

The next four hours were spent in the rear sections of Loki that were strictly off limits at all times. This was because his internal organs and other vital ‘systems’ were located. Shadow spent the entire time very carefully fixing the wire-like structure of Loki’s neural network. Nine had...ripped it apart. It had been a careful and yet downright brutal. She had torn up his higher functions, effectively turning off Loki’s brain while keeping other things, such as the drives, shields, and controls, working and operational. Shadow had taken a look at it when she had first gotten Loki back after Nine was killed...but there hadn’t been much time.

She was forced to do a quick look over to make sure at least the basics were working before making a quick jump to the small space station where she picked up the Tam’day’u. But now she had time. And...from the looks of it, there was the possibility of actually fixing it and restoring Loki back to his former self. Four long hours...and as far as Shadow could tell, everything was reconnected in the correct place.

Which left only one thing to do...but that happened before she could even ask ‘Loki?’. Mumbled ‘words’ sounded through her mind as Loki began right away asking a thousand questions. At first he was terrified, but slowly she managed to calm him down. And then came the part she had dreaded...Shadow was forced to explain to Loki all that had happened. He seemed to accept it all easily enough, but one thing bothered her.

“Loki...” she mumbled, now in the cockpit and finishing assisting him in a check to make sure everything really was okay, “Why didn’t you say anything when I told you I...um...was a clone of Marix?”

There was a pause. Then. [I...already...knew...]

Shadow blinked. Then, after another few seconds, she closed her gaping mouth and blinked again, “You...you knew? How?!”

Loki performed the mental equivalent of shuffling his feet and staring at the floor idly. [Marix was...I...she...she would have been older.]

Ah. Shadow slunk back in the pilot’s chair and nodded to herself. He was right. Marix had been the one who had left Loki on Corellia all those years ago. And when she came back with Jyren to retrieve the ship, Shadow was the exact same age that Marix had been when she left. Loki wasn’t an idiot, and had probably figured that one out quickly. Which brought up another question...

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

[You were just...so much like her. And I missed her...I...I couldn’t say anything.]

For some reason, that made Shadow smile. She reached up and idly patted the ceiling above her, “Thanks, Loki.”

[It is good to have you back, Marix.]

She nodded again, “Its good to have you back, Loki.”

And then they were silent. It lasted for a few minutes as the two of them thought about the things that had been said. From the sound of things, no damage had really been done. Loki accepted and understood all that occurred and took it far better than she had expected him to. In fact, he was taking it all in much better than she was.

But Loki just had to go and ruin the wonderful moment by ‘saying’ in an almost evil way. [...so you and that human friend of yours are—]

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence!” Shadow growled dangerously.

[—officially mates now?]

He finished it. That bastard ship finished the sentence. She went red. A deep red colour that got a mental chuckle out of Loki. It didn’t take long before she started shaking very slightly, but she said nothing. Of course, that couple only tempt Loki to push farther. [I must say, I always saw it coming...you really did take far too long. It could not have been that hard to simply ask him to sleep wi—]

“SHUT UP!” she yelled, banging her fist against Loki’s hull with all of her strength, “If you even think about finishing that sentence I swear I’ll disconnect you!”

Silence.

Five minutes of silence passed...Shadow sunk back into the seat again, fuming to herself but slowly calming.

Ten minutes. Then...

[I don’t care what they all said, I always knew you’d attract a mate eventually.]

“Damn you, Loki!”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 270: The Greatest Fear*

The day was not spent simply cleaning up and returning to life as normal. That would have been expected, and, truthfully, Jyren really felt it looked that way. But that was because he spent most of the day entertaining Toby(and, by default, the other children who joined into a swarm). It meant that he only saw a few Alraxians moving back and forth across the courtyards as they had before any of the chaos had erupted. But Shadow knew what was going on...she knew because it was at least partially her fault, which was why she hid in Loki for most of the day even though the Kanyak seemed to be acting far more sarcastic than ever. It was good to have him back, at least. She couldn’t have stood losing someone else.

But, as a single mind, the Alraxians of the Palace were making the necessary preparations for that night. It was truly amazing how quickly people could work when they were trying to get their minds off of things. Not that many of them had encountered any direct loss due to the attacks, but with the way the Network worked amongst them, losing the Empress was like losing a part of oneself. And their new Empress was not filling that void. There were even rumors that she never would, but those were batted down in favor of a more positive attitude towards the night ahead of them.

The Alraxian star was slowly sinking below the distant forest when Jyren first came to realize that something was most definitely up. He was on his back and the children of endless energy where pouncing all over him, trying to hold down any limb that moved to attack them when three of the nannies arrived to round them all up. At first, Jyren didn’t think anything of it, and was actually relieved for the rescue...but then he caught sight of that Redstar again.

She was standing off near one of the trees and watching him with a neutral expression. After the horde of young Alraxians were herded off, Jyren walked over to the Redstar and raised an eyebrow, “What are you doing out here?”

“I speak Trade,” she answered with a shrug, “And you recognize me. It makes things easier.”

Jyren really didn’t like the sound of that, “Makes things...easier?”

She looked at him as if he was an idiot before nodding behind her to the Palace, “Come with me.”

Somehow, there was no arguing with that tone. And so he followed the Redstar through the corridors of the Palace, noting suddenly that they were very empty considering that everyone should have been back already. That, and Shadow was completely silent through the link. Before, she had at least felt angry and annoyed, but now...nothing. When they reached one of the hundreds of identical looking doors, Jyren couldn’t help but notice the two guards flanking it.

They both looked at him through the corner of their eyes, but the Redstar simply pushed him through the door and past them. The room was filled with Alraxians. At least ten of them, and they were all staring at him. Biting his lip, Jyren very carefully asked, “What’s this about...?”

The part of him that was still the kid on the streets in Corellia wanted to bolt and run. Well, no...all of him wanted to bolt and run. Something about this just felt dangerous. Very, very dangerous.  A couple of the Alraxians gave him confused looks, but no one answered him. In a second, he was swarmed by the group and found himself having his clothes changed.

This had only occurred twice before. [Shadow! Dammit, what are they planning?!]

It wasn’t until a very interesting looking ‘suit’ of sorts was being put onto him that there was a response. [You know as well as I do what’s going on! And don’t you dare complain at me! You thought about it before I ever even mentioned it!]

[That doesn’t count!] he ‘screamed’ back over the link as the collar was tightened far too much.

[It damn well does with our link!] Shadow’s response snapped back.

The collar was adjusted, and the entire thing got smoothed out and ‘fixed’ all over. [You’re the Empress, dammit! You can stop this!]

No response. That, in itself, was terrifying. When his fear had shot through the link long enough, Shadow finally sent back a response...though it was more like a hushed whisper than the previous yelling. [...they need this...]

[They need?!] Jyren, however, was still yelling, though now the terror was starting to sink into the mental voice. [What does this have to do with anyone else?!]

[Everything...] came a mumbled-like response. [I’m the Empress, remember? So...yeah...everything.]

Jyren sighed outwardly, which got him pushed roughly around for moving too much when everything was being put just right. One of them tried to go for his hair, but he glared at them enough that at least that was left alone. [Why are you so diplomatic all of a sudden?!] he paused, then realization slowly dawned on him as an interesting type of shoes were put on. [...Marix, right?]

There was a mental shrug. [You could...say that. But she...I...we...are not so separate anymore.]

[...but there’s no way Shadow would ever, ever give into anything like this so calmly.] Jyren said flatly.

A mental nod. [Yes, but...I’ll be honest. Ever since ah...ever since we grew up and um...especially since that night a few days back she has um...well...] there was then a mental sigh and a long pause that unnerved Jyren some more. He half expected to be told that Shadow was actually Kato, or something equally insane. Instead, he got. [Shadow will always be a child. That can never be changed. So I...um...Marix...is more dominate now as she...I...would have grown up anyway.]

Jyren blinked. Not a normal blink, but the kind when one is trying to put pieces together from completely different puzzles. By now, though, a good amount of time had passed and he was being escorted out of the room. Jyren deliberately avoided glancing over to a mirror. [So you’ve been...Marix...the entire time?]

[No!] Shadow’s response was almost too quick. [Er...yes! I mean. No, but...yes...and...] the sigh could be felt through the link. [It is complicated.]

[So I gathered.] Jyren sighed back as he rounded a corner, now with the two guards flanking him along with the Redstar and one of the other attendants.

As a large doorway came into view at the end of the hall, a voice came through the link that sounded as if it was trying to be comforting without really knowing how to. [I um...even though I’m...Marix...or...however you think of it I still um...lo...still...yeah...]

The words didn’t make it through, but the feeling did. It was something, at least, and got a smile on Jyren’s face that was probably misinterpreted by those around him. As the large door irised open to reveal a gigantic chamber with thousands a large, open walkway down the center and hundreds of Alraxians flanking it and looking at him, Jyren sent the same feeling back over the link. [I know. And thank you...I...love you, too.]

With a glance to the two guards and a deep breath, Jyren started in.


----------



## Angcuru

Giving you about two months worth of belated feedback here.     Love this story.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 271: Official Functions*

The exact details of what happened were completely lost on Jyren. This was mostly due to the fact that he still didn’t understand a word of Alraxian and the entire thing was done in said language...but also because Shadow had zoned so far out of the place that he kept glancing over to make sure she didn’t fall over like some deactivated droid. Shadow...Marix...whatever. Whatever the hell her name was had gone straight past shock to a defense mechanism that worked far too well. Yes, maybe it was really happening, and she really was in that dress in front of all of these people with Jyren right there...but she wasn’t there for it, so what did it matter?

What did matter was that she nodded and responded as was necessary...thankfully, Jyren wasn’t expected to do the same, mainly because of a sharp conversation Shadow had not had with them before hand about his lack of understanding of the Alraxian language. It was also the same conversation in which she had not ordered them to make the whole thing quick. And, intelligently, the orders that weren’t given were listened to quite clearly.

In a very short time for a ceremony as large and elaborate as this one was supposed to be, it really did go by rather quickly. That was mostly because of the general lack of active attentiveness by either of the two most important participants...but no one really seemed to notice this. It went unnoticed because, somehow, the two of them managed to do everything right on cue and without any hesitation. 

At the end, Jyren suddenly came to realize there was applause and a very loud cheering all around. When the ears had delivered this information, the other senses jumped back into their working modes and quickly reported their own new information. Namely that he and Shadow were kissing...right in the middle of all of this with a thousand(at least) eyes on them. As he pulled back(slowly enough to not look like he was jerking away in sudden shock), Jyren noticed that Shadow also had the wide-eyed look that showed she, too, had just returned to the real world.

There was a moment of frozen panic on her face as more words were spoken, but Jyren tried to ignore the noise. [Um...did I do something wrong?]

He had decided something needed saying, and, sadly, that was all that had come to his mind. It was a stupid thing to ask...really, if he’d done something wrong, why all the general happiness? But it was too late now, and it was already ‘said.’

Shadow managed to shake her head without actually moving it. This baffled Jyren, but somehow she did it. [No just...just this everything...wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t all staring...]

[I know what you mean.]

* * * *​
Barely ten minutes later, things had spread out and the room was turned into a party nearly identical to the one back on the Capital a few days earlier. Music played, people danced, food covered a huge table near where Jyren and Shadow had stood at an ‘altar’ before. The mood was about the same as before, too, and truthfully, it was nearly the same situation...a celebration of the two of them. Though now it seemed to be combined with a sort of funeral ceremony(Jyren couldn’t bring himself to use the word ‘celebration’) for the previous Empress and Emperor. Shadow had once said that Alraxians mourned the newly born and celebrated the dead, and apparently, she wasn’t kidding.

Shadow had been accosted by a group of the avian Jendari who were present, and Jyren had taken that chance to slink off for some food(for the both of them, of course). While at the large table, at least thirty Alraxians smiled and said something to him while nodding. A few of the more adventurous ones actually patted him on the back, but Jyren couldn’t help but notice that they were given very sharp looks from the guards who seemed to be near every column. He also ran into his father.

“This is one of those times where your mother would embarrass you by fixing you collar and telling you how handsome you look,” the older Alraxian said with a smile on his face.

Jyren returned the smile and the tight hug from his slightly taller father, “Yes, well I doubt it would do all that good. It really helps to not share a language with most of the people here.”

The smile on his father’s face became a devious grin and he elbowed his son in the ribs gently, “Trust me, Jyren, your mother could have found a way to do it without speaking a word.”

Jyren laughed, but it slowly faded into a sigh. After a moment, he said quietly, “I wish I could have really known her...I wish she could have been here.”

“She would have been proud of you, son,” Navik said, resting an arm on Jyren’s shoulder, “I know I’m proud of you. You’ve done so much, and become a better man than your mother and I could have ever hoped for. Now I don’t care what you think you’ve done wrong, son, but just trust me on this...you’re a good man, and with her you’re an even better one.”

An awkward silence arose between the two of them. Jyren manage a smile and finally nodded, “Thank you...”

His father patted his shoulder, “Listen, Jyren, I don’t want to lose you again. It was my fault the first time. I should have never left you alone. But I don’t want to lose you now...” he sighed heavily and raised a hand to keep Jyren silent, “But, I know you’re going to go anyway. So I want you to do something for me. You come back here...you come back alive and well, and you bring her with you. And don’t you dare let her come back alone. Understand?”

It was the first time Jyren had ever heard a stern, fatherly tone from the older Alraxian, and, somehow, it made Jyren smile even more, “I will, dad. But...are you...?”

He trailed off when Navik waved a hand, “I’ll be fine. We’ll all be fine. It won’t be easy, but we’ll be fine...and we’ll be here for when you come back.”

The only thing Jyren could really do in response to that was nod. His father had that way of speaking where even if the statement was probably irrational or reaching, it was hard to argue with because he just sounded so damned sure of himself. It was also something, Jyren noted, that Mare had once yelled at him about all those years back. Sometimes it was terrifying to realize just how much he was like his parents, even without them being there all his life.

“Jyren,” his father cut into the thoughts and nudged him gently before motioning over to where Shadow stood. She was now surrounded by another group of people who were obviously trying to compliment someone that was very unused to compliments of any kind. Even Navik could see that in Shadow’s face, “It would probably be a good idea to lend a hand over there.”

Running a hand through his white hair and noting that only the blue hairs fell back in front of his eyes, Jyren gave up on food and started back. He got three steps before stopping. Jyren took a deep breath and turned around to face his father again, “This is the last time I’m going to see you for a long time, isn’t it?”

Navik Keros’ face showed the same neutral expression on his face that his son currently held when he nodded, “I have a feeling you’re right.”

Silence. A few Alraxians walked between them, nodding to Jyren as they passed. Then, biting his lower lip, he finally said, “I will be back, dad.”

“I know you will, son. Now get over there and enjoy the rest of the night.”

There was a long hesitation before Jyren finally nodded and turned away. Neither father nor son would ever admit to the fact that they were both on the brink of tears.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 272: Another Party*

Jyren did as his father had suggested and had...helped to get rid of the many people mobbing Shadow. Helped being that he stared at the backs of their heads pointedly until one of them turned around, after which they quickly dispersed.

Shadow managed to give him a weak smile, “You still owe me, you know.”

“I get the feeling it’s a debt I’m never paying off,” he said with a grin, “Really would have thought you would owe me, though. You know, for the killing thing.”

“Yes, well, you’re alive now aren’t you?” she grinned back and poked his chest, “Besides, that’s over and done with. You owe me for all of this.”

Jyren looked around to see all of the people were staring at them. Trying to ignore that, he looked back to Shadow, “I owe you for all of this?”

“Yes, you do,” she said flatly, “If not for you, none of this would be happening.”

He opened his mouth to argue that, but no words came out. She was right, of course. But...it seemed like such an unfair argument.

[It is unfair.] Shadow’s voice appeared in his mind. [You’ll live.]

Slowly, Jyren’s grin grew until he started laughing. Why, he wasn’t completely sure, he just did. And then, after Shadow had gone to staring at him as if he’d lost his mind(or rather, lost more of it), he said a little too loudly, “You look beautiful in that dress.”

Immediately, Shadow went a deep shade of crimson, which got a cruel laugh out of Jyren. Under her breath, she growled a curse and gave him a not so gently punch in the chest. Of course, she didn’t actually say anything, and she was still a very interesting bright red colour. After letting this go on for another long minute, Jyren finally sighed and put a hand on her shoulder, “I guess its not possible to escape from here, is it?”

She shook her head quickly, then said quietly, “Can go outside, though.”

That was all the agreement that was necessary. As quickly as they could while still looking polite and smiling, the two of them moved across the large room to one of the open doors. They stepped out onto one of the countless balconies that almost littered the huge Palace complex. Idly, they walked over to the edge to look out at the view of the forest beyond. It was so much like the back on the Capital and yet...so very different. It had only been a few days, but so much had happened. 

So much and here they were, standing together out on a balcony doing their best to escape from a gigantic ceremony in their honor. But something was different. Not just the view of the Palace and the forest beyond, or even the multitude of stars that could be seen in the sky...but the atmosphere itself. The feeling in the Force. It was...it was...different. Whether that was good or not, neither were all that sure of. If it was, that meant that it was a good thing that Kyren and so many others had lost their lives...and it wasn’t, then what had they given their lives for in the first place?

“You told my father we’re going to leave, didn’t you?” Jyren asked out of nowhere, glancing over to her and doing his absolute best not to stare. It was, admittedly, very hard to do. He hadn’t been lying when he’d commented on how she looked.

She nodded, but continued to look up at one of the two moons up in the night sky, “I knew you wouldn’t, and he deserves to know.”

“So when are we going?” he asked, carefully trying to avoid any kind of argument and turning up to look where she was.

“Tomorrow,” Shadow answered after a short pause.

But she said nothing else. Noticing that she was dropping back into her old, direct habit she used to simply ignore things that were annoying her, Jyren attempted to nullify this the best way he could. He put an arm around her, which, of course, made her jump out of surprise for a moment before she sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.

“I wish this was over and we could just stay,” Jyren said quietly, resting his head on hers gently.

“Don’t try lying to me to make me feel better. I know when you’re lying better than you do,” Shadow whispered, though she wasn’t at all harsh in that and was simply stating a fact. After she felt him nod his head slowly, Shadow added, “You’ll always find something, Jyren. I don’t know what you’d do if all of this suddenly ended.”

“We’re not leaving here just because I’m trying to find something else to run off and fight,” Jyren growled, for once doing exactly what he always accused Shadow of and missing the point completely.

She sighed and put her arm around him, “I know that...but you have to admit that there’s a very good chance we’re not going to find a thing. Are you going to reach more if that happens?”

Jyren opened his mouth, a sigh came out when he didn’t mean one to, then closed it. After a deep breath(which caused Shadow to shiver as the air breathed across her ear in just the ‘right’ way), he said, “I’m not reaching at all, Shadow. You know that as well as I do.”

“No!” she nearly yelled, stepping back and turning to look him straight in the fact, “Jyren, no I don’t know! That’s the whole problem! Dammit, Jyren, I saw the same thing you did! And I’m sorry that it happened, but people die, Jyren. People die every single day, and you have to learn to accept it and move on! You can’t just cling to every little thing in some false hope! I will tear you apart! You should know that better than anyone, even me!”

All that Jyren could do was sigh and hang his head. Shadow was not going to have any of that, though, and quickly reached up to force him to look her in the eye. Finally, he said under his breath, “Its not false hope, Shadow. I know you’ve felt it through the link, too.”

A pause, then, slowly, Shadow nodded, “Yes, I have, and that’s why we’re going back. But, Jyren, you have to got understand that it could very well be your mind trying to find a way to bring her back. 

“But I...we would have felt something if she had died,” Jyren was nearly pleading at this point.

“Did you feel anything when Voort died?”

The mere mention of the name caused Jyren to freeze in place. In a second the image of the man’s face flashed across Jyren’s eyes. The look of shock on the battered face of Titus Voort hung there in front of Jyren for a very long moment before gasping, “Find her...”

“I’m sorry,” Shadow’s voice put a sudden end to the haunting image. It was easy to forget how strongly he reacted to hearing Voort’s name. Carefully, she stepped forward and hugged him as best she could manage, “We’ll go back to Nar Shaddaa, and we’ll see what we can find.”

Slowly, Jyren nodded in response, but Shadow couldn’t help but notice he was just standing there still. She sighed and stood back, moving her hands up to rest on his face, “Come on, Jyren, lets not do this now. I’m sorry I even brought it up.”

Then, at least a little awkwardly, Shadow leaned up and kissed him gently. That, thankfully, seemed to get some reaction out of him. When she’d pulled back, he opened his mouth and said, “I’m so—“

”And none of that, either,” Shadow cut him off, but a grin quickly appeared on her face and she nodded back inside, “Come on, people are going to get suspicious about us. Besides, you owe me a dance without any surprises like last time.”

He grinned as she tugged him inside, “You’re sure you’re the same Shadow?”

“Nope,” she squeezed his arm, “But I’m all you’re getting, so you’d better get used to it.”

“I wasn’t complaining,” Jyren said as they moved past one of the larger crowds.

Shadow looked over her shoulder to him and grinned, “You’d better not be. Remember, I’m very dangerous. You’re liable to lose your tail if you complain too much.”

((A heads up. There will not be another update until Friday, and then I should be starting into a new schedule for updates. Namely, this SH will be updated on(hopefully) Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Weekends, too, if I've got the time, but I'm not making promises on that.

Why is this?

Because Tuesdays and Thursdays will now be taken up with updates for a brand new Star Wars Story Hour I'll be writing in conjunction with this one. It should get its first update on Thursday, and I'll post a link to it here on Friday.))


----------



## trexmaster

Woot ! Woot ! More SW goodness from AMG ! Woot !


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Part IV
Chapter 273: Back Again*

Step left...right...back...eyes on her. Focus. Think. Ignore the link. Ignore the Force. Focus. Watch her movements...careful...careful...tail twitched left. From the left, then? No! Too obvious! Right, then! No! Again, too obvious! Then...where...foot!

Jyren immediately took a half step back, his hands moving up to catch Shadow’s foot as it lashed out as his chest. He actually succeeded, grabbing her ankle and throwing her back as quickly as he could. Shadow stumbled back a few steps before regaining her footing. A smile appeared on her face, “Good. Looks like this is actually getting through you skull, finally.”

It was another four day hyperspace jump to get from the Alraxian Empire to the rest of the galaxy, and they were making the best of it. Sure, the first day had only consisted of arguments stemming from Jyren’s blatant refusal to use a lightsaber or, the part that really annoyed Shadow, the Force. He’d gone from spooked on the whole incident with Ket to stubborn determination to not come anywhere near any of it again. It was stupid, in her opinion. But after the first day, she’d given up arguing it. He had, thankfully, given into allowing her to teach him better hand-to-hand techniques than he’d learned with the New Republic.

Shadow taught him what she had learned as a Tam’day’u...well, mostly. They used the Force. Jyren, as usual, was making things difficult by not doing so. But now, finally, it all looked to be sinking in. His movements were more natural and much less forced, and he had finally gotten the hang of paying attention to every detail of his opponent...not just allowing the Force to do all the work. That, at least, was a good thing. 

Deciding to give him another quick test, Shadow did not speak up and help him with what he’d done wrong, and instead moved forward quickly. She feinted left, then as she moved to his other side, swept a foot out to send him to the ground. Jyren actually jumped over the swipe at his feet, and even brought up an arm to block her punch aimed at his stomach.. He did not, however, keep the same defenses up when his feet hit the deck, and Shadow landed a strong kick to his left side which sent Jyren to the deck hard.

From Jyren, there was a loud groan. From the other side of the large ‘hangar’, there was a higher pitched whimper, a sigh, then, “That’s no fair!”

Shadow sighed and looked over her shoulder to where Tobias was sitting up on top of the nose of Jyren’s X-Wing. The little Alraxian was perched up there on the sensor cone and watching intently, though he had been, of course, cheering for Jyren the entire time. Rolling her eyes, Shadow looked back to Jyren as he got to his feet, “I still can’t believe you convinced me to bring the brat along.”

Jyren grinned as he rubbed his side, “You’re just complaining because he’s on my side.”

Shadow glared at Jyren for a long moment before glancing back to Toby. The child caught her nodding to them, smiled broadly before hopping down to the deck a good meter below, and then padding over to the two of them, purring the whole time. There was something about this that was distinctly worrying to Jyren...and not just because Shadow was blocking the link to hide something. He could tell there was something going on here, and had a good idea the two of them were conspiring about something behind his...errr, in front of his face.

When Shadow looked back to Jyren, he caught that devilishly evil grin was back on her face. It had never worried him before, but for once, it did. And then a second later, a growl from Tobias turned into a, “Pounce!”

And then, of course, Jyren was pounced. Toby jumped a half meter up and immediately latched onto Jyren’s leg, and then suddenly Shadow pounced too. In a blur, Jyren hit the deck again, but harder and with two others forcing him down. Between the two, they pinned him and laughed.

“Traitor!” Jyren yelled out, shaking his leg where Toby was attached to.

Tobias laughed and just gripped harder, which meant claws. Shadow grinned and kissed Jyren’s cheek, “He’s on my side,” she then looked down to Toby, “And why is that?”

“Cause Jyren never makes food,” Tobias stated in a very well trained voice.

Any response was cut off by a mental clearing of a throat...or at least something similar. Naturally, they all looked up. When he decided he had their attention, Loki said. [We will be exiting hyperspace in five minutes. If you two would like a little more time alone I can fly in myself...]

“We’re coming, Loki,” Shadow growled, as she got up off of Jyren and then helped him up. Tobias didn’t let go, but it didn’t provide much of a hindrance as they headed for the cockpit. Their break was over. Back to work now. Back to the rest of the galaxy and back to Nar Shaddaa. 


((New Story Hour is up and has one update so far! Link in my sig.))


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 274: Of Smarts and Looks*

The putrid brown world of Nal Hutta, home of the slug-like Hutts, hung distantly on the opposite side of its small moon. Thankfully, the world itself was generally off limits to any non-Hutts, but that wasn’t ever a problem. Any non-Hutt that wanted down on that planet would have to have some serious problems. At least partly because of this, Nal Hutta’s moon of Nar Shaddaa became the place where the smugglers, bounty hunters, and other galactic ‘sludge’ that worked for the Hutts found their way to.

And now, flying through the atmosphere of the miniature Coruscant, Loki wove through the other traffic and larger of the giant towers. They were currently circling an area near Halpak Tower, which was still in exactly the same place they’d left it. The reason they weren’t set down was due to the fact that nearly all of the landing platforms on the planet were privately owned, and it required very strong negotiation skills to convince the owner to let you land and not steal your ship when you’d left.

Shadow was doing the ‘negotiating’, and had just finished explaining in great detail how anyone looking at Loki in the wrong way would have their extremities removed. Of course, she did make sure to mention they would pay generously...but the pain was emphasized. Once it was repeated in even greater detail, the voice on the other end caved and agreed, and it wasn’t long before Loki set down on a small pad not a half-kilometer from Halpak Tower. Closer than they’d been before, at least.

After Loki was down, Shadow checked over a few last things before heading back to find Jyren. He was supposed to be back with Toby making sure the child would stay on the ship while the two of them were gone. Instead, she found the two of them sitting on the bed in Toby’s room(which had been Jyren’s before) and staring at each other with an almost malicious intent in their eyes.

Shadow simply cleared her throat, although she managed to make it sound menacing somehow. At the noise, Tobias jumped. Or rather, shot up a half meter into the air and yelped in surprise. Immediately, Jyren laughed before sitting up and catching Tobias as he fell back down, “I win.”

“Awwwww!” Toby whimpered then looked over Jyren to Shadow with a glare, “But I wanna go, too!”

“Nope,” Jyren shook his head and set Toby back down on the bed, “You know the deal. I won, so you have to stay here until we get back.”

Tobias sighed dramatically, but after seeing that he was being given The Look from both Jyren and Shadow, mumbled and nodded, “Okay...but I wanna explore when you get back!”

“If you’re good,” Jyren said with a nod, patting Toby on the head and getting up to walk over to Shadow.

She was now staring at him in shock. After a moment, she just shook her head, “You actually gave him the chance to win?”

Jyren shrugged and grinned, “He accepted it much better than just telling him. And besides, it wasn’t as if I was going to lose.”

Shadow was still gaping, but slowly words began to form, “You...arrogant...”

That was it. What else was there to be said? Especially considering that he grinned even more, anything else would probably have only encouraged him more. It was one of those times when Shadow wondered why she hadn’t killed him yet...besides the fact that she’d have to die, too.

Shaking it off, Shadow turned and started down the corridor to leave Loki, “Come on, we’ll do this quickly.”

She saw him nod before turning back and saying something to Toby. Jyren then quickly ran to keep up with her, and when he got to the hatch and found nothing, he started looking all around.

“Human,” sounded an oddly Shadow-like voice. It would have been Shadow but the voice was higher pitched, at least slightly softer, and well...lower down. Jyren blinked, allowed his mind to process all of the information, then made the correct decision and looked down. A half meter under his vision was a human woman with shoulder length, jet black hair and an athletic build. She was looking straight up at Jyren with two piercing violet eyes and an expression that only Shadow could manage.

“Oh!” it suddenly all made sense to Jyren, “Right. Of course.”

In a moment, he was no longer towering over her...though even back in his ‘old’ human body, Jyren was still a good deal taller than Shadow was. But she didn’t have to break her neck to look up at him, now. It was almost strange looking at him like this again. His hair was pretty much the same length, but now back to the old brown instead of white and blue. And he was...well...he wasn’t exactly much to look at, in all honesty. No wonder he’d been a pilot.

She grinned at the thought, which only made Jyren confused. Which of course, only made Shadow grin more. There was something more dangerous about that grin when it was on a human. Probably because she was shorter, smaller, and didn’t look nearly as menacing. That grin sure as hell did. Seeing that it had the necessary effect, Shadow patted Jyren on the shoulder before turning and leading the way out to the streets of Nar Shaddaa.

They were delayed for a short time while they paid the owner of the platform and gave more assurance of the pain that would be caused if the ship was touched, but in a few more minutes they were back to braving the insanely populated streets of the Smuggler’s Moon. It took twenty minutes to travel the half-kilometer to their destination...but their it was, almost exactly as they had left it.

Almost, because now there were lights on, and, from the looks of things, actual people inside. Jyren bit his lip and looked down to Shadow, “So what do we say?”

“I haven’t worked that part out yet,” she admitted with a shrug before starting to the entrance anyway, “I’ll figure something out.”

“Ah, good,” Jyren rolled his eyes, “And here I was thinking I was the one who ran in head first without any plan.”

“Just more proof that you’re a bad influence,” Shadow shrugged idly, managing not to grin, “Now keep your mouth shut and let me do the talking. Don’t want to tip anyone off that you’re smarter than you look.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 275: Memories*

If there was one thing that could persuade people that you were in the right place, it was acting like you owned it. One thing Jyren had learned very early on was that it was something Shadow was an expert at. And when she led the way into the large, open lobby of Halpak Tower, not a single person made eye contact with her at all. Not only was it in the way she walked, but the very feeling she was giving off was the kind that made everyone know that stupid questions such as ‘Who are you?’ would be very dangerous because this was something they obviously should know...it was just a matter of remembering her name.

Sitting behind the main desk off to one side of the lobby was the exact same woman who had been there the first time Shadow and Jyren had done some recon weeks ago. Jyren was smart and stood back a few paces while Shadow did her thing...which currently meant stepping right up to the desk and not even looking down at the woman when she said, “Send the guards on the top floor home.”

The human woman behind the desk looked at Shadow with a stunned silence. Jyren knew there was not a trace of the Force in that sentence...simple stating of an order that could not possibly be argued against. And she even got halfway to hitting a switch that was probably a comm before stopping herself and stuttering out, “W-wh-who are you?!”

When Shadow made eye contact, it was as piercing and violent as a lightsaber blade, “I am Mr. Halpak’s personal assistant,” Shadow then allowed for the dutiful and short pause, allowing the woman to open her mouth before shutting her up again, “I am in no mood to be delayed. There are some objects he left behind that I must return to him.”

A long pause, then, slowly, the woman nodded and relayed a message through the comlink. She then motioned for Shadow to go to the turbolift, and when they were in and it was heading up, Jyren couldn’t help himself.

“By the Force, I’m glad we don’t have to walk this again.”

Shadow allowed herself a grin and a nod, “You and me both.”

After taking a deep breath, and casually listening to the sound of the turbolift rising up the uncountable number of floors, Jyren decided there was a question worth asking, “How did you know there were guards up on the top floor? And how do you know they didn’t clear the place weeks ago?”

“I didn’t,” she said with a devious smile. She idly ran a hand through her all black hair(which was somehow odd looking without the white), then decided to answer his next question before it was asked, “But you learn to pick up on things. You forget that I wasn’t just an assassin...smuggling requires people skills.”

“...which is why I’m not doing the talking,” Jyren grumbled, finishing her unsaid thought.

“Exactly,” Shadow replied sweetly before turning and giving him a casual look over. When she rolled her eyes, he knew what was coming, “If you don’t cut that hair, I’m going to hack it all off in your sleep.”

“Hey, I like my hai—“ Jyren was quickly cut off by the swish of the turbolift door opening. Normally, that wouldn’t have shut him up so easily, but seeing this room again did it. The columns...the long red carpet, the turn to where Halpak’s desk was. All the same. Like they had never been touched...at least the blood was gone.

The air between them suddenly altered, Shadow and Jyren exchanged a glance before very slowly walking in together. It took nearly five minutes to reach the turn in the room...not because they were worried about any of those traps that Ket had been so fond of, but simply because the room was...was...this room. And when they turned the corner, their eyes locked on the scene there.

The desk that had been smashed in the fight that had occurred in this room was still there...not replaced, but simply patched together. It was obvious due to the large seam lines across the center where the desk had snapped in two. Behind it was the turbolift door that Ket and Nine had escaped through...clean and untouched. And the large window to the right of the turbolift had not been completely replaced. Instead, there were three glassteel panels patched together in the large area. Though Jyren’s eyes immediately latched onto the fourth column on the right side of the room, he saw no blood...no signs of the sharp, metal blades that had been hidden within.

No signs of Titus Voort.

“We should have given him a proper burial,” Jyren whispered, not even really knowing he had spoken anything.

Shadow slowly nodded, and said quietly, “There wasn’t time...I...I did the best I could.”

“I know,” he said softly back, resting a hand on her shoulder. Shadow very quickly realized it was not out of an attempt at comfort, though, as his fingers dug into her shoulder(thank the Force he was human, claws would have hurt).

Taking a deep breath, Shadow put an arm around him and half-hugged him as best she could...she still wasn’t comfortable with the whole...comfort thing, “Its uh...okay...lets just do what we’re here to do.”

It took a moment, but Jyren eventually nodded and let go of her shoulder. He then stepped around the desk and to the temporary window. Nothing needed to be said to know what had to be done. After a silent count(and a silent apology from Jyren), both of them kicked the glassteel panel with all the strength that their human bodies could manage...though Shadow used the Force to assist her. 

With a loud crash, the lower panel collapsed outward and shattered. There was a half second before the two upper panels fell down, smashing on the edge of the floor before the pieces scattered across the interior of the room...though the majority went tumbling down the impossibly long fall to the ground below. Both of them then stepped back into view of the open window, trying to ignore the heavy wind that was at this altitude. It was only natural to lean over and look down...though it was not a new view for Jyren.

“I see something,” Shadow mumbled before peering closer.

Jyren did his best to follow her gaze, but quickly realized what she was looking at, “Those are mine.”

“Yours...?”

“Claw marks,” he clarified simply.

Shadow raised an eyebrow at him before turning and leaning a little farther to get a better view. She then stood back up straight and looked him right in the eye, “That mark goes on for at least five levels.”

“Sounds about right,” Jyren answered the question she’d asked without actually asking. He sighed, then said flatly, “I fell a long ways.”

Between them, an unsaid comment flashed through their minds.

‘Jen fell farther.’

The moment passed, and Shadow allowed herself another look down. Over her shoulder, she commented, “There’s a walkway about forty levels down.”

“How close?” Jyren was suddenly no longer in the mood to look down that metal chasm.

Shadow had to take a moment to figure his meaning before saying, “Close enough.”

“Then there’s a chance...”

Sighing, Shadow stood back up to look him in the eyes again, “Jyren, with you, there’s always a chance.”

“But I felt something!” he snapped back angrily.

“Of course you did!” Shadow growled at him, “Dammit, Jyren, its called regret, not the Force!”

Jyren sighed, and calmed himself as best he could, “Then why are we still here?”

At that, Shadow actually grinned, “Because there’s a chance. Here, lower me down, I want to check something.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 276: Over the Edge*

“Shadow, a question for you,” Jyren grunted in a strained voice as he tried to ignore the pieces of glassteel digging into his chest as he lay on the floor at the edge of the window.

“What?!” Shadow’s voice snapped back, two arm’s lengths below. The high winds outside made it somewhat hard to hear her as she hung by Jyren’s arm outside the window.

Before responding, he attempted to shift his position without losing his grip on Shadow’s wrist. Though he knew she was moved slightly by that, he was currently doing his best not to look over the edge, “Why exactly do we have to do this the hard way, again?”

There was a grunt from below, and Shadow’s grip on his arm tightened slightly, “Because there aren’t any damned birds on this moon! We still have bounties on our heads, its not a good idea to stick them out and get noticed!”

“Oh,” Jyren grumbled, shifting again as a piece of glassteel was digging into the arm that was holding Shadow, “Right, then. Just wanted to make sure I understood.”

He could feel Shadow roll her eyes. In fact, the entire damned moon probably felt it. The weight on his arm shifted as Shadow probably moved to get a better view of...of...whatever the hell it was she was trying to look for. The extra strain on his arm brought up the need to ask another question, “So um...why exactly are we only using on arm each to keep you from falling and getting us both killed and/or noticed?”

Another grunt from below and Jyren felt his arm twist around in a way that should not have been possible. He whimpered before Shadow growled up at him, “Because I can’t see a damned thing if I’m using both arms...” there was a pause, another whimper from Jyren as he felt muscles being pulled, and then Shadow added, “And you’re supposed to be bracing yourself with your other arm.”

“Ah, of course,” the words were spoken through gritted teeth as Jyren glanced over to where his left hand was literally clawing into the duracrete wall. The fact that he was still human and had no claws only made him wince. He took a deep breath and forced his eyes shut again, “I can’t hold you much longer...all that twisting around is not doing anything but causing more pain.”

“Shut up,” the words were nearly yelled, though whether that was due to the fact that a speeder had gone by fairly close or because she was angry, Jyren didn’t know.

She moved again, and his arm was wrenched around and there was a snap. The snap was then followed by a pained growl from Jyren and then a weak sounding, “My shoulder is going to pop out if you keep moving like that!”

“How do you think I’m doing this, anyway?!” it was most definitely a rhetorical question.

Jyren’s eyes widened when it made sense to him what she meant, “You dislocated your own shoulder?! Dammit, Shadow, what is it with you and self-mutilation?!”

“It was the only way I could move and see without pulling you down!” Shadow snapped back. He heard a sigh(or maybe it was just the wind), and then Shadow said, “Pull me up.”

That was far easier said than done. Humans were really not designed for this kind of strain. But somehow, and still without the Force, Jyren managed to drag her back up and onto the solid floor in the large room. When up, they both remorphed the pained and broken limbs without even thinking. A moment later they were both back up on their feet and Shadow was looking down over again.

“She had to have fallen all the way down,” Shadow said quietly, glancing over her shoulder and through wind-ravaged black hair, “There’s no way to hang onto anything on the building without claws.”

Jyren sighed and nodded, stepping over next to her to look down again, “So that’s it, then?”

Silence.

Shadow was looking down again, her eyes not seeming to be looking at anything in particular. It was her ‘I’m thinking, shut up and be patient’ expression, and Jyren had (finally) learned that it was best to just shut up and be patient instead of asking question after question until he got an answer.

After another minute, Shadow stood back and crossed her arms over her chest, “There’s a traffic lane about halfway between this level and the platform walkway below.”

Jyren bit his lip and had a look, “Still a long way down...hitting a ship or a speeder would still kill a human, wouldn’t it?”

It was not lost on either of them that it was suddenly Jyren being the skeptic. Shadow shaking her head showed that the rolls they had originally taken were at least slightly turning around, “Not necessarily.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Shadow shrugged, “She was learning to use the Force, Jyren.”

He nodded. That was a possibility...a distant one, yes, but a possibility nonetheless. After thinking about it to himself for a short few moments, Jyren looked back to Shadow, “But how do we know?”

“We don’t,” Shadow admitted. She sighed and thought about it for a moment, but stopped when she noticed Jyren was staring at her...again. Not that she minded all that much, but it was still getting at least slightly distracting, “There’s still a couple people who owe me some favors. Let’s go see if we can track them down and find out if they know anything.”

Jyren grinned, “Are they the kind of people who are likely to shoot at you when they see you?”

Shadow couldn’t help but laugh, and idly put a hand on his shoulder as she started walking back to the turbolift, “Of course.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 277: Tavern Conversations*

Every tavern in the galaxy looked exactly the same. That had to be some fundamental law of the universe. Jyren had been in his fair share over the years, as had Shadow, and between them, neither had ever seen anything that deviated from the norm...which, obviously, was a very working model. Even the patrons were generally the same. The bartenders all had the same mannerisms and, generally, attitudes. It was actually calming, as they quickly became the one place you could go and feel at home...or at least, as home anyone could feel when surrounded by the scum of the galaxy.

Nar Shaddaa itself was already a home to the galaxy’s crime world, so the taverns were even more seedy and dark than anywhere else. This one was perfectly designed with Nar Shaddaa’s patrons in mind. Every single table was a booth...a very deeply inset booth with high walls on either side preventing anyone from seeing in except from the spot where they sat down from. This was perfect because it allowed for a large degree of privacy, and, after that, a large degree of cover from any weapons fire that erupted.

They sat in the back corner. Opposite Jyren and Shadow was another human, probably in his late 20s, with an unkempt look to his hair and scruffy beard. His eyes alone proved him to be dangerous. There wasn’t any other word to use, as that deep set, strong look in nondescript-coloured eyes could only be said to be dangerous. Anything else was an understatement or just plain wrong. The fact that one of his hands was out of view and under the table was not doing anything to help this. His name was, according to Shadow at least, Dareth. 

And, of course, Shadow was doing the talking, “So do you know anything or am I wasting my time with you again?”

Those kind of sharp, vibroblade tipped statements were everywhere in the conversation that was going on between the two. Shadow’s hands were both on the table, resting calmly in front of her and obviously on display...though Jyren could tell it was not a gesture to show trust. Instead, it was simply showing that she did not need a weapon. While the two of them spoke, Jyren’s eyes carefully looked around the nearby sections of the tavern, knowing that this Dareth would not be alone, and checking for any weapons trained on them from a distance...all the while, one hand rested at his side, in perfect position to retrieve the blaster that was hidden just below his shoulder and under his jacket.

“You wouldn’t have been talking this long if you really think there’s a chance you’re wasting your time,” Dareth responded calmly, at the same time leaning forward just slightly. A devilish smile appeared on his face.

Shadow sighed...inwardly. She wasn’t dumb enough to show any sign of emotion on the outside, “How much?”

“How much you got?”

Without missing a beat, Shadow said sternly, “How much?”

A pause. It was a pause that said there was more in Shadow’s words than just her tone. That was too easy for him to have backed down all on his own. Well...then again, if he knew Shadow, maybe it wasn’t. Jyren sure knew that was a dangerous tone to argue against. A moment of tension held, but then the man said calmly, “Two thousand.”

“Five. Hundred,” her words were in the same sharp, dangerous tone, both spoken deliberately and strongly emphasized.

“Fifteen hundred.”

“Four hundred.”

There was another pause, and eyes narrowed on both sides of the table. It was plainly clear to Jyren that they were both attempting to rip the other off, and considering that the Alraxian people had no concept of money...he figured Shadow was doing pretty well. It really was all in the presentation, and no one could be more intimidating than Shadow. Well, except maybe Darth Vader, but he was long dead, thank the Force.

“Fifteen hundred is as low as you’ll get it,” the man said in a tone all too similar to Shadow’s. He was opening his mouth to say something else, but Jyren’s eyes locked onto a slight movement. Dareth’s right shoulder shifted, meaning his arm was moving, meaning he was likely going for a weapon.

In a quick motion, Jyren did the same, sliding the blaster out from its holster under his shoulder. A moment later, it was level with the table, the barrel easily seen by Dareth. Jyren didn’t say anything, though.

But Shadow took advantage of the moment, “Two hundred and I’ll forget you tried to pull a weapon on me.”

“This information is worth fifteen hundred,” Dareth said slowly, for some reason not backing down, despite the fact that he had frozen in place, “And I thought you were smart enough to know I’m not alone.”

[Second level, booth directly across from us. Don’t turn the blaster, but be ready. You have a clear shot if this gets dirty.] Shadow’s mental voice in Jyren’s head caused him to miss her spoken words, “If you keep this up, you’ll end up with nothing. This is the last time I’ll let the offer for two hundred credits stand. After that, you get nothing. And if you want to be stubborn after that, you’ll lose more than money.”

If she was like this now, Jyren couldn’t imagine her back when smuggling was her job. Between the escape from the Empire and meeting him with the mercs...she was dangerous enough then, so there was a hint at least. But this wasn’t a time for thinking about that. His eyes glanced off to where Shadow had directed him. Yes...there was the blaster aimed at them. It was an easy shot, even for Jyren, who was definitely no marksman. Was this guy an amateur?! The damned backup was in perfect line of sight!

“You kill me and you’ll get nothing,” Dareth ground out the words slowly, though his eyes did dart to Jyren’s blaster for a short second. Good. He was on edge.

“Killing you ruins the fun.”

Shadow’s words were suddenly followed by a flash of movement and noises. As far as Jyren could tell, the first thing that happened was Shadow’s arm lashing out and grabbing Dareth by the throat. If something happened second, he couldn’t have been completely sure...but he knew that as she was pulling the man’s entire body back across the table to them, Jyren caught sight of movement from their observer. He didn’t think. Quickly, Jyren twisted around, tilting his blaster up and squeezing a shot off just before the gunner did.

The yelp and subsequent thud of the man hitting the floor ended the blur, and since it was Nar Shaddaa, there was no rushing of people to see what had happened. They knew not to get involved in other people’s business. Jyren turned back, sliding the blaster back into its hidden holster, to see Shadow holding Dareth with one hand still, her eyes glaring into his. Now, both of his hands were on the table, obviously showing he wasn’t holding a weapon so she didn’t crush his throat anymore.

“Now,” Shadow said in her deadly-but-sweet voice, “If you suddenly have a boost in intelligence, you will tell me what you know and never have to see me again.”

It was amazing how much incentive that was, considering the situation.

Dareth struggled for a moment, but Shadow squeezed his throat just a little more. He croaked, stopped moving, and gagged until she eased up again. Then, after catching his breath, he gasped, “Some psycho dropped from a few levels above some weeks back! She killed two thugs and stole a ship..ggaaah! I’m not lying!”

“What kind of ship?” Shadow pressed on, though still allowing him to breathe...though she did squeeze his throat tightly for a moment just to make sure she got an answer.

Through a sudden gasp for air, he managed, “New Corellian model! Guhhh...don’t know where it went!” a very tight squeeze got a breathless yelp, which lasted for a half second before Dareth struggled into getting out, “I don’t know! Had a junk hyperdrive! Couldn’t go more then two systems from here!”

Shadow released him by throwing his face into the table hard. By the time he looked up, Shadow and Jyren were already outside and heading back to Loki.

“That didn’t tell us much,” Jyren commented as they walked through the always-crowded walkways.

Shadow shrugged, the danger gone from her entire demeanor, “Its more than we had. Check that with the nearby system security data and we can track her.”

He raised an eyebrow at that, “You think she’s going to leave a trail?”

“Everyone leaves a trail, Jyren,” she said calmly, “Its just a matter of finding it.”

“By the Force, I would hate to be on your bad side,” Jyren mumbled, shaking his head.

Unsurprisingly, Shadow grinned, “You mean I have a good side?”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 278: The Core*

There was a trail to follow. It was faint, but it was there. On one planet, a simple report of a Corellian freighter that fit what they were looking for which simply landed for a few hours before leaving. On another, disappearances and even the possibility of a death, and the ship had been there...with the same transponder as the planet before. And when they had that, it was how they tracked the ship from one short hyperspace jump to another, always just a few hours behind, despite Loki’s speed.

But there was more to it than just the physical trail. That could have easily pointed to any traveler in the galaxy. They could have been following anyone. But there was more. Shadow could feel it. Distantly, someone was there, faint in the Force but running...running from something. And it always followed that transponder code. No, no it was always ahead of it, helping Shadow know exactly where to go to not lose the trail. But even Jyren could have put those two together. Or rather, he couldn’t, as he was still being a stubborn idiot and refusing to use the Force. That meant, of course, that Shadow was doing pretty much all of the work while he tried to look useful when he knew he wasn’t. Eventually, she was going to harm him if this kept up too long.

A week and they had tracked the ship from the Smuggler’s Moon all the way to Bothan Space. Another two days and they hit the Corellia Run. The second they made their first jump along the run, Jyren had a thought. And, of course, he spoke it.

“Alderaan.”

“Huh?” Shadow turned away from the swirling blue outside the viewport and back to Jyren who was sitting next to her as usual.

“She’s going to Alderaan,” he elaborated.

For a moment, Shadow just looked at him, though she was actually working this out in her head, trying to see if it connected with where the Force was leading her. She got nothing, and sighed, “You can’t be sure. She could be going anywhere in the Core this way.”

“She’s going to Alderaan,” Jyren repeated himself in the exact same tone as before.

Shadow just rolled her eyes, “Fine. She’s going to Alderaan. I’m sorry I argued with you, oh-all-knowing-one. I should have known you were such a genius that you could figure these things out all on your own.”

Thankfully, Jyren was smart enough not to argue. Not only would he have only made a fool of himself, but it would only have added to the tension these long days in hyperspace was causing. And they were long days. And to make matters worse, they weren’t even over.

They spent another four days following the Corellian Run, dropping out of hyperspace at even minor star systems to see if there was any sign of their ‘prey’.  But there wasn’t, and so they kept going. Finally, arriving at Corellia, they stopped. Or rather, took a short break. But when Jyren asked a few pointed questions to a CorSec officer that confirmed the ship had been through the system only an hour earlier, they were gone again, following the hyperspace route even deeper into the Core.

“Why go this way?” Jyren asked out loud as they sat in the cockpit yet again.

“Hmm?” for some reason, Shadow was still responding to him, despite how useless he’d been the last couple of weeks.

He leaned forward and pointed out into the nondescript blue of hyperspace, “The Hydian Way goes right by the Alderaan system. She should have jumped off the Corellia Run lightyears before Corellia.”

Shadow cleared her throat before attempting, “And maybe she’s not going to Alderaan...?”

Silence. For the first time, Jyren actually looked like he was really considering that. Finally. He finally sighed and looked to her with a helpless expression, “Then where? Coruscant’s about the only system this direction that would make any sense.”

“Then, logically, she may be going to Coruscant...?” Shadow posed this as a question, just to see if Jyren’s logic was still working in there somewhere.

“But why Coruscant?”

Maybe they were working, but they sure weren’t working hard enough. It seemed like when one thing went wrong with him, everything else started shutting down afterwards. With an exasperated sigh, Shadow threw up her hands, “I don’t know, Jyren! Why Alderaan? Why anywhere, for that matter?!”

An old instinct kicked in and Jyren’s mouth opened before his mind could comprehend just how stupid what was about to be said would be, “I’m sor—“

”And don’t you dare finish that,” Shadow growled, now finally angry with him, “You damn well know you could be more helpful, but you just have to be stubborn and foolish. If you want to act that way, fine! But don’t expect any sympathy from me and don’t even think about trying to apologize for it!”

That shut him up. At least he had some intelligence left in there.

After taking the time to calm herself down, Shadow added, “We’re already en route to Coruscant, so we’ll get there and find out what we can, then just keep following this trail until we either lose it or reach the end.”

And in another two hours, they exited hyperspace in the Coruscant system. As usual, starships of all shapes and sizes were everywhere. Shadow was glad to take the controls from Loki and actually do something, flying them in towards the central planet in the galaxy. It felt good to actually take the controls every once in a while. Sure, she was no pilot like Jyren was, but after so long in hyperspace, it was doing something and that was all that mattered. They’d get in, land, do the usual “We’re Security Officers from planet such-and-such”, give the fake ID cards that Shadow had cooked up for them before leaving Nar Shaddaa, and then confirm whether or not the ship they were after had been around.

Of course, things were never that easy, and it was immediately apparent that Coruscant was going to be much more difficult than either of them had expected. The comm clicked, and the second Shadow hit the ‘switch’ to activate it, an odd sounding, definitely not human, voice came on, “Unidentified transport, this is Coruscant Planetary Defense. You will power down your engines and any weapons and hold your position to be boarded. Any attempt at resistance or escape will result in the full Defense Net coming down on your ship. Acknowledge this transmission by complying immediately.”

“Oh sithspit,” Jyren cursed as he glared up at the ceiling and growled a few more curses, “Should have realized Loki would be identified with us in the bounty!”

Shadow also cursed, but in about four different languages, each of which sounded worse than anything Jyren could have come up with. She then sighed and looked down at Loki’s controls, “Power the engines down, Loki, and sit tight.”

“You’re actually going to follow along?!” Jyren either sounded outraged or shocked. Shadow could couldn’t figure out which. Either way, he sounded like he was going to have a heart attack. At least Alraxians had two hearts.

“Jyren, dear, this is the heart of the New Republic. The only defense we have is that stolen X-Wing in the hold,” Shadow let that linger for a moment before looking him in the eyes, “Do you really want to tempt faint anymore than we have to?”

He looked right back into her eyes, “Then you have a plan...?”

“Of course not,” Shadow admitted with a shrug, “But just don’t do anything stupid like killing anyone else and cooperate and I might be able to talk us through this.”

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Funny,” she rolled her eyes, and got up to go and hide some of the weapons that were in easy to find places, “But I thought you couldn’t feel a damned thing without the Force.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 279: Floating in Space*

Even without a plan, certain precautions were taken without second thoughts. In a matter of minutes, Tobias had been moved into Loki’s hold with the X-Wing, and then after a heated, but short, talk, was convinced to stay there. When they were out, Loki’s interior shifted slightly, and soon there was no entrance or exit to the hold at all. That was definitely an advantage of Kanyaks: the ability to reshape their interiors(within reason, of course) and resize rooms. Taking away doors was even easier than that, and it looked to be nothing special at all.

“Alright, now what?” Jyren asked after stashing his belt and blaster pistol under their bed.

“Now we wait and hope they don’t come in shooting,” Shadow said flatly, now leading the way back to the cockpit where they could get a good view of what was going on.

[There is a transport that is on an intercept course to us.] Loki chimed in right on time. [We have about...two minutes.]

“Thanks, Loki,” both Shadow and Jyren said at the exact same time.

When they were in the cockpit, neither sat down, but instead leaned forward to peer out the viewport and see if they could spot the ship. They couldn’t. There were too many moving dots out there to pinpoint just one. Jyren sighed, then a thought came to his mind, “What exactly is this bounty on us for, again?”

“You think we can talk out of this,” Shadow idly commented, but took a moment to think, “I’m an Imperial weapon, remember? And you...well, you stole an X-Wing.”

“Borrowed.”

Shadow stared at him, rolled her eyes, then tried to ignore he’d said that, “You attacked New Republic fighters and broke me out of a cell, remember?”

“Ah, right...that is bad, isn’t it?”

Again, Shadow rolled her eyes, “Its also something I doubt we can talk our way out of.”

“Then what are you planning to do?” he asked, again turning back out to see Coruscant dominating most of the viewport.

“Going to try to talk our way out of this,” she said simply, not even a hint of a grin on her face.

“They aren’t going to be sending negotiators,” Jyren grumbled, “In fact, I doubt we’re going to have the chance to encounter any at all. They’re going to come in her with security troops, probably heavily armed considering the whole breakout issue, and they’re going to try to arrest us. And then, we’ll be thrown into cells and probably won’t have a chance to say a damned thing to anyone for at least a month!”

Shadow thought on this, then finally nodded, “We can still talk.”

“Yes, but—“

She silenced him by raising a hand to get his attention, “Let me try again. I can still talk.”

That was let hang in the air as they could finally see the assault transport nearing their ship. It was the usual box shape that all of them seemed to be, and flanked by four starfighters...newer E-Wings from the looks of it. As ugly as the transport they were escorting. And as Jyren watched them close, he realized just what Shadow meant, “Are you sure you can do that? I’ve never seen you try it before and I know it isn’t eas—mmmph.”

She shut him up, this time, with a quick, but unexpected, kiss. She pulled back and revealed her trademark grin, “Trust me.”

“Buh...” Jyren mumbled, still shocked by her actions. He was still a little jumpy about the whole situation between them, too, but Jyren knew full well she was even more lost. But, obviously, she was finding advantages here and there. Namely that it was much easier to shut him up that way(and at least a couple others) than yelling at him or even ignoring him.

“Good,” Shadow laughed and patted his shoulder before heading back out and towards the only section of Loki that could be docked to. Hopefully the New Republic idiots would figure that out and not attempt to blast a hole in the poor ship’s hull. Loki wouldn’t like that, and the last thing they needed was an injured ship. With that thought, she ‘said’. [Loki, try to pull around to angle the hatch to their course. But do it slowly do it doesn’t look like you’re trying to run.]

The mental equivalent of a nod was felt as Loki did his best to comply. Jyren caught up as this was starting. He stood next to Shadow and then asked a question even she was wondering about, “Human?”

It would be interesting. Probably confuse them, too. But...no. No, they probably had at least some knowledge about them as shapechangers already, and it was best not to make the security people any more suspicious than they already would be, “No. This is going to be interesting enough, as it is.”

There was a loud click outside, and Jyren glanced over to her again, “I’m amazed you’re wanting to do it this way.”

Shadow allowed herself a short laugh, but then, with a smile still on her face, she said, “You’re the one who runs in shooting. I’ve decided the best way to train you is to set an example.”


“Oh, thank you,” he grumbled, “Good to know how you think of me.”

Again, she laughed, but this time also reached over(...and up) and ruffled his hair, “Awww...don’t look so depressed! It doesn’t suit you,” she paused, grinned as they listened to the airlock on the other side opening, and added, “Look afraid, though. Might help us out just a bit if they think you’re terrified of me.”

“You mean I’m not?”

The grin faded from Shadow’s face as she prepared for Loki’s hatch to open, but her voice still held the same un-Shadow-like happy quality to it, “Well, you were never a good actor. Decided its best to just have you be real.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 280: Unwanted Guests*

To say that the New Republic Security Soldiers were heavily armed was almost an understatement. There were eight of them. Four carrying standard issue blaster rifles, with two smaller hold out pistols on their belts. The other four had weapons that seemed more suited to taking down armored combat speeders than two fugitives. And they were aiming the damned things, too. But someone, despite Jyren staring at each of those huge blaster cannons and the fact that the troopers did not seem to be at all phased by the two near 3 meter tall Alraxians.

When all of the troops had spread out and gotten clear shots, the one in the center(also holding one of the blaster cannons), spoke up in a stern voice that went disturbingly well with the green uniform and face-masking helmet he wore, “Hands out where we can see them. If you move, we will shoot.”

Not that it would kill them, Jyren idly thought to himself...though it probably would hurt a hell of a lot. And if they aimed just right, it would kill them. But really, who aimed for the head?

Shadow allowed herself a very slow look over to Jyren. [They are.]

[Sometimes I wish you would ignore my rambling thoughts.] Jyren grumbled through the link, suddenly realizing that all of the weapons were, in fact, tilted up just at the right(or wrong) angle.

Of course, they both did as they were told. But as they did, Shadow very calmly asked, “What, exactly, are we being charged with?”

Behind the orange visor of the helmet, Jyren knew the man blinked. He could feel it in the pause in the air. Just the way Shadow said it was perfect. And, picking up a second after, the soldier answered quickly, “Working with the Empire to overthrow the Republic, murdering Coruscanti civilians, attacking and killing New Republic soldiers.”

Jyren blinked this time. He nearly opened his mouth to speak, but Shadow shut him up with a quick comment. [Yes, I agree. One of those isn’t true. Just shut up and let me deal with this.]

Just as that was finishing in Jyren’s mind, Shadow said smoothly, “You have evidence to prove this?”

Again, the trooper missed a beat...but this time it was longer. He even opened his mouth to stutter before finally getting out, “Y-yes. Now come with us. Again, any resistance and we will be forced to fire on you.”

Taking his cues from Shadow, Jyren held his ground. She did take a small step forward, almost pretending to follow along, before saying in the same calm, soft(and Force-laced) voice, “But you haven’t searched the ship to find out if we are working alone.”

This time, the trooper looked to the man at his left. They seemed to have a silent conversation, then the leader nodded to him and three of them headed off down the corridor. Three others then headed the opposite direction, towards the cockpit. It left just the leader and one of the troopers with a blaster rifle. The two simply continued to hold their weapons up and aimed at the two Alraxians, and Shadow waited patiently until the other two groups had disappeared down the corridors. Hopefully, Loki would do his job and cause them chaos in the locking and random opening of doors.

“Hasn’t it been a long day?” Shadow said in the same voice, but this time pushing the Force more and more into the words, “Aren’t you getting tired?”

The trooper with the blaster rifle actually yawned. As that happened, the leader took one hand off the large blaster cannon to rub his chin and nod slowly. Shadow then allowed the smallest of smiles onto her face, “You’ve earned a good sleep for all the work you do. Go back to your ship and get some sleep.”

There was no delay. In another few seconds, the two security troopers were back in their ship. Jyren looked to Shadow and grinned. She shrugged, “Six more.”

As they turned and headed first towards the cockpit, Jyren decided it was worth asking, “How do you plan to convince them we didn’t kill their officer?”

This time Shadow grinned, “The same way I convinced the guy he was tired.”

“Ah...” Jyren trailed off, then added quietly, “Hopefully you’ll be able to keep that up. It isn’t easy.”

[Then let me concentrate.] Shadow said mentally, as they could now see the three troopers who were in front of the door to the cockpit and inspecting it very carefully. She stopped a good five meters behind them, and then spoke in a careful way so as not to cause any of them to jump and turn around firing, “Having trouble with the door?”

They did jump, but thankfully they didn’t start shooting. One of them took a small step back while another decided to be the spokesman and asked, while raising his rifle, “What are you doing?!”

Shadow had to take a moment to draw the Force to her to keep her voice infused with it. The smallest slip up could result in simply amplifying their current problems, “Your officer was shot by one of the others! We took them into their ship, but don’t know where the medical equipment is! He needs your help! He said to forget about us!”

The usual pause was there, but the three then suddenly charged right for Shadow and Jyren. Both Alraxians quickly moved out of the way, and the soldiers ran right past. Jyren grinned again, “Forget about us, eh?”

“I told you to trust me,” she smiled proudly and then turned to look up at Loki’s ceiling. [Loki, reshape the corridors so that the remaining troopers have to head back to their ship. Do what you have to to spook them.]

[I was waiting for you to let me have some fun!] the ship laughed. Not a moment later, Shadow nodded to the cockpit, “Come on, now its time for you to help out.”

Sadly, they didn’t get to find out what exactly Loki did to the poor New Republic troopers. They both got to the cockpit and divided up the necessary work. Jyren worked out exactly where the X-Wings were patrolling and got a course ready for them to get out of Coruscant’s gravity well, and Shadow quickly plotted a hyperspace jump.

“Where to?” Jyren asked, halfway through his job.

“Nowhere right now,” Shadow said quickly, “We can’t be far off the trail, but we’ll have to skip this part of the adventure.”

“No argument from me.”

[Airlock is sealed.] Loki chimed in.

“Hang on, Loki,” both Shadow and Jyren said at the exact same time. Everything had to work together just right. It all depended on the pilot of that transport. If he assumed that everyone was onboard then maybe...just maybe, he’d leave when the airlock was sealed. There was a soft blue glow.

Sublight engines.

Jyren let out a sigh of relief as he watched the shuttle and four X-Wings start back for the planet at a slow speed. Wait...wait...wait...

“Go, Loki!” Shadow yelled, knowing that sitting there too long would be a bad idea. In a flash, Loki’s engines powered up and he shot around in a U-shaped course straight out of the system. Jyren could see on the sensors readouts that the X-Wings were peeling off to pursue, but Loki was too fast when he had the jump like that. And, in a matter of moments, they were safely away in hyperspace.

Both of them smiled as they sat back into their respective seats in the cockpit. There were so many questions on what to do now...and the fact that the New Republic was probably even less pleased with them. But that part, at least, could wait until later, they’d just need to keep a lower profile and be more careful.

Finally, Jyren broke the silence, “You’re good.”

Shadow laughed and mock bowed in her chair, “Thank you. I was wondering how long it was going to take you to admit that.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 281: One Word*

“So now what do we do?” Jyren asked, leaning back in the co-pilot’s chair in Loki’s cockpit.

No response came, not even though the link. So, letting out a dramatic sigh, he turned from the empty star field outside to where Shadow sat to his right. She was sitting there, staring idly out into the stars. There wasn’t even a slight tilt of her ear towards him to hint that she was at least pretending to pay attention to him. Only one logical idea was reached to get her attention.

Jyren leaned closer, tried to get at least in her peripheral vision, and asked, “Shady? You alive in there?”

That, at least, always got a reaction. First, her ear swivelled around very slightly towards him, and a moment later her entire head followed. In a second, Jyren was eye to eye with The Look. To his credit, he had experienced it enough that it did not melt his face as it could many others in the galaxy. In fact, he didn’t even move back...Jyren just flinched very slightly.

“What,” somehow, that was not a question. Jyren didn’t understand it at all, but he knew it. Her voice hadn’t asked the question, instead it had been demanded, all the while still maintaining The Look.

“We’ve been out here for an hour now,” Jyren said calmly, still only a matter of centimeters away from Shadow’s annoyed, face, “And you haven’t said a word since we left hyperspace. I know you’re thinking on this, but the longer we sit around the less of a chance we have of catching up with her.”

It took a long minute, but slowly, the icy cold of The Look faded into uncertainty and Shadow shrugged, “Its clouded. I...I don’t know anymore.”

“Wonderful,” Jyren said under his breath as he finally sat back into his chair again, “So we just give up and go home, then?”

“Of course not,” Shadow snapped, suddenly annoyed again at Jyren’s attitude, “You should be more patient.”

Running a hand through his hair, Jyren nodded slowly, “I know. I know...but we’re just so close. So close and...and then Coruscant.”

Rolling her eyes and turning to make sure she could see the expression on her face, Shadow said flatly, “I’d have thought you were used to this kind of thing by now.”

“Is it so bad to want a break from it, though?” his voice, at this point, was almost pleading.

Shadow shrugged, “Apparently it is.”

And again, silence. It didn’t last very long, as Shadow decided it was best to try and work this out, “Jyren, we’re going to have to think this through on our own.”

“Sounds fun,” Jyren grumbled, but he leaned forward and asked upwards, “Loki, where exactly are we right now?”

[Roughly seventy lightyears out from Coruscant and near the Perlemian Trade Route.] the ship chimed in immediately, as if he was waiting to be asked the question.

Jyren thought about this. The Core worlds he knew. It was where he’d flown most all of his missions in the New Republic on the road to taking Coruscant. If there was any region of space that Jyren understood, it was the Core. So what was out here?

“Coulag, Chandrila, Brentaal, Ralltir...” he spoke the names of the nearby worlds as he went through a mental picture of the area, “Carida isn’t too far off...what’s left of Alderaan is even fairly close, but that’s backtracking. Why Coruscant to get there?”

“And she might not be going to Alderaan,” Shadow said calmly, “She could easily have gotten there without going to Coruscant. So maybe we should stop and look at that. Why Coruscant?”

It was a damn good question. Why Coruscant? Why the Core at all? Why anything? Stop. Think. One thing at a time. This was Jen. What did they know about her?

“Everything with Sadrak and Nine happened on Coruscant...” Jyren said, thinking out loud more than suggesting it to Shadow.

“Coruscant...” Shadow nodded at what he said, but a thought was coming up, “Wait. Corellia. Corellia to Coruscant. That’s where we went from getting Loki to going after Sadrak.”

Her train of thought seeped through the link and straight to Jyren, “...she’s following the same path?”

“No...no, then why make all the stops in between?”

Jyren nodded. Yes. There was something more to this. Something...else. He couldn’t pinpoint it, though, “Then she isn’t following the same path. Okay...what connects all of those places?”

“Garek V,” Shadow whispered it to herself. Why had she just...? Garek V. Coruscant. Corellia. Shadow’s eyes widened, “Ignore Corellia, Jyren. Its not important.”

“Huh...?” he hadn’t heard her whisper the first part, so he was suddenly lost.

“Coruscant is important,” Shadow said with a nod, “The key is Sadrak. We’re ending up at the same planets we did when we were after him.”

“But she left Coruscant...”

Again, Shadow nodded, “Because there wasn’t anything left there. Which leaves only two other planets that connect with Sadrak.”

It was beginning to dawn on Jyren, and Shadow could see it in his eyes, “The swamp planet...Garek V? You think she’ll go there?”

“She could have already been there,” she said, continuing to nod to encourage this along. She could feel they were close. So close to all of this.

“We have to find out,” Jyren said, more to Loki than to her. And, thankfully, the ship was intelligent enough to pick up on this. Without even a word, Loki was running through system maps to find this ‘Garek V.’ He’d never been there, of course, but it had to be somewhere...

“Why these planets, though?” Jyren asked after they both noticed how Loki was attempting to help them out.

Shadow had to think about this. They both did. It was right there. Right in front of them. Yet...yet they couldn’t pinpoint just what it was. Loki found the system quickly, and was already bringing them around to prepare for the hyperspace jump when Shadow repeated herself, “The key is Sadrak.”

Just as she finished the sentence, something dawned on the both of them. Immediately, their eyes went wide and locked with each other. They couldn’t be right. There was no way that was right. But...what else was there? One of them had to test it...but neither wanted to even speak it. Carefully, though, Jyren mouthed a word. Shadow nodded.

They really were watching the same holo on this one. A shivered breath escaped Shadow before she said quickly out loud, “Loki, get us there quickly.”

The ship made the mental nod just before they jumped into hyperspace. Loki could hear(and feel) the sudden panic and worry in both Shadow and Jyren. It was hard not to notice. He wasn’t sure how to ask about it, though. And, if he had seen Jyren’s lips mouth the word, Loki might not have even taken them to the planet.

The word was one that Loki knew just as well as the two of them. It was one that terrified not only Loki, but all Kanyaks just as it did all Alraxians.

The word was ‘Darkwing.’


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 282: Relaxation...or Something Close to It*

The hyperspace trip was another very long one. But unlike their trip to the Core, they weren’t entering and leaving hyperspace every few hours of every single day. The jump itself would only take about sixteen hours, thanks to the fact that Loki was able to plot out a direct course straight from the Core Worlds to the Garek System out on the other side of the galaxy. But despite the fact that it meant some well earned rest, they were both keenly aware that this was a longshot and could be the one thing to throw them off the trail entirely.

But they didn’t have a choice at this point.

“Isn’t it possible that we’re not actually chasing anything at all?” Jyren asked quietly.

There was a shift of weight that he took as a shrug, then a voice from near his shoulder, “Of course its possible.”

Jyren blinked, realizing that was not the answer he had been reaching for. He rolled his eyes(not that this could be seen), and tried again, “No...no. I mean...probable. Is it probable?”

This time there was more of a pause, but then the same shift of weight, “...Jyren, this is not the time to start second guessing all of this.”

“Oh...” he trailed off, then added, “When is that?”

Shadow sat up, shifted again so that she could look him in the eye, and said dryly, “Six months ago.”

She sat there for a long moment just so he could see the look on her face before flopping back down onto his shoulder. They were in her...their room, laying down and trying to get some rest. Truthfully, they had tried things the other way, with Shadow acting as the pillow, but that was quickly changed. Shadow had grumbled something about him being too heavy and then something about certain parts of her being crushed before this was done. Anyway, Jyren made a much better pillow. Something he was actually good at and didn’t even complain too much about it.

“What if we don’t find anything?”

Okay, he didn’t complain, but he kept asking questions that had very, very simple answers. This time, though, Shadow allowed her annoyance to be heard in the form of a sigh, “Then we go somewhere else.”

He stuttered, but didn’t actually say anything else. Yes, Shadow knew that wasn’t exactly what he meant, but sometimes his questions just didn’t have any other answers. Besides, it was at least slightly entertaining to throw him off.

“I hope we don’t find anything...” that was whispered under his breath, and Shadow had the distinct impression he hadn’t meant it to be heard.

She nodded anyway, “So do I.”

Suddenly getting a reaction beyond sarcasm, Jyren tilted his head to glance down at her as best he could, “Its not going to happen, though, is it?”

Shadow shook her head, “Not if our luck holds.”

“And that means we’re probably right about the whole...whole..da...whole...thing.”

There was a sigh of relief this time from Shadow as Jyren didn’t actually say the word that they were both thinking. The very thought of it was bad enough. It brought up too many feelings and memories that she did not want anything to do with anymore. Jyren’s thoughts on it were pretty much the same.

After managing to push all of that out of her mind, Shadow nodded very slowly into his shoulder, “Probably...” as she trailed off, though, another thought came to her mind. Something she knew needed to be brought up again. Carefully sitting up again so that she could look straight at him, Shadow said slowly, “Jyren, we’re going to need everything we’ve got to deal with this if we are right.”

His gaze narrowed very slightly as Jyren became suspicious of what exactly that meant, “...yeeeahh...”

Shadow rolled her eyes. Sometimes he was impossible to speak with. So, she threw subtlety right out the airlock, “Remember last time? Remember what happened? You used the Force, Jyren. You did something...you did something I can’t explain. I have no idea what you did, or how you did it, but I know you used the Force. I can’t do that. Not what you did. And if we’re...we...if we’re really going to have to deal with a...a Darkwing...then you’re going to have to do it again.”

“No!” he snapped, sliding back away from her and glaring, “There has to be another way!”

Sitting up completely, Shadow folded her arms across her chest, narrowed her eyes, and inadvertently flattened her ears out of annoyance, “There isn’t, Jyren! Dammit, you always have to make things difficult! It’s the same with morphing! You can do it! You just won’t! You’re too damned stubborn!”

“I shouldn’t have to have the Force to survive!” he growled back, “It’s the only way I’ve lived my entire life, but I shouldn’t have to! Billions of people in the galaxy live and survive just fine without it! Why can’t I?”

So there was another part of it. At least that one made a little more sense. Trying to calm herself down, Shadow said more slowly, “You aren’t billions of people. You are one...no, actually, you’re two people. Me and you. And you have as much natural talent with the Force as I do, maybe even more! Don’t throw that away...not just because you messed up once.”

“I’ve messed up more than once...”

“And I’ve messed up even more than you have,” Shadow finished his sentence before he could say anything else, “I’ve lived longer. I’ve had more time to screw things up. But you don’t let one mistake destroy everything you are...especially at a time like this.”

For a very long moment, Jyren stared at her with an unreadable look on his face. Through the link, it almost felt like he might actually starting thinking more clearly again. But something suddenly went the other direction, and he shook his head, “No. No, I won’t do it. I can’t.”

Shadow caught a stray thought fly through the link. When she latched onto it and managed to make sense of it, she immediately knew what had to be said. It was probably at least slightly cruel, but it was important, “What would your mother think of you throwing all of it away?”

His face shifted to a look of shock, partially from the fact that she’d caught the thought and the rest because she’d actually said it. His lip quivering slightly, Jyren opened his mouth to attempt some kind of a response, probably even an argument. But his attempt that would no doubt have failed was saved by a scratching at the door. Jyren’s eyes went wide with sudden relief, and his head immediately spun to the side to look at the door, “Come in, Toby.”

The door irised open, and the little Alraxian padded in, bored as usual. The tension was gone, and so was any convincing Shadow could have attempted. She sighed, but eventually gave in and took out her frustration in helping to torture the little fur ball. There would be other times...and, hopefully, Jyren would stop being an idiot before they got into anything difficult.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 283: Under the...Swamp?*

“I really hate this planet.”

Amazingly enough, that was Shadow and not Jyren. He did, of course, nod in agreement as they looked at the deep green planet sitting out in front of Loki through the viewport, “Loki, just look for anything not swamp and head for that.”

A mental nod from the ship, and they were moving again. The planet began to grow larger, and Jyren decided there was something worth asking, “Feel anything?”

For the shortest moment, that question got him a sharp glare, but it faded into her usual blank look before Shadow answered, “Something. But...the planet is very alive, it is hard to pinpoint anything at all.”

Loki did find something. In fact, he found three somethings. One of which was too big to be anything beyond the ruined scraps of ancient crashed ship, which was confirmed when they flew over the area just to make sure. The other two were much farther apart, so they had to make a choice. And the one they chose(or rather, Shadow chose) looked just about right. The top of the bunker was there just as it had been before, though now it was wrecked and collapsed slightly.

After managing to find a clearing to set down in and yet again having to convince Toby that they’d let him explore on the next planet, Shadow and Jyren were out in the swamp. And it was still the same swamp. The smell was probably even worse this time. The only nice thing was that, thanks to being full grown Alraxians, they weren’t waist deep in the muck. Shadow was now knee deep in it, with Jyren fairing slightly better thanks to just being taller.

The two of them silently sloshed across the murky, dark ‘water’ to the collapsed entrance to the old bunker to find it in almost exactly the same shape as they’d left it. Almost, as the durasteel girders were bent in ways that were not in any way good, and there was even an old tree still in the way...but almost, specifically because there was a roughly two meter high section that looked to be literally blasted out to provide access into whatever was left of the place below. In all honesty, neither of them remembered it as destroyed as they found it to be.

“You go first,” Shadow said idly. It wasn’t that she was afraid, simply that it would be best to have him up front. If something happened, maybe he’d use the Force without realizing it and stop being an idiot. That was, of course, wishful thinking.

“Its dark,” Jyren responded in a somewhat hushed voice as he peered into absolute blackness.

Rolling her eyes, Shadow said, “Jyren...you can see in the dark.”

He blinked, looked to her, then back to the black, “...I can?”

Shadow ran a hand through her hair before pointing at the blackness, “Remember how steep it goes down? That’s the ceiling.”

“...if you say so,” he mumbled, inching closer but not actually getting anywhere.

“Jyren, the ceiling is black.”

Again, he looked back at her, but this time when he turned back he stepped closer to the hole in the debris and looked down. Shadow then heard a quiet, “Oh.”

He was smart enough not to attempt any more arguments. If she didn’t know that he was trying to be funny, Shadow would wonder if the lack of using the Force was having an adverse affect on his brain. Okay, that was a possibility anyway, but there was at least the chance that he was trying to make a joke and failing miserably. Not that she was any kind of expert on humour, but one day she was going to have to sit him down and explain to him just how much of an idiot he looked like most of the time.

Without a word, though, Shadow followed him in, ducking under the debris to get to the steep staircase that was still mostly intact. For a human, it would likely have been impossible to see down the entranceway, but thankfully Alraxians had amazingly good eyesight in the dark...another of the feline traits that managed to stay strong despite everything else that was there after thousands of years.

It was more of a climb down than a walk. In many places, the ceiling had completely collapsed in. The only signs of this was the lack of durasteel plating above and the completely ruined stairs below. There were no signs of the plates, as they had probably slid all the way down to the bottom level. It was one of those times that one had to wonder where the turbolift was, even if it probably wouldn’t have been working. A straight climb down would have been much more comfortable than the walk, climb, stumble, nearly fall, slip two steps, and all the other things that happened to the both of them on their way down.

“There’s a light,” Jyren eventually said. It had been about five minutes, and probably only thirty meters.

Shadow’s eyes took a moment to focus on where his hand was pointing, then noticed it was not, in fact, pointing down. Instead, he was pointing off to the left. Her eyes followed the direction until she also noticed a very faint glow down a corridor on flat flooring. She nodded, “We know that place.”

“Yes, but why a light?” she could faintly see him raise an eyebrow as he spoke, more because his hair was in the way than because of any trouble with darkness.

An unspoken(and unthought, even) conversation passed between them, and in a second Shadow had taken the lead. She heard Jyren draw his blaster pistol out of its holster and arm the weapon, but quickly turned all her senses focus ahead of her. There shouldn’t be any light in this place. Slowly and carefully, they walked down the corridor, noting that the light didn’t actually get that much brighter as they, presumably, got closer to its source. But there was a corner to turn, and they stopped at it to listen.

Shadow focused on her hearing. She toned out their breathing and listened around the corner...if such a thing was possible. After a minute, she looked to Jyren and nodded slowly. There was a noise. It wasn’t far from the corner...but then again, if they remembered right, there was a room right there anyway.

Only one thing to do then. A silent count. They nodded to each other to confirm they were both, in fact, thinking the same thing. The link was not actually being used, as for some reason it was hard to feel silent and stealthy when you were talking just fine with something else...even if the voice was in your head. So they held their breath...waited...waited...a creaking sound from around the corner caused them both to jump into action earlier than they’d meant to.

In a blur, they both spun around the corner, Shadow ready to tear any limbs that were near her off, and Jyren swinging his blaster pistol around to bear on the room in general. But both of these actions proved to be good ideas, but not very useful.

They only worked so well when jumping into the barrels of at least ten blasters.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 284: Two Hundred*

Normally, staring into the face of all of those blasters would not have been too much of a problem. It wasn’t like they hadn’t been in worse situations. However, now, Jyren was being a stubborn fool and handicapping himself by not using the Force. That made him just as likely to get shot as the ten armed mercenaries(or at least, that’s what they looked like to Shadow) were to have Shadow tear them apart. There was no way she could disarm all of them quickly enough to stop at least a few shots getting off.

So she did nothing, instead attempting to look over who these people were. All of them were human(or at least, near-human) and wore clothes that could only be defined as upscale, dirtied shirts that had probably once been armor of some kind. Their weapons were all of different makes, though most of them were rifles...there were a couple of smaller carbines here and there and one of them even had a pair of smaller pistols.

After a short few moments in which nothing at all happened, one of the humans with a rifle(who looked to be female, but that was hard to tell considering the general look of all of them) spoke up with a question that, while cliche and at least slightly annoying, was a necessary one, “Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?!”

Shadow and Jyren exchanged glances. There were many different answers to both of those questions. At the moment, none of the answers to the first one were going to be truthful, and neither of them were sure of how to answer the second one just yet.

“Who are you and what the hell are you doing here?” Jyren eventually asked, though with no force at all in his voice. It almost sounded sarcastic. Almost, because he was at least smart enough to realize that sarcasm could get them shot.

Interestingly enough, that question seemed to throw the group of mercenaries off as much as it had the two Alraxians. The humans all exchanged looks with some of them motioning with their weapons in different directions. Mostly towards the two very large, very dangerous looking feline-humanoids that were staring at them. It was easy for Jyren to forget just how much larger a full grown Alraxian was compared to a Human.

The silence held for only a few more second before the same woman snapped back, “We asked first!”

Childish, but correct. Jyren held back a grin and a laugh, knowing that both it wasn’t a good time to realize just how crazy things had become and that Shadow wouldn’t get it anyway. It was a sadly logical argument, and Shadow was the one who decided this was getting annoying and said flatly, “We are the owners of this little place and we’re here to get some things. So...who are you and what are you doing here?”

It was a very, very bad lie...but it was something. It was something, and it was said in just the right way that made it seem almost truthful. In the pause, Shadow had time to look over the other things in the large room. It was generally empty, except for a table off to the far left and some crates that were scattered all through it. Crates. Dirtied and bad smelling humans. These weren’t mercenaries at all...

“You know what, forget that,” Shadow waved her hand to shut up any lie that was coming. Still completely ignoring the weapons pointed at them, she gave the woman who was doing the talking(who was, at this point, the leader) a sharp glare, “We aren’t here to steal what you’ve got or kill you. We’re looking for someone.”

Somehow, the words seemed to ease some of the tension in the room. This was at least partially due to the fact that she was using the Force to help it along, but also because Shadow simply knew how to deal with her own. The woman lowered her rifle so that she could more clearly be seen. Dark hair was pulled back out of her face, which was currently showing a look much like the one on Shadow’s, “Bounty hunters?”

“No,” Shadow said very quickly, mainly to stop any of the others from shooting on principle, “Just looking for someone...and that someone’s not any of you.”

She was sure of that by now. Jen would be easy to spot in this group, no matter how long it had been.

A few others lowered their weapons, and Jyren looked over to Shadow with a look of surprise on his face. From the feeling over the link, he had been expecting to be shot at. Shadow allowed it to calm a little more before asking a more direct question, “Has anyone else been through here recently?”

One of the guns went up again, but more out of nervousness, hopefully. A couple of the smugglers were speaking quietly to one another...no, that was arguing. Before it got loud enough for Shadow to actually make out what was being said, the leader spoke up again, “Some woman charged in two days ago. A good shot. Dropped two of us before we even knew where she was. She was in and out before we knew what had happened.”

That didn’t sound right. Jyren asked carefully, “Did she do anything other than shoot at you?”

“Some of the old equipment that’s down at the bottom level disappeared, but that’s about it...” the woman trailed off with a shrug, now certain these two weren’t there for her, “You’re sure you’re not bounty hunters?”

“We aren’t bounty hunters,” Shadow growled, angry enough to worry the woman into gripping her rifle a bit tighter...though she resisted raising it up again. She had only even heard those words spoken with such annoyance from other smugglers...maybe that was why she wasn’t trying to shoot at these two.

Jyren tried to ignore this and said quietly to Shadow, “We should head down and see what’s there...”

Shadow nodded, but instead spoke to the leader of the smugglers, “We’re going to go down there...and then we’re going to leave. No one will ever know you’re here.”

Though that got a suspicious look from Jyren, the woman standing on the other side of the room seemed to accept it after a few short moments. Shadow then led the way out, not turning her back but slowly backing away. As Jyren did his best to follow, he realized there was something else. Quickly, he asked, “You don’t happen to know where she went, do you?”

That got a very distinct grin on the woman’s face, “Four hundred credits.”

“Two fifty,” Shadow’s voice sounded from behind Jyren.

“Three hundred,” the smuggler responded sternly.

“Two hundred,” Shadow said with the same stern voice, but added something very special to it that even surprised Jyren. There was a very sharp _snap-hiss_ from behind him, and he looked back to see her holding his lightsaber, blue-green blade blazing brightly and in full view of everyone.

All of the smugglers except for the leader quickly raised their weapon’s again. The leader, though, seemed to consider this for a moment, before saying very calmly, “Two hundred it is.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 285: Searching the Rubble*

It was amazing how useful simply displaying the lightsaber had been. Added to the already imposing appearance of the two Alraxians, the weapon that all the smuggler’s knew right away put away most all of their ideas at attacking the two arrivals. And so, Shadow and Jyren let them be to head back down the long stairwell to the lowest level below where, apparently, things had been removed.

But that wasn’t the only reason they’d left the smugglers. It was to stop the argument that was inevitable at her brandishing that lightsaber. Jyren showed amazing restraint, though, in not suddenly yelling at her until they were a good way down and away from that corridor. Or at least, that’s what Shadow told herself...despite the fact that she knew he was just brooding and trying to figure out what exactly he was going to yell first.

It turned out to be, “What the hell are you doing with that?!”

That was, of course, something Shadow had been prepared for, though she truthfully hadn’t expected to get into this so soon. But, oh well, it could have been worse. Continuing down, she said calmly, “What are you doing without it?”

That question seemed to catch him off guard just enough to get him to stop. This then forced him to speed up his pace to catch up to her as he growled, “I gave it to my father! He put you up to this, didn’t he?! Dammit, I told him not to fight this!”

After waiting for one of the larger sections that went off to corridors in both sides, Shadow spun around and grabbed his collar roughly. With an icy glare, she looked up to his eyes, “It wasn’t yours to give to anyone, Jyren. And don’t even try to put this on your father! This is no one’s fault but your own, and you know it!”

There was a look in Jyren’s eyes that matched her glare, but had a completely different intensity behind it. She could feel his outrage through their link and through the Force very easily. His hand had come up to grab her wrist, nearly digging claws in and forcing her to retrain herself from doing the same and tearing out his throat. The two of them stood there in complete silence for a very long minute, then Shadow decided she had had it with this, and roughly threw him back and into the stairs behind, wrenching out of his grip in the process, “If you want to keep this up then get out of here. Its not too late for your to run away and go home! You can just run away again because things aren’t going your way and you’re too scared to confront anything!”

If there was ever a time when Shadow and Marix could be distinctly noticed in that one person, it was when she was angry. Shadow always had a way of jumping to the forefront ahead of the more coolheaded Marix in those situations. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t right. In fact, she was very right. So much so that the anger had been sapped from Jyren and quickly turned into a look of shock. His mouth opened and closed a few times before finally finding his voice, but even then Shadow knew what he was going to say and growled to cut him off, answering his unspoken(and stupid) question at the same time, “Of course I still love you! If you think you have to question that then you really do need to get out of here and go actually think. But that doesn’t change the fact that you are acting just like Toby! If we’re actually going to do what you suggested in the first place and find Jen, then you can’t keep breaking down like this. You made a mistake. You still can’t control your emotions. Shunning the Force hasn’t changed a thing except for forcing me to do the work while you tag along and complain.”

To his credit, Jyren did not even attempt to apologize. Slowly and quietly, he got to his feet, and then motioned down the stairs. Shadow sighed. That was better. She didn’t smile, but did the next best thing considering the current mood in the air and simply turned to lead the way. In silence, they descended the stairs, finally reaching the lowest level after another few minutes.

It was large, dark, and a mess. There was little else that could be used to describe it. They could see without too much trouble thanks to the Alraxian vision, but all they could actually make out were tables, desks, and consoles that were strewn about and torn to pieces everywhere. It looked like something had gotten loose in the place and been very, very angry. Surprisingly, there was no sign of any bodies anywhere, though the scent of blood was thick...if not a bit old. 

“How are we supposed to tell if anything was taken...?” Jyren asked, his voice barely a whisper. Shadow figured this was not because he was worried about anyone hearing them, but because he was still taken aback by her snapping at him.

Shadow attempted to scan over the area, looking for anything that wasn’t in pieces. It was difficult. What was still up and where it likely was originally placed was either riddled with blaster scorch marks, deep cuts, or simply smashed in. There weren’t any security cameras anywhere that she could see, either. She sighed. There was something here...she could feel it. But it wasn’t going to be easy to find. Quietly, she said, “You start over there, and I’ll start here. Look through everything you come across. Try to find anything not smashed that might give us any ideas.”

And so, they searched. From computer console, to desk, to odd piece of equipment that probably did something very specific, to another console, the two Alraxians dug through everything. It was tedious, but Shadow could feel it was necessary. Of course, it didn’t help that she kept glancing over her shoulder to make sure the smuggler’s didn’t get any ideas and come to sneak up behind them.

A half hour passed with little noise beyond their own rummaging. Then, though, Shadow noticed two things. First, the sounds off behind her from Jyren’s direction suddenly stopped...then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the room light up noticeably in that direction. It was only a matter of seconds before Jyren called to her, “This control console’s barely in one piece but its working.”

“Anything interesting?” Shadow asked over her shoulder as she dug herself out of where she’d been digging and started over towards the bright light in the darkness that was the active console.

She could see him bite his lower lip as he was obviously looking things over, then felt a pang of worry shoot through the link from him. He didn’t need to say ‘yes’ to that, so instead simply said, “Maybe.”

Jyren waited for her to reach him before pointing to the cracked and slightly flickering screen of the console, which looked to have taken a clubbing from all sides, and pointed at some of the symbols, “Files are missing here.”

“Files...?” Shadow raised an eyebrow, curious as to how he’d figured that out so 
quickly, and why he immediately went to the plural.

He, of course, nodded and pointed to another of the symbols off to the side, “At least two...maybe more.”

Though Jyren stopped to wait for a reaction, it only got a look from Shadow telling him to stop pausing and get on with it. Running a hand through his hair, Jyren said quietly, “I’m not completely sure what they are but...”

“But what do you think?” she finished his sentence as a question to urge him on, trying to push away the tone from earlier in the hopes that he’d stop toeing around the point.

“There’s a reference to a file detailing Sith Poison in a later file, but nothing on the poison itself,” Jyren mumbled, eyeing the screen as he tried to make sense of the entire mess, then added, “The only other thing that looks to definitely be missing is some kind of order.”

Shadow did her best to ignore the first part, and raised an eyebrow, “What kind of order?”

“There’s a piece of an old text only transmission from Kuat Drive Yards,” Jyren said, reading a small file he brought up to make sure he wasn’t messing anything up, “Apparently, the order is ready and awaiting pickup at Kuat.”

That didn’t sound good. But still, it demanded another question, “When was that transmission sent?”

A pause as Jyren searched, then he said very carefully, “A week ago.”

Silence. Both of them began to put pieces together, though there were still a few hundred holes all over the place. But before any other information could be gleaned, there was a pop, a sizzle, and then the console died right on cue. Slowly, the two of them exchanged a careful look.

It was Shadow who said what they were both thinking, “Sadrak’s been dead for nearly a year now. He left this place empty months before that...it couldn’t be his.”

“I think we need to go Kuat,” Jyren said with a nod.

Shadow sighed and got to her feet, “Its going to be dangerous going back to the Core, but I agree. Hopefully things will start making more sense then, too.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 286: One Last Time*

Sometime, it felt like they were always traveling. Over the last few weeks, at least, more time had been spent in hyperspace than actually doing what they were supposed to be doing. But it wasn’t all bad. Not only did Loki enjoy the company, but so did Toby and neither Shadow nor Jyren had much of a problem with it. It was nice to have actual time to relax...even if it was a bit unnerving after they had gotten used to never having a moment to sit down or sleep.

For once, the two of them weren’t sitting up in the cockpit and watching the lines of hyperspace swirl around the ship. Just an hour earlier, Tobias had demanded attention and they had tortured him...which meant that, now at least, the small Alraxian was passed out. Of course, he had the habit of simply falling asleep wherever he was and that had been, unsurprisingly, on Jyren. Having been in a comfortable spot in the small lounge that usually ended up being the place where they ate, Jyren hadn’t moved.

Shadow had wandered off to practice a little, inviting Jyren to join her but knowing he wouldn’t. She was trying, at least. Loki was currently in between two conversations, one with Shadow while she was in the hangar, and the other with Jyren who was still laying back on one of the couch-like pieces of furniture in the lounge with Tobias asleep on his chest.

“I still think you could do with some kind of weapons,” Jyren was saying up to the ceiling, which, for some reason, was the natural way to speak to the ship. It just made him feel less crazy to talk up than straight to a wall across from him, “Just for defense.”

Loki responded with a hurt feeling. [No Kanyaks have ever had any weapons. It would...it would be wrong. And besides, I am much faster than any other ships.] there was a pause, and then Loki ‘grinned’. [Besides, your ship has weapons. It can do the work.]

Grinning, Jyren nodded. Considering that his impression that it was a grave insult to tell a Kanyak he needed weapons, Loki was keeping his usual lighthearted attitude fairly well. The conversation itself had gone on for at least twenty minutes, and now, finally, Jyren couldn’t think of anything to add. The ship just wasn’t going to agree, and there was nothing Jyren could do to convince him otherwise. It could have been worse, at least.

Silence took over the room...except for Toby’s breathing that was beginning to border on snoring. Jyren found himself yawning and wondered if a nap might not be such a bad idea. They were still a good ways out from Kuat, and there wasn’t all that much left he could think of to do.

Then, somewhat quickly, Loki cut in. [Watch out.]

“Huh?” Jyren looked up again, giving the ceiling a confused look. But Loki didn’t have a chance to respond, and it became immediately apparent what the ship was warning him about.

The door across the room irised open and Shadow stepped in. Normally, this would have been fine...but she had that look on her face. It was a determined expression that told Jyren more than the link could in such a short amount of time. Thanks to Loki, he also had a good idea of what the nature of that look was...and what the she and Loki had been talking about. Or, more likely, what she’d been venting at the ship.

Quietly, she walked over and had a seat in one of the smaller chairs that was directly across from where Jyren was laying. For a moment, she looked like she might actually make a comment about him and Toby, but instead she gave him a hard, critical look and said calmly, “This is the last time we’re going to do this.”

It was natural for Jyren to nod to that, even if he didn’t like where this was going.

Seeing his reaction, Shadow returned the nod and got straight to the point, as usual, “We’re going to the Core again, Jyren. Not only will we have to be on constant watch for New Republic Security, but we’re also going to have to watch our backs for bounty hunters and stay on our toes when we try to figure out exactly what is going on.”

Again, Jyren nodded. She was right. Yes, he knew exactly what she was going to say next, but he wasn’t going to argue anything until he was pushed into a corner.

So, Shadow pushed him straight into the corner, “If you hold back the Force there we’re going to get killed. I can’t pay attention to everything at the same time while still having to talk through officials and dig for the information we’re looking for.”

“You know I won’t,” he replied simply and shook his head.

Shadow held his gaze for a long time before saying very slowly, “If you want to be stubborn, then you are going to stay here in Loki.”

“No,” Jyren shook his head again, “I’m going with you.”

“No!” Shadow suddenly snapped, nearly yelling but holding her voice down enough that Tobias only shifted slightly, “No, Jyren. If you come with me, you’re going to use everything you can. Otherwise, taking you is just like taking Tobias with us. If I have to do it myself, I will.”

“But you just said—“

”I know what I just said!” Shadow cut him off this time, “But I’ll do better on my own than having to watch out for the both of us and you know it.”

Jyren went silent. He did know it. That was the heart of the problem, really. He looked down at Toby to avoid having to meet Shadow’s icy gaze, but that did little good. She had the kind of look that could melt faces even when it wasn’t matched. She could stare at the back of someone’s head until they cried. It was a well trained look, and very effective.

Shadow waited a few minutes. As she did so, she pried through the fairly week block that Jyren had been attempting through the link over the past weeks. It wasn’t hard...she knew him well enough to know what he would try. And then she sifted through what she could find as carefully as possible. There was something wrong with all of this that was really bugging her, and she knew it had to do with what Jyren kept saying. She found it with little trouble, but the problem with the link is that thoughts weren’t exactly translated. They were still masses of unintelligible ideas that made no sense. But Shadow had the idea now.

And so, very carefully, she said, “Jyren, stop avoiding this and tell me the truth. What is the real problem? What are you so afraid of? And don’t you dare lie to me and tell me its what happened with Halpak. I know as well as you do that you’ve accepted that you made a mistake and are doing your best to move past it. Tell me the truth.”

There was a silence, but eventually Jyren turned to meet her gaze again. He sighed and thought about it. It was somewhat annoying that she was always so damned right about everything...even with things he’d convinced himself of otherwise. And, at this point, there was no more arguing. It would only make the situation worse. Probably much worse, considering how well he knew Shadow and how serious she sounded.

Taking a deep breath(which forced Tobias to shift again), Jyren finally answered, “I don’t want to screw up again.”

A simple statement that, out of context, wouldn’t have meant a thing. But Shadow knew exactly what he meant, and she didn’t even need the link for that(though, of course, it sure helped). Slowly, Shadow nodded as she put the pieces together, “Its been three and a half years and you still haven’t let go, have you?”

Despite having admitted it, Jyren couldn’t help but feel caught. He bit his lip and nodded, eventually saying, “I can’t lose you, too.”

Somehow, that made Shadow grin. Maybe it was the absurdity of the idea. Holding back a short chuckle, she shook her head, “Jyren, you know you can’t. Its not possible. In fact, that’s the one thing in the galaxy you’ll never, ever have to worry about...like it or not.”

He sighed and managed another nod, “I know...but its just...I still...”

“Jyren, she’s dead,” Shadow said flatly, not really liking that it had come down to that but knowing it had to be said, “It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t screw up. You aren’t to blame.”

“But I...if I had been trained then,” Jyren mumbled, “I could have stopped it from happening. I would have known.”

And there it was, finally. It had taken weeks to pound that simple thing out of him. Shadow sighed, trying no to sound annoyed that he was being help back by something so stupid, “But you weren’t. You didn’t have any training then...there was nothing you could have done to change anything. And holding yourself back from using the Force now to try and prove to yourself that you could have done it then isn’t going to do anything but get the both of us killed. No, I’m not saying you can’t, but right now, we need everything we can use.”

Silence again. This time, at least, Jyren didn’t try to look away. He held the look, and then, knowing it was probably a bad thing to say, spoke up, “I’m sorry.”

Shadow blinked, and let out a sigh of relief. For once, he wasn’t just using that to cut the argument off. She could feel that clearly. It was the first time she could remember him actually apologizing and meaning it instead of trying to work his way out of a corner. With a nod to make sure he knew she wasn’t going to yell at him for saying that, she got up out of the seat and walked over to where he and Toby were. Carefully, she had a seat on the floor, resting up against the couch-like thing and leaning her head back to look up at Jyren.

And, in that odd position, she asked, “So are you going to stop this now?”

“What?” Jyren asked, a grin appearing on his currently upside-down face, “I’m comfortable here, and I don’t think Toby would be very happy if I moved.”

Shadow rolled her eyes, which was an interesting sight for Jyren at the current angle, and tried to hold a flat tone, “You know what I mean.”

He nodded, and said through a deep breath, “I don’t think I much of a choice...so I’ll just do my best.”

“When was that ever good enough?” now she was having trouble fighting back the grin.

Though Jyren opened his mouth to say something, he was cut off by Loki. [It seemed to me that last night it was enough.]

Silence. Jyren fought back a horrible comment...if, of course, anything could have been horrible compared to what Loki had just said. Shadow had, naturally, gone a deep red, and what was left of Marix was now completely in control. And so, immediately, she yelled up at the ceiling, “Shut up, Loki!”


((A short little thing that's actually unrelated to the SH. If you haven't done so already, go check out this thread and vote on the 2006 ENnies Judges. This is my first year running, and, yes, I'd like it if you'd vote for me, but I won't stop updating these SHs if I don't win. ))


----------



## Angcuru

Zinged by your own ship!  That's got to sting.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 287: More Interesting Than Planned*

Kuat. The ugly sphere sat there in the small star system on the edge of the Core with an artificial metallic ring of shipyards in orbit above its equator. Ships were everywhere, as were random pieces of half-built ships, so much so that it felt like there was more traffic here than Coruscant could have ever managed.

And it all looked the same. Near three...no, nearly five years and still that damned planet looked the same. Jyren could close his eyes and see the view of the planet from the cockpit of the old X-Wing. He could see Mare’s X-Wing off to the side at his wing, and the sensor board alight with TIEs on their way in. Was it really that long ago?! It was almost terrifying how quickly it could all come back with a simple closing of the eyes...

“Hellooooo...? Jyren, wake up. This is no time to go all glazed over,” Shadow’s voice snapped him out of the odd moment a little too quickly.

His eyes shot open to see a hand wave in front of his face and he nearly jumped into it out of surprise. Thankfully, he managed to grip the seat and shake off the memories. Taking a deep breath, Jyren sat back and tried not to focus too much on the view that was far too similar to the one all those years before, “Hm? What is it?”

Shadow was giving him a careful look, but pointed out the viewport to the planet, “I sent a signal to the place that the message originated from in the shipyard ring. Loki’s locked onto their beacon, but this place is a mess...”

“You want me to fly him in manually?” Jyren asked after a moment.

There was a strange sound in his mind that almost could have been Loki trying to say something...but Jyren knew full well that it was impossible to hold a Kanyak’s mouth shut as it spoke for the simple reason that they didn’t have mouths. Either way, it had that sound to it. But Shadow simply nodded.

Something was up...Jyren was sure of it. Yet, for some reason that was completely beyond him, he shrugged it off and sat forward to take the relatively unfamiliar control yoke. Though he had never actually taken direct control of Loki, from the looks of it the controls were pretty much the same as every ship anywhere in the galaxy was. The yoke worked the same, and the few switches and interesting looking bubbles that were probably some form of gauges or buttons likely were the same too, it simply too figuring out which was which. And, thankfully, Jyren had the help of the link which gave him access to Shadow’s knowledge of all the workings...and it was all very easily accessible. More so than anything usually was through the link.

Shadow sighed quietly to herself and sat back to watch the approaching planet. They’d just gotten past Jyren’s problems with his old wingmate and this was not the time for them to reappear. No, Loki wasn’t particularly happy about being painted as an idiot, but Shadow had given him a sharp talk and the ship had complied. Now, according to the whining in the back of her head, Loki was stuck being assault by a barrage of questions from Tobias, who was now awake and, as usual, wild. But at least he was contained for now. That little brat was just one more thing to worry about and Shadow still couldn’t believe that Jyren had talked her into bringing him along.

But it seemed that the crisis had been averted. With a little help from the Force, she had managed to keep Jyren’s mind away from any questions he’d normally have asked. Sure, it was manipulative, but it could have been worse. He could have gone back into his childish state and hidden himself both in the Force and from the link again. Maybe, finally, they could track down whatever this was that was going on.

“They didn’t say anything else?” Jyren asked as the ring of shipyards grew much larger in the relatively small viewport ahead of them.

Shadow blinked, then realized what he was talking about, and answered, “Nothing...well, nothing except the usual ‘we’re so glad you’ve stopped by’ and other talk that most of these administrators try.”

Jyren sighed and shook his head, “I’m not sure I like that.”

It didn’t take much effort to pick up on his train of thought. Thinking out loud, she said, “Whatever it is, it hasn’t been delivered. Probably not finished either. I used the confirmation code we found.”

“You actually remembered that?!” his voice didn’t hide any shock at that, nor did his face.

Shadow grinned and shrugged, “It looked important. But either way, it means whatever we’re looking for is probably still here. And...”

“...and Jen might be, too,” Jyren finished. That sure sounded good, but something was bugging him. When he figured it out, and after maneuvering Loki around some of the nearby space junk, Jyren asked, “We should know already if she’s there, Shady.”

“Not necessarily,” she said quietly after a short while, quietly watching the large mass of shipyards encompass their view. There were so many different things out there, half finished hulls of ships and beat up pieces of junk that were being dismantled, that it was hard to tell the ships that were moving in to the ones that were going out. Glancing back to Jyren, she went on, “This entire thing is a longshot. You know as well as I do that she should be dead. But...this chance that she’s not feels very dangerous. And...and if she can survive that fall on Nar Shaddaa, I don’t think hiding from us here would be very difficult.”

“You think she knows we’re here?” he asked, finally entering the main bulk of the Kuati Division 37B-9 Shipyard where they had been headed the entire time. It was not the circular tube-like thing that Jyren had encountered years earlier...those were mainly only used to built the great capital starships. This reminded the both of them more of an old Golan Orbital Battery, and it may have well been an old converted one. A spire in the sky, with a huge, main section on its ‘top’ like the great floating cities that populated so many gas giants throughout the galaxy.

“No, I’m not saying that,” Shadow said as Jyren brought Loki in to the docking bay that was now straight ahead of them, slowing the ship down carefully and getting the angle just right. Shadow looked a bit closer and noted a large number of figures scattered in the bay that looked to be just barely large enough for Loki to set down in, “But someone sure knows we’re here.”

“What do you mean by that?” that question caused him a momentary glance away from what he was doing, and normally that would have meant flying straight into the edge of the docking bay thanks to the lack of a tractor beam. However, at this point Loki very carefully cut in to make sure this didn’t happen. He was smart enough to do so just gently enough that Jyren still didn’t notice.

Shadow nodded back out to the figures that were station all around the grey and blue docking bay they were slowly entering, “There’s about thirty security troops out there and all of them are holding blaster rifles...” trailing off, Shadow allowed herself a grin, “This may get more interesting than just talking with some boring administrator after all.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 289: The Negotiations Were Short*

Running a hand through newly brown hair, Jyren did his best to avoid the balance problems that came with no longer having a tail. Despite having no idea how exactly that worked in the first place, it always threw him off(and nearly to his face most of the time) after morphing. Idly, he refitted his belt and holster around a slightly smaller waist, now just wasting time waiting for Shadow. It was decided, for obvious reasons, that speaking with the two nicely dressed and probably administrative people who were waiting in the bay with all of the guards would best be done as humans. Generic, boring, quiet humans that could be easily forgotten when they were gone.

And yet he was still standing here staring at the closed hatch that led out to the hangar beyond...waiting on Shadow. Whatever she was doing, he had a feeling it was best not to ask. Loki was also keeping suspiciously silent, though Jyren couldn’t help but wonder if that had to do with the fact that Tobias was still drilling the poor ship with questions and trying to find ways to play with the giant ship. And for some odd reason, just standing around like this was making Jyren jumpy. For the third time, he reached down to check the blaster pistol at his hip.

Not that he planned to use the thing, but there was something to be said about walking straight into a hangar like this one with all of the armed security forces and proudly showing off the fact that you had a blaster on you and were, quite definitely, not afraid to use it despite the odds. Yes, they’d probably take it off of him, but that didn’t matter. Stretching again, Jyren couldn’t help but feel so much smaller. The ceiling of the corridors was a good meter and a half...no, more like two meters higher above his head than he’d gotten so used to. Not to mention that he was so used to looking through metallic blue hair that the more normal brown caused him to stare at it and try not to be confused.

A throat was cleared behind Jyren, and for a moment he was completely lost as to the source. But then the brain started working again and Jyren realized that the higher pitched sound was, in fact, simply a human Shadow. That took getting used to, too...maybe more than anything else. Turning around, he grinned to himself. At least he was still ta...tall...taller?...

When Jyren’s face went blank and his mouth left gaping, Shadow grinned. She looked much different than he did when morphing to a human body...perhaps that was because he’d actually been human, and there was some unconscious connection to looking like he’d always looked. But with Shadow, not only did she shrink down in size, but her hair changed completely to a much shorter mass of jet black hair that looked nothing like the Shadow anyone was used to seeing.

No...no it wasn’t the hair that caused that at this point.

This time, it was definitely...definitely...the...the..the...clothes. Yes. Yes, the clothes. Definitely the clothes. Yes, of course...not the...her...no! The clothes!

“Buh...um...” Jyren mumbled, then realized those weren’t words and that she was grinning even more. He forced his eyes up...no, up! Then, holding her gaze as best was possible when she was using The Look, searched out for real words, “Uh...buh...where the hell did that uh...uh...thing come from?”

Of course that only got the grin on Shadow’s face to grow bigger. She laughed and glanced down at what she’d changed into. Yes, one could have described it as revealing, but it wasn’t as much what was revealed as what was suggested. Figure hugging in just the right way and places. Looking back up at him, she tilted her head, “You have a problem with it?”

Again, Jyren’s mouth opened and non-words escaped. Eventually getting his eyes back up again(yes, up, dammit!), Jyren forced out other things that seemed to be more word-like, “I uh...no...! Just...um...you don’t...and...its not...where the hell did that come from?!”

At first, Shadow just stared. She had attempted to decipher the at least five different questions that had been buried in that, but only could make out the last one. She shifted slightly, now actually attempting to stop distracting him on purpose like that, and shrugged, “You probably don’t want to know.”

He was, of course, still staring, “Looks like...like something from a Twi’lek.”

That brought the grin back to Shadow’s face, “You do know that there are other tactics beyond charging in and showing off your blaster pistol.”

She had nodded to the weapon at his hip before sidling past to the hatch. While the clothes she wore were, in fact, designed for a Twi’lek, they were still dignified enough to garner her respect with whoever these administrators were. Just one little edge. And no, she wasn’t planning on telling the story on how she’d gotten a hold of it, but Shadow figured that if Jyren thought she didn’t have a morph as useful as a Twi’lek then he was really more of an idiot than she ever joked about.

“I’ll lead,” Shadow commented over her shoulder to him, “Jump in where you feel its necessary and keep an eye on everything. They’re either going to try to keep us for a long time in fear that we’re going to take our business elsewhere or make this extremely quick because we’re getting in the way.”

Jyren nodded, but she didn’t see it. Instead, she’d already hit the hatch and it irised open to reveal the soft grey colours of the hangar. The security forces all shifted to face them, but they didn’t actually raise any blasters. Jyren also noticed that the insignia’s on their shoulders weren’t New Republic, but Kuat Drive Yards Security...that was a very good relief. At the end of a makeshift path lined by the security force were two other humans, both definitely Kuati in their looks. Tall, strong lined features, slicked back, blonde colour hair, and a perfect stature. Though one was a woman and the other a man, it was disturbingly difficult to tell the difference.

Calmly, Shadow and Jyren walked across the deck to the two Kuati. Their footsteps echoed loudly in the relatively empty hangar, and when they reached two meters from them, Shadow and Jyren both stopped and(at a mental signal from Shadow), bowed. The Kuati followed suit, and then the woman said in a very diplomatic tone, “We are honoured by your presence. We were...beginning to wonder if this order would be checked on. It is rare that we work from start to finish without at least one meeting with at least a representative of our clients.”

Shadow nodded in the exact way that every diplomat Jyren had ever seen did, using a similar tone of voice, “I trust things are going well?”

“Very well,” the man said in a voice that was deeper than seemed possible for a man that was just about Jyren’s height and build, “However, you must understand that for such a large order, much time must be given. We are working as quickly as possible.”

It was very hidden in his tone, but Shadow immediately knew which kind of talk this was. These two didn’t like having their work interrupted. They were amazingly talented diplomats and were able to hide this displeasure as if with the Force, but Shadow was very, very skilled at reading people. It also meant, though, that it was unlikely they would see anything beyond this hangar.

So Shadow decided to make the best of it and nodded again, “Of course I understand. It would be helpful, though, if you could provide us with a short report on the progress. That way, you may return to your work and we can be on our way and stop wasting anymore of your time.”

The fact that this point was not argued proved the two were ready for this conversation to be over with already. When the woman pulled out a datapad and handed it to Shadow, that sealed the entire thing. Suddenly, Shadow was even more glad to have memorized that confirmation number. Just as she was thinking it, the Kuati woman said, “It is encrypted to protect the data, of course. We have used the encryption specified by your employer, so it should be no trouble for you to check the data.”

Another nod from Shadow. That had been a test. Any hesitation would likely have meant the two of them being gunned down. But Shadow was smarter than that, and now, as quickly as this all had begun, it was over. She bowed again(with Jyren quickly following suit), and allowed a simple smile, “Thank you for your time.”

And then, Shadow pivoted around and returned to Loki. Jyren was right at her side the entire time, and when they re-entered Loki and the hatch was closed, he let out a sigh, “Why do I have a feeling that was much more dangerous than it looked like at first?”

Shadow grinned and patted his shoulder, “Because you’re learning about more than rushing in and shooting things, dear.”

“Now we have to figure out how to break this encryption,” Jyren said, trying not to let his eyes drift too much again.

But Shadow just shook her head, “No. First, we get out of here. Then we’ll work on the datapad.”

There was then a silence as they headed to the cockpit to take Loki out. But the entire time it was being poked at by a strong feeling, both through the link an through the Force. When they’d sat down in their respective seats in the cockpit, Shadow gave Jyren the same Look as before and waited.

He grinned and shrugged, “Because we get through to the decryption, you’re telling me how you got those clothes. I know that’s going to be a good story.”

“Ooooh, so you do like them?” Shadow laughed and tossed the datapad over to him, “I’ll tell you the story only if you’re good. Hopefully you’ll actually listen and stop staring at me, though...” she trailed off a moment as Jyren went red, then decided to add one last attack, “Oh, and dear, please close your mouth before you choke on something.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 290: A Time to Think*

Hyperspace again. One day, it was going to get tiring. Very, very tiring. At least Loki seemed to be enjoying himself and getting some exercise as it were.

Currently, they were on their way to no where in particular. It was safest to get out of the Core as quickly as possible, especially a planet like Kuat with so much traffic. But, for the moment at least, their destination was not at all important. What was important was dealing with decrypting the datapad...and considering that neither Shadow nor Jyren had any experience in such an activity, it was proving to be fairly interesting, to say the least.

The two of them lay on their stomachs on the large bed in their quarters with the datapad sitting on the bed between them. Thankfully, Shadow had changed...both her clothes, back to the morphsuit which, while it was form-fitting, wasn’t nearly as distracting as that other thing, and her physical form, which was now back to the usual Alraxian body. Jyren was also back to that, somehow glad to be back in what he was slowly coming to accept as ‘him’. 

But they weren’t alone. Normally, the two of them wouldn’t have been literally shoulder to shoulder while actually trying to work as it was, admittedly, nearly as distracting as what Shadow had been wearing earlier. But there was an actual reason for this breech of normal working conditions...and the reason weighed enough that it was at least mildly annoying.

Tobias, bored to tears, had refused to allow them anymore time alone to work on what they felt was important. Of course, he had no problem with them ‘working’ as long as he was allowed to ‘help’. Currently, ‘help’ meant the little Alraxian was perched on each of their shoulders, leaning down between them to peer curiously at the datapad.

“We’ve been staring at it for over an hour, Shadow,” Jyren commented, having already gotten used to talking through Tobias’ head that was in the way of seeing her, “I still don’t know what to make of it.”

“That one looks like Loki!” Tobias exclaimed just a little too loudly, pointing at one of the odd symbols.

There was a silent moment as both Jyren and Shadow turned to look at each other(well, at either side of Toby’s skull), but it was Shadow who sighed and said in the perfect parent-like tone, “Yes, Toby, yes it does...” her voice then returned to normal, “And, Jyren, we’re not trying to decrypt it ourselves right now. Just see if you’ve seen anything like this before. Think, remember?”

Shadow heard a sigh from Jyren’s direction then a mumbled, “Oh. That again.”

“Yes, that,” Shadow said loudly enough to let Jyren know she’d heard him, “Look, we’re almost sure this trail will lead us to Jen, right?”

Tobias nodded.

That forced a break in Shadow’s train of reasoning for some odd reason, but she quickly managed to attempt to ignore that and went on, “If this takes us to Jen, then think about her. What encryptions would she know?”

Though that could have narrowed things down, it didn’t immediately settle things in Jyren’s mind, “Who says she encrypted it? The Kuati could have easily done it themselves.”

“Yes, well, that will just leave us within nothing,” Shadow grumbled, turning back to look at the series of symbols that meant nothing at all to her. Though Toby was right...that one down near the middle did kind of look like Loki...

“How does knowing who encrypted us do any good?” Jyren asked, breaking Shadow out of her attempts to make anything of the rest of the symbols. 

Shadow rolled her eyes and decided he wasn’t going to figure it out, “Because if we know the source, Loki can probably figure out most of it. And no, we can’t just throw it at him and hope he can do it himself. He isn’t a computer.”

[I’m better.] Loki helped, and all three Alraxians couldn’t help but feel as if someone was looking over their shoulders...well, in Shadow and Jyren’s cases, their other shoulder.

And it went quiet again as they went back to the seemingly futile attempt of deciphering the mess in front of them. After another ten or so minutes, Jyren shrugged, which nearly threw Tobias off, and said, “She was with the New Republic for a while.”

“Then you know what it is!” Tobias said, bounding back up to his spot after nearly sliding away. Jyren looked passed the happy face of the little Alraxian to see Shadow giving him a flat, ‘I’m waiting’ look.

“No,” Jyren grumbled, “I don’t.”

“How many years were you with them?” Shadow asked over Tobias, who was making a sad face and obviously getting to the point where this was boring and he wanted to play.

Jyren sighed and tried not to move so as to throw Tobias farther off, “I didn’t work with any encryptions! I used them, sure, but I have no idea what they looked like! All I know was that they worked!”

Shadow did not reply. In fact, she didn’t move a single muscle, still holding the exact same expression and that almost disturbing gaze. This time, Jyren sighed louder and more dramatically, “Fine! That one that looks like Loki is a bit familiar!”

“There,” she smiled the devilish smile which reminded Jyren all too much of Toby and then looked up to the ceiling, “Time to get to work on this, Loki!”

As they got up(and Tobias moved to his usual position perched on Jyren’s shoulder) and headed to the cockpit to feed the data to Loki(or however it was done), Jyren couldn’t help but notice that something was off. Finally, he asked, “Loki could have done all that on his own, couldn’t he?”

[Of course I could have!] Loki snapped, suddenly letting out something similar to an annoyed sigh.

When Jyren’s accusing gaze fell on Shadow, she laughed and patted his back, “We’re not in a rush anymore and you still need to learn to use that thing you call a brain.”

“Oh, thank you,” Jyren grumbled. Of course, Tobias just laughed and poked the side of Jyren’s head a few times.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 291: Putting the Pieces Together*

Barely ten minutes later, the three of them sat in their usual places in the cockpit. Shadow in the right, pilot’s chair, Jyren in the left, co-pilot’s chair, and Tobias bounding between them before finally settling in Jyren’s lap and watching the holoprojection of the galaxy curiously. Though the datapad hadn’t been able to be completely decrypted due to the mixing of multiple types of encryptions, they had gotten one critical piece of information from the line just above the Loki-shaped symbol that was quickly becoming infamous.

“So where again is the Ison Corridor?” Jyren asked, looking over the projection of the galaxy that sat between them.

Shadow reached over and pointed to a section near the lower left edge of the great swirl of stars, “Right around there. Smuggler route, mostly. It cuts straight into the Corellian Run and avoids the old Imperial outposts near the Sluis Van shipyards.”

“Anything of interest there?” he asked, noting that the holo zoomed in slightly to the section of stars Shadow had indicated. It didn’t make it any easier to pinpoint one from another, though.

“Bespin’s about midway through the route,” Shadow said, pointing to the general area of one of the faint stars, “Anoat’s nearby, too.”

Jyren ran that through his mind, trying to put together any memories. His knowledge was really of the Core, though he did have a faint idea of what else was all out there since his time as a mercenary. But he had heard of the Ison Corridor before. And there was something important about it that he just couldn’t pinpoint...

“How long was Jen with he New Republic?” he asked after a few minutes.

Shadow gave him a curious look and shrugged. There was also a movement in his lap and Jyren glanced down to see Toby doing the same thing. It was hard not to grin. But, thankfully, Shadow spoke up to distract him from Toby, “Not sure...why?”

Jyren’s eyes again went to the holoprojection, “Could she have been with them when they were just the Alliance?”

“A Rebel, you mean?” Shadow asked a little too quickly, and with almost a hint of contempt in her voice. It quickly went away and she was left with a slightly confused face for a half second before wiping that away, “Its possible. Again. Why?”

“Loki,” Jyren said upwards, “Where is the Hoth System?”

A small blue(of course it was blue, everything was blue with these Alraxians) dot appeared right near the lower end of the Corridor and close to where Anoat should be. [Right there.]

Silence.

It took only a moment before Shadow knew exactly what Jyren was thinking, and right away she folded her arms across her chest and shook her head, “No.”

“It makes sense,” he said slowly, and Toby ‘helped’ by nodding a few thousand times at Shadow as if he knew exactly what Jyren was talking about.

“I know it makes sense!” Shadow snapped back, “It makes perfect sense! But no, we’re not going!”

“Awwwwww...” that was Toby.

The sound got a sharp glare from Shadow, but Jyren ignored that and pointed to the little dot, “Shadow, we have to go. It’s the perfect place to hide from us.”

“Of course it is! Its bloody cold on that planet!” Shadow growled, though she sounded more accepting somehow, “It’ll kill us!”

“As Alraxians, maybe.”

“As Human, too!” her glare was now up at eye level with Jyren, “There’s a reason the smugglers that go there leave quickly!”

But before Jyren could attempt to argue back, Shadow threw up her hands and sighed, “Loki, get us to that damned system!” she then turned back to Jyren and grumbled, “Where’s the best place to hide from an Alraxian?”

“Cold place!!” Toby jumped up, hand waving in the air as he screamed the answer.

Shadow and Jyren exchanged a look, with Jyren trying not to grin again as he said, “Exactly, Toby. And how would Jen pick a cold place?”

Toby looked straight up to Jyren, “Uhhhh...I dunno?”

“Somewhere she’s been,” Shadow answered out loud, sounding actually helpful and slow enough to almost be trying to teach the little Alraxian something...but no, that wasn’t possible, “Somewhere out of the way.”

As Loki reoriented himself and got ready for yet another very long jump completely across the galaxy, the holoprojection of the galaxy faded away. Not that they needed it anymore. The annoying part to all of it wasn’t that it made so much sense and all connected perfectly, but that it felt right. Through the Force, both Shadow and Jyren knew that they were right about all of this. They had hoped otherwise.

But it all fit too well. The Sith poison that would drive a human to sheer rage...the last moments they saw Jen. The trail they’d followed across the galaxy...faint, yet most definitely there and left by someone who didn’t have much experience in covering their tracks. The use of an old New Republic encryption mixed in with what were probably Kuati codes. And then Hoth. An old Rebel base, abandoned for so long it was probably forgotten, and the perfect type of planet to hide from Alraxians...a species which would die rather quickly on planets that weren’t as warm and tropical as their own homeworld. Even their technology couldn’t protect them on a planet as icy and freezing as Hoth.

And far away, on the other side of the galaxy, someone waited.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 292: Orbital Tails*

“Loki, what the hell is the difference?! Its cold in space, too!” Jyren yelled at the bulkhead at his left as he walked from the bedroom back up to the cockpit where Shadow was supposedly still at. Tobias was in tow again, but instead of being carried was scurrying around Jyren’s feet and just tempting fate to be stepped on. In fact, it seemed to have been some sort of game to avoid losing his tail to one of Jyren’s feet.

[It’s different.] Loki answered stubbornly. [There are different kinds of cold.]

Sighing, Jyren tried his best to hold back any more annoyance, “Isn’t space worse, though?! I mean, if you can stand that what’s a little ice and snow?”

[It’s different.] Loki repeated in the same tone.

For some reason, Jyren just decided to give up. At least there was the X-Wing...which was probably a good part of the reason Loki was refusing. Out loud, he grumbled, “You’re as bad as Shadow.”

“Who’s as bad as me?” Shadow’s voice echoed down the corridor, causing Jyren to realize just how close he’d gotten...and how good Alraxian ears were.

Suddenly, Tobias jumped up and out of his game, charging straight for the open access into the cockpit happily yelling, “Lokilokilokilokiloki!!!”

“By the Force!” Shadow screamed as Tobias disappeared from Jyren’s view and, from the feeling through the link, pounced her. The loud Tobias-like growls and laughs were also evidence of this...along with the curses, “Claws, dammit! No claws!!!”

Jyren arrived in the cockpit just in time to see Shadow pry the little Alraxian off of her and hold him away at arms length. Sliding into his usual seat, Jyren laughed, “Having trouble?”

Tobias growled playfully and Shadow simply shook him as he tried to dig claws into her wrists, “Stop that!!” immediately, though, her head spun around to glare at Jyren and in a second she threw Tobias at him, “You deal with it!”

Typically, Tobias laughed in mid air and then growled while half-extending claws just before landing. Though Jyren managed to catch him, he winced as the small claws found his wrists instead of Shadow’s. And, of course, Tobias laughed and ‘grrred’ a lot. Jyren gave the child the best stern look he could manage and grinded out, “No. Claws.”

Amazingly, it worked. Claws were retracted(which hurt, too, annoyingly enough), and Tobias stopped squirming so much. He did, though, put on the perfect sad, ‘pity me’ face immediately afterwards. Jyren was learning to ignore that one, though, and finally turned to look out the viewport. Though the usual blackness covered half of the view, one entire side was now encompassed by a great blue-white sphere. Carefully putting Toby down, Jyren said to Shadow, “Don’t tell me you’re going to be like Loki and stay up here.”

“Oh, I’d like to,” Shadow said with a half-grin and a shrug, “Loki’s obviously the smart one among us. But someone has to keep you from freezing.”

That got a grin on Jyren’s face...a slightly devious one, “Oh, really? Now this is sounding much more interesting than it was at first...”

Shadow just rolled her eyes, “Don’t get your hopes up. You know I meant that you’re likely to stand out there looking around and forget that your body is shutting down due to the cold.”

Jyren managed a weak shrug, “Can’t blame me from trying.”

“I can,” she answered flatly, “And I did.”

This was one thing that was already won. Sometimes, Jyren was smart enough to let things go and not fight a lost cause. This was, almost to Shadow’s surprise, one of those times. Instead, his mind went straight back to business and he said, “I don’t suppose you have a collection of heavy jackets and other warm clothes.”

“You know the answer to that one already,” Shadow said under her breath as Toby started to play a game of ‘Pounce the tail.’ It was very hard to resist the natural urge to flick one’s tail when it was swatted at, and Tobias was an expert on taking advantage of this and using it to drive Shadow mad. For the moment, at least, she was ignoring that her tail was flipping around and Toby was bounding left and right after it.

Jyren tried not to watch Toby and sighed, “I wasn’t sure. It would seem that with all the...the...other clothes you have, you’d have at least a few warm clothes.”

“I don’t need them,” Shadow nearly snapped at him, now getting annoyed with Toby, “I’m not stupid enough to go to freezing spheres of ice.”

Actually understanding this and having expected it anyway, Jyren nodded, “I’ve got at least one flight suit in the X-Wing’s cargo hold. Probably a spare in there, too.”

Shadow’s silvery-purple eyes narrowed, “Those things are as thin as our morphsuits.”

“But they’re airtight,” Jyren said quickly, “Can keep you alive in a vacuum for a good few hours. Internal heat and everything.”

“They’re...orange,” that was ground out now, as Tobias was becoming more persistent in his attacks and Shadow’s usual ability to ignore anything was quickly disappearing.

That raised an eyebrow on Jyren’s face, “Since when did you gain a fashion sense?”

Again, Shadow rolled her eyes, “You’re forgetting to use that brain again. Bright orange...white snow...its not exactly a great way to go unnoticed.”

“You’d rather freeze?”

“Of course not!” Shadow was now glaring turbolaser blasts at him, “But its still not—AHHH! TOBY!!!”

The child had finally caught her tail...with claws. He wasn’t a complete fool, however, and the second he had latched on was already letting go and scampering out of the cockpit and down the corridor at lightning speed. There was the hint of a giggle following him. For a short half second, Shadow looked ready to charge up and murder the small Alraxian, but that passed quickly.

It was replaced by a whimper as she held her tail and tried to ease the disturbing amount of pain those small claws could cause. This lasted for at least a five minutes before Jyren finally got up and put a hand on her shoulder, “Come on. Let’s get out of here before you recover enough to kill him.”

Shadow got to her feet and managed another glare in his direction, “Oh, I’ll kill him...doesn’t have to be now, of course. You’re so interested in freezing your tail off, we might as well get that over with.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 293: The Cold*

“Hey, at least we won’t have to search for hours and hours and freeze, at least...right?” Jyren asked over his shoulder, attempting to comfort Shadow as best was possible. Of course, he was no better at comforting anyone than she was...and she was just as bad at receiving it.

“Oh, yes. Sounds wonderful,” Shadow growled at the back of the seat in front of her. In the cramped cockpit of the X-Wing, she was doing her best to keep her eyes right ahead on the black backing of Jyren’s seat...and not the endless white that was everywhere else. She was also slightly curled up, prepared for the cold and wrapped in at least four layers despite the fact that the X-Wing had its own heaters. Somewhere under the layers was even the spare, bright orange flight suit that had, in fact, been buried in the cargo compartment of the starfighter.

They were both human again. Not only was it something they were going to have to do anyway, as Alraxians would go into a state of shock and die fairly quickly in such intense cold, but the lack of tail also made the seats of the X-Wings much, much more bearable. Of course, it also meant Shadow was shorter and able to curl up and stay warm much easier. Jyren had never seen her so...so...however that was. Worried and panicky. Even overly dramatic...but that had all faded into her usual quiet self, now simply snapping at him and waiting for this all to be over with. Not that Jyren was liking this at all, but he didn’t have the anti-cold sentiments that were obviously instilled in all Alraxians from a young age...especially considering that even Toby was watching them worriedly before they left. The little child hadn’t even asked to go with them for once.

To get their minds off the cold(not that it would work, though), Jyren tried to bring up business again, “You still picking up that structure?”

There was a pause, then Shadow’s quiet voice said from behind him, “Fifteen kilometers north...very faint, though.”

“The ice an snow cover would do that, I expect,” Jyren babbled, not actually knowing if what he’d said was at all true. It was usually Shadow doing the babbling to attempt to keep Jyren’s mind off of things...but now with the roles reversed, he realized just how difficult it was to bring up useless, distracting chatter. Especially with Shadow.

But nothing else was said for a long while as the X-Wing careened over the endless ice plains of the planet. Any signs of a battle here, which would have been well over a decade earlier, were long since lost in the snow. But they were detecting something on the sensors very faintly. From the way it read, it was a likely some kind of large structure, though Loki hadn’t had any more luck and was also refusing to go anywhere closer than orbit around the planet. The fact that they’d picked up anything was a miracle on its own. Jyren had been expecting to have to sweep over the planet in the X-Wing for a very long day.

A half kilometer south of the sensor blip, Jyren dropped as many systems as he could and began to skim the snow to hide from any possible sensors. In another moment the sublight drives were off and the X-Wing was setting down behind a fairly large ‘dune’ of snow. As he powered down the remaining systems, Jyren made sure to keep the heating systems up and running until the last moment. He undid the straps that held him down and checked the flight suit. Bright orange...it’d been so long since he’d worn one of these. This one wasn’t his, though. It was simply a flight suit, and so was easier to put on without bringing back memories that might get in the way.

“Are you ready?” Jyren asked over his shoulder as he used some of the cloth from a now-ruined jacket to wrap around his head and, hopefully, keep his face relatively warm.

“‘s re’y ‘s ‘ll ev’r ‘e,” Shadow’s voice was muffled by a similar wrap around her face...except hers was three layers thick. This didn’t help that, as a human, her voice wasn’t exactly the loudest anyway, nor was it very forceful. In other situations, Jyren couldn’t help but find at least a little humour in the drastic change that happened to Shadow when she was in a human body.

But he was able to determine the words she’d spoken, suddenly glad for the help of the link. And so, he deactivated the last of the X-Wing’s systems and hit the switch to raise the canopy. There was a hiss, and then a loud swirling of winds as the mechanical noise grated and rose up the canopy. He did his best to ignore the sudden rush of ice-cold wind that shot into the cockpit, and climbed out, ignoring setting up the step ladder and instead jumping straight down and landing in an ankle-deep layer of snow.

Jyren managed a slight gasp as all the cold worked together to freeze him despite the flight suit and coverings he wore, but quickly turned to help Shadow out. It was something he just did naturally, but every single time she hated him for it. She could move herself, thankyouverymuch, and she did. Jumping down just as he had right before the canopy started back down and landing knee-deep in the snow.

She looked up and him and, despite only seeing her eyes, Jyren could hear a muffled whimper. But now they were out in it, and there wasn’t any turning back. So, as quickly as could be managed in the snow covered ground, they trudged up the ‘dune’ ahead of them and to the north, all the while shivering and sticking close in some false hope for warmth. To annoy Shadow even more, Jyren was being forced to help her move faster, as the deep layer of snow was slowing her down much more than him.

Pushing hard to move as quickly as they could, they reached the peak of the snow in only a minute and a half...though in the increasing wind that felt like piercing ice, it was more like hours. But when they were up, a very interesting sight greeted them that nearly distracted them from the cold.

There was a huge(really, really huge) rise of ice and snow in an almost rectangular shape ahead of them. It was big enough for even a good sized transport to fit into with room to spare. And as that thought crossed both of their minds, eyes caught sight of sleek grey colours poking through the white that was facing them. Metal. A wall...or...Shadow was the one to notice the line that ran down where the center probably was...an opening. A hangar?

Maybe...

And they could feel something. Something distant yet disturbingly close by. Something they could nearly touch but just out of reach. It added a new chill to run down each of their spines, and suddenly there was a new reason to get out of the freezing cold.

Shadow and Jyren exchanged a quick, worried look, and then started for the gigantic metal ‘door’...not even sure there was going to be any way in but suddenly feeling the need to find out right away.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 294: More Cold...*

Things were never as easy to do as they first seemed. This was, of course, something that everyone in the galaxy experienced, but Jyren had reached the point where he was wondering whether or not the things he ran into were even farther off than they should have been. It wasn’t fair, but considering that he knew life wasn’t fair anyway, that shouldn’t have been a problem. But lately, things were becoming just plain mean.

The two human figures had approached the large, metal doorway without running into any trouble, at least. And since they hadn’t run into any trouble walking up to it, there was an odd sense of safety while they carefully examined the very closed door, which it definitely was. Because, really, Jyren was still plainly wearing the bright orange flight suit, and if that didn’t get anyone’s attention, nothing short of turbolaser fire would on a planet like Hoth. 

But once reaching the huge door, they had begun the obvious search for either a way to open it or another way in. These both proved to be far more annoying than they should have been, mostly because of Shadow’s aversion to reaching up and brushing off any of the ice and snow for fear of touching it...despite the fact that she had the heavy, black gloves from the other flight suit on. It meant Jyren was having to do twice the work, while trying to understand her orders that were being growled out in a shivering voice from underneath at least three layers of heavy cloth.

So far, they’d found nothing at all.

“Jrrn.”

Jyren paused from cleaning up the section of durasteel in front of him to think about that. Not only was Shadow’s voice as a human small, but those extra layers did no good at helping her voice travel. After finally managing to interpret what she’d said, he looked over his shoulder to the shivering Shadow and asked, “What is it?”

A portion of cloth near where Shadow’s right arm was probably at raised up and ‘pointed’ off to a section Jyren hadn’t yet gotten to. Considering just how big the huge doors were, that wasn’t a surprise. He turned and looked at the direction she’d aimed him in. Through the ice and snow that was stuck on the durasteel, there was a green blinking light. Jyren quickly moved over to it and cleared the ice(carefully) to find a small console. But this was still close to the middle of the door...and on the outside. There was no way that was a control panel. Then what were the buttons for...?

A black-gloved hand appeared in front of Jyren as Shadow pressed the top button. She didn’t have to explain her reasoning. One of them was going to give in to either curiosity or the simple fact that it might be worth trying sooner or later...and with this cold, Shadow preferred sooner. When pressed, the blinking green light went out. Then, nothing happened for a long few seconds, but suddenly a blue light appeared. It didn’t blink, but it sat there disturbingly bright against the boring grey and endless whites. 

When nothing else happened, the two of them exchanged careful looks. Eyes met(considering that everything else was covered, they were all they could meet) and the link raced with ideas and thoughts. Only a few second passed before Shadow shrugged and pressed a second button. This time, there was a beep. It was soft, but loud considering the general silence around them if one ignored the wind. The blue light blinked twice, then went dead. Off far to the left, there was a hiss.

Both of them spun to look that direction, seeing a hole in the ice that had not been there before.

Another quick glance was exchanged.

Then, they decided it was worth a try, and carefully walked to the new opening. Reaching it, they looked in to see a small corridor that looked like it came straight out of a Corellian starship. An old one, Jyren though to himself, noting that the entire thing was whiter than the snow outside, and rounded at the edges instead of flat corners where the walls met. At the end of the short corridor was a what was clearly a door. White, slightly ridged in places, and with a small panel in its center.

One of them sighed, and Shadow led the way in. Jyren was right behind her, and was also smart enough to keep an eye out for, and hit, the switch to close the other door behind them. When it hissed shut, Shadow pulled the layers of cloth off her face and then whimpered, “Still cold in here!!”

Jyren did the same, but it was only one layer, and tried to ignore the fact that it wasn’t any warmer, “At least the wind isn’t in here.”

Shadow managed a nod, which caused her short, black hair to fall everywhere it shouldn’t and add one more thing to annoy her with. She glared at it, then through it, and then at Jyren, “Go figure that door out!”

That was not a voice to argue with...however, “No one puts a lock on their door on the outside.”

“We’ll worry about that when we’re inside,” Shadow growled at him, an arm shooting out and pointing angrily at the opposite door.

Jyren sighed, dusted a little snow off of his shoulders, then stepped past her and to the panel. It was much the same as the one on the outside...except without the blinking green. So, Jyren decided to press the top button. A green light appeared and started to blink. After staring at it a moment, Jyren asked over his shoulder, “Which one did you press outside first?”

“Second from bottom,” Shadow mumbled while rubbing her still-gloved hands together frantically.

He found it, and pressed it. The green light went away, and a blue one appeared. The next button to press he remembered. But as he reached for it, Shadow’s hand shot out and grabbed his wrist suddenly. Surprised at this, Jyren turned to look back(and down) at her, “What?”

“Something important,” she said quickly, with the shiver of could still in her voice, “No morphing.”

“Huh?”

Despite the cold, Shadow rolled her eyes in her usual way as if nothing was at all different, “No matter what happens...no morphing. Not even to fix a cut. Knowing our luck its just as cold in the whole damned place.”

Those sentences seemed to have been placed in the wrong order, but Jyren was willing to not point this out considering the cold. There was a question, of course, “Why not?”

“Just don’t,” Shadow said flatly, finally letting go of his wrist and waiting for him to press the last button in hopes the door would open, “Trust me.”

On matters like that, and with such a stern tone to her voice, Jyren was willing to trust her.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 295: A Word Best Forgotten*

The door opened just like the one before it. There was no lock, no mechanism of protection or defense beyond the series of buttons that needed to be pressed. That was not the sign of someone hiding out. It was the sign of a place left alone for nearly ten years after a long, losing battle. Either that, or it was the sign of someone expecting company and leaving the door open so they could get in.

Either way, Jyren didn’t like it.

But when the door opened to a wisp of cold, ventilated air, what he liked and didn’t disappeared. It was Shadow that stepped into the gigantic hanger first. Carefully, and still shivering a noticeably, the small human woman took a few steps in and looked around. Jyren was right behind her, but his eyes weren’t doing a good job of checking for trouble. He was simply amazed at the...the everything.

Much of the hangar was just blocks of white duracrete that had once lined the ceiling, holding back the ice, but now were scattered in huge chunks across the deck plates that felt suspiciously like durasteel. But the ground was covered in a white layer of frost and ice, left untouched for a decade. A few pillars lined an area far off to the left, and between them were the ancient ruins of airspeeders that had never left their places. Jyren could even see the yellow ladders leading up to the cockpits of the speeders. Most of the equipment that one usually found in a hangar was still scattered around, and a wide open section at the center, leading straight up to the still-closed hangar door, was a series of small grooves and raised sections at even intervals. They lined a path just wide enough for a small freighter. Jyren knew landing lights when he saw them.

There was even the remains of a Y-Wing off to one side, torn to pieces for parts from the look of it, but still a Y-Wing at one point long ago. And though here and there black scorch marks could be seen, it was generally a clean, icy white colour throughout the entire gigantic area. As a strange moment of nostalgia passed by, Jyren said quietly, “This isn’t right.”

“What do you mean?” Shadow asked, voice equally soft but not completely due to her own control of it. She had stepped over to one of the pillars to look around and check for any signs of...well...anything.

Jyren sighed, not even completely sure what he meant, and waved his hand vaguely, “All of this. Where’s the ship that would bring someone here? Where’s the signs that anyone has been here in the last decade?”

“There could be more than one hangar,” Shadow commented over her shoulder before motioning for him to follow, “And I have a feeling this place is bigger than just a place to land.”

Saying nothing, Jyren walked over and fell into step behind her as she led the way towards the far wall. It took him a moment to notice she was heading for a grey, blaster bolt scorched door. Even from the distance they were at, he could see the panel next to the door had only two buttons. Open and lock. The lock likely wasn’t even very complicated to break, either. Sometimes, those two switches were all that were necessary, and in a way, Jyren missed being able to rely on just that.

A single violet colour eye looked up at him through black hair as Shadow caught on to his tangent thoughts, “Need you here and in the moment, Akan-jai...”

That got him to blink back into reality. It was a name he hadn’t heard since...since...since before Alraxia. He didn’t even know how long ago that was anymore. Jyren was just...him. It was why it was so easy to accept, even more so than the previous times in his life that he had changed names. But it wasn’t just hearing ‘Akan’ that surprised him. It was the whole thing, which he now actually knew the meaning of. It seemed to be the only term of affection Shadow had ever, ever used, and besides, Jyren-jai didn’t have the same ring to it.

“Better,” she said with a grin on her face, immediately noting his jolt back into the icy cold hangar. It was still driving her crazy, and Shadow had a feeling she was beginning to turn blue, but at least they were alive and hopefully they’d be gone soon. Very soon. When they stopped at the door, she decided one last thing was necessary to make sure he wouldn’t retreat into whatever his old self-pity again, “Any sign of her?”

Amazingly, while Jyren understood what she was asking, he didn’t even pick up on the ulterior motive behind the asking of the question. It wasn’t like it was completely unfounded, either. Jyren had always connected with Jen much better than Shadow had, and he would likely be able to pick up on her faster and more accurately than she would.

Taking a deep breath, Jyren reached out with the Force very carefully. The usually familiar feeling was altogether alien as he sensed the...the everything around them. He could feel Shadow next to him, her presence in the Force warm and a very strong offset to the physical cold surrounding them. He could feel...the planet itself. Mostly dead, but with some life scattered here and there, living lives that seemed impossible. But there was something else. Something distant and yet right there. Something that made his stomach tighten without any explanation at all to his body, which was not at all happy.

“Jyren!” Shadow quickly stepped over to grab him before he fell face first into the hard mix of ice and durasteel at their feet. Supporting him as best she could(which wasn’t easy...not only was he bigger than her, but human females weren’t exactly built anything like Alraxian females), she decided a stupid question was in order, “What is it?”

She heard(and felt, from the awkward way she was holding him), him breathing heavily before mumble into her shoulder, “I don’t know.”

Shadow soon realized that holding him up like this was doing nothing but causing her back, arms, and legs to hurt. Silently cursing whoever designed the human body(especially the female design), she gave in against all natural urges and very carefully sat down on the freezing cold ground, helping him down with her in the process. Once down, Shadow did her best to keep Jyren from sliding off her relatively small shoulder and gently ran a hand through his hair. Through their link, she could feel a sense of panic and fear that was overwhelming him. Then, quietly, she ventured a careful guess, “Jen?”

As best as one could shake one’s head when it was buried in another’s shoulder, Jyren did, mumbling again, “I don’t think so.”

Her usual curious and untrusting self, Shadow wasn’t satisfied with that. So, while still outwardly trying to calm him down and get his breathing back to normal(as this quick breathing was probably not very helpful with all the cold), she pried through the link. But no matter how hard she searched and pushed, she couldn’t find anything. He’d never had any blocks as strong as those up ever before, not even to keep her from finding out about that Mare girl. That worried Shadow, and forced her to press the old fashioned way, “Then what is it?”

Jyren only had to speak the first syllable of the word before Shadow regretted asking the question. When he finished whispering the word, she felt the same gut wrenching pain that he did. It was the only word either of them had ever heard that actually caused physical pain. One day, the both of them hoped they’d never have to even think the word ‘Darkwing’ ever again.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 296: Family Reunion*

It was no longer a good idea to sit there in the open of the huge hangar. Despite the sudden fear and panic that was attempting to grip her, Shadow was able to recognize this fact. She also understood just how important that was. But Jyren was shaking and not wanting to move. He was freezing up just like she felt the need to...but all those years of training weren’t something that was going to go to waste that quickly.

As best as she could, Shadow got them both back onto their feet. It was difficult, of course, and it was beginning to seem that humans were just about incapable of any kind of strenuous movement. Lifting Jyren up shouldn’t have been the difficulty it was...he wasn’t even very big! Grumbling to herself, she pushed him back to make him stand on his own feet and looked him in the eye, “Come on, Jyren. We can’t just sit here.”

“But it...I...” he trailed off, his eyes darting past her a moment but then shooting right back.

Shadow managed a nod, “I understand,” she didn’t, “But we can’t turn back now. And you...you have dealt with one of them before.”

Even the word ‘them’ sent a shiver down her spine and brought up horrible memories that were again quickly buried. But Jyren shook his head, “Its not the same.”

“What do you mean?” she was only asking that to get him moving again, and even glanced back towards the door they’d been heading for in the first place.  The needed to keep moving. There was more here...more here than that thing. But it was so hard to reach past the thick, heavy presence that quite obviously knew she and Jyren were there...but beyond it, was something else.

“Its not you,” Jyren’s voice snapped her back to the moment, and she couldn’t help but sigh. The worst part was that she couldn’t argue that point. If it had been anyone else in the galaxy, she could argue it...but somehow it made sense to her. That was, of course, beyond her...just that she knew he was telling the truth.

“Then we’ll just have to work things out the hard way,” Shadow said simply, though she wasn’t even sure of it, herself. But that ended the short conversation, whether Jyren liked it or not, and Shadow took his arm to lead him to the door. 

When they reached the stark-white door, Shadow let go of Jyren’s arm to hit the single switch that would open the door. With a hiss, the door slid to the side and revealed a jagged looking, not-so-well carved corridor that was literally lined with ice itself. Very carefully, Shadow led the way in, glancing both directions before noting a cave in was blocking the way to the right. So her eyes and body went left, with Jyren right next to her. Silently, the two of them carefully moved down the corridor, walking past doors here and there but simply continuing forward instead of checking them all.

But then, after two turns and countless doorways, Shadow stopped. It took Jyren a moment to notice the door to their left, as it looked like the ice on the wall had simply engulfed the thing. Very carefully, Shadow reached out and poked the ice. Her face wrenched itself into an odd form as she held back a shriek at the cold...despite the fact that she had a glove on, but a few pieces of the ice slid off and hit the cold ‘floor’ of the corridor. It was then that Jyren was given a very flat look, and he quickly understood, doing his best to clear the thin ice off of the door.

When it was clear, they found another simple switch, but before Shadow pressed it, Jyren asked quietly, “You’re sure about this?”

“No,” and then she pressed the switch. A hiss, a slight creak, and the door slid open to reveal a large, half-ruined room. Immediately, though, both of them caught sight of the contents of the room. What was once likely a large storage room was now lined with rows and rows of...bacta tanks. Or at least, they looked like bacta tanks. But the liquid inside didn’t have that slight reddish colour that bacta did..but that wasn’t the reason both Shadow and Jyren identified them as something else. 

Inside each of the tanks was a large, black mass of flesh that nearly filled the entire thing up. And all of them would have been completely unidentifiable if not for the eyes. The bright red-orange eyes...all white open and staring blankly forward. But there was something in those eyes. Something absolutely horrible that made it painful to even look at. The eyes that Shadow had only ever seen in Jyren’s memories...and eyes that he saw every time he closed his own.

And there were hundreds of them.

“Jyren...” Shadow gasped, not stepping into the room and suddenly having a hard time breathing, “Those are...”

“Yeah,” he nodded slowly, the same breathlessness to his voice as her’s had.

“And they’re in...”

“...yeah,” this time his voice was more a whisper, just as her’s had been. One of them was enough...but...but this was almost an army! Clones!! An evil creation now tainted and marred by a horrible process of copying life! What that would do to the already unstable and viciously violent minds of the creatures was horrifying to think about...an Alraxian clone gone mad was bad enough, Nine was proof of that. But these?! And so many! So many...

“We can kill them now, can’t we?” Shadow asked. In the same moment, she had reached over and grabbed Jyren’s hand, trying to steady herself...and had quickly noticed he was shaking again.

Jyren pried his eyes off of the horrible sight in the room ahead of them to look at Shadow, “I wouldn’t know how to...”

Biting her lip, Shadow turned to look back up at him, “There have to be plugs to pull or...or something!”

He had started to answer, but stopped himself. That was too simple. There was no way it could work...not that Shadow didn’t know that, of course. She just had to do something. Standing here staring at it all was getting worse by the moment as she realized just how helpless they were...they couldn’t even walk into the damned room! How could they do anything at all if they couldn’t even get into the room?!

Something. An idea suddenly jumped into Jyren’s mind, and his free hand quickly reached for the blaster pistol at his side. In another second, it was up and his arm was extended, aiming the weapon at one of the nearest tanks. It took another long moment for him to get control of himself and stop his hand from shaking so that he could hold the blaster pistol straight...then, slowly, he started to squeeze the trigger.

“I do not believe that will have the effect you are hoping for,” the voice forced Jyren’s finger off of the trigger so quickly that he couldn’t tell whether he’d even done it or not. It had come from farther into the room, though they couldn’t see its source. But neither Jyren nor Shadow needed to see Jen Zaarin Voort to know what her voice sounded like.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 297: Cold and Alone...Together*

Not a minute after hearing the familiar voice of Jen Voort and they saw her...or rather, she stepped into view. Seeing her again was at least mildly shocking, both because despite tracking her for so long, neither really expected to find her, and because she looked...the same. After the trail Shadow and Jyren had followed to get to Hoth a mental image had come to mind that contained much more black than Jen had ever worn. But she wore no black, unless one counted the boots that she’d always worn. Instead, Jen looked exactly as they remembered her...a little taller than Shadow was as a human, a thin figure, her usual blonde hair pulled back and out of her face...which was also the same. Perhaps that was the most shocking. Even her eyes were her...but none of it fit with the situation.

The Force, however, made up for the lack of change in her appearance. Even the strong resonances of the Darkwings were drowned out by the sheer power of what Jyren could only determine as anger that emanated from her. It made it more difficult to even look at her, knowing that this horrible feeling in the Force was really centered around someone as kind-hearted and wonderful as Jen had always been.

But this wasn’t Jen anymore...even though Shadow had to remind him of that, Jyren knew. He didn’t have to like it, but Shadow didn’t either.

“Put the blaster down, Akan,” Jen said slowly, stepping to within seven or so meters of them and standing right in the center of the rows of Darkwing-filled tanks. It was then that Jyren noticed she didn’t appear to be armed.

Jyren nearly did as she’d told him to. It wasn’t because of any use of the Force, but simply because it felt like the right thing to do...then Shadow whispered, “Shoot her, Jyren.”

Instead of lowering the weapon, he turned his arm to aim it straight at Jen. His finger was held against the trigger, but it felt rock-solid as he attempted to pull it but couldn’t manage the strength. Eternity long seconds passed as he tried to fire the weapon, and this time Shadow growled at him, “Shoot her!”

But he couldn’t...and, deep down, Shadow knew she wouldn’t have been able to either. To his credit, though, Jyren didn’t lower the blaster. This frozen moment lasted only for another minute before Jen seemed to grow tired of it. Without any trouble at all, she waved a hand to the side and Jyren’s blaster hand was slammed into the open doorway hard. He yelped in surprise and pain, then naturally let go of the blaster, which dropped to the ground with a loud clunk.

Jyren quickly retrieved his hand, rubbing it gently and trying to ignore the stinging pain. Through his link with Shadow, he said. [I thought she wasn’t any good at that...]

[Things change, apparently.] Shadow commented, though outwardly she was doing her best to hold a strong, neutral expression that had always served her well in situations like this. She needed to understand what was going on before acting. But what could be said?! Even Jyren, usually good at babbling, seemed to be blank.

Jen took two small steps forward, hands crossed over her chest, before saying flatly, “I’m surprised it took you so long to get here.”

“We had...other things to take care of,” Jyren mumbled, his usual sarcasm somehow lacking its bite. He was still rubbing his hand, and Shadow soon realized he was using that to distract himself as much as possible from the moment. Or rather, from the horrible feeling in the Force that even she had trouble pushing away.

For a short moment, Jen’s eyes examined the two humans that stood in front of her, obviously knowing full well what they were actually capable of. Then, her eyes on Shadow this time, she said, “I believe it goes without saying that there is nothing you can say or do that will stop what is going to happen.”

 A pause. There was an unasked question pushed at the end of that...one that both Jyren and Shadow wanted to know. But Jen would only be stupid enough to talk about it if either she’d watched far too many holodramas with those villains that could never shut up, or if she was telling the truth and it really didn’t matter what she told them. Considering it was Jen, and that she knew both Shadow and Jyren fairly well, they were inclined to go with the latter.

Still, though, Jyren gave in and asked, “What is going to happen?”

“You,” Jen snapped at him, in the venomous voice that suddenly wasn’t her’s at all, “And all of the abominations like you, will be destroyed by the monstrous creatures you created yourselves.”

Despite the fact that she was wrong about the historical origins of the Darkwings, Jyren decided it was probably not the best time to argue minor details. Go for the major ones...like the fact that she shouldn’t have any idea where the Hidden Worlds were, and that she couldn’t destroy the species without that knowledge.

“I know now,” Jen’s face had twisted itself into a small grin, one that they knew and had seen a thousand times before but suddenly looked altogether different. But that didn’t matter...it was her words. Her words and the realization that the horrible feeling in the Force had suddenly retreated. She was doing that on purpose! And they were so busy worrying about it that they ignored the other necessary blocks...they’d left their minds wide open.

Her grin only grew as she saw the realization pass over both Jyren and Shadow’s faces. Not saying a thing, Jen simply took a few steps back and extended her arm. The blaster pistol that was on the ground shook slightly before flying straight into her hand. She caught it easily, then, without even turning her head, Jen extended her arm towards a nearby tank and calmly squeezed off a blaster shot. The red bolt hit the top, metal section of the tank, sending sparks everywhere and causing a tube to spin away from its normal place, which sent a gaseous substance everywhere.

As the foggy whatever-it-was began to fill the room, Jyren and Shadow both saw the movement within the tank...and heard the sudden thud as the contents began to break its way out. The fog continued to engulf the room, but they managed to see Jen still. Casually, she threw the blaster pistol back, and Jyren caught it out of reflex, before Jen said with a nod, “Goodbye.”

She then pivoted around, and walked farther into the room and out of their sight. And then there was a very loud crash, followed by a deafening roar that Jyren knew all too well. It almost froze him in place, but he knew better than that. Very quietly though, and reaching for Shadow’s hand again, he whispered, “We need to leave.”

Shadow’s eyes darted from the no-longer visible tank where horrible sounds could be heard, and then to Jyren. Quickly, she nodded and grabbed his hand. But she didn’t wait. By the time she’d grabbed his hand, Shadow was already halfway to a run, and right away was dragging Jyren as fast as she could...knowing all the while that there was no running from what was about to come after them.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 298: Closer...*

Closer. Closer. Gods, it was getting closer!! Shadow’s eyes darted over her shoulder to look past Jyren and down the long, white corridor. It was out. They’d both heard the violent crash echo towards them when it finally escaped. And then they’d heard the noise...that horrid, bone-chilling noise that was supposed to be a roar but sounded so unlike any animal that it would cause even a Rancor to cower in fear. But no! They couldn’t stop...she wanted to. Jyren wanted to...but they couldn’t, and so she held her tight, almost painful grip on his wrist and continued running as fast as her human legs could take her.

The hangar! The door had taken far too many milliseconds to slide open but they were in! In and running even faster, Shadow’s leg’s screaming at her in protest as her Alraxian mind set forced her along...whether the body liked it or not. Jyren was keeping up so that she wasn’t dragging him, having the luxury of longer, stronger legs and having been more used to the weaker human form than she was. But he was keeping up...and he was smart enough not to be looking back as they felt the ground shake. Literally shake. Every few moments, they’d hear the noise, a crash, and small pieces of ice and frost would drift down from the ceiling.

The door...by the Force, where was the door?! Shadow’s eyes continued their frantic survey of the huge hangar, trying to find the way they’d gotten in to just get out. Out. Away from that thing.

“This way!” it was Jyren’s voice, but she didn’t as much hear it as know he’d thought it a moment earlier. Shadow didn’t give Jyren the chance he’d tried to take in turning towards the door...but he didn’t reverse their positions, as Shadow quickly turned and continued ahead. There was a distant driving feeling in both of their minds, but it was stronger in Shadow’s. Not only was there the natural aversion to just get away from the horrible abomination that was getting closer every second, but she had years and years of stories and legends to back up the innate fear.

And then there was another loud, extremely violent smashing sound behind them. Both Jyren and Shadow were stupid enough to glance back. They were both able to watch the white door explode outwards, flying against the wall far on the other side of the hangar with a loud bang. Their eyes were turning back to the way out, though, and they only saw a hint of the hulking, black thing that was breaking through where the door had been. Another horrid noise erupted from it, but by now the two of them had gotten to the exit corridor, with Shadow slamming her fist into the panel over and over until the thing opened.

They were in and running to the next door in a matter of moments, a violent wave of pure darkness charging right after them. The door behind them closed. They reached the next one.

“Shadow, its—“

”I know!!!” Shadow snapped at the top of her lungs, no longer caring about temperature of any kind. The X-Wing was out in the open...they had to get it to as quickly as possible. It was up and over a nearby snow dune...and her legs were burning now. But, dammit, she was going to make it there! 

The door opened with a hiss and a rush of freezing cold air that stung their now-uncovered faces. Shadow didn’t care. Jyren didn’t either. They ran out into the snow, gritting their teeth and just running. Before the door behind them had closed, there was a crash that they’d both heard before...and a half second later the door went flying out into the snow not far from them.

A plume of white snow shot up when the door hit the ground, but they ran through it as fast as their tired legs could take them, now drawing on the Force to push them on farther. And then there was the sound again...but it was different this time. It was in the open, allowed to echo out across the rolling plains of snow that covered Hoth...and it was close. Too close.

The Force screamed at Shadow and she didn’t even have to look back to know how close the creature was. So, instead of wasting that valuable time, she reacted. Using all the strength that her small human body could manage, Shadow threw Jyren around her and tripped him so he fell face first into the snow. She quickly began to dive down to follow him, but she hadn’t expected to have the time...and she had been right.

Halfway down to the freezing cold snow, a sharp, white-hot pain wrenched through Shadow’s body as the creature slashed its claws up the entire length of her back as it flew past. Hot, red blood splattered across the white snow behind her as she hit the ground, leaving a long trail of red as she rolled painfully through the snow. Whether she had cried out in pain or not, Shadow didn’t know. The pain was horribly intense. And feeling those claws rip through her back brought back images...feelings...she could remember what it was like. She could remember it all!!

But no! The Darkwing was gone from her! Jyren had done whatever he had done and it was gone! She was sure of it, and had been for as long as she had thought about it! But now...now it felt like it was right there again. Inside her and waiting...no, fighting to get out. But it couldn’t! It couldn’t because it was gone! Gone but...but still far too close!

Distant words snapped her senses back into reality, and she suddenly realized that she couldn’t feel anything below her shoulders. There was another noise from above as the Darkwing came around for another pass, but Shadow managed to decipher the words that Jyren had yelled at her.

Marix was left to panic and go crazy, dealing with the internal remembrance of a Darkwing...something that had never been her own memory. It was Shadow’s, and suddenly it was Marix’s, too. But Shadow pushed beyond it, her old stubborn self forcing her to grit her teeth and grind out, “I’m alright!”

Jyren knew she was lying. It was obvious from the trail of blood that led up to her body and the fact that only her head had moved. And that wasn’t even using the link...which Jyren was trying to ignore, as there was an intense pain flowing through it that Shadow’s body had numbed out. But he didn’t argue with her. There wasn’t time for it...he could see the great black form sweeping down after them again. And so he made a choice...whether she liked it or not.

As quickly as he could manage, Jyren knelt down and picked her up in both arms. He strained slightly from the extra weight, but was also glad that she was relatively small as a human. Not that he was much larger...but at this point, Jyren was willing to take anything the Force was willing to throw his direction.

After staggering a moment, Jyren got his footing and started running towards the X-Wing as fast as he could manage. They were halfway up the snow dune when Shadow could see the dragon-like form of the Darkwing sweeping right across the snow at them. But Jyren wasn’t looking back, and he quickly said(obviously to attempt to get her mind of the fact that she couldn’t move), “When we’re in the X-Wing, I’ll shoot it down!”

Ignoring the fact that they’d be lucky to get to the X-Wing in the first place, Shadow said through still-gritted teeth, “Just get out of the system!”

“The system?!” Jyren looked down to her a moment, “Don’t tell me they can survive in a vacuum!”

A pause...just long enough for the both of them to hear a heavy flap of the creature’s two gigantic wings, then Shadow answered, “There are stories!”

“Damn!” and then the Darkwing was on them again.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 299: One Thing After Another*

Jyren got ten paces before the Darkwing caught up. He was actually able to reach the top of the hill of snow and see the X-Wing in the small ditch below for a short half second. The other half of the second, though, became a horrible moment of intense pain. Much like it had done with Shadow before, the Darkwing raked its vicious claws across Jyren’s back as it flew past...but unlike Shadow, Jyren was attempting to sidestep the inevitable attack.

That meant that instead of having his spine and back torn up as Shadow had, the claws went up from the small of his back to his right shoulder, nearly taking his arm off in the process. It was utterly amazing just how much pain one could feel before the nerves simply gave up. And they did, too. After not long at all, the intense, burning pain of the claws became nothing at all...but somehow, the nothing hurt even more. But like with Shadow before, it didn’t finish him off.

A few seconds later, Jyren found himself face down in the snow, his eyes seeing through a reddish blur that seemed to haze his vision. His entire right arm was beyond any kind of sensation, and Jyren was afraid to look for fear of not finding anything there. So instead, his eyes managed to travel up slightly to see, across the deep red that covered the white snow, Shadow’s body. She was about a meter and a half down the slope in front of him. While she had managed to turn her head to look towards him, it didn’t look like she could move anymore than that.

The link was currently dead. Or rather, unused. Both of them were doing their best to block it up so that the other didn’t have to feel the intense pain that was currently consuming the both of them. Shadow, at least, had her own built in training against the pain, so she was fairing well enough, ignoring the inability to move and the forced resistance to the deep-set impulse to remorph the wounds. But instead of opening up the link to flood even more to Jyren, as he didn’t look to be doing as well as she was, she simply nodded her head upwards in hopes he would understand.

He did.

He looked up as much as he could.

The Darkwing was coming around again. It wasn’t like before...not like when...when Shadow had been one of them. She had simply killed. This was...toying with them. Toying with them like a cat. It was the first time Jyren had ever seen the Alraxian aspects seeping into the horrible creature that it had become. But it was beginning a long turn down again, its huge, black wings easily carrying it through the cold air of Hoth. Against the bright sky, it was the first time Jyren had ever gotten an actual look at the creature before. It was like...like the Dragons he had seen on Alraxia, only smaller. Well, smaller if one could consider its seven or so meter length from sharp-toothed mouth to powerful tail small in any way.

But it was coming back. And he couldn’t move! No! No, he could! Jyren’s spine hadn’t been torn up as Shadow’s had. He could still feel his legs...feel his limbs...but...but something else. Something else was freezing him there in place. Fear. It was fear. Finally, that natural fear of the Darkwing was creeping into him, despite the human body. Coupled with the fact that he was still refusing to look at his right arm for fear of what he’d discover, and Jyren was unable to do anything but watch as the great form of the Darkwing began its dive. 

Straight down. This time, it was going for the kill. A black meteor shooting down from high above at such a speed that only its wings could be distinguished.

And then, suddenly, a great, brownish coloured blur cut the Darkwing off, slamming headlong into the creature and literally carrying it for another four kilometers before tilting downwards and driving the creature straight into the snow. There was a huge plume of white that shot up at the same time as the brown one...but the Darkwing didn’t emerge. Jyren did, though, hear a distant roar of pain that sounded like much of the other noises they’d heard from the horrible creature. But that didn’t matter now...his eyes were trying to make sense of the brown blur through the reddish haze that had consumed him.

[I am coming as quickly as I can. Are you alright?] Loki’s voice at that moment was one of the most wonderful things Jyren had ever heard. Shadow, at this point, was willing to agree.

[We’re not alright, Loki.] Jyren called back through something not completely the Force and not completely the link. He still didn’t understand it all, but it worked and that was all that mattered. [Can you get the X-Wing aboard without help?]

The brownish form of Loki began to slow as he neared them, then spun around as the rear hatch where the makeshift hangar was opened. [It will be a little rough, but I can.] there was a pause, and then the Kanyak seemed to take notice of the bright red blood that surrounded the two of them and the fact that neither had moved more than their heads. [Can you move?]

Jyren glanced to Shadow, who shook her head angrily. To her, this was nothing more than outright annoying. It was the worst thing for her to not be able to move. But pushing this aside, Jyren responded to the ship. [I think I can...but Shadow can’t.]

[I will stay down for as long as I can...get into the hangar after your ship is in.] Loki said rather quickly as he began a very awkward form of backing down and partially into the snow to lift the X-Wing into the hangar. From the ‘tone’ of the voice, Loki was obviously not happy, but it didn’t seem to have anything to do with the snow. When the ship went on, though, Jyren found out why. [I would suggest moving quickly.]

[I don’t want to know why, do I?] Jyren asked as he slowly started to get to his feet. They seemed to be intact, and though Jyren’s right arm was also still attached, it was hanging at a very disturbing angle and probably wouldn’t stay on too much longer. He could only hope it was the Force that was helping him through this, and that he wasn’t actually dead already.

[You do not want to know, Jyren.] Loki cut into his thoughts as Jyren began to figure out a way to get Shadow to the ship. [But it is best you know now instead of when we are in orbit...the fleet of starships that fired on me did not seem very willing to negotiate.]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 300: Out of the Ice*

Loki had an interesting time getting the X-Wing into his makeshift hangar, but with the added bonus of a large patch of snow, the ship did manage it. He’d also stayed down just long enough for Jyren to half-drag, half-carry both Shadow and himself in. But they got in. And the second everything was in, the hangar ‘door’ was closing and Loki was flying up and away...and, recognizing the danger in the situation that had remained, cranked up his internal heating system to both melt the snow and make it a good temperature for Alraxians.

Shadow took the cue the second that her spinning brain caught up with what was going on around her. Immediately, her body shifted back to that of her normal Alraxian adult one. Not only did it feel good to be herself again(with the added benefits of being both stronger and, most importantly, taller), but she was no longer losing blood. Alraxians could still die from blood loss, and though her body was still weak as it tried to fix this problem, she knew she would be alright.

Pulling herself up to her feet, Shadow tried to ignore the disgusting red blood that was all around her, flicked her tail and her again-striped hair back, and headed over to Jyren. He hadn’t morphed. He was still human...he was still bleeding badly. Shadow bit her lip, nearly getting sick at the sight of all the red blood...it was just so horrible. Something about that colour made it so much worse. But that wasn’t important right now. 

Jyren was unconscious. It was not a surprise, considering how hard he’d pushed himself in such a state, but it was definitely not a good thing. He was still losing blood, and the way his arm had been cut did not look at all good. In fact, Shadow could think of no words to describe it that weren’t underestimating it.

[Shadow.] Loki’s voice echoed in her mind as she desperately tried to figure out what to do. Forcing his body to morph when he was like this could kill him, or rather, them, and she was still no healer. But Loki went on anyway. [Shadow...I believe you should be in the cockpit now.]

Shadow bit her lip again, looking from Jyren to the exit of the hangar. She did need to be up there. Loki could fly himself fine, but with her help it would guarantee their survival. Two was always better than one when it came to Kanyaks, and they never minded the help. But Jyren...

An idea cropped up. Normally, it wouldn’t have ever been there, but the last few weeks had changed a lot of what she had once considered normal. Not only that, but it had a very good chance of working.

“Toby!!” Shadow called out, knowing the little Alraxian would most definitely be within hearing distance.

“Whaaaat?” the voice came from around the corner that the corridor at the other end of the hangar was at. A moment later, the child scampered in, looking happy and excited, and charging straight for them. Tobias got about halfway before noting the absolute mess...and he came to a sliding stop, eyes wide and looking to be nearly on the verge of panicking. He had, rather quickly, skipped the crying stage. That was actually a good sign.

“Tobias, come here quickly,” Shadow said in quieter, but still very urgent voice. It was also one that sounded hauntingly like her mother’s. If Jyren had been conscious, he’d have been teasing her about it...and, of course, she’d get angry. But in the end they would laugh because she’d find some way to get revenge and everything would be fine...but he wasn’t conscious. Which was the whole problem.

Tobias very carefully followed her orders, padding over to them and looking worse and worse as he got a better idea of the situation. His eyes quickly went from Jyren’s body to her eyes and he pointed to Jyren, “Fix him!”

“I can’t,” Shadow admitted, “I have to go and help Loki. We aren’t out of trouble just yet.”

“But he’s...but...but!!” Tobias was never very good at arguing, but he sure tried.

Shadow shook her head, bringing an arm to Tobias’ back to push him closer to Jyren, “We’re not going to let him die, Toby. We aren’t.”

“But you said you can’t help him!!” he was nearly crying this time, which was worrying...but he was still resisting the urge to fall into that. As long as that kept up, Shadow knew this would work.

“I can’t,” Shadow repeated, “But you can. I want you to focus, Toby. I know its hard, but you have to. Focus on how much you want Jyren to be okay. Focus so hard that you make it happen. And don’t you dare stop until you do make it happen! Understand?”

For a long moment, Tobias sat in front of Jyren, shaking slightly and staring blankly. Then, a hardness appeared in the child’s eyes. Something that almost made Shadow smile, if not for the rest of the situation. If he’d gotten anything from having two Tam-Day-U parents, at least he’d gotten the strength and stubbornness. Considering everything else Toby could have gotten, it was definitely a goo thing.

When the look appeared in Toby’s eyes, he nodded but said nothing. Shadow could feel the Force being drawn to him. Such a natural at such a young age. It could be dangerous...but it was something to deal with later. Right now, Jyren was going to live. Now Shadow had to make sure that all this wasn’t for nothing.

Getting to her feet, and glad to feel all those old muscles were back where they should be, Shadow ran for the cockpit.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 301: Hope*

“In the name of the Force!” Shadow called out in surprise as she reached the cockpit. It was just about the same time that Loki had gotten them out of the atmosphere, so she was being given a very clear view of what Loki had mentioned earlier.

In a flat voice that he’d obviously learned from Shadow, Loki replied. [I told you that you would want to be up here.]

As she dropped down in the pilot’s chair, Shadow rolled her eyes and tried to get a better assessment of the situation beyond the blurred but intimidating sight out of the viewport, “Loki, do you have a sensor reading yet?”

[Its waiting for you.] he answered in nearly the same voice. Sometimes she just wanted to kick him...but she figured he felt the same way about her a good amount of the time. It seemed to be how things always worked out in the end.

The still-Shadow part of her brain pushed back the Marix part, getting her into the business mode she needed to be in. Quickly pulling up the sensor display, Shadow got exactly what she was looking for...and immediately decided it was much worse than it had looked from the viewport. It was a fleet alright. A serious fleet. At least five capital ships strong, two smaller support ships, and at least a couple of faster cruisers. So far, Shadow couldn’t see anything that looked like they could be any kind of starfighter. That was something, at least.

Though she didn’t have a very great eye for exact designs of starships, Shadow had spent enough time with smugglers that she knew enough. The ships weren’t any kind of distinct design she’d seen before, but they had a few features that were definitely Kuati in design. The sharp lines, slightly odd cargo sections, and the Star Destroyer-like deflector shield towers on the largest of the ships and the cruisers helped to solidify their maker. And with a Kuati design, it was just too coincidental for these ships to have arrived. It was the missing piece in the trail...except they’d found it a little late.

[They are attempting to box us in and prevent a hyperspace jump.] Loki announced as Shadow noticed all of the ships beginning to spread out around their possible courses. [They attempted to use tractor beams before. I...do not believe I can escape more than one if they attempt it again.]

Shadow’s eyes scoured the situation and she reached forward to take hold of the controls. This was going to be rough...her eyes locked onto two of the mid-sized cruisers. They were vaguely vibroblade shaped, roughly about the size of a Corellian Corvette, and from the looks of it, just as fast. Which brought an idea to mind, “Can you tell how well armed those things are?”

That one took a short while for Loki to respond to. Short...but long enough for the ships to all set up a perfectly designed defensive position. There was just enough space between all of the ships to tempt the enclosed starships to make a run through...but they would have their weapons and tractor beams ready for any angle that was taken. Then, Loki said. [The five capital ships are as heavily armed as a Victory Destroyer. The two patrol ships are not very well armed, but they look to have very strong tractor beam systems...and the two cruisers are fairly lightly armed for their size. They are likely very fast, though.]

Though the ships had held their positions, Shadow continued to eye the two cruisers, “Could we make it through?”

After so many years of being with Loki, she knew that he could see where she was looking at. But despite all that time, she still wasn’t all that sure how he knew that. Maybe it was the Force...maybe he could actually see. It was one of those questions she’d never, ever thought of. And, in fact, Shadow would probably never have thought of it if not for Jyren. The link had a way of causing parts of him to rub off on her, and she had started to find more and more very random questions like that popping up lately. At first, Shadow had just thought it was the Marix part of her, but Marix wasn’t all that terribly different. Well, except for the fact that she seemed to have more people skills beyond Shadow’s usual tactics of breaking limbs and asking questions through the screaming.

[Where should I plot the hyperspace jump to?] Loki interrupted her thoughts with an ever-important question. She was glad he spoke up, as that might have been forgotten thanks to that random question.

But at least the answer was simple, “Anywhere close but not too close.”

If it had been anyone but Loki, the response would have been ‘What?’ Even Jyren would have asked, despite the link. But Loki knew exactly what she meant. By the Force, she’d missed him. Why she ever left him on Corellia for so long was beyond even Marix. Loki was the one person who’d been with her through everything...well, until she left him on Corellia, at least. And then it felt like he’d missed everything. Rarely did Shadow ever feel depressed, and she blamed it on the link, but hearing her ship speak their destination instead of a question was all she needed to smile. [It will be a rough jump, but I can get us to the Sluis Sector.]

“Perfect,” Shadow did smile. Yes, it would be rough. There were no hyperspace routes from the Ison Corridor, where they currently were, leading to the Sluis Sector which was a good distance away. But it could be done. It could be done, and Shadow trusted Loki to pull it off. He’d done crazier things. And now it was her turn to do something crazy.

“Alright, Loki, here we go,” she gripped the controls tightly for a moment before using a calming technique. A few careful exhales later, and she angled Loki straight for the two vibroblade-like cruisers. Hopefully he was right. Hopefully they were lightly armed. Hopefully, they could gun it through fast enough to dodge the tractor beams. And...hopefully, Toby was going to succeed in keeping Jyren, and her, alive.

Throwing the hopes out of the way, Shadow sent them in full speed and head on with the nearest of the ships.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 302: We're Away Again*

[They are shooting at me!!] Loki yelped, his calm from only a few seconds ago suddenly gone as something beeped to indicate the two smaller cruisers were both firing their meager assortment of laser batteries and attempting to lock onto the ship with their tractor beams.

Shadow’s hands gripped the controls tightly and allowed both her natural reflexes and the Force to pull the thing up and guide Loki over the fairly random shots from the vibroblade shaped cruisers. There were only two batteries on each of the ships; one at the midsection and one near the drives at the rear. The problem was the tractor beam emplacements, which seemed to have been set up in a perfect, overlapping pattern. So far, both she and Loki were managing to keep one step ahead of the beams, but they were getting closer.

“How much longer until we’re out of the planet’s gravity well?” Shadow asked through gritted teeth as the viewport went red from a laser shot that passed right in front of them.

There was a pause, the ship rocked slightly, then continued its fast shot for the edge of the system before Loki responded. [One minute...but they are becoming more accurate with their tractor beams!]

So that was the shaking was. Shadow had figured as much, but had decided it was best not to ask. When being shot at, Loki had a habit of getting at least slightly panicky. Like most of his species, he’d never liked weapons...whether they’d been on him or firing at him. For a short while, she had managed to install some meager laser cannons but that had never lasted very long. In fact, between the time they’d retrieved him from Corellia and the current moment, they had mysteriously disappeared. Shadow decided it was best not to ask the exact circumstances that led to the loss of the weapons.

[The other ships are attempting to come around.] Loki announced, sounding like he was talking through teeth that he didn’t actually have. Shadow risked a glance off to the edge of the viewport and caught sight of one of the largest of the ships heading straight towards their current course.

And then the ship rocked again...but this time it was much more violent. Shadow nearly dug her claws into the control yoke to stop from being thrown forward. She growled a curse and tried to find a way to get more power to Loki’s engines. This time, the tractor beam had them...but not completely. They were still very slowly inching forward, pushing against the invisible, iron grip.

“Loki, divert all power from the life support to your engines!”

Even Loki was taken aback by that. Sure, it would work, but...[You’ll all die!]

Shadow rolled her eyes, feeling as if she was talking to Jyren all of a sudden, “You’re going to turn it back on as soon as we’re free!”

[Oh.]

And without another word, he diverted the power. It was an odd sensation to know that one was breathing the last of the recycled air and that it was going to run out after only a few more breaths...but Shadow ignored it and immediately took advantage of the new boost in power. They suddenly wrenched free of the tractor beam with a very violent jolt that probably even did some damage to the ship that had attempt to hold them, and then shot forward at an incredible speed.

They weren’t out of range of the weapons, as evidenced by the red lances that were still far too close, but only a couple of seconds later the stars began to stretch and Loki made the jump to lightspeed. In the rush, Shadow hadn’t even noticed the life support returning. And as the swirling blue surrounded them, Shadow let out a long, tired sigh before slumping back into the pilot’s chair to pat the armrests gently, “Good job, Loki.”

For a long few minutes, she just sat there, closing her eyes and allowing even a partial smile, very proud of her ship. No matter what happened, Shadow knew she could always trust him to keep them safe. Them. That was a new one. It had always been ‘her’. But no...not anymore. Now it really was ‘them’. And with that thought, she realized that she was not, in fact, dead. That was strong evidence towards Tobias having succeeded in keeping Jyren at least mostly alive. But that wasn’t enough...and asking Loki wouldn’t be the same either, so without a word, she got up and headed for the cargo bay at an extremely fast walk. It wasn’t a run, because a run would mean she was worried...and she wasn’t worried. Of course not. Just...concerned. Yes. Concerned.

Unsurprisingly, Loki did not buy into any of this, and continued to watch with interest.

Shadow arrived at the cargo bay to find the scene pretty much the same way she’d left it. The X-Wing was still there, surrounded by a small puddle of water that hadn’t remained snow for very long. The red blood was still pretty much everywhere, causing her stomach to turn again...blue coloured blood wasn’t bad. That was normal. But that stuff...it was just wrong.

It also didn’t help when she knew how much of it there was and how much of it should have been inside the figure that was still laying on his back not far from the X-Wing. Jyren hadn’t actually moved from the look of it...but Tobias had. The little Alraxian was now perched up on the sensor cone on the nose of the X-Wing, peering down like a hawk at Jyren.

“What are you doing up there?” Shadow asked as she slowed her pace to attempt and look even unconcerned. 

The voice surprised Tobias, getting a yelp out of him and a jump that nearly caused him to fall of the X-Wing. Thankfully, for him at least, claws kept him rooted well enough. After sitting back into his spot, he mumbled something that Shadow couldn’t understand. The only reason she didn’t ask ‘what?’ was to stop and kneel down next to Jyren. His arm wasn’t attached by only a few tendons anymore. In fact, it looked fine. Most of him did...except for maybe the torn tunic.

Suddenly forgetting that Toby was even there anymore, Shadow leaned down and gently rested her forehead on Jyren’s. [Come on, Akan-jai...wake up.]

In holodramas and fairy tales, that was when the person would wake up. They’d wake up, smile, and everything would be alright. But, annoyingly enough, this was not either of those. It would have made everything so much easier. And, of course, that was not allowed. Distantly, Shadow thought she heard a whimper from Toby, but she was doing her best to push and nudge at Jyren through the link. So far, it wasn’t working all that well. He was far too stubborn sometimes.

After a few minutes, there was a groan. Everything went silent afterwards and no one moved. That could have been imagined. Shadow’s eyes very carefully watched Jyren, still gently resting her forehead against his. And then there was another groan, a cough(an unpleasant thing to experience just inches from the one doing the coughing), and another groan.

But for some insane reason, Shadow found herself smiling. When his eyes began to half open as he groaned again, Shadow laughed and rubbed her cheek against his. It took a long time for him to finally be somewhat coherent, and Shadow very calmly waited until that moment to whisper, “If you ever do that again, Jyren, I’m going to kill you.”

There was a short pause, another groan, then Jyren whispered back, “Bet you twenty credits you won’t.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 303: The Past*

In most ships, no matter how many people were on board or how many droids there were, hyperspace was lonely. It was hard to explain really why that was, but it was something that everyone experience in the confines of a metal ship traveling from one planet to another. But then there was Loki. Somehow, he made it all different. Maybe it was knowing that this wasn’t just an empty shell, and that if you went far enough back his organs were back where most vital systems were in most ships. Maybe it was the way he talked and conversed...but no, computers and droids could do that, too, even with personality. Then maybe...maybe it was the Force. The ability to feel life around and protecting from the utter emptiness around. Yes...maybe that was it.

Jyren opened his eyes again and let out a deep breath. It felt good to be Alraxian again. He may have been born Human, but now he knew he was Alraxian and there was no denying that he’d gotten far too used to it. He was laying back on the bed, still feeling a bit weak from the very close call on Hoth. Tobias was curled up and sleeping on the pillow next to him, and Shadow sat cross-legged to his side, one hand curiously close to scratching Tobias’ ear but managing to not do it and just rest there on the pillow next to the little Alraxian.

“You going to be alright?”

Those were Jyren’s words, not her’s. Shadow never really needed to ask that question, as the answers were usually plainly obvious to her. The only times she would ever ask it was when some odd sensation told her that the other person needed to hear it, not that the answer mattered to her. That was, of course, the most confusing part of it all, and she was inclined to blame both Marix and Jyren for all of the complication. The blame wasn’t all that misplaced, either.

“No, I’m not,” Shadow also had the habit of stating the truth in more normal situations, which always made it appear that she didn’t understand sarcasm or other subtleties...until she used them herself, of course. To her, though, it was just easier to get straight to the point instead of toeing around the subject like the entire galaxy seemed to be obsessed with.

Jyren sighed and nodded. Shadow wasn’t the only one who asked questions when she already knew the answer. Of course, it was also a very cheap technique he’d learned to use to get her out of her usual quiet self. She wasn’t dumb, though, and knew it every time he tried it, but part of her continued to just push those words out despite the idiocy of asking such an obvious question. When a hand reached over and rested on hers, she was polite enough not to jerk away. This was all sill far too much for her to take in at once...despite everything.

But when Jyren didn’t say anything, Shadow decided to continue her train of thought out loud, “She’s going to kill our people.”

“No,” Jyren shook his head, sitting up a bit but finding his head spinning slightly at the attempt, “She won’t get that far. Ket and Nine were worse.”

A serious gaze fell on Jyren from her, “No they weren’t.”

Silence.

There was much more in that and Jyren knew he was missing something. Sure, he could dig through the link for the answer. But sometimes words were more important. So, carefully, he asked, “What do you mean? What is it?”

Shadow took a long moment, and in it, Jyren noted that her other hand had slipped over and was now gently stroking Tobias’ back. Finally, though, she posed a question for him, “Jyren, who do you think were crewing those ships?”

Before the question finished, Jyren knew the answer. It brought a sense of shock and horror that was only surpassed by the feeling that a Darkwing could bring. There was only one answer, and it was terrifying. Quietly, Jyren whispered, “Clones.”

“Of me,” Shadow...no, Marix finished. After allowing it all to sink in, she added, “A thousand Delta Nines, or worse, and an army of Darkwings. Jyren, that is more dangerous than anything that our people have seen since the Darkwing Wars. It is why cloning is so horrible. It is what the Sith did to us before...and now its happening again.”

That really was Marix. Something in the voice was just so much different. A deep breath later, Jyren said quietly, “We have to stop it.”

Such a naive thing to say, and even Jyren knew it. But it was really how he felt. Maybe that was he was so...interesting to her. Somehow, Jyren felt that everything that was wrong could be righted, and while it might not be his job to fix it all, he was damn well going to try and make it his. It actually brought a smile to her face, despite the words she spoke, “Three of my ancestors thought the same thing thousands of years ago, Jyren, and they couldn’t stop what happened. They just made it worse.”

“But we can’t just sit around when there’s the chance to do something about it,” Jyren said under his breath, more to himself than anything. He was too stubborn to accept the idea that they couldn’t do anything.

The silence that lasted for the next few minutes was at least slightly worrying. Jyren knew that she was working things out...thinking. Trying to figure it all out. Again, she blamed him. But, finally interrupting the constant, soft sound of Toby’s purring, Shadow said, “Its happened before, Jyren...just like this...” but she trailed off, and before Jyren could attempt any kind of response, she quickly asked, “Why didn’t you shoot her?”

The sudden change surprised Jyren so that he was at a sudden loss for an answer. After stuttering for a short while, he finally managed, “I just...couldn’t.”

“One of us is going to have to do it,” Shadow said flatly, now staring straight ahead and at the bulkhead on the other side of their quarters, “If one of us doesn’t...if we can’t...then it is all going to happen again. Everything. And it will spread...it won’t be just our people. This isn’t four thousand years ago when the galaxy was isolated from itself...if we don’t find a way, its going to happen just like before and then its going to spread.”

Very carefully, Jyren took her hand and squeezed it gently. Then, looking up and doing his best to force her to meet his gaze, Jyren said, “Marix...it won’t happen again. You know we won’t let that happen.”

“Its not a matter of letting it happen, Jyren,” she snapped at him, “This is Jen. She is going to try to kill us and then all of our people and then its going to spiral out of control.”

“What stopped it last time?” Jyren asked very carefully, starting to understand the importance of the past in this situation to Marix...Shadow...them. He had never had much focus on the past or history or anything like that...but this felt different. Darkwings made everything so much different.

Shadow sighed and looked down at the bed, “We got lucky. A few Jedi appeared. They worked together with the Jendari and...and together they found a way to defeat the Darkwings.”

There was something in that and it was important. Something that was probably overlooked in the history that she knew. The details like that always were. And so, Jyren said the thought that had come to mind, “Sith Poison creates the Darkwings. It is, literally, a poison. Every poison in the galaxy has a counteragent...something to reverse its effect or just to eliminate it,” he paused, bit his lip, then looked up to Shadow again, “That’s what they found.”

Shadow managed a shrug, her hand finally stopping and simply resting on the back of Toby’s head, “We’re not scientists...Jen is, but we aren’t. And we can’t bring this to anyone else.”

“I know,” Jyren nodded and tried sitting up again. There was one thing, “Can you grab my pack? I think I know something that could help us.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 304: Family Time*

The blue-tinted image of Andrea Tavos hovered slightly above where the holocron sat on the bed. It was the first time since...since...since going back to the Capital and breaking Shadow out that it had been activated. While it felt strangely comforting to see and interact with this image of his mother, Jyren still was feeling as if, somehow, he’d messed up everything. But after a while, Jyren had learned that he was just the kind of person that never seemed to be happy with his surroundings, so maybe this was just normal. Besides, there were more important things to deal with right now.

And there was a problem.

“I am sorry, Jyren,” the soft voice of the projection said, “But I cannot allow you access to that information.”

There was always a problem.

Jyren sighed, but did notice that Shadow’s expression had not changed since the holocron had been activated. He had to remember that, while not the first time she had seen it, she hadn’t really seen the amount of interaction that was possible. She was watching the image with her usual neutral caution that was applied to pretty much every situation that she was still figuring out. Currently, though the link, Jyren wasn’t sure if she was extremely positive about this whole thing...and being refused the counteragent to the Sith Poison was not exactly helping.

“Mother, we need the counteragent!” Jyren nearly yelled at the image...but he did keep his voice down. She had already given him a stern talking to about yelling while ‘the child’ was sleeping. The amazing perception of this ‘recording’ was currently being horribly outweighed by the fact that it was a mother. Still controlling his voice, Jyren went on, “There are Darkwings, Mother. I can’t fight them. We need the information on how it was stopped the last time.”

The ‘I’ was definitely not lost on Shadow...but at least he was smart enough to say ‘we’ afterwards. The holo shimmered slightly, something that seemed to happen at random intervals or when it was dramatically appropriate...Jyren was still working out just which it was. But a moment later, the image of his mother shook her head, and there was that unavoidable detail of how the hair actually moved exactly how it should have before she repeated, “I am sorry, but the information you want is not something that can just be handed out.”

“But I’m your son!” Jyren did yell this time before motioning to Shadow, “And she’s the Empress!”

There was a subtle shift of the eyes as the image looked to Shadow. For a short moment, the two shared the exact same look between one another, and then Jyren’s mother looked back to him, “It is not that simple, Jyren. There is a reason this knowledge is so greatly protected, and she knows exactly why. She knows why I cannot give it to either of you.”

This time, Jyren looked to Shadow. When their eyes met, Shadow said calmly, “If you know the counteragent, then you know how to make the poison. You should know by now how easy it is to lose a secret like that...no matter how hard you try not to.”

She didn’t say anymore. She didn’t need to. It made so much sense that he wanted to kick something. But, currently, nothing presented a good target. Tobias would scream, Shadow would probably kill him, the holocron might break, and anything else meant Loki complaining at him and probably a long yelling at from Shadow. So, instead, Jyren folded his arms and grumbled at the bed, “So we’re supposed to just let this all go straight to the Empire and kill everyone?”

Now it was Shadow’s turn to sigh, but it was the holocron that spoke, her voice returning to the usual motherliness that still sent shiver’s down Jyren’s spine, “Just because it is the easiest does not meant it is the only way.”

“Then why keep it locked up and hidden away?!” Jyren growled, not getting angrier than he really should have been.

The calm voice of his mother did not help his mood, “Destroying knowledge doesn’t make it go away, Jyren. Now is the not the time for it, but someday it may be needed, and so it is kept. Even if I had the power to access it myself, I would not give it to you. Anger fuels it, Jyren. Foolish anger is not something that befits a Jedi...nor my son.”

Silence.

“Thank you for that,” Shadow broke the silence quietly before nodding and reaching down. Her fingers searched the small cube before finding the small switch to deactivate the device. Before the holo faded, the image of Jyren’s mother bowed her head...and there looked to be a smile on her face, too.

But then it was gone, and they were left, again, with the only noise being Tobias’ soft breathing/half-purring on the pillow behind them. Jyren sat brooding for a few minutes before finally breaking the silence and shooting Shadow an accusing glance, “You did that on purpose.”

“No,” her answer was as quick and simple as usual, “It was your idea to use the holocron. We should have known that it was too easy before even asking. But we tried, and now we know we’ll have to find another way.”

A pause. It was just enough time for Jyren’s anger to subside a little more, “You could have waited to turn it off after at least getting a suggestion.”

Shadow shook her head sternly, “One day you’re going to have to stop relying on everything else. Might as well start today.”

Jyren sighed and allowed himself a slow nod. After a moment, he asked very quietly, “She was right about me...wasn’t she?”

That was a dangerous question. Shadow took a deep breath before placing an arm on his shoulder, “You have to learn how to control you emotions.”

Slowly, Jyren shifted over and rested his head on her shoulder. Under his breath, he whispered, “I know...I...I try...”

“Its not enough to just try,” her response was slow, but calculated. This was not a time to get back to the problems they’d gotten through more than once already, “It takes time, but you are learning.”

They sat there in silence for a long time without moving. But, eventually, Shadow nudged him to move and stood up to stretch, “Keep an eye on Toby.”

“Why?” Jyren asked, nearly getting up but instead deciding to sit back and eye Tobias, who was now on his back and idly pawing at nothing every few moments.

Without any expression, Shadow started for the door and said over her shoulder, “I’m going to go think about things and try to find a way out of this.”

She didn’t say that pinning him with Toby would stop his thinking. Right now, that was the last thing he needed. She knew by now that his thinking usually meant he’d tear himself apart...so it was best to occupy him until he was ready to stop trying to find a way to beat himself down. And besides, she needed some time to take all of this in and really figure things out.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 305: Just Try*

It wasn’t the first time, and probably wouldn’t be the last, that Jyren wondered it all children were like Tobias. It seemed like only had two modes. Sleep and wild. Currently, sleep mode had been switched off, and the little Alraxian was definitely in a stage of wild. They were in the small lounge-type area near the center of the living area in Loki’s cabin, with Tobias bounding around the few pieces of furniture there was to pounce at Jyren and ‘kill’ him. 

This had been going on for at least an hour now, and Toby showed no sign of letting up. But Jyren, getting tired of having his legs, arms, and anything that Toby could find clawed up, was looking for a way to put Toby into the sleep mode...or at least something close to it. And there was something bugging him.

So Jyren sat in the center of the room, carefully eyeing the large couch where Tobias had scrambled behind. He was back there waiting for the right time to strike, and Jyren decided the best thing he could do was turn his back to invite the attack and attempt something he’d never tried with Toby before...talk.

Five minutes later, there was the distinctive ‘RAWR!’ and Jyren spun around and reached out, snatching the flying Tobias out of the air before he could reach Jyren. Tobias laughed and made some very unique noises but, for the first time, didn’t struggle. That was a relief, as Jyren’s wrists had taken enough of a beating. In fact, it looked like the little Alraxian was at least slightly tired.

So...carefully, Jyren asked the question that could very well cause another hour of pure energy, “Getting tired, little guy?”

This was it...the moment of truth. Either Tobias would shake his head, scratch the hell out of Jyren’s arms and scamper off again or...or...not. Jyren honestly wasn’t sure what else could happen...and then it happened. Tobias very slowly nodded, and kind of slumped down in Jyren’s grip, mumbling something that didn’t make sense.

“Hang on a second, Toby,” Jyren said quietly as he sat the child down in front of him, “No sleep yet, okay?”

Two big eyes looked up at him through the tired veil that was starting to take over Tobias’ face and he mumbled, “Whyfor...?”

“I’ve got a question for you,” Jyren answered, shifting to a more comfortable sitting position now that he wasn’t waiting for an impending pounce. Tobias tilted his head but said nothing, so Jyren decided to just go ahead and speak, “Earlier in the hangar...what did you do?”

Tobias tilted his head the other way, his ear twitched slightly, and then he blinked a few times, “Huh?”

Of course it wasn’t that easy. Not only was Tobias still a child, so toeing around the point just confused him, but there were still some blocks up against his own natural abilities that had been put up years ago to keep him safe. So, more carefully and knowing that it could be a dangerous question, Jyren tried to be more specific, “When you...when you helped me. What did you do?”

Jyren deliberately avoided the word ‘healed.’ It just felt too strong considering the situation. Tobias didn’t blink this time, and simply stared right back up at Jyren. This continued for a good few minutes, and it took Jyren that much time to realize that Tobias was really doing his best to think. The blank look on his face was just like Shadow’s...there was no thoughtful expression for either of them, instead there was nothing. All of their energy was focused on thought, leaving nothing for the rest of the body, especially for simple emotions.

But then, very slowly, the glazed nothingness began to give way to a whimper. After that, Tobias, on the verge of crying from the sound of it, whispered, “...I dunno...”

He came very, very close to wailing. So close, in fact, that just before Jyren cut in, the little Alraxian made the necessary inhale. But Jyren managed to cut in quickly, reaching down to gently scratch Toby’s ear(forcing a purr, whether the child wanted to or not), and then saying, “Its okay, little guy. Its okay...”

Tobias sat there, tilting his head into Jyren’s hand, on the verge of crying and purring the whole while. Doing both meant not being able to breathe, so the body picked one and stuck with it. Thankfully, the crying didn’t occur. It was, to Jyren, a sign to try a different way. So, after another few minutes, Jyren went on, “Don’t think so hard, okay? Just try to answer really quick before you have a chance to think.”

“You mean...like you do?” Tobias barely managed to speak through the purring.

Of course, that made Jyren grin. So Shadow had been spending a little time with the child, “Exactly. You think you can do that?”

Tobias nodded again, but did so in a way so that his ear never left Jyren’s scratching. That had definitely been a well practiced move. So, with that, Jyren tried yet again, “What did you do?”

“I just...just...” for a moment, Tobias trailed off and the glazed over look appeared that meant he was trying to think. But, amazingly, it only lasted for a few seconds before Toby shook his head to shrug it away and started mumbling towards the floor, “...I just didn’t want you to die...”

And that was it. Truthfully, it was exactly what Jyren figured he’d get, but hearing it said led to a very important step. Tobias was young, yes...but why not start young? He’d develop the discipline needed for it and wouldn’t run into all the problems that Jyren always did. So... “You want to try something else, little guy?”

Realizing that Tobias assumed he meant stopping someone else from dying, Jyren quickly made a move to show he meant otherwise. His eyes darted over and locked onto one of Toby’s toys...a small cube that changed shape when small symbols on each side were pressed. As quickly as he could, Jyren reached out to it with the Force and pulled it over to them. The object floated across the room rather quickly before Jyren caught it not far in front of Toby so the little Alraxian could see what he’d done.

“You think you can do that?” when Tobias didn’t respond and simply continued to stare, Jyren caught onto the fact that he really needed to push to get anything out of the child, “Just think really hard at it. Think really hard until you just make it happen. Can you do that?”

“I uh...I dunno?” Tobias tilted his head to look back up to Jyren, obviously unsure of what to do anymore.

Jyren smiled and patted his head gently, “Just try it.”

“...okay...” the words were barely spoken, as Tobias had turned down to stare blankly at the block that now sat on the floor between them. He thought at it just like he’d done with Jyren earlier...wanting to move it because he knew it’d make Jyren proud of him.

But then the door to the room opened and all concentration was lost as Shadow stuck her head in and nodded down the corridor, “We’ll be in the Sluis system in five minutes. Need you up in the cockpit with me.”

Jyren sighed but nodded, “You have any ideas on what to do next?”

“I might,” Shadow answered before disappearing down the corridor.

Oh well. But there were things to do. Jyren turned to Tobias and picked up the child as he got to his feet, “Come on. We’ll work on this later, okay?”

((Sorry for the lack of updates. Gods, Thanksgiving is like pure chaos around here. That and its getting close to the end of the Semester(just two more weeks) so had a few papers to work on. Back on schedule(I hope) now!))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 306: Plan of Action*

Though having one of the largest collections of shipyards outside of the Core meant that Sluis Van was a very heavily defended world by whoever happened to be in control at the time, the outer edges of the star system were left generally open. And even though it was the New Republic in control of the shipyards, Shadow wasn’t too terribly worried. There may be a bounty on them, but that didn’t mean they had to be on alert all over the galaxy. Besides, they were far enough out in the system that the incoming traffic likely didn’t even see them. It was a safe system to wait near...just in case that fleet found them, there would be a New Republic fleet to fly into and escape in the chaos that would ensue.

Never let it be said that Shadow couldn’t think like a Fleet Admiral.

“We can’t risk bringing anyone else into this situation,” Jyren was saying. Tobias was in the cockpit with them, but was currently occupied by sitting up on the consoles and getting a good view of the star system...and Loki was being amazingly helpful by pointing things out through a makeshift HUD display, while at the same time paying attention to their plan of action...which wasn’t much at this point.

Shadow nodded, but had to stop herself from glancing over at Toby again. She was nervous about him up on those consoles...he might...press something...or...or something! Shaking it off, she turned her attention back to Jyren, “Agreed. But you know that means we can’t take the direct approach. We don’t have the firepower or the numbers to fight that fleet or the crews or even a Darkwing.”

That word still sent shivers(and sick feelings) through both of them, but sometimes it just needed to be said. Jyren sighed and also nodded, “Ships can be sabotaged. That’s not what I’m worried about...it’s the...it’s the other things.”

Of course, neither of them liked to say the word and still avoided it if possible. He was right, of course, but Shadow had been thinking about this, “There are ways to deal with this beyond the easy route, Jyren. You’ve done it before.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think I can do it again...” Jyren grumbled, “And not...not a thousand times.”

“Likely closer to a hundred,” Shadow corrected him in her old emotionless tone, but then went on in what had become normal for her in the past years, “You’ve done it before, Jyren. You can do it again.”

“I doubt it.”

“Exactly the problem,” she nearly snapped at him, but was currently too busy finishing working things out to get angry. At this point, it was just stating a fact, “How did you do it before?”

Jyren struggled with it for a moment before struggling even more, just out loud, “I just...I...I don’t know...”

When Jyren looked up, he saw Shadow smiling. It made him worry, because even through the link he couldn’t figure out exactly why. And that, despite all that had occurred to change the both of them, was still dangerous when it came to Shadow. And then, quietly and slowly, Shadow said, “Don’t think so hard. Just try to answer really quickly before you have a chance to think.”

That made Jyren freeze. She’d spoken it in just the right tone...and nearly the perfect voice, too. His eyes wide, Jyren asked, “You were listening?! But you weren’t even...”

Shadow’s smile grew into a grin, “I always listen, Jyren.”

“Hey!” he actually sounded hurt now, “That’s not fair!”

Though the smile stayed on her face, Shadow’s tone went flat again, “You do the same thing.”

A pause. 

Then...slowly, Jyren started to grin, “Good point.”

And then Shadow went straight back to the business at hand, “That part is on you. Figure it out...feel it out. I can’t help you with that. But...you will need to help me with it once you’ve made sense of it all.”

“You’re sure?” Jyren asked slowly, obviously surprised, “That could take a long time...”

“We don’t have a long time,” she was almost grinning again, “But, yes, I do trust you.”

Jyren mumbled a thanks but it was so quiet that Shadow only heard it through the thought that flowed across the link. After a moment, though, he asked, “So what do we do about the rest of this?”

“Sabotage is what I was thinking,” Shadow said with one of her uniquely unnerving smiles, “Or at least something close,” she paused a moment to wait and make sure Jyren was keeping up, then fleshed things out, “She wants to get to our home. There’s only way to get there. We set a trap that can take care of the ships.”

“I think she’ll be expecting something like that,” Jyren said slowly, knowing that Jen wasn’t an idiot at all. In fact, she’d been the only sane one among them for a long time. Perhaps that was what made all of this so worrying.

Shadow leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling, “Probably, but that also means she won’t be with the fleet. That doesn’t matter. We just need to take that out. Right now, those ships and everything aboard them are our primary concern. We’ll have to take this one step at a time.”

“Alright,” Jyren said with a nod, slipping halfway off of his co-pilot’s chair to lean over her slightly and force eye contact, “How do you propose we get rid of the fleet...exactly?”

Shadow grinned up at him, “I know someone that could probably supply us with a nice complement of very well designed stationary mines.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 307: The Dark Side*

Everywhere in the galaxy there were stories about the smuggler and pirate hubs that were cobbled together and held in one piece more by luck than anything else. It was hard not to hear about these kind of places, and while it was assumed some did, in fact, exist few ever actually confirmed this. Jyren had, up to this point, never been sure of it...but obviously Shadow had, considering she’d given the coordinates and done the flying herself, despite some complaining from Loki that he could do it himself and he remembered exactly where it was thankyouverymuch.

It didn’t even require a hyperspace jump, which was probably part of the reason that Loki got annoyed. Lately, he didn’t get to do much flying anymore. Sure there was the adrenaline(or whatever Kanyaks had) rush on Hoth, but that was pretty much it. But Shadow was being surprisingly stubborn, and Loki was forced to give in. It was almost worrying to Jyren, as she was getting back into her old ways of dealing with people. From before...before...before everything had changed.

“I’m fine, Jyren,” Shadow said without even turning to look at him.

“Yeah, but—“

Shadow cut him off before he even knew what the rest of his sentence was going to be, “This isn’t Nar Shaddaa and this isn’t Ord Mantell. You need to keep your mouth shut here and let me do the talking.”

“Right, right,” Jyren nodded, deciding that she knew best at this point and not really wanting an argument anyway, “Stand there and look tough. I know the drill.”

“No,” Shadow shook her head, “Just keep up and keep your eyes open. This is the last place you want to try and look tough.”

Jyren’s tail flicked to the side in annoyance, but he could tell she wasn’t lying. Still, he asked the dumb question, “Its really that bad?”

“It might be,” she responded, this time glancing to him with her old emotionless face before nodding forward, “Look in the moon’s shadow carefully.”

After one last long look at the side of her face, Jyren turned and attempted to peer into the blackness where Shadow was mentally pointing. He couldn’t see anything but black. It was a hard thing to accept the fact that there weren’t even any stars in the view, but after so long in space, one got used to the actual emptiness of the whole thing. But still...through the Force there was a faint...a faint something.

“I can’t see anything,” Jyren mumbled to himself before taking a quick glance behind him, where Tobias was sitting and playing with some of his small, Dragon-shaped toys. At least he was being manageable for once.

Shadow nodded and smiled finally, “Exactly.”

It made sense. They were still in the Sluis system, with the shipyard planet of Sluis Van only on the other side of the system’s single, orange star. They were farther out in the system and heading around one of the medium sized rocks that orbited the star. This particular planet was red and covered in craters, but it was the moon that their attention was set on...the boring, dead looking moon. Somewhere back there was that station, in likely in a stationary orbit to keep it behind both the planet and the moon that did not orbit its mother planet. Cover after cover after cover...it made too much sense.

And now the moon was filling most of the view, yet Jyren still couldn’t see any space station...or even an installation on the moon’s surface. Just nothing. Jyren bit back a question, but Shadow wasn’t a fool. She picked up on it right away and, as she started to slow Loki down, said simply, “I still remember the way in. Don’t worry about that part.”

“Oh, good,” Jyren sighed, “When should I start worrying?”

Shadow smiled warmly before turning back to the viewport and making a few careful adjustments, “Well, they probably won’t be too happy to see me. I’d expect at least ten armed guards. Last time they even had a few disrupter pistols! Made for some very, very interesting times there. I’d suggest doing all your worrying now so you can enjoy it when it starts.”

Silence. Well...no. There were ‘rawrs’ and other noises from behind them as Toby somehow managed to entertain himself. It was a fact they didn’t even speak of over the link, for fear of calling in fate and ruining the relative peace it provided.

Then, as Shadow’s grin began to grow even more, Jyren glared at her and grumbled, “That wasn’t funny.”

Right on cue, Shadow started to laugh, a sound that was still rare but was very nice to hear in Jyren’s opinion...despite the fact that she was being evil. When the laughing stopped, though, she said through the grin, “Oh, it was, Jyren...”

Something about the way she said that...

“You’re serious, aren’t you?!” Jyren yelped, “They actually use disrupter pistols?!”

“I believe I saw a rifle or two, also...” Shadow said before trailing off and putting her ‘I’m working, leave me alone’ face on.

It left Jyren to remember the only disrupter pistol he’d ever seen. It had been roughly the size of a normal blaster pistol, but sleek in design and much more angular. There was no barrel, per se, but definitely an end from which the weapon shot out whatever it was that was shot out. He’d never actually seen the thing fired, but he knew what they did. Blasters, essentially, burned...it was why there was always a horrible, ozone like smell around after a shootout. But disrupters...supposedly they tore apart their target at the molecular level. Those were the pistols at least...Jyren had only heard stories about the rifles. Stories that he definitely preferred to forget. They were illegal for a reason, and most had been phased out well over fifty standard years earlier.

And then he noticed something. The empty blackness around them had a bit more...colour to it. A silvery sheen here and a greyish tone there. After a moment of his brain compiling the information, the view was put together. Not only was the station in the shadow of both a planet and a moon, but it was coated by...by something.

Again, Shadow picked up on the thoughts as they approached the darkness that was now starting to surround them completely, “Stygian-triprismatic polymer, if I remember right.”

Jyren blinked. At first it meant nothing to him, but he started to dig through memories...then, “Wasn’t that Imperial stuff? Kind of like a fake cloaking device?”

“Something like that,” Shadow said just as Jyren started to notice that they were in a hangar. It was dark, yes, but he could see a couple of other ships and a few people moving around here and there, “Helps to decrease the sensor detection. Its why you have to fly in blind.”

“Thank you for not telling me that until now,” Jyren said with a sigh.

Shadow smiled and shrugged as Loki set down and began to power most of his unneeded systems down, “There’s a few other things I haven’t told you that you’ll appreciate later. I’d suggest carrying a weapon or three...they know me, but its always a good idea to keep some protection if you’re a new face...” she paused, let out a deep breath, then got up and said very quietly, “Stick to close to me in here. We’re going to get in, acquire the weapons, and then get out.”

“Acquire?” Jyren raised an eyebrow, “I know we don’t have any credits, but these really don’t seem like the kind of people you steal from...”

“I’m calling in the last favors I’ve got left,” Shadow said before telling Loki to make sure Toby didn’t leave the ship and to stay locked up while they were gone. She then looked to Jyren and added, “The weapons will probably help, too...oh, and you might as well bring what valuables you’re willing to part with just in case.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 308: Unarmed and Dangerous*

Generally, the hangar was empty. It was very, very large, and it was hard to get a good view of anything until they were down on the deckplates. The few lights that were scattered around were angled in just the right way so that they were picked up when you were down lower to the deck. In the very large hangar, which was probably three times the size of most hangars, there were about five other ships of various size and design. A few people moved here and there, none really bothering to give the new arrivals any attention.

Not that it mattered to Jyren or Shadow. It was the six men, dressed in some kind of heavy, composite armor and very interestingly designed helmets with black visors, that had their attention. Or rather...it was the weapons.

[Ah...] Jyren said through the link. [So that’s what a disrupter rifle looks like.]

They looked just like the pistols, really, only bigger. It was amazing how doubling the size of the weapon actually made it look that much more dangerous. All six of the ones holding the weapons were human, or at least near enough human that the armor and helmets masked any odd features, and roughly of average height and build. They walked over to the two Alraxians slowly before coming to a stop a good five meters in front of them...probably because, at that point, the six humans realized just how tall these two Alraxians were.

There was a moment of tense nothingness before one of the six, the one of the rightmost edge of the line they formed, stepped forward and aimed his disrupter rifle squarely at Jyren. In a gruff, obviously angry voice, he said, “We told you never to come back here.”

Jyren’s eyes immediately darted to Shadow, though his head stayed facing forward and his hands remained calmly at his side...though ready to move at a second’s notice. This was one of those times that the link was very, very handy. [I should have known!]

If Shadow could have presented a weak smile, she would have...instead, she held her neutral expression and just sent the feeling, along with a feeling of a shrug, through the link. [You should have. Some days I just think you’re never going to learn how things work with me.]

It took a lot of effort for Jyren to force himself not to roll his eyes. [Oh, of course. Is there anywhere in the galaxy we can go without getting blasters, or worse!, pointed at us before we have a chance to speak a word?!]

The pause that resulted here was really only a few half seconds, but it felt so much longer considering the situation. [Probably not. Corporate Space is probably our best bet for a blaster-less vacation, but word travels fast from their border planets...probably no where, actually.]

She didn’t wait for a response. It had been long enough of saying nothing and these men didn’t look very happy. By now, all six were aiming their disrupters. Slowly, Shadow raised her hands up to show she had no weapons...not that she needed any, a fact of which these guards would know, especially if they could recognize her after all these years. But really, even though she was an adult now and much taller, Alraxians had a distinct look to them. Even the other feline races of the galaxy didn’t look all that much like Alraxians, which had too much human in them to really be feline. So Shadow wasn’t too surprised to be noticed.

In the calmest voice she could put together, Shadow said, “I’m not here to kill anyone. In fact, I just want to see Garrol and then I’ll leave.”

“You said that last time,” the same guard answered, motioning at her with his rifle.

Shadow sighed. It wasn’t any surprise that the same guards were here...it was a good job that paid far too well. And besides, they got to use disrupters. What mercenary could turn that down?

“This time, I mean it,” Shadow knew it was pathetic but she was starting to get annoyed and was working out a way to fight through to where they needed to be, “You can follow us if you want. Just here on business, and then you’ll never see me again.”

Another long, tense moment passed, but eventually the guards stepped to the side to allow the two Alraxians to pass. The guard that had stepped forward nodded towards the other end of the hangar, “You have half an hour to get finish your business and get off the station.”

Shadow simply nodded and them made a mental poke at Jyren to get him to walk next to her instead of a step behind as he usually did when she knew where to go and he was just tagging along. But as they passed the guards, he couldn’t help asking a question. Thankfully, Jyren was intelligent enough to just ask it over the link as the walked towards a pair of doors at the opposite end of the hangar. [If they’re so picky about people coming and going, why not have some kind of docking control or security measures beyond guards just standing in the hangar?]

Through the link, Shadow sent the equivalent to a shrug. [This has always worked here. Besides, would you have ever found this without knowing exactly where it was and exactly how to land?]

[Good point.] Jyren couldn’t argue with that logic.

The door slid open in front of them as they approached thanks to a small sensor that was above it, opening up into a large, circular shaped corridor that looked to be centered around a small cantina of sorts in the very center. Shadow nodded to the left, and they headed along the circle that way, passing all sorts of creatures along the way. The place was surprisingly well kept up compared to what one would have expected. Sure, there were the necessary crates and other small pieces of junk scattered in the corridor, but other than that, it really was left clean. Well...except for most of the doors having some kind of graffiti on them...years and years worth of graffiti, from the looks of it.

They got probably about a fourth of the way around the main circle before Shadow stopped and mentally motioned towards a door towards the outside wall. Jyren stepped over to it with her, noting that this had some much graffiti on it that it was more like a single layer of colour rather than any distinguishable symbols. There was a sign of sorts above the door, but it was in a language that Jyren didn’t even recognize.

[This guy may be a bit...jumpy.] Shadow said through the link before pressing the small button to open the door. [Just don’t do anything to make him call the guards. It would be nice to get through all of this without getting shot at.]

Jyren agreed. So, of course, he nodded. Taking that as a signal, Shadow hit the switch and the door slid up and out of the way. It revealed a rather large room filled with a thousand times more junk than what was strewn about the corridor. Shadow stepped in first, with Jyren just a step(a careful one, of course, as some of the things on the ground looked very sharp) behind.

“Yes...yes...what do you want?!” the voice came from...somewhere. Jyren was only able to identify the source of it through some movement off to the left side of the room where what could have been a desk sat. Behind it and facing the other direction was a slightly small humanoid figure that had a very slight hint of a tail, purple coloured skin, and impossibly scruffy white hair hat seemed to go every direction. It was a...a...Jyren wasn’t actually sure.

[He’s a Ryn.] Shadow commented through the link. That triggered Jyren’s memories. Yes, he’d heard stories. Wanderers...merchants, musicians, scouts. Generally considered trash amongst the galaxy and, from the smell that seemed to be emitting from this Ryn, Jyren understood why that was.

The Ryn was turning around during this short interchange, and when he turned around to reveal his face(which was much like any humanoids, just with the added features of a bushy, white mustache and a long, beak-like nose) his eyes went wide and he let out a loud screech. Two hands scoured the ‘desk’ in front of him, and in a second a blaster was up in the air. Through the screech, the sound of a blaster bolt rang out.

“DOWN!” Shadow suddenly yelled, grabbing Jyren by the shoulder and literally yanking him down so that the completely unaimed shot didn’t make a lucky hit. There wasn’t a second shot, though, and Shadow hadn’t stopped yelling, “Dammit, Garrol, put the gun away! I’m not here to kill you!”

There was the sound of shifting metal and Jyren looked up to see the small Ryn, who was trembling violently, not pressed against the wall behind him and aiming the blaster that looked ready to shake out of his hands, “Y-y-you said that last time!!!”

Shadow rolled her eyes. It would just be easier to get all these people in one room instead of having to repeated herself, “I mean it this time,” the words did nothing, and so Shadow did the same motion she’d made to the guards and raised her hands to show she was unarmed, “I just need your help on getting a hold of some equipment...that’s all.”

“I-I-I think you’re li...li...lying!” Garrol stammered, his eyes now darting around the mess of a room, “And now you’re...you’re all...big! Bigger! Don’t need weapons!”

[He’s got you there.] Jyren couldn’t help it.

Shadow shot him a quick glare. [Shut up.]

Then, she turned back to the Ryn and tried again, this time talking much more slowly, “The sooner you tell me whether you have the things I need the sooner I’ll leave...and besides, you’re more likely to shoot yourself at this rate. I don’t think you were ever very well known for your aim.”

“I...I was!” Garrol mumbled, slowly peeling himself off the wall, “Mostly for my uh...um...lack thereof.”

“Exactly,” Shadow said with a nod, very slowly attempting to step a little closer to the Ryn, “Now, are you going to help?”

“What....what do you need?”

Shadow took a moment to give Jyren a quick glance before turning back to Garrol. This was it, really. If he didn’t at least have an idea of where to find what they needed, Alraxia was pretty much already gone. Forcing back the stupid emotions for the moment, Shadow just said, “I need a hundred orbital mines and I need them now.”

The Ryn’s eyes had gone wide again, “...now?!”

“Now.”

Silence. It was an insane thing to ask, truthfully.

In the silence, Garrol was very slowly putting the blaster pistol back down on the pile of...of...things on the ‘desk’. Then, after he gripped another something to attempt to stop the shaking, the Ryn very carefully said, “I could take some work...but I might be able to get you what you need.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 309: Information*

“I thought we weren’t going to be stealing,” Jyren whispered hastily, as Garrol was busying doing...doing...something after he’d explained to them how they could get a hold of the mines.

Shadow rolled her eyes and flicked his ear angrily, “Did you really think we could get a hold of enough mines to stop a fleet without stealing?!”

“Well...” Jyren tried not to whimper and just rubbed his ear, “No, but that’s not the point.”

“That is the point,” Shadow growled quietly, her back to the Ryn and doing her best not to let the argument be heard. It was best to let him assume they were just discussing...not arguing.

There was a quiet sigh from Jyren, “I don’t even see how we’re going to do this! We can’t hijack an entire convoy!”

“Just one ship,” she corrected him quickly.

“Yes, but if its carrying a good sized compliment of orbital mines, then it’ll be heavily guarded..” Jyren trailed off, letting the last part of the sentence remain unspoken.

But, thanks to the link, Shadow had no trouble picking up on it, “Out here it won’t be. Yes, we might have to take out a few fighters, but the New Republic’s forces are spread so thin lately there’s no way they can field an entire squadron just for a small convoy.”

“Five cruisers is not small,” Jyren said flatly.

Shadow shook her head, “Four cargo transports and an escort is.”

“Cargo transports don’t have landing bays!” Jyren nearly yelled it, but managed to somehow keep his voice down.

“Then we’ll dock with them,” by now, Shadow was giving him a sharp, somewhat dangerous look.

Jyren did his best to ignore the look, but Shadow was getting better at it every time she used it. The link was definitely working against him in that aspect. Shaking it off, though, he shook his head, “Then we’re a sitting target for the escort to pick us off.”

This time, there was no quick response. After the pause passed, though, Shadow just patted his shoulder, “We’ll think of something.”

And before he could say anything to that, she stood up straight(which actually put her taller than him for that half second before he stood up completely, too...not something that Shadow missed) and turned around to face Garrol, “Alright, we’re interested. What’s the location?”

A broad smile appeared on the Ryn’s face, and a whistling noise escaped his beak-like nose, though his hand was still carefully holding the blaster, “When you give me the money, I will tell you where.”

“We don’t have the kind of money you want, Garrol,” Shadow said in a surprisingly unthreatening tone.

Garrol twitched slightly but managed a shrug, “Then you aren’t going to find out where that convoy is.”

Shadow didn’t need to signal Jyren. Instead, he just knew it was the right time. Casually, he extended his hand and reached out with the Force. The small blaster pistol was wrenched from the Ryn’s light grip and flew right into Jyren’s hand...and it was immediately aimed straight at Garrol’s head when Jyren had control over it, “This is more important than money. Tell us where it is.”

The Ryn had yelped and jumped back against the wall again the second that the blaster had left his grip. But one hand was rapidly scouring the wall for...something. Probably an alarm. Jyren quickly shifted his aim and fired off a quick shot that burned black mark in the wall just a little too close to Garrol’s hand, “This doesn’t have to get violent, but if you try that again, I won’t be aiming for the wall.”

“Buh..uh...bu...Jedi...” the Ryn was shaking much more now, and his eyes were darting quickly between the two Alraxians standing in front of him. Finally, they locked on Shadow, “He’s as bad as you are!”

Shadow smiled sweetly, which was disturbingly dangerous looking, “I did my best with him. Of course, you should know that he still hasn’t learned patience, so he might accidently squeeze that trigger soon if you keep stuttering and don’t tell us where the convoy’s going to be.”

Garrol made a noise that sounded like a whimper but was strangely musical at the same time. But after a moment, mumbled something under his breath. He looked up and quickly realized that he hadn’t been heard, then said much louder, “Eriadu.”

Jyren had to take a moment to think about that, then said out loud, “Where the Rimma and Hydian Way intersect...”

“Y-yes...” Garrol mumbled, still trying to back through a wall. It was a task he was having a great deal of difficulty with, “Tomorrow...an hour from now tomorrow.”

Spinning the weapon around so that he gripped the barrel, Jyren tossed the blaster to the Ryn...he didn’t catch it. Instead, it hit Garrol in the chest before bouncing down to the ground. Jyren then flashed a smile that wasn’t too much different than Shadow’s, though it definitely didn’t have the same bite, “Thank you. I believe we’ll be leaving now. If you move from that spot, I will know it. Do not move from there until we’ve left the station...consider it a nice twenty minute break.”

Shadow smiled again, nodded and then started out with Jyren following close behind. As they walked at a very fast pace around the circle and back to the hangar, she ‘said’. [You’re getting at that.]

[I learned from the best.] Jyren said with a grin on his face.

[That you do...] she gave him a look over her shoulder. [But that ‘all-seeing Jedi’ act isn’t going to work every time. I suggest figuring out a few more tricks.]

He nodded, but was actually motioning forward. [I suggest we get the hell out of here before the act wears off.]

Shadow also nodded, then reached out a little farther. [Loki, get ready to leave. We’re on our way back and the second we’re onboard it would probably be a good idea to get us out of here.]

[You are being shot at...?] Loki sounded like someone who was on the verge of laughing.

[Not yet.] Jyren cut in, but then caught some movement over his shoulder. [But I don’t think these guards are going to let it last too much longer.]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 310: Fun*

“Stop your whining, you’re not dead!” Shadow growled.

There was a yelp from Jyren and, of course, a giggle from Tobias who was up on his ‘perch’ on the control console in Loki’s cockpit. Jyren cursed a few times and slumped back down in his chair, “If you keep doing that I will be!”

Shadow sighed, rolled her eyes, and went back to brushing his tail fur straight, “Then stop fidgeting! You’re worse than Toby!” after a few more moments, she grumbled, “If you’d have run faster this wouldn’t be a problem.”

Jyren looked over his shoulder at her and glared sharply enough to prove he’d learned a thing or two from her, “They were shooting at us! Shooting with disrupters! I think I even saw some slugthrowers before we got back to Loki! I ran as fast as I could!”

“Obviously not as fast enough...” Shadow said quietly, this time forcing back a grin.

Looking back the other direction and sighing, Jyren grumble under his breath, “Sometimes I think you enjoy watching me nearly get shot.”

“Only sometimes?” she finished with his tail, patted his shoulder and leaned in to whisper in his ear, “Guess I should do a better job, hm?”

“That’s not funny,” Jyren said quietly to himself.

Perfectly time, Tobias giggled again. Shadow leaned back in her chair and laughed, “I don’t know, I think we’ve got you outnumbered here. Right, Loki?”

[What...?] the ship was currently distracted with getting the exit from hyperspace perfectly timed so they were just far enough out from the spot they needed to be at to go undetected when the convoy arrived. [Oh, yes. Right. Ha-ha. Funny.]

“Three to one,” Shadow grinned, “We win. Its funny.”

Jyren turned to sit back in his seat, too, and sent a glare towards Tobias, “Traitor.”

Of course, all that did was get Toby to giggle more. After a few moments, though, the little Alraxian laughed out loud and bounded off his spot at Jyren, who caught him and shook his head, “That’s not going to work, this time.”

Tobias grinned broadly, reached down and poked Jyren’s nose gently. The child said nothing, but just stared with a smile on his face. It didn’t take long for Jyren to sigh, set Toby down in his lap, and start scratching his ear gently, “You’re still a traitor, little guy.”

Loud, happy purring was the only response.

The silence, as usual, did not last very long. Jyren seemed to have a habit of breaking silence every chance he got. This time, he turned to Shadow and asked, “Any ideas on how we steal the cargo ship yet?”

Shadow glanced over his direction, the slightest hint of a smile tugging at her lips, “Possibly.”

That got a worried look from him, “I don’t like the sound of that...”

“Oh, come now,” Shadow grinned again, this time turning to face him completely, “It won’t be anything you haven’t done before.”

“Now I really don’t like the sound of this,” Jyren said more quietly, but noting how Shadow felt through the link, knew he’d have to press to get her to stop playing her little game, “Fine. Fine. What is it?”

Shadow shifted in her chair and nodded back towards the corridor behind them, “Does you X-Wing have an EV-suit, by any chance?”

She didn’t need to say anything more. In fact, even that had been a bit much. It was enough, though, to trigger a memory. A very, very vivid one. Also one that Jyren had thought was buried well enough that Shadow couldn’t have found it. Obviously, he’d been wrong. Right away, he was shaking his head, “No. No. No way. No.”

“Awww...its not that hard,” Shadow’s grin was growing, “Besides, you did such a good job last time you tried it, there’s no way you’ll forget to check the oxygen levels this time!”

“No!”

“You won’t even be stuck out in space!” Shadow laughed, reaching over to pat his shoulder, “Just a simple jump to an airlock.”

“Why do I have to do it?!” Jyren growled, “You’d be better suited for it!”

“I can’t fly a heavy freighter,” Shadow noted with a shrug, “But I can fly an X-Wing. Loki, how long until the convoy arrives?”

There was a short pause as Loki checked the data. [Fifteen standard hours.]

“Thank you,” she then turned back to look at Jyren, “So, if you’d like me to have the fun instead of you, you’ve got fifteen hours to teach me to fly one of those things.”

Jyren glared at her, “You’re a very evil person, you know that?”

Shadow shrugged and motioned towards the hangar, “You still have fifteen hours to teach me to fly those big things. Its not my fault if you don’t. Besides, I don’t see why you’re complaining, you get to do the fun part.”

“Fun?!” Jyren nearly yelled, but kept his voice down. Then, suddenly, something struck him, “There is no way you’d let me go and do that unless you had something else even more...more...’fun’ planned for yourself.”

The smile returned to Shadow’s face, “And I’m not telling you what it is. You’ll just have to keep your eyes open and hope you don’t miss it.”


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Just an update for everyone.

I'm currently away from home, and though I do have net access, I've been very, very busy for the last week. May be the same for the next few weeks, also. Will try to get updates up, but they will probably be a bit random when/if they appear.

This will probably continue until about the second week of January. After that, I'll be moved back to art school and things should finally be settling down again. Sorry about the delays. Hopefully this'll give people a chance to catch up on the story if need be.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 311: Focus*

“Jyren! What the hell are you doing?! We’ve got ten minutes!” Shadow’s voice echoed through the corridor’s towards their room. Jyren glanced up, but knew he wouldn’t see anything but the open doorway and nothing at all. Shadow had given up using the link as the loud yelling had much more force to it. He’d been...putting on one of the flight suits, then checking all of the seals on both his and the spare for any kinds of rips or tears. The Darkwing had left far too many, and so it had taken nearly two hours to get the both of them in working order and able to withstand a vacuum and retain pressure.

This meant, of course, that he was back in his old human body again. It was still awkward to go back to it after all the time that had passed. He knew it was how he’d lived the majority of his life...and yet it felt alien to him now. Something was wrong with that.

Ten minutes.

[On my way.] he said simply through the link, finally getting to his feet, checking the blaster at his hip, and starting for the hangar with both slighsuits. The helmets were still in the X-Wing and those, thankfully, were fine.

Jyren rounded the corner to head for the hangar before Loki quickly jumped in. [Incoming from behind, Jyren.]

Normally, that would have been a signal to duck or dive for cover. But Loki’s ‘voice’ had been calm and more of a quick warning. Which meant it wasn’t Shadow ready to kill him. Not that Jyren expected that. He knew she was back in the hangar pacing and cursing his name...and through the link she was sending a thousand comments about how wonderfully punctual he always was. That meant it left...

“I don’t have time for this, Toby,” Jyren said with a sigh before he’d even finished turning around.

The little Alraxian finished padding up to him and looked all the way up...which, truthfully, wasn’t nearly as far when Jyren was a human. But Toby just shook his head, “Don’t wanna play.”

“Good,” Jyren said quickly and started to attempt an escape, “Because I don’t have time to play. Or entertain you in any way right now. We’ll play later.”

He spun around and got going the other way for two steps before there was a surprisingly rough tug on his left leg and Tobias’ voice, “Wait!”

Jyren stopped only because he wasn’t in the mood to have extra weight for the moment. The child was heavy enough as it was, and being human currently just made things more difficult. So, spinning around to look down at the clinging child, Jyren only glared. Tobias did his big-eyed look and let go, “...’s important...”

“Fine, Toby,” Jyren sighed, turning around yet again and looking straight down, “What is it?”

Unsurprisingly, Tobias took a couple tiny steps back before shuffling his feet a few hundred times. Then, finally, he revealed what was he was carrying with a hand that was behind his back. As best he could, Tobias reached up and extended the lightsaber to Jyren, “...forgot this...”

There was a very, very brief moment in which Jyren almost refused it. He had yet to pick the weapon up since Alraxia. But something(sense, probably) stopped him this time. Instead, he let out another sigh and knelt down to be closer to level with Tobias. Carefully, he reached over and gently scratched the child’s ear. After a moment, Jyren’s hand moved down and slowly took the lightsaber from Toby’s hands, “Thanks, little guy.”

Tobias smiled broadly, let out a happy purr, then scampered off in the direction he’d come from. It was...surprisingly quick. But Jyren simply got to his feet, attached the lightsaber hilt to his belt, and made his way to the small hangar. When he got there, Shadow was also human-shaped, and leaning against the X-Wing with her arms crossed over her chest. She was also grinning.

Doing his best to ignore the grin, Jyren simply walked over and tossed her the orange flight suit that had been draped over his shoulder, “I don’t want to know.”

Shadow caught the flight suit with no trouble and went right to putting it on over the morphsuit she was currently wearing, “That was too easy, you know.”

“Uh-huh,” Jyren smiled and nodded as he stepped past her, already starting up the ladder to the open cockpit of the starfighter. Currently, the best strategy was to just avoid this at all costs and get straight to business. Shadow-tactics, really.

Somehow, though, those only worked when she used them.

“Who’d have thought I’d find another easy little weakness of yours that quickly,” Shadow said over her shoulder, now zipping up the flight suit and getting the switches, oxygen lines and other things that Jyren had shown her how to do as quickly as she could. Since Jyren was not saying anything in response, it got rid of any distractions. A moment later, she was climbing up the ladder, too.

But, instead of simply climbing into the rear seat, she held the grin on her face, leaned forward, and before Jyren could get his helmet on, kissed him very strongly. When she pulled back, he made a ‘buh’ noise and Shadow just laughed, “Hmm...I think I like that one better, but Toby its just so much fun to watch you melt when Toby asks you to do something.”

If not for her previous actions, Jyren might have reacted to that. Instead, his general shock kept him in a state of ‘buh’ while Shadow laughed again and sat back into her seat. She pushed the ladder away(not caring about any kind of special way to get it in the ship), and closed the cockpit, “Fine, then. I’ll just do all the flying. You just sit there and wait until its time for you to have your fun.”

“...buh...”

Shadow reached over and patted his shoulder gently, “Helmet, dear. It won’t do us any good if you die when the cockpit opens,” she paused a moment to ask Loki to open up the hangar and got the sublight drives on the starfighter going. Thankfully, it wasn’t too difficult. As she started to bring the X-Wing out, Shadow added, “One day you’re going to have to stop freezing up like that.”

Of course, she refused to mention the fact that she had pretty much the same reaction when he surprised her like that. That, though, was not the point at the moment. Right now, they had about six or so minutes until the convoy should arrive...and then another ten minutes before they would be able to jump out. It was time to focus.

((Happy [Insert Holiday Here], everybody.))


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Well...the database thing kicked this back 5 months, but all is well.

Over the next week, I'll work on reposting everything, as I do my writing in a Wordperfect file anyway. Only thing will be finding the right point at to start, as I don't label them...but it shouldn't be too bad. New updates will resume once this is recovered.

All will be well!


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Was holding out for a possible backup from the 8th of May being loaded...but it looks like that's not possible.

Ah well. I'll start with the catching up tomorrow.  Nostalgia time!


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 312: Just an Escort*

“That is not ‘just an escort’, Shady,” Jyren’s voice was flat and dry as he looked out the cockpit to the emptiness around them. He then glanced back down to the sensor screen. The convoy had arrived two minutes late, but was currently in the process of setting their next jump point. It meant there was now just a few minutes to get in there and steal a ship. As they were just on the edge of sensor range and the convoy wouldn’t likely be aggressively searching for any ships, the small X-Wing would go undetected.

Sitting in her usual seat behind him, Shadow rolled her eyes and idly kicked the back of his chair, “Yes it is, now get us moving while I scan the middle ship for a suitable airlock.”

“Middle ship?!” Jyren yelled this time, doing his best to turn around and stare at her in shock despite the crash webbing that was very firmly holding him down, “Shadow, that will make us a very, very easy target.”

This time, there was an annoyed sigh from her, “Yes, dear, but it also means if they shoot at us they’ll hit their own ships.”

Jyren didn’t answer. He should have known that. He did know that! But...but this whole plan was causing him to run in circles trying to figure out exactly what he was going to have to do. Yet again, Jyren was back to his usual thinking too much...which had quickly turned into worrying. Shadow was doing her best to not yell at him, as it would only make things even worse, but if he stayed in this kind of mood nothing good was going to happen anyway.

A few long seconds passed before she felt the sublight drives kick in and Jyren started the X-Wing straight for the center of the convoy. The S-Foils would remain closed to give them a small speed boost, despite the fact that if they had to shoot at anything it would make targeting difficult. Not that it was impossible to fire with the closed S-Foils, but the cross-range of the four shots would be off from their usual position and it would be practically impossible to hit anything that wasn’t as big as the freighter they were attempting to steal.

As some of the stars that were not actually stars began to quickly grow much larger, Jyren grumbled, “A Strike Cruiser is not ‘just an escort’.”

Shadow gave him a good mental push through the link that felt more like a punch to the gut than a push, then said in a very low voice, “Jyren, we will be fine. You get to the freighter and get it into hyperspace. Let me worry about the escort.”

“They can carry up to four fighter squadrons,” was an answer to an unasked question that Jyren felt needed to be stated.

It didn’t.

“I know that,” Shadow’s voice was a bit more dangerous sounding now, and she quickly decided this would be the last civil attempt for the moment that she was willing to make, “I will be fine. Do your job, I’ll do mine.”

Thankfully, Jyren was intelligent enough to not say anything else. That did not need anything but a mental nod to show he understood that, if he argued anymore, she’d be opening up the cockpit early. Despite everything they’d been through and all she’d changed, Shadow was still not the kind of Alraxian to be messed with when she got angry. In all honesty, her mother was the same way...and though Jyren knew this only through the link, he couldn’t help but wonder if it was just a trait that helped to make a good Empress.

Again, though, he was smart enough to not speak that. Not only that, but he also made sure to keep those thoughts buried very, very deeply. He didn’t like them anymore than Shadow did.

The objects ahead of them were now clearly visible as starships. In a very neat, practical line formation were four box shaped bulk cruisers that handled like small moons. It was amazing they could maneuver at all, really. But sitting ‘above’ them in a relatively good defensive position was the long, rounded ship with a tipped nose...almost like some kind of slug made of sleek metal on the top and dark pieces of scrap on the bottom. It was an old Imperial Strike Cruiser, well enough equipped to defend the convoy from any attack from a group of pirates. It had the turbolasers for capital ship combat and the smaller, more accurate point-laser cannons ideal for fighting starfighters.

But the key problem was that no one would be insane enough to ‘attack’ in just one ship. If they operated on the usual protocol for escort, their sensors would be passive and only able to detect larger incoming ships or squadrons of starfighters. If done just right, a single ship could slip right in undetected.

The problem with this, however, was that it required knowledge of the blind spot in the Strike Cruiser’s sensors. Neither Jyren nor Shadow had that information, and that was the reason that the comm beeped and a little red light appeared as they began to get much closer. It beeped a second time but neither of them touched it. In fact, they were both currently pulling on their oxygen masks and sealing their gloves to get ready for the ‘emergency’ opening of the cockpit. By the time they were done with that, another light had come on(indicating that a targeting lock was being acquired) and there were many, many more beeping sounds.

“Underside!” Shadow said into the mask, which meant he could now only hear her through the comm(if one didn’t count the link, of course). It was so odd hearing her voice through the comm that, for a moment, Jyren almost though it was Mare. But that was pushed aside as Shadow quickly put her information up on his HUD display which put a nice little yellow box over a small section of the nearest of the bulk cruisers.

Jyren did not tell Shadow to hang on. He didn’t need to. She heard his quick intake of breath and quickly gripped the seat in response. Having not recieved any response to the hails, the Strike Cruiser had begun firing. But just as the shots began, an alarm went off and Jyren wrenched the control stick hard, sending the X-Wing into a sudden snap roll that could have caused necks to snap if not for the crash webbing. It didn’t help that he didn’t slow down one bit...the inertial dampers could only do so much.

The X-Wing rolled at least five times, the cruisers around them going in huge, lightning fast circles, before leveling out just beneath their target bulk cruiser. Behind them, green point-lasers could be seen, and a few even shot in front, but those quickly died as they shot straight under the freighter at the fastest speed the X-Wing could manage...shooting straight for the targeted airlock at an amazing speed.

“Grab the controls! We’re not slowing down!” Jyren said quickly over the comm. He said it quickly because there were only about ten seconds to react before they passed underneath the airlock.

This part had not been part of the plan. In fact, if given the time, Shadow would have shaved his tail for trying to show off like his stunt looked like he was doing. But, truthfully, he wasn’t showing off. Instead, Jyren knew that if they matched speed with the freighter, the crews of the ships would immediately know something was wrong...but if the X-Wing just shot right through...

The thought had only been half thought when the Force screamed at him, and his hand quickly hit the hot-wired switched they’d hooked up to bypass the safety systems and open the cockpit. There was a hiss of vacuum, and Jyren was immediately out of the crash webbing. He didn’t hesitate a second to jump...and Shadow didn’t hesitate a moment to get the cockpit closed again.

She knew he’d be alright. It was insane...but he’d be alright. Now, as the X-Wing continued its flyby of the convoy and Shadow realized she was once again being shot at, she gripped the controls and went to something just as important...making sure she stayed alive...and making sure the New Republic didn’t have a chance to figure out what happened very close to Eriadu, one of the most populated planets of the Outer Rim


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 313: Jump After Jump*

If not for the Force, Jyren probably would have slammed straight into the hull of the freighter, cracked the faceplate on his helmet, and then gone floating off into no where while his suit quickly depressurized. Lucky for him, however, Shadow had convinced him to go back to using the Force. It meant that instead of his stunt, and it was definitely a stunt when done at such a high speed, resulting in a fairly painful and humiliating death, he actually managed to succeed.

With the help of the Force, he was able to immediately slow himself down and catch hold of a handhold that was right next to the fairly large, octagonal airlock that had been the target. Still, though, there hadn’t been any chance to look back and see if Shadow had gotten the cockpit resealed to hide any hint that something had happened. It would have been easy enough to ask through the link, of course, but that would have diverted his focus and, for now at least, he’d just have to wait and trust her.

Jyren’s eyes searched around through the slight orange tint that the faceplate on his X-Wing helmet provided, and after a moment found the small panel he was looking for. Emergency release of the airlock. It would immediately open the thing and let him in. However...it would also set off a few alarms. So, instead, Jyren’s hands searched beneath the small depression with the lever and found another panel. It would have the wiring in it. Carefully, he moved himself down and then tugged the panel open.

Inside was the usual random collection of both wires, switches, and other things that he didn’t even know the names of. He was not a slicer, and had never claimed to be. That was why Shadow had given him a rough run through of how to get the airlock open without setting off any alarms. How exactly she knew this was beyond him, but Jyren had decided it was one of the many questions best left unasked. Thankfully, though, she had been correct and Jyren was able to find the correct wires and switches and get the thing fixed without(as far as he knew) any alarms being tripped.

It took him roughly half a minute to slice through the security backups, and that was after Shadow had told him more than once he’d have to do it in fifteen seconds. So far, though...so good. And now there was just one choice left. His hand pulled back up and found the small depression. Carefully, his black-gloved hand reached in and found a lever. He gripped it tightly, and then pulled with all of his strength, overcompensating due to the fact that he knew Human bodies were weaker than Alraxian ones, and he’d been so used to his Alraxian one that he had no idea how strong his Human body was anymore.

The lever pulled outwards, and there was a sudden, silent, opening from the airlock as it swung up and past him. No lights came on, so from the looks of things the slicing had worked. Just to not push his luck, Jyren quickly pulled himself around and swung into the small airlock, hitting the switch to reseal the tiny room right away. In a matter of seconds, his feet found ‘down’ and he was standing on the deck plates. Normally, he would have removed his helmet...or at least the oxygen mask that covered the lower part of his face, which was normally left uncovered by the helmet. However, Jyren knew that right now concealing every shred of his identity was the best thing to do...just in case.

Hitting the switch to open the interior hatch, Jyren’s other hand was already moving down to the blaster pistol at his hip. The door slid open, this time with a slight hiss, and revealed a narrow, grey-white corridor that looked as if it hadn’t been used in millennia. Jyren followed it at a jogging pace, trying to get his bearings on exactly where he was in the freighter and where the bridge would be located. Some of these bulk cruisers had the oddest of configurations. When the corridor reached a four-way junction, he realized just how lost he currently was. There had to be a turbolift one of those directions...but he didn’t exactly have the time to check all of them.

Once again, he opened himself up to the Force, allowing its energy to flow through him and guide him to the right direction. In a moment, Jyren found himself turning left...so when his eyes refocused on reality, he ran that direction. He ran so fast that when the corridor took a sharp right turn, he nearly slammed into the wall ahead of him. Turning the corner, he found a set of two turbolifts.

After a quick thanks to the Force(which was unnecessary but felt like the right thing to do), Jyren ran over to them and quickly hit the ‘up’ switch in between the two tubes. It didn’t take long for the door on his right to slide open, and he immediately stepped in and scanned the control panel. It was labeled. Thank the Force, it was labeled!

He pressed the switch labeled ‘bridge’ and the lift rocketed upwards. It was...almost too easy, in all truthfulness, but Jyren wasn’t worried for once. Why not label the things? Besides, how often did these crews rotate? They’d probably need some kind of direction if they went down into the lower sections on their own. It just made...sense. Something that Jyren had gotten so used to not being anywhere near lately.

And then, probably about halfway through the trip upwards, the pale lights in the lift shifted to a blinking red.

That colour only ever meant one thing, and it was never, ever good.

An alarm.

But...the turbolift hadn’t actually stopped.

There was no sound accompanying the blinking light, but a sudden sense of danger was poking at Jyren through both the Force and the link. Neither of those made him feel particularly good. And then the ship shuddered slightly...he knew the feeling, especially in something this big. These were the kinds of ships he first started flying on.

“Oh —“ his last words were cut off by the turbolift stopping, opening, and revealing the bridge. Past everything, the viewport could be seen...and the stars were elongating all of a sudden as the bulk cruiser made its jump into hyperspace.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 314: Just Shooting*

Shadow cursed.

It was a relatively exotic one, too, that she’d picked up many years ago. Despite everything, the Hutts sure knew how to curse. Considering that just a second before Shadow had watched all of the freighters and the Strike Cruiser jump to hyperspace, the curse felt perfectly appropriate. They hadn’t even bothered to fire at her when the X-Wing had emerged from underneath the freighter that had been their target.

As far as she could tell, Jyren had made it inside. This was due to the fact that, most importantly, she was alive...which meant he hadn’t been torn into hyperspace and killed and that since she couldn’t feel him anywhere in the area, he hadn’t lost grip and gone floating off into no where. In that case, also, there would have been a large amount of complaining through the link at her. So, at least, that was something.

“Loki! Get the hell over here!” she screamed into the comm, frantically pulling off the stupid, oversized helmet that just slid around her head instead of padding at all. The damned New Republic and their damned big-headed pilots. At least the suit fit...mostly. But orange?! Idiots! It was almost blinding to look at, and all the damned buttons and switches were even worse...especially the ones that blinked. They just begged to be fiddled with, but Jyren had spent a long time explaining to her that doing exactly that would be bad. She just wanted out of the whole thing. Yes, it had been her idea, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. In fact, it gave her even more of a right to complain. 

After finally managing to get that horrible and awkward helmet off of her head and tossing it into the now empty seat in front of her, Shadow grabbed the X-Wing’s controls again. They were...awkward, yes, but they worked. It wasn’t as intuitive or nearly as responsive as Loki, but she had found, after that high speed loop and spin that nearly caused her to lose a few weeks lunches, that the starfighter could definitely maneuver...even if she stressed the inertial dampers a bit too much.

And then, finally, Loki appeared. His organic and distinct shape sliding across the empty black in front of her. [Problems?]

Shadow glared at the shape ahead of her and switched to a more natural form of communication, especially now that the comm(which was attached to the horrible helmet) was in the seat in front of her. [Sarcasm does not become you. Now shut up and let me in.]

As the ship began a slow spin around and the makeshift hangar opened, Loki couldn’t help but inquire further. [Where did they go?]

[I don’t know.] Shadow said flatly, now doing her best to now wreck either the X-Wing or Loki as she carefully brought the small starfighter in. [Couldn’t have been far. And they were aiming the wrong direction to continue on their course. Can you get us a short jump to the nearest star system on their heading.]

The fact that Loki didn’t respond right away should have been warning enough that something might not be just right. When, a moment later and, thankfully, after she’d gotten the X-Wing down, Loki spoke up, Shadow was immediately shown that there was a problem. [A squadron of fighters has been dispatched from Eriadu. They are...coming straight for us.]

Shadow’s eyes widened as the canopy on the X-Wing rose far too slowly, “What?! We’re supposed to be too far out of the system to have been noticed!”

[I believe the convoy got a distress call off before I was in range to jam their signals...] Loki didn’t sound apologetic, but then again, he never did unless she was really angry. At this point, she was only at annoyed.

“Fine!” her voice was muffled by the thud and the ‘oof’ sound she made from jumping straight to the deck below instead of using the ladder(which was still where she’d kicked it on the deck before they’d left). It was one of those times where Shadow forgot she was in a human body, and therefor roughly a meter shorter and much, much weaker. After a quick recovery, though, she yelled upwards, “Get us out of here before they get close enough to identify us! And jam their comms now.”

[The fighters will reach us half a minute before we can jump.] Loki announced, though Shadow could feel him readjusting his heading to prepare for the jump.

Yet again, Shadow cursed. This time, though, it wasn’t at the situation. Currently, she was attempting to run to the cockpit while peeling off the flight suit. A task that was proving to be much more difficult than it should have been. All the cords and straps and extra bits nearly threw her on her face more than once, but somehow she managed to just stumble forward. There were a few last hops before the last boot was off, and then it was only a few seconds before Shadow kicked the flight suit off completely. Now down to just her skintight morphsuit, she broke into a run down the corridors, changing back to her Alraxian boy in the process.

Tobias showed up around one corner looking excited, but didn’t get a chance to say anything. Shadow simply ran straight past, and then yelled over her shoulder in her normal, Alraxian voice, “Not now! Go play or something!”

If the child responded, she didn’t hear it. In a matter of seconds she was in the cockpit and swinging around into her usual seat and taking a quick look on both the sensors and the viewport. Distantly, she could see the star of the Eriadu system. She could also spot the fighters on the sensor board...they really were approaching fast. And then...

“Loki! Where the hell did that Star Destroyer come from?!”

There was a brief pause before the ship responded carefully. [It um...just exited hyperspace aft of us.]

“Loki, they’re trying to get a lock on us. They’re going to ID us!” she growled, trying to find some way to get them out of the system right that second.

And then an alarm went off. It wasn’t like the alarms in the X-Wing. This one sounded...well...Alraxian. It was more organic but just as annoying. There was, thankfully, no little blinking light accompanying it. Those would have been bad for Alraxians, as they could be easily distracted by such simple things at the worst of times. This alarm was one she knew well. It caused her to grip the seat very tightly and even dig her claws in, “Loki!!!”

[Its okay!] the ship screamed at her, now maneuvering at all and refusing to give her any kind of manual control. [They’re just shooting! They’ll miss a lot before they hit us!]

“Oh, really?!” Shadow started to run through the few override protocols she knew to get the stubborn ship to start moving and stop trying to be the hero. A green flash blinded her for a second and it took her a second to realize that it had, in fact, been a miss, “How much longer do we have until they hit us?!”

Loki shook violently and more alarms went off. A shock of pain ran through the Force and Shadow’s eyes caught sight of the damage. Aft shields were down and the sublight drives(well, the Alraxian equivalent) were down to half power...but the hyperdrive was still operational.

There was no chance to say a word of protest or even another curse before a sudden pang shot at her through the Force. It was not another shot hitting them. It was her danger sense. That was another feeling she knew all too well. And it was very, very urgent that they moved right that second. She had just finished getting control back and took hold of the console when, suddenly, the stars stretched and they rocketed forward into hyperspace.

Silence.

Through the low pain that still echoed from Loki in the Force, only one sound could be heard, “Loki...you’ve been around Jyren too much.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 315: Streak of Luck*

Jyren finished his swearing just as the transport reverted back to realspace. The jump had only lasted a few half seconds...if that. Just a micro-jump to escape. That was a good sign. But then Jyren noticed something that was definitely a bad sign.

There was no response to his swear...and it had not only been a rather forceful, crude use of Corellian slang, but it had been loud enough to be easily heard throughout the freighters mid-sized bridge. No one even turned to look his direction. No one...

No one was even on the bridge! Jyren’s eyes finished the scan just after the Force had delivered that information to him. Immediately, he ran over to one of the empty pilot’s consoles and hopped into the seat to check what was going on. He’d at least expect a droid crew! In fact, he’d been ready for a serious fight to even get to the bridge in the first place. But this...a quick look over the binary running across the console screen proved that the large freighter was actually slaved together with the others and being piloted from the Strike Cruiser. And, from the countdown off to his left on a chronometer, they were preparing for another jump.

It became immediately obvious to Jyren that he needed to get manual control back to the consoles on board the freighter’s bridge.

It also quickly reminded Jyren that he was not, in fact, a slicer. That meant his best bet at getting control back was breaking something. Physically breaking, not just randomly cutting wires or other technical tasks. To himself, and in a place where Shadow could easily pick it up in his thoughts, he cursed and wished that Shadow was here instead of him.

And from the look of the chronometer, he had roughly three minutes to figure this out on his own.

Another thought quickly jumped into his mind. Even if he did get control back before the jump, it would become quickly obvious that something was wrong to the very well armed Strike Cruiser that was well within weapon’s range. The second he got control, the ship would have to be jumping to another hyperspace destination to avoid any other...troubles.

Memories reminded him of the location of the navcomputer, and he slid the chair over in between the console for the navcomputer and where the main bulk of the slaved systems would hopefully be. Almost carefully, Jyren tested the console to see if he could do anything...and was able to access the galactic map and program in jump coordinates. Not that they would be loaded into the computer itself, but he could program them then quickly load them and jump after he dealt with the slaved systems.

Though he wasn’t the best with manually calculating jumps, the training he’d been given as a fighter pilot coupled with some basic help from the navcomputer allowed him to program in a five minute jump to a small, and empty, portion of space. He could then regroup and find a way of getting to Shadow...the one part of this whole plan they’d never actually worked out.

A minute and a half was left on the chronometer.

Jyren pushed his chair over to the main systems console and looked at the odd configuration that was caused by slaving its system to another ship. He knew the basics of how it worked. All of the main systems were connected to one console, and then a special comm frequency transmitted the information between the slaved ship and the main ship that was actually being piloted. It had never been a great way of flying ships, as the more that were slaved the more problems developed, but it worked when times were desperate and things simply needed to move. Unsurprisingly, this was one of those times for the New Republic.

So, Jyren figured the best way to get control back was to cut off the comm frequency being transmitted. And, again, he was not a slicer. This was exactly why, just a few moments later, there was a snap-hiss and a blue-green lightsaber blade thrummed loudly in the silent bridge. Jyren grimaced slightly, not actually liking this crude plan, but knowing he didn’t have much of a choice with less than a minute until the jump.

After a deep breath, he spun the blade around and then jammed it straight into the console. There was a crash of sparks and a few very loud hissing and popping sounds as Jyren moved the blade around before finally slashing it out of the side. More sparks(and some small flames) spewed out, too, and multiple alarms went off.

Trying to ignore them for the moment, Jyren thumbed off the lightsaber and ran over to the navcomputer again. Without looking, he hit the switch to input the coordinates then ran back to the main pilot’s console...which was now covered in a series of red lettering. However, it didn’t say anything to indicate the ship was about to explode on him. It did, though, say that the ship was cut off from the Strike Cruiser and that new coordinates were trying to be uploaded into the navcomputer...most importantly, it wanted an override code.

This time, Jyren’s eyes went wide.

And override. They hadn’t even thought about that! It was so obvious! Damn! Damn, damn, damn! Twenty seconds...and out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the Strike Cruiser was both hailing him and acquiring a target lock on the freighter. They were definitely not playing around.

His eyes darted from the view outside the bridge of the rest of the small convoy then back to the console asking for the override code in the bright red text that never meant anything good.

Ten seconds.

He could just randomly put in a code of course...but there was no way that would ever work, and there was no time to respond to the hail and use the Force to coax it out of whoever it was that was going to yell at him on the other end. Panic was starting to rise in him and only got worse when there was a loud, constant beeping to indicate that the Strike Cruiser had locked onto the ship. They would remain in this position through the jump, and be able to reacquire the target within a matter of milliseconds on the other end.

Four seconds.

Jyren’s hand had started to shake...and old habit that he’d sworn he’d gotten rid of years ago. It had started long before he was in Starfighter Command, but had only gotten worse with the first few flights...and then after Mare had died...

Two seconds.

No! Focus!

Jyren didn’t focus. In fact, he gave up and just put in the first code that came to his head.

One second.

Outside the viewport, he watched as the other ships in front of him made the jump to hyperspace.

Zero.

Just as the Strike Cruiser made the jump from above the freighter, the ship began a quick change on its heading, turning sharply starboard...then jumped in a completely different direction from the rest of the convoy.

For a long five minutes, Jyren just stood there, hands tightly gripping the console in front of him and eyes locked on the endless blue of hyperspace. He knew he’d made it. He knew the coordinates would take him far away from where the rest of the convoy had gone. He knew that it had somehow worked.

What Jyren didn’t know, however, was when this long streak of luck was going to run out.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Okay...holding off on the updates/reposts a bit more. It looks like the chance that the old posts will make it back again. Going to stop to make sure we don't get stuck with a bunch of double posts.


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## Angcuru

Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> Okay...holding off on the updates/reposts a bit more. It looks like the chance that the old posts will make it back again. Going to stop to make sure we don't get stuck with a bunch of double posts.



Indeed, I almost had an aneurism when I saw what happened. o.0


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Angcuru said:
			
		

> Indeed, I almost had an aneurism when I saw what happened. o.0



 Heh.

Yeah, its a lot of lost posts...but honestly, doesn't bother me. If the saving of the lost posts actually works out(hopefully will know by this weekend), then all will be well and I'll just find a way to clear out these three re-posts. Otherwise, I'll just go on with it quickly and get us all caught up again in, hopefully, a week.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Sorry this is taking so long...but it looks like the answer on whether we'll get things back or not is still up in the air thanks to some computer problems.

I am STILL going to hold out, as its just too damn many updates to go through with unless I absolutely have to. A good note, however, is that I AM working on new ones still, so when we get an answer...I'll be all caught up and we'll start flooring it again.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Alright. Not waiting any longer. Reposting begins now...and will hopefully be done by the end of the week.

This would have happened sooner, but I've had to duck out of home and head to another state to take care of my mother after some surgery. And, while I've got some time to try to catch up now, next week I'll be taking a nice beach vacation...so no net access then. But...after that, should be ready to kick right back in and get this thing alive and moving again.

Sorry about the long delay, but its been hectic for me...now...reupdates! 


EDIT: ...or not. Sigh. After having to reinstall windows thanks to the stupid thing not booting up, I've had to reinstall everything. Problem is, doesn't look like I got around to putting Wordperfect back on here. And, sadly, I don't have my Word disk either, so I can't convert things.

Guess this will have to wait another week and a half or so.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 316*

“Loki, there’s nothing here,” Shadow said flatly after the third sensor sweep of the sector they’d jumped to.

The ship didn’t respond to her this time, as a fairly heated argument had just ended and he was busy sulking and trying to find out what had gone wrong. After a few more minutes of silence and staring out at the empty space around them, Loki finally ‘spoke’ up. [It is um...possible they made a second jump...]

Shadow’s eyes narrowed but they stayed focused on the nothing beyond the viewport, “Its also possible they were never here in the first place.”

[They were here.] Loki snapped back.

“Fine. They were here...” she sighed and gave the small, orange-ish coloured sensor board another bored look, “But they aren’t here now. That’s the problem, Loki. If you know they were here, can’t you tell where they went?”

[Can’t you?! What about that link of yours?]

Shadow leaned back in her chair to look straight up at the ceiling, “Loki, you know as well as I do its practically useless at these distances.”

Loki could not shake his head, but he sure was able to present the feeling through the Force clearly. [But its better than me just guessing.]

Yes, the link she shared with Jyren never went away. If he got himself killed on one side of the galaxy with her on the other, she’d still be stuck with the same fate. It was the mental ‘verbal’ communication that became more and more difficult over greater distances. Not that it couldn’t be done, but the strain it caused on the mind could be quite dangerous. It was one of those things that Alraxian society taught against from a very, very early age...right up there with teaching the dangers of metal.

Which, truthfully, wasn’t dangerous to Shadow anymore. So...why not?

Shadow closed her eyes to push away the distractions around her and began to focus on the part of her mind where the link always was. She thought...thought at it. Or through it...or...or something. It wasn’t something she would ever have been able to put into words. It was just that she found where it was and could feel the distance between herself and her other half. He felt so far away...and it hurt. It was a strange pain. Physical but not. There was definitely a reason why it was encouraged that linked Alraxians always stayed relatively close to one another. Sure, short stints apart were fine, but the more time that passed the more the real hole could be felt...and despite the short amount of time Jyren had been gone, focusing straight on that brought the troubles about right away.

But of all of her people, Shadow was the one who could fight through it. She reached through all the pain and found him...light years away. She couldn’t feel his thoughts or his emotions or even anything beyond the fact that he was there...but that was all that mattered. The second that Shadow found him, she held onto it with all of her will and just pushed. There was no other word for it, and no tangible thoughts that she was actually sending through.

And then she lost her grip, and was thrown back to the moment in one jolting second. Her eyes opened and she let out a long sigh. For the first time in at least a year, her head hurt. After reaching up and rubbing her forehead gently, Shadow mumbled, “I found him.”

[And...?]

Her shoulders simply shrugged, “And I don’t know. I just found him.”

Loki waited a moment, not actually sure if they’d gotten any farther than they’d been a minute earlier. Finally, though, he decided the question was worth bringing up. [So...what do we do now?]

Leaning forward, Shadow looked out the viewport at the black, noticing that there were only a few small dots that were distant stars in view. So empty out here...an old thought snuck back into her mind. How had Max done this all alone? She had always been with someone...even if it was just Loki, that was still someone to talk to. But Max, and most of the other smugglers she’d known, spent long, long periods of time all on their own. Alone in the blackness with nothing but their own thoughts.

Maybe all those years ago, she could have done it, too. But now...now she wasn’t so sure. After getting used to always have someone around...she just didn’t know. It was the strangest thing to be afraid of, and not a thought that Shadow would have ever expected of herself, yet it was still there. But then something happened. Something that jolted her out of the odd, and depressing, thoughts and back into a more normal mind set.

[Miss me?]

Shadow couldn’t help a smile at hearing Jyren’s ‘voice’ in her mind. She had felt the link open up only a half second earlier, just before Loki spoke up to mention a ship had exited hyperspace not far from them. But instead of responding to Jyren right away, she spoke directly to Loki in her old business voice, “Dock with the freighter, Loki...its Jyren.”

As Loki acknowledged and started adjusting his heading to meet the newly arrived ship, Shadow said over the link. [Can you plot a jump to the gateway home on your own, or do you need help?]

[I’d like it a lot more if you were here to help.] there was more to the answer than just the words, and Shadow found herself nodding.

With the ship ahead growing slowly in the viewport, Shadow got to her feet and headed for the single airlock. [I know what you mean...I’ll be there in a minute.]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 317*

It took ten long minutes before Loki managed to dock with the bulk freighter and Shadow was able to find her way from the lower deck’s airlock to the bridge where Jyren was trying to fix the things he’d...broken. Broken being a bit of a light term. Completely destroyed fit much better, from the look of the burnt console, but neither were willing to say a word about it. It wasn’t worth it, really.

“There was a homing beacon that tried to activate mid-jump...” Jyren mumbled, not having actually looked up from the console he sat at near the center of the relatively large bridge. His right arm reached over to point to the far bulkhead, “That’s what’s left of it.”

Shadow slipped around a couple of the back rows of consoles and then stepped over behind him, idly leaning on his shoulders and looking at the sensor screen in front of him, “You know that there are other ways to fix things like that without using your lightsaber.”

Jyren leaned back in his chair and looked over his shoulder at her with a sheepish look on his face, “There wasn’t any time.”

“Check the cargo yet?” Shadow asked, quickly changing the subject reaching over him to press a small switch to bring up what she hoped was the manifest. It wasn’t, but it did happen to be the jump log, which she made a mental note to make a copy of just in case. One never knew when that kind of information could come in handy.

Reaching over and hitting another couple of switches, Jyren brought up the manifest, “Twenty eight orbital mines and twenty proton torpedoes.”

“...and a cargo skiff and some replacement coils for blasters,” she finished, reading the parts of the list he’d glossed over. For a moment, she just leaned back and thought about that, “Does this feel too easy to you?”

“N...no?” Jyren mumbled. It suddenly became apparent to Shadow that his voice sounded somewhat off from usual. That stutter didn’t exactly help. Neither did the actual answer to her question.

Shadow was still not anywhere near an expert on these kind of situations. It was part of the reason that, more and more, Marix was coming through and the child part of her that was Shadow was fading into the other. Not that Marix was all that great with it, either, but her personality was just a little bit softer...and she at least felt the need to try. Which was exactly why she grabbed a chair from behind her and slid it over next to him to have a seat before asking, “What is it?”

“It just got a little...close,” Jyren shrugged, obviously trying not to bring attention to himself for the first time she could remember. Usually, he seemed to try to go for the over dramatic panic attack, but now he was actually trying to compose himself. Inwardly, Shadow smiled. Took him long enough, but maybe he was finally listening to her after all this time.

“Its always close,” she said after a few moments, idly resting a hand on his arm...mostly because she felt stupid just resting them in her lap.

But Jyren shook his head and turned to face her again, “Not that close. I almost...didn’t make it. Twice.”

“But you did make it, Jyren,” Shadow squeezed his arm and tried to be helpful...despite feeling absolutely useless as she usually did when he got like this, “Don’t dwell on what almost happened. A lot of things almost happen all the time. The important thing is that they don’t.”

When Jyren didn’t say anything and just nodded, Shadow noticed that she hadn’t actually seen his left hand since she’d stepped into the bridge. Normally, that would have been a very odd thing to notice, but when something in the link told her to look, it was hard not to notice. Sighing to herself, and trying her best not to sound annoyed, Shadow reached over and took his hand, which was shaking very noticeably once it wasn’t hidden from view anymore, “That’s a new one...”

Alright, so it wasn’t the best thing to say, but it just slipped out. And, thankfully, Jyren didn’t take it the wrong way. He even half smiled and shrugged slightly, “It hasn’t done that in years.”

“You’re cold as all hell, too,” Shadow mumbled, not taking note of the fact that she was in her Alraxian form and he was still Human and wearing the glaringly bright orange jumpsuit. It meant that her hand fairly easily covered his, but it also meant that she was that much more sensitive to the temperature in the ship. Her morphsuit was combating that little difficulty without any trouble, but her hands and face were still slightly chilled and touching his hand sure didn’t help.

Jyren just shrugged again, suddenly forgetting about the close call he’d just made it through, “I guess it’s a bit colder in here than Loki...but we do need to make the jump from the freighter and not Loki. Can he hang on through hyperspace?”

“Loki will be fine,” Shadow said with a smile, starting to rub Jyren’s hand to try to get the damned thing warm so it didn’t freeze her to death, “He might not like being carried along, but he’ll live. If you can get things set up and ready here without breaking anything else, I’ll head back over to get the coordinates ready for you.”

“It won’t take long?”

Shadow shook head, “Not long at all if I don’t have to deal with Toby.”

Silence.

Jyren bit his lip and Shadow started to grin.

After a few minute, Jyren finally laughed and nodded, “Fine, fine, get the little fur ball over here and I’ll keep him busy.”

“Good,” Shadow smiled and patted his hand, getting up and starting to head back to Loki. Over her shoulder, she said, “I’ll also check out the cargo bay to make sure we can actually use all these explosives we stole. All this would be for nothing if we need access codes. But I won’t be long, we’ll need to get moving as soon as possible...”

The sentence just trailed off. Shadow’s smile faded mostly, but she managed to hold it as best she could until back in the turbolift. Through the link, one of them(neither was sure which), had finished the sentence. They had to do it as soon as possible because they had no idea how far behind they were...or even if it was too late.

And if it was...

Well, if it was too late, then it really wouldn’t matter at all anyway.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 318*

Jyren stared at the two rows of landspeeder sized, cylindrical orbital mines and sighed heavily. His eyes searched the cargo hold for a moment before they locked onto a patch of white with some black about halfway down the left row, “At least some of them work, right?”

The patch of hair raised up until Shadow’s eyes could be seen over one of the mines, “They all work...we just only have the activation codes for this row.”

Jyren rounded the corner to stand next to her, looking at the small panel that she was inspecting on the side of the mine. He was now taller than her again, having gotten rid of the orange flight suit so he could morph back to his Alraxian form without completely ruining the thing. It was still strange to feel comfortable in a body that he wasn’t born to, but Jyren had reached the point where he did his best to just not think about it too much.

He looked up again and counted the number of mines in the row before saying, “So we can detonate half of them.”

“We can detonate all of them,” Shadow corrected, closing the panel on the mine and shrugging, “Just going to have to put the others near these so they go, too.”

“Can we block off the whole entrance to the hyperspace route with just twenty eight mines?”

Shadow shook her head, but then motioned around them, “We’ve got this ship, too...and that cargo skiff. Together with the ring, we should be able to stop anything bigger than a starfighter from getting through.”

There was silence between them for a few long moments. The link even stayed relatively dormant, save for the usual surface thoughts that even Shadow couldn’t push away despite her control. But then, turning back to face her, Jyren asked, “If there’s enough ships, all she’ll have to do is throw enough before the path is clear.”

Nodding, Shadow stared down at the deck plates, “It can’t be a huge fleet, though. There hasn’t been enough time for that.”

Jyren sighed again and rested a hand on the mine next to them, being slightly cautious despite the fact that he knew it wouldn’t explode that easily, “She’s...she’s not stupid. She knows we’re going to try something.”

Again, Shadow nodded, but this time she looked up at him, “You’re starting to think too much, Jyren. Let it go for now. We’ll deal with it when we get there...” slowly, a smile crept onto her face, “At least let us get out of hyperspace before you crack.”

“Oh, shut it,” Jyren said, fighting back a grin and turning to leave the cargo hold.

Shadow fell into step next to him and they headed for the turbolift. When it was heading up to the bridge again, she decided it was time to ask a very important question, “Jyren...where exactly is Toby?”

“He was too wild so I told him to go run around the ship...” the sentence trailed off as Jyren thought about that, then he laughed slightly, “You know, I think he actually went off to try it.”

Shaking her head, Shadow stared at Jyren until the turbolift stopped and the door slid open. As they stepped out and looked out into the swirling blue hyperspace, she finally said, “He’s as bad as you are.”

“Ironic, isn’t it?” Jyren grinned over his shoulder, though he regretted the statement after he’d spoken it. 

The whole situation with Tobias’ actual parents was still a bit...touchy. In all truthfulness, the two of them got stuck with Toby more than anything else...both through the pressures of all the Alraxians back in the Empire and from Tobias himself, who’d latched onto them almost right away after certain little details had been worked out. 

There was still a slight...unease about the little Alraxian, though. This was the child of two very cruel, and very insane Alraxians who had tried to kill their own people...and even brainwashed their own child, turning him into a weapon. It was hard not to wonder if anything else was still there, hidden away. Yet, despite all of this, Tobias had latched onto the Shadow and Jyren almost right away...it was, of course, unsurprising when it came to Shadow, as being a clone(well, and the original) of his real mother, there was at least some resemblance, but Jyren still wondered how he fit into the whole equation exactly. And that didn’t even get into the fact that Tobias looked much more like Jyren did than Ket Halpak.

Though all of this could be felt through the link, Shadow was currently doing her best to focus on the moment and, because of this, was the first to have a seat and check the chrono. Glancing over to Jyren, she said simply, “Two more minutes and we’ll be there.”

“Want me to find Toby then head down an get the mines loaded onto the skiff and ready to be deployed?” Jyren asked, already turning back around to head back before he’d finished the sentence.

But he stopped in his tracks when Shadow said, “No. Wait here. I think we should...see how things look first.”

“...right,” and so he turned around yet again, but this time walked over and had a seat next to Shadow, watching both the viewport, the chrono, and glancing over to her every few moments.

The time passed fairly quickly, but it was still nice to have those few moments of quiet. But soon, the chrono reached zero, and Jyren pulled them out of hyperspace. The stars returned, and so did the giant, metallic ring that sat as a shield of sorts outside the only safe hyperspace route into the Alraxian Empire and its neighbors out in the Unknown Regions of space. There was the hazy glow in the center of the ring that indicated the shield(which was controlled from a small outpost a few star systems inside the hidden worlds) was still active.

That was a good sign.

Not that it couldn’t be destroyed, but it meant they were probably here before anything else...how much time they had, though...

“Now go find Toby,” Shadow said, quickly sliding out of her seat and up to head for the turbolift, “I’ll go get the mines ready. Take Tobias over to Loki and then come over and help me.”

She was talking as fast as she was moving, and Jyren knew exactly why. He could feel it, too. A strong sense of tension flowed through the Force towards them. They may have arrive first...but they didn’t have much time to get ready.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 319*

It was amazing how fast both Jyren and Shadow could work when they were pressed for time...or at least, when they felt like they were pressed for time. In barely fifteen standard minutes, they’d managed to situate the mines in pairs, one active, one not...and Shadow had even managed to rig the inactive ones so that they would explode when the other did. Once that had been done, and the shielded ring well protected from anything larger than a small sized transport, they had moved to slaving the small cargo skiff’s systems to the bulk freighter.

That was taking a lot of time thanks to Jyren’s lightsaber cutting straight through most of the slaving controls that had been installed. But despite that setback, Shadow was able to get the systems working again...though she made sure to let Jyren know just how little he actually needed to destroy to fix the problems he’d run into earlier. She wasn’t yelling at him, but instead using the calm, slow voice that was normally reserved for Toby.

And all the while, the uneasy feeling was growing in the Force.

It hasn’t taken long for Shadow to identify it. This wasn’t the Force warning them of impending danger...yes, that was something that happened often, but never this far in advance. Instead, it was the clones. That horrible, identical, dull feeling in the Force of all of the clones making their way closer with every second...the clones and...and the others. The Darkwings. The darkness coming towards them blotted out nearly everything else in the Force, so much so that even Tobias was whining about not only headaches, but seeing things that weren’t there.

And the feeling grew and grew, causing them to snap at each other more and nearly cut themselves off from the Force to work sanely until...

[Multiple ships exiting hyperspace.] Loki’s voice caused both Jyren and Shadow to jump, having gotten too used to the silence that had ensued.

Immediately, Jyren spun in his chair to bring up the sensor readings. Shadow didn’t turn to look, as she was just finishing up the slaving systems and knew he’d tell her anyway. And, of course, he did, “Six ships...eight. Nine of them...” Jyren paused a moment to make sure nothing else arrived, then sighed and looked more closely at the details, “Three cruisers, two mid-sized gunships, three large transports and a cruiser about the size of an old Star Destroyer.”

“It could be worse...” Shadow said under her breath before closing the panel on the console and pulling Jyren up to his feet by his shoulder, “Get over here and set this thing and the skiff on a course for those transports. See if you can hit two.”

Jyren just nodded, shifting over and dropping into the seat she’d been in. As Shadow stared out the viewport to the shielded ring ahead, she saw the view begin to shift slightly. The freighter began to readjust its course, and in a matter of moments they could see the incoming ships through the viewport.

“They’re targeting this freighter,” Jyren announced over his shoulder, “Probably another minute before they’re in range...unless those gunships are well equipped.”

“Are the coordinates set?” Shadow asked sharply, her eyes watching the largest of the ships carefully. It did look like a Star Destroyer...just a little flatter and without any command tower. Somehow, though, it looked just as dangerous.

Jyren nodded after another second, “Done.”

Shadow didn’t say anything else. Instead, she grabbed his shoulder again and yanked him to his feet a second time. Before he had a chance to get his balance, Shadow was dragging him to the turbolift to get back to Loki. Jyren didn’t argue, though, he just did his best to keep up, knowing why she was being so urgent in this situation. Besides, she always had a habit of getting straight to business like this and not leaving any time for short pauses.

The turbolift had barely opened on the level with the airlock by the time the ship was taking turbolaser hits. There were slight rocking feelings, but overall the shields were holding well. The shots began to increase in both intensity and number as Shadow and Jyren ran through the airlock and back into Loki.

“Get us back so we can get a good view of this, Loki!” Shadow yelled at the ceiling as the airlock closed behind them.

[On it —]

“And make sure to keep us out of sight!” Jyren cut the ship off, “She’ll target us right away if she gets the chance to!”

Loki’s ‘voice’ waited a moment, but came back a bit sharper. [...already on it.]

The two Alraxians exchanged careful looks, but neither of them commented on it. Instead, as they headed as quickly to the cockpit as possible, Jyren asked, “Where’s Tobias?”

[In your quarters.] Loki answered, sounding somewhat distracted, before adding. [I sealed the hatch so that he wouldn’t...get in the way.]

Jyren was nodding as he followed her into the cockpit and quickly dropped into the seat next to her. As they looked out the viewport, it was quickly apparent that Loki hadn’t gotten them to a good spot yet...as they were still looking at the ring.

“Bring up the sensor readings, Loki,” Shadow said, obviously as anxious as Jyren was to figure out exactly what was going on.

A small orange-ish image appeared on the console near the center of the cockpit that looked vaguely similar to the image on the freighter’s sensor board. The only difference was that both the freighter and the very small cargo skiff were heading very quickly towards the transport ships, with the two gunships moving to block the way and, from what Jyren could figure, firing the entire time. As far as they could tell, Loki was being ignored for the moment.

And then Loki began to spin around, having found a good spot not very far from the active mines. As the scene came into view, both green and red flashes could be seen impacting the freighter. Not only were the gunships spewing turbolaser fire into the freighter’s forward shields, but the wedge-shaped capital ship was also firing its forward batteries. And there were pockets of fire visible on the bulk freighter...

“Its not going to make it,” Jyren said, watching as some of the turbolaser blasts made it through the shields, “Didn’t have time to strengthen the shields and its just not fast enough.”

Neither of them tore their eyes from the scene, so when Jyren felt Shadow’s hand grip his arm, he nearly jumped in surprise. Firmly, though, she said, “Don’t give up on it yet.”

Two more bright flashes erupted from the front of the freighter, and two large chunks of the hull could be seen flying off in different directions...but still, the ship plowed forward, straight for its target. Below it, hidden beneath the hull and small enough to go relatively unnoticed, the cargo skiff continued its own charge. But then something else happened.

“The gunships are breaking off!” Jyren yelped, watching the small, cylindrical ships turning away from the freighter and beginning to head straight for Loki.

Shadow glanced down at the sensor reading for a moment before looking back up and saying, “Loki, when they’re in range, pull them through the first set of mines.”

[I’m not sure I can fit...] Loki protested in more of a mumble than any normal voice, yet at the same time, Jyren saw the shields coming online and Loki obviously getting ready.

“Its going to be tight,” Shadow said softly, and Jyren could feel she was resisting the urge to grab the control and do it herself...somehow, though, she fought it, “You can do it.”

As their focus on the distant freighter shifted, red blasts of turbolaser began to erupt from the incoming gunships’ forward cannons. Immediately, Loki’s engines kicked in and he headed straight for the two ships, weaving an interesting course while charging head first for the nearest.

While the charged forward into the attack, Shadow gripped Jyren’s arm tightly. She was doing something he knew he never could do...letting Loki do his job. Taking over now would do nothing but harm the ship’s confidence in his own abilities. Loki was as much one of them as Jen and Voort had been all that while ago...and he deserved his moment at much as anyone.

And this was it.

At point blank range with the nearest of the two gunships, Loki dove straight down.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 320*

“Since when could Loki maneuver like a starfighter?!” Jyren yelled, his arms gripping the seat tightly as he watched the spinning out of the viewport. There were flashes of red that appeared here and there to indicate that the two gunships were still on their tail, but having some serious trouble targeting the extremely fast Kanyak.

“Always!” Shadow said through gritted teeth.

[She just never lets me!] Loki cut in, the sound of a laugh in his ‘voice’.

Jyren managed to tear his eyes away from the spinning ahead of him to Shadow, “Never let him?!”

“He shows off too much!” Shadow said, still staring forward with a very wide-eyed look on her face, “He’s worse than you!”

“Better than me, actually,” Jyren corrected as they came out of the spin to loop up and around the gunships. While Loki pulled back down, Jyren looked up and asked, “Are you planning to fly in circles or actually lead them into the mines?”

[I’m getting there!] Loki sounded almost exactly like Tobias being told ‘no’.

And then he came out of the loop, and both Jyren and Shadow felt the drives kick into full. The small ship jolted forward and headed straight for the first set of four mines that were set up in a box like pattern relatively close to the shielded ring that guarded the single hyperspace route into the Hidden Worlds. Jyren glanced down at the sensor reading to see that Loki was going fast, but not so fast that he was losing the two gunships.

Turning back to the viewport, Jyren watched as they neared the mines, “You know they don’t have to actually hit the things...”

[If I avoid them, so will they.] Loki growled, using a tone that Jyren had never heard from the ship before. [Have to make them look like space junk!]

There was no more time to argue. The two nearest of the cylindrical shaped mines came close enough that Jyren thought Loki’s swept back ‘wing’ would clip the proximity detectors, but suddenly Loki rolled around, bringing his sides up to skirt right between the grid of four mines and dive through without setting any of them off. Just as he pulled away from the first small grid, Loki looped up and around, and both Shadow and Jyren were able to see the rest of the ships...or at least, what was left of them.

Chunks of durasteel and hull floated in all directions, and it took a moment before Jyren realized why. It was Shadow, though, that spoke up first, “The freighter’s gone...”

“...but so are two of those medium transports,” Jyren said with a smile as he checked the sensor board. Somehow, in the intense moment of dodging mines, they’d both missed the eruption in the Force of the deaths on those ships...no, not the deaths. It felt more like a...release. There was just that less of a weight on the space around them, as the Darkwings that had been on board perished and the potent Dark Side energy faded with them.

“The cruisers, the last transport, and that Star Destroyer looking thing are coming straight for us,” Shadow said, eyes on the viewport as she watched the other shapes growing rapidly.

Before Jyren could respond, the viewport went a bright, blinding white. When it faded, Loki was spinning away to the side, and a large piece of hull flew past them before he dove under it and avoided another. Sounding somewhat tired, but also more excited than Jyren had ever heard him, Loki chimed in. [The gunships hit the mines!]

Shadow’s eyes immediately looked down at the sensor board, but couldn’t make anything out of the screen, “Can you get us a visual?”

[Just a second...] Loki said off-hand as a red blast suddenly flashed in front of them, and the ship jerked to the side again. It pulled down again so that they could see the two gunships...or rather, what was left of them.

The first looked like it had gone straight into the mines, as the nosecone and bridge were completely destroyed, and the remainder of the ship was simply floating along its original course without any of the turbolasers firing on them. The second, though, hadn’t taken such strong hits. From the look of it, the gunship had managed to maneuver out of the way of the brunt of the blast, taking stronger hits to the port side. Yes, they could see some of the interior of the ship, but the starboard turbolasers were still firing on them, and it was still managing to maneuver, albeit clumsily.

“The dead one’s going to fly straight into the second set of mines,” Jyren said under his breath, more to himself than either Shadow or Loki.

Shadow looked closely and nodded, “Loki, you need to keep this up as long as you can. Force them into the mines anyway you can think of.”

Jyren immediately knew where that was going. She was, in fact, already getting to her feet as she spoke. He stood up, too, but grabbed her shoulder to spin her around and ask, “We’re not staying?”

For just a moment, Shadow stood there staring at him, but it passed and she tapped his forehead, “Feel that?”

Not stupid enough to say ‘yes’ and know exactly what she was referring to, Jyren remembered that he’d pulled himself as much inward as possible...hiding from the heavy, almost painful presence in the Force that was surrounding them. Carefully, he tried to open himself up more, and was immediately bombarded with the same powerful presences...and something else. A pull. A very, very strong pull...almost on his very being in the Force.

Shadow locked eyes with him and nodded, “This isn’t going to stop everything.”

“You know I can’t fight her,” Jyren said flatly, trying to hide in the Force again but finding that, somehow, Shadow wasn’t letting him anymore. Sometimes, the link between them was far more trouble than it was worth.

But again, Shadow nodded, “I know that...but so does she. That’s why we’re both going,” she then grabbed his arm tightly, turned, and started out of the cockpit, saying upward, “Loki, keep yourself and Toby out of trouble and do what you can. We’ll be back.”

[Be careful.] the ship replied as they headed for the hangar.

When they reached the hangar, Shadow went straight for the X-Wing and said over her shoulder to him, “All you have to do is get me onto that ship. If you can’t handle it...come back here.”

“I’m staying with you,” Jyren said up to her as she climbed up the ladder and plopped into the rear seat of the X-Wing carefully...carefully because she wasn’t bothering to morph human and was having to make sure she both didn’t crush her tail or hit her head when the canopy dropped down.

Shadow’s eyes locked with his again as he also climbed up, and a serious, icy look that he hadn’t seen in a long time held strongly on her features, “This has to be done.”

“I know,” he said slowly, managing to pull away from her piercing stare to get into his own seat and start warming up the starfighter’s systems, “I just don’t like it.”

There was the slightest of noises from behind Jyren that could have almost been a sigh...then, Shadow said quietly, “Sometimes, we have to do things we don’t like to.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 321*

“Somehow, I get the feeling Jen doesn’t mind just killing us!!” Jyren yelled over his shoulder as he pulled the X-Wing through a series of tight, well-timed maneuvers to avoid the flurry of turbolaser fire currently raining down on the starfighter from above. 

“Really?!” Shadow sounded like she was doing her best to be sarcastic, but was obviously having a bit of trouble from the way Jyren was flying. Not that she was complaining, of course, they were alive...but that wasn’t the point. Not to her, at least. When he exited another quick roll and came up on the underside of the wedge shaped cruiser, just skimming the hull and close enough that the turbolasers couldn’t get a lock on them, she added, “What could have possibly given you that idea?”

Jyren was silent for a moment as he focused on not accidently ramming the much larger ship’s hull. He was aiming for the good sized hangar on the underside of the ship, which was in exactly the same place as it would have been on a Star Destroyer. He was beginning to think that the whole thing was just an unfinished Victory-class Star Destroyer...it would account for the slightly smaller size, but still similar shape.

When he got a good sight on the whitish glow of the hangar, he commented idly, “Right about the time the forward shields died and you started saying things I’m not sure I want translations of.”

Shadow just glared at the back of his head...or rather, the back of the seat. When he shifted so that he could spot an ear fairly easily, she shifted her gaze to that, hoping to burn a nice little hole in that. Love didn’t mean she didn’t want to harm him...in fact, it gave her more of a reason to, if all she’d heard around the galaxy had any truth to it.

But he simply ignored the glare, despite the fact that he could feel it very strongly, and adopted a more serious tone for his next statement, “I really don’t think she wants us onboard.”

“Just get us in the hangar,” Shadow said with a nod to herself, shifting a bit and moving her tail just to be safe, “We’ll deal with whatever’s there when we land.”

She finished the sentence just in time for him to roll the ship around so that the underside of the capital ship was above them. In another second, the dull grey hull gave way to an almost blinding white, and the sublight drives on the starfighter suddenly cut out. They sat there for a moment, and Jyren stared up with a feeling from shock escaping the Force from him.

“What?” Shadow asked, not liking that he was still hiding from the link despite however strong the oppressive feeling was around them.

Somehow, even with his head tilted up as far as it was, he managed a nod, “Maybe she does want us onboard.”

Shadow glanced up just in time to notice they were rising straight into the hangar, then immediately knew what he meant. She bit her lip a moment, then sighed, “No shields up...and no point lasers as defense.”

“And nothing waiting to jump us when we land,” Jyren said just as the X-Wing moved forward to find a good spot on the black on black hangar deck...it was actually fairly empty, save for two smaller transports and what looked like a personal shuttle. In another moment, the landing struts were out and the starfighter was down...with Shadow quickly hitting the switch to bring up the canopy.

By the time Jyren was unstrapped and standing up to jump down to the deck below, Shadow was already heading for the nearest turbolift. When the thud of Jyren’s landing echoed across the silent hangar, she turned around and pointed to another turbolift on the opposite end of the hangar. [Get to the bridge and break things.]

Jyren tried to smile, but couldn’t manage it. His feet started heading that way, but his head stayed focused on Shadow. [But wouldn’t she be on the bridge...]

Shadow had turned around and stepped into the turbolift already, and as the door slid closed and cut her off from view...Jyren actually thought he might have seen the slightly hint of a smile on her face. He wasn’t quiet sure, though, as he knew that he had a habit of...seeing things like that on her face. A smile to him usually ended up looking like a snarl to everyone else. Her ‘voice’ through the link got him moving again, though. [She’s not. Just go there, and focus on that.]

[You’ll be alright?] Jyren asked after a quick run to the other turbolift. He slipped in, noticed the configuration, and hit the small button to take him to the level where he remembered a backup bridge was located on Victory Destroyers. In all honesty, he was probably wrong...but a large part of him wondered just how long he had to be wrong again. Loki could only avoid being shot too long before...

He cut the thought off before it went any farther, knowing that neither he nor Shadow needed to think about that one bit. Focus.

He needed focus. Of everything he’d been through, this was where it mattered the most.

Yet a distant part of him still couldn’t let go. He could feel the strong, painful presence of Jen Zaarin Voort not far away from him at all...and it hurt. It made him want to be anywhere but near, especially with the knowledge of how Jen had been before. Not even the slightest hint of her old, wonderful self was left...his surrogate sister, and even, at times, surrogate mother, was no more.

And on her way into the swirling darkness that surrounded their once greatest ally was the love of his life...just like before. Just like all those years ago on Coruscant. Then it had been the Empire...then it had been Elizabeth Mare...but now it wasn’t either of those. It was worse, and it terrified him. Though Jyren’s mind stayed focused on the task at hand as the turbolift shot upwards towards its destination...a part of him simply couldn’t let go. It sat alone and afraid...

...and it fed the darkness that surrounded the ship. Both the heaviness in the air and the monsters of the Dark Side that waited within...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 322*

Shadow looked up the long turbolift tube before giving one last glance down to the actual lift below her. She had opened up the emergency hatch on top and begun to climb up after having deactivated the lift(just in case). Somehow, using the thing and having the doors slide open right when expected just seemed like asking for trouble to her. And this was not something she was just coming up with on the spot, either...thanks to a few rather ugly encounters that began just that way, Shadow had gotten into the habit of climbing. Sure, it was far, but of all people, she could handle it.

As she made the climb, Shadow began to very slowly and carefully open herself up to both the link and the Force again. The link came easily, as it was literally a part of herself and harder to ignore than it was to get back. Doing her best not to let Jyren’s stray thoughts distract her, she then put her focus on the Force. It was almost hard to climb from the overbearing strength of the Dark Side that permeated the ship. The Force was not inherently Dark or Light, no, but the darkness of living things had a way of tainting an entire area. If Darkwings, the thought of which made her shudder, not to mention the thought of it being plural, were anything, they were the ultimate incarnation of the Dark Side in an equally powerful physical form.

And they were all around her.

She could feel them searching through the Force...a familiar and yet all too alien presence hunting in the Force. Deep down, Shadow knew that those Darkwings were more of her...her clones at least. But that fact was kept buried deep below any conscious thought. The idea of clones was bad enough, and the thought of having to fight her own even worse...but Darkwings? Herself? No. That was one of the few things that was simply beyond Shadow’s ability to accept, and so she simply pushed it aside and ignored it.

Attention returning back to her physical senses, her eyes searched up before finding the label for whatever level she had climbed up to.

Deck twenty.

That would work...or at least, it felt like the right place to be.

So, once she was at the door, she reached over, strained a moment and cursed the fact that being short meant shorter arms, before managing to hit the emergency release switch. There was a slight pause, then a hiss as the circular door slid away. By the time it was open, Shadow was already in and surveying the area. There was an empty desk about two meters in front of her and a set of open lockers to the right...and behind the desk was a large, slightly blue-tinted transparasteel window. Through it, she could see a series of tanks and a few empty beds.

Medical ward.

Why here...?

A few soft steps forward and she knew exactly why. The door to the side of the medical ward that was on the other side of the window had a series of very large, and very...unique looking claw marks across them. She knew the source immediately, and stepped over and hit the switch to open the door a second later. It creaked, hissed, and then only made it halfway before stopping and leaving her with a very small amount of space to slip through. Shadow turned and did her best to slide through, silently cursing whoever designed the female form in the process.

Once inside, she saw that the room was actually much larger than it had appeared to be at first. There were at least fifteen tanks across the far left side of the wall, which had all been impossible to see upon exiting the turbolift tube. Two of them were filled with a soft, pinkish coloured liquid that had to be bacta, but the others...

Three were cracked, broken, and empty. The remaining ten were very much full. She’d seen this before...not long ago at all. Back on Hoth, the tanks had looked like this. Completely filled with black, nearly indistinguishable forms...but when you knew what to look for, it was easy to spot the long, sharp-toothed jaws, the powerful claws, the tail wrapped around the midsection and the massive wings that encompassed the majority of the tank.

But these Darkwings were different than the ones on Hoth.

Here, they watched. Twenty deadly, predatory eyes stared straight into hers, and when Shadow moved...the eyes did, too. But somehow, the usual horrible presence did not follow the deadly eyes...even their presences in the Force felt contained within the tanks. So much so that when Shadow reached out to them in the Force, she was nearly thrown back by the strength of the Dark Side that was forced into such a small area.

And yet they didn’t move.

Run.

No! No. She couldn’t run. Shadow wanted to run so badly...to hide from this until it was gone and then never speak of it again. But Marix...Marix stood strong to what the child could not stand against. She held her feet in place and peeled her eyes away from the ones that watched her and waited for their chance to be free of the confining prisons. And soon, her eyes found what they were looking for.

Getting her feet to move was an...interesting exercise, but Marix pushed through the fear attempting to grip her and walked over to a small console on the wall. There was a series of medical reading being displayed for each tank, and while she didn’t understand a damned thing about what it was trying to tell her, she did have an idea. Her arms reached up and her hands changed their shape so that her claws could shift into view. Marix dug the sharp claws deep into the panel’s edge before pulling the entire casing off of the wall in a short, but over dramatic, shower of sparks.

The mess of wires and small circuits within was not anything that she was an expert on...at least, not on fixing it. She could put two things together and hope they worked without too much trouble, but that was only thanks to the basic information on starship repair that Max had instilled in her not long after the two of them had met. But what she needed to do was the exact opposite of repair. She needed to do things Jyren’s way and break things...well, not Jyren’s way, she didn’t bring her lightsaber and wasn’t exactly about to cut things up. There was always that off chance that the Darkwings would be released if she did something wrong.

And so her hands(now back to their normal form) searched through the web of wires to the circuit boards in the back. She carefully reached around a small last clump of...something, before finding what she hoped it was that she was looking for. Carefully, Shadow put her fingertips to the board, then let out a silent prayer that all the Imperial training as an assassin she’d been instilled with was correct....before her claws returned. There was a loud crushing sound as the claws immediately dug straight through the circuit board and into the durasteel panel behind.

At the same time, the lights in the room flickered off before the emergency power cut on.

Then nothing.

Shadow’s eyes stayed focused forward, looking into the mass of wires that her arm was lost in, and forcing herself not to turn to look behind her to the now dimly lit room. She couldn’t look. She didn’t trust her eyes. Not now, at least...not in the near darkness. And so she trusted another sense. Very slowly, and very carefully, she reached out towards the tanks on the side of the room...and felt nothing.

Nothing.

Emptiness.

It took her a moment, but soon she was sure of it. At that second, Shadow retrieved her hand from the wires and then turned to look. The series of eyes that sat in the tanks were still watching her with the same intensity as before. It hadn’t worked?! She’d destroyed the entire power to the room, including any connections that the backup systems would have had!

The fear taking its grip again, Shadow couldn’t stop herself from taking a few steps back.

The eyes didn’t move.

Shadow bit her lower lip and stared at the eyes that...were facing where she’d been.

She took another few steps away.

The eyes still stayed focused on the spot she’d been in before.

A smile began to form on her face, and the slightest of nervous laughs escaped her. Finally letting out a long sigh of relief, Shadow turned to head out of this part of the ship and actually find where Jen was hiding.

But just as she pivoted around, the transparasteel window that allowed a view into the main medical room from the section with the desk exploded inwards at her.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 323*

Jyren was at least slightly thrown off by the fact that his short trip in the turbolift went completely unhindered. In a matter of seconds, the lift arrived at its destination and the door slid open to reveal a small, grey-white corridor. It looked to go forward for about five or six meters before ending in a door, and also a T-shaped junction. Maybe that explained why there had been no problems...he had no idea where he was actually going.

No. Don’t argue with yourself now. Trust your instincts.

He didn’t, of course, knowing that they had a habit of leading him right into the exact place he didn’t want to be...but at this point, they were all Jyren had. The Force was too...thick with the Dark Side to be able to sense anything else, and the link was...well, it just was. Shadow couldn’t help him. She was busy doing...doing something else.

And so, probably rather foolishly, Jyren just trusted his instincts and headed forward. When he reached the end, he looked both of the other directions. To his right, the corridor only went on for another fifteen or so meters before ending in a few doors and what looked like another lift tube. To the left...the corridor simply made another right turn a good ten meters down. Biting his lip, Jyren made a choice.

He turned, and pressed the switch on the door that was directly in front of him, already. Sure, it was the easy way out, but if he was wrong, it would save him the trouble of having to check it later and be wrong then.

The door opened without any resistance and with the usual hiss that every single starship in the galaxy, save Loki, seemed to echo with, and revealed, amazingly enough, exactly what Jyren had been looking for. It was the backup bridge. Designed exactly like the main bridge of a Star Destroyer, with the two crew pits on either side of a main walkway and sensor stations just near the door, the only difference from the norm was the lack of any viewports. Instead, though, there was a series of viewscreens with holoprojections of the surrounding space outside...and Jyren had to force himself to avoid looking at the constant green and red flashes in the distance.

Truthfully, it wasn’t that difficult.

In fact, it was always very easy to focus on the moment when being shot at. And, just after the door had opened, that was exactly what had happened. Instinct(well, the Force, really, but sometimes he still thought of it as instinct) forced Jyren’s body to move, pivoting back outside the doorway and against the outer wall. Two red blaster bolts scorched the empty air and hit the far bulkhead, leaving black marks on the clean surface.

It was then that Jyren realized he hadn’t even seen what had shot at him, just reacted. While one hand naturally detached his lightsaber from his belt, he very carefully took a quick glance around the corner to see through the still-open door and into the bridge. Obviously, it wasn’t empty like the freighter they’d stolen had been...but Darkwings didn’t use blasters, as far as Jyren knew. Claws and teeth seemed to work just fine for them. So was it more clones...?

It wasn’t. Thin, almost awkward looking shapes marched towards the door, and let off two more shots before he ducked back around and realized what they were. Very, very old model battle droids of some kind...probably held together by luck and some well placed emergency adhesive from the strange way they were walking. But despite the fact that they were probably twice Jyren’s age, the blasters they carried seemed to work quite well. Droids...were they all...?

Taking a quick moment, he reached out through the thick Darkness that held him down and searched the bridge for something...anything...and found nothing. It was devoid of life. All droids? Well, it was cheaper than slaving systems and more reliable, too...and would explain how such a fleet had been gathered by Jen so damned quickly.

It also meant that he could tear straight through every single one of them without even the slightest thought to killing a sentient being. Not that it normally crossed his mind, it was something that had been forced out of him years before any kind of Force training, but it was at least something he knew he was supposed to think about...or pretend to think about.

Focus!

The word in his mind echoed with a blaster shot that caught the edge of the door a little close to where his face had been resting. Jyren jumped back, his sense of smell ruined by the overbearing ozone smell that followed the blaster bolt. But when he landed, both hands came onto the cold, metal hilt of his lightsaber and the switch was thumbed on.

The sharp snap-hiss struck a cord somewhere in him, but was something he didn’t really notice until later. Jyren was...finally, focused.

And so, drawing upon his own strength rather than the Darkness surrounding him, Jyren pivoted back around and charged straight into the bridge, blue-green blade in front of him and already a blur. Two quick cleaves cut down the nearest of the droids that had almost ran straight into him in their path towards the door, and a fast vertical swing caught a stray blaster bolt to send it straight into the chestplate of a third droid. With each droid that dropped, one of the other droids at some console would snatch up some kind of blaster pistol and fire at him.

Jyren quickly cut down the six other droids that had been at the sensor stations closest to the entrance, causing even more to start firing at him from the crew pits as others climbed out or found position of cover...which was exactly what Jyren was doing. He redirected a near-hit back at its origin, sending another droid down with a loud crash of metal, then immediately spun back around behind one of the small extensions that sat between the sensor station and the section of the bridge with the crew pits. It was a wall of sorts, though it was closer to half his size...Jyren did his best to squeeze against the console to take refuge from the barrage of blaster bolts heading straight for him was relative accuracy.

As best he could while still remaining behind his meager cover, Jyren switched to a one-handed grip on his lightsaber and reached down and grabbed his blaster pistol with his left hand. He wasn’t exactly the best shot with his left hand, but it was something and, at this point, he needed all he could get. There were at least...fifteen droids down there, maybe as much as twenty five depending on how many were actually working and how many were guards...or if certain unnecessary stations were left empty. Right. He could do that.

A blaster bolt shot straight past his face, singing the fringe of metallic-blue coloured hair that sat in front of the right side of his face. Jyren’s eyes went wide and he turned to see that the droids were moving into a position that made his cover useless. Damn these bridges and lack of useable cover!

There was no time for a deep breath or any kind of preparation. The droid was firing again, and others were moving next to it to get a clear shot at Jyren. So, with a simple step Jyren left his cover, lightsaber up to immediately deflect a shot aimed at his face before sliding his left arm under to fire a quick shot at the two droids that had gotten around his cover.

The shot was fancy, flashy, and downright stupid.

It also missed.

A quick downward sweep across that side deflected another shot from the same attacking droids, and Jyren took a step back to raise his other arm and actually line up his next shot. He managed to squeeze off a quick shot that caught a droid that had been dashing up out of the crew pit, but yet another bolt came at him from his right side.

This one, he couldn’t defend...mostly because it would have taken his own hand off in the process. Instead, the red blaster bolt caught him in the hand, burning through the flesh and causing him to both yelp in pain and drop the blaster pistol to the ground.

As he stumbled back and tried not to lose any footing while also doing his best to remorph the burn wound, the droids pushed forward.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 324*

Unlike most idiots in the galaxy who would just stand in shock as something exploded at them...Shadow moved. She didn’t need the Force to tell her that standing in one place when a transparasteel window shattered inwards at her that it was a good idea to not stand right there. It was one of the reasons that she wondered if she was the only sane being left in the galaxy anymore. Even Jyren would have at least given thought to standing there.

But Shadow wasn’t stupid...at least, not when it came to simple matters like that. Her ears were already picking up the sound of the attack before the Force screamed at her, and so, Shadow’s body was diving to the side and rolling out of the way before the window itself was even completely shattered. Mid-roll, she heard an angry roar behind her, and it didn’t take anything more than that for her to know the source of the attack.

This time, fear did not grip her. Mainly due to the fact that Shadow was too busy coming back up to her feet while, at the same time, staying low enough to avoid the large, powerful swing of a clawed hand that could easily have taken her head off. Out of a natural reaction, her own hands remorphed to reveal her own claws, though they weren’t nearly as dangerous as the ones that had nearly killed her.

Shadow had a half second to get decent footing and see that this Darkwing was about twice the size of the ones that had been in the tanks. It was maybe four meters high, and with a nearly ten meter wing-span, all curled up to fit into this room that was suddenly a lot smaller with this leathery, black-skinned creature inside it. Another angry roar that sent a cold shiver up her spine escaped the large, sharp-toothed jaws of the thing before it took a powerful step forward and swung at her again.

Part of her nearly stood still...which would have meant a lack of a good half of her body and all of her life. But, again, Shadow’s instincts moved her body before anything else would have. A second time, she ducked low, feeling the swipe catch a few stray strands of her hair as she slid to the side again, now with her back to the shattered and open window.

She could run...but it would follow. It would follow, and she couldn’t run forever.

Her hand quickly reached down and withdrew the small, ancient dagger that had been with her since Alraxia, and slid the cold metal blade out of the makeshift sheathe that she kept it in more for the sake of Jyren and Tobias than herself. She brought the blade up in front of her just as the massive form of the Darkwing spun around to face her, swinging another clawed hand at her.

Now, though, when Shadow ducked under the strike, she spun around and gave the Darkwing a sharp slash across the back of its arm. The creature made no sound, but Shadow could see the dark blue coloured blood spill across the ground, and the two piercing eyes narrow in rage. Instead of another swing of a powerful arm, it dove at her, wide-open jaws first.

The Darkwing snapped at her like a dragon, only missing her by centimeters as Shadow sidestepped the strike...but the Darkwing had obviously been ready for her dodge, this time, as it gave Shadow no chance to return the attack. Just as its jaws closed on the empty air, a wing swung around and slapped Shadow across the side, sending her straight back at the Darkwing’s jaws...which had, of course, reopened in anticipation.

But Shadow did what Jyren would have called cheating.

She used the Force to throw herself back and away from the monstrous thing, leaving it to once again snap its jaws into nothing. But she didn’t stop moving there. Once her feet caught the deck plates, Shadow dropped to the floor just in time to avoid a vicious slash. She then rolled inwards and straight to the Darkwing to dodge another set of claws that sank hard into the deck where she’d been. Just as she ended up on her back, Shadow’s arm shot up towards the hunched over torso and the metal blade cut straight through its gut and up to the neck, where she then turned it and left a long, horizontal slash.

The strike had been lightning fast, and perfectly placed to cause the Darkwing to stand up fully and rear back a step and a half out of pain. Shadow also took note of the fact that the wounds did not remorph...an important similarity with Alraxians that was not something to miss. Her eyes still on the Darkwing, Shadow rolled out from under its torso just as one of the large feet slammed down on her spot. Her tail was missed by a very small margin, a thought that would later cause her to shudder more than anything else...the very idea of how that kind of pain would have stopped her was mind numbing.

But she kept moving, rolling across the deck plates an quickly kicking herself up to her feet again. The Darkwing had recovered from its short moment of shock by then, and was charging straight for her at an extremely fast speed. Shadow jumped up just in time to avoid another loud snap from the monster’s jaws and she came down just on the spot between its massive wings...and a memory struck her.

Not her memory...but Jyren’s. It was a point where he had been when...she...was one of these. Not a blind spot, but a point where the arms couldn’t actually reach. The safest place she could possibly be, really.

Immediately upon realizing this, Shadow dug her claws in deep in the creature’s spine as it twisted around to throw her off. One foot managed to find a spot to wedge itself right against where the wing met the back, but Shadow was still thrown around viciously as the Darkwing struggled to remove her. And Shadow knew right away that she wasn’t going to be able to hang on for much longer...this sure as hell wasn’t as easy as Jyren’s thoughts made it seem.

Shadow’s free hand, which had been thrown to the side with a vicious thrashing from the Darkwing, managed to come back down, and she brought the metal blade down with all her strength. It hit hard, digging down into the back of the Darkwing’s skull and cutting straight through the bone until it was so deep that her hand was up against the horrible, leathery skin.

And that was it.

The Darkwing let out a deafening, mind-numbing sound from its jaws, tilting its head back and flapping its wing in its thrashing until Shadow could no longer hold on. In a second, she lost her grip on both the skin of the Darkwing’s back and on her blade, and was thrown like a small toy straight across the medical ward and into the far wall. There was a loud thud and an even louder crack from her spine as she hit, but Shadow didn’t make a noise.

...because her head was snapped back and her skull slammed straight into the durasteel wall before she dropped to the ground face first with another bone crunching thud.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 325*

The initial guess on how many droids that Jyren had made was...well, wrong wasn’t the best word. ‘Off’ was probably better...though, Shadow would have said something a little more extreme, probably along the lines of ‘dreaming’. Not that it really mattered anymore. It was too late to stop the assault on the bridge, and had reached the point of no return for Jyren, as the blast doors to the backup bridge had been sealed.

He was, currently, huddled in a small niche provided by the dividers between the sensor stations that lined the back end of the bridge. His body was pressed as much as he could to the cold wall to avoid the swarm of blaster bolts that were still coming his way. Every few seconds, he’d have to make a quick adjustment, as his foot would slide into view and nearly get shot, or his elbow or...well, the near miss on his tail had really been the most worrisome moment.

The only sound drowning out the constant attack on him was the deep thrumming of the lightsaber that he still held active in front of him. It provided no warmth, but was so close to his body that it was nearly taking off the blue-coloured fringe of his hair. The blade was also up so close that he couldn’t see the blue-green outer glow, and only the ultra-bright, almost blinding beam of hot-white energy that was the actual ‘blade’ of the weapon.

Jyren tilted his head very slightly to the side to get a view around his cover. In the small second he had to get a look at the situation before he had to jump back to avoid losing his face to a blaster bolt, Jyren managed to survey the area fairly accurately. Four of the skeletal-looking droids were using a sensor station as cover like he was and firing from that, almost directly across from him and nearly close enough to see around the small cover he had. Another four were just behind them, standing out in the open but kneeling and obviously trying to find another angle to get a clear shot at any body part that showed itself. At least six others were lining the small section before the room opened up into the large section of the bridge with the crew pits, blocking any chance he had of getting to the...however many droids were still down there.

So what to do? There wasn’t exactly much time to think, as it looked like the nearest group of droids was going to find a new section of cover within perfect view of Jyren in a matter of moments.

Trust the Force.

Jyren blinked. It wasn’t a normal blink...if that meant anything. It was a voice in his head and it sure as hell wasn’t Shadow. He knew her...her...voice, if the link even used voices. But, at the same time, it was...familiar. Familiar and yet...

“Mother...?” for some reason, Jyren looked up...or at least as ‘up’ as he could manage in the tight quarters with the lightsaber so close to taking off his nose. Why he said that up, he didn’t know, but it was probably part of the same strange reaction that made him talk to Loki through the ceiling. Instead of the bulkheads.

But there was no answer beyond two blaster bolts that caught the wall in front of him and made the black scorch marks there even blacker. 

It had been his mother’s voice...he was sure of that. That was a voice he knew surprisingly well considering he couldn’t even remember the woman. But he felt no presence, and not even the comforting image that the holocron usually provided....it had only been the voice, and now it was gone.

Trust the Force.

That had been it. But maybe...

Jyren closed his eyes and let out a deep, calming breath, trying to push aside the fact that another blaster bolt nearly hit his elbow before it was pulled inwards.

Trust the Force.

Trust the Force.

His eyes were forced open by the pang of a blaster bolt hitting the bulkhead he was hiding behind, and the knowledge that so many shots on the thing was starting to finally eat through the metal. Jyren’s eyes then quickly darted over to the sealed bulkhead over to his right. There wasn’t any running from this. There was no turning back. And through the link...he could feel something was wrong. He could feel a very violent pain, and the shadows of it tried to force themselves through his own body. 

And he couldn’t get there...this time, Jyren wasn’t going to be able to save the day. He was trapped here...and had to trust Shadow to keep herself alive. An act that she had been very good at long before ever knowing him, and would likely continue to excel at for decades to come. Jyren had to trust her...and, at the same time, had to keep up his own end of their life and not screw things up for the both of them by getting himself killed. And there was only one way his mind could think to do that.

Trust the Force.

And he did.

Jyren gave himself to the energy around him, pushing away the thick Darkness and finding the Light that was always there. He latched onto it and let it into him...let it take him. His grip on his weapon loosened, and the stark tension in his entire body faded. It wasn’t relaxation, but rather, a calm state that was exactly like what Shadow was an expert at falling into whenever she was in a similar situation...in other words, most all of the time.

And then he moved.

Jyren pivoted around and out of his cover, lightsaber swinging up and in front of him to deflect the barrage of red bolts flying at him. None of them were returned to their origin and none of the droids flinched at the sudden jump that Jyren made from his cover. But standing there and taking the shots that were already being fired at him was not exactly the smartest thing in the world to do...and just as his initial lightsaber sweep was finished, his left hand left the lightsaber and reached out to the droids.

Suddenly, the Force slammed into the six of them that were out in the open and sent them flying across the bridge...a couple into the viewscreens on the far end and the rest simply into the crew pits. As they hit, Jyren’s hand returned to his lightsaber as he moved forward and he dropped into a quick roll to the center of the room to dodge the next barrage of red that burnt through his previous position. He came up into a kneel and threw the lightsaber in a horizontal sweep. It flew out and cut straight through the remainder of the battle droids that were out of the crew pits.

The metal remained scattered across the ground and Jyren got to his feet and started running straight for the right crew pit where his lightsaber had ended up falling into. Mid-stride, he called his blaster pistol into his hand from its position on the floor and caught it just as he dove straight into the crew pit...with its four rows of consoles, each manned by two droids.

Two blaster bolts shot up at him but missed thanks to his forward momentum, and he landed at the midpoint of all of them. The second he was down, he fired at the nearest droid and took cover behind the console it had been ‘manning’. His lightsaber wasn’t in view, so he waited for a couple shots to go over him before standing back up and jumping over to the back row, kicking the battle droid at it and ducking down again...while firing off a quick shot at the second droid in the row.

There was the lightsaber.

Jyren quickly dove to the corner and picked up the metal hilt before reactivating the blade.

The sound of the lightsaber was not the only sudden sound, though.

Behind him, back near the entrance, there was a very, very loud crash. Jyren looked up from the crew pit to see pieces of what could only be the bulkhead fly past. His openness to the Force told him the source of this sudden explosion right away.

A Darkwing.

The gut-wrenching roar that echoed into the room only confirmed what the Force told him. Footsteps started, too...and Jyren stood up fully to see that the battle droids were actually running out of the crew pits and...firing at the entrance to the bridge?! Well, they were old and definitely not the brightest of droids ever crafted. But there was no reason not to use this to his advantage.

Once again calling the Force to him, Jyren jumped up and out of the crew pit again, landing squarely on the deck plates that were littered with droids parts and seeing what had entered...and his heart stopped.

There was a Darkwing, yes...standing there at the ruined bulkhead, wings flared out and teeth barred...but it didn’t move. Its eyes simply watched him, a predatory and almost face-melting expression boring through him. But Jyren only saw the Darkwing for a moment...as it soon became a dark, black backdrop to the thing that stood in font of it.

No...the woman.

Jen.

She looked exactly the same as he remembered her. Long blonde hair pulled back behind her, a simple, grey tunic and slacks and the same belt on her waist that she’d worn since the first day he’d met her. But it was her eyes that were different. Where once there had been warmth and even a form of love...now there was a cold emptiness that even Shadow’s eyes had never held. 

When Jyren’s eyes locked with Jen’s, he nearly lost his footing and fell back into the crew pit. Somehow, he managed to stay up...but all the momentum that had been built up in him had gone in that second. The blaster pistol dropped out of his left hand, and the lightsaber in his right simply hung at his side, its thrumming nearly inaudible despite the eerie silence in the bridge.

Her eyes still holding his attention, Jen’s hand moved to her belt and withdrew a small cylindrical object. Jyren knew what it was right away...and was not at all surprised by the snap-hiss when she activated the lightsaber and a bright orange blade, eerily similar to Titus Voort’s old weapon, bathed the deck around her.

“No, Jen,” Jyren whispered, trying to shake his head but barely able to move, “Please don’t do this.”

Jen’s cold eyes stayed locked with his, and the longer it lasted the more Jyren just wanted to see her smile...or...or anything! But she didn’t, her face remained expressionless, and even when she spoke, her voice was no longer the one he remembered, “I will kill you for what you did to me.”

“No, Jen!” this time he managed to at least get some kind of emotion into his voice, “You know you can’t beat me!”

“Did that ever stop you?” her voice was biting and sharp...and her words were right.

What an example he’d been. What a wonderful Jedi he’d been for her to look to...charging in without thinking, risking his life and the life of those he loved just because he was a damned hot-headed kid with a deep set need to die...and even before that, a show off. Always doing something dramatic and barely making it out with his life. And so many had watched him do it over the years, even laughing about it...but only Shadow had really yelled at him for it...and now Jyren knew why. Now he really understood, deep down in his very core, the real problem.

He had blamed it on Shadow, Ket Halpak, and even simple destiny...but Jen had fallen because of him. Jyren had led her straight down that path because he never thought about anything. He hadn’t even taken the time to see just how much she was watching...he’d tried so hard to just show off or get himself killed that he never even considered the future. Never considered this.

The Sith Poison may have been the catalyst that had caused them to lose Jen Zaarin Voort, but Jyren had been the path. His own arrogance had done it, and instead of paying for it with his life he was paying for it with everyone else’s...from Mare’s, to Voort’s, and now to Jen’s.

Jyren took a very small step forward, reaching out with his free hand to the human woman, “Please, Jen...if you do this you’ll die.”

She didn’t respond. Or at least, not in words.

Jen’s only response was the slightest of grins before she charged straight for him, lightsaber up and preparing to swing right at Jyren.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 326*

Shadow’s senses all returned to the same thing...a dizzying blur. Even her mind was swirling and, at the moment at least, she couldn’t even figure out what was going on. No...there was something...something...for some odd reason, she was surprised that she was still alive. And on top of that, none of her was even arguing with that little voice telling her she should, in fact, be dead. Why...?

At first, she made the mistake of trying to focus on all of her senses at once to get things to make sense, but that only made her head hurt more. A lot more. Okay. Stop. Focus. Focus. One thing at a time.

Her eyes blinked once or twice, but still she saw nothing but a black and grey blur. Alright, try something else. There were more important things than vision, anyway. Shadow quickly changed her focus to her thoughts, trying to put everything in line and make sense of things...most specifically, why she was convinced that she shouldn’t currently be alive.

Darkwing.

The word sent a jolt through her body but made everything(well, in her mind at least) fall right into place. She’d hit her head...hard, from the feel of it. Thrown...but she should be dead! Darkwing’s didn’t hesitate to kill their prey when it was down!! She reached out with the Force to find the same(or at least, a similar) overbearing Darkness around her.

It couldn’t be dead...not from just one blow like that...

Eyes. Now you need eyes!

Shadow closed her eyes for a long time before trying to shake off the dizziness. When she was relatively sure she wasn’t going to get sick on the deck, Shadow attempted opening her eyes again. Slowly, shades began to appear through the blurred colours. The medical room looked exactly like it had been before she’d...hit her head and, most likely, been knocked out.

And there was the Darkwing. It stood relatively close to its spot before, and because of this and the fact that it was just turning towards her, Shadow figured that she could have only been out for a few seconds at most. But that still might have been too long...the Darkwing was already diving straight at her, claws extended and ready to tear her to pieces, and she was still there laying on her side with a hand on her head!

Instinct took over where rational thought tried to slow her. Nearly anyone else would have been dead in that situation, but Shadow’s body(well, Marix’s) was used to acting without giving her time to think about anything. It was a survival instinct that too much of the galaxy lacked...a fact that would probably always be of continual annoyance to Shadow, as long as she continued at least.

But when the massive form of the Darkwing arrived at her position, Shadow was no longer there. Thanks to the Force and Alraxian reflexes, she was able to go from lying down to leaping up and over the Darkwing in a matter of half-seconds. She came down behind the creature’s powerful tail, took a moment to get her footing and push through he sudden dizziness that tried to return thanks to the acrobatic move. But there wasn’t exactly much time for her to reorient herself, as the tail of the Darkwing was swinging straight at her torso.

It was one of those times where it was good to move, and so, Shadow dropped back to the deck. She hit the floor face first before kicking herself back up and getting her balance again. There wasn’t really anything she could actually think to do to hurt the damned thing! There were openings all over the place, large creatures like that always had that, no matter how fast they moved, but Shadow knew all too well that she would just be leaving scars...and without her blade, she couldn’t even leave permanent ones.

Quietly, she cursed Jyren for not explaining to her just how he had...stopped her as a Darkwing. He had to know what he’d done! Oh, she was going to kill him the second she had the chance...which, of course, meant dealing with this Darkwing on her own, first. Part of her wanted to morph to a larger, stronger form, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep up with the Darkwing and being small right now was a large part of the reason she was still alive...not to mention that the medical room wasn’t exactly huge.

As she sidestepped and then flipped over another pair of claw swipes from the monstrous black creature, Shadow noticed that it was actually a bit easier to avoid losing half of her body to the Darkwing’s strikes...it was slower. Slower. Her eyes widened slightly just before she ducked under another strike and then rolled away from the snapping jaws. It was actually slower than before!

Maybe she’d actually managed to hit something...important with the knife! There had to be some kind of brain or central nervous system in there somewhere! And then an idea came to her mind...one that had her immediately kicking herself for not thinking of. She knew Jyren hated it, especially having to feel it through the link, but at this point, she didn’t have a choice.

Shadow turned and took a couple steps away from the viciously attacking Darkwing before jumping up into the lobby of the medical room with the completely destroyed desk. It gave her just a couple seconds before the Darkwing came at her...and that was, at least she hoped, all that she needed. Right away, she focused, naturally closing her eyes to force away the distraction of the rapidly approaching monster.

There was a reason that Jyren hated morphing. It was a mix of the completely alien feelings that it brought up, and the way it actually looked. There was something completely and utterly wrong about watching one thing become something else...even quickly. Especially when watching Shadow...or, for that matter, anyone he knew. Maybe it was just a quirk of not being born Alraxian, but it was something Shadow hadn’t actually noticed in anyone else but him. But, for some reason, the shift that her body made from organic to a strange metallic substance was the one that always got him the most. Maybe it was how it affected her...

Droids didn’t feel. They couldn’t. And while, technically, she wasn’t a droid in that form...it was the damned closest thing that either of them could think to compare it to. But her mind(or whatever it became in the morph) had a way of reverting to...older ways of thinking for her. As a Tam’Day’U, Marix had been stripped of her emotions and turned into nothing more than a weapon of the Empire. Once Marix was exiled and slowly returned to a normal existence...she was captured by the Galactic Empire and once again turned into a weapon...and that was where this metal morph had originated, as far as she knew. Some kind of genetic tampering with the clones, and something that was not Marix, but wholly Shadow. And when Shadow was back in control, the mindless weapon came with her...it was what she was. A child and a weapon...and, sadly, nothing more.

But right now, that was the only way she had to survive...and suddenly, the Darkwing could see its own reflection in the shining, metallic Alraxian that it was diving at to tear to shreds.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 327*

Jen had learned a lot in the short few months that she had been away, but one thing she couldn’t possibly become an expert on so quickly was lightsaber technique. There was a very distinct line between learning from watching and learning from experience. Jyren had the latter, and Jen the former. Sure, Jyren had been just like her at first...swinging the sword like the old holodramas used to show. Long, dramatic sweeps that did nothing at all but make the wielder look like the amateur they were. There were even a few things here and there that had probably been picked up from actually watching...but that was not practice.

It had taken Jyren many years to even be able to parry a strike, let alone learn the necessary footwork that was always ignored by those just starting or trying to ‘teach themselves’. Even now, Jyren knew that he couldn’t stand up to any of the Jedi from the Old Republic...as his only edges were the Force and his own quick speed(with, of course, the help of an Alraxian body), the Jedi had both of those and extremely rigorous training. The Holocron showed that much...and had shown Jyren just how far behind he was.

But suddenly the situation was thrown on its head. He was no fighting for his life here...every swing of his blade was not a last ditch effort to avoid losing a limb...he was not pushed back or even forced on the defensive. Jen’s swings of her orange lightsaber were so predictable that Jyren had to force himself not to deflect them and then finish the fight right there. It was so difficult, after the vicious fights he’d experienced over the years, to slow down to this.

This was a fight for Jen’s life, and he knew it.

The worst part of it all was that she was actually putting all of her strength and effort into the fight...if it could even be called that. Her high swing would be easily blocked by Jyren’s blade far away from his head(despite the near meter difference in height, she still never got close), and yet she wouldn’t pull away for a quick jab towards his unprotected torso...all the while leaving herself open one simple attack that could end everything in a second.

Jyren completed two more simplistic parries, then finally gave in and used the Force to throw Jen back a good three meters. Before she could recover her already week footing, he swung his lightsaber down and away before deactivating the blade. With only a single humming from her weapon remaining on the bridge, Jyren shook his head, “I won’t do this anymore. I will not kill you.”

Jen stood up straight again, pushing a stray strand of hair out of her face and glaring up at him with her empty eyes, “You’re a coward!”

“Maybe,” he admitted with a slight nod as he clipped his lightsaber back onto his belt, “But I will not kill you...and this does not have to go on. You can stop this right here and right now. You can end all of this and come back to us.”

“After what you did to me?!” Jen growled, still actually holding her ground instead of charging at him again.

Seeing that there had to be something in the fact that she was actually talking(well...yelling), Jyren tried to push the point. He had to try. He knew he wouldn’t kill her...knew he couldn’t...and, at the same time, was fairly sure what he was going to try wouldn’t work either. But, still, he had to try...and so, keeping his voice as controlled and calm as he could, Jyren said, “The only thing I did to you was to make you put up with seeing me act like a child and never thanking you for the help you gave. You were a sister to me, Jen! A mother, even! If you honestly believe I would ever even dream of doing anything to harm you, then you really are lost.”

Jen’s eyes watched him, but he saw no hint of anything new within them. Instead, she simply shook her head and pointed her lightsaber at him accusingly, “You lied to me! You, Shadow, and Titus! You all lied to me! Your lies did this to me!”

Something there caused Jyren to snap. The control he had held before was gone in a second, and the words escaped him at a yell before he could even stop himself, “All Titus ever did was love you!”

“And you killed him!” Jen snapped back, the Force starting to reek even more of a deep rage than before.

“Yes! I killed him!” again, Jyren’s mouth let the words out before his mind could even think about them. And he wasn’t lying...in fact, for the first time, he found himself accepting the responsibility for his own actions. When this washed over him, he added just as forcefully, “But it was a mistake! A horrible mistake that I pay for every single day, Jen. But I know it was a mistake! Look at what you’re doing and tell me this is the right thing! Look at that damned monster behind you and tell me this is right!”

Jen actually glanced over her shoulder to see the Darkwing still standing in the destroyed ‘doorway’...watching and waiting, obviously ready for the simple word that it needed to be given for its attack. The word it wanted to hear...the anticipation could be felt, almost tasted, through the Force. When Jen looked back to Jyren, her eyes met his again and they held the gaze....and, for a moment at least, Jyren saw something. It wasn’t a smile...it wasn’t even the hint of one...in fact, it was barely a hint of anything...and maybe he was just imagining things, but there was...was something. Something he remembered.

And seeing that brought words to Jyren again, and he didn’t even try to hold them back anymore. He felt something through the Force from Jen, and suddenly thought he might understand exactly why she was doing all of this, “The man that did this to you is dead, Jen. I killed Ket Halpak nearly a month ago. There’s no revenge to be had past that gate anymore.”

Jen’s voice was lower now, and almost shaking slightly, when she said, “I’ll kill all of them anyway.”

“Why?” the question was simple and honest, but Jyren didn’t leave it at that, “Because of what one exile tried to do? He tried the same thing, Jen. He tried to kill all of them...you’d just be exactly like him...” he trailed off, and let that hang in the air, as it was obviously having some effect from Jen’s motionless state. When she didn’t say anything for a long time, Jyren finally added, “Please stop this. You can end all of this right now...you can end it all and come back to us. Please, Jen...”

Slowly, the human woman in front of him lowered her lightsaber. Their gazes held, and Jyren thought he could see that something in her eyes again...and even feel it through the Force. A...calming, if there was a word for it, at least. After another moment, there was a soft fizzle as her lightsaber was deactivated and then Jen let out a long sigh, looking down at the deck plates before closing her eyes.

Jyren even let out a quiet sigh of his own, feeling the tension and the Darkness slowly fading away from the room around him...the weight lifting.

And then Jen looked up and opened her eyes, a neutral expression masking her features as she seemed to look him over again. Whatever was going through her mind, Jyren couldn’t even come close to imagining. So...he just stood there and waited, still slightly worried, but allowing the calming in the Force to help to calm his own nerves in the process.

“Kill him,” Jen’s words were whispered as she stepped to the side. Jyren had only enough time for his eyes to go wide with shock before the Darkwing came at him at full speed.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 328*

Darkwings did not seem to experience surprise...or anything similar to that. However, there was at least a moment’s hesitation from the huge creature when its powerful, clawed hand was force back with relative ease by the now-metallic Alraxian that was its prey...or...was supposed to be. But the mind of a Darkwing never considered running or even backing down. The only option was to fight harder until brute force and, if necessary, the Force itself, tore their prey apart. And while Darkwings had fought and easily destroyed droids before, this...Shadow was different.

Somehow, she seemed faster now...and horribly more aggressive. And this edge was all she needed. Two quick blocks and she stepped right into the Darkwing, not even using the Force to help her already heavy fist to strike the creature right under its jaw. There was a crack of bones and a growl before the monster snapped its jaws at her, but Shadow was still fast enough to easily bend and slide to inside the Darkwing’s defenses.

And as she slipped between its jaws and its right arm(that was about to catch her across the back of the head), an idea came into her...mind...if it was really anything like a ‘mind’ anymore. Shadow had never tried it before...hell, she’d spent so little time like this that there hadn’t even been time to imagine it. But why not? It should work...

The Darkwing’s claws came down for the back of the metal skull, but never reached their mark. Shadow quickly spun around to face the attack, reached up with her left arm...just as the metal changed shape to form a very large, very sharp looking point...that cut straight through the center of the Darkwing’s hand and forced the most alien of yells out of the creature.

It jerked it injured hand away, which caused even more pain to fuel its anger as the metal was removed, then took a step back to reorient itself before simply pouncing on its prey. But it never had the chance. Shadow was moving again, right into it a second time, but this time with a confidence that this idea really was working and that it was perfect. With a simple step forward, she sent the long spike straight up and through the Darkwing’s skull. The bones of the skull provided little resistance and it took barely any effort to simply skewer the horrible thing.

The second that the point of her ‘arm’ extended out of the top of the Darkwing’s skull, something happened in the Force. It...calmed. The weight lifted and the room felt normal again. Shadow easily removed her arm and let the massive form of the Darkwing drop to the deck with a heavy thud...and it didn’t move again.

As her arm returned to its ‘normal’ shape, Shadow looked down at the dead monster in front of her. It had been so easy...so very easy. She had always known why the Empire had attempted this, and why Faban Sunrunner had wanted control over her for it...but never really seen the reasons. Shadow really was the pinnacle of what the Tam’Day’U had always been there to achieve: the perfect weapon. No emotion to cloud judgment, unbelievable strength to end a conflict before it had started, and above all else, adaptable to any situation. This metal made her...unstoppable.

Shadow could feel no happiness or even sadness because of this, which was exactly why a terrified feeling creeping into her ‘mind’ surprised her. Real, true terror. But it couldn’t be hers...it wasn’t possible. Then how...?

Jyren.

The single thought jolted through her entire body and the mind-numbing effects of both the metal form and the control that Shadow had over it faded...into Marix. Again. And as this happened, the metal, too faded...and it wasn’t long before Marix BlueIce once again stood there instead of that metal...thing. But, despite the connection to a more normal person that Marix was, she was still a straight-to-business type...and didn’t dwell even for a second on just what had happened. It had. It was over. She needed to move on.

And she did.

[Are you okay?] she asked through the link, pivoting around and heading straight for the ruined turbolift tube that the Darkwing had come from.

Jyren’s voice returned to her head and it was surprisingly soothing to hear. It almost had a way of grounding her back into the reality that was instead of what could have been had she stayed in that metal form...[Are you?!] there was a pause, then in her mind he added. [Oh, and no!]

[I’m fine and I’m on my way.] Shadow(not even noticing that, while Marix was definitely in control, she still thought of herself as Shadow) reached out in the Force, finding that while this room had eased its oppressing feeling, much of the ship was still bathed in Darkness. But she forced through it anyway and found him. Down.

Her eyes looked down the long turbolift tube and she simply shrugged to herself. Why not? Climbing was going to take far too long and it wasn’t like she didn’t have ways to stop herself. Besides, it would get the blood flowing again.

A grin actually found its way onto Shadow’s face before she jumped.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 329*

The massive form of the Darkwing slammed into Jyren like a perfectly aimed turbolaser bolt...except that turbolaser bolts were generally green and usually didn’t have the kind of accuracy to hit a single humanoid. Darkwings, of course, did have that kind of accuracy...with the additional feature of claws, teeth, and a great strength in the Force.

But, then again, maybe it was a good thing that it hit him so hard. Thanks to the impossible speed at which the Darkwing caught him, Jyren didn’t actually feel a single thing. His body went from normal to numb faster than he’d have thought possible, and the next thing he knew he was on the other side of the bridge, jammed against the viewscreens that lined where the normal openings would have been on a main bridge. Through blue-tinged vision(which was odd enough on its own), he could see multiple splatterings of...well, more blue, but a deeper blue that he could immediately identify as his blood.

The Darkwing had moved back a few steps, allowing Jyren to slide down the wall to a dazed, sitting position. He managed to look down slightly and see...well, probably everything. At least, there couldn’t be much more inside of him than what was opened up and easy to spot already. And it was all...all...spinning...Jyren blinked a few times but things kept spinning around him. Maybe that was because of his head hurting so much. He had hit that wall pretty hard...

Lucky for Jyren, there were at least some natural survival instincts that his Alraxian body(well, and mind) had built in and could not be easily shut off. Because of this, despite the fact that his conscious thoughts were just as gone as the rest of him looked to be, his body naturally took the few seconds given to it as the Darkwing backed up to remorph the majority of the wounds. Mainly the large, gaping cuts through his torso. One of the two hearts was undamaged, with the other having been completely torn through...but Alraxians had two for a reason, and his body didn’t worry about fixing the first one for the moment.

Of course, wounds being healed quickly didn’t actually help Jyren’s foggy mind...and the Darkwing wasn’t exactly the kind of creature to wait for him to feel better and let him stand up before it pounced again. In fact, by the time the major wounds had been closed up, the Darkwing was diving straight down at Jyren again.

Jyren was definitely not Shadow, and didn’t have the kind of natural reflexes that she did even through serious injuries...but when his eyes caught sight of a large, black thing with sharp teeth and claws as big as his arm, his first reaction was to get the hell out of its way. And that reaction never, ever failed him.

Still dizzy and seeing things through blueish vision, Jyren immediately dove to his left, hearing the loud crack of the durasteel taking a violent hit just behind his feet. He wasn’t stupid enough to just stay where he’d moved to, either. His brain firmly set on flight rather than fight, Jyren didn’t even turn around when he rolled away from the wall and crawled as fast as he could manage straight for the nearest of the two crew pits.

There was a series of very loud, and very close smashes before Jyren was able to roll into crew pit. He fell the two meters without actually thinking about the consequences until he landed on his back and the crack of his spine echoed in the crew pit around him. As his head went back to spinning, Jyren heard other sounds around him....like quick moving of feet. He didn’t have to look around to know it was some of the droid pilots that were still somehow managing their stations. Were, of course, being the operative word, as they were now running to get out of the way of the imminent landing of the Darkwing that would take out a good portion of the consoles(and anything in the way) in the process).

Through a groan of pain, Jyren rolled over and looked up to see the Darkwing tilting its head to the side and peering down at him almost curiously. Then, it barred its teeth, flared its wings, and started to jump.

Then a familiar sound echoed through the bridge...three times. A half second later three red blaster bolts caught the Darkwing across the side of its large skull, sending it off balance and into the nearest viewscreen. Another second later, he saw a black thing fly over and hit the side of the Darkwing’s head before dropping to the ground and clanking on the deck loudly.

“Hey!” Shadow’s voice drowned out the other noises and then, when she spoke through the link, drowned out everything else. [Get up and remorph completely now, Jyren.]

[...you’re late...] Jyren ‘mumbled’ through the link, though he followed her strict...instructions right away, knowing that she was only being so pointed because it was that important.

[You always say you like the dramatic entrances best.] Shadow might have shrugged with that, but Jyren couldn’t actually see her to confirm that.

Through the link, she was also doing her best to help him think more clearly...and how that was happening was indescribable to the both of them, but it was working. Shaking his head slightly, Jyren looked up to see the Darkwing moving to the side to the pathway between the two crew pits that led directly to where Shadow probably was standing. [You kind of ruined the dramatic part when you threw the blaster at it.]

[It got the thing’s attention, didn’t it?] Shadow’s ‘voice’ was now much more distracted, and Jyren had a good idea that this had something to do with the fact that he could no longer see the Darkwing up on the walkway anymore. [And if you plan to stay down there, let me know now so I can do end this my way instead of trying to cooperate and do this our way.]

If there was one thing that could get Jyren moving, it was that...voice. Despite the fact that she wasn’t actually speaking to him, Shadow still had a way of conveying that tone through the link. It wasn’t an order, it wasn’t really a suggestion, it was simply a point. And he knew exactly she meant, thanks to their link. He had felt that...change in her earlier and did not want to have to deal with that again. Maybe it was a form of blackmail...but it sure as hell worked.

Though his body was still drained from the serious effort it had taken to remorph all of the damage that the Darkwing had caused, Jyren shook it off, pushed it away, and ran up the ramp and out of the crew pit. He ran around and straight for the path between the two crew pits to find the Darkwing’s back to him in between the sensor stations...or what was left of them. On the other side of the huge, leathery-black creature Jyren could see a white coloured movement that was Shadow’s morphsuit...he couldn’t actually pinpoint any other part of Shadow because she was moving too much.

And then he saw Jen. She stood off to the far side of the room, arms folded across her chest as she calmly watched the action in front of her. Jyren looked at her and still couldn’t believe she could just...just stand there!

“Dammit, Jyren!” Shadow’s voice yelled from the other side of the Darkwing, “I’m over here!”

It wasn’t the same tone she’d used before, but it sure had the echoes of it and forced Jyren’s eyes back over to the Darkwing. As his hand reached down and detached the lightsaber from his belt again, Jyren went straight for the Darkwing’s back. The sound of the blade coming to life was drowned out by an angry roar from the Darkwing as it glanced over its shoulder to Jyren for a half second before swinging its massive tail at him. Jyren dropped to the deck and rolled under the black tail that was almost as big as he was, swinging across with his lightsaber to cleave off a good piece of it in the process.

He got to his feet right when the piece of the tail hit the ground, though in another second it had remorphed the wound and the tail was swinging right back at him. [This isn’t exactly working!]

[There is another option, Jyren!] Shadow grinded out through the link...at the same time, Jyren could see her duck under a swing and spin out of sight right into the center of the Darkwing’s vision. He heard a thud and a crunch from that direction, but since there was no slight pain through the link, Jyren concluded it had been from the Darkwing and not Shadow.

After cleaving off another piece of tail and trying to find a way to move around to the front of the creature, Jyren looked over to where Jen stood and yelled, “You can still stop this, Jen!”

“Jyren, focus!” Shadow screamed at him before leaping over and landing on the other side of the stump of the tail that was remorphing. Before the Darkwing could spin around and swing at them with its thick wings, Shadow put a sharp claw through one and growled at him, “She’s gone! This is not the time to be distracted!”

“She is not g—“ his angry words were cut off by first a tail, and then Shadow, and then the back of the Darkwing’s wing slamming into him one after another. The two Alraxians were flung across the bridge, with Jyren hitting the bulkhead hard and Shadow hitting him a half second later...knocking the wind out of him for a moment. The Darkwing used the momentum from its spin to start another charge for the two, but Jyren grabbed Shadow’s back and literally threw her up to her feet again.

Ignoring the spinning in his head as best he could, Jyren got to his feet a second later just as the Darkwing reached them. Shadow actually caught the claw that was swinging in at her with her arm, even pushing it away like she would from any other attacker, which amazed Jyren due to the strength of the Darkwing...but it took so much effort that it left her back open to attack from the other claw...which had been on purpose, because she knew that was exactly where Jyren was supposed to be.

And he was. Stepping in, lightsaber ablaze, he swung up and took off the entire left hand of the monster before the other came around and hit him across the side, once again throwing him across the bridge...but with much more force. Jyren lost his grip on his lightsaber somewhere along the way before hitting the bulkhead head first.

Through once again blurred and blueish vision(likely from once again getting a strong head wound), Jyren could see the Darkwing turning back to bear down on Shadow...who was a white blur again, staying out of the way and just moving rather than trying to counter the attacks. The Force was growing heavier and heavier again...stronger...and Jyren found himself calling out, “Jen! Please stop this!!”

His vision returned to a more normal state in time for him to see the human woman turn to stare straight at him with the same intensity as before. She then glanced back over to the Darkwing and growled, “I said kill him!”

From behind, the Darkwing’s head could be seen popping up to look between its shoulder and wing straight at Jyren. It then directed its attention to Shadow again just long enough to cut her off mid-dodge with a sudden strike of the claws. Jyren could feel the phantom pain rip through his torso before seeing Shadow flung against one of the nearby sensor panels.

And then the Darkwing turned around again, growled angrily, and took off straight for him.

The pain in Jyren’s side went away quickly as he got to his feet, immediately telling him that Shadow had fixed the problem on her end and was already up and coming. But the Darkwing was much, much faster...and she knew it. They all knew it.

[Yell at me about this later.] the words echoed through Jyren’s mind the moment before he heard a sharp crackling sound. The air itself lit up with a bright blue light that burned everything in its path...and arcs of lightning could be seen from behind the Darkwing before they hit the creature in the back and sent it flying down into the crew pit that was between the creature and Jyren. The streams of Force lightning continued for another few seconds before Shadow let it go and charged straight for the crew pit. When she caught Jyren’s look of absolute shock, she said quickly. [Later!]

Jyren tried to push that aside, seeing that the Darkwing was already getting back up and preparing to pounce up and straight into him...it was still going to reach him before Shadow would, and he couldn’t even see where his lightsaber had gone. But it was already too late to worry about that anymore. The Darkwing was moving. It was jumping straight up and at the perfect angle to simply skewer Jyren again the viewscreen behind him.

He dove to the side in time to only take a sharp claw to the leg instead of through his face. The Darkwing held onto the leg it caught and flung him straight down into the deck with it. As it pulled around to bear over him, Shadow was still a good six meters away. Jyren’s eyes looked up and saw the Darkwing, and looked back to see Jen standing there just a two meters away, “Jen, please!!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Jyren saw the movement. His head snapped back to look straight up at the Darkwing holding him down to see its jaws open as they shot down at him. As Jyren stared up at the thing, unable to move thanks to both shock and the claws pinning him to the deck, one thing jumped into his mind...and it surprised him. It had never, ever been something that had shot to the forefront so suddenly...and yet it made perfect sense. The fear of it gripped him more violently than anything the Darkwing could ever have managed, and he cried out, “Jen, I have a son!”

Even more to his surprise, he felt the words shoot through Shadow just as strongly from the link. He knew, from that, that she was right behind the Darkwing but nothing she could do would stop it. It was too close...too fast...she knew she should have done it her way! It would have worked! It would have worked and he would have been okay! But his damned idealism had rubbed off on her too much and forced her not to and now it had gotten them right where she’d always told him it would...the end.

The end of everything.

And it came in a brilliant flash of white and...

...a roar of pain?!

Death meant one didn’t have any eyes to open...and for the second time in his life, Jyren opened his eyes after he was dead. Or...after he should have been. This time, though, he wasn’t alone. Shadow did the same thing...and from two different angles, they saw the same thing. Jen stood over Jyren, bright orange lightsaber bathing everything around her in light, and the Darkwing was headless. Its body still moved, though, as it violently thrashed around in its last moments, a clawed arm catching the blonde woman across the side and sending her hard into the crew pit.

And then it fell.

The massive, leathery-black creature dropped to the deck, sliding off of the small walkway and crashing into the consoles in the crew pit below. And then it was silent.

“Jyren!” Shadow’s voice cut through the silence like a lightsaber and in a moment his blurred view that had been a black maw of teeth for what had seemed like an eternity was replaced by her familiar face. She grabbed him and helped him to sit up, all the while cheating by using the link to force him to remorph the gaping holes in his leg that were leaking too much blood.

He just sat there again her, still not completely sure what all had happened, the adrenaline rush fading and the heaviness of the Dark Side doing the same. Slowly, his eyes found hers and he managed to reach up to rest a hand on her face, “Jen...”

Shadow understood thanks to the link, and also knowing he was going to be alright(well, physically at least, he was never alright mentally), she nodded and propped him up against the bulkhead before running around and down into the now-ruined crew pit. Droid bodies and consoles sparked here and there from the Darkwing’s fall, and in the back corner, bloodied and broken, she saw Jen.

When Shadow reached the woman and knelt down next to her, the first thing Jen said in a hoarse voice was, “...a son...?”

Suddenly completely lost as to what to do, Shadow found herself simply reacting...so she nodded. It was all she could think of. Her eyes looked over Jen and knew immediately that she was dying. Her entire stomach had been ripped open and most of her internal organs had probably suffered the same fate. But, just as Jyren had done, Jen reached up and rested a red-bloodied hand on Shadow’s cheek. The Alraxian reached up and found herself holding the other woman’s hand, right away feeling through the Force as the life faded from it. But quietly, through the sparks and the coughs, Jen whispered, “I’m sorry...”

It shouldn’t have been enough. Apologizing never was. But it was all there ever would be. Jen’s eyes did not close like in all those stories or holodramas. She didn’t even slump back and go limp. Instead, Jen Zaarin Voort died with her hand still in Shadow’s, sitting back against the corner of the bulkhead and looking up with horribly sad eyes at her old friend.

Slowly, Shadow rested the woman’s hand back over her before reaching down to close her eyes. As she got to her feet, Shadow picked up Jen’s ruined body and then carefully walked up and out of the crew pit. With Jen still in her arms, she looked over to where Jyren sat, still looking stunned and unable to move. In a soft voice that was still something new to even her, she asked, “Can you walk, Jyren?”

Eventually, he managed to nod...slowly pushing up to his feet. When he was up, Jyren’s eyes locked on the body in Shadow’s arms. She could see tears in his eyes...truthfully, she could feel the same on her own face. Letting out a low sigh, Shadow asked, “Can you set the self destruct before we leave?”

“Y-Yeah...” Jyren was shaking again, but forced himself to walk over to the still-together crew pit and find the correct station.

As he worked on auto-pilot to set the self destruct, Shadow looked at the ruined viewports and called out. [Loki...we need you in the hangar.]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 330*

Relatively quickly, things had been cleaned up after Loki had gotten them off the large capital ship. The Kanyak had already done a good job of leading the other ships through the minefield, and the detonation of the main ship’s self destruct cleaned up the rest of the small fleet. When it was all finally over, they quickly took up the job of destroying the last of the mines...just in case.

And then, as quickly as it had started, it was all over. The space around the ring that guarded the hyperspace route into the Hidden Worlds was empty except for the debris of the other ships and Loki. The overwhelming Darkness that had consumed the area was gone...though it had faded slowly rather than completely vanishing. It would also likely stay there for a good long time, the severe taint of all of the Darkness in one area was not something that was easily removed. But it was over.

“Are you alright?” Shadow asked quietly, looking down to Jyren. They had finally managed to find the time to relax in their quarters after Loki had made a hyperspace jump Coreward. Jyren was currently laying down on the bed, resting his head in her lap as she sat up and idly ran a hand through his hair.

The question, coming from Shadow of all people, surprised him enough that it took him a moment to respond, “I will be.”

She idly nodded to herself, looking back up and over at the closed door across the room. It was a miracle they hadn’t been assaulted by Tobias yet. Which brought up another thought...

“You have a son...?” Shadow asked in another soft voice, this time grinning slightly as she glanced down to see his face.

Jyren’s face went a little red and he mumbled under his breath, “It just...came out...”

That only made her grin grow more and she poked the side of his head not-too-gently, “This is at least the second time you’ve claimed him, so you’re stuck now.”

“Hey, now,” Jyren was just getting redder, but was doing his best not to show it...which, of course, made it worse. Reaching up, he pointed a finger at her, “You’re stuck, too.”

“Ahhh, but that’s the beauty of it,” Shadow grabbed his finger and then turned it around to poke him again with it, “You didn’t say ‘we’. So actually, I’m off the hook on this one.”

The look of sheer panic that shot across both Jyren’s face and the link was worth every second, and something that Shadow made sure to never, ever forget. At the same time, he tried to sit up but that took more effort than he’d expected and by the time Jyren was upright and looking her in the eye, Shadow was laughing. This just through Jyren off even more, and he opened and closed his mouth at least five times before any words finally escaped, “You know what I meant!”

Shadow just laughed more and shook her head, “No idea!”

“This isn’t funny!” by now, he was almost whimpering.

“Awww...” Shadow calmed the laughing into quiet giggling for a bit before leaning over and whispering, “Don’t want anyone to know you actually like the little brat, eh?”

“You’re one to talk!” Jyren grumbled, a little too loud for her since she’d moved in so close. He then reached over and got his own revenged by poking her nose, “You always yelled about hating him and then the first thing you say when I suggest bringing him along is ‘Fine.” You didn’t even put up a hint of a fight! Not even a word!”

Ignoring the slight pain in her ear from his loud voice, Shadow grinned, laughed again, and shook her head, “I was just being nice. You needed an equal around to feel good and I didn’t want to say anything.”

“I needed an equal?!” Jyren first sounded hurt, but then a very Shadow-like grin appeared on his face, “Well, dear, I’m glad you think of me as being so much smarter than you.”

“Smarter?!” Shadow laughed and thumped his skull, “Hear that, Jedi boy? Hollow! I just keep you around for your good looks.”

“And my cunning wit,” he said proudly.

Of course, Shadow rolled her eyes, “You can’t call it cunning when the comments are a good minute late, dear. That’s what we call slow.”

“Slow...?” the grin began to return to Jyren’s expression and he sat back a bit.

Shadow shrugged, “Slow is a bit polite, really. Just don’t want to hurt your fee—mmph...mmm...”

Jyren had taken the opportunity to cheat and shut her up with a kiss. It was really amazing just how well that seemed to work. Even the link went blank every single time. Of course, the weakness went both ways, but neither of them ever would admit that openly...well, not with Loki listening, at least.

When he pulled back from the kiss, Shadow idly leaned forward and rested her head on his shoulder. He made a surprisingly good pillow. A few more long, quiet minutes passed with the two of them just sitting there, but quiet was obviously overrated. To both of their surprise, though, it wasn’t Tobias that ruined the silence...but Jyren.

“So what do we do with...Jen...?” the words were a completely different tone that before, quiet and obviously hurt, but a necessary question.

It was also something that Shadow had thought about. Not moving, she simply talked into his neck and figured he’d listen carefully if he really wanted to know, “I had Loki take us to the Mid Rim. Should take us a half standard day to get there...but I know a good place for her.”

“Going to tell me?” Jyren asked, idly starting to rub Shadow’s back...almost trying to find a way to get a straight answer out of her, even if he had to ‘cheat’ more.

He felt her head move on his shoulder in what had to have been a ‘no’, “I was the one who trained her, Jyren...let me do this.”

“From the sound of it...I’m not going with you,” Jyren mumbled, suddenly becoming worried about what exactly she was planning and why he wasn’t involved...especially when it was Jen.

This time, Shadow did sit up to look him in the eyes, “I want you to do something else.”

“For you?”

Shadow shook her head...then stopped, and shrugged, “For all of us.”

For a moment, Jyren almost thought he had an idea of what she meant. When he latched onto the...the distant something in the link, Shadow actually nodded again and said, “There’s something you’ve been putting off for a good five years now. If we are going to make this work between us...if you really mean what you said about Tobias...you need to go and do it.”

There was a silence between them for a very long time before Jyren finally nodded. He did know exactly what she meant. In fact, Jyren had been surprised it had taken her this long to really push him into a position where he would have to go through with it. As he nodded, he drew her into another strong embrace and said quietly into her ear, “I will. One question, though...if you’re going somewhere else, where can I meet you afterwards?”

Shadow returned the embrace and let out a sigh. It was another thing she’d given a great deal of thought to. Something she hadn’t even really decided on until that moment. Then, almost too quietly to be heard, Shadow answered, “Back at the Gateway to Home.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 331*

Naboo was, generally, the same planet it had been since long before the Empire was even an idea. Its location, far from the Core Worlds, likely had a lot to do with the fact that it was not at all ravaged by the wars that had raged over the past decades. Even after the Empire fell, the planet was left alone...it had only been the vacation spot for most Imperial Officers, with a single garrison in the capital city of Theed to ‘protect’ the entirety of the planet. This, of course, meant that the general populace felt little influence from the Empire at all. The cities were still as beautiful and extravagant as ever, and the fields were farmed just as always.

Jyren set down the X-Wing in a spot where it didn’t look like he’d harm any crops, but also was in walking distance of the single building out in the middle of no where on the planet. It was the same, boxy structure as all the buildings on the planet, with green domed roofs over each of the sections. Even the older looking garage had the same design as everything else.

Tearing his eyes away from the view, Jyren hit the switch to raise the canopy and said over his shoulder, “So, Toby, why again were you hiding back there?”

A giggle sounded from the rear seat before a series of scratching noises and in a moment, the little Alraxian was perched on the edge of Jyren’s seat and looking him straight in the eye from only a few centimeters away, “Mama said you’d play!”

Jyren rolled his eyes, doing his best to ignore the word that Tobias had used instead of ‘Shadow’. Typical. He’d gotten the ship into hyperspace and then, out of no where, there was a ‘grrr!’ behind him. He’d assumed that Toby had snuck in on his own, but it suddenly made a great deal of sense that Shadow had been the start of it. She’d been...relatively quiet about where she and Loki were going, though it didn’t surprise Jyren for some reason. He’d been quiet, too.

It was...strange, really. There had been very, very little talk about what had happened. Not that neither of them wanted to, but more than there was nothing to actually discuss. It was over, and that was all that mattered. The very thought, though, surprised Jyren, and he knew it had a lot to do with the link. Normally, he’d have dwelled on something like that for years but...but the link seemed to make things different. He couldn’t bury anything inside without Shadow digging it right up, and a good amount of it probably had to do with some of her own personality seeping through to him.

“Alright, Toby, c’mon,” Jyren picked up the child after setting up the ladder and then climbed down to the grassy ground below. He was currently human, as it was just so much easier to fly an X-Wing like that and...and he needed to be currently. Once he was down, Jyren let Toby drop to the ground and watched he child’s eyes roam around almost like a predator, “I’ve got something to do first, little guy, so you stay out here and play.”

Tobias made an ‘uh-huh’ noise before pouncing what was probably a bug and ‘grrr’ing a lot. Jyren grinned and poked Toby in the back with his boot, “Don’t hurt anything, little guy, and stay close to the house.”

There was a noise from the little Alraxian before he scampered off into the part of the field with taller grass that made it easier to hide in. Jyren watched for a minute before taking off his gloves and tossing them up into the cockpit, then finally closing the thing. After climbing back down to the ground and straightening his old brown jacket out of nervousness, Jyren let out a long sigh and headed for the house.

When he reached the entrance, Jyren pressed the small call button next to the door. It beeped, and then he waited. Jyren only had to wait for a half minute before the door slid open to reveal an older man with greying brown hair and a simple shirt and trousers on. He was clean shaven and well tanned, obviously the type to be outside a great deal, and upon seeing Jyren, his expression seemed to change from somewhat annoyed to suddenly curious, “Can I help you...?”

So this was it.

Years of putting it off and ignoring it...and here he was. There was no turning back now.

After another deep breath, Jyren managed to find his voice, “Yes, sir, my name is ah...um...” he trailed off a long moment, suddenly blanking before his mind kicking the mouth into using the right one, “My name is Raan Maxwell.”

A wave of emotion washed over the man, and the expression on his face grew neutral. He stood there looking at Jyren for a long minute before finally saying, “I knew I recognized you...” there was another pause, and Jyren started to get more and more nervous. But then, the man reached up and patted his shoulder, motioning inside, “C’mon in, Raan, its good to finally meet you.”

Jyren followed where the man led him, eventually reaching a small room that looked to be the main living area. There were some chairs, a viewscreen, and other random things strewn about. Jyren had a seat in the chair offered to him, and the man sat across from him. When he sat, Jyren said, “I’m uh...sorry I didn’t do this sooner.”

“Its been nearly five years,” the older man responded with a nod, “We were...surprised that you didn’t show up at the ceremony.”

“Yes...well...” Jyren trailed off into a mumble and finally shrugged, “Listen, Mr. Mare, I’m...sorry.”

“Terek.”

“Huh?”

“That’s my name,” Terek Mare said with the first hint of a smile on his features. He then waved a hand at Jyren, “And you don’t have a damned thing to be sorry about. I know you wrote that long thing trying to explain how it was all your fault, but do you really think I didn’t make sure to get a hold of the official records, too?”

“No! No that’s not what I meant,” Jyren shook his head, trying to make sense of everything as it all became a thousand times more clouded, “I should have been here for the ceremony. I just...I just couldn’t do it then.”

Terek nodded, an understanding look on his face, then leaned forward some, “We actually tried to get in contact with you afterwards...but the New Republic said you left Starfighter Command and wouldn’t say anything else.”

“Yeah...” the young man just nodded, sighing and then forcing himself to look Terek in the eye, “It wasn’t exactly the best time for me. I...I did a lot of stupid things,” as he trailed off, it became obvious that the older man was going to try to say something, but Jyren waved a hand and quickly cut in, “Listen, I’m not here to tell you how bad things were. You had it worse, I know. She was your daughter.”

Again, Terek nodded, but he didn’t seem to be completely agreeing with Jyren, “None of us had it worse than anyone else. Liz was my daughter, yes, but...well, she talked a lot about you. In fact, it was all we ever heard about. It was hard on all of us, and it still is...but believe me, putting one of us below the other isn’t going to do a thing. Don’t worry about that now, Raan, just tell me what you need.”

“I don’t need anything,” Jyren shook his head, still finding it strange to respond to that name. He then quickly reached into his jacket and pulled out a handful of things and handed them to Terek, “I uh...kind of ended up with her things. I think you should have these.”

Taking the things from Jyren, the older man took a long time to look at all of them. The holoimage of her and Jyren...the random objects that everyone always seemed to have...and the datapad that was her journal. After a few quiet minutes, all of the objects were handed back to Jyren, “Keep them.”

“Wha...?”

“I’ve already got the image,” Terek said with a smile, pointing over to a table where an exact copy of it sat, “And the rest I think are better for you to keep.”

As Jyren took them back, suddenly lost as to what to do, the man spoke up again, “Its only been a few years, Raan...but if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were a decade older.”

“That bad, huh?” Jyren asked, almost grinning at that and finding a small mirror across the room to look at his face in. Yeah, he wasn’t that kid anymore. There were scars and scratches and...and the eyes didn’t look so happy. Or maybe just not as bright. Even his hair was scruffier. It didn’t help that the jacket had taken a worse beating than anything else over the years.

“Tell me,” the voice cut into Jyren’s thoughts and jolted him back into he moment, “Where have you been these last few years? From the way Liz talked, you aren’t the kind to just up and disappear like you did.”

“It’s a uh...long story.”

That actually got a smile out of the old man, “That was the first thing you wrote in the message to us after Liz died. It wasn’t exactly very long, either.”

Somehow, that got a smile from Jyren, too. He then added a shrug to it, “I’m just good at adding a little extra drama to things.”

“Alright, fine, you don’t have to tell me everything,” Terek shrugged and then glanced out one of the nearby windows that looked out across the field, “But I can probably make a few guesses. That little boy you’ve got with you definitely answers some things.”

“Woah, woah, woah!” Jyren shook his hands and his head, “Its not what you think. I mean...look at him!” he then looked around to look out the window, catching a glimpse of the black furred, blue-striped Tobias pouncing up and around a tree, “He’s not even human!”

Two very critical eyes turned to look back at Jyren, and Terek’s smile simply held its place, “I didn’t say it answers everything...but trust me on this, Raan, you look just like I did when Liz was young.”

The idea was left to hang in the air for a few minutes as the two of them watched Tobias through the window. After a while, though, Terek spoke up again, “You didn’t wait all these years to come out here and hand me a bunch of Liz’s things. Looks like you’ve got time to me, so why don’t you at least indulge me and tell me where you’ve been all these years?”

Jyren turned to look at the older man, but didn’t take very long to give in. He told Terek everything. Everything after Liz had died. From the darkest moments that hurt to even think about to that night on the Capital world in the Alraxian Empire with Shadow...to just hours earlier when he’d left Loki to get to the planet and go through with all of this. No details were left out, and it felt amazingly good to finally let someone know everything instead of having to keep it all in.

Once it was over and Jyren finally sat back, Terek looked over the young man very slowly, “Now I think I understand why it took you this long to get out here. Sounds to me like this is the first time you’ve had to actually sit in nearly five years.”

A smile slipped through Jyren’s defenses and he added a shrug to it, “That’s about right. But its not so bad...”

“If you’re worried about me being angry that you found someone other than my daughter, don’t be,” Terek shook his head and glanced over to the holo again, “Its important to accept that was has happened has already happened and cannot be changed. No, the pain will never go away, but you must learn to live with it and go on with your life...and, honestly, it sounds to me like you’ve done a good job with that. I know that Liz would be happy.”

Jyren’s eyes looked down at the floor before finally saying, “I guess I just don’t understand why I got a second chance...but she didn’t. She deserved one a thousand times more than I do.”

“Its not about who deserved anything,” Terek said simply, finally standing up and walking over to look out the window completely, “That’s just how life is. It can be gone or an instant or go on for who knows how long. There’s no sense in being angry because you were allowed to move on. No, its not fair, and yes, I want my daughter back as much as you do...but no amount of wanting will ever change that. Its something I had to learn, too...Jyren. What you do with your life is not anything to punish yourself about. Look out there. You say he’s not your real son, but really look. What do you feel? Does it even matter? That child right there is enough of a reason for you to live as anything else. How did you feel growing up without parents? Now look at him and ask yourself if you want the same for him...because if you continue to hang onto an event that is unchangeable, its going to happen.”

By now, Jyren was standing next to the man. He slowly nodded and watched as Toby rolled across some grass after some creature beneath the grass, “I understand...but still, there’s that feeling that comes back whenever I take too much time to think about it.”

“And that’s understandable,” Terek said, turning to face him, “But you learn to accept that, too. Its part of being...well, alive. Dealing with loss comes hand-in-hand with love. You can’t have one without the other, and no matter how much you seem to doubt yourself, you’ve done a damned good job standing up after being hit again and again.”

That actually brought the smile back to Jyren face, “I learned that from Liz. She never, ever let me fall behind on anything, whether I liked it or not.”

Patting him on the shoulder again, Terek returned the smile, “You see? She’s still right there with you, just not how you expected. And she always will be. I know that girl wasn’t Force Sensitive, but she was as stubborn as her mother...I know neither of them would ever let someone they loved go on without them, even if death tried to get in the way.”

There was a series of interesting curses from a few rooms over and a crash. A laugh escaped the old man and he pushed Jyren around to face the way he’d come in, “Speaking of my wife...listen, go get that little monster an bring him in. I know my wife would kill me if she didn’t get to meet you or the little one, and that means you aren’t getting out of here without being fed.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 332*

Despite the fact that the galaxy was almost completely explored, save for some large areas of the Unknown Regions, there were still countless numbers of habitable but unoccupied planets strewn about every corner of the galaxy. Most had life of some kind, but just as many were devoid of anything but the ground and their atmosphere. Therefore, it was no surprise that one such planet wasn’t too terribly far off from Naboo...though it did happen to be a nice little coincidence that this one was only a few lightyears out.

It didn’t have a name...or at least, no name that Shadow knew of. The climate was about the same as on Alraxia, though a bit more on the rainy side with lush stretches of jungle across most of its surface. But there was one spot next to the shore of the single, huge ocean, that was cleared of anything but rock and dirt. A large hill overlooked the ocean below, and had not been empty for nearly...nearly ten standard years now.

That had been when she had first found the place. Ever since then, a small stone marker sat on top of the hill, with Alraxian words carved over its surface. Time had not faded them at all, and Shadow couldn’t help but be a little proud that the marks she’d made with her claws had stayed that well. The single stone, marking the grave of the smuggler who had taken her in after escaping from the Empire, had not been moved by a single thing in all of those years.

But now the marker was not alone. To its right, were two new ones, about the same shape and size and taken from the same rocks that littered the shoreline. Shadow had just finished carving into the second stone and putting it in its place before finally standing back and looking down at it all. A nameless planet who’s surface now contained three names.

Shadow knelt down next to the center stone and dusted off a little of the scrapings from her claw marks, making sure that it was readable...not that anyone would ever understand it. But that really wasn’t the point. The point was that it was there, it was clear, and it would never, ever go away. After it was fixed, she looked to the older of the three and sighed.

Max had died a good ten years ago, but she could still remember his face all too clearly. Middle aged and definitely looked it, with thinning hair and a few grey spots, Max had been well built and always wore the baggiest, piece of junk clothes that seemed to be held together more by sheer force of will than any actual threading. He had always been in a good mood, even when deals went bad...and always made it out with just a scratch. To remember it by, he would always say.

But then one day, a job went very bad. Shadow could close her eyes and stand there again, in the small tavern on Ord Mantell when the white-armored Stormtroopers marched in. It had felt like a bad deal from the beginning, but they had gone through with it anyway...so it hadn’t been too surprising to see the Imperial troops show up. What had been surprising, though, was the fact that two of the troopers carried repeating blaster rifles, and that at least two of the patrons in the bar were Imperial agents waiting behind them.

The ambush had been well planned, and Shadow had only made it out because of a quick misdirection thanks to her using the Force to ‘borrow’ a concussion grenade from one of the troopers. But when she made it out, Max wasn’t right there...and she knew right away that he hadn’t survived the initial blaster barrage that came at them from both sides. And later, she had gone in and retrieved his body before bringing it here.

Now, next to him, lay Jen Zaarin Voort...and next to her, a marker for Titus Voort. What had happened to his body, Shadow didn’t know, but he deserved the marker as much as the two others. But Jen was placed there, and despite the fact that Jyren had known her much better than Shadow had, she knew that this was something she needed to do herself. She had trained Jen, and because of that, Shadow took full responsibility for the human’s actions. It was not Jen’s fault that she was not ready...but Shadow’s for trying to push too hard, too fast.

Finally, Shadow sat down in front of all three markers and looked at them. For all she knew, this would be the last time she’d ever be on this planet...and ever see these markers. After this, it was back home. Back to where she needed to be. Yes, Shadow had done her best through the years to avoid going back to Alraxia, but it was time to stop hiding and accept who she was.

She was not Shadow...or Alrax...or Delta Three...she was Marix BlueIce, the Empress of the Alraxian Empire and leader of her people. They needed her. Despite how much she wanted to just stay away, they truly needed her, and nothing could replace that. While she would at least give Jyren the chance to stay back, she knew he wouldn’t. It was...comforting to know that he’d stay with her, even though he was even more detached from the Empire than she was.

It was strange, but a part of her was glad it was over. Glad for the opportunity to stop running to stay alive and be able to stop and relax, even if only for a short time. There had been one wonderful night back on the Capital world when she had felt that...despite the fact that it had only been a single night, and afterwards the attack had come and, in the days to follow, her mother, father, and closest friend had been killed. But the night before was calm and like nothing she’d ever even imagined...and, in all honesty, Shadow wouldn’t mind a few more of them.

Running a hand through her hair to pull the damned stuff out of her sight, Shadow got to her feet and actually allowed herself a smile. It would be something new. Not nearly as exciting as a fight or even a good run across a planet, but it would be new. Besides, after all these years of chaos and running and fighting and, ultimately being stuck on her own...that was over. Why not move on with it? It was impossible to tell what would happen, and it just might be worth all of the struggle to reach it. Then again, it might not...and that could be easily fixed by hitting Jyren across the head hard enough to get him to ‘play’.

[Loki, can you come pick me up now?] she asked, for once not actually looking up and instead keeping her gaze off across the water below.

The ‘voice’ answered in her head as if he was as close as usual, despite the fact that he was probably on the other side of the planet. [Be there in a minute. Where to next?]

Marix BlueIce looked down at the markers one last time before turning to the jungle behind her. [We’re going to meet Jyren and Toby at the Gate...then we’ll head home.]

The answer she gave seemed to actually surprise the ship. [For good...?]

[For a while, at least.] she started walking down the hill towards the larger open section of the shore where Loki could set down. [Now stop being slow and get over here. You’re obviously getting too bored without having Toby around to lock up and have yell at you.]

[Awww...how cute. You actually sound like you miss the little guy.] there was a grin in the mental voice now. [I wonder what Jyren would say if I let him know...]

Marix looked up at the sky above in the direction where Loki probably was and glared at it. [Shut up, Loki.]

Of course, the ship didn’t shut up. He knew well enough by now that when she said that was the perfect time to go on an all out attack. And, of course, Loki took full advantage of that. By the time they were in hyperspace, she was already threatening to end the ship’s life...just like the days when it had only been the two of them. It was another thing that part of her loved to remember. And, again, she couldn’t help but wonder if this would be it.

But Marix wasn’t Jyren, no matter how much his personality seeped through the link. She didn’t dwell on the could-have-been’s and what-if’s. Instead, she would simply move on and wait to see what would happen.

If anything, she knew that it was certainly going to be interesting.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 336*

“You’re sure about this?” Marix asked quietly as she and Jyren looked out the viewport in Loki’s cockpit. In front of them, once again, was the large ring that guarded the entrance to Alraxian space. They had contacted the Knights that guarded the border and were told the shield would be taken down in the next few minutes.

Jyren sat forward in his usual seat to her left and peered out at the thing. After a moment, he turned to look her direction through the fringe of his hair that came over a good portion of the right side of his face, “Of course I am.”

She nodded and also leaned forward some, stretching slightly in the process. There was a slight pop sound from her back, and a cringe appeared on her face. That actually got a grin from Jyren, but her expression quickly became a sharp glare. No words were actually exchanged on that matter, even through the link. However, she did speak up after a few more seconds again, “This isn’t exactly going off for another adventure, Jyren.”

This time, he turned to face her completely, reaching up to brush the fringe out of his face so he could look at her more clearly, “I know. Really, though, do you think I’d let you go off on your own? Besides...it will be nice to have a break. I know I didn’t expect to come back so soon, but we’ve done what needed to be done...tied up all the loose ends on this side of the galaxy. We might as well clean up the mess we left back home.”

Home.

He’d said it before, but Marix could feel that he really meant it this time. She allowed herself a smile before reaching over to rest a hand on his, “You going to survive the formalities and the politics we’re going to be stuck dealing with?”

“We?” Jyren grinned and squeezed her hand, “You’re the Empress, remember? I get to sit back while you do all the work. The real question is, are you going to survive?”

“I did before,” Marix returned the grin and glanced towards the ring again, “And don’t think you’re completely off the hook. There’s no way I’m going to do all the work when you’re a perfectly good scapegoat for the grunt work.”

Jyren’s eyes went wide at that, though, for once, it was easy for Marix to detect the sarcasm, “Grunt work? I’m sorry, Shady, but Emperors don’t do grunt work.”

Getting her hand free of his, she poked him in the chest, “When I’m in charge they do.”

Out of no where, Jyren suddenly snatched her hand and tried to yank her across the cockpit to him. Thanks to the fact that Shadow was pretty much always ready for some kind of ‘attack’, it proved to be more difficult than he had expected...and ended up with her lurching halfway across the cockpit with a yelp, only to cut off Jyren’s laugh by pulling back. In a blur, he found himself face up on the deck between the two seats in the cockpit, looking up at Marix as she still hung slightly off of the side of her seat.

“That wasn’t funny,” Marix said through a very large grin.

Jyren’s face looked pretty much the same, except for a bit more surprise that he was now on the deck instead of in his seat, “You never let me have any fun, anymore.”

“None at all,” she agreed after finally letting go of his arm and allowing him to get back into the co-pilot’s chair.

After plopping back down and leaning all the way back, he glanced over to her and asked, “Is it going to be like last time? Or will we at least have a little peace and between all those damned formalities?”

Marix bit her lip and also leaned back, “It will be...much the same at first, I expect. I don’t think anyone expected either of us back so quickly. But afterwards things should...should calm down a little. I just hope the situation with the Mrrakesh can stay as calm as it is...”

“You and me both,” Jyren agreed with a nod, “I’ve seen what their ships can do and that was enough.”

The subject itself brought a somewhat tense silence to the cockpit. Jyren’s attention was still on Marix, and while that wasn’t all that out of the ordinary, it still made her a bit jumpy when he stared at her like that...not that she didn’t do the same to him a good amount of the time. That, of course, was not the point. The point was it was unnerving, yet at the same time she couldn’t bring herself to say a damned thing about it.

[The shield is down.] Loki’s ‘voice’ echoed in their minds for a long time before either of them actually reacted to it.

Marix was the first to, and she quickly sat up straight and looked to see that the blueish glow that usually sat in the center of the thing had faded. The path was clear now. As she reached down to rest her hands on the controls, Marix’s eyes turned back to where Jyren sat, “Last chance. There’s not going to be any turning back after we do this...”

“Your last chance, too,” Jyren said, sitting up and looking carefully out at the empty blackness that now inhabited the center of the ring.

The words actually hit her fairly strongly, and caused her to hesitate for a long minute. Then, shaking herself out of it, Marix whispered, “They need me. They need us...” trailing of a moment, she once again looked over to Jyren, “This isn’t something we can just avoid. There is a Council and changes are coming, but that means that need their Empress even more. Even if the position loses its power...they’ll need me. Some stability to look to and know that the Empire is safe...that they are safe.”

Jyren nodded slowly, reaching over again and resting his hand on hers, half holding the controls as she did, “Then we’ll be there and do that.”

For a long time, they sat in silence again, and once again, Marix seemed to be actually afraid of going anywhere. Quietly still, she asked, “You’re really sure about this?”

Suddenly, Jyren was very glad that the seats were able to move around the cockpit fairly freely. It allowed him to slide right over to her without any trouble. Carefully, and knowing it was still slightly unnerving for her, Jyren brought his other hand up and rested it on her cheek while looking her straight in the eyes, “I’ll follow you anywhere.”

The words were simple, and truthful, but there was so much more in them that Marix found through the link. All of the feelings and thoughts that went along with the simple words flowed through at the same time, and she knew exactly what he meant, and exactly how serious he was when he said it. A smile again returned to her face, and she gently rubbed her cheek against his hand a moment before opening her mouth to say something and finding herself unable to say anything at all. When she realized this, though, Marix didn’t just sit there like an idiot as Jyren seemingly enjoyed doing, but just nodded instead.

In another few minutes, Loki made the jump to hyperspace...straight to Alraxia.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Part V
Chapter 337*

“Six, you’ve got two on your tail!” the voice was young, of course, and vaguely human sounding...probably male.

“This is Four, there’s another three coming around from behind that asteroid!” this was definitely not human, and had a watery quality to it that identified the speaker as, most likely, a Mon Calamari.

“Asteroids don’t move like that!” the first voice returned quickly, though there was a scream a second later from another.

“Shields are out! I need some help!!”

“Hang on, Five, I’m on my way!” it was the Mon Calamari again, sounding frantic all of a sudden.

“There’s hundreds of them!” female, definitely, and most likely humanoid...with a slight Coruscanti accent in the voice.

“Just protect the refugees!” it was a new voice, firm and strong, and probably someone in charge, but beyond that, there was no way to attach any kind of picture to the speaker, as it was such a generic ‘Command’ voice.

“Break away! There’s too many!” another new voice, but this one was cut off by another yell from another voice before any identification could be made.

“The transports are ready to make the jump to lightspeed,” it was the ‘Command’ voice again, “Get yourselves ready and get out now!”

There was the slightest of pauses and only crackling static remained...and then...

“I can’t jump!!” it was the first voice again, “There’s some kind of gravity well but there’s no damned planet!!”

“The second wave is coming in!” yet another new voice with a very unique pitch to it chimed in, but then it all faded into something else entirely. No single voices could be heard...instead, the entire thing became a series of screams, muffled explosions, and even worse noises that sounded like bones breaking that should never, ever be heard over a comm.

“That’s enough!” Jyren finally growled, looking to his right to where Marix sat in a disturbingly calm way despite what they were listening to, “Turn that damned thing off!”

The last thing that escaped the comm was a static-filled cry before Marix reached over and switched it off, drowning Loki’s cockpit in a wave of pure silence. They sat there in their usual spots eyes looking out the viewport and to the distant black...where, somewhere not too far away, the massacre went on, despite the fact that they were no longer listening.

Finally, Marix sat back and turned to look at Jyren, idly taking note of the fact that he looked much better after she’d finally managed to convince him to stop trying to look so scruffy. Sure, he still had that fringe hanging down over the right side of his face, but at least now it was trimmed and looked nice, and the hair wasn’t piling up at his neck like the fur of some angry beast. Telling him that it didn’t suit an Emperor to look scruffy had taken a long time to actually get through the always-thick skull of his, and it had finally been accomplished through a joint effort with his father. But that had been...years ago now, though it felt like only days.

“If we try to get involved, we’ll just die, too,” Marix said eventually, knowing exactly what her ever-idealistic husband was thinking before even he did...well, normally before he did. He had actually been thinking about that for the last few days, and it was the whole reason they were out here now. After a sigh, she turned to look out the viewport again, “Remember, we only came out here to get an idea of the situation.”

Jyren pointed at the comm device over in front of where she sat, “If that didn’t give you a pretty good idea, I don’t know what will.”

To his surprise, Marix actually nodded. Despite all the years together, she still had a way of reacting exactly how he didn’t expect she would. Sometimes, Jyren wondered if she just did it on purpose...and, whether he knew it or not, he was actually right. Slowly, she reached up and ran a hand through her hair(which, unlike his, was generally unchanged) and idly scratched a spot behind her ear, “That asteroid was a ship.”

“I’ve seen the scout’s reports, too,” Jyren said flatly, obviously not in a good mood with any of this. Truthfully, it wasn’t for no reason, “You’d think the New Republic would be ready for this kind of thing after two months.”

Marix just shrugged, “They got too comfortable. You should know as well as I do by now that two standard months can seem like an eternity in politics.”

There was much more to that than was initially obvious, and it took Jyren a moment to pick up on the hidden message. When he did, he raised and eyebrow and looked over to her again, “So you’re worried about this, too?”

“Concerned,” she corrected, raising a hand at the same time, “But at least now we’ve got more of a reason to have left rather than just trying to escape the Palace for a few days...” the words trailed off before Marix sighed, then added, “This is too close to us, Jyren.”

“Could it explain why the Mrrakesh have been so jumpy on the border lately?” he asked idly. It wasn’t a new thought, and, in fact, it had been one he’d thrown around a lot...but Marix had never actually given him a straight answer to it before.

Yet again, though, she just shrugged, “It might, but the timing’s a bit off. We’ll have to keep an eye on that end of things, too.”

And then, a natural silence returned to the cockpit. This one, however, lasted only a few minutes. It was ended by Loki chiming in with a somewhat worried tone. [The ah...battle is moving towards us.]

“What?” Jyren was the first to say what they both were about to. He looked down a moment at the small navcomputer he’d managed to convince Loki to install a few years back before shaking his head, “Where the hell are they trying to go?”

“Can’t jump to hyperspace...” Marix said softly to herself, thinking out loud more than anything, “Escorting refugees...running. But it would be a long run to anywhere out here.”

“Dantooine’s close,” Jyren said after a moment of looking closer, “Nothing there at all, though. Don’t see how that would help.”

Again, Marix shrugged, but sat forward some and said simply, “Either way, it doesn’t matter. We’re not getting involved in this fight. Loki, turn us around and plot us a course out of here.”

[To...?]

Marix turned to look to Jyren, and they held a single look for a short time. They would be expected back at the Palace by the end of the day on Alraxia...which was quickly approaching. However, neither of them really wanted to go back all that much. There were only a few small(literally and metaphorically) things that tied them to that place. It was Jyren who decided to be the irresponsible one first though, since she was the Empress and it wouldn’t look good even if no one was looking, “They could do without us for another few days...”

A long time ago, that would have convinced the both of them in a matter of seconds. But now there were...other things on both of their minds. Slowly, the both of them went through the usual motions of making sure just how long they’d been gone and if the Empire would fall about without them. Then, even more slowly, Marix said quietly, “...just a few more days.”

After they both nodded one more time, she looked back up ‘to’ Loki and said, “Ord Mantell isn’t too far from here.”

Jyren nodded again, but it was obvious he had another idea. She gave the poke through the link and, without hesitation, he said, “I’d like to go somewhere else, actually...”

“Out with it, already,” she grumbled, still constantly annoyed by his ever present use of stalling tactics. She’d have thought he’d have known by now that those only made her more angry than if he’d just step out and say what he was wanting to say.

“What about Yavin?”

That brought another silence to the ship.

Marix regarded the Alraxian sitting next to her for a long time, both with her eyes and through their shared link, before saying slowly, as she did when talking to children, “You are sure about that? You do remember the last time you tried talking with them...?”

Jyren responded with a fairly quick nod, “But it’s the safest place I can think of and...”

That thought didn’t take a genius to finish, even without the link. Marix rolled her eyes and sighed, “And you want to help if you can. Dammit, Jyren, its always the same. Didn’t you just say not a week ago that you were enjoying the lack of constant threat of death hanging over our heads?”

“Yes, but—“

”But this is different,” she finished for him, shaking her head and going on, “And it is. Fine. Loki, plot a course to Yavin and get us out of here before we get stuck, too.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 338*

Ten standard years was, for Humans, a long time. For an Alraxian, however...it most definitely was not. Well, at least not when looked back at even more years later and realizing it was just a blink in time over a long life. Living through it, though, brought a different perspective to things that was actually not all that different from the way any species saw things. So yes, maybe ten standard years was a long time. With it had come so many changes that neither Jyren nor Marix could count. They could name the important things easily, but so much always happened that was only important in the moment and never afterwards.

But what they looked at now was obviously not something to be ignored. One of the major changes that Marix had brought as Empress was a gradual reduction in the isolationist attitudes of the Alraxians and the other species that lived in the Empire. This meant scouts, small trading vessels, and other little things would periodically leave and come back...though it also meant that the security for the single hyperspace route into the Empire was upped even more than it had been for the previous thousands of years. And thanks to the scouts, especially, reports of the goings-on in the rest of the galaxy were able to make their way to the Empress.

Two standard months earlier, they recieved a report of some kind of attack on a world called Helska. Even Jyren didn’t know the place, but when he found it on the navcomputer and realized just how close it was to Alraxian space compared to most events in the galaxy, it became worrying. This was only added to the fact that, very quickly, this single attack turned into what looked to be a full scale invasion. It had been fought back then...but now it looked like it had been only the initial force attempting to gain a foothold. And despite the fact that the invaders had been thrown back and their foothold on Helska removed, it should have been no surprise to see what was most likely the main force charge in not two months later.

And it was coming from outside the galaxy itself. This was what worried them so much. These invaders, these Yuuzhan Vong, as they were apparently called, were charging straight into the galaxy at a point very, very close to Mrrakesh space. Adding to the fact that, in the last few months, the Alraxian-Mrrakesh border was the location of many more skirmishes than usual, this had both Jyren and Marix worried that the invaders were pushing from there, too. And that meant a threat to the Empire...which was why they had left to see for themselves just how things were going in the rest of the galaxy.

So far, though, it was hard to tell much. They had found the planet Dubrillion under attack and that was where they listened to the New Republic comms. From the look of it, the Yuuzhan Vong were heading Coreward, straight past the small patch of the Imperial Remnant that remained nearby, and, so far, away from the Mrrakesh and Alraxians as far as could be seen.

The fact that it looked like the attack was not the direct reason for the border disputes was the main reason why Marix and Jyren decided it was okay to stay away from home for a few more days. The Empire itself would be fine, of course, and it was stupid to think otherwise...but it was the small things that gripped both of their attention much more. And also a large part of the reason the both of them had trouble tearing themselves away from the Palace lately.

But a few days would be alright. With their home out of immediate danger, they could worry a little less and focus on a little more recon. The side trip to Yavin IV would just be an added attempt by Jyren to gain a little help from the growing Jedi Order. He’d tried to do the same roughly six years before, only to be treated like a violent, dangerous person who treated a lightsaber like a toy. That, of course, meant he didn’t stay long, since by then Jyren was long past those childish days. He had simply wanted...a little assistance. A little insight. Just another view, really, as he had come to see the Force very close to the Alraxians did...fluid, open, and not just one single thing that the Jedi seemed to believe it was, though he still refused any attempt that Marix made to open him up to more uses of the Force. Most of which were at best, borderline unnecessary, and at worst, blatantly aggressive. While he was definitely no real Jedi, Jyren still drew the line, for himself at least, there.

It was important to him, though. Important mainly due to the fact that Tobias had become more and more interested in the Jedi over the years, and Jyren at least had to check out what was really going on with them and if things were...were right. Not that Tobias was going to be a Jedi, of course, he was still young(though definitely not a tiny child)...but Jyren at least wanted to see. And, despite the ever growing tension in the Force that was rising in the months since the Yuuzhan Vong first appeared, he felt it was worth trying one more time...hoping that the Jedi would be like before, and at the same time that the planet wouldn’t be the next target for the invasion force that neither he nor Marix wanted to get involved in...

...for the moment, at least.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 339*

In many ways, Yavin IV was a lot like Alraxia. The temperature was warm, it was very humid by Human standards, and the thick jungles that covered the entire surface made it so much like the Alraxian homeworld that the only way to tell the difference was the lack of extremely dangerous predators. Well, that and the only buildings were pretty much ruins, where Alraxia at least had the Palace and its surrounding area that was enclosed in the large shield to protect the city from the predators of the planet.

As Loki set down in the small clearing in front of the Great Temple that served as the main building for the Jedi Academy, Marix carefully watched the approach of a few New Republic troops in addition to the Jedi that were coming to greet them. She sighed and glanced to Jyren, “It would probably be a good idea to not tell them that Loki is alive.”

“Agreed,” he nodded and then patted the bulkhead next to him, “I get the feeling that they wouldn’t take too kindly to that idea. It feels tense enough out there, probably best not to add anything we don’t have to.”

Just as he was speaking, Marix was acting accordingly. It took barely a second, but soon she was considerably shorter, and there was a definite lack of tail also...and lack of stripe. In fact, she was Human. The same she’d always looked as a Human: relatively short, with short, straight, jet-black hair and a small build. After giving him a long, slow look that was just as effective in any form(as somehow, her eyes seemed to actually grow more piercing as a Human) Jyren gave in and followed suit. It was...strange to be Human again, really. While he knew his Alraxian body had changed, even if it was really just the length of his hair, the morphs were always the same...unless, of course, effort was thrown in.

But because that little extra effort was, technically, unnecessary it wasn’t used...and that meant Jyren looked exactly the same he had close to eleven years earlier. Thankfully, it wasn’t such a young look that people would get suspicious. He had been at the right age to be able to look like that for a long time and get away with it without much more than a careful look from a few people.

“I guess I get to do the talking this time,” Jyren mumbled as he followed her out of the cockpit.

Marix glanced over her shoulder and smiled, “For once. Just don’t get us killed.”

“I never do that on purpose, thank you,” he grumbled while they rounded a corner in the corridor to the hatch.

“Of course not,” she rolled her eyes as she spoke while reaching over to hit the switch to open the hatch, “It just happens that you have a way of getting people to shoot at you before you say ‘hello’.”

Jyren grinned and shrugged, “What can I say? A special talent of mine.”

And the conversation ended there. Not that much else needed to be said...it was nothing new. If it went on much longer it would end up in something that most people would call a brawl, but Marix and Jyren had a habit of calling ‘fun’. They never really meant to cause harm...but if the other didn’t move fast enough...

“This is not exactly the best time for visiting,” the thoughts were cut off by the strong voice of Kam Solusar. He was one of the Jedi that Jyren remember very clearly...and, truthfully, was hard to forget. He was tall, strong, and despite probably being close to middle-aged, didn’t look it one bit. He wore simple robes that most of the Jedi seemed to have adopted over the years and had his arms folded across his chest.

Jyren stepped up next to Marix and found that he had to look up slightly to be eye to eye with the Jedi...which was a good way to avoid the six New Republic troopers that were eyeing them closely, “I assume you greeting me like this means that Skywalker isn’t here.”

Solusar raised an eyebrow but shook his head, “If I’d known it was you I’d have brought more, actually. And no, Master Skywalker isn’t here but it has nothing to do with this security.”

“Right,” Jyren added just enough sarcasm to show he wasn’t happy, which was, of course, nothing new. But then he changed to a more casual tone, “I’m not here for another fight, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

The Jedi’s eyes darted down for a moment to the lightsaber on Jyren’s belt, but then back up to his eyes, obviously trying to read him. This became even more apparent when Jyren felt a slight brush in the Force, which he did his best to push back...too much of that and the strong connection he had with Marix might be noticed. That was just one of those things that both he and Marix knew was best to avoid. Sure, they could explain it off with as the Force, but it wasn’t and that could be easily noticed if looked at just a little more carefully.

The moment passed, and the Jedi then asked, “Then what are you doing here?”

Jyren glanced to Marix for a moment, then back to Solusar, “We need a safe place to stay for a couple of days.”

Such a simple request, but the tension in the air still remained. After another long check through the Force, Kam asked, “Forgive me for being surprised that you’d come here.”

This time it was Marix who spoke up, now annoyed with the hidden meanings being passed back and forth without anyone getting directly to the point, “You can just say ‘no’ and we’ll find somewhere else.”

There was a certain tone to that sentence that put a wave of silence over the area. After finally seeming to notice that she was even there, Kam sighed and shook his head, “You came here because you knew we wouldn’t say that.”

“See?” Marix sighed back, “Simple as that.”

Now fully turning to face her, the Jedi looked down to find her staring right back with much more intensity than should have been possible. It actually got a slight smile to his face, “I don’t believe we’ve met before.”

“And if that’s an attempt to get more information out of us then I’d suggest giving up right now,” she rolled her eyes and glanced over to Jyren. He was actually grinning now, which didn’t exactly help things. But that was Jyren, of course...never helping. She then looked back to the Jedi and added, “Though if it helps, we won’t stay long. Just long enough until we’re sure its safe in this part of the galaxy to go home.”

It was actually a large amount of information, but worded just right to bury any questions meant to dig deeper. Marix had learned the fine art of giving just enough information to satisfy people without giving away anything at all. And it definitely worked from the look that came over Kam’s face. He seemed to relax and actually nodded before motioning towards the Great Temple, “You may not have picked the best planet, then.”

“I guess I wouldn’t be able to have a look at the latest reports,” Jyren said as he fell into step next to the Jedi. Marix was right next to him, and the troops, unsurprisingly, followed relatively close behind.

Looking over to Jyren, Kam Solusar actually looked neutral on the suggestion before saying, “Depends on where you call home.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 340*

It was still somewhat unnerving to see all of the Jedi that were actually present at the Academy. Sure, most of them were children or, at least, very young, but there was something in the air beyond the tension in the Force that made it...different than any other place either Marix or Jyren had been.

“For the moment,” Kam Solusar was saying, “We’re safe here.”

They were in a fairly large room that had probably once housed some kind of command room, but was now more of an open area with a few computer consoles here and there. The center had a large holoprojector, and above it was a map of the galaxy, with a small red blur representing the current, short, path that the invading Yuuzhan Vong were taking. Jyren was actually surprised that they were being shown this much, but it was probably due to...other reason beyond just being friendly.

It was Marix that shook her head and reached up to touch the holo where the Imperial Remnant was, “They deviate just slightly one way and they’ll take the Remnant easily...the other way...” she trailed her finger over to the other side of the red, “...and they go straight through here.”

The Jedi nodded, “There is a reason for the defense we have...however, there isn’t any strategic gain for taking this system.”

“Resources,” Jyren cut in, thinking out loud, “Help them gain what they need to push for the Core.”

That brought about an uneasy silence...not because of what he’d said, but because of the assumption he was making. A worried look flashed across Kam’s face for a quick second before disappearing to a neutral one again when he carefully asked, “Why do you think they’re pushing for the Core?”

Jyren took a deep breath, not wanted to outright say that he and Marix had sources with the same intelligence reports that the New Republic had, and instead tried a different angle, “Its what I would do. Hit the government center of the galaxy and throw everything else into chaos. Simple divide and conquer strategy.”

The worried look returned quickly to the Jedi, and this time it seeped through his voice. But instead of asking another foolish question, he went straight for the important point, “You know how long they’ve had scouts here.”

Deciding it wasn’t worth arguing, Jyren just nodded, but before an accusation could be made, he quickly added, “Again, simple strategy. Learn about your enemy before you attack. I believe they’ve already proven that they aren’t idiots.”

Slowly, the Jedi nodded again, but this time reached down and switched off the holo. With the blue-green light of the galaxy gone from the room, it was fairly dark again...not that it bothered any of them. Silence hung in the room for a long few minutes as they stood there thinking, but it was Kam that broke it with something that Jyren had not actually expected.

“You should stay here.”

The idea was so different from his last encounter with these Jedi that it threw Jyren off completely, “Wha...?”

Marix, however, was not that easily lost, and said simply, “He can’t.”

Kam’s eyes turned to Marix, “I meant both of you. Obviously you’ve both got a good amount of training and the Jedi Order could use your skills”

“We can’t,” Marix folded her arms over her chest and tried to ignore that Jyren was still catching up, “We have...other responsibilities.”

She was polite enough not to insult them or even hint at other beliefs in how the Force worked, but that was due to the fact that she really was not in the mood for this kind of discussion. It was not a discussion, as they simply could not, and would not, do it. There were too many risks, both in staying away from the Empire and the possibility of being discovered as more than just Human. The latter being the most worrying, as it would bring up many questions as to who they really were and where they came from and then...with a little checking, the fact that bounties were still out on a Shadow and Akan would be easy to discover.

But the Jedi did not seem to be at all hurt by this stance, and simply stood up straight and motioned towards the turbolift, “I can’t make you stay. But I know everyone here would appreciate any assistance you could give...or take. However, that is up to you and I won’t push it anymore...” he trailed off then read the both of them perfectly, “Now I believe I should show you to some empty quarters. With most of the Knights out doing their best to protect people its left us a little light here...not that you should expect to be able to just drop in anytime. This isn’t a resort.”

“I know,” it was Jyren who answered for the both of them as they all stepped into the turbolift, “But it’s a safe place in a dangerous part of the galaxy these days. With all of the tension towards Force-users in general lately its good to be able to rest safely on a planet instead of in a ship. And I’m very sorry, Kam, but I am not the kind of person you’d want in the Order. Neither of us are. We do things our own way, and many times I know that even non-Jedi would raise an eyebrow.”

Right on cue, Kam raised his eyebrow at that, “I can’t help but wonder why you’re telling me that, of all things.”

“Because while we may not be staying, we won’t just abandon people if this war grows,” Jyren put an ‘if’ where he knew a ‘when’ should have gone...but for some reason he felt the need to ignore what was going to happen and put a slight note of hope in there. It was definitely something he wouldn’t have done many years ago. He sighed and waited for the turbolift to stop and open to a small corridor before adding, “And if its needed, you’ll have my blade at your side to help.”

If the Jedi made a response as he showed them to their quarters, neither Marix nor Jyren heard it...mainly because of what Jyren had just said. Through the link, Marix growled. [I should have known you’d try something like that. You know we can’t get involved in this!]

Jyren waited until the door was closed behind them in the meager quarters before turning to face Marix and responding. [And you know that I can’t just sit back and watch this war spread. You, of all Alraxians, should know how bad it is to be an isolationist! You’ve even stopped most of it and opened up the people! How can you think about sitting back and hiding at a time like this?]

There was silence through the link for a long moment, but finally Marix said. [Because this is not like before. This is not personal...this is not our fault. This is war, Jyren, and not like anything either of us or our people have ever experience before. If we get involved in this, we may never get out.]

[And we may not have a choice...] Jyren ‘said’, adding an outward sigh before taking a step closer and drawing her into a hug.

Marix sighed, too, and leaned in to rest her head on his shoulder(well, as best she could manage with the current height difference) before saying very quietly, “Knowing our luck we won’t.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 341*

“Is it just me, or are we surrounded by children?” Jyren whispered as quietly as he could manage as he and Marix walked through what had once been the huge main hangar for the Temple. Now it was a mix of that and some training areas from the looks of things. The night had been fairly quiet, considering the situation, but it seemed like the Jedi had a habit of getting up long before Yavin’s star even thought about rising over the moon’s horizon. Not that this was horrible to either of them, but sleep was...well, a nice thing and not something either Marix nor Jyren were able to get much of lately.

Marix couldn’t help a slight yawn before grumbling, “Weren’t we trying to get away from that?”

“My thoughts exactly,” he trailed off, though, after hearing an interesting sound that turned his vision off to the open hangar door. The sunlight was a bit weak at this hour, but it was enough and the gas giant, Yavin, did a good amount of help in illuminating its moon. A young human, probably in his early teens, and a similarly aged Bothan were putting on blast helmets, while two other apprentices, a Rodian and a Duros, were stepping back and rubbing their sides. It took Jyren a moment to notice the small, floating pair of Remote Droids and that the apprentices were also handing over deactivated lightsabers.

Jyren actually couldn’t help stopping not far away to watch, and Marix walked straight on without him for a good thirty paces before realizing he’d stopped. She returned to roll her eyes at him and then a strange curiosity gripped her and she, too, turned to watch the young Jedi attempting to blindly deflect blaster bolts with lightsabers. An older Jedi, probably a Master from the way he held himself, stood back and watched carefully, but was remaining generally silent throughout the exercise...even when the students failed to deflect a shot and yelped in surprise when they were stung by the low powered bolts.

Almost out of no where, Jyren added to where he’d trailed off before, “At least they’re just watching us.”

That actually got a short laugh from Marix, who couldn’t help a nod, though her eyes were still focused on the Force training in front of them, “You mean instead of pouncing you, screaming to play, removing any chance at a full night’s sleep, and requiring nearly full time attention?”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were taking a shot at me,” Jyren said as, coincidentally, the human student missed a deflection on a blaster bolt but actually managed to jump to the side and out of the way to avoid it still.

This time, Marix did turn to look up at him, catching the slight grin on his face but keeping her own face neutral, “You do no better. In fact, you know that if I was taking a shot at you I’d have a blaster.”

Jyren’s grin grew, “If I was lucky.”

“See?” she finally grinned, too, before patting his shoulder, “You do no better.”

Silence never came over the entirety of the hangar...nor the jungle outside. So even though both Marix and Jyren went quiet, the world around them didn’t come anywhere close to it. There was the thrumming of the lightsabers, general movement around the hangar and a series of very interesting noises coming from outside that hangar that were most likely some kind of animal...but it sure wasn’t like any sound either of them had ever heard before. But soon, the movement began to overwhelm the other sounds. Footsteps that grew into faster walking and, soon, there was running. Voices were growing and words were spreading and the Force was somehow growing more tense every moment.

Marix was the first to turn around and see the gathering of Jedi around a holoprojector. Knowing something was definitely bad, she grabbed Jyren’s arm and dragged him over to the crowd, poking him roughly until he got the idea that he was going to have to do the looking because even though there were mostly children here, there were still enough people taller that got in her way. But even Jyren couldn’t make out exactly what was going on...beyond the fact that it was some kind of feed from the Holonet. Closer to it the device were the majority of who Jyren recognized to be the few Jedi Masters that stayed on Yavin IV as teachers.

It wasn’t long before one of the Masters, a white haired woman who Jyren didn’t even know the name of, spoke up to calm the group. Her voice was calm, somewhat soothing, and had an interesting song-like quality to it, “Back to your exercises, everyone.”

It was...amazing how such few words delivered in just the right way were so effective. In a matter moments, the students dispersed, heading off to where they’d come from but, of course, talking about whatever it was they had seen at the same time. A few of the older students(who were probably Knights or at least close to it) stayed, as did all of the Masters...all six of them. And, of course, neither Marix nor Jyren went anywhere.

That got them some stares, but when the two of them were able to very easily match every single one of them, Kam Solusar waved a hand to get everyone’s attention before saying quietly, “This should have waited.”

A male Twi’lek in rather boring looking robes bowed his head and said softly, “I apologize, Master. I was merely attempting to check that it had not been damaged.”

“What’s done is done,” Master Solusar nodded to the Twi’lik before looking at one of the other Jedi, “We’ll need to contact Master Skywalker to confirm this...please meet me in the briefing room in half an hour.”

There was a series of nods and the remainder of the crowd dispersed...well, again, except for the two outsiders, who both could tell that certain words were being held back because of their presence. It was interesting to note, however, that Master Solusar stood there next to the holoprojector, idly watching the nothing that was being shown now.

After a few minutes, as things seemed to have returned to normal, he said quietly, “The Vong are moving...Dantooine has fallen. Master Skywalker believes they’re heading straight for Ithor.”

Normally, that might have brought about some kind of silence, but instead, for Jyren, it brought a question, “Why do you want to talk with Skywalker if he sent you a message?”

“If Ithor is attacked, we’re cut off,” Kam said softly, and it started to make a lot more sense all of a sudden.

It was Marix who spoke up next, latching onto a small piece of information one of their scouts had reported not long before the two of them had left Alraxia, “I thought the New Republic was denying the existence of the Vong.”

“They are,” the Jedi Master nodded and shrugged slightly, “Master Skywalker has gone to Coruscant to attempt to change that.”

Jyren nodded slowly, a thousand thoughts running through his mind and at least a few starting to take a strong grip on him despite his knowledge that it would be stupid to attempt pretty much any of them. From the link, this was calmed and in a moment he gave in to what he had to do rather than what he wanted to do. With a sigh, he said, “I hope it goes well for him.”

“For a moment there, I thought you were going to actually be staying,” the Jedi answered with his own sigh, but managed a polite smile. It was still surprising how much he seemed to want the two of them to stay there. Maybe it was just to have another person to help them fight a fight that couldn’t be too far off from the way things looked.

A careful glance was shared between Jyren and Marix before she shook her head and answered the unspoken ‘why’ that was hidden at the end of Kam’s sentence, “If you’re right about the path they are taking, then we need to leave now before we are cut off from our home.”

“Really...?” Master Solusar seemed to be very interested in the slight hint that was given without being meant to, “I don’t suppose you’ll tell me where home is, though.”

“No,” Marix said simply, before bowing politely and turning around to head back to where Loki sat outside the hangar.

But Jyren didn’t follow. He stayed and after a deep breath, reached into his jacket pocket. He then stepped over to the Jedi Master and handed him a small comm device, “If it gets worse...use that and you can get a hold of us.”

Before the Jedi Master could say anything, Jyren turned around and headed after Marix...back home again.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 342*

“You gave him what?!” Marix’s voice was surprisingly calm considering that her tone could probably have destroyed entire fleets.

“My comlink,” Jyren answered for the third time, trying not to incite any more anger than he already had by being as neutral as possible. They were sitting in their usual, comfortable seats in Loki’s cockpit. There had actually been a long conversation with Loki not twenty minutes earlier about the whole war that was going brewing in the remainder of the galaxy. But then they passed through the Gate to the Empire and made their second jump to Alraxia...Jyren had decided that was the best time to bring up what he’d hidden.

Loki had gone...suspiciously silent after Jyren had first brought it up and, honestly, Jyren couldn’t blame the ship. It was the smart thing to do, and he’d do the same if he could have. But, instead, he had Marix glaring turbolasers at him and almost completely at a loss for words. Almost working it out herself, she said, “You gave that Jedi your comlink. The one we modified to transmit an Alraxian security code to the Knights that guard the Gate so that the message will go directly to the Palace.”

Jyren simply nodded in response.

There was a short pause where she continued to just stare at him, then she let out a long sigh, “Jyren we’re having enough trouble opening up the damned Empire slowly! Now you’ve given some random Jedi, who is definitely nothing like the Jedi in our history, direct access to our home! The second he uses that the word will get out and people will go crazy!”

“I was just some random Jedi!” Jyren suddenly snapped, “By the Force, I never even was a Jedi and these people latched onto me anyway!”

“This could pull the entire Empire into a war that even the Mrrakesh aren’t equipped to fight!” Marix yelled back at him, “We can barely hold our borders against them and now we could be dragged into a galactic conflict with powers that make the Mrrakesh look like children!”

“I did it so he could contact me, not the Empire!” by now, he was yelling back.

Marix bit her lip and did her best not to throw something at him, “How can you still be so damned stupid after so many years?! You are me and I am the Empire! You get involved, I get involved, everyone gets involved!”

“I can’t just sit in the Palace and listen to our scouts reporting what world has fallen next!” Jyren growled back, just as angry all of a sudden(mostly due to the link, of course, which definitely had a habit of making arguments even more heated than they should have been), “You’ve felt the same thing I have! This is not something we can just ignore. These Vong are prepared, and they are something that the New Republic has never dreamed of seeing. They will keep plowing over world after world while that damned government sits back and claims they don’t know a think!”

“And you can’t stop them!” Marix snapped back, a bit more quietly but still just as angry, “The galaxy will have to deal with this on their own. That is what the Jedi are supposed to be doing. Protecting people.”

Jyren sighed and shook his head, “There aren’t enough Jedi for that.”

Marix raised a finger, “One person won’t tip the odds to their side.”

And then they went silent. She was right, of course. About everything. He was just one person, and no matter how idealistic he may still have been, no amount of that could save a galaxy on its own. But at the same time, it wasn’t so easy to just sit there and watch...not that Marix didn’t understand. She, however, had always been much better at thinking with her brain rather than her hearts. That was Jyren’s specialty, and was the reason they usually ended up in trouble...but also, a good amount of the time, why they got out of trouble.

But things were so much more complicated now than they were ten years earlier. Then, maybe, he could have run off to fight this fight and she would have been right there with him the whole time. But now...now it wasn’t a good idea for either of them to go. And, whether Jyren liked it or not, it applied to him as much as it did to her. 

An hour of silence passed as they both drifted into their own thoughts while casually watching the lines of hyperspace in front of them. But, finally, Jyren said quietly, “Have you ever been to Ithor?”

“Once,” Marix answered just as quietly, her eyes still looking off into no where, “About a year before we met. Had to pick up some kind of food supplies for transport to some blockaded planet.”

“What was it like?”

“Ithor?” Marix turned to look over to him and, when he nodded, went on, “A lot like home, really. The forests were...amazing. I just wish they would have let me down on the ground but it takes some long ritual and a lot of approvals to even fly a speeder over it. They’re...very protective of their home.”

Jyren nodded, smiling slightly as he couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the Ithorians an the Alraxians. He let out a long sigh before shaking his head and whispering, “I want to help them, Shady. I need to. I know you don’t want me to, and I know its not exactly the best idea considering things but...but I need to.”

Slowly, Marix reached over and took his hand in hers, “Lets just get home...we’ll worry about this later.”

Jyren smiled and squeezed her hand and managed a nod, “Deal.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 343*

They returned to Alraxia to the usual controlled chaos of the Palace. It was amazing how many things would pile up after only a few days. Sure, there were people that were supposed to be dealing with those things, but somehow most came to the conclusion that it was best for the Empress to settle. Despite all the changes that were attempted, the Alraxians ha a habit of still falling back to that...which was only more proof that simply escaping the Empire and leaving a council in place would only last for as long as it had the last time...weeks.

But there were more than just government matters to be dealt with. In fact, those were the least of importance to both Marix and Jyren. Somehow, they also fairly easy to escape, at least when the Empress was around to be looked at. And besides, even the Alraxian people had a way of respecting that certain things simply had to come before the government, even for the Empress.

“You need to talk to him,” Marix said over her shoulder, not taking her attention off of the view from the window in front of her. They were in Blackflame territory, far to the south of the Palace and in the part of Alraxia that was much more fields and hills than the forests of the north where the Palace was located.

“If he won’t listen to you, he surely won’t listen to me,” Navik Keros responded from across the room in his home. The two of them were in his study, which was now much more cluttered than it had been years ago when Jyren had first seen it.

Marix sighed and turned back to face the older Alraxian, noting that he really didn’t look much older at all. Years were, generally, fairly kind to most Alraxians. She idly walked over to the desk near the back wall of the study and rested an arm on it, her eyes looking at the many holos that sat on top of it, “He likes to fight with me more than anything.”

That actually got a short laugh out of Jyren’s father, who smiled and shrugged before walking over to the desk, too, “Sometimes it scares me how much he’s like his mother...but I’ll do what I can. Though if he’s got it in his head that he can do something, I don’t think either of us can stop him from going.”

“If he goes, I’ll have to,” Marix said flatly, her eyes now finding one of the newest holos to look at as she thought.

Navik nodded but seemed to have the same discomfort about this as she did, “We will...survive,” he then glanced to the open door at the other end of the room and down the hallway a moment, “All of us will. But if this situation you have seen is as volatile as you think...we will become involved no matter what.”

“We are shielded by Mrrakesh space, the Imperial Remnant, and the lack of hyperspace routes to our Empire,” Marix said, finally looking the Alraxian who had become her best advisor in the eye, “Our people are safe. Charging in, even if its only myself and Jyren, could drag us into a war we would never have been involved in otherwise.”

“You’ve always said we should stop hiding in our little corner of the galaxy,” Navik said with a slight smile tugging at his face, “Jyren is going to go regardless of the greater consequences. He’s as idealistic as his mother and will simply rush in because he feels it’s the right thing to do...and, usually, it is the right thing to do.”

Marix sighed again but couldn’t help a nod, “But the right thing to do isn’t always the best thing for everyone.”

“He probably knows that but he’s going to see the greater threat rather than the smaller ones,” as he spoke, Navik turned to walk over to the hallway, speaking over his shoulder, “I’ll try to talk with him but trying to tell him he can’t go will only make him more stubborn.”

And then the older Alraxian stepped out of the room, heading down the hallway towards the sounds that he’d been trying to talk over and do his best to not let distract him. Navik passed by the two newer rooms, that had been added to his home only a year earlier, before stopping in front of what had been Jyren’s room well over thirty standard years ago. It was still bright red and very much the perfect room for any child...which was surprisingly fitting, actually.

Sitting on the floor in the center of the room was Jyren, and in his arms a small, white-furred and black striped Alraxian child, just slightly smaller than Tobias had been on the first trip they’d all made to Alraxia. Sitting at Jyren’s feet, purring happily and playing with some shape-changing blocks, was another small child that looked almost exactly the same as the other, save that the child’s fur was black and he had a blueish coloured stripe.

Jyren smiled when he saw his father and nodded to the sleeping child in his arms, “How is it that they always fall asleep when you’re around?”

“We old men are good at boring children,” Navik said with a smile.

“Good at boring one of them, at least,” Jyren grinned and reached over to ruffle the fur of the playing child, which got him a gentle bite on the hand and a slight ‘grrr’ in response.

His father nodded out of the room, “Would I be able to steal you for a few minutes?”

“I don’t know,” Jyren looked down at the child who still had a good grip on his hand with some fairly sharp teeth before asking, “You be okay playing on your own for a little while?”

After relinquishing Jyren’s hand, the little Alraxian looked up to him with two big, silvery-orange eyes before nodding a few too many times and going back to the interesting little toy blocks. Jyren, of course, took advantage of this to ruffle the child’s fur one more time before getting to his feet and laying the one in his arms down on the nearest of two beds in the room.

Once the sleeping child had some blankets pulled over, Jyren managed to escape and followed his father out of the home and onto the small entranceway that overlooked the single path in the small community. Jyren looked up and along the hill to where the dining hall for the entire community was before asking idly, “I hope they didn’t drive you too crazy.”

“Of course not,” Navik smiled, “Remember, they always sleep when I’m around. Very easy. Still, wouldn’t it just be easier for the nannies over at the Palace? Surely you wouldn’t have to go across half the planet like this.”

“You know how I feel about that,” Jyren said, looking back to his father.

His father who was now grinning, “Me and all the Empire. Can’t say I blame you, though. But you should have heard this place when people found out the Empress and Emperor were going to raise their children like the rest of us do. Everyone assumed you’d be driven insane trying to balance that with keeping the Empire together.”

“Pity they didn’t know it was too late for that,” Jyren grinned, too, “Where’d Toby run off to?”

“Eating with the rest of the clan, probably,” Navik waved a hand in that direction vaguely, then picked up on his son’s expression and asked, “Would you rather we stop delaying and get straight to the point?”

Surprisingly enough, that actually made the grin on Jyren’s face grow, “You’ve been around Marix too much...but its probably a good idea, anyway.”

But despite the words, both father and son went silent. Truthfully, neither really needed to say any words to make their point, but its seemed like a necessary formality that both were, currently, doing their best to avoid. So both tried to figure out the best way to make their point without offending the other, as, over the years, a somewhat tense relationship had developed due to Jyren’s personality being so very idealistic...which was just like his mother had been, and had been the reason for many, many clashes between Navik and his wife. It was no surprise that the same thing created similar clashes between father and son.

It was Jyren who managed to gather his thoughts first, “You know that I’ve never actually been able to open myself up to the Network like every other Alraxian. I know that you can feel what all the other Alraxians feel through it...like my link with Marix, only less specific and a little less strong. More like...more like the Force only centered around one species,” Jyren sighed and motioned up to the darkening sky, “I feel the same for the rest of the galaxy. This is my home but there...that is my home, too. If I can help them, I should. Its important and...and I can’t just sit around while people die.”

“I understand why you want to go, Jyren, but if you go, Marix is going to go, too,” Navik simply repeated what the Empress had told him, knowing that it needed to be said from both himself and Marix to even have a chance of getting through his son’s head, “The Empress and the Emperor leaving with the Mrrakesh pushing our borders and a galactic war brewing everywhere else will not go over very well. Not to mention the fact that you can’t just run off and leave anymore. You have your reasons for not wanting to have your children raised by others, remember? What do you think’s going to happen if you run off?”

“I know,” Jyren sighed and looked down at the ground, “But I can feel...feel something. Something is growing out there. Something very, very dangerous...and if its ignored it will reach us here. If I go now, then I can stop it before it becomes a threat to us.”

Navik turned around to look back inside his home, idly catching sight of Marix slipping into the room with the children, “You cannot change the course of a war by yourself.”

“But I can help,” Jyren actually sounded a lot more reasonable than usual during these kind of discussions, “Another good pilot is always a valuable resource, and I’m more than just that.”

Glancing back over to his son again, Navik shook his head, “But what about Marix? I doubt you’ve told her as much as you just told me...and from the sound of it, you really are planning to go alone.”

Jyren actually nodded before saying, “I was a pilot long before I tried to pretend to be a Jedi. You’ve seen how I wield my lightsaber...but flying is even more natural to me. I’m not bragging by saying that it’s a rare thing...it is. And the New Republic is going to need everything they can get, even if it is just one more pilot.”

“You’re thinking only about yourself, Jyren. The Empire is—“

”I don’t care about the Empire!” Jyren snapped a little too loudly considering how close they were to both Marix and the other houses...though, hopefully, most of the other people would be eating instead of listening. The outburst actually surprised Navik, though, as his son had shown over the years that he did, in fact, care about the Empire. But then, after lowering his voice, Jyren added, “I care about my family. If protecting my family happens to be the same as protecting the Empire, then its simply luck.”

At least that made a little more sense. But Navik didn’t say anything to that. His son was being truthful, and arguing that wouldn’t do any good at all. There wasn’t any actual silence, though, as both father and son had turned their attention to listening to the noises escaping the house...giggling, loud purring, and louder laughter. Marix never liked to publicly admit liking her children...but that didn’t meant she didn’t, of course...even Toby.

Eventually, Jyren said quietly, “Would it be too much to ask you to take care of the twins?”

“Ten years and you still have the nerve to ask something like that,” Navik smiled and patted his son’s shoulder, “Of course it wouldn’t be too much to ask....though I can’t help but wonder why you failed to mention Tobias.”

Jyren smiled and shrugged, “You really think he’ll let me run off without trying to tag along? He’s not small enough to hide in the cargo compartment anymore but he definitely has his ways. And even if we do manage to keep him here, the Palace is probably better for him.”

Pushing his son up from leaning against the ledge, Navik motioned towards the dining hall, “You should probably go find the little guy.”

Laughing slightly, Jyren nodded and started for the dining hall. As he walked off, though, a familiar voice jumped into his head suddenly. [When you get back, we’ll talk.]

[Why does that worry me?] Jyren asked through the link.

There was a short pause before Marix responded. [Because we tried this before a few hours ago. Apparently I should have said more than just ‘wait until we get home’.]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 344*

His hair was longer and scruffier than ever. There wasn’t a fringe, really, but more of a general mass that did what it wanted and ended roughly near his neckline. The colour were still the same...though no longer covering all of his skin, which was now the usual well-tanned colour that was normal for all Alraxians. But his hair was still the same black colour, with that oddly blue stripe right down the center...though, with how messy it was, ‘center’ was a debatable matter.

He was taller, too. Not nearly as tall as an adult, of course, but closer to the size that Marix had been a long time ago when she’d first left Alraxia. This was probably due to the fact that he was roughly the same age as she had been, then. Still very young by Alraxian standards, but no longer a little ball of fur.

“Jyren!”

But the most dramatic change was his voice. It was no longer a squeaky little voice that cried out for a thousand different things...but now he sounded more...more something. Older was the only word for it. Sure, there was still a bit of a childish pitch to it but it was definitely...different.

“Hey, little guy,” Jyren smiled as he was attacked by Tobias, who now much higher up on him than to his knee...which was actually hard to notice when the young Alraxian embraced Jyren suddenly.

After a short moment, though, Toby stood back and gave Jyren a critical look, “You’re late.”

“Aren’t I always?” Jyren grinned and looked across the generally empty dining hall again. ‘Generally’ because there were at least a few watching both Jyren and Toby curiously, knowing who they were...and others that were Knights who stayed very nearby at all times to all of the Imperial Family...which meant their presence in the small community was not all that new. The fact that Jyren’s father lived there meant it was nice place to duck away for a few days for Jyren, Marix, or even Toby(though when he escaped there were usually search efforts involved...), and because of this there were usually Knights around.

“You said it would only be a couple days,” Toby grumbled, kicking the ground slightly and folding his arms. It was almost terrifying how much he looked like Marix when he got angry...sure, he didn’t have the same stare that could kill, but the beginnings of it were definitely there.

But Jyren just smiled and patted the young Alraxian’s shoulder, “It was only a couple of days, Toby. Besides, didn’t you have things you were supposed to be doing?”

“A couple is two. You were gone three,” to add to this information, Tobias made sure to show the correct number of...claws with each counting off. That was definitely not like Marix, who wouldn’t show off even minor threats when she didn’t mean it.

Not that it ever worked for Tobias, of course.

Jyren reached up and grabbed Toby’s hand to force him to remorph the claws away or risk tearing up Jyren’s hand, and looked Toby in his silvery eyes, “I know you wanted to go. But you couldn’t. Nothing happened, anyway, so don’t even try that. Alright?”

While Tobias had yet to master the death stare of Marix, he had become very adept at matching it without flinching...which meant that he could hold anyone’s gaze very easily without becoming unnerved. It was...annoying, to say the least. He could stare right back and that would be his only defiance but it was just so damned more effective than yelling because at least then it felt like there was a good reason to strangle him.

This moment was no different, and eventually, Tobias said flatly, “I’m not staying this time.”

“Yes,” Jyren said sternly, yet again hating the fact that he seemed to be the only Alraxian in the Empire that wasn’t a part of the Network...so was definitely out of the loop if he didn’t pay attention to his link with Marix too much, “You are staying. Toby, I’m not going back to play. Your mother is not even going with me. She can’t. You can’t. This is my choice and its something I have to do by myself, and no one here could help me even if they wanted to.”

When Toby didn’t respond immediately, Jyren knew something was up. He was never, ever without a quick comment back, especially when it came to something like this. There was no way he would just stand there...and Jyren could see in his eyes that he wasn’t completely paying attention. There was...something else. It was a look that, by now, Jyren knew. Toby was paying attention to the Network...which made his next comment make a lot more sense than if he’d just said it otherwise.

“Back to Starfighter Command?”

Despite not being so surprised by that, Jyren still couldn’t help a pause before he nodded, “Yes...and we’ve been over this before, Toby. Using the Network to find out what I’m thinking through your mother is cheating.”

Suddenly, Tobias’ angry looking features softened...and in a moment in a moment he was laughing. It didn’t take long before Jyren laughed too and put an arm on the young Alraxian’s shoulder, “Come on...lets head back.”

There was no argument on the short walk back to Jyren’s father’s home. In fact, it was rather comforting to fall into the usual back and forth banter rather than having to deal with more serious matters...especially with Toby. But then something happened...just a few meters away from the home, Toby stopped, causing Jyren to nearly walk off without him.

When Jyren turned around, he saw that there was a white-faced, wide-eyed look on Tobias’ face suddenly, and at the same time there was the same distracted, almost glazed over look from before. The Network. And that couldn’t be good.

“Toby, wha—“

[Jyren get up here now.] Marix’s sharp ‘voice’ cut into his mind and silenced him. His eyes looked up to the home a moment before back to Tobias, who still looked shocked but wasn’t just standing there like a statue anymore. Jyren, however, said nothing, and just turned and ran to the house, knowing that Tobias would be fine where he was and, besides, he was old enough to walk a few meters on his own.

Jyren stepped into his father’s house to see both Marix and his father standing in the main room waiting for him. He didn’t even have to ask what was going on before Marix looked him in the eye and said, “There’s been an attack on the Gate.”

At hearing that, Jyren probably started to look like Toby had for a moment there. He blinked a few times, then managed to find his voice again, “What?”

“Its still there,” Marix clarified a little too quickly, “But it was attacked...the Knights panicked and now the Network’s afire. I’m doing what I can...just...hang on a moment.”

Despite the fact that she seemed to hide away, Jyren did not have to wait. Just as Tobias stepped into the door behind Jyren, Navik decided to do the explanation while Marix tried to calm the Network, “A few moments ago the Knights there saw a series of...they thought it was comets or asteroids, but they were moving together and a little too organized. They went straight for the gate, started shooting...something. They did very minor damage to the shields before turning and running.”

It sounded disturbingly familiar to Jyren. And by the time Navik had finished, Marix was back in the moment and said Jyren’s thoughts, “It does sound like the Yuuzhan Vong.”

“Except don’t they usually just tear straight through instead of a quick hit and run without doing any damage?” Jyren asked no one in particular.

Being someone, however, Marix nodded, “As far we’ve seen. But the ships that attacked were not metal, and the descriptions of both the designs, the speed, and their weapons matches up with everything we’ve found out about the Yuuzhan Vong.”

The room went silent. There was a single question hanging in the air that terrified all of them.

And it was Jyren who very quietly spoke it, “Could they have followed us back?”

“I don’t think so,” Marix answered, but then sighed and added, “But I don’t. It could just be random bad timing, but maybe they did find a way to track us.”

“Please tell me that the Knights have some ships with capable weapons now,” Jyren was nearly begging when he said that, and looking from both his father to Marix at the same time.

“Some do...and they’ll be there in a matter of hours to protect the Gate...” she trailed off, then whispered, “Just in case.”

“What about the Mrrakesh?!” it was Toby who nearly yelped that, “Won’t that leave the border open?!”

“No, Toby,” both Jyren and Marix said at the exact same time....but then Jyren let her finish the next part, “The Mrrakesh won’t try anything. This is why I’ve told you to stay away from these talks. You’ll just get yourself worked up for nothing. Please do me a favor and go check on the twins.”

It was a cheap way to get rid of Toby, but a necessary one. The young Alraxian managed a nod before sighing dramatically and walking back down the hall to some distant noises of playing. When he’d left the room, all eyes fell on Jyren. Not that he was surprised.

“I need to go now before there is another attack,” Jyren said to both of them, “If I can get out, I can try to get a hold of better ships to protect the borders.”

“No,” Marix shook her head and took a step forward, “I’ll do that...I’ve still contacts. You...you need to go to Coruscant and do what you have to do.”

“I’ll try to find a way to help protect the Gate from where I end up,” he said quietly.

Marix took another step forward and embraced him, saying just as quietly, “Follow the Force. Trust your instincts and stay alive.”

Jyren nodded slowly, returning the embrace and gently resting his head on hers. Through their link, Marix added. [And keep in contact. If the entire galaxy is falling into war then we need to have the best eyes and ears out there to let us know.]

[If anything happens while I’m gone...if you need me, just say the word.]

Marix pulled back slightly to look up at him again, then spoke softly, “Same for you.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 345*

Coruscant seemed to be the one planet in the galaxy that could not change. No matter what was going on in the rest of the galaxy, it was still a chaotic mess of speeders, people, and massively tall buildings. All of the metal shining in the sunlight was such a different sight from the forests and fields of Alraxia. It was strange to come back to a place that was the center of the galaxy and suddenly feel like it was a completely alien world...but that was how it felt for Jyren.

Thankfully, though, he was still able to find his way around without any trouble. And, because of this, the New Republic didn’t have long before they found out that a Captain in their special forces had returned from being presumed long, long dead. There was even more chaos within the building near Imperial Center(which, despite the New Republic’s efforts, couldn’t seem to adopt a new name without it being forgotten in a week), as datapads went different directions, guards arrived, and he was escorted into a small debriefing room...the likes of which he hadn’t seen in nearly fifteen years.

The expected questions were asked. What happened? Why didn’t you come back? Why now?

And Jyren gave the planned answers. The sabotage went bad. He was captured. When he escaped, he sent a transmission to the headquarters that they somehow didn’t receive. He’d come back now because the New Republic needed help, and he was still a damned good pilot.

Only the last one was true. In reality, he’d arrived on Corulag for his mission to take out the planet’s shield generators and then...just didn’t do it. Something had struck him, and he walked away then and there. That was, of course, not the kind of thing to tell one’s superior officer when returning after a good ten years.

The debriefing/interrogation continued for roughly three hours before, to Jyren’s surprise, he was reinstated right there. When he asked why it went so quickly, the answer was actually not all that surprising. They really did need all the pilots they could get. The New Republic had just publicly admitted to the existence of the Yuuzhan Vong, and that meant an actual mobilization was beginning. But unlike the old days in the early New Republic, there weren’t nearly as many well trained pilots to draw from, and new recruits could only do so much good when compared to experienced starfighter pilots.

After a quick transit into an orbiting Skyhook where Starfighter Command operated from, Jyren was presented with something else that had been completely unexpected. His own choice of assignment.

A datapad was handed to him by some Admiral he didn’t recognize and he scanned it...seeing a number of Star Destroyers named and then some squadrons in addition to many other ships. He even caught sight of Rogue Squadron listed there, and actually found himself wondering if he should ask if that was a mistake. They were the best of the best...and it sounded like the right place for him to at least aim for...but then his eye caught another name. One that brought a smile to his face, and the decision was made without another thought.

* * * *​

Jyren took a quick jog down one of the corridors outside the huge mess in the Skyhook, glancing both direction and cheating by using the Force to turn him left and head that way. He passed by a few pilots and personnel, who all gave him strange looks...which made him feel even more self conscious than he’d been when he’d put on his new uniform. It was so much like the old one...it just fit better. Brown and red piped with a few patches of grey here and there, with a couple of patches on his shoulders to indicate both that he was a member of Starfighter Command and then, on his right shoulder, his actual squadron.

The only real difference between the new uniform and the old one(despite the fact that it was...well, new) was the name patch. There was no ‘Cpt. Maxwell’ there anymore, which had been an interesting thing to convince the people to change. He may have been returning to the New Republic, but that didn’t mean he was planning to bring Raan Maxwell back. That kid was, in fact, long dead. Instead, it read ‘Cpt. BlueIce.’ 

At first, it had worried him that using his real name would throw up flags, but Jyren had to remind himself that the bounties that were still out there were for ‘Akan Tavos’ and ‘Shadow’. BlueIces were safe. And anyway, the bounties were on a couple of ‘Cathar-like, feline humanoids’, not the relatively young looking human that was currently scouring the corridors of the Skyhook.

And then he found what he’d been looking for. Across the corridor, walking the other direction, was a somewhat tall, deep blue skinned humanoid with a large head that Jyren immediately new to be a Duros. The Duros wore the same brown uniform, and looked to be holding some kind of datapad at his side as he walked casually away.

So here it was.

Jyren sped up his walking pace to catch up to the Duros, and when he was only a few paces behind, called out, “Rulae.”

That got the Duros to stop in his tracks. A sigh could be heard before he started to turn around, saying, “Look, I know you’re probably new, but its appropriate to address superior officers as, s—“

When Rulae had turned around completely to face Jyren, his small mouth stopped in mid sentence an he just stared, the already large red eyes somehow going wider. Jyren, of course, grinned at that, and shrugged, “Of course. I’m so sorry, s’.”

“Raan?!” the Duros mumbled the name at first, but then gave Jyren a very quick look over. In all truthfulness, he didn’t look much different from how he had ten years earlier. But there was still a good three and a half year gap between then and when he’d last seen Rulae Nok. Hopefully that wouldn’t have the Duros being too suspicious as to why he didn’t look older.

Finally, Rulae managed to close his mouth a moment, and after Jyren smiled, just shook his head, “You’re supposed to be dead.”

“When did that ever stop me?”

A pause...then Rulae’s small mouth formed a grin of its own, “Where the hell have you been all these years?!”

“I was...very busy,” Jyren said, not really lying but definitely avoiding the subject. Knowing that it was going to go on if he didn’t do something, he quickly attempted to change the subject, “So I see you’ve got a command now? Bringing back the Zephyrs, even. You’ve gone soft over the years. Weren’t we supposed to be the last Zephyrs?”

Duros could not roll their eyes, as they had no pupils...but they had a similar way of just staring at someone that managed to produce the same effect in the end. He glanced down a moment before noticing something, “It was lonely being the only one with that name. Figured it was as good a time as any to bring the name back before they tried to throw me in a desk job...and I see you aren’t exactly running from the name, either. Looks like I finally get to order you around, Captain BlueIce.”

“Just remember who saved your tail more than once and then we’ll see who’s order who around,” Jyren laughed.

Then another question finally came up, “So you going to at least tell me why that doesn’t say Maxwell?”

Still smiling, and in a surprisingly good mood suddenly, Jyren turned and put a hand on Rulae’s shoulder to lead him back to the mess, “That, my friend, I will tell you.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 346*

It had taken an extra day for Marix to get away from the Empire. Calming the panic produced by the attack on the Gate and redirecting many of the Knights to defend it took more time than it should have...not to mention the fact that very few of the ships were armed in any way. Some had weapons, but it was still something that the Kanyaks (and Alraxians, really) felt to be unnatural and harmful. The Gate itself, though, did have some weapons, thanks to the fact that it was actually made of metal and there wasn’t anything alive actually built into the structure. But at least people seemed to accept the fact that a stronger defense was going to be necessary, and so there was little to no actual opposition for why the Empress and Emperor were leaving.

Not that they liked it, of course, but the reasoning was sound enough.

But then, just as she was preparing to leave, another issue had come up. It was one that Marix had attempted to avoid the entire time, but knew that, eventually, it was going to come up. Some things were far more trying on both sanity and patience than running the Empire, and it was definitely one at the top of the list.

“Tobias,” Marix called down the corridor behind Loki’s cockpit where she sat, “We’re setting down now.”

They were on Ord Mantell...not too terribly far from either the Alraxian Empire or what looked to be the steady path of the Yuuzhan Vong. But it was one of the places Marix knew she could find people to get her ships. And not flying pieces of junk, either.

A response echoed down the corridor, but she didn’t actually hear any words in it. Typical. She had gotten so close to being able to escape without the brat tagging along, but he’d tracked her down and made a disturbingly valid point. He was, roughly, the same age that she had been when she’d left...on her own. He’d be with her, and while he didn’t have the same training she had, could handle himself if things got bad. Truthfully, there was a lot of overconfidence in that, but they had spent a lot of time making sure the kid knew how to protect himself. Not as much fighting as simple self defense...so, he would be fine. And it was about time he actually got out and helped...and he had a habit of toying with things that exploded...inside the Palace...getting rid of that chaotic element, even if only for a few days, was something everyone would appreciate.

Loki set down in a small public hangar near the center of one of the major cities on the planet and Marix got to her feet and headed for the hatch. In the process, she took the time to morph human and get her bearings like that again...as it’d been a long time since she’d gone without a tail to help her keep her balance.

She found Tobias standing at the hatch waiting, unsurprisingly already human. Probably due to his attachment to Jyren (for whatever reason), Toby had a strong attachment to his human form. It was, like most Alraxian’s in that body, roughly the same...only that he was smaller, his hair was a simple, flat black mess (that made him look a little too much like Marix for her taste), and all the feline-like features were much more generically human.

At least he was shorter than she was, still.

“Stay close, don’t wander off, and don’t touch anything or anyone,” she said sternly, giving him that dangerous look and ignoring the fact that it had as little affect on Toby as it did on Jyren...the effect didn’t matter, just the thought behind it.

When Tobias nodded (and attempted to hide the fact that he was rolling his eyes at her), Marix turned and hit the switch to open the hatch. [You stay safe, too, Loki. We shouldn’t be gone too long...if its more than a few hours, start looking.]

[Last time I did that, you screamed at me when I found you for distracting you.] Loki grumbled in her mind while both she and Toby stepped down into the circular and somewhat enclosed hangar.

Marix glanced back over at the ship as the hatch irised closed. [You should have known not to land on five of the bounty hunters when I was running right for them.]

[But it was so fun!] Loki actually managed a slight laugh at that, but soon went quiet as they headed out of the hangar.

The simple matter of paying the docking fee was handled very easily...the panel that handled it had already been broken by someone earlier, and no docking officials were dumb enough to run out asking for money where a person’s first instinct was to shoot and forget about any questions that might have almost come to mind. Or at least, if the ship only stayed a short time. There was a security force on the planet, of course, but they only mobilized in large groups if there were serious problems. The plan was to not be involved in one of those.

The door from the hangar opened to reveal the city, which was almost like a miniature Coruscant without the atmosphere-scraping heights. There were, of course, metal spires of large buildings that were all over the place, and upper levels of walkways connecting them that almost made the place look like Nar Shaddaa. The ground level was actually very populated, with every kind of creature moving around, going about their business and trying their best not to look anyone in the eye wrong or bump into others.

Remembering how Toby could be, especially the fact that this was his first time away from the Empire since he was a small child, Marix leaned down and said very quietly, “Stay very close.”

Again, Tobias nodded, but it didn’t seem to be from understanding this time. His currently-ice blue eyes were wide open and scanning the entire view, taking in every detail they could. Marix sighed and elbowed him a bit too roughly, which made him blink and look at her with a slightly worried look, “Huh?”

“Stay. Close,” she repeated, slowly and very carefully. If he’d missed it that time, Marix was done with him. He caused enough trouble at home, but here was a place that was no where near the place he was used to, and it wasn’t long before she was rethinking the intelligence in actually letting him come.

But, luckily for him, Tobias actually nodded while looking at her...with that worried look on his face no longer due to the fact that he wasn’t paying her any attention. They stood there for a moment, with Marix holding the stern gaze for long enough to damned well make sure the point got through. And then, without a word, she turned and led the way into the crowded streets, making sure that Tobias was right behind her the whole way.

Ord Mantell was not a planet that she had spent too terribly much time on, but certain areas she knew. This was one of them...not that she remembered the name of the city, but she knew its location and that was, in the end, all that mattered. Names had a habit of changing much faster than locations, especially when it came to cities. But this was one of the...less dangerous places, if there was such a thing on a planet crawling with bounty hunters, smugglers, pirates, spies, thieves, and completely lost idiots that had no idea what they’d gotten themselves into.

So, moving quickly so that they could get this over with as soon as possible, Marix led the way to an old shop that had been owned by a small group of Twi’lek merchants. Well, it had been about fifteen standard years ago. Now, she had no idea, but they were the kind of people that would bend easily and it was worth a try.

It took about five minutes to navigate both the main streets and a few back alleys (which, thankfully, they were left alone while passing through), before she found the small building cramped between a larger tower and what had once been a building but now looked to be a hollowed out chunk of durasteel. There was no sign over the entranceway, but there never had been, so Marix decided to accept that as a good sign.

Checking that Toby hadn’t disappeared from her side one last time, she then turned and headed for the closed door. Hitting the switch opened the door to show the same exact room she remembered from all those years ago...small, dark, relatively empty at first sight before one entered, and most importantly, not cleaned. She stepped in and looked straight to the left where the desk still was, but found it unoccupied. There was, however, junk spread out everywhere that looked just like it always had, which was another good sign that the same people owned the place.

And then there was a click behind her, followed by a simple charging sound. Marix froze, knowing immediately what a disrupter pistol sounded like when it was preparing to fire, and at the same time wondering why in the name of all hell that the Force hadn’t even screamed at her once.

A quiet, almost hissing voice from that direction said, “Move and die.”

She didn’t...but immediately, Marix’s mind raced, trying to reach out with the Force to find Tobias and stop him before he tried to do anything stupid. Unlike Jyren, the kid didn’t have any experience with surviving stupid actions.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 347*

Jyren looked down at the vaguely greenish coloured liquid within the glass in his hands. It was some form of Corellian ale, fairly weak and tasted horrible...and yet, everyone drank the stuff, despite the many other things offered in the mess. Even Rulae Nok, the Duros commander of the newly reformed Zephyr Squadron and never known for his ability to hold his alcohol , had a glass in front of him on the table, though it was just sitting there as the Duros sat back and stared in near shock at the human sitting across from him.

“You’re serious?” Rulae asked, trying to take in all that Jyren had just told him.

Jyren just laughed and took a sip of the drink, trying to remember how he used to not make a disgusted face before, then said, “Yeah.”

The Duros shook his head, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but after what happened with Liz...well...didn’t really think you’d ever get past that.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Jyren was, of course, still grinning, but he soon put the drink down and adopted a more serious tone before nodding, “I didn’t think I would either. Nearly didn’t...its...it still hurts. It still hurts a lot. But I...I learned to accept it.”

“Seeing you here now proves that,” Rulae agreed, “I’m still angry with you for just disappearing, no matter what you were up to. You were so close to the edge in those months after Coruscant before you just...disappeared. When they said you died in action I...didn’t believe them. You were too good for that. I thought...I thought that...”

Where the Duros trailed off, Jyren picked up carefully, “You thought I’d done something stupid. And I nearly did...more than once. But that’s the past. There are more important things going on right now than my childish actions a decade ago.”

Even without eyelids, Duros had a certain way of narrowing their eyes that was...strange, but was definitely able to produce the correct effect. As Rulae did this, he said, “Answer me one question before you change the subject and ask me when and where we’re going.”

Normally, Jyren would have smiled at that...but from his old friend’s tone, he knew that was not a good idea. This was definitely serious, and probably one of those questions that Jyren had dodged in his telling of where he’d been (from which all references to Alraxia and its people were removed), “Alright. Ask away.”

“You found your parents and you have a family that you obviously care very much about,” there was a pause after that, as the words were allowed to hang in the air for a moment before the more cutting question was asked, “What the hell are you doing all the way over here when you should be back with them keeping them safe from what’s happening in the galaxy?”

It was like Marix had found a way to follow him and was now controlling the words of those around him. But Jyren knew better than that. Despite the fact that, distantly, he could still feel her through the link...she was doing her own thing. Rulae was right...and so was everyone that even thought that question, which had probably been a good amount of the Empire that knew him better than just ‘the Empress’ Mate’.

And, in all honesty, Jyren had no rational answer. But there was something...else...almost acting on him and telling him what he needed to do.

“I need to be here,” Jyren eventually said softly, before looking down at the green liquid again, “I told you that I...learned a little about the Force. I can feel...somethting...maybe the Force but I can’t really say, just something. And its...its pulling at my very core. Pulling me here. I need to be here to do my part in protecting my family.”

For a long couple of minutes, the blue-skinned Duros simply looked at Jyren...though it was hard to tell if he was being studied or if Rulae was simply lost in thought. The small mouths and lack of pupils made it so hard to read emotions for Jyren, and the Force sure as hell wasn’t helping any...it was so heavy lately. Almost like back when they’d been on that ship fighting the Darkwings....but larger, more spread out, and much more dangerous.

Then, finally, Rulae reached down and picked up his glass to finish off the ale it contained before saying, “Can’t really argue with that. I don’t know much about the Force beyond the usual stories, but it sounds to me you’ve got your head in the right place...for once. Must have taken one hell of a woman to do that to you.”

Jyren couldn’t a laugh, and used it to mask his utter distaste as he followed suit and finished his own ale. After setting it back down on the table, he leaned back and nodded, “That’s a pretty accurate description, actually. Still, you’d be amazed how much physical force it took to get my head to where it needed to be.”

“No,” Rulae shook his head, the small smile on his features, “I wouldn’t. A lot may have happened to you in the last fifteen years, but I know you’re still just as crazy as you used to be.”

“I try my best,” Jyren shrugged with a smile still on his face, though he couldn’t help glancing around to the other pilots moving about in the mess around them for once. Then, finally, he turned back to Rulae and asked, “Alright, now its my turn. Where are we going and when?”

“We leave in ten hours,” Rulae answered in a very officer-like voice that had to have taken years of practice to achieve, “Going to be attached to the Araddon’s task force. Two Star Destroyers, three frigates, two bomber groups, a recon squad, and us...not counting the marines and ground troops.”

“They aren’t holding back on this one, are they?” Jyren couldn’t help cutting in, not really taking in the fact that they were going to be station on, of all things, a Star Destroyer. That would likely sink in much later.

The Duros simply nodded before going on, “We’re going to be one of the first task forces to hit the Vong head on. Two groups are headed for Ithor, as everything points to that being the next major target, another to the Yavin system, and we’re headed out towards Vortex.”

“Doesn’t sound like front line to me,” Jyren almost grumbled.

“If this invasion continues as its been going and Ithor is attacked, Vortex will be the front line a matter of days afterwards.”

The words forced a silence in the air. They were true. No one knew what to expect from these first fights. Sure, there had been smaller skirmishes here and there, and many unique qualities of the Yuuzhan Vong’s weaponry and ships were fairly well known...but it couldn’t be anywhere near as much as was out there. All of the first skirmishes had ended in either the total destruction of any non-Vong forces, or a few managing to barely escape to tell the stories of the amazingly planned out tactics and alien weapons that created a horrible slaughter.

And then something else struck Jyren that was completely different, forcing him to ask, “Hang on. Why did you just tell me that so casually without even a mention about protocol and all that garbage?”

The grim look faded from Rulae’s face to be replaced by another smile, and as he stood up, Rulae said, “My XO needs to know what’s going on. Now come on, Captain, there’s a briefing in an hour and its about time you met the recruits.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 348*

“Alrax?!” the voice was a familiar one, and off out of Marix’s vision...but she could tell that it wasn’t the source of the one pointing the weapon at the back of her head.

“Silence!” that voice was the source...it was raspy, sharp, and definitely on edge, with a slight accent that was like nothing she had ever heard before. And something was very, very wrong with it. She could feel that there were two others in the room with her, but they were both off in the direction the first voice had come from...which, Marix figured, was one of the Twi’leks she knew that owned the place.

But she felt nothing behind her at all...

Part of her wanted to risk a glance behind her, but the practical part of Marix’s mind reminded her that would be the kind of stupid thing that Jyren would do and get himself killed if she didn’t scream at him...so, she stayed still and realized something else.

She had no idea at all where Tobias was.

“Hwhat are you doing here, huuman?!” the voice behind her growled, almost sounding as if it had learned Basic through reading but never through actual speaking.

That seemed like a stupid question to ask before Marix reminded her self that she hadn’t actually paid any attention to the sign outside other than a quick glance...and, upon going back through her memories and having a good look at it again, there was something on the door that was probably screaming at people to stay the hell away. But what bothered Marix was that it didn’t feel like it should be closed...and these Twi’leks, despite being on Ord Mantell, were never the kind to keep friends that would come asking for payment with disrupters.

But she did not have a chance to answer. There was a sudden streak of something through the Force and, instinctively, Marix ducked low. There was a loud shrieking sound of the disrupter going off over her head at the same time as a heavy thud and then a grunt. By that sound, Marix was turning to get a look at the attacker, and she was able to see a tall, powerfully built human spin around and backhand Tobias across the face so hard that it sent the young man flying across the room and into the back wall with an even louder thud.

“Dammit, Toby!” Marix growled as she charged the human head first, doing her best to tackle him to the ground despite his size. He had tried something stupid! And she nearly took a disrupter blast to the back of the head because of it!

...and then Marix’s thoughts stopped as she hit the human. Instead of taking him down, she hit him hard and was kicked back a good three meters with a disturbingly strong foot. Her head was spinning, but a loud clatter directed her vision down next to the human, where the disrupter had been dropped to the ground. Marix’s eyes went up to see that he had withdrawn some kind of...of...blade? It had to be a blade, but it didn’t look like any kind of vibro weapon or even a simple metal weapon...it wasn’t metal! It was...was...it was stabbing for her gut.

Quickly, she sidestepped the weapon, striking down at the man’s wrist. If she hadn’t already been given the idea that something was wrong with this man, it became immediately apparent. The placement of her attack very easily broke the man’s wrist with a loud snap, but not even the slightest noise escaped him to hint at any kind of pain, and the weapon remained in his hand.

And then, without any warning from the Force, Marix took a strong blow to the side of the head that sent her into the floor hard enough to cause her vision to go black for a few seconds. Fighting back the natural instinct to remorph the wounds and simply doing her best to move through the pain, Marix whipped her legs around and tried to sweep the human’s out from under him.

That worked.

The massive man slipped back and fell on his back hard, just as Marix jumped up to her feet and then, with the help of the Force, leapt over the fallen attacker. She landed in a very Alraxian position, in a three-limbed crouch, that, without the help of a tail, was very difficult to hold and looked extremely awkward as a human. But Marix held it long enough to reach out and sweep the disrupter pistol into her free hand. The second she got a grip on it, and again without any warning, a fact which was starting to worry her, a heavy boot slammed right into her face, breaking her nose and sending her a meter back before her back slammed into the counter. Her thud of impact was accented by two yelps of surprise from the other side...at least it was obvious where the Twi’leks were hiding.

But this was no time to be distracted. The man was getting up in as quick a fashion as Marix had, which was, again, worrying. Not only was the Force giving her no warnings at all to his attacks, but as far as she could tell, he shouldn’t have even been there. It was like a holo that was actually interacting with the world around it...wrong. And he was just as fast as her, and twice as strong. Marix couldn’t help a quiet curse about human females again before she dove to the side to avoid another strong kick.

This time, though, when she hit her arm was reaching up...disrupter in hand. The attacker seemed to be ready for this, reaching down with his weapon to slice her hand off...but Marix was, thankfully, faster. It was much easier to simply squeeze the trigger than it was to cut her hand off. And, so, there was another loud shriek before a sickly purple blast shot out and hit the man square in the chest.

It sent him stumbling back two steps before a gurgling sound escaped him and then he fell onto his back again. This time...he didn’t get up.

Silence consumed the small building...well, except for Marix’s extremely heavy breathing and similar sounds from the other side of the counter she was backed up against still.

“He’s dead,” she said eventually before tossing the disrupter pistol away in disgust. She hated blasters enough...but those things were even worse. Not that she wouldn’t use them, but she still didn’t like the damned things.

“...Alrax?” it was the same voice from before.

Marix nodded as she stood up, shaking her head and taking the time while no one was looking to remorph the broken nose and other bruises she’d taken. Realizing the nod couldn’t be seen, she said, “Yes, Kalrin.”

“What...what are you doing here?!” the Twi’lek finally appeared over the counter top. Kalrin was fairly old for a Twi’lek, but he was not as fat as many of the males of his species were. Instead, he was tall, thin, and a somewhat pale green colour that almost made him look sickly. He actually had a few scars that she didn’t recognize.

“I needed a favor,” Marix said, turning away from the Twi’lek and walking over to where Tobias had been thrown. There was a red stain on the wall where the back of his head had hit, but it looked as if his body had naturally remorphed itself before he’d fallen unconscious. That was an...interesting trait. Something she’d never actually seen before in any Alraxian, as unconsciousness was what would normally spell death for many. Sitting next to him an lifting his head up just to make sure the wound was gone, she looked back over and said, “Now I need another.”

“There’s a...a...a medkit in the back,” that was the second Twi’lek that Marix knew was there, but who had remained generally silent. It was a female, just as old as Kalrin, and pretty much the same build as him...though she was a red-orange colour that made her stand out very noticeably compared to the rest of the room. Though, unlike many Twi’lek females, she was clothed as would be expected of most normal humanoids in the galaxy. She was not a slave like many of the females of her species, but instead the mate of Kalrin, both of which had left Ryloth long ago to escape that exact thing.

After a deep breath, and calling on the Force to help her weaker human muscles, Marix picked up Tobias and walked around the counter, “Lead the way.”

“What about your favor?” Kalrin asked, though he was falling into step next to his mate as they walked into the small opening that led to the not-so-cluttered back of their store.

“We can work that out once I put him down...” Marix grumbled, noting that even the Force wasn’t helping all the much. Sometimes, she wondered how Jyren had managed to live nearly two standard decades as a human without getting himself killed...well, no, he had.

Well, that answered that at least.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 349*

It was just like old times...in most every way. The current fact that was striking Jyren was that all of the Zephyrs, save for himself and Rulae, were very, very green. And not with envy, either. If any of them had ever been in an actual starfighter cockpit instead of a simulator, he’d have been thoroughly amazed. And that was the impression he’d gotten just from reading through all of the small files that Rulae had handed him.

Of the ten other pilots in the squadron, four were human(all from various planets in the galaxy), two were Mon Calamari, two were Twi’leks, one was a Bothan, and one was another Duros. It was, truthfully, a fairly normal make-up, species wise at least, for a starfighter squadron. Arguably, it was even more diverse than some units, but that really didn’t matter all that much in the end. The problem, for Jyren at least, was when he first met all of the pilots.

If he had thought they were green when he’d first read all of their files, after meeting them Jyren was at a loss for a colour to describe just how new they had to have been to Starfighter Command. A small part of him wondered if he’d looked like that all those years ago...wide eyed(even the Duros and the Mon Calamari), somewhat confused looking, and nervous enough that they all looked like they’d jump if someone spoke too quickly without warning. That thought alone made Jyren feel like he was getting old...and looking at the faces of the pilots, especially the humans, it was obvious just how young they were...

Of course, this was ignoring the fact that, despite he was technically in his early thirties(which was, however, nothing to an Alraxian...Toby was older than that), Jyren still looked a good ten years younger than he actually was. Maybe that was part of the reason the other Zephyrs were acting somewhat jumpy around him...they knew he was experienced(that was why he was the squadron’s XO), but while he looked it, he was so close to many of them that it was hard to imagine him being much more of a pilot than they were.

But those worries were passed off quickly, as Jyren knew they were childish. This wasn’t some little game...this was a starfighter squadron, and as long as they understood his rank, followed orders, and stayed alive, things should work out well enough. Not that he was any good at giving orders...but that was Rulae’s job in the end, so Jyren didn’t worry too much about that end of things.

They were aboard the Imperial-class Star Destroyer, Araddon, which had been refitted not a month earlier. The briefing room was spacious, and in the same semi-circular shape that Jyren was used to aboard New Republic ships. Sure, it was a bit different, but the basic idea was close enough...and it sure as hell wasn’t as humid as a Mon Calamari Cruiser was, which was most definitely a plus. The ship itself was preparing, along with the rest of their small fleet, for the jump to Vortex, with the final supplies and crew boarding.

Rulae had taken this time to organize the new squadron together for an initial briefing...mainly for introductions, wingmate assignments, and other very basic things that would have been dealt with months ago if there had actually been some real preparation for this war instead of a sudden admission by Chief of State Fey’lya that the Yuuzhan Vong did, in fact, exist. But that was the past and, so, things were having to be done more quickly than usual. They would just have to survive.

Before the briefing, Rulae and Jyren had talked about the wingmate assignments, and Jyren was surprised just how much that his old friend was asking for his assistance with it. He seemed to really be interested in Jyren’s opinion, which, truthfully, shouldn’t have surprised him all that much...it’d just been so long that he forgot how close the two of them had become after ending up as the last of the Zephyrs after Coruscant. The one important thing that was decided, though, was that Rulae and Jyren should not be wingmates. Though, sometimes, the Commander and XO would be wingmates, it was not always the best thing to do in a situation like the new Zephyrs were in...with the two of them being the only experienced pilots.

So, after all the assignments were given out and the pilots dismissed, they separated into their wingmate pairs...mainly to get to know one another. It was, after all, an important thing to know one’s wingmate. That meant that, currently, Jyren was sitting in a small chair in the mess across from his new wingmate, a female Twi’lek named Rea’tin Lor. She was, like most young Twi’lek females, relatively short and had a very attractive build...though, thankfully, she had the decency to actually wear the correct uniform of the correct size so as not to cause a distraction...Jyren had heard stories of Twi’lek female pilots who didn’t exactly follow that line of thinking, and had a habit of taking every little advantage they could.

“So you knew the Commander from before?” she was asking, casually trying to probe into a past that he was obviously trying to hide from her. She had an interesting coloured dark-blue skin, that seemed to get lighter towards the tips of her two head tails that, to Jyren, should have been a lot more distracting than it was...but after so long on Alraxia, one got used to a variety of different colours for skin tones(or fur or hair or whatever it was that covered the body at the moment).

Jyren nodded, leaning back some to rest against the wall behind his chair, “We were part of the first Zephyr Squadron close to fifteen standard years ago. We flew together during the first fall of Coruscant.”

Rea, as, apparently, everyone called her, nodded and leaned forward, idly resting her head in her hands, before asking yet another question in the same somewhat high-pitched voice, “So do you know if we’re going straight to a fight?”

Wow, did she change subjects quickly...

“Not as far as I know,” Jyren answered in as neutral a voice as he could. Somehow, he could handle children just fine, but something about young, naive pilots got to his nerves a little too easily, “The Vong are still a good way out in the Outer Rim. So we should be fine. Enough time to get all of you some flight time in and get everyone used to things before we get to the real thing.”

“I’ve done a hundred simulator runs,” Rea said, almost a little too proudly.

Jyren, somehow, managed to not as politely as possible, “Simulators can only help you out so much. Being in the actual cockpit out there is much different...”

He trailed off, not wanting to add that no matter how much training one had, nothing would ever prepare a new pilot for their first engagement. The utter chaos was so much that it was, simply, not something that could be prepared for. Hopefully these new pilots would be up for it...but Jyren knew from experience that most would not be. It was the hard truth, but the truth nonetheless.

“Do you have a family?” Rea’s voice cut into his thoughts yet again, nearly jerking Jyren up to look at her through the fringe of his hair that he had let get a little too scruffy again. She was, apparently, full of questions. He should have been, too, but for some reason he just didn’t have much to ask her. Not only was she so green that her skin colour was probably painted on to hide the fact, but part of him just felt little need at all to get to know someone that was going to die in a few months...or weeks.

“Yes,” Jyren’s mouth answered while he brain rambled on to itself.

And then the Twi’lek girl proved that she wasn’t a complete idiot. She very easily picked up on the fact that he was distracted, and so asked the first question that most everyone in the galaxy would in the same situation, “Is something wrong?”

“No,” again, the answer came far too quickly, and was definitely a reflex. Jyren sighed, shook his head, and got to his feet, “I’m sorry, but I need to go take care of some things.”

And then he walked out, leaving the poor Rea to sit there and wonder what she’d done wrong. She assumed that she’d said something stupid, but hadn’t seen any indicators as to exactly what that had been. It didn’t take long, though, before the squadron’s Duros Commander walked over to her.

Immediately, she knew why, and so she went straight to the point, asking, “What did I do?”

“Nothing,” Rulae said, shaking his large, blue-grey head, “He was...very close to his last wingmate. After she died he pretty much ran away from the New Republic as a whole. It can’t be that easy on him to come back like this.”

Rea sighed and shook her head, idly running a blue hand over the table in front of her. Though she didn’t say anything, Rulae wasn’t stupid. He’d been around long enough to know the problem, and gently patted her shoulder, “Its alright. I’ll have a talk with him. It may be a bit rough at first, Ensign, but he’s the best pilot in the squadron...you’ll be glad to have him at your wing.”

The Twi’lek allowed her Commander to walk off in the direction that her new wingmate had gone before sighing again and mumbling into the table, “I hope so.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 350*

“I’m sorry, Alrax, but we don’t have the same connections we used to,” Kalrin said quietly, shaking his head and obviously trying not to stare at Tobias, who was in the center of the room, laying down, and still unconscious.

Marix, who was sitting next to Toby with a hand rested on his shoulder, looked across the room where the two Twi’leks watched them. She couldn’t help a sigh, “You have to know someone.”

It was Kalrin’s wife, Ereth’la, who was currently closing up the medkit that had been used, who spoke up this time, “After Cora died a few years back we have...been much more isolated from the rest of the galaxy. He was always the one with the contacts. I should have thought you knew that.”

Marix did know that. Cora had been Ereth’la’s younger brother, from what she remembered. He’d been a smuggler and, like most that took up such a profession, was both very cocky and a little too ready to jump into a fight. Alright, so those were more symptoms of being young than being a smuggler, but it was surprising how well the two went together time and time again. It was really no surprise to learn he’d been killed, as he had a habit of picking fights where he couldn’t win them, and also didn’t exactly make the best of friends with the many contacts he made.

Nodding, Marix looked between the two Twi’leks, “And I know the two of you wouldn’t exactly have had a visitor like you just had if you’d gotten rid of all of those contacts. There has to be someone you can point me in the direction of.”

“That...man, had nothing to do with anyone we know,” Kalrin cut in a little too quickly, before changing his tone and trying to hide the sudden jump in by saying, “But I think I do know one or two people that could help you.”

But it was too late to jump away from what he’d first said. Marix latched onto it, knowing there was much more there, especially considering that she hadn’t been able to feel the attacker in the Force at all. There wasn’t even a hole as if he was a somewhat strong Force-user who wasn’t very good at hiding himself...instead, there was just nothing. It was like blank air, and if Marix had no other senses beyond the Force, it would have been impossible to know he had even been there.

“Who was he?” Marix’s voice was razor-edged and her eyes narrowed before looking to both of the Twi’leks. They would, no doubt, attempt to hide the answers, considering Kalrin’s quick change away from it already. She was going to do her best to stop any avoiding of the subject and get straight to the point.

There was a silence that fell over the small room, as Kalrin and Ereth’la exchanged a quick glance. Marix caught sight of their head tails twitching, and she knew right there that they were communicating quickly. Despite spending some time in a Twi’lek form here and there, and a good deal of knowledge of many different languages, the intricacies of the Twi’lek’s lekku communication was something that Marix had never been able to learn.

Thankfully, they did not take long, and soon both turned to face her again. It took another minute, however, before Kalrin reached up to rub his forehead and spoke quietly, “I do not know who he was...but he came looking for information. He was asking about...strange things. He wanted to know how often supply ships came and went, and though he specified our own ships, I know very well that he meant all of them.”

“He also asked about the Holonet,” Ereth’la added, shaking her red-orange head and giving Marix a very pointed look, “We told him nothing.”

“...which was why he was pulling a disrupter on you,” Marix finished the unsaid thoughts and nodded to herself. She could feel they were telling the truth, though it was a bit forced. When one was in the business of selling information more than selling physical objects, it was hard to give away any information, no matter how important or how small it may have been.

So they didn’t know anything else...but Marix knew there was something else there. It was something she was going to have to look into on her own, and that was definitely not something to mention to these Twi’leks. So, she quickly moved back to the important point and why she’d tracked them down in the first place, “So about those contacts you can give me.”

“You say you wanted ships, yes?” Kalrin asked, then waited for her nod before glancing to Ereth’la and going on, “We know a Rodian that could probably help you. I believe he is currently operating out of a small station near the Coreward edge of the Cron Drift. It would likely take little to find the station there, as the area is fairly empty.”

The Cron Drift. A place where, thousands of years ago, a series of stars went supernova and wiped out all the life in the entire sector that was nearby. The planets had remained, generally, uninhabitable, but that didn’t stop many from using the gaseous nature of the area as a good cover for multiple illegal activities. It made sense. And while it was a difficult area to navigate, Loki was a much better ship for that kind of instinctive piloting than any ship that Marix could think of. Besides, it would get the ship a little excitement again, after so many years of sitting around and flying here to there without any trouble at all.

“Will your...s...” Ereth’la stopped, bit her lip, then tried again, “Will he be alright?”

She had cut herself off for a reason. It was due to the sharp look that Marix had given her for what she’d nearly said. Not that Marix didn’t consider Tobias to be her son as much as Jyren did, but due to the fact that it was both something that didn’t need to be spoken, and because Marix felt that it was just another piece of information that she did not wish these two to know too much of.

“He will be fine,” Marix said flatly, part of her suddenly not liking the choice she had made to come and find these two for information. She was also starting to push Tobias through the Force, trying to get him up faster so that they could leave. She wasn’t about to walk the streets of Ord Mantell carrying the kid. That was asking for trouble.

And so they would have to wait. It wasn’t long, however, before Marix decided it would be a good idea to have another look at the attacker in the other room. While the two Twi’leks went about cleaning up the smashed things that were the result of the fight in the main room of the building, Marix dragged the corpse back to the same room where Toby lay. Dragged because this massive human was far too heavy for Marix to even attempt carrying in her own human form, and she wasn’t about to use the Force in plain sight of the two Twi’leks.

As she knelt down next to the corpse and looked it over, she couldn’t help but keep having to remind herself that this body was, in fact, right there. Even a dead body should have some slight resonance in the Force. But this had nothing. The Force told her she was just looking at empty air and the ground below it. But her eyes, hands, and even ears, told her a much different story...this was not a confusion she was used to, and not something she liked one bit.

Marix found nothing right away, though she did note that the clothes he wore seemed almost too tight to the body. It reminded her of a morphsuit, actually, but with more shape and changes in form rather than the single, form fitting body suit. And this thought made her hands run along the corpse, looking for who knew what but...something. And then she found something.

A point...near the back of the skull. It felt..rougher than skin should have, if that made any sense. And, instinctively, she put pressure on it to get a better feel of the spot. The second Marix did that, the man’s...face began to peel away down the middle. It was sickening at first, as the entire face split down the middle and folded away all the way down the body, revealing an entirely different creature within. This was not a human. This was humanoid, yes...but with deep grey skin, tattoos covering every inch of skin in intricate patterns, and...scars. Scars, amputations, and other horrid looking disfigurements that covered the entire body.

And right away, Marix knew what she was looking at. There was no other possibility.

A Yuuzhan Vong.

With a human suit.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 351*

Even though a Star Destroyer was still one of the largest starships in the galaxy, it was very hard to find any place, other than personal quarters, to be away from anyone. The size of the ship meant that there was a considerable amount of personnel aboard...and that didn’t just count the actual ship’s crew. Ground troops, techs, medics, marines, and then, of course, the starfighter pilots were everywhere, which made it nearly impossible to not run into people pretty much anywhere.

And so, when Rulae couldn’t find Raan (or Jyren...whatever) in his quarters, the list of places he could have been in the mood he was currently in was very, very small. Though he hadn’t seen the man in a long time, Rulae had a good idea of where to go after that. There were three, relatively small, observation rooms that had once been tactical briefing rooms...but when the hangar of the Araddon was converted to house three starfighter squadrons, the tactical briefing rooms were moved and the empty shells that were left were...left. Unlike the Empire, the New Republic knew that at least some downtime was necessary, and these places provided a little something at least.

It only took checking the first of them, which was just a few meters out from the main hangar, yet still managed to have some kind of view of what was outside the ship. It was also the smallest of the three, which was why Rulae had checked that one first. And right here, in the center of the otherwise empty room, sat Jyren...cross-legged and facing off the other direction towards the small series of viewports.

“Still have another hour until we arrive,” Jyren’s calm voice said as Rulae walked in, “What do you need, Commander?”

“Technically, its Commodore,” the Duros said idly before stepping next to his old friend and having a seat on the cold floor. It was then that he noticed Jyren’s eyes were closed. After a short moment, he added, “And what I need, is for my XO to stop sulking and actually get to know the pilots in our squadron.”

Now, the human next to Rulae opened his eyes, turning to look at him with something heavy in those icy blue eyes, “Half of them will be dead in a matter of days.”

Rulae did not nod, but his large, full red eyes matched Jyren’s perfectly and held a surprisingly stern, pointed look that Jyren was amazed could come from such alien eyes, “They don’t need to know that...and ignoring them like you’re trying to do is only going to guarantee that more of them will die.”

“And if I get too friendly with them and they die, what then?” that was not the Raan that Rulae Nok remembered. The voice was the same, and so was his face, but that...that was something he’d not even seen from his friend after the Zephyrs died on Coruscant.

“Then you remember them and you move on,” Rulae said flatly, almost getting a little too angry all of a sudden, “Ra— Jyren, I was the same way after we lost our squadron. Everyone is. But you didn’t have to come back to this, and you know it. You knew you were going to have to deal with this, so why did you come back if you’re just going to try running away again?”

“I don’t...I don’t know,” Jyren trailed off a moment, and then he started to grin suddenly. It came out of no where, and even surprised him, but he just shook his head said down to the deck, “You know, I never actually thought about it. Amazing how I just rush off without thinking about anything first.”

Marix would be proud of him for staying consistent.

A grin managed to appear on the Duros’ face a few moments later, “You really haven’t changed all that much...Jyren, I’m serious, you can’t run from these kids. They’re terrified. Sure, they’re ready to get into their first dogfight and feel that adrenaline rush, but you remember how it was. No one had to tell you that, statistically, half of your new friends would be dead by the end of your first mission...and that was if you were lucky. They all know, and they won’t show it but they know. What they need from us, just as much as the in-cockpit training we’ll give them when we arrive, is assurance that maybe, just maybe, we’ll prove that statistics are just generalizations.”

“Spoken like a good Duros,” Jyren mumbled, not really saying that to anger his friend, but simply as an idle comment to throw out there for who knew why.

It did manage to get a short laugh from Rulae, who just nodded, “Spoken like a squadron commander. So, are you regretting coming back yet, or shall I throw some other responsibilities your way?”

For some reason, that made Jyren inwardly look to his link with Marix. She was still there, of course, but so far away...so far...

Shaking it off, Jyren looked back out towards the viewport again and answered Rulae’s joking question a little more seriously than had been intended, “A little bit. But this was the right choice. These kids need the help, and every little thing to assist in this war is what will be needed to end it quickly. The longer it lasts...the worse its going to get.”

The Duros nodded, carefully looking off to see if there was anything interesting that Jyren was actually looking at. When he saw nothing but the endless, empty blue of hyperspace, Rulae grabbed onto another stray thought, “You sound like a Jedi when you talk like that.”

“You’d be amazed how hard I tried at that,” Jyren said softly, more to himself than to Rulae.

But, of course, the Duros did not miss this. He could not raise an eyebrow as Duros had no body hair, but he did tilt his head curiously and ask, “I know you told me some of where you were since disappearing, but I think I would have remembered you mentioning being a Jedi.”

“I didn’t mention it because I’m not,” Jyren’s voice took on a very sharp, almost Marix-like tone, “I said I tried, I didn’t say I was.”

For a long half minute, Rulae eyed him very carefully. Those words were just as cryptic as the first, and he still wasn’t completely sure what exactly Jyren meant. But he was connecting small bits of information he already knew...such as the lightsaber Jyren had always carried, his natural talent for being a little too damn lucky, and now this Jedi thing...

Eventually, still carefully studying Jyren, the Duros said, “It would really help the kids’ morale to know we had a Jedi in the squadron.”

“And it would be a lie,” the knife-edge of Jyren’s voice cut that line of thought off before it had the chance to go anywhere, “Rulae, I am not going to be something I’m not again. I went through that already, and it only made things worse for everyone around me while I tried to pretend to be some Jedi hero,” he quickly waved a hand to silence any comments that might get in the way, then went on to clarify, “Yes, Rulae, I can use the Force and its saved my life more times than I can count...and yes, I can use the lightsaber that’s buried away in my quarters...but I am no Jedi.”

Rulae opened his small mouth for a second before closing it again, then opening it again to say, “Jedi is just a title, Jyren. Just...this is something that could really help. And you know its not something you, of all people, can hide...you have a habit of showing off a little too much.”

“No!” Jyren snapped, this time nearly yelling, before shaking his head again and taking a deep breath, “No. I did not tell you for a damn good reason and this is exactly why. I’m a pilot, Rulae. I am here to fly, not to show off, and especially not to lie to some already terrified kids and make them think they’ve got a Jedi flying with them. And don’t you start thinking that, either. Unless you, or one of those kids is one, there are no Jedi in this squadron. There never have been. Understand?”

There was nothing to be said to that...and so Rulae just nodded. He took a deep breath, then rested a long-fingered hand on the human’s shoulder, “Alright. I won’t say anything. But at least don’t shut the kids out completely. Go get to know them, especially your wing. You know how important that is more than most of us.”

At that, Jyren also nodded. He was right, of course. And so, Jyren got to his feet and, as he started out of the room and back towards the mess, he said over his shoulder, “I’m sorry I’m still such a mess, Rulae...but I swear to you I won’t let my own problems affect this squadron again.”

It wasn’t until the door slid closed behind the human that Rulae nodded and said to himself, “And neither will I.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 352*

There were only a few things one could do after discovering that the human who had fired a disrupter within a small shop on Ord Mantell was not, in fact, a human. Marix took the most direct approach. Immediately upon identifying the attacker as a Yuuzhan Vong (or at least being sure that it was the most likely option of the few that were currently available), she knew that letting word spread of a Vong on this planet, in a human suit, no less, would be a very bad thing.

And so, the first thing she did was find a way to get the strange suit back onto the body it had peeled off of. This took a good ten minutes of work, but eventually she managed to coax the thing back onto its...host? Host was the best she could work out at this point, mainly due to the fact that it was definitely not a synthetic creation. The suit was, most definitely, alive. The little points that stuck into the pores of her skin when she tried to force it back onto the body proved that. It reacted as an instinct, almost, trying to grab onto its new host and...do whatever it did.

It was amazing, though, that she managed to get the Yuuzhan Vong’s corpse covered by the suit again before one of the two Twi’leks returned to check on them. Marix had quickly made up a few details about what she’d ‘found’, all of which were lies told in a very believable way. And when she was left alone with Tobias for the second time, Marix sighed and looked down at the still unconscious young looking human. He needed to wake up. They could only stay here so much longer. The very fact that a disguised Yuuzhan Vong was on Ord Mantell, at least five major star systems Coreward of the current, makeshift line near Dantooine, was not a good sign. And it brought Marix to the next most important thing to do...which Tobias was currently holding them back from. 

Getting off of Ord Mantell.

Yes, it could be seen as running, but this was not an Alraxian war and she was going to keep it from that for as long as she possibly good. Her people were not ready for a war...in fact, only herself, Jyren, and he handful of Tam’day’u that were the main training force for the larger defensive group of Knights were ready for war at all. And to keep them out of this for as long as was possible, Marix knew that they needed a better defensive force at the gateway. So, it was simply more of a motivation to leave as soon as possible. If the Vong were already on Ord Mantell, then it was no telling how long it would be before an attack came...and that was the last thing Marix needed, especially with Tobias at her side.

The part of her that felt the distance of Jyren through the link couldn’t help but remind her of how...insensitive her actions were becoming. Over the many years, the link between them had a way of getting stronger and stronger, which meant that their respective personalities were getting much better at rubbing off on the other...or, more accurately, imprinting on the other. It did make many things easier to deal with when the link was so strong and even more open than before either of them knew how to control it. But now they were half a galaxy apart for the first time since they’d met and it was...surprisingly difficult. She knew that if Jyren was there, he’d someone talk her into staying and getting the word out and other completely stupid and impossibly idealistic things...

But he wasn’t there. Jyren was off doing his thing, trying to protect their people in the only way he knew how to. Sure, he might have yelled about it being just for their family, but Marix knew better than that.

And because he wasn’t there, it wasn’t worth dwelling on what might be happening, because it simply wasn’t. Marix knew well enough how to deal with things on her own, and if that meant being practical and at a least a little cold to others, then so be it. It was part of her duty as the Empress to protect her people, even if it meant putting their lives about those of the rest of the galaxy. Which meant they needed to get off this damned planet...

And then there was a groan.

Marix twisted around to look over to where Toby still lay, seeing his eyes were half open and seemingly unable to go any farther. Reaching over, she carefully rested her hand on his forehead and tried, yet again, to send a little help through the Force. It hadn’t looked to have done much help the other times she’d attempted it, and she’d never claim to be a healer, but by the Force it was worth trying. She also leaned down slightly and, knowing he could hear her and at least hoping his brain could put words together, said very quietly, “Remorph what hurts...do it slowly. Don’t rush it, or you might pass out again.”

There was no outward indication that he heard what she’d said, but through the Force she could tell he did what she had told him to. Not long afterwards, his eyes, which were, disturbingly enough, the same colour as Jyren’s, opened all the way and turned to give her a dazed look. Tobias’ mouth opened, but only another groan escaped.

With a sigh, Marix helped him to sit up straight and spoke in a stern voice, “You’re lucky you didn’t get yourself killed. This is exactly why Jyren wanted you to stay at the Palace.”

“...Jyren’s here...?” Tobias’ voice was quiet, a bit confused, and scratchy enough to not sound at all like him...well, not at all like him in his human form, which was quite different from his normal voice.

Obviously, he’d hit his head very hard. Marix shook her head, “No, he’s not. We’re on Ord Mantell still...but not for long. Draw on the Force like we’ve taught you, Toby. Clear your mind and focus...use it to get your strength back so we can leave.”

Though she could tell he was doing this through the Force, Tobias still sounded and looked like he’d been hit by a turbolaser blast, somehow survived, and wasn’t sure what exactly was going on anymore, “...thought you said...you said...Jyren didn’t know you let me....you said Jyren didn’t know.”

This was not the time to discuss that, of all things. Sure, taking Tobias had been something that Jyren was very adamantly against, but he’d left a good while before Marix had and she had...caved. Well, no, not caved. It was more of a simple understanding that the kid was starting to act like she had at his age. Cooped up in the Palace with too much energy and not enough ways to release it that didn’t get people yelling at him. Marix had hoped that at least a short trip out of that place would do him some good.

But despite his foggy thinking, Tobias was soon able to sit up of his own strength. And, in another few minutes, was up on his feet...somewhat. Marix promised to explain what was going on when they got out of the system, telling him to just focus on walking straight and not drawing too much attention their way. Anything that would make either of them look weak on the streets of Ord Mantell made them a target...and that could further delay them from getting off of the planet when the Force(or maybe it was just her own natural instincts) was yelling at her to leave as soon as possible.

There had been no real last words to the two Twi’leks, not even a ‘thank you’ or a ‘goodbye’. Simply an acknowledgment that she and Tobias were leaving as the two cleaned up the majority of the mess that had been created in their shop. This meant that it was easy to get back on the streets, and though their pace was slow so that Toby could keep up, they were moving. At this point, that was all that mattered to Marix.

[Loki, get ready to leave the second we’re on board.] she called out to her ship, half a city away.

Of course, that didn’t slow down the bored ship’s response. [Going home?]

[Not yet. Heading out to the Cron Drift.] Marix did her best to not shake her head while responding, as she knew how strange that would look when she was obviously not talking with Tobias. [Be ready to prepare the jump to hyperspace as soon as possible.]

Loki was no fool. He could detect the sense of urgency in her ‘voice’. [...are we expecting trouble?]

[Always.] was the quick response, but Marix soon added. [I can’t tell you for sure, Loki, but we need to play this safe and leave now. The fighting is trying move Coreward faster than even Jyren worried it would.]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 353*

Home to the avian species, Vor, the planet of Vortex was truly a beautiful sight both from orbit and on its surface. Though, truthfully, they weren’t actually being allowed to set foot on the planet, all of the Zephyrs had seen holos from the surface...both of the native Vors an their huge, multicoloured towers that covered much of the planet. To think that, just a few systems out beyond the Mid Rim, some completely and utterly alien species was destroying everything in its path was...almost unimaginable.

But it was exactly what was happening. Yes, the Yuuzhan Vong had not advanced farther than Dantooine, but there were reports...rumors...stories. The Vong would not stay where they were long. Ithor was the next most logical step for their continuation to the galactic Core. It had been the tactical assumption by nearly all of the New Republic’s leaders that Ithor was next...but they were not sure. It was too hard to predict exactly what would happen.

However, prediction was no longer necessary.

When the Zephyrs and their fleet arrived at Vortex, a message was recieved from the Bothan in charge of the entire New Republic Navy, Admiral Kre’fey. Apparently, not a few days earlier, a small group of Jedi had gone to the planet Garqi, which was a relatively small world taken from the Vong not long after their assault on Dantooine. Along with discovering that the Vong were using both the planet’s resources and their newly acquired slaves begin construction on what could only be a gigantic fleet of...living ships, they had also found a possible advantage to be exploited. As all the ‘technology’ of the Vong were actually living creatures, it should not have been very surprising to find they had their own problems. More specifically, the pollen of the Bafforr trees that were across much of Garqi caused a fatal reaction to the armor of the Yuuzhan Vong warrior, killing it and crushing the warriors encased in its shells.

But the Bafforr trees were not native to Garqi. They were transplanted from Ithor. One of the only advantages that the New Republic could possibly hold against the might of the Yuuzhan Vong was on a world that was perfectly lined up as the next target for the Vong. It was not something that could be lost...and so the fleet was gathering there as a defense.

Their fleet, apparently, was not going to be heading to Ithor, however. They would wait at Vortex and be prepared to jump to hyperspace if any other planets were also attacked...it would not be an intelligent move to simply send all of the New Republic fleet to one planet. Some had to remain ready for anything else that could possibly occur.

“Alright, Zephyrs,” the voice of Rulae Nok sounded over all of the comms of the rest of the squadron, “We’re going to split into two groups for the this. Odds, I want you on me. Evens, you’re with Two. Our astromechs will transmit the comm frequencies to you.”

Only some of the pilots heard the clicks as their comm frequencies switched over so as not to distract the other group. Not that they were cut off from the others, as it was no problem to transmit to everyone if something came up...the thought of anything going wrong, however, was left out of everyone’s minds at this point.

Jyren left one hand on the control stick(apparently, an unusual way of flying these days) and hit the comm switch at his side as he pulled away from the main group, “This is Two. Evens, form up on me. We’re heading around the moon and then its time for a little fun.”

There was a series of double clicks over the comm, and Jyren counted them until he heard all five acknowledging that they had heard him. Just to make sure, Jyren leaned over and looked back behind him and to the sides of his brand new XJ X-Wing, and was glad to see the five others formed up in a somewhat haphazard formation behind him.

Well, at least they were following him. And, as Jyren watched them in the short flight to the nearby moon, he was glad to see that they all seemed to have a relatively strong grasp of basic flight techniques. Just to test this, Jyren took them through some very basic maneuvers along the way...also taking in the amazing response that this new model X-Wing had. It was nothing like that older two-seater version that was still sitting back on Alraxia and getting cautious stares from everyone that walked past the gigantic metal...thing.

It took just a few minutes to reach the opposite side of Vortex’s long dead moon, and when they reached it Jyren reopened the comm channel, “Okay, now for what you’ve all been waiting for. Time to break into pairs and get you all some dogfighting practice. First, however, just to keep things safe, try to keep your distance from everyone else...all you need to do for the ‘kill’ is acquire a target lock. This is just to get you used to what this really feels like...simulators can’t teach that.”

There was not silence afterwards. Jyren didn’t expect it.

Instead, the comm clicked and the voice of a young human male sounded in his helmet, “Uh, sir...I don’t want to sound like I’m whining but, uh...doesn’t this mean you and Rea are going to win?”

Jyren couldn’t help a smile at that, though he was still pulling away from the main group, and a quick glance to his side showed that his Twi’lek wingmate was keeping up, “This wasn’t going to be about winning or losing, Four,” Jyren was only able to identify the pilot by the little console next to his sensor panel that he had rigged to tell him who was transmitting. It was the best he could think of to do while he was still learning all the pilot’s voices, “But since you put it that way. I’ll buy the last two that ‘live’ drinks for the next week. Of course, if Rea and I win...you kids get to do the same for the next two weeks. How’s that sound?”

All he got in response was a series of double clicks over the comm.

As Jyren led his wingmate out a bit before they turned and came at the other four, he switched over to a personal frequency that only he and Rea shared and said, “You’re leading this time, Three. I’ll stay at your wing and watch your tail.”

“Uh...sir—“

”Jyren,” he cut her off, not liking hearing ‘sir’ anymore than Marix liked to hear ‘sorry’. But then, remembering that they were, technically, in the military, added, “At least on this frequency.”

“Sorry...Jyren,” Rea seemed to stumble over that for a moment, obviously not sure what she was supposed to say to that, but then went on with her original comment, “Won’t we...lose if I lead?”

Jyren shook his head, and though he had a feeling she was close enough to see him do it, also said, “No, Rea, we won’t. First instinct is usually to target both of the wingmates together...but we’re going to do this one at a time. You find a target, get on it, and I’ll follow you. We’ll take them down faster by focusing out attention on them.”

Through the Force, he could feel that Rea was actually starting to like this. The fact that he was, essentially, putting her in charge definitely helped. It was a trick that Rulae had told him to try after the briefing they’d both gotten about the Ithor situation.

“Alright, kids,” Jyren said after another few minutes to allow the three pairs to get a good distance from each other, “Open your S-Foils and lets see how much you learned from those simulators.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 354*

Marix shook her head and ran a hand through her hair, idly watching the black strands fall in front of her face before just pushing it all out of the way and turning to look to her side, where Tobias sat in Jyren’s seat. It was...strange. She was so used to turning and seeing Jyren staring right back to match her gaze when she looked that somehow it felt wrong to have Tobias there, staring off out the viewport at the nothingness of hyperspace.

It had been a fairly long time since she’d really looked at the young Alraxian...and seeing his profile now was almost haunting. He had the sharp features that were eerily similar to Ket Halpak’s, something that hadn’t appeared until recently. But there was something else, too...a softness in the eyes and the general shape of his face that reminded Marix more of her mother than anyone else. Of course, she was intelligent enough to know that it was her own features(or rather, that of the clone Delta Nine), but Marix still did her best to avoid those thoughts as much as possible.

And yet, defying all logic, there was more about Tobias that she couldn’t help noticing. The way his hair looked, including the metallic blue stripe down the center of his jet black hair, looked just like Marix knew Jyren had looked many years before she’d ever met him. And his attitude was also very disturbingly similar...though those two were likely due to Tobias’ very strong attachment to Jyren, it was still not something that Marix had expected at all.

“You are not a Jedi, Toby,” she finally said, in a calm voice that she was doing her best to hold...knowing that any adversarial tone would develop into a screaming match faster than if it was Jyren.

Tobias finally turned to face her and gave her a sharp look with two blue eyes that were, again, almost exactly the same colour as Jyren’s, “I know that!”

Alright, so it didn’t seem to matter what tone she used. Part of her couldn’t help but wonder if she had been that bad at that age...and then Marix quickly reminded herself that she had been much, much worse. There were many reasons why she’d left Alraxia when she was Toby’s age, and attitude was definitely not the least of them.

More carefully, Marix tried again, “This is not a game, Toby. We aren’t here playing around like back at home. There is a war here, and we’re trying to stop it from reaching our home...and like it or not, you are still a child. You cannot jump into a fight thinking you’re Jyren and expect to survive. Not here, and not now.”

“But when you were—“

”When I was your age, I was trained to be a killer,” Marix cut him off sharply. Not giving a chance for him to argue that, which he couldn’t, of course, she took a deep breath and attempted a more civil tone again, “You are not me. You are not Jyren. You are yourself, and trying to be either of us is just going to get yourself killed. I know you want to help, and I’m thankful for that, but you aren’t ready yet.”

Tobias sighed heavily and looked down at the deck, “Then why did you even let me come with you...?”

“Because you’d have snuck onboard Loki, anyway,” she answered flatly, giving a quick mental glare to the ship around them which would have easily allowed Toby in without letting her know, and then added, “And you can’t learn what its like out here without seeing it for yourself first. Stories can only teach so much.”

Through the Force, there was a sudden burst of at least slight understanding from Tobias and he looked up at her with a new brightness in his eyes, “You mean...?”

Marix nodded, holding back any hint of a smile, “Yes, I do. Both Jyren and I have taught you to defend yourself, but you won’t know how to use any of that until you’ve seen what things are actually like.”

[We’ll be ready to exit hyperspace in another five minutes.] Loki cut in at the best time he could find, speaking only to Marix at this point.

She glanced up, again out of habit, and then responded the same way...despite knowing that Toby would know he was keeping him out of the loop. [Its going to be up to you when we get there, Loki. I figure we’re looking for something big, but in all the mess of the Cron Drift it’ll be hard to spot anything.]

[You know I don’t miss anything.] the ship answered confidently.

Marix couldn’t help a smile at that.

But then Tobias cut in with a word that still, after eleven years, made her feel uneasy, “Mom?”

At least she didn’t outwardly cringe at that anymore, “What?”

“You don’t really think this is going to help us at all, do you?”

The question was as simple as the answer. In all honesty, Marix was amazed he’d waited that long to ask it.

No. No, it wouldn’t help. They could get a thousand ships to defend the gateway, but there simply weren’t enough Knights to crew them all...not even counting the amount of time it would take to both desensitize them to the fact that the ships were metal and then actually train them to use the systems. Sure, the Empire was full of different species, but it was the Alraxian Empire. The Alraxians were the strength and the point to which all the others held, and the Knights were, almost exclusively, Alraxian. Even changing that would not save the Empire from the Yuuzhan Vong if an attack really came.

The Mrrakesh were not stupid...they would be watching what was going on just as much as the Alraxians were. An offensive on the gateway and that side of the Alraxian Empire would mean that the Mrrakesh could easily attack the border on the other side and divide the small defense force that the Empire had between two overwhelming fights. Not that the Mrrakesh were that belligerent anymore, but their leader changed so much that it was hard to tell what kind of maniac might decide that it was finally time to get rid of those damned felines that had been a constant bother for thousands of years.

Marix sighed and leaned back in her seat before looking back over to the young Tobias, “If you ask that question, you already know the answer.”

It took a moment, but eventually the young Alraxian nodded slowly. And, of course, a question was quick to follow, “Then what are we really doing out here?”

“Giving the people of the Empire hope that it will help,” she said in a slow voice, almost sounding like she didn’t believe her own words.

That, Tobias understood, but he still was able to pick up that she wasn’t being completely truthful, “That can’t be all.”

Finally, Marix allowed herself another smile aimed towards Toby, “It isn’t. Jyren is off doing what he thinks is the right thing to do to stop this war before it gets too big...and you and I are doing the same. But, hopefully, you know that I’m not nearly as jumpy as he is. Before I act, we are out here finding out as much information about this situation as we can. You can’t fight an enemy you know nothing about, and until we really understand what these Yuuzhan Vong are and how they work, every single attack against them will fail.”

The serious nature of her voice brought a single thought to Tobias, “...is Jyren going to be alright?”

“He can take care of himself,” Marix answered quickly enough to not hint at any possible doubts that just might be hanging around in the back of her skull, “But he also doesn’t think things through before he does something.”

Suddenly, Tobias started to grin, “You’re watching his tail, aren’t you?”

“Someone has to watch it for him since he forgets its there half the time,” she answered with a grin, “But before we worry about him, we need to find this Rodian.”

“But I thought the ships wouldn’t help.”

Marix shrugged, “Its worth looking into...and besides, this is exactly the kind of person we need to find to get good information from that isn’t filtered through a panicked government.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 355*

Jyren was definitely alright. It was hard not to be alright when in a mock dogfight where he was the only one with any actual combat experience. Not that the rookies were bad, but it was quite obvious they were simulator trained. Despite the fact that he was following to the side of his wingmate, Zephyr Four, the two of them had already taken down one of the other pairs...Six and Eight. It had been Four’s choice to lock onto those two first, simply because they had come straight at them first.

The remaining two were playing it safer, looping down while the four others ‘fought’ it out and trying to get under both groups. When both of their targets were ‘killed’ it took all the willpower that Jyren could manage to not maneuver to away and get a lock on the next oncoming targets. Somehow, though, he managed to hold himself at Rea’s wing, waiting for her to maneuver so that he could follow her lead.

A series of annoying beeps began to sound in his headset as Zephyrs Ten and Twelve attempted to gain a target lock on him...which forced a smile on Jyren’s face. They were focusing fire on the most dangerous target. Not always the best tactic, but it at least showed that they could think a little different...as Six and Eight had simply attempted to take on the two others one at a time, allowing for Four and himself to take them down one at a time with relative ease.

“Below us, Four,” he said quickly over his channel with Rea. It was as much as he would say at this point, knowing that this was not his training, but theirs. He was, however, not going to lose to a bunch of rookies if he didn’t have to, and alerting one’s wingmate to possible problems was just something that was always done.

It was why he’d lived as long as he had...thanks to Liz Mare’s sharp eyes on his tail engines while he dove straight in like the rookie he used to be...

“Break right and wrap around,” the soft voice of Rea snapped him out of the old memories, which was, of course, a good thing.  Even though she was using rather interesting terminology, it got the point across and he had little trouble staying on her wing.

But as they made a long turn, Jyren decided it was time to show the rookies just why they were still rookies. It was a bit cold, true, but his old commander had done it to him more times that he liked to count. So, halfway through the turn in which the two other pilots would have had a clear shot at their flanks, Jyren cut his main starboard sublight drives for a few milliseconds...just long enough to whip his X-Wing completely around to face the two oncoming X-Wings.

The most obvious result of the maneuver was that the target locks attempting to be made on his own X-Wing continued to drift off to where he should have been, giving him the precious few seconds Jyren needed to ‘shoot’ down both of the remaining pilots...and without even using the Force to help out.

The second that their HUD displays read them as kills, a series of groans echoed through the comm channel.

It wasn’t long before the voice of a young human male, which Jyren was able to identify as Zephyr Ten with the help of his HUD display, cut off the groans, “Sir, that wasn’t fair.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Jyren replied, doing his best to not sound too insulting.

The comm clicked off, and then the voice of Rea sounded on the comm again, but this time on the open channel, “How did you do that, Two?”

“Something I don’t recommend any of you attempt until you can make a quick turn without it,” his response was simple enough, but he made sure to add, “That, I can show you how to do. Form up on me and I’ll give you a quick run through of that while we head to the moon’s surface for some real target practice.”

“Sir...”

Jyren glanced at his HUD display again as the other five X-Wings fell into a very loose formation around him, “Yeah, Eight?”

The voice was a bit more distinctive than the others, due to the fact that Zephyr Eight was one of the two Mon Calamari pilots in the squadron...meaning than an already gravely sounding voice got extra help from the not-too-clear comm system, “I’ve heard...stories...about the Vong ships eating laser fire. How are we supposed to get through that?”

Jyren did not smile at that, only because he normally would have expected to have eyes on him. This was one of the more important parts of the briefing he had received earlier in the day. Freeing up a finger from his stick to hit the comm switch, Jyren said, “We’re about to get to that, Eight. Once you power up your weapons you should see that there is an unusual setting present. This will stutter your laser fire so it will get through their ship’s defenses. Its just a matter of spreading out your fire, and once you get that down its simple.”

“...doesn’t sound simple,” that was the relatively bland sounding voice of Zephyr Six, who Jyren was fairly sure was one of the other humans in the squadron, but wasn’t all that sure. He really did need to get to know these kids better...

“You’ll get it,” Jyren answered before any agreements could be voiced over the channel, “But one thing at a time. Lets get to that maneuvering while we head for the targets, and then you can worry about that technique.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 356*

“Never heard of no Rodian out here,” the gravely sounding voice on the other end of the comm system replied for the third time.

Marix simply glared at the small speaker that was a part of the center panel in Loki’s cockpit, part of her contemplating hitting the thing...but that wouldn’t do anything but annoy the ship as much as she was getting annoyed by whoever the hell it was on the other end of the comm.

Instead, still managing to keep her voice level but making sure to make it plainly obvious that she was not in a good mood, she said, “Fine. I don’t care if there’s no Rodian here,” she waved around at the space in front of the viewport, “This place is obviously what I’m looking for. There’s derelict starships everywhere. Now if you’re the person in charge, I’ll talk with you, but if you don’t start being helpful I’ll trace the damned signal myself and find you the hard way.”

A snicker from her side indicated that Tobias was enjoying this a little too much. He didn’t seem to have a problem with her threats when they weren’t directed at him...which, normally, they were. Even Jyren didn’t get as many threats as Tobias managed. This was, of course, because Jyren didn’t have a habit of detonating, burning, or otherwise completely destroying parts of rooms or other important things within the Palace. Tobias, on the other hand...

“I don’t take kindly to threats,” the voice responded, sounding a stern as before and just as annoyed as Marix was.

“And I don’t make threats that I don’t plan to follow through with,” Marix growled...which was true. Tobias had only escaped death many times due to the simple fact that, when yelled at(or screamed at), he was intelligent enough to stop and not continue anything that might get him killed.

Before there was any response from the voice on the other side of the comm, Loki cut in. [There are three objects on an intercept course with us.]

Marix’s eyes tore away from the view of the dead ships around them and locked on the makeshift sensor panel, “Trace the comm signal. We’re going to have to do this the hard way,” she then reached over to the comm switch and hit it again, “I apologize, but I don’t think I mentioned that I don’t take kindly to threats, either.”

A new voice, one that didn’t sound like anything Marix had ever heard before, cut in on a slightly less clear comm channel, “Unidentified vessel: power down your engines and prepare to receive a boarding party.”

“When Alraxia freezes,” Marix grumbled, off the comm, of course, then looked up at the ceiling again, “Got the source yet, Loki?”

[Yes.] the ship replied, just as a new, larger blip appeared on the screen amongst the few...thousand others. [The approaching ships are powering up weapons.]

“Bring up your shields and put everything else into the engines,” she said quickly as she shifted her seat forward to take the controls herself. Loki worked fast, and by the time her hands were on the controls, he’d done exactly as she’s asked...well, told, but it was more of a request stated like an order than an actual order. Her eyes glanced over to Toby, who was leaning forward to get a good look at what was going on, “Sit back and don’t touch anything.”

Giving him no chance to respond, Marix hit the sublight drives(or, at least, the Alraxian equivalent). Loki immediately shot forward, straight under the nearest of the derelict ships at the edge of the Cron Drift. It looked like a miniature Star Destroyer, and older than most of the other scraps of metal in this graveyard of starships that would probably only be useable with many years of maintenance. But in a matter of seconds, it was past them, and Marix was maneuvering the Kanyak between a series of smaller freighters that looked in better shape, all the while noticing that the actual visibility in the area was dropping rapidly.

It almost looked like a fog in space, but Marix knew better. It was the remains of the Cron Cluster, a series of ten stars that had been completely obliterated four thousand years prior by a powerful Sith fleet. Marix knew the story well...all Alraxians did. It was a story brought to them by many of the Jedi of the time who discovered the Alraxians all that time ago...and stepped in at just the right time to save the species from falling to the Sith attackers during the last Darkwing War.

Somehow, the air within Loki began to feel heavier and, at the same time, more hollow as they shot further into the Cron Drift(which spanned at least six very dead star systems). Marix could feel the weight of the hundreds of millions of deaths that the destruction had caused...both of the Jedi warriors trying to fight the Sith and the innocents on the nearby planets who likely never knew what killed them. It took a strong concentration to fly after not too long, as her actual visibility was almost completely gone, leaving her with only a strangely coloured haze...meaning that Marix was using the Force to fly, and therefore, feeling the weight of the deaths even more openly.

But she was strong. She had been through far too much to let such a simple thing as the echo of deaths effect her performance.

Tobias on the other hand...

A quick glance over to him noted that he had a shocked look on his face. Gritting her teeth and quickly dividing her attention, Marix said quickly, “Draw yourself inwards. The Force is strong here. It can be very overwhelming.”

There was a tentative nod from the younger Alraxian, and she could feel him doing his best to follow her instructions. It wasn’t the best solution, but would work for now. Marix them immediately turned her attention to the matter at hand, and while diving under an old Lancer frigate, caught sight a pair of red laser blasts shoot straight over them in the ‘fog’.

“How in the Force are they seeing in this?!” she growled out of frustration more than an actual question, noting that the sensor board was pretty much useless any farther out than she could already see with her own eyes...with the Force, of course, being much better than anything else anyway.

[We are being scanned constantly...] Loki seemed to mumble somehow, obviously thinking ‘out loud’. [I think they have modified scanners.]

Marix rolled her eyes. Of course they would have modified scanners. Probably had modified weapons, shields, and about anything else that was on whatever the hell they were flying. And then her mind locked onto the target...a fairly large collection of life in the relative emptiness of the Cron Drift around them. It had to be the source of the comm signal...whatever it was. One way or another, she was going to board them and have a good long talk with whoever was in charge, likely with the use of claws and very angry words.

Four streaks of red at different angles crossed over the front viewport again, and thanks to the Force, Marix was easily able to slip the large but maneuverable Kanyak to the side, while also rolling to avoid what looked like half of an old Dreadnaught cruiser. At least one of the shots hit the thing, as she caught sight of a flash of something out of the corner of her vision before the ‘fog’ of the Cron Drift blurred it out completely.

Sometimes, she regretted not convincing Loki to install weapons again. Long ago, back in her days with the smugglers, she had...but that was a long time ago, and not long after they’d reunited, the weapons had been removed. But it was a small thing, really, and the ship was just fine with out them...there were other ways to deal with pursuers rather than Jyren’s method of fancy flying to show off and shooting all the while...fancy flying on its own was actually quite effective.

“What’s that?” Tobias’ hand jutted out into the other side of her vision, pointing at a faint discolouration in the ‘fog’ somewhere in the distance(the actual distance was hard to determine).

“I don’t know,” she immediately snapped back, using the Force to bat his hand down and out of her vision so that it didn’t distract her anymore. Her Force sense forced outward farther, quickly noting that the...thing, was the target she was aiming for. And, from what she could tell, there wasn’t anything in the way. A straight shot...

In a matter of seconds, the dicolouration grew into a muddy looking form that was like most of the starships from a distance, but was definitely much larger. It also had some kind of blinking lights here and there, and a soft glow just slightly down away from their current course towards it. It could have been a hangar. In the ‘fog’ around them, it was impossible to tell, and likely would be until it was too late to turn around at this speed. Which meant a choice had to be made.

And despite all of the years close to him, Marix still did not hesitate in such situations like Jyren did. She made the choice, and Loki adjusted course just slightly to put them dead on with what could also have been a slight change in colour of...well, anything. But there was no turning back. The ships behind them were still firing, forcing Marix to put Loki into an erratic spinning and weaving path, but she continued aiming straight for the thing.

Marix did not, of course, tell Tobias or Loki that there was the slight chance they were going to slam into a heavy hull of something in a matter of seconds. It wouldn’t have been worth it. Instead, she gripped the controls tightly, gritted her sharp teeth again, flattened her ears against her skull, and waited the tiny few seconds it would take to charge straight into it...or inside it.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 357*

“They won’t be ready in time,” Jyren stated flatly, looking across the desk to where Rulae Nok sat. Technically, it was Commodore Nok, but Jyren couldn’t get used to that anymore than his old friend could get used to calling him ‘Jyren’. It had been two days since the first training exercise, and after another five of them things were looking better, yes, but it was still plainly obvious they needed much more time than they were being given.

The Duros sat back from his desk in the small office he was given aboard the Araddon, “We won’t have much of a choice if the Vong attack nearby...the fleets are small and stretched and we’ll likely be called in to assist in any nearby sector.”

Jyren ran a hand through his brown hair, noting just how odd that still felt to him, and closed his eyes, “We really don’t know anything, do we?”

“Everything I know, you know,” Rulae said quietly, “And, as far as I know, Admiral Tarus doesn’t know anything else either.”

“Is he trustworthy?”

Somehow, the Duros’ large red eyes managed to narrow just slightly, “I’m going to forget that I heard you say that.”

Jyren returned the sigh from earlier and tried to shake off the resentment in his old friend’s tone. It really had been a long time since he’d been in the military. Still, he caught himself having to keep back thoughts like that every day since he’d come back. For some reason, Jyren just had trouble trusting someone he wasn’t even able to speak with and learn to understand on his own terms rather than the blank acceptance of any orders that was essentially required for being a part of any military.

And then, suddenly, he felt something strange. At first it was simple a wave of indescribable feeling through the Force, but soon it washed over Jyren completely. In a matter of short seconds, he saw a thousand images...very few making any sense, but nearly all involving the war in some way. He saw starships, Jedi, Yuuzhan Vong, and...other things. The seemingly random assortment of everything disappeared suddenly, snapping Jyren back in his chair and back into the moment.

Rulae was, not surprisingly, staring in surprise. He had watched Jyren simply freeze in his chair for a good minute and a half before jumping back and nearly falling to the ground. Like many people Jyren seemed to find himself around, Rulae was no idiot and didn’t ask the stupid question...obviously, from the shocked look on the human’s face, Jyren was not alright. So, instead, the Duros asked, “What is it?”

Truthfully, that was a bit of an obvious question, also, as Rulae was fairly sure it had something to do with the Force...something that had not left his mind since his talk with Jyren about it before. He had, however, not said anything to anyone, just as Jyren had asked him to do.

Jyren blinked a few times, then leaned over to rest his head in his hand and shake his head. Through it, the Duros across the desk managed to hear his muffled voice, “I don’t know.”

“Anything I can do...?” Rulae asked quietly, knowing that there probably wasn’t. Part of him wanted to call in a medical team, but Jyren didn’t look like he really needed that...still...

“No,” Jyren waved him off, then immediately got to his feet...a little too quickly, but he ignored the slight dizziness and turned around(without saluting, Rulae noted) to head straight out of the office. It took Jyren barely five minutes to head down three decks and navigate the maze of corridors within the Star Destroyer to reach his quarters. Thankfully, because of the large amount of space on the ship, he had his own private quarters rather than a large, shared bunk space with half the squadron...not that some pilots weren’t stuck in that situation, but his rank seemed to help out there, at least.

Once inside, he made sure to lock the door before slipping over to his still small bunk and sitting down on the edge of it. His head went back into his hands, which eventually ran through his hair before he looked up to the small desk to his side, where Jyren’s eyes locked onto the holos that sat there. The old one of himself and Mare was not alone...next to it sat the holo of his mother than Navik had snuck into Jyren’s pack, another of his father holding the twins that had been captured not long after they had been born(and, in which, they were small enough that it was hard to tell they weren’t human), one of Tobias from when he was much younger, idly pawing at Jyren’s lightsaber(and, again, in such a way that it was difficult to tell the child was Alraxian), and, finally, a holo of himself and Marix that Tobias had somehow managed to capture when neither of them were paying attention and...both human. That was more than convenient, as the way they stood would have made it plainly obvious that they weren’t human, otherwise.

Jyren sighed and shook his head. How had he collected all of that? He’d never been one for holos but...somehow...they just gathered. His father had a lot to do with it, yes, but they were still everywhere, it seemed. However, he forced himself to look away and close his eyes, hating the sharp pain of being away from all of his family, even if it had been his own choice to do so.

Calm. Focus.

After a few deep breaths, Jyren opened his eyes again and looked over to the desk. Behind the holos, was a small cube...the holocron that his mother had left for him. Extending an arm, Jyren called the small object to him with the Force, not particularly liking the lazy action but deciding that it wasn’t going to hurt anything to just do it the simple way. When the familiar metal object was in his hand, he looked down and started to feel around for the tiny activation switch...

But the door to his quarters opening stopped him. In fact, it made Jyren jump and nearly start for the lightsaber that was carefully hidden between the bunk and the wall. He wasn’t even able to utter of noise of surprise before Rulae Nok stepped in, wearing the same grey and red-piped uniform over his dark blue skin. At least the door shut behind him.

“You should know I can override the locks without problem,” the Duros announced without a pause, “Somehow, I didn’t think it was good to let you just run off on your own again.”

Jyren simply nodded, understanding that his friend was just trying to help, and knowing that he was also doing the right thing by not letting Jyren hide. Before he could respond, though, Rulae stepped over to the desk and had a seat in the horribly uncomfortable chair that was next to it, eyeing the holos as he did so, “Your family?”

Again, Jyren nodded, but this time added, “Yes...”

“I remember this,” Rulae grinned, an interesting feature on the usually expressionless Duros face, and picked up the small holo of Jyren and Mare, “Its been a long time since we were recruits, hasn’t it?”

“About fourteen years,” Jyren answered with a smile growing on his face as he, too, looked at the old holo, “Kind of makes you feel old, doesn’t it?”

“Not a bit,” Rulae’s grin did not fade, “And from the looks of it, you don’t either...at least, you don’t look it. I’m no expert on humans, but you look like you’ve aged a great deal better that most.”

“Thanks,” his response was a bit tighter, however, as he tried to keep as straight a face as possible. Part of him knew that a more accurate morph was appropriate if he wanted to become his old self again...but he just hadn’t done it. Besides, some people simply did age well...why not him? It would only be a noticed by people that really knew him, which only amounted to Rulae in the end.

Of course, the Duros definitely seemed interested in the subject.

“So where’s this wife of yours, anyway?” Rulae asked, as he put down one holo and then reached for the one of Jyren and Marix together in the mountains on Alraxia.

For a moment, Jyren simply bit his lip, but a smile somehow forced its way through and onto his face again, “Probably off doing something crazy but doing it much better than I ever could. She doesn’t share my habit of getting shot.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 358*

In reality, Marix was actually just as good at getting shot as Jyren was. However, unlike him, she was much better at dodging said shots that he was. Thankfully, this was remaining true for the moment in the thick stellar fog of the edge of the Cron Drift, with Loki, of course, helping to dodge many of the shots from the pursuing ships that had given up on attempting to aim not long before.

But that had only been a matter of seconds...and there were suddenly much more important things to worry about than being shot.

Tobias managed a yelp of surprise when the form became visible out of the blank, strangely coloured ‘fog’. Marix, on the other hand, was wondering just when it would appear, and instead just snapped at him to shut up while both her eyes and her Force senses reached out right in front of the ship to find, hopefully, something beyond a large, flat hull. It was definitely the source of the original comm transmission, and was too big to be anything but a station of some sort.

And most stations had some kind of hangar.

Most.

Marix was counting on the fact that this one was, in fact, one of the types with a hangar. And, of course, that they were actually aiming slightly close to where it might have been. It really was one of those times where yet another long streak of good luck would have been horribly helpful. Again, though, Marix was not Jyren, and therefore, was not plagued with the same doubts that seemed to always be stuck in his mind. That hangar was going to be there for the simple reason that it damned well better be and whatever created the universe would be sorry if it wasn’t.

So, it came as no surprise to Marix when a vague opening that was just large enough for most small freighters appeared out of the nothingness. Of course, while it may have been there, it was also a good distance down...but that was something that could be fixed.

Another noise escaped Tobias when both Marix and Loki worked together to correct the problem...which immediately sent the ship into a violent spin downwards at such a sharp speed that it was nearly impossible for Loki’s inertial dampers to keep up. Especially when, another micro second later, Loki flipped up again, righting himself in relation to the hangar’s position and, at the exact same moment, Marix threw all of the thrusters into reverse to slow their momentum and stop the ship from slamming into the opposite wall of the not-so-deep hangar.

Loki’s interior was different from that of metal starships in many, many ways...one of the chief differences that was also the least noticed was the lack of any kind of restraints or crash webbing. This meant that while Loki roughly charged into the (thankfully) empty hangar, scraping his underbelly across the deck as one other little thing to help slow him down. Both of the Alraxian’s inside the cockpit had sharp enough natural instincts to extend their claws deep into the chairs to hold them in place instead of sending them head first into the large series of consoles between the two chairs and the viewport.

Not that it didn’t hurt their arms, of course, but even Tobias was strong enough at his age to fight back the pain and ease it once the strain was gone. The fact that their stopping wasn’t with any other loud crashes was a good sign, and looking up to the viewport to see that they weren’t crushed up against the opposite wall of the hangar. They were, however, very close to it...

“Loki..how are you?” Marix asked in the strange silence that had arisen after the scraping sound under them was gone.

[...I will be alright...] the ‘voice’ sounded a bit pained, which wasn’t surprising. Unlike Alraxians, the Kanyaks could not remorph their wounds. Loki would simply have to heal the old fashioned way, with possibly a little help from some patching up. [However, I do not think we are out of this yet.]

His last comment came along right as the muffled sounds of blasters could be heard outside the ship. It was also fairly easy to tell they were hitting Loki.

In a quick motion, Marix was up on her feet and heading out of the cockpit. Over her shoulder, she growled sternly, “Stay here, Toby.”

She did not turn around to make sure he did. Instead, she went straight for the hatch, taking only a few moments to reach it at a brisk walk. No preparation was necessary, so she simply hit the switch and the two ‘doors’ to the hatch irised open in that very unique way and Marix simply walked straight out and onto the metal deck, feeling it so strange against her feet compared to what she’d gotten so used to over the past years.

Her eyes were scanning the immediate area right away, and she counted only six slightly raggedly dressed individuals of very species standing around in random spots aiming their blaster rifles up towards the large form of Loki...and all of whom had stopped to stare in surprise at the way Marix had just walked out without even a hint of fear in her step.

A few seconds of silence passed before her icy stare locked onto the nearest of the armed humanoids...one that was some kind of humanoid. Tall, thin, gaunt even, and a very pale skin colour, Marix did not recognize the species. Her tail swished behind her as the humanoid’s blaster rifle finally was aimed at her. In a voice to match the glare, Marix said simply, “This is the only chance you have to put those weapons down and bring me whatever idiot was on that comm system.”

Nothing happened.

Marix took two more steps forward, her eyes narrowing slightly, “Now.”

Three of them ran for the nearby turbolift, while the other three(all of whom just happened to be the farthest away) stood and tried not to look threatening at all.

Well..at least that had worked...for the moment.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 359*

“Right there,” Jyren paused the holorecording of the day’s earlier training exercise and then looked to the ten young pilots sitting in the formal looking briefing room, “Can you see what went wrong?”

All of the pilots remained silent. They’d only spoken up twice in the past ten minutes of the debriefing, but  even then it had only been to greet each other and then to ask what, exactly, they were doing up at such a late hour. It was well past midnight, Coruscant time, which was the standard for all of the fleet. Not that this was terribly late, but after being in the cockpit for hours on end, sleep became much more attractive. They were up this early for a reason, of course. It was Rulae’s idea, however, to wake them up and do this...though the Commodore was suspiciously absent.

“Alright,” Jyren broke the silence to rewind the holorecording and play the last few seconds gain, “All of your fire is converging on the same point. You won’t get through the Coralskipper’s defenses this way...in fact, you do that and you’ll be dead. This was your third pass and you mucked it up.”

“You can’t expect us to be perfect!”

Ahhh, finally. It had taken long enough.

The one to speak up was the young human male from Corellia, Tarn Soles. He also happened to be one of the two pilots in question at the current moment. Jyren turned to bring his gaze on the clean cut looking cadet, using a look that he’d learned long ago from Marix, “I do expect you to be perfect. If you’re not perfect, you’ll be dead. But that is why you’re training now, and not being thrown into the fight. If you’re going to make mistakes, you make them now, and then never again.”

If Rulae had been there, Jyren would have probably gotten a long talking to out of sight of the cadets. But Rulae wasn’t there, and he’d obviously trusted Jyren to do this...and so, Jyren was doing it. Even if it wasn’t the best way.

When no challenge came, thankfully, Jyren simply nodded and then hit a switch to change to another recording. This one was also from the nosecone of one of the X-Wings, and was similar in its pass over one of the targets. However, in this one, a series of stuttered laser fire quickly scattered across various points of the surface of the target. While the first few shots did nothing, a few moments later, the entire target lit up and was gone.

The recording stopped, and Jyren spoke up again, “That is how its done.”

“Excuse me, sah,” this one to speak up was another human...female, though. Jyren had made sure to go over the roster more carefully being this, and was able to easily identify the fiery-haired young woman as Adria Harken, who Jyren assumed to be from Coruscant from her very thick, almost hard to understand, accent. She also seemed to have had it out for him since the very beginning...

Jyren locked his gaze with her and fended off her attempt to stare him down, “What is, Cadet?”

She sighed and pointed at the screen, “You can’t expect us to fly as well as you right away.”

“That’s not me,” Jyren said simply, knowing exactly what she had been implying, “And since you brought it up, that was Cadets Odres and Nain,” he paused a moment to turn and nod to the remaining to humans in the squadron to give them an approving nod, then looked over the whole group, “Now we are not here to point fingers at anyone. All of us, including myself and the Commodore, are having to learn how to fight the Vong. This is not easy on anyone here, but that is why we aren’t working alone. We are a squadron, and we should start acting like one.”

When he trailed off, a few of them seemed to catch the grin present on his face. Jyren was able to pick out the worried looks on those who caught his expression, and then quickly shut off the holoprojector. He took a moment to reach out through the Force, then said in a more quiet voice, “The Commodore is going to be here in a few minutes. We have that long to set the trap.”

While motioning them to get up and come over to where he stood, Jyren reached down behind the podium where he had put his stash of supplies. To the first who’d approached, the Duros pilot, Cevik Stanla, and Jyren’s wingmate, Rea, Jyren immediately handed two plates of food, saying, “Find safe spots near the door.”

A grin suddenly appeared on their faces as the quickly understood. Both took their weapons and headed up the steps of the amphitheater style briefing room to the single entrance. Others seems to be getting the idea, and quiet laughter could be heard as other tools and weapons were given. Another pair, the two Mon Calamari, fittingly enough, got large buckets of water, while four others were handed a sticky, gel-like substance usually used for field repairs on starfighters. Two other pilots were handed boxes of some very delicate looking feathers. The last of the squadron, Jyren put with himself...and that happened to be the red-haired Adria Harken.

To her, he handed both his blaster pistol and then a small projectile gun that had once been used for training, but had gone out of service years ago. Interestingly enough, the armory aboard most ships still carried a few of them...and Jyren had made sure to load the cannister with the appropriate, red paint based dummy rounds. He showed her another of those guns, this time in his hand, then pointed to the blaster, “Make it look good, and don’t let him see the other.”

A very large grin occupied the face of every single pilot in the squadron by the time Jyren called out, “Lights!”

When the lights dimmed, and everyone figured out exactly what to do with only seeing what they’d been given, Jyren sat back against the wall and Adria pointed the blaster pistol at him. Jyren had, of course, removed the power pack...just in case. But in the dark, and at the distance there was from the door, it would look perfect.

“Here he comes!” Jyren called out, just as the unsuspecting commander hit the switch and opened the door.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 360*

It came as no surprise to Marix that it took very little time for a new group to appear in the hangar. It was also no surprise to see that they were, generally, very well armed. Not that she couldn’t handle any problems that might arise, but the group of ten armed guards of various species spread out in a such a way that it would take more time than if they just stood next to each other.

From the back of the hangar, surrounded by three of the new guards and two of the ones who’d remained and just stood around in the awkward silence, was the only person other than Marix to carry no visible weapon. It looked to be a human male, roughly Jyren’s age and with thinning, light brown hair. He wore some kind of fancy looking tunic that was covered in layers of dirt and muck...obviously, the man had once cared about his appearance, but being out here in the middle of no where had a way of reworking one’s priorities.

His voice was relatively strong, considering what Marix had done to get to the hangar, when he called out, “You’d better give me a damn good reason why I shouldn’t have you killed right now.”

Even from halfway across the hangar, Marix was able to look down at him. Since the man was average height for a human, even a small adult Alraxian had a way of towering. It was one of those advantages Marix was not going to let escape...same with the fact that she made sure to wear the right kind of clothes over her morphsuit to show just how strong an Alraxian looked...when standing still.

Speaking in a voice that she knew to be dangerously calm, Marix said, “You would be dead before you finish ordering them to shoot me,” the words were allowed to hang in the air for a moment, before her tone became less icy, “And I am not here for a fight...even if you are.”

“Then what are you here for?” the human had done a very good job of not even responding to her first comment. This implied that he didn’t doubt she was telling the truth. Good. That would make this easier.

Her answer was simple, “Ships.”

“I’m not in that business anymore.”

The ‘I’ in that sentence said more than the man had probably wished to say, from the overall guarded nature he was giving off...both outwardly and through the Force.

“Those ships out there tells a different story,” Marix idly indicated out of the hangar and into the fog that made seeing anything else practically impossible, “In fact, I only had a small look at most of them, but those look operational to me. Not the scrapyard I was told about.”

Her last words caused the tension in the air to become suddenly more tangible. It was...surprising, really. Marix was simply trying to get to the point where she could talk with these people and get any information she could, and getting straight past the inevitable ‘How did you find this place?’ seemed logical enough. Obviously, that had not been the correct answer to the unspoken question.

The man’s eyes narrowed a moment as he seemed to attempt peering into her. It did no good, of course, as even Jyren had trouble reading her at times...and that was with the help of the link they shared. Without that, or even the Force, this man would find out more talking with duracrete.

And yet, after a moment, the intense look softened and much of the tension, most of which was emanating from him, faded slightly. After a small step forward, he spoke in a more calmed, and somewhat less demanding voice, “I believe this would be a matter best spoke of in a more comfortable location.”

There. Finally.

[Loki.] Marix called out to her ship as she walked over to fall into step with the multitude of guards. [If they even so much as touch you, let me know.]

[I plan to.] the ship grumbled back, obviously not in the best of moods after being shot several times. Not that the blasters really harmed him, but it was the principle of the thing. Loki, like most living things, simply didn’t like being shot.

While being led down a series of nondescript corridors, the man introduced himself as Taril Orbanen, and then attempted some mindless chatter that was obviously a front to find out whatever information from her that he possible could. All he got, however, was that her name was ‘Marix’ and she had gotten her information from someone on Ord Mantell. She gave him nothing else, and was especially careful to glare at him even more when he attempting to pry about her species.

Feline humanoids were not, of course, uncommon in the galaxy...near three meter tall felines that were much more human looking than most, however, were a very unique sight. Through some would initially compare the Alraxians to the lion-like Cathar that were fairly reculsive, but very well known in most of the regions of Known Space, the differences were so many that the only actual connection between the two was the slightly feline origins. It was, in all honesty, like comparing a Bothan to a Chandra-Fan simply because they both had fur, large ears, and snouts.

When they reached a small conference looking room, she was offered a drink and a seat...though Marix took neither, preferring to stand behind one of the chairs for the simple fact that these were not designed in any way with tails in mind. That, and it was much easier to look intimidating when standing over a chair like she was doing.

Taril, however, did take a seat across the oval shaped table from Marix and looked straight up at her, seemingly not noticing the height difference beyond the fact that he had to tilt his neck, “Who sent you?”

“They would not appreciate it if I told you,” Marix answered calmly, “And if you cannot understand that, then I believe we have taken this long walk for no reason.”

The human managed a slight nod, though he was definitely not happy with that. This didn’t seem to be the kind of person who liked surprises. As Marix carefully did her best to pry through his mind(a task at which she’d never been too much of an expert at), he tried another angle, “As I said before, we are simply not in the business of selling ships anymore.”

‘We’ this time. Someone else was likely watching from the formalities that Taril was seeming to put on now, and from the way his voice was much stronger than it had been through the corridors.

“I can pay much better than I expect you are used to,” she attempted her own attack with that, now completely beyond the point of caring at all for buying ships. Something was odd here. No...wrong. Something simply felt wrong. It was not coincidence that she was led here after Ord Mantell...of that, Marix was sure. But it was now a matter of finding out what was really going on here, and why it was causing an uneasy feeling in the back of her mind.

“Nevertheless,” Taril waved a hand, “The ships here are no longer available.”

At that, Marix raised an eyebrow, her silver-in-violet eyes peering in a little more at the human, “Someone bought all of them?”

A pause...and the man glanced off to the side for a fraction of a second before turning back and answering, “Yes.”

That was not his answer. He had asked permission on that. And Marix knew right away why. She had asked if one person had bought all of the ships, and there had been a sudden pang of worry through the Force from Taril before he’d glanced away. Yes...yes, apparently it was alright to let her know that one person had, in fact, bought all of the ships. But why would that even matter...?

“Too bad,” she trailed off and ran a hand along the back of the chair she was leaning again, idly wondering how this human would react if she ran a claw through it instead. With her next question, Marix drew the Force to her and into her voice, a technique that, thanks to being the Empress, she had perfect years ago, “It wouldn’t be too much to ask who bought them all, would it?”

Taril shook his head, his eyes looking a bit glazed as he answered far too quickly, “Not at all. They are an organization who wish to end this war before it goes any farther...they do not believe in all of this needless fighting.”

“And yet they buy a fleet...” the Force was still flowing through her voice then, and caused the unspoken question to be easily obvious to the only other person in the room.

He simply shrugged, “Sometimes force is necessary, I suppose. When one helps a great deal of people, one must accept that certain things will be lost...” he trailed off for a short second, then picked up after a Force-nudge from Marix with something she had definitely not expected, “...it is something the Jedi could learn. They will do nothing but prolong this war and kill billions more with senseless fighting.”

It was one of those times that Marix was very glad to be herself. Very few other people could hear that in her situation and not even blink. There were much, much more in those words hidden away, and it struck Marix right away. Anti-Jedi sentiment...and an entire organization with the power to buy a fleet and, most likely, use it. Her thoughts were not at all with how this would affect the galaxy as a whole, but to a more personal situation.

Jyren.

He had a way of running into trouble like that far too easily. If this was what it sounded like, then she knew it would only be a matter of time before he got himself in over his head with whoever these people were.

And then the door slid open at the other side of the room. Four of the guards from before, all immediately aiming their blaster rifles at Marix, moved in and were followed by two large Trandoshans with even larger weapons. Angrily, one of the walking lizards hissed, “Fool! Ssshe isss a Jedi!”

She was not, of course, but Marix knew this wasn’t exactly the time to argue technicalities....which is exactly what it would have been with these. And when the blaster rifles lit up and red bolts of energy arced at her, she knew that these were, in fact, exactly what she feared they were.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 361*

An hour had passed since the ambush and Rulae Nok was still peeling the adhesives off of his skin. After managing to get a rather large clump of it off of his neck, his large red eyes managed to shrink into what was most likely a glare, “Tsun would have murdered us if we’d done that to him.”

Jyren leaned back in his chair across the small desk from the Duros and folded his arms across his chest, doing his absolute best to hold back the laughter and just grin, “But you aren’t Tsun.”

“You’re lucky for that,” Rulae snapped, waving a long finger at the human and then sighing, “Very lucky, actually. You would have gotten it much worse if those kids didn’t need a little lightening up.”

The Duros had motioned to the scuff mark across Jyren’s forehead that he’d gotten from one of the training guns ‘missing’ their target. He was sure, however, that Rulae had gotten a hold of it and gotten at least some revenge. But his friend’s words were more than a simple jest, and Jyren caught it right away. His grin faded in a second, and he raised an eyebrow, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“We received orders to join the defense fleet at Agamar,” Rulae answered a little more quietly than normal.

Jyren knew why, and even he was speaking in a near whisper for some odd reason, “They aren’t ready.”

“I know,” the Commodore sighed again and shook his head, “But it isn’t our choice and we are only one squadron. The others are ready, and we will have to be.”

“Why Agamar?” Jyren darted to the next thought on his mind suddenly.

Rulae shrugged at first, but then glanced down to a datapad on his desk before saying, “A small flotilla attacked there just a few hours ago...cruiser analog and some coralskippers.”

Leaning forward, Jyren ran a hand through his hair to get it out of his eyes, “Scouts.”

“That’s what Command is thinking,” Rulae agreed with a nod, “If there’s going to be a push on Agamar, its going to need more defense than just the tiny fleet they have and the local forces.”

Another thought hit Jyren, “What about Vortex?”

Again, Rulae shrugged, his long limbs taking a little while to find a comfortable spot afterwards, “It’s a bit more Coreward and should be safe for now.”

“That’s one hell of a gamble,” Jyren said quietly, more to himself than to his commander, “For all we know an attack on Agamar is just a diversion to pull us away and allow their forces to skip straight to the Core.”

Rulae took another glance at his datapad before addressing that, “Our own scouts are reporting that the Vong fleets are still a little small for that kind of attack.”

“You trust those reports?”

That got a silence in the small office. The two old friends held each other’s gaze for a long enough time that the question didn’t need to be answered, but eventually, Rulae spoke anyway, “No...but it is all we have to go on. We are fairly sure, however, that the Vong are still moving forces into the galaxy.”

Jyren waved a hand, “What you’re saying is that its bad now, but its going to get worse.”

“No, I’m not saying that,” Rulae shook his head, but then paused and sighed heavily, “But you’re probably right about that. “

”So we’re right back where we started...” Jyren trailed off, then sat back again, “Vortex unguarded and Agamar, a relatively unimportant strategic planet, overly defended thanks to a small scouting ship. And then, of course, there’s still Ithor not far from either planets...”

Rulae, this time, said nothing. He was thinking the same thing that Jyren was, but could not bring himself to say it. So, for a long moment, the two sat in silence in the utilitarian office aboard the Star Destroyer. But it didn’t last too long, because Jyren finally spoke the thought out loud, “We’re overstretched. This war has barely started, and we already stuck trying to hold more planets than we can...” Rulae still said nothing, and so Jyren went on with something that even he didn’t like to speak, “...and the only solutions to this are to guess at the motives of invaders we nothing about and hope we know what they want...or fall back to the Core and hold the planets we know we can hold instead of jumping around the galaxy wildly everytime a planet encounters a scout ship.”

Still, nothing else was said. Maybe if he had been talking to Marix, there would have been a response...but he wasn’t, and the very thought of that hurt. Closing his eyes, Jyren got to his feet and managed a weak salute before turning and heading out of the office.

It was then that Rulae finally spoke up, calling out across his office, “Where are you off to, Raan?”

Still ‘Raan’. Jyren couldn’t blame the Duros, really, but it was strange hearing that after so many years. He did not turn around, but simply spoke to the still closed door standing there in front of him, “I’m going to go get the kids into the simulators.”

“Going to shoot them down some more?” to that, Rulae managed to add a weak laugh. It was forced, but the gesture was something that Jyren found slightly comforting. His friend knew humans well enough to have some idea of how to ease tension. Of course...Jyren wasn’t exactly human anymore...

“Nah,” Jyren cut his own thoughts off and shook his head, “I need to talk to someone before we all get in over our heads too much.”

And then, without wanting to answer the questions that would obviously bring up, Jyren hit the switch to open the door and headed for the turbolift.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 362*

The sound of the blaster rifles firing wildly was gone in an instant, replaced by a loud, violent crack. Eyes darted through the chaos to see one of the Trandoshans fall, its blaster rifle having just slammed into the side of its skull. The eyes then caught sight of Marix, who had not had to use the Force for even a second, and who had also not stopped moving. Another crack echoed in the room, this one from her arm catching the second Trandoshan in the gut, breaking at least two ribs in the process before she tore the large weapon out of its reptilian hands and spun to use it as a club against one of the human guards behind her.

The Trandoshan only stumbled back, hissing in pain and clutching its chest, but the human was flung back into the bulkhead, the back of his skull hitting it first. But the larger reptilian humanoid was not as easily taken down...and attempted a strong punch aimed straight at Marix’s face. But it was all brute force, and nothing else...meaning that she had little trouble in ducking under the strike, then rising up in time to grab the large arm, snap its wrist, and rake her now-unshearthed claws across its face.

That was enough to send it down, though it was definitely not dead, the intense pain had sent it into a state of shock. It had also sent all of the remaining guards into the same state of shock. All of the violence had taken place in only a matter of seconds, and now two of the large Trandoshans and one of the human guards was already down...the other three, a Rodian, Twi’lek, and another human, were suddenly not so eager to press the attack.

Instead, each of them took careful steps back, blasters up and ready, though their arms were shaking noticeably. Marix knew that in a few more seconds, they would open fire again. Panic had a way of causing awkward moments of nothing at times like this...especially when most weren’t used to the kind of actions Marix was willing to take to end things quickly.

And so, before the blasters opened up again, the large Alraxian woman was moving again. Claws now gone, as she was not currently attempting to kill them if it wasn’t necessary, Marix instead connected with the human’s face with a strong punch, sending him against a chair and down without any trouble. The Rodian actually brought his blaster around to swing it at her, but Marix had no trouble kicking the weapon out of his shaking, long fingers before shifting her balance and delivering another strong kick, this time to his small chest, and sending him against the table. There was a snap from his spine thanks to the strength of the kick, but Marix took no real notice of it.

The remaining Twi’lek, however, did. He fired off three panicked shots from his weapon, none of which came anywhere near her and actually got closer to shooting his downed companions. Marix reached out and wrenched the weapon from his hands before using it as she had before and knocking him to the ground with the butt of the weapon.

She then casually dropped the weapon to the floor and turned to the remaining source of noise in the room. Taril was standing exactly where she’d left him, up from his chair but looking like a statue in some kind of violent earthquake. His eyes were so wide it looked like they were going to pop out of his head. And, of course, his mouth was wide open.

A few quick steps and Marix was next to him, grabbing his arm tightly enough to get a yelp of pain from the small human, and before he could start begging for her not to kill him, she growled, “You’re coming with me.”

Then, without waiting on a response, she turned and headed for the exit, dragging the helpless man along right behind her. He managed to sounds of protest, but neither of which were words in any language that Marix had ever heard before, so she chose to ignore it...well, truthfully, she would have ignored it anyway. The door slid open after she slammed the switch and Marix was almost depressed to see no one waiting there.

“W-wait!” Taril finally managed some kind of word, then tugged at his arm, which caused him to yelp in pain again, before whimpering, “They’ll kill me!”

“I’ll kill you,” Marix responded flatly, continuing to drag him along behind her as she made her way down the corridor the way they had come before.

[Marix...]

Instinctively, Marix glanced up slightly. [What, Loki?]

[They are...attempting to break open the hatch...] Loki sounded slightly distracted, which wasn’t all that surprising.

[This is exactly why Jyren pesters you about having some kind of defense.] Marix commented with a grin on her face. Not that she agreed with Jyren, of course, but it was vital to take the time to taunt the poor Kanyak whenever possible...as he’d do the same, and worse, if her guard was let down even slightly. [Don’t worry, I’ll be there in a moment. Keep Toby sealed in someplace safe.]

There was a pause, then Loki seemed to mumble. [...should I be worried?]

Marix rounded a corner and glanced at the panicked looking Taril she was still dragging along behind her. [I’m bringing a new friend.]

[Yes, well, that sound good, but ah...] Loki paused again, then there was the equivalent of a mental whimper. [I believe I have made enough friends out here. These are bloody persistent enough as it is. Do we really need more?]

Marix’s smile finally faded as she started to hear the sounds of blaster fire echoing her direction. She sighed, and gripped the human’s arm a little tighter while picking up the pace. [Just hang on. I’m almost there.]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 363*

Jyren had spent a good half hour speaking with his ‘mother’ through the Holocron he still kept with him. It had become, over the years, a way for him to put all of his thoughts in order and make sense of all the chaos that seemed to follow him around. Despite the fact that the image of his mother was just a holographic recording meant to sift through the information contained within the ancient data-storage device, it still had a way of being very helpful when Jyren needed it. He may not have remembered his mother, but now, at least, he had her help to guide him along...and not once had she led him down the wrong path.

But then something happened that should most definitely not have happened. The entirety of his quarters shook. Violently. Jyren grabbed at the wall instinctively, but managed to hold back the urge to morph claws for grip. They were odd enough on an Alraxian, and he was definitely not going to deal with that in his human form..especially when so many people had the chance of finding out exactly what they didn’t need to know.

Two more shakes rocked through the ship, but by now, Jyren was up and staggering to his door. He hit the switch and turned into the corridor, immediately heading through a group of panicked looking marines towards the nearest turbolift. In the few minutes it took him to get in the lift tube and arrive on the bridge of the Star Destroyer, the alarms had kicked in. Because of this, Jyren was not surprised to see the black of realspace outside the many viewports of the Star Destroyer rather than the swirling blue of hyperspace that should have remained for at least another hour.

The bridge, itself, was ablaze with activity. Crewmen ran from station to station, and a few even jumped down into the two crew pits, obviously no longer able to enjoy the break that hyperspace provided most of the pilots and sensor operators. Orders were being barked from one side of the scanner and communication stations just near the lift, and, recognizing the voice, Jyren headed right for it.

“Admiral!” he managed a quick, if not fairly pathetic, salute at the sight of the tall, angular-faced human, “What’s going on?”

Two dark green eyes landed on Jyren, and Admiral Tarus took a moment before pointing back to the turbolift, “Agamar is already under attack. We’ve hit some kind of gravitic mine on the outskirts of the system.”

“A trap?” Jyren asked, already knowing where he needed to be and turning back towards the turbolift.

He managed to catch sight of the Admiral nodding, “Two cruiser analogs and swarms of coralskippers. Get to the hangar and get the Zephyrs in the air. Commodore Nok should already be there.”

No response to that was necessary, and besides, Jyren had no time to give on. His eyes caught a bright flash from the front viewport as the shields took a heavy impact of some sort, and then Jyren was in the turbolift. It was a surprisingly short trip down to the hangar. The large, main hangar of the Araddon was even more chaotic than the bridge. A group of A-Wings was just leaving as Jyren ran straight for where his X-Wing was. At least he was already wearing his flight suit...a habit that had come back very quicky after returning as a pilot.

“Half of your squadron’s already out there,” the technician said as he pulled off the fueling cables and grabbed the ladder that Jyren pushed away from the cockpit.

Jyren quickly pulled on his helmet, strapping it on while leaning over the side, “Where’s the Commodore?”

“Already out,” came the quick response, “You’re clear, Captain. Good hunting.”

“Thanks,” Jyren hit the switch on his canopy to bring it down and then turned on his comm to find it already filled with voice. Finding a break in the voices, he said, “This is Two, who’s still in the hangar?”

There was a short silence before he got a report that the half of the squadron still there was the same group that had trained together. Just as the report finished, the sound of Commodore Nok’s voice came over his headset, “Get out here and form up on us. Stay close to the Araddon until we receive orders.”

A series of double clicks sounded over the comm, and in another few moments, the remaining six X-Wings left the hangar and headed for the rest of the squadron. It didn’t take long for them to form up together, and just as they got into formation in front of the large Star Destroyer, Jyren got his first real sight of the Yuuzhan Vong.

Two asteroid-like objects hung a good distance away, spraying some sort of red-orange fire straight into the Araddon and the other ships in the small fleet...two of which were already burning. Near the two Vong cruiser analogs, Jyren could see a multitude of small objects that had to be the coralskippers...small, Yuuzhan Vong starfighters.

“What’s the situation, One?” Jyren asked after only another second, not sure of what to make of everything as he could barely make out the tiny dot of Agamar’s star in the distance.

There was static for a moment before the Duros’ voice returned, “The Vong attacked about twenty standard minutes ago. The fleet here is overwhelmed, but they’re holding on. It looks like the Vong were waiting for reinforcements are arrive...we can’t help Agamar until we break through their rear defenses.”

Jyren nodded to himself, not liking how this was turning out one bit. He glanced out the canopy to his side, seeing where his wingmate hung next to him. In her cockpit, Rea looked, and felt, slightly nervous, but ready to act. All of the squadron felt that way. But when Jyren reached out further...it was strange. There should have been something there, but instead there was nothing. No...not nothing. It was the absence of anything, even a nothingness. Like an intangible hole in the Force, a black, emptiness so cold that it sent a shiver of Jyren’s spine, the wall of Yuuzhan Vong sat between their fleet and the life of the planet beyond.

It was...wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong.

“Coralskippers incoming,” Rulae’s voice only partially broke Jyren out of the emptiness. It was enough, however, to get him into the moment, exactly where he needed to be, “Lock you S-Foils into attack position, Zephyrs. We’re on guard duty for the fleet until the Corellia and Taelon have their engines back online.”

The two damage ships in the fleet...engines out already? The Vong had really caught them off guard. But it sounded fixable, which was something. Those two ships were meant to stay behind and guard the Araddon from waves of starfighters, but without their assistance, X-Wings and, from the looks of it, a squadron of newer E-Wings would be doing that job.

His eyes widened as a reb-orange blast shot over the squadron, and not a second later, Rulae called out, “Flight One and Three on me! Flight Two stick with Zephyr Two! Don’t wander off from the fleet!”

There was no time for any other words. In a wave of red-orange flame, the coralskippers charged through.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 364*

In a matter of seconds, the blaster fire in the hangar stopped. It had only taken a stern, piercing yell from Marix to do that, and it was actually a bit surprising to find that none of the weapons immediately turned on her. But instead, when the various faces turned, the weapons were lowered. This was likely due to the fact that the near three meter tall Marix was holding Taril by the back of his neck, her left hand easily wrapped around his small neck, while her other hand held a fairly large blaster pistol, its barrel jammed so hard against the side of the human’s head that the pressure alone looked ready to kill him.

It was most definitely not loyalty to this man that had stopped the weapons. Of that, Marix was sure. These did not seem to be the kind of people loyal to one another, but rather, out for their own personal gains. It was, instead, the way that she had dragged Taril in so easily that had caused the shock in the hangar. The fact that all of the guards knew how many were sent to arrest her did not help their mood, either.

Through the silence, though, Taril managed a whimper of pain. Whether it was from the barrel against his skull or the tight grip on his neck, Marix didn’t know...but then again, she didn’t really care. She simply glanced down at him, then around the hangar, quickly counting the seventeen armed guards and at least two others that had no weapons...something that was actually more worrying, as she wasn’t actually sure what they were supposed to be doing.

“Get away from my ship,” Marix finally spoke, her voice calm and yet with the old icy coldness that hadn’t been used in a very, very long time. She didn’t even need to use the Force.

A few of the guards actually took some steps away from the ships...all of them, interestingly enough, being the ones closest to Loki’s hatch. Others glanced to their moving comrades, and finally raised their weapons to train them on Marix. They did not, however, fire. It looked to be more of a threat than anything. Either they were complete idiots or...well, know, they were complete idiots. The second thought of them being brave was quickly passed off as just a more polite way of calling them stupid.

Through the Force, Marix could feel the tension growing to the point where it would soon break. One of them was going to fire. Not that it would be a huge problem, but she was not exactly a fan of getting shot...and did her best to at least stay above Jyren in that aspect. 

A slight shift in motion to the side caught her attention. One of the guards, a thinly build Rodian with dull green skin and holding a blaster rifle nearly as big as he was, called out in an annoyingly nasally voice, “Put the weapon down and stand back or we will shoot!”

“N-no!” Taril yelped, trying to wave his hands but getting a tight squeeze to his neck for it and causing him to shut up quickly.

Marix glared to the Rodian, her eyes matching his large, jet-black ones, “Move another step and this man dies.”

To emphasize the point, she pushed the blaster into Taril’s head a bit rougher, making sure it was noticeable to all of the others in the hangar. And then the Rodian said something that Marix was not all too surprised to hear, “He does not matter to us!”

It was in that moment that Marix was returned to the world she had left even before meeting Jyren. When dealing with people like these, she knew that, sometimes, any kind of talk was simple useless. In her years as Empress, doing her best to protect the lives of the Alraxian people and the others in the Empire, she had become much more...sensitive to such situations. But, again, sometimes it was impossible to avoid violence...especially dealing with beings in the lower rungs of society that the Alraxians rarely, if ever, were forced to deal with.

And so, it was no surprise that many old teaching came back in that second, when she simply said, “Fine.”

With a simple kick, Taril was thrown to the ground with a thud, just a half second before the sound of the blaster pistol firing echoed throughout the silence of the hangar, immediately followed by a cry of pain from the human. The next few moments were a complete blur, especially to the armed guards spread throughout the hangar.

The shock of her actions in shooting Taril had been enough to freeze the others in place long enough for Marix to act. The Rodian went down first, a long claw mark left across his chest before he was dropped by a heavy fist to the back of his small skull. Two blaster shots actually managed to go off before the next three were dropped, and there was complete silence beyond the heavy sound of bodies hitting the deck plates from that moment on.

When it was over, Marix stood next to Loki’s hatch, carefully remorphing a small vibroblade wound across her arm that had somehow appeared in the chaos. [Get ready to leave, Loki.]

[That was...quick.] the ship commented idly as Marix listened to the unique sound of his drive systems powering up

Walking back across the hangar, Marix glanced over her shoulder to Loki a moment. [You know as well as I do how badly trained most of these kind of people are.]

[Good point.]

Marix did not respond. She didn’t need to. It was, truthfully, unfair for a person like herself to go up against those that were now mostly unconscious in the hangar...they had been taught to point and to shoot, and that was about it. Whoever these people were, their roots were most definitely in one of the small criminal organizations that had grown out of the void created by the death of the Black Sun oh so many years before. Fear was the weapon they relied on the most, and when it failed, there was little left but random blaster fire and panicked attacks.

Stopping next to Taril, she reached down and pull the unconscious man onto his feet. She had shot him in the shoulder. It had definitely knocked him out, but he was alive. And that meant she could find out what was really going on. How a smuggling organization like this one had become some kind of anti-war movement was beyond her...but Marix was fairly sure this Taril could enlighten her. There was much more to this than a bunch of badly trained guards and definitely more than just an anti-war group.

Of that, Marix was sure.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 365*

The small, A-Wing sized coralskippers came at the New Republic as one. They were shaped like craggy teardrops, coming to a rounded point where some kind of canon seemed to be...and, from the reports, could maneuver faster and better than anything the New Republic could throw against them. It was a matter of learning the fight...and the problem with that was that lives had to be lost to learn the fight.

And despite the simple fact that no one wanted that to happen, the charge through the line of starfighters had taken four A-Wings and two of the Zephyr’s X-Wings. Thankfully, three of the pilots had managed to eject, and that meant the Zephyrs hadn’t lost any pilots. Yet.

“Two Flight, form up on me!” Jyren yelled into the comm as he banked around to bring the wave of coralskippers into his sights. He hadn’t lost any of his four yet, and they were doing a damn good job at keeping with him, “Just like in training! Overlap our shields together and maneuver as one!”

“Its not that easy,” that was the watery voice of Zephyr Eight, the Mon Calamari named Obrack, if Jyren remember correctly.

Jyren couldn’t help a quick nod, “Just keep with me.”

Through the quick turn, flashes could be seen all throughout the area around them. The main comm channel was filled with a thousand sounds, many of which were impossible to distinguish. And then they saw the coralskippers. There was a reason that the pilots all talked of the Vong starfighters as if they were just one large ship...they moved like one. Maneuvering perfectly and reacting as one giant organism with terrifying efficiency. And, as one, at least ten of them turned on the four X-Wings of Two Flight.

“Shields double front!” Jyren grinded out as he quickly switched the settings, “Everyone on the center first, then follow my fire.”

Only two of the acknowledgments could be heard over the comm system before they were overwhelmed. At first, it was only a wall of red orange fire coming straight for the X-Wings, but a second later, banking to the side in the process, the quad laser cannons returned fire. Alarms went off in Jyren’s cockpit, and immediately, he reacted by pulling up. The Force told him that the others were still with him...but it told him little else. The utter emptiness of the space where the Vong were was all too obvious and like black holes in the Force.

Jyren silenced the alarms and then cursed. Shields were at half . One more hit would have taken them out...

And then Rea’s voice cut in over the comm, “My stabilizer’s been hit!”

Damn. He should have expected that had been too easy. Quickly, he eased up the maneuver, “Get your astromech on it!”

By now, the coralskippers were coming around again, moving faster and in ways that the X-Wings could never hope to match. It also meant that they were coming up right behind the four of them. Jyren wanted to check what was going on in the rest of the nearby area, but it was definitely one of those moments where staying alive was more important than...well...anything else. 

But, as Jyren was attempting to lead the other’s out of the fire that was spraying their way while not losing Rea in the process, the voice of Rulae Nok came over his comm, “Jyren, the Admiral’s just confirmed that there’s a Yammosk out there.”

“A what?!” this was not the time to test Jyren’s knowledge of the Yuuzhan Vong. And, for his trouble, there was a yelp in the comm from the Duros pilot, Zephyr Seven, who had taken a hit to his rear shields...they held, barely, but the violent shake he was given caused a slight panic, and meant he felt of the formation.

“War coordinator,” the Commodore went on, sounding a bit distracted but not nearly as much as Jyren was.

“I’m a little busy right now, Rulae!” Jyren growled a little too angrily just as Rea sent a quick confirmation that her astromech had done its best. Immediately, he tipped the X-Wing as a signal to the others before banking as hard as he could force the X-Wing to go, while at the same time putting as much into the engines as he could manage, to hopefully wrap around their attackers. Again, the others stayed with him, though a second or two behind thanks to his sudden boost in speed...but they stay nonetheless, and it was a wonderful thing to see.

And, of course, Rulae’s voice returned, “We all are, Two, but you need to break off and cover the gunships and the Y-Wings as they head for the Vong cruisers.”

This time, Jyren switched to a direct line with the Commodore as his flight managed to get one of the coralskippers into their sights. Immediately, all four of them opened first just as they were taught. Though it was a bit odd, the first shots seemed to disappear to one side of the ship before the others on the opposite end sent pieces flying and, a second later, breaking apart the entire ship like a miniature asteroid.

Breaking away to throw off the Vong, Jyren finally said, “We’re barely holding our own against these skips, Rulae, we can’t get anywhere.”

After a pause in which two red-orange shots went by a little too close, Rulae responded, “Its an order, Captain. Get close enough to the gunships and they’ll take out the skips.”

The direct line cut, and immediately Jyren said to the rest of Two Flight, “Someone figure out where our damned gunships are!”

Thankfully, no one asked why. Instead, as they trained their cannons on another skip that quickly pulled away as a group of two others slipped in behind the X-Wings, the Zephyr Seven spoke up, “Just two clicks out from the Araddon.”

Jyren did not ask ‘where the hell are we?’, though he definitely thought it. Instead, he let the Force tell him where he was while his eyes and instincts guided the X-Wing. And then he found it.

“We’re going to pull the skips to the gunships and then keep the Y-Wings in one piece while they hit those cruisers,” Jyren said, immediately turning and starting a haphazard path through the violent melee ensuing around the New Republic ships.

The tension from the other three pilots was obvious....especially when they saw just how far away the two fairly small looking Corellian Gunships were from their position. It sounded so small of a distance, yet the gap between their X-Wings and the gunships was filled with not only a Star Destroyer, but masses of flashes that could only be fighters.

“Keep with me and we’ll make it,” the words escaped Jyren before he knew he’d even said them. The kids needed some kind of reassurance, and it was the best he could give. By now, all of them had been hurt to the point where another would likely kill them. The chaos was so great that none of them expected to be able to react fast enough to eject anymore.

To his surprise, though, as the vicious firing of the Vong behind them began to light up their viewports, Jyren heard the watery voice of Zephyr Eight again, “We’re with you to the end, sir.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 366*

Leaving the Cron Drift was much less difficult than coming in. No one even arrived to pursue Loki until he’d already left the cloud and was ready to jump to hyperspace. It was a disturbingly easy escape, but Marix had a feeling it had a lot to do with the fact that whoever was really operating that station hadn’t been expecting any kind of escape...and, by the time it had happened, there wasn’t any time to react to stop it beyond the meager effort put forth by the guards in the hangar.

Immediately upon making the jump to hyperspace, Taril had been locked into one of the small, extra rooms that Loki kept out of the way of most others, and was questioned. Marix had a very deliberate way of interrogation. She asked questions until she got answers. There was no violence, nor any threats. She simply stared right into the man’s eyes and waited for him to answer. It worked disturbingly well...especially with someone as traumatized as Taril currently was.

It also meant that he didn’t provide much resistance to actually talking, though between all of the information he continually begged that she not kill him. That was something she hadn’t mentioned once, but decided not to deny, either, as it seemed to be a good motivation to keep him talking. It was amazing how much he was able to work himself up and how his own imagination made things out to be much worse than they really were. Not that Marix was complaining.

[I still don’t understand why a peace group would want a fleet...] Loki mumbled ‘out loud’ after Marix had explained the details to both the ship, who had been busy with repairing a few small systems, and Tobias, who was just far too curious for his own good.

Marix looked up and rolled her eyes, “Tell me you said that for Toby’s benefit.”

“...it’s a good question,” Tobias said quietly, sitting off to the side in the small living area not far from Loki’s cockpit.

She turned to the young Alraxian and decided not to blame Loki. Not only was the ship smart enough to know what they were really dealing with, but he’d been involved with as many illicit activities as she had over the many years they’d been together...so he knew it all just as well as she did. It was a matter, then, of prompting Marix to say the right things for Tobias so that he’d understand what was going on. This, she didn’t like, but apparently Loki had it in him that this was important for Toby to know about.

“It’s a front, Toby,” Marix finally said, noting that he didn’t look as surprised as she’d expected, “They’ve got other motives and are using this anti-war sentiment to put a good face out there.”

Tobias nodded first, but then glanced down at the large couch both he and Marix sat on, obviously dropping into deep thought. It only lasted a few moments, but, Marix grinned to herself, that was longer than Jyren could ever manage, before he finally said, “So then...they really want to keep this fighting going? Why...?”

From the look on his face, that question was really driving him crazy. Marix managed to resist the urge to shrug, knowing that wouldn’t be a good display, and instead held her usual neutral face, “Its impossible to say exactly why, Toby, but that human gave us more information than he probably meant to. They are very, very strongly anti-Jedi, and from the sound of it, this organization...this, Peace Brigade, is growing everywhere. Why would they do that?”

Finally, forcing him to think for himself rather than ask any question, Marix was able to sit back a moment and let him think again. This time, it took a little longer before he responded, his silvery eyes searching for something at the same time, “Spreading a thing like that could destabilize the New Republic...or...or weaken the ties it has to the Jedi?”

This time, Marix allowed herself a smile, “If that’s what they’re after. We can’t be sure of it, but it does sound about right, doesn’t it? But that still isn’t the ‘why’...”

That thought was left to hang in the air. The end of it was not something that needed to be discussed. All three of them knew exactly why, as they all ended it with the same thought...even Toby. In fact, he was already thinking it before Marix was speaking it.

If this Peace Brigade was real, and the small amount of information they had now was true, and they were actually attempting to destabilize the New Republic, or even drive a rift between them and the Jedi Knights, then there was one real conclusion that made any sense. 

They were working with the Yuuzhan Vong.

But it didn’t make sense!

All of the information they had said that the Vong did one of two things to their conquered worlds. Either the population was utterly wiped off the face of their planet, or they were enslaved through some strange process that no one was completely sure of, save for the Vong and the slaves. But there was no evidence at all that any of the people on that station had a single thing to do with the Vong. Why would they? Could have they have struck a deal...?

How?!

The Vong were not the type to deal. Early attempts at even speaking with them were returned with promises of painful deaths. Nothing was adding up, and Marix knew this was because too much information was missing from the equation. And despite the fact that these days she was most definitely Marix, what was left of the child that was Shadow still had a way of popping here and there. It was the decisive voice that took her straight to the choice that needed to be made without any of the wasted time involved in thinking of ‘whys’ and ‘hows’.

In this case, it meant that she had only one choice. If any of this was true about the Peace Brigade, then it could have the possibility to make them a greater threat than the Vong themselves...and, by now, Marix understood that the Vong succeeding in whatever they were doing in this part of the galaxy meant that the Alraxians wouldn’t have much more isolation from the galaxy. War was something to be avoided at all costs...and that meant stopping it right here in this part of the galaxy before it spread.

So she would have to find out more about these people. It made Taril that much more important. Hopefully, he knew other groups on other planets...and if not...well...Marix could dig, but she had a good feeling he did know. Through the Force, she’d known he’d hidden some things, and that was probably one of them...but...

Her thoughts trailed off when she caught that look in Tobias’ eye again. He wanted to say something, but...but he wasn’t. That was the Tobias she knew. So much like Jyren she wondered if he was trying to do that or if it was just one of those things that had happened...and that meant he still wasn’t going to say anything until she did.

“What is it, Toby?” she didn’t feel like wasting time.

Marix didn’t need the Force to see how uncomfortable and nervous the young Alraxian was, but it sure helped. She watched him fidget nervously for a few moments before speaking down at the floor in a very, very quiet voice, “I...I...I want to...to...to...”

A sigh from Marix silenced his already quiet voice. She then decided to deal with him the same way she used to be forced to deal with Jyren. Marix turned to sit completely on the couch, adopting a casual seating position and a face of calm to match it and wipe away any kind of slightly dangerous hint that usually found its way into how she carried herself. It was also how she’d learned to be when being the Empress, and managed to fall into the same calm voice with the Force slightly layered in for a little help, “Just say it.”

That had an effect. This time, he looked up through the blue stripe of his jet-black hair and straight to her eyes, barely matching the look for long enough to speak in a slightly louder voice, “...I want to be a Jedi...”

“Toby!” the word escaped her before she could control her voice. After a quick moment, she just shook her head and ran a hand through her hair, “Toby, I thought we were done with this.”

They should have been. He’d gotten talks from both herself and from Jyren about it, trying to explain that all those fantastic stories were, in the end, just that...fantastic stories. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t fun, and it sure as hell wasn’t anything like Tobias seemed to think it was. Not only did the kid have the usual Alraxian stories of how the Jedi of old had saved their people from the Darkwings, but he’d had Jyren and his father to relate stories of actual Jedi...that usually ended up just as exaggerated. Jyren had tried to fix this, but it had been far too late. So, they’d simply made it understood to Tobias that he would at least follow that Alraxian way like Marix and the rest of the BlueIce family had done. He had, apparently, accepted that...or rather, apparently not.

“I’m serious!” Tobias blurted out suddenly, this time all of his nervousness washed away, “I want to do it.”

“Its not what you think it is,” Marix said flatly, doing her absolute best to keep all the annoyance out of her voice and keep a rational tone, “And you’re too young.”

“But Jyren was younger tha—“

Quickly, she cut that one off with a shake of her head and a stern voice, “Jyren was human! You. Are. Not. Human.”

The words were slow, deliberate, and definitely filled with that anger that had been growing. Which didn’t help Tobias’ quick response, “I know! But I...I feel...” he waved a hand vaguely, “...its what I need to do...”

There was a surprising amount of sincerity in the young Alraxian’s voice. So much so that Marix couldn’t find a quick retort to that. He really believed that...and, whether that was something he’d made up for himself or something he truly did believe, it was hard to argue against. It didn’t help that Marix was not the kind of person to simply say ‘no’ and then use the reason ‘because I said so’ afterwards. Why she’d grown so protective of the little brat over the years was beyond her, but it sure didn’t help things.

“Do you want to do this to prove something to me? Or to Jyren?” Marix asked after a long silence.

Tobias shook his head, “I want to do it for me.”

Again, he meant it. But...still, “You’re telling me this now because you know I won’t stop if you. But, Toby, if you’re going to run off and do this to show off or with some crazy dreams of being a great Jedi then you damned well better end this right now and never speak of it again.”

That did bring a silence into the room. It lasted for long enough that the flared tempers were able to calm down and calm, if not slightly hesitant, tones of voice came into play.

Very carefully, and obviously choosing his words wisely, Tobias attempted to make sense of a thousand thoughts and put them into one coherent idea, “I don’t care....I don’t care what anyone says. Jyren is my father. And...and he comes from a family of Jedi. His mother...himself...I...I don’t want that to die because he’s Alraxian now.”

“But, Toby,” Marix said, reaching over to rest a hand on his shoulder and trying to put it lightly, “Jyren wasn’t ever a Jedi. He’ll tell you that himself.”

She was carefully avoiding the idea that it sounded like he was, in fact, wanting to do this for Jyren.

Tobias just shook his head, “His mother said otherwise...” trailing off, he let that hang for long enough so that Marix knew he’d been using that damned Holocron without either herself or Jyren knowing. Before she could say anything about that, however, he added, “But that isn’t the point, mother. I want to do this...I...I need to.”

Marix also avoided that word ‘mother’, still uncomfortable with it after so long. She knew, though, that this was already a decided issue. She wanted Tobias to be trained in the Force, but had noticed recently that he was resisting all of the Alraxian teaching just like Jyren had done. And...not to offend him, but she didn’t want Tobias ending up in the same middle ground. She wanted Toby to actually make a choice.

And...he’d made it. The problem was he made one that they thought was just some damned fantasy. But it wasn’t...and she knew he’d find someway to do it. But she did have an idea. At least something to delay the inevitable...

“We have other things that are important and need to be dealt with right now,” Marix spoke very calmly, and made sure not to sound at all angry, “Until we both can talk with Jyren about this, you’ll stay right where you are. Understand?”

Tobias nodded, holding back a smile. He knew he’d won, and knew that if he tried the same kind of ‘charm’ on Jyren, he’d manage to convince his father, too. It just made him wonder how long it would be until they saw each other again...a thought that was also haunting Marix, and had been since they’d gone off on their separate ways.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 367*

Though it was rough, Two Flight managed to get into the covering fire of the two small gunships’ batteries in a few long, but at the same time disturbingly short, minutes. By now, all of them were at least slightly rattled from either neither misses of strong hits to the shields. Jyren’s X-Wing was holding together thanks to the quick reactions of his astromech readjusting a few systems. Rea’s shields were at half and, while her astromech was working on it, it was likely to remain that way for a long while thanks to her taking a good hit to the rear generator. Seven and Eight were in similar shape, with weakened shields and somewhat off stabilizers, but all were able to keep up with the hectic pace set by the squadron of Coralskippers that were having serious trouble taking down just four X-Wings.

And in a blaze of turbolasers, rock, and flame, the skips disappeared. Or at least, the group that had been pursuing Two Flight did. There were still hundred more littering the Agamar system, moving in perfectly coordinated waves and mowing through most anything in their path. A few small groups managed to stay alive, but it was mostly thanks to the larger capital ships that were able to blast straight through the Coralskippers’ defenses instead of needing the precise aiming and firing techniques that the starfighters required.

“Thanks, Talon,” Jyren said over the comm to the nearest of the two gunships after the pursuing skips had been taken down, “Where do you need us?”

The comm cracked for a few long seconds before there was a response, “We’re going to make a run for the Vong frigates and try to catch them off guard....” static took over the line a moment, then, “...skips incoming straight for us.”

Jyren quickly switched over to his flight’s comm frequency as he led the X-Wings down to come up in front of the two medium sized gunships and the squadron of sluggish Y-Wings in between, “Eight, give me a bearing on the skips.”

The Mon Calamari pilot, Zephyr Eight, didn’t take more than a few seconds to do a short scan of the nearby area, “Looks like twenty or so breaking off from the Araddon and coming in from behind us.”

“And another large group coming out from the Vong’s cruisers,” Zephyr Two cut in quickly, and Jyren couldn’t help a quick glance over to where his Twi’lek wingmate was. Why he continued to do that was beyond him...old habit, maybe.

After switching back to the main frequency, Jyren said, “Talon, we’re just four X-Wings. We can’t hold off all of these skips on our own.”

“We’re too close to the Vong to turn back now, Zephyr Two,” came the response from the Corellian Gunship, “Already sent out a call for some extra help but we’ll have to make do until they get here.”

Jyren did not like that. He also didn’t like that, from the sound of it, whoever was talking to him from the Talon seemed to have no problem with it at all. Had they not been paying any attention to this fight at all?!

But there wasn’t really much of a choice, anyway. Even if he wanted to break away and call of this attack on the Vong cruisers, they were cut off and would have to fight it out anyway. Jyren bit his lip and shook his head to himself, trying to hold himself inwards in the Force as reaching out with that just made the whole situation that much more unnerving. He knew what it felt like with all those Vong out there, but there was no way in hell he was going to have that constant feeling of emptiness surrounding him when they were about to be overwhelmed with skips.

“What are we going to do, Two?” the nervous, but still strong voice of the Duros pilot, Zephyr Seven, cut Jyren’s thoughts off. It was probably for the best. At least it was an easy question to answer.

“We’re going to stick together and we’re going to keep the skips off of the Y-Wings and the gunships until we get some help,” Jyren said simply before doing a quick check on his own sensor panel. Then, confirming that the skips coming from the Vong cruisers would reach them first, brought his X-Wing up towards the front of the two cruisers, which weren’t even adjusting their courses to bring the majority of their batteries to bear on the attackers.

Oh well. After a while, it just didn’t matter anymore. They would do what they could.

Glancing back to the other three X-Wings, Jyren said, “Stick close and keep your eyes open. Our best bet is going to be using the gunships cannons...so we’ll try to draw the skips straight into their lines of fire. Got that?”

All three responded quickly. That response was all their was time for, as it was suddenly apparent just how fast the Coralskippers could move. The brief moments of relative peace they’d been given vanished in a blaze of red-orange flames that erupted in a huge wave straight for them.

The viewport became a blur as Jyren maneuvered to avoid the stream of fire coming from who-knew-how-many skips. There was a yell of surprise over the comm, which Jyren interpreted as some kind of orders on where to maneuver. However, he couldn’t make any sense of it in the sudden eruption of chaos. And he didn’t want to, either.

Instead, Jyren’s focus came on a single voice that cut off the one from the Talon. It lasted only half a second, but it was just long enough for Jyren to identify it as Zephyr Seven. He didn’t need to check his sensor panel to see that the rear X-Wing in their formation was no longer there. He didn’t even need the Force. Jyren knew that sound all too well.

The new Zephyr squadron had just taken its first casualty. Another kid that would be forgotten even by his own squadron was dead. Jyren didn’t know whether to blame the command structure, himself, the Duros pilot who’s name he couldn’t even remember, or the Yuuzhan Vong for starting this damned war. It didn’t matter, though. Blame wouldn’t change the fact that he was dead and wasn’t coming back.

And all of a sudden, as the wall of Coralskippers closed in and Jyren did his very best not to lose the two other pilots with him, Jyren just wanted to be anywhere else. He wanted to see his family again...he wanted to be back on Alraxia just for one more day. Just one more day to spend with Marix, Toby, and the little twins. But...but those were the kind of thoughts that had plagued him many years ago. These days he was no foolish enough to think he could just wish for something and have it come true. He was going to have to make it happen.

If he wanted another day with any of them, Jyren was going to have to stay alive...and he wasn’t going to just ditch these kids in the Zephyrs with him. They had as much of a right to make it out of this as he did...maybe even more. 

And then the second group of skips came in from behind to flank the small group of ships.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 368*

Hyperspace was always empty. Outside of realspace and locking the ship and its crew in its own little universe away from everything they new, save the Force itself. But even the Force felt slightly hollow as Marix stared out Loki’s viewport and into hyperspace. Everything felt that way lately...and it seemed like there was nothing at all to fill the emptiness that actually managed to cause some kind of physical pain. Minor, yes, but nagging. The reason for it was quite obvious, of course.

There were very good reasons why the many Alraxians that shared a Link always stayed together. Or at least, near one another. The science behind the hows and the whys of it were fairly well known, but it was never anything of interest to Marix. A Link had never been in her thoughts, as it was not something that would ever happen for a Tam’Day’U...who would be dead before it even became close to becoming an issue. But it seemed that Marix always found a way to go against the expectations of...well...everyone. Including herself. 

To think that she had ever reached adulthood was amazing enough. To go on and realize that she had freed herself and her fellow Tam’Day’U from their literal slavery to the few Alraxians who would admit they existed was even more amazing, to the point of being completely unimaginable. Not to mention the fact that these Tam’Day’U were now Knights of the Alraxian Empire and helping to train the rest of the Knights in combat techniques that were becoming more and more necessary as the years went by. And a Link? With, of all people in the galaxy, an idealistic human who she’d somehow gotten herself attached to and then become a bit more than attached before running into the one thing that helped to finally break the training she had been given: Emotion.

To Marix, the emotions were the most amazing things. She had grown up without any, though she did know the textbook definition of an emotion and how to use against her targets, it was never something she was actually exposed to. But then, first thanks to the smuggler, Max, and then Jyren...something had happened to break it all. And from what was something that even she could admit was a wonderful thing, falling in love and even(this she admitted quietly even to herself) having a family, the opposite end of the spectrum came along, too. And it was this utter emptiness that Marix felt now that she couldn’t get out of her head...sitting around didn’t help, of course...and she couldn’t sleep. Didn’t want to, actually...but...

Something hit her. A flash of everything at once, completely out of no where, causing her eyes to jolt open as she knew exactly what it was. In a rash move, she yelled out, “Get us out of hypspace!!”

[What?!] both her tone and sudden reaction got a strong shock from Loki, as he was just as unused to seeing her act like that as she was.

“Get us out of hyperspace!” she repeated again, this time sitting up in her chair and scrambling across the controls to find the damned thing herself since the Kanyak wasn’t cooperating.

And he wasn’t planning on it, either. [I can’t do that! Who knows what we could—]

“Fine!” Marix growled, having found the controls herself, “I’ll do it myself!”

And she did. 

Four very violent jolts rocked the ship from the sudden reverting back to realspace, and while they were suddenly out in the black emptiness between the many starsystems of the galaxy, Loki was sure they’d come very, very close to hitting...something.

[Marix, what is wrong?!] Loki was now distracted, immediately attempting to make sure everything was alright with both himself and his old friend who seemed to have completely lost her mind.

Her silvery-purple eyes looked straight up for a half second, an icy determination in them, “What’s the nearest system?”

Loki didn’t miss that she failed to even acknowledge his question. Deciding it was nearly pointless to fight this, he did his best to find out, checking stars against his internal databases, if they could even be called that, for a few short moments before answering. [Agamar is just a few light years from here.]

“Take us there, now,” Marix’s voice held that same stern tone, and while Loki started making the preparations for the jump, he couldn’t help noticing that she felt fine through the Force...in fact, she felt better than she had been in a long while.

Just as they were making the short jump, Loki decided to attempt once again to understand why she’d nearly gotten them killed. [What is it, Marix?]

When the lines of the stars extended and they shot forward, a calming wave seemed to sweep over the entirely of the ship. And yet she didn’t answer.

She didn’t answer for the simple reason that she wasn’t actually that sure why she’d acted like that. She felt...something. Something strong, and something very close. It was so strong in both the Force and through her very being that it pulled her to it. Marix had never experienced such a strong feeling before, especially coming out of no where and hitting her like a tubolaser blast. And, after only a few moments of managing some rational thoughts, she knew exactly what it was.

It was the link. Somehow, it had gotten stronger. The absence of it for a long while caused the sudden return of it to overwhelm her to the point where, right then, Marix knew she couldn’t allow it to go away again. Or at least, some unconscious part of her did, and made sure the rest of her was going to go along with it...though, now that she truly understood what had happened, Marix definitely agreed. They had tried it, and she had known the problems that might come up...but maybe she hadn’t really known them. It was not something that was viable anymore. It made it harder for her to do her job and find a way to protect her people from this war.

And, very quietly, Marix said, “Jyren is at Agamar...” she paused a moment, feeling the familiarity of the link but realizing that there was more than just the wonderful feeling of having it back, “...and he’s in over his ears again.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 369*

“How the hell are they moving like that?!” the panicked voice of the Mon Calamari pilot of Zephyr Eight cried out for the third time.

Jyren grinded his teeth, looping his X-Wing around to get a pair of skips off of him while spraying off a series of somewhat random shots to try to put up at least some kind of fight...even if it was miserable, “I don’t know and I don’t care, Loro! Just stay on me and try to take them out!”

A muffled grumble returned over the comm, but it was understandable. The waves of Vong Coralskippers were overwhelming, but the majority were focusing on the two gunships that were now caught halfway between the Vong cruiser analogs and the New Republic attack force. It meant that their mission to find the Yuuzhan Vong cruiser that was most likely carrying one of their war coordinators and take it out was over...or at least, should have. The Y-Wing squadron that was with them had managed to break off just as the two waves of skips came in, and would soon be in range to at least give the Vong cruisers analogs some trouble. 

Which meant it was three X-Wings and two Corellian gunships left to deal with at least forty Coralskippers. Both of the gunships were managing to pick off a skip or two here and there, but they were having more and more trouble as the minutes passed by. The Talon’s shields were out already, and two of its aft drives were down...meaning it was stranded right there likely for the rest of the fight. The other gunship, Fareera, was in slightly better shape, but was going to lose its shields in a few more moments.

The only current saving grace that was keeping the five starships up was in the positioning of the two Corellian gunships. Both of which were able to bring their main batteries that lined the sides of the cylindrical ships to bear on the other’s flank. It created a small corridor in between of extremely heavy fire that the three remaining Zephyrs in the vicinity were attempting to draw the skips into without getting shot, themselves. It was...to a point at least, working. That point being that fewer skips would come in after the X-Wings and meant that it gave the three of them more of a chance to concentrate their own fire and stay alive. 

“Got one!” it was the first sound of elation to come over the comm system since their arrival in the Agamar system, and Jyren’s eyes quickly darted to his side to see Zephyr Four’s X-Wing fly through a shattering of rock and flame.

Jyren brought his X-Wing up to hers, just slightly back to cover her, and followed her in a tight turn around a series of red laser fire from the gunships, “Nice shooting, Rea.”

They were doing disturbingly well at staying alive. It was a morbid thought, but Jyren knew it was true. They’d only lost one starship when overwhelmed by a huge number of Coralskippers. Luck only went so far, and this was far beyond just luck, in his opinion.

And then, right on cue, Jyren’s eyes caught sight of a sudden burst of flame from the Talon, and a half second later, as more red-orange blasts impacted the gunship, watched as the front cone of the ship broke off. Through the Force, despite being drawn into himself, he could feel the jolt of the death of the crew. The few escape pods that he saw flying away were easily picked off.

“They’re coming!” Rea’s voice jolted Jyren back into the moment as the wave of Coralskippers shifted from the now-dead Talon to the remainder of the ships. It looked as if they broke off into two distinct groups, and as Jyren saw this, he knew they were suddenly in serious trouble.

Trying to get his shields back to full, Jyren pulled his X-Wing down and closed to the Fareera, “Fall back to the cover of the Fareera. We stay out here alone and we’re dead.”

Together, the three X-Wings banked down and to the still-shielded gunship that was suddenly pouring out even more laser fire from its flank. But then something hit Jyren. At first, he felt like it was a punch to the back...no...no, to the inside of his skull, if that made any sense. Which, to him, it didn’t. Not that thing usually did, but all of a sudden the calm he’d managed to maintain was gone in a second...flooded with...with...

[Shady!] he didn’t even mean to send the thought over the suddenly-returned link. It just...happened. He’d been so focused on everything else that the lack of the link became normal...but now that it was back and he never wanted to feel it go away again.

His entire body nearly froze up with the most elated feeling he’d experienced since the twins had been born when, over the link, the familiar ‘voice’ of Marix joined the flood of thoughts moving back and forth between them. [What in the Force have you gotten yourself into now?]

[Oh, the usual. Just a—] Jyren’s was cut off suddenly by a sudden, violent impact to his X-Wing that would have sent him face first into the console in front of him if not for the restraints. Alarms screamed at him and the consoles showed the engines were hit and both the shield generator and stabilizers were burned out...if not completely destroyed. It seemed to happen in slow motion...he could see, somehow, his X-Wing breaking apart like the Talon had moments earlier...and the yelling of both his wingmates over the comm.

But Jyren heard none of it. His hand somehow managed to find the ejection lever, and in the same second as his X-Wing broke apart in painfully hot, though short-lived, flames, the canopy shot off and seat’s small thrusters shot it up and out of the destroyed starfighter. The speed at which everything happened to him caused his vision to blur...and the small amount of oxygen his suit was now supplying him with was only going to be enough to last half an hour at most...and that was at much lower levels.

Low enough levels that, as was normal for most pilots who managed to eject from their starfighters, it was only a few short seconds before the starship-pocketed blackness of space relented to the utter black of unconsciousness.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 370*

Looking out through the viewport, Marix decided that the Agamar system would be best described as a mess. The worst she could think of didn’t have an equivalent in Basic, and so she simply left that out of the link so as not to confuse Jyren.

Loki had reverted to realspace just on the outskirts of the system, with the hundreds of bright flashes all over the area between two of the planets in front of them. Marix had never actually been involved in any major fleet battles...a good thing, considering that if one was smuggling and in such a situation, it rarely went well. Though she had the link with Jyren to give her some idea of what to expect, it was beyond all of that...as memories usually always are.

As she was trying to take everything in(and managing to identify the Vong cruiser analogs that were holding back a Star Destroyer and some support ships from reaching the planet), they were hailed. First, over the link by Jyren, but then, just a half second later, the comm beeped and a distracted by panicked voice cut into the cockpit.

“Unidentified vessel this is the New Republic ship, Araddon, please leave this system at once.”

Marix rolled her eyes. At least they were alert enough to catch that she wasn’t an enemy. Hopefully that had to do with the fact that they were a good distance off, still, and not currently on an approach vector. Or at least, not for long. Marix didn’t even have a chance to respond over the comm before the link went completely insane.

She blinked, then tried to calm herself before realizing that she couldn’t feel Jyren there. First instinct screamed that he was dead...but rational thought managed to kick its way in and note to her brain that she, too, would be dead if that were the case. But her second thought was that he was unconscious, which, during a fight as chaotic as the one she could see was, was something probably just as bad as death.

Silently, Marix thanked the Force that Tobias was still, somehow, asleep, and then took the control yoke and started straight for the battle ahead of her. She wasn’t quite sure what she could do just yet, but when her eyes caught sight of a small transport moving into an unoccupied portion of space where she could feel something in the Force, she had an idea, “Araddon, I can help recover pilots.”

There was a pause...it was only a few seconds, but felt like an eternity.

Marix was no expert on fleet maneuvers or even how things really worked during a battle, but she was damned sure they could take any help they could get. There was still, though, one problem that she could think of.

“I can’t authorize that,” the voice sounded suddenly more nervous than before.

Biting her lip, Marix wondered if she should scream at them that her mate was out there and she’d be just as dead as he was going to be if he was actually unconscious. Thankfully, she didn’t. Instead, she switched off the comm angrily and reached out with both the Force and the link.

It didn’t take long to find Jyren. Despite being unconscious, his mind was so strong in the link after it being so silent for a long time that it was like a bright beacon in the blackness of what had to be the near invisible Vong forces and the ‘lights’ of the other pilots. When she realized just where he was, though, Marix couldn’t help a groan.

[What is it?] Loki asked, knowing what was going on but trying to take everything in so he could assist her when they got into the heat of things...which he knew they would.

“He’s in between the fleets,” Marix grinded out through sharp, gritted teeth, “Next to that small cruiser.”

[...and the swarm of starfighters?]

Nodding, Marix gripped the controls a little tighter, “We won’t be able to stop. Have to fly right through and grab him.”

A slight wave of unease washed through the Force from Loki. [Marix I...cannot fight back...]

“Then we have to move quickly,” her voice was stern and Loki knew she had already made up her mind. Maybe there was another way to get this done, but Marix had assessed the situation and her usual stubbornness had cemented the action that was to be taken.

The comm beeped again as they shot past the Star Destroyer and its small cruiser escorts that were picking off some teardrop-shaped starfighters and slowly moving forward, but it remained silent. Marix had no idea how to explain to these people what she was going to do without angering them anymore than they were going to be with her doing it anyway. So...despite the fact that the thought made no sense, Marix was going to do it the easy way and just ignore them. She could deal with that problem later.

Of course, it might be something that needed to be dealt with immediately.

[Three X-Wings are on an intercept course with us.] Loki announced.

Eyes darting down to the sensors, Marix bit her lip, “Can we get to Jyren before they reach us?”

[...maybe.]

“Do it,” she then went to the next problem. There had to be some way to grab Jyren without stopping or even slowing down without getting the both of them killed. Maybe... “Can you refit the hangar and catch him without killing him?”

[I’d have to slow down.] Loki answered simply, though, from a quick glance at the consoles, she could tell he was working on the hangar as they spoke. [Or slow him down.]

“I can do that,” Marix nodded to herself, already having Jyren in the Force and knowing she could get him to a speed that would have him just slowly hit whatever Loki managed to get up that most likely wouldn’t be too solid. 

And then Loki shook, with a strange reading coming over the sensors that monitored his own health. Marix’s eyes widened a moment before glancing down to see that the X-Wings hadn’t reached them, “Are you alright, Loki?”

The ship managed a mental nod. [They do not use energy weapons...it burns.]

For the first time in at least a minute, Marix looked out the viewport to see a swarm of Vong starfighters everywhere. Here and there, she could pick out a New Republic ship, but they were so few and far between that it was almost not worth trying. And yet, Loki was plowing straight through for the spot she was guiding him to.

Two more shots hit, nearly throwing them off course, but Marix managed to hold them while Loki tried not to let the pain distract him. Using the Force, she lined their course up with where she could feel Jyren was, “I’ve got him, Loki...”

[There are four ships following us.] Loki announced in a voice that didn’t hide the pain he felt. It wasn’t any help that more shots were hitting...but they didn’t seem to be breaching the hull as much as hitting and simply sitting there to burn its way through the layers of Loki’s ‘skin’. It was, to a living starship, much worse.

“Just hang on,” she said without realizing it, trying to reassure her ship through the Force while still holding onto Jyren and very slowly starting to try to move him so that they wouldn’t hit him at a standstill, “Will have him a in a few seconds.”

Loki knew what to do. Just as Marix watched two huge explosions from the cylindrical shaped New Republic cruiser erupt from its engines as Vong starfighters overwhelmed it, the view spun around. In a matter of moments, she was now staring at the four ships pursuing them, spraying red-orange globs of something...with Loki barely maneuvering to avoid them so as not to lose their ‘aim’ on Jyren.

It was just going to take a few more seconds and they would have him. But Marix could see they didn’t have that kind of time. The hits Loki had taken were hurting him badly, and they were not only losing speed, but she could tell he wasn’t going to be able to take many more hits. And the four Vong ships were not planning to leave them be, either. They weren’t going to make it...and even if they did, they were caught in the center of at least fifty enemies. It was foolish to think they would actually make it out of this alive. Simple proof that she’d been around Jyren too much...it was a choice like he would usually make. Not at all well thought out...

And then two of the Vong ships detonated in a burst of rock and flame, with the other two suddenly banking away to avoid another stream of red laser fire. Marix’s eyes watched as two X-Wings dove straight through the rubble, pulling around and, quite obviously, moving into a position to give Loki some semblance of cover fire.

But there was no more time to think about that.

Jyren was right there ‘behind’ them and about to hit the makeshift wall Loki had managed to put together. As quickly as she could, Marix allowed the Force to flow through her and then though the link. She gripped him tightly, not letting go and shoving him...forward, with them. The strong Force push would have probably knocked him unconscious if he hadn’t been already, but that didn’t matter.

[Got him!] Loki cried out, all the pain out of his ‘voice’.

That was what mattered.

“Get us out of here, Loki!” Marix yelled, trying not to grin too much as she hit the switch to close the hangar for Loki so the ship could focus on...not getting killed.

She would get to the comm that was still beeping in a moment...first she had to be sure Jyren was alright, and said into the ‘intercom’ system in Tobias’ room very loudly, “Get to the hangar now!”

He would figure out the rest.

...and probably go crazy, as Toby had no idea what was going on.

But that didn’t matter. Jyren was alright...and now she just needed to make sure they were all going to be.

Marix hit the comm switch just as Loki spun back around and started a new, much more erratic, course back out of the fight.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

And now...finally, its all back up.

Not only that, but the last couple of entries are new. 

Regular updates to resume as normal now!


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 371*

The ‘intercom’ system that was set up in Loki was not really an intercom system at all. It was more of a bypassing of a few of his own systems to let him focus on whatever needed to be done. Essentially, the words were sent through his own speech systems and sent wherever in the ship they needed to be. So, even though Tobias was jolted out of his sleep by Loki’s voice...the extra-loudness and the sharp tone told him right away that it was actually Marix yelling at him.

Any usual argument he would have had faded quickly, though, when Tobias felt the strange mix of tension and elation in the air. Something was up...and...

The room shook as Tobias was heading for the door, so much so that he had to brace himself against the wall. The slight wave of pain from Loki that followed had the young Alraxian’s hearts racing. With a new sense of urgency, Tobias hit the switch on the door and slipped through before it had even finished it opening. Right away, he got his bearings and headed straight to the meager sized hangar near the rear of the ship.

The years of the huge, open hangar that actually could fit two ships in it and deserved to be called a ‘hangar’ were long gone. Without the need to house an oversized X-Wing, Loki had taken the chance to shrink it down to a bit more manageable size and provide more space for more living quarters and larger spaces. It was a welcome change that even Jyren had been happy about, as even being in charge of an Empire, they found themselves aboard Loki a great deal of the time.

Of course, it also meant that it took longer to actually reach the so-called hangar, but Tobias got there shortly by running as fast as he could manage. Something was telling him that whatever it was that he was being yelled at to do was urgent. The door here was much larger than the one to the small quarters, and because of this, took longer to iris open...giving more time for Tobias’ mind to go through the thousand possibilities of what was going on.

The hangar was barely large enough to hold an airspeeder now, and off to the left side was an interesting looking extension of sorts of the wall. Unsure of what to make of this, but getting the feeling this was probably why he was supposed to be down here, Tobias headed straight across the empty hangar for the odd looking extension...somewhat like a blocky arm of sorts obviously made of the same material as Loki’s insides...it also looked oddly soft to his eyes, but that made little sense to him.

Another strong shake rocked through Loki, and this time there was nothing to brace Tobias save for the floor underneath him. It did a good job of catching him, and he was lucky enough to fall on his side rather than his tail. Doing his best to ignore the sting from his arm that got the brunt of the landing, Tobias got to his feet again and scrambled for the odd section in the hangar, deciding that it was the closest thing he could use to hold himself up, anyway.

Getting to the thing, he stepped around it to see that it was more the shape of a cupped hand, and was definitely softer than the rest of the walls. Whatever the hells this was...

Tobias eyes suddenly locked onto the object that was resting on the floor against the wall’s extension. It was a chair, laying on its side and facing him so that he could see the bright orange flight suit-clad figure still strapped to it. Tobias knew that uniform better than an Alraxian Knight’s. And the second he identified the uniform and the helmet(which had a crest on its sides that reminded him very much of the Alraxian Empire’s Insignia...), it took only another moment before he knew who it was.

Alraxian or not, Tobias could identify Jyren better than even Marix sometimes.

A million questions rushed through Tobias’ head, most of which centering around how this was even possible and what was going on, but he was intelligent enough to ignore most of them and run, as best as he could, straight to where Jyren was and get him out of the restraints.

“What’s going on, Loki?!” Tobias yelled towards the ceiling, having also picked up the habit of looking that way to speak with the ship, while at the same time noting that Jyren was unconscious and, in a few places, injured.

For a few long seconds, there came no respond but two more violent tremors and a surge of pain through the Force. But then he heard the voice of his mother through the Alraxian Network...which, currently, only existed between the two of them this far away from home.

[A little busy right now, Toby.] Marix’s ‘voice’ sounded more distracted than it usually did in situations like he assumed they were currently stuck in, and yet held none of the usual anger...which was, in itself, almost terrifying. [Just get him to a bed and do your best not to hurt anything.]

Tobias was still fighting with the restraints on the ejected chair, though he had taken a quick moment to get the helmet off of his father and note a couple of already-blue bruises. [I help him remorph. I remember how!]

[No!] the response snapped back at the younger Alraxian in a way that nearly made him jump back in surprise. [Just get him to a bed and then get up to the cockpit!]

Mind whirling in circles but knowing that a ‘why’ was not the right thing to be asked right now, Tobias just tried to reserve himself to doing as he was told. Usually, this would never happen so easily...though with the pain coming from Loki and Jyren being unconscious, not to mention actually there, Tobias was not in any mood to argue until he was damned well sure of what was going on and exactly what was best to argue about.

Finally getting the restraints off, Tobias did his best to pick up his father, suddenly glad that he was in his human form and roughly the same height and build as Tobias...meaning it wasn’t nearly impossible to carry him. As he got to his feet again, Tobias just hoped to the Force that Loki wouldn’t take another strong hit from whatever it was that was obviously shooting at them...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 372: Of Orders*

“We’re disobeying orders!” Zephyr Eight’s voice came through far too loudly in Rea’s headset, causing her to wince slightly as she did her best to weave and maneuver her X-Wing out of the line of fire of...of...an uncountable number of Coralskippers pursuing them.

Rea’s eyes darted to the side, looking out through the canopy of her X-Wing and to the oddly shaped ship next to her. It looked like...like...a small Mon Calamari cruiser almost...but not really. There was the organic design, the swept back look, but none of the seemingly random bubbles and other ‘structures’ that pocketed the giant cruisers...this was, also, much smaller. More like that of a medium sized transport. But what it was didn’t really matter just yet...and really, neither did who was piloting it.

“Would you rather be dead?” she snapped back angrily, having had enough of her Mon Calamari companion’s constant complaints. While he seemed to still be in a state of shock at the loss of one of his wingmate and the sudden hit that the Captain’s starfighter took...the destruction of the two gunships had sent the young pilot’s mind spinning every single direction except to survival.

Rea, on the other hand, was managing to keep her head. She knew that the Captain was alive, and that whoever was piloting this transport was going to need help to keep things that way...and staying in that swarm of Coralskippers with just another X-Wing was asking for death. And the Twi’lek woman was in no way prepared to just die if she didn’t have to.

As they were weaving a random, but rather effective, path back towards the Araddon and the Coralskippers continued their pursuit, Eight’s voice mumbled over the comm, “I just don’t like running.”

“You want to fight?!” Rea yelled at him after taking yet another hit to her rear shields, “Obrack, my shields are going to drop in another hit and two and this thing’s S-Foils aren’t even responding anymore! I doubt you’re in any better shape!”

There was no response over the comm system this time, and for that, Rea was thankful. It was one less thing to worry about...and there were already far too many things topping that list currently. Staying alive was chief among them, but right next to that was making sure Obrack and, now, this transport alive, too. Of course, that meant flying as fast as they could manage while just trying not to get hit by the many pursuers and hoping the other two with her would be doing the same...

Suddenly, the comm channel crackled and she heard a stern, somewhat airy voice cut in through the static, “Unidentified vessel, set your course for the Araddon and prepare to be boarded.”

It only took a short glance down at the comm system for Rea to notice that the broadcast was on the open channel, rather than any that the fleet was using exclusively. In another second, she heard a voice that sounded like it could cut down the Star Destroyer all on its own, “I’ve recovered one of your pilots and if you’ve got anymore drifting I suggest you tell me now.”

This caused an uneasy silence over the comm channel, leaving time for Rea’s attention to be directed back to actually staying alive. With a quick adjustment and sending her X-Wing down underneath the interesting looking transport, the Twi’lek managed to throw off the Coralskippers enoguh to give her a few moments before they repositioned themselves to continue firing. From the looks of things, Obrack was doing the same wild maneuvering and managing to keep himself out of the streams of red-orange fire, whlie the transport itself was moving more like an A-Wing than anything else its size.

“Our recovery crews are doing their jobs,” the airy sounding voice from the Araddon returned, this time sounding much more neutral and less aggressive...though, honestly, the voice that had responded back was the kind that could cause anyone to rethink their tone.

Rea nearly made a comment on the open comm channel about the recovery crews ‘doing their jobs’, but managed to stop herself somehow. If not for this transport, the Captain would likely be picked up or destroyed by the Vong like the escape pods from the two gunships that had been left to die without any support. What happened to the Y-Wing squadron sent after the Vong cruiser analogs was still an unknown, but Rea had a very good idea of what had happened...and was fairly sure that they wouldn’t be seeing any of those pilots ever again.

“Four, this is One,” the voice of Commodore Nok cut out her thoughts and drove her focus back into the flying, just as another red-orange blast streaked far too close past her X-Wing, “We’re heading in to give you some cover. Form up on that transport and hold tight...we’ll bring you home.”

While her mind screamed a thanks, Rea could only outwardly manage a nod. Eight, on the other hand, spoke over their squadron’s frequency, “Thank you, sir.”

There was really no need for thanks...but it felt good to hear the Mon Calamari say it since she couldn’t seem to find her voice in the wave of relief she was feeling. 

Through the orange-tinted visor of her helmet, Rea caught sight of the incoming starfighters...at least...by the Force! It looked like all of the squadrons that had been back defending the Araddon! Had they dealt with the skips that were attacking the fleet...? Did it even matter?!

In another second, it didn’t.

The streams of red-orange fire from behind the three fleeing ships was suddenly answered by a wall of bright red, shooting past them and straight into the pursuing Coralskipper formation. On her sensor board, Rea could see the dots disappearing, and through the comm, she could hear the cheers of the pilots as they took out of the skips...and in another second, a good thirty starfighters, X-Wings, A-Wings, and even a few E-Wings, rocketed past them and straight into the formation of skips, laser cannons alight the entire way.

As they headed for the Araddon’s main landing bay in relative safety, Rea noticed that the turbolaser cannons of the huge Star Destroyer and the remaining ships in the fleet were suddenly pouring out bright green fire towards the Vong cruisers. Finally in range...too late to save hundreds...but maybe soon enough to save Agamar.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 373: Back In the Middle*

“Tell me you didn’t touch him!” Marix growled in a much more higher pitched voice than Tobias was used to hearing.

He glanced over his shoulder to see her barge into the room just finishing her morph into a human form and then push past him to where Jyren was now lying on the bed. Tobias shook his head as he was pushed to the side, noting that he was still shorter than her, even when she was nearly a full meter shorter... “I left him alone, like you said! But...but he’s still losing blood and those bruises don’t good and—“

”And you need to be human right now,” she cut him off without even looking at him. All of Marix’s attention was on Jyren, checking the flight suit and doing her best to clean up a bit of the mess while trying not to do too much.

The few moments she was taking was enough for Tobias to focus, take in a deep breath, and then morph human. It was slow, tedious, but he got it the first time. His voice now a completely different pitch, Tobias managed to ask the important question that was still hacking at his head, “Why aren’t we helping him?!”

Marix turned to face the (now) young human and stopped a moment. It was terrifying how much he looked like Jyren in that form. From the face shape to the colour of his eyes and his hair...there was no way that Tobias wasn’t trying to mimic Jyren. Which, truthfully, was a valid way to learn morphing, but for some reason it worried her. Quickly, though, she put that aside to answer the question, “We are helping him.”

“How?!” that simply didn’t make sense to Tobias...for obvious reasons.

Well, they should have been obvious. However, at this point, Marix was too focused on exactly what needed to be done to stop and actually explain the hows, whys, and other little details that came together to actually form a coherent picture. And besides, there wasn’t time.

Marix turned up to face the ceiling above them, ignoring Toby’s second question, “What’s it looking like out there, Loki?”

[The tractor beam has pulled us in...] there was a pause and something that could have been a nervous sigh. [...boarding teams are searching for the hatch.]

Nodding, the two violet coloured eyes locked onto Tobias and gave him a very serious stare, “Stay out of the way and don’t say anything. This is going to be difficult enough as it is.”

And before another question could be asked, she darted out of the room and for the hatch. While Tobias was left in a state of confusion, Marix was still working on overdrive. A quick check of herself confirmed she wasn’t carrying any weapons(this was not the time for that, for once), and she took a few deep, calming breaths to attempt to do what had to be done in a way to not get herself shot.

And then, right when she nodded her head to signal Loki that she was ready, the hatch silently irised open. A wisp of processed, almost stale tasting air washed over Marix’s less-sensitive Human nose, and the stark black, reflective surface of the Star Destroyer’s hangar deckplates immediately gave her a view of the amount of people around them.

The Force sent a quick warning just before an armed near-human(definitely not full human, as most she knew of had ears...) stepped into view and pointed a blaster rifle straight at her, “Step out of the ship!”

Well...here it was.

“There isn’t time for this!” Marix said loudly enough that she knew a good amount of the hangar would hear, then pointed back to the corridor, inside Loki, behind her, “The pilot’s alive but he won’t be much longer without medical attention!”

“Stand aside,” the security officer spoke in a stern, but slightly less threatening voice.

A moment later she caught sight of a group of three white-uniformed humanoids headed for her, and Marix knew they were the medical crew that she had damn well hoped would be waiting. But, of course, Marix didn’t stand aside.

Instead, and knowing it was a dangerous thing to do with the blaster rifle aimed straight at her, she grabbed the security officer’s arm and looked him straight in the eye, “He’s my ma—“

She nearly said ‘mate’. Rational thought caught up quickly enough, however, noting that it would not be even slightly normal for one human to refer to another as their ‘mate’. Which meant she had to recover that quickly or...

“He’s my,” she tried again, but the word that she knew needed to be used just didn’t come out, “My...he’s...” pausing a moment and cursing herself for still feeling so awkward about the whole situation after so long, Marix simply let go of the man’s arm and sighed, “He’s mine.”

The point seemed to make it across. The blaster was not lowered, but she was allowed to lead the medical team to him and even stay with them to the medical ward three decks up. Of course, she was followed by another four guards, all watching closely and obviously waiting for something. That something came when Jyren was taken into the medical ward and immediately given attention by the on-duty medical droid that was assisting an overwhelmed Bothan doctor.

The security officer that had first pointed the weapon at her was still there, and put a very firm hand on her shoulder, “You’ll need to come with us for questioning.”

Marix nearly broke his arm off.

She nearly broke his arm off, tore that blaster out of his other, and gunned down the other guards before cleaning the medical ward out and stealing Jyren away to Loki again.

She nearly got the two of them killed.

But all she did was nod.

The New Republic was no Galactic Empire. Their questioning would likely be little more than just that. She could handle it...and, for Jyren’s sake, needed to.

Damn him. Damn him and the things she always seemed to be doing to keep his tail alive.

...but, in all truthfulness, it felt good to be in the middle of the fray again.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 374: Alive Again*

It wasn’t long before the battle was over. Whether it really deserved to be called a battle or not was still debatable, but such little technicalities mattered little to any of the people aboard the Araddon or the other ships that made it out. The fleet had only lost its two gunships, but it was enough of a hit to drop morale down to a dangerous low...and knowing that they were abandoning Agamar’s defense fleet that had been on the other side of the Vong cruiser-analogs didn’t do that morale any good, either. The planet was likely lost...and Ithor...well...no one knew what had happened there, yet, but even the Admiral feared a similar fate for the peaceful world.

Surprisingly, though, the starfighter squadrons had faired well. Despite being outnumbered and, truthfully, outgunned, very few pilots had actually been lost. The worst came with pilots that had managed to eject but were not able to be recovered before the jump to hyperspace was forced on the fleet. The ones left behind were worse than the ones shot down. But there was one retrieved...one pilot brought back to the Araddon before the jump.

The story itself had spread like wildfire the second it had happened, with the commanders and other officers just trying to keep the comm channels silent so that orders could actually be heard. A strange looking, civilian transport had jumped into the system, gone straight into the deadliest point in the battle to extract a single pilot just as waves of Coralskippers tore apart the gunships next to them. The two remaining X-Wing pilots escorted the transport back to the fleet, taking down at least eight skips in the process...and then, despite the cries of a few of the commanders in the fleet, the rest of the starfighters turned to intercept, ensuring the survival of the transport and the two pilots who’d protected it nearly the entire way back to the fleet from the dead zone in between the New Republic and Vong forces.

It was the one thing that kept so many from simply giving up right then and there. All of the starfighter pilots in the fleet could say they saved their friends, even if they didn’t know anyone in Zephyr Squadron beyond their call signs. It meant that the mess had been quite active since the jump to hyperspace, and surprisingly happy...as everyone was doing their best to allow the one moment to overshadow the hundreds of other bad ones.

And in one of the smaller medical wards aboard the Araddon, Jyren opened his eyes. Dizziness was all that he currently felt, and as this settled, his eyes made out two distinct shapes that quickly became people. The first was Tobias...except human...which, honestly, wasn’t a huge difference. He was just a little shorter than ‘normal’, and thinner, but his jet-black hair was just like Marix’s while his eyes and even the shape of his face gave Jyren the distinct feeling of looking into some strange mirror. And next to Toby, who, Jyren noted, was actually wearing one of his old jackets, was Rulae Nok. The Duros was in rather casual dress, but there was still the rank insignia on his shoulder that showed he was obviously comfortable in some sort of uniform most all of the time.

A broad smile appeared on Tobias’ features, “Alive again.”

Jyren blinked a few times, ignored the headache, and mumbled, “...again?”

Duros did not have the ability to roll their eyes as they had no pupils insides their large, teardrop shaped red eyes...but somehow, the way the Rulae narrowed them gave a similar enough effect, “You think we’re just standing here because we know exactly when you’re going to wake up? This is the third time so far...of course, you didn’t speak the other two. How do you feel?”

“Like I’ve been shot,” Jyren answered, resisting the urge to attempt to sit up.

The smile on Toby’s face became a grin, “You were.”

Rulae glanced to the young human then back to Jyren, “Your starfighter was.”

Jyren didn’t exactly need to be told that. In fact, he’d only made his comment due to the usual sarcasm he found himself using around Marix. Apparently, it didn’t work with others...even Toby. Which then brought up the most obvious question, “What in the Force are you doing here, Toby?”

When the kid bit his lip and looked past Jyren, it was obvious the answer wasn’t exactly going to be either simple or to Jyren’s liking. It also didn’t help that Rulae was the one to answer the question, “I believe it’s a long story...and it is not the time for that, Captain.”

The use of rank had a way of bringing a few things back into perspective. It also gave Jyren the hint. Knowing he was aboard the Araddon, Jyren turned to Rulae and asked, “Can you have Tobias taken to my quarters?”

“I was about to suggest that,” the Duros nodded to a pair of guards who stood at attention, obviously ready to escort the young man.

“Hey! Wait—“

Tobias didn’t get far into his argument before Jyren cut him off, “Later, Toby. Right now...I think there are some things I have to take care of. I’ll catch up with you as soon as I can. I promise.”

The two pale blue eyes stared at Jyren for a long moment before Tobias sighed and nodded, then turned and fell into step next to the two guards.

When they were gone, Rulae had a seat next to Jyren’s bed and then gave him a very careful look before finally saying, “I know more about humans that you like to give me credit for. I know how old you are. I know how old that boy is. I know that there is no way in any hell that he could possibly be your son unless you fathered him before you joined the Zephyrs the first time.”

That got only silence.

Jyren managed to hold the careful look he was being given as his mind raced. Sometimes he really wished that his old friend wasn’t so damned intelligent. Jyren hadn’t even considered this would be a problem before, as he’d never assumed that Tobias would be anywhere near him while he was with the Zephyrs. Obviously, that would have made things too easy. But now he was stuck...and if Rulae continued to pick at things like this he might find out a few other things that Marix would definitely not want anyone else to know. Jyren didn’t exactly either, but, at the same time, didn’t feel right to be deceiving someone he trusted like this.

And yet, Jyren simply said, “He is my son.”

“He is at least sixteen standard years old, Jyren,” Rulae said very slowly, “There is no way that is possible and you know it.”

Damn that kid! It sure didn’t help that Tobias looked so much like Jyren when they were both human...in fact, it just made things more difficult! He really could pass as his son...yet, for someone that knew him, it was obvious that couldn’t be true. Fine.

A sigh escaped Jyren and he just shook his head, trying to ignore the pounding headache, “He’s my son, Rulae.”

For a moment, the blue-skinned Duros simply seemed to consider this. His thin lips didn’t seem to move when he spoke, “Adopted.”

“It doesn’t matter,” those words, Jyren truly did mean. It didn’t matter. And, suddenly feeling quite angry that he felt like he was defending that point, Jyren asked the question that had been tugging at his skull since he’d regained consciousness, “Rulae...where is she?”

For once, Jyren was glad his old friend wasn’t a fool. Rulae stood up again, obviously getting ready to leave and deal with...whatever he was going to be dealing with, and then said, “She’s being interrogated. I’ll have her brought here once they’re done. After that...I expect you to join the rest of us for debriefing in two hours.”

And then Rulae was gone.

Jyren couldn’t help a smile. He had to feel sorry for those interrogators.


----------



## tmaaas

It's great to see that your story hour is back.

I've been greatly missing it.

Thanks.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 375: An Interrogation of Sorts*

What passed for interrogation aboard the Araddon was almost a joke to Marix. As someone that had been trained in very detailed forms of torture, both from the Alraxian Empire and the Galactic Empire, she knew very well how to get answers out of even the strongest of subjects. Usually, it simply took time. 

But this man...he was barely Jyren’s age, and looked like he barely had any idea what he was doing. Nothing but questions. Not even pressing questions. It was so pathetic that Marix had no trouble answering them at all...none of the answers gave away anything important anyway and simply went to proving she had, in fact, shown up to help Jyren.

Certain details, of course, were left out. Namely the Force and the connection she shared with Jyren. Those would cause problems and simple mishaps could explain the coincidences away without any trouble. It was amazing how people would gladly accept such completely outlandish answers when there were obvious distractions. And being able to read people, especially without the Force, went a long way to detecting those distractions...which was why Marix had gotten bored very early on.

At that point, while she went on autopilot to answer the questions, her other senses scanned the small room around her. Imperial style interrogation room...at least three holocams, one exit on the opposite end that had a way of blending into the boringly bland wall, and nothing else. She’d broken out of more rooms like this than she cared to count. And, perhaps, that was the problem.

Every single other time she had been in such a room, escape was on her mind. Be it hers or the one sitting in her current position. But it was always there...keeping the occupants of the room alert and ready. It caused a sense in the air that was not comparable to anything else. But not this time. Something here was different, and while, at first, she blamed the pathetic interrogation she was undergoing, it wasn’t long before Marix came to the conclusion that it was on her end where the difference was.

She felt no need to escape. Yes, in a second, the holocams could be disabled and this human dead...with Marix gone from the room a few moments later and off the ship soon after. But...but not now. Jyren was somewhere on this ship and she wasn’t going to make another damned idiotic choice. She was here for a reason, and right now, that meant she had to deal with...with this.

And all through the interrogation, Marix was trying to find the right time to play the card she was holding back. It came sooner than she had expected, and in the pause while the interrogator was obviously sifting through to the next question, she spoke up, “There is a man aboard my ship that I believe you would do well to speak with.”

The directness of the statement caught the man off guard, and he looked confused for a little too long before regaining his neutral face, “What do you mean?”

“Before I came here, I encountered a group calling themselves the Peace Brigade,” she explained simply, “As far as I can tell, they are anti-Jedi humanoids working with the Vong.”

The silence that followed was just long enough. Marix didn’t need the Force to know how important that it was...but it sure helped. She could feel the shock jolt through the interrogator...and whoever was watching the holos provided by the cameras.

But the man in front of her seemed to compose himself quickly, though, and shook his head, “The search teams found no one else on your ship.”

They’d searched Loki?!

...of course they’d searched Loki.

Marix calmed herself as quickly as she could, letting a short slow breath but doing her best to keep it quiet enough that it wasn’t noticeable. Of course, if these interrogators were any good, they’d still notice it. Alright. They’d searched Loki...obviously, they’d not found anything horribly incriminating. And, of course, they wouldn’t have unless they knew where to go.

“He’s locked up in a safe section of the ship,” Marix said, immediately working out that she had the upper hand again. Still holding a straight, neutral face, she looked the human directly in the eyes, adopting a calm, but at least slightly disturbing gaze that would hopefully unnerve him, “And he stays there until I see the pilot I brought in.”

Right away, the man shook his head, “No. Give us the Peace Brigade man and then we’ll talk.”

“You won’t be able to find him without me,” she said flatly, “No matter how good your scanning crews are, you’ll never find him.”

No response came.

Marix knew that the interrogator was wearing some kind of comlink to listen to whoever else was watching them. And though his eyes still held her gaze perfectly, they were distracted. He was listening. Something was going on out there, and, from the feeling in the Force, it wasn’t making anyone happy.

Then the door opened and two blaster rifle-wielding marines stepped in.

“Escort this woman to the medical ward,” the interrogator said, a hint of anger in his voice, “Don’t let her out of your sight.”

Both of them nodded, and Marix took that as her cue to stand up finally. A triumphant smiled formed on her face and she simply nodded to the man as she passed, falling into step behind one of the guards while the other walked behind her...blaster rifle casually aimed at her back.

It was a wonder the New Republic had made it this long...they were so much easier to manipulate than the Galactic Empire’s men had ever been. Not that Marix was one to complain.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 376: Thanks*

[Wake up.]

Jyren was not asleep. However, his eyes were closed as he was doing his best to attempt some kind of Force healing, despite how horrible he was at it. But he knew that voice. Be it in his head, or in his ears...it wasn’t one that he would ever have trouble identifying.

Marix stood next to the bed he was resting in within the Arradon’s medical ward...and it had been so long since he’d seen her as a human, it took a second longer to really put all of the pieces together. Of course, this was partly because his head was still spinning slightly, but Jyren wasn’t going to admit that to anyone.

“Mar...” he trailed off a moment, suddenly wondering if she was using her name or not as his eyes caught sight of the two armed guards standing not too far away. She sent a simple feeling through the link, and he couldn’t help a smile, “Marix.”

But she said nothing. Well, not openly. The link was ablaze with activity, mainly feeding him all of the important information he would need to know so as not to get them into any more trouble. It only took a matter of seconds, and so the silence didn’t seem all that unnatural to whoever all was keeping an eye on them. Of course, part of the reason she said nothing was due to the general discomfort she felt with all of the people around...but that was something that she wasn’t going to admit to anyone.

“I see you’ve made some friends already,” Jyren said a bit quietly as he sat up in the bed, cringing as a few quick jolts of pain shot up his back. 

Glancing over her shoulder, Marix shrugged, “You’ve always said I have a way with people.”

“It would definitely explain why they’re keeping their distance.”

That got a hint of a smile on her face.

Jyren reached up and took her hand, causing her to jump slightly at the sudden touch, but before she could say anything, he adopted a more serious tone, “You shouldn’t be here.”

Marix’s eyes met his and gave him a look that could have caused stars to go supernova, “We’d be dead if I wasn’t,” she shook her head, the shorter, jet-black hair now obscuring her vision slightly, “One of us has made the wrong choice in our actions.”

A cryptic statement that Jyren knew the meaning of only thanks to the link. He sighed. To a point, she was probably right. Being apart such great distances for any length of time was difficult. Not just in the abstract sense, but there was a concrete, almost physical lack of...of...completion was the only word Jyren could think of, but it wasn’t even wholly accurate.

“I need to be here,” he said finally, trying to hold a stern voice while still matching that gaze.

To his surprise, Marix shrugged, “Maybe you do...” she trailed off a moment, allowing him to realize what she meant, but then quickly added, “But I don’t.”

And she was right. He was thinking of himself and not the two of them...and, of all people in the galaxy, he should have been used to thinking about the both of them instead of just one. So maybe he’d made the wrong choice coming back...maybe...no! No, Jyren was sure this was the right place for him. He was doing the right thing but...

A stray thought through the link caught his attention suddenly. Considering what it was, to know that it came from Marix and not himself was at least slightly surprising. And, even though she knew he picked up on it, for some reason, Jyren knew it was best to speak up and prove that he wasn’t just pretending. With another sigh, he looked down and said quietly, “Toby doesn’t need to be here.”

Marix nodded, but didn’t respond otherwise. She would have, but Jyren’s eyes darted past her and she glanced over her should to see one of the guards take two steps closer. He didn’t speak either, but the point got across.

They would have to talk later...it seemed like the officers aboard the ship were getting impatient.

Also understanding this, Jyren squeezed her hand gently before letting go of it, “I have a debriefing in a little while...we’ll talk after.”

Again, Marix simply nodded. Even the link was kept fairly static for whatever reason and she forced a neutral face again and turned to be lead back to the hangar with the two guards. But, as she stepped out of the room, Jyren said. [Thank you.]

Through the link, she sent a wave of warmth, which was a surprising but welcome gesture. [You know you don’t need to thank me.]

[But I always will.]


----------



## Angcuru

Hooray!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 377: Orders*

The second that the door to the squadron’s briefing room slid open and Jyren stepped in, he was greeted with a roar of laughter and cheers. It was surprising the amount of noise that just nine pilots could make(as, Jyren noted, Rulae was not yet present).

“Well, look who’s on his feet!” the red-haired Adria Harken laughed, stepping over to give his shoulder a good slap(which stung...she was stronger than she looked), “You know that you were supposed to be listening to the training exercises while you were teaching us, yes?”

Jyren couldn’t help a smile, “Well, it was getting a bit boring in that cockpit. Thought I’d just take it straight to the Vong the old fashioned way.”

The Bothan of the squadron, Cest, grinned and his cream-coloured fur rippled slightly, “Getting the wife in on the fight is pretty old fashioned.”

“A bit dirty, if you ask me,” Rea chimed in from behind a few of them. Jyren’s wingmate was still seated, but leaning slightly to make sure he saw her expression.

“You know,” Jyren said as he walked down the amphitheater-styled room to a mid-level chair, “If she heard any of you talking about her like that she’d kill you...well, if you were lucky.”

That got another good roar of laughter from everyone, but it was fairly obvious that Jyren was being serious when he said that. But celebrations were cut short as the door slid open once again to reveal the Zephyr’s Duros commander.

Everyone had a seat, knowing it was time to get down to business, and Rulae simply nodded in Jyren’s direction rather than saying any words. It wasn’t surprising...even when he’d been younger, Rulae hadn’t been involved in many of the usual squadron’s antics. He had always been the one to sit back and watch silently.

When he got to the podium at the bottom of the room, he looked over the remaining members of the squadron and said simply, “You all did a very good job out there. I know it didn’t look pretty, and we couldn’t save Agamar, but we did our best...and most of us made it out alive...” he trailed off a moment and the silence that followed was mainly due to the fact that everyone was trying not to count their numbers to easily identify their lesser numbers. But this didn’t last long, as Rulae went on, “We all know what happened at Agamar, and as I said, you did well. And I would like to congratulate both Flight Cadet Lor on her promotion to Pilot Officer...and out new Lieutenant, Obrack Loro.”

Rulae paused again to allow the rest of the squadron to congratulate the two pilots in the squadron that everyone agreed deserved a promotion above all others. They had both been stuck in the middle of the fight with the doomed gunships, and not only had they made it out alive, but they protected the still-unidentified transport on its mad dash back to the fleet.

But the moment last too long, as Commodore Nok was obviously not finished, “Now, there is one last thing I’d like to let all of you know. While Agamar was attacked, another Vong fleet assaulted Ithor. Despite the size of the fleet we fought, it was a decoy to distract us from their real target...however, thanks to the Imperial Remnant, the planet was defended and the Vong driven out.”

“...the Remnant?!” to most of the pilots’ surprise, that was Jyren.

Rulae, however, had expected that reaction from him, and nodded, “Yes. And without them, Ithor would have been lost.”

Something didn’t feel right. Jyren knew it wasn’t the Remnant that was really bothering him...more that they were so small that there was no way they could have sent a fleet of any sufficient size to help. Part of him thought it was a bad idea to speak his concerns in the open like this, but another took over and, proving that he’d been around Marix for far too long, got straight to the point, “The Remnant doesn’t have a fleet strong enough to do that without leaving their own borders unprotected.”

“Correct,” Commodore Nok nodded again, his blue skin catching the lights slightly before his red eyes locked onto Jyren, “They left themselves undefended to help us. Much of their fleet has returned to Imperial space, but they have left some behind at Ithor to assist.”

“Assist?” this time, it was the Bothan, Cest Uu’vel, speaking up, “Would the Vong really attack Ithor again?”

“They will,” the Duros answered again in an emotionless tone that was slightly unnerving, “When the Remnant fleet arrived, the Vong were caught off guard. They were not driven back due to fighting...an agreement was forged. The Vong commander withdrew his forces for a standard month. We have that long to fortify the planet before he returns.”

That got silence.

It didn’t take Force-enhanced perceptions to know something was wrong with that.

And Rulae didn’t even wait for anyone to ask the question, “Ithor’s safety is to be decided by a duel between the Jedi, Corran Horn, and the Vong’s Commander.”

Somehow, that only helped explain a small amount. Everyone understood the strong sense of battle-oriented honour that the Yuuzhan Vong had, but somehow that just wasn’t enough. The fact that the New Republic had even agreed to that kind of action...or had it? Had it just been the action of one Jedi?! It wouldn’t have surprised anyone if it was.

Again, Cest broke the silence, still looking somewhat confused as his grey eyes seemed to stare at nothing at all, “But why fortify the planet?”

“We can’t trust the Vong,” Jyren answered immediately, starting to understand the situation. He then turned from the Bothan to look back to Rulae, “I assume we’re part of Ithor’s defenses?”

Rulae nodded, “Correct. We’ll be arriving in system in another hour. Once we arrive, I’ve arranged for a day’s worth of leave for everyone. Get some rest or head down to the planet...but the next day we start our in-system training exercises,” after waiting for everyone to take this in, the Duros adopted a more casual stance, “You’re dismissed.”

There was very little talk as the squadron got out of their seats and started to head their separate ways. Jyren took his time, feeling that he needed to wait anyway, and thus, was not at all surprised when he heard his old friend call out as he turned to head to his quarters to find Toby, “Captain. A moment, please.”

By the time Jyren had stepped down to where Rulae was next to the podium, the rest of the pilots were gone. It was then that Jyren decided to speak his mind, “Its not going to be pretty when the Vong come back.”

“It never is,” Rulae agreed with a sigh, “We’ll do what we can to get the kids ready for it, though.”

“From the quiet, I think they all realize just how important Ithor is.”

Again, Rulae nodded, “Home to one of the Rebellion’s greatest supporters, a planet of unmatched beauty, and the gateway to the Core worlds. Yes...they know.”

An odd flash in the Force caught Jyren off guard and he had to ask the question it brought up, “You didn’t want to talk with me about this.”

“No, I didn’t,” the Duros shook his head, then took a step closer so he could look his old friend in the eyes, “The Jedi are gathering on Ithor just like we are. There’s supposed to be a joint meeting of sorts tomorrow afternoon, local time...I want you to be there.”

Jyren wasn’t an idiot. He knew there was a lot more to that than Rulae was telling him, “I’ll go as our squadron’s ears, Rulae, but not as anything else.”

“Our squadron doesn’t need ears,” Rulae nearly snapped at him, the stern, commander voice was back, too, “I want you to be there as yourself. They will be protecting the planet’s surface and the floating cities. You’re a damn good pilot, but from what I hear, you’re better with that lightsaber of yours.”

Suddenly, Jyren’s own voice reached a stern, almost angry tone, “I will not abandon these kids.”

“And I’ll make this an order if I have to.”

For a long few moments, the two simply stared at each other’s eyes. Deep red meeting the icy cold of Jyren’s blue...and neither could penetrate any kind of defenses. But, finally, Jyren relinquished and allowed himself a small nod, “Yes, sir.”

He stood at attention, saluted, and headed back up the steps to leave the room.

As the door opened for him to leave, Rulae called up to the human’s back, “It wasn’t an order yet, Jyren.”

Jyren did stop...and he stood in the doorway for a few seconds before glancing over his shoulder to where the Duros stood, “If it isn’t, I won’t go.”

And before Rulae could respond, Jyren left the Duros along in the briefing room. Rulae watched the door close, then glanced down at the datapad in his hand. Shaking his head, he sighed and started out himself. It was amazing how difficult humans could be...especially Jyren.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 378: Choice*

Handing the Peace Brigade man, Taril, over to the Araddon’s security detail seemed to earn Marix at least a little more of their trust. Enough that they had stopped asking questions about Loki, which was very comforting. It was becoming more and more difficult to create believable lies that Loki could emulate. If they found out he was alive...well...considering that the Vong used living technology, Marix was fairly sure that no explanation would be good enough.

But the strangest thing was that they didn’t seem to be trying to get her off the ship. Marix had dealt with military ships before. It didn’t matter who they were, Galactic Empire, Rebel Alliance, even mercenaries or small planetary defense fleets, there seemed to be a universal dislike for civilians aboard their ships. Well, no...maybe she was wrong. The Rebels had always worked fairly well with smugglers, for obvious reasons, and rarely had problems with random ships taking refuge in their hangars for short periods of time.

Yes, the Rebellion had faded into history many years earlier, but if Marix could remember it as clearly as she could...well, maybe some others did, too. Jyren had always talked about old Rebellion veterans still fighting in the New Republic military. Perhaps the commander of the Araddon was one of them...or perhaps she just didn’t register on their scanners as important enough to yell at.

“I know that look,” Jyren’s voice broke her train of thought immediately.

The neutral ‘look’ that Marix’s face apparently held gave way to one of slight confusion, and she glanced to her side at him and raised an eyebrow, “You do?”

Of course, he nodded. Marix didn’t need the link to see that coming, “You’re going to stay when we get to Ithor.”

Marix turned her attention away from him and looked over the small mess they sat in. It was fairly populated, as was to be expected during hyperspace jumps when there was little to do for pilots, but she couldn’t get past the old need to watch everyone around her closely. Maybe it was the fact that the last time she was on a Star Destroyer wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences...with Jen...and the Darkwings...

Shaking the thoughts out of her mind, she decided that Jyren was probably expecting her to respond. But she didn’t need to. The link had already answered his unspoken question...which was why he had spoken the answer to it. Why he didn’t trust the link was beyond her. Over a decade and he still had to speak things out loud that words had problems expressing. Sometimes, she wondered if he did that on purpose, just to make her uncomfortable, or annoyed, or...or...anything.

“Tobias wants to be a Jedi.”

Neither of them had expected those words to come out.

Jyren blinked a few times before turning to look at her directly. And, for a moment at lest, he felt like he was looking at someone else. Even the voice was different. And yes, he knew it was Marix but...but the shorter hair, the softer human features and every other tiny difference just struck him suddenly. So long without seeing her as a human really seemed to have more of an effect than he had ever expected.

Composing himself, Jyren managed a sigh, “Didn’t we talk him out of that years ago?”

Marix shrugged, “Apparently not...” she then turned to face him, matching his blue eyes with her violet and making sure he knew she was serious, “It may be some childish hero worship, but he means it this time.”

“You sound like you’re actually going to let him try,” Jyren couldn’t make his voice sound as shocked as he really was...so he let the link do the rest.

Glad that he was at least willing to use the link somewhat, Marix responded by sending her own feelings through the link. After allowing him to absorb that, she said quietly, “He is...young. But...but he’s old enough to choose his own path.”

Jyren knew why that was so difficult for her to say, “You always said he’d join the Tam’Day’U. I even tried to encourage it...”

“But he doesn’t want that,” Marix’s voice was nearly a whisper.

He didn’t want it.

Want.

That one word said how much they had changed the Alraxian Empire. Tobias was probably the first child in the history of the Alraxian people who should have been taken away as an infant and trained as a killer...but was instead allowed to have a somewhat normal childhood and then choose. Never before had there even been an option. And despite the fact that Marix knew that Tobias wanted to be a Jedi for all the wrong reasons...she couldn’t tell him ‘no’. There was no way she was going to deny him the choice she’d fought to give to all of her people, just because she didn’t agree with him.

And Jyren understood.

But instead of saying anything in response to that, he simply reached over and very carefully put an arm around her. Jyren knew that it would make her uncomfortable...at least, it would when there were so many people around, even if they weren’t paying either of them any attention. And she did tense up noticeably, but before she could say anything or move away, he grinned slightly and said, “You’re going to laugh when you hear what I’ve been ordered to do when we get to Ithor.”

“Oh, really?” Marix’s voice was a bit shaky, but the tension faded slightly and she glanced up to him slightly, “Never once have I laughed when you’ve started a story like that.”

“There’s a first time for everything,” he laughed slightly, “The Jedi are gathering on Ithor. There’s a meeting of sorts being organized the day after we arrive to decide how to defend the planet’s surface. Guess who’s going to be there whether he likes it or not.”

A very tiny hint of a smile snuck its way onto Marix’s face, but she fought back any other outward reaction, “The second Toby finds out...”

Jyren laughed again and shrugged, “I don’t know how he’ll do it, but he’ll find a way to stuff himself in my pack if that’s what it takes to get down to the surface with me.”

Nodding to that, Marix finally stopped fighting back her own grin, “Where is the brat, anyway?”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 379: Not So Little*

The brat was still stuck in Jyren’s quarters. As far as Toby knew, the guards that had escorted him there were still standing outside, and he wasn’t going to risk trying to sneak out if he didn’t have to. Besides, this was different than being at the Palace...he had no idea of the ship’s layout...

So, instead, he had simply done what little exploring of the small quarters as was possible. The holos were interesting, but Toby had seen them all before so they held no interest for him. But it hadn’t taken long to find something that was interesting. Jyren was terribly predictable, really. After only a few seconds of digging, Tobias dug out his father’s lightsaber from, of all places, underneath the pillow on the small bed.

If he was trying to hide the thing, Toby was going to have to teach Jyren how hiding things was done. But where it was, in the end, didn’t matter. Holding the metal object carefully, and feeling the unease wash over him at the cold item in his hand, Tobias tried his best to focus through it all. This metal could kill him. His body knew it and pushed him to remove it from his touch, despite the fact that he was currently human. But...all around him, there was metal.

It was the first time he’d been away from Alraxia since he was a child, and he suddenly understood why Alraxians kept to themselves. It was...it felt...wrong. His imagination suddenly ran wild with the possibilities of what could happen...a simple chip of the metal in his skin from the hilt of the weapon or...or...

A few deep breaths later, Tobias silenced the near panic. He was raised around metal. He was not a normal Alraxian. Yes...it could kill him, but he was not afraid of it. Well, not terrified at least. Most of the time...usually helped when he wasn’t alone and his mind wasn’t allowed to go crazy with all of those...

No!

Focus.

Calm.

This time, he attempted some of the calming techniques that both of his parents had taught him. There were so many that it was easy to go through one at a time until one of them, finally, set his mind at ease. And then, slowly, he opened his eyes and again looked at the weapon in his hand. All of his life he’d wanted to hold this, and every single time he’d gotten a chance to, it had been ripped away. He was ‘too young’ or ‘playing around’ or something equally annoying.

But no one had come into the room now. And, from what he could feel through the Force, no one was going to be anytime soon. Tobias was safe...

Snap-hiss!

The blue-green light bathed Tobias and the nearby pieces of furniture in a new light, while the thrumming of the energy blade drowned out all of the ambient noise. And it was...amazing. Despite the blade, there was no added weight. Not even a slight shake of the hilt from the surge of power it must have taken to activate the weapon. Just...just a burst of energy and power at the touch of a switch.

Very carefully, Tobias tested the weapon, gently moving it from side to side and getting the feel of it. Or, trying to get the feel of it. The fact that the only weight was at the hilt where his hands were simply felt wrong. How anyone could wield a weapon like this was beyond Toby. Sure, he’d never really held a normal sword...but it was just natural to expect something! Here it was nothing.

And then there was a soft beep from the door.

With a yelp of surprise, Tobias nearly dropped the weapon...which would have taken his arm off and at least a few pieces of the desk that was a little too close. But, thankfully, he caught it, fumbled for the activation switch and dove for the bed in one swift, if not clumsy, motion.

In a matter of seconds, the lightsaber was stashed away again, and Tobias was trying to not look guilty as he tried to figure out what to do. Wouldn’t Jyren just walk into his own quarters?! Of course he would! Then who was it?! Did they know he was here? What would they do if they found him?!

Before any other questions could race through Tobias’ head, there was another beep and the door slid open with a soft hiss. Eyes darting to the door, Tobias saw a somewhat short, blue-skinned humanoid standing there looking somewhat confused. When she tilted her head to look over to where he stood, Tobias noticed that there were two long...tails of sorts hanging from her head. And then, putting a few pieces together, he realized she was a Twi’lek...and, from the look of the uniform she was wearing, a pilot.

“Um...” she stared at him a moment, obviously unsure of who he was, “...the uh...um...Captain BlueIce said to just come in if he didn’t open it and...uh...this is his quarters, isn’t it?”

Tobias had managed to fight back his look of guilt, but it was still obvious that he was uncomfortable with the situation. He’d never been good with new people. Male, female, Alraxian, Jendari, whatever they were, he just had a way of hiding and keeping to himself.

Quickly, though, his mind reminded him that a question had been asked, and he did his best to find some kind of answer, “Y...yes...?”

And that was why he usually had trouble around people he didn’t know.

The Twi’lek blinked a couple of times, then tried her best to figure out exactly what had just been said. It didn’t take her long to give up on that, and so she attempted a different angle, “...who are you, anyway?”

Tobias went white. He was in trouble now. He knew he should have been with Jyren! Now who knew what was going to happen?! Lie! No! By the Force, NO! Tell the truth and then they’ll find Jyren and then all will be fine.

“T-Toby...err...” he shook his head a little too roughly, “Tobias. Um. Tobias...BlueIce.”

Just as he finished speaking, a very large smile formed on the Twi’lek’s blue face. She then made Tobias even more uneasy by actually stepping into the quarters, “So you’re the little monster he’s talked about?” she laughed and extended a hand in his direction, “My name is Rea. I’m your father’s wingmate.”

Knowing what he was supposed to do, Tobias did his best to greet her properly and shake her hand. Of course, his hand was shaking on its own the entire time so it was even more awkward than it should have been...but even though he was now left speechless, Rea just laughed quietly, “Not so little, though.”


----------



## DethStryke

*cues 80s porn music*

Bow-chica-whah-whah....

 Good to see this alive again! Welcome back!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 380: Family Meeting*

It hadn’t been long before Jyren and Marix made their way to his quarters to check on Tobias(hoping that he would be there...). This came as a relief to Toby, as the conversation with Rea was more and more difficult with each question she asked. And so, when the two others had stepped in(looking a bit surprised to see the Twi’lek there, and even more surprised to see Tobias actually attempting to talk), he sighed and allowed himself to fall back into the chair at the desk he had been backing into the entire time.

Marix had stepped over to give him a curious look, but didn’t say a word. She was always amazed that, despite how much the brat tried to be like Jyren...he had all the tendencies and social graces of hers. How that had happened was beyond her for a few thousand reasons, and she did her best not to go into the ‘why’ and ‘how’, simply grinning inwardly. It had taken seeing someone else acting like she used to around people to understand why Jyren always laughed at her for it.

But a few moments later, the Twi’lek woman saluted Jyren then stepped out of the room with a smile and a nod to Tobias and Marix. As the door closed, he turned and walked over to where Marix and Tobias were eyeing him curiously.

“What was that about?” Marix asked after she was sure the door was good and closed.

Jyren just shrugged before moving to have a seat on the foot of the small bed, “She was just checking to make sure I was alright.”

It was truly amazing that Marix was able to hold a completely even face...and then simply one aspect would change to get across the necessary message. In this case, her right eyebrow went up.

Of course, it didn’t have the desired effect, and Jyren just laughed, “That was the squadron’s first combat engagement. The kids...always get a bit shaken up when they lose a friend. Especially their wing.”

The eyebrow went back down, and Marix simply nodded. She then glanced down to where Toby sat in the chair and idly leaned on the back of the thing, “I can’t believe you dragged me onto this ship.”

“Hey, I didn’t—“

Marix waved a hand to silence Jyren. Fine. She had attempted a joke but obviously the humour was lost on the both of them. That was typical. Rolling her eyes, she moved to have a seat next to Jyren, “We’ll make do. But when we arrive on Ithor I’m going to find a way to contact home.”

“Everything should be alright there,” Jyren did his best to reassure her, knowing it wasn’t doing any of them any good. They couldn’t know for sure. Seeing how this war was going had a very depressing effect on everyone...even Tobias. 

But Marix managed to humour all of them and nod, “I’ll check, anyway.”

Shifting in his chair to look at both of them, Tobias asked, “So does this mean we’re not leaving?”

Both Jyren and Marix exchanged a quick glance and Tobias could see that look in their eyes that said they were conversing over their link. Then, Marix looked over to him and nodded, “We’ll stay at least a month.”

The implications of that were only lost on Toby. And that was because he didn’t know of the situation at Ithor. So they would protect the planet. Why? Well, no, that was a stupid question. Jyren knew exactly why. Ithor was the one planet in all of the ‘known galaxy’ that was the most like Alraxia. It was...a symbol of sorts for both Marix and Jyren. If they could protect Ithor, they could protect Alraxia.

Jyren eventually looked up and over to Tobias, breaking the odd silence that had arisen in the small quarters, “Tomorrow I’ll be going down to the planet to meet with a group of Jedi...” he paused a moment, unsure of how to say this and not at all liking it, but then a mental nudge from Marix forced him to just be direct, “I want you to come with me.”

And suddenly, Toby’s eyes seemed to double in size. He opened his mouth a few times, but was never able to formulate any words. After a few moments of this, he managed to nod a few too many times(like he’d always done a little child), and said, “I’d...I’d like that.”

All Jyren did was nod to the boy before turning back to Marix, “I assume you’ll come, too?”

“If I’m staying here, I’m going to fight,” she said in that calm, determined voice that used to unnerve Jyren all those years ago.

And then there was only one question left. Both of them looked to Tobias.

He could not fight. Neither of them would let him. So what would he do? He’d be liability on the ground...a dangerous one, at that. But there was no way he’d be convinced to stay here in these quarters while the fight was going on, and, truthfully, they would be no safer. The only true option either Jyren or Marix could see was getting Tobias out of the system and back home...but neither were foolish enough to think that would actually happen.

So he would be in the way, or at least in danger, no matter what. And it meant that they would have to be distracted, no matter what, worrying about him. Perhaps Marix could put that out of her mind for a fight, but she knew that Jyren wouldn’t be able to. So even if she was focused, he would not be...and it would put all of them in danger. No matter what, it seemed that there was going to be no easy way to deal with what was to come.

But there was something else. Something that both Jyren and Marix were trying not to consider.

The Jedi.

There was something very important coming. Both of them could feel it. What, exactly, it was, neither truly knew. However, the fact that a battle was coming, and the Jedi were going to be involved hinted that either or both of those had something to do with it. But it was hard, especially for Jyren, to not worry that seeing all of the Jedi would cloud Tobias’ mind with even more myths and dreams about them.

If that boy truly wanted to be a Jedi, he was going to have to do it for the right reasons. Jyren had seen what happened to those that didn’t...and he couldn’t bring himself to even imagine Tobias falling into those ranks.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 381: Traitor*

“It’s a beautiful planet.”

Rulae Nok turned to the man standing next to him in the small, forward briefing room that was just below the Star Destroyer’s bridge. The man was staring out at the green planet hanging in the viewport in front of them, staring with an intensity that Rulae had only ever seen during a battle. Through the years, he’d served with Ven Tarus many, many times...but he’d never seen the human in such a way outside the bridge of a starship.

So, the first thing the Duros could think to say was, “Are you alright, Admiral?”

The slightest of grins could be seen tugging at the side of the Admiral’s angular features, but the man did not turn to face Rulae, “That’s a foolish question, Commodore.”

At that, Rulae couldn’t help a nod. It was. Not five minutes before, the briefing for the first preparations had ended. As the other important members of the attack fleet’s command staff left, Admiral Tarus had asked for Rulae to stay. Then, the human had simply walked to look out at the planet. But, considering the tone of the discussion, it was obvious what was wrong.

No one trusted the Vong to hold to their word of single combat deciding the fate of the planet. Four different fleet groups had already arrived to defend the planet, with at least another two on their way. There was, however, no word on the involvement of the Imperial Remnant, and from the sounds of things, they wouldn’t be helping this time...some kind of bureaucratic nonsense, as usual. But, despite the fact that this was the largest defense of a planet to be amassed since the start of the war, no one felt like it was enough. The Vong were just...always too much. And, after losing planet after planet, it was hard to argue that anymore.

They had to protect Ithor.

“You...asked me to stay, sir?” it was as foolish a question as his first, but Rulae had learned that it was the best way to provoke a response from most commanding officers. It was a trick he’d only learned after being given his first command, and all of the recruits had used the question against him.

Finally, the Admiral turned from admiring the planet at the edge of the Star Destroyer’s pointed nose that was far ahead of them and looked to the Duros. With a simple nod, he reached into the jacket pocket of his red-grey uniform and produced a datapad. After touching the screen once, he looked to read something before asking, “Have you ever heard of a man named Akan Tavos?”

With as good a memory as he had, Rulae needed no time to think about that. Immediately, he shook his blue head, “No, sir...” he paused a moment, noticed that the Admiral seemed a bit distracted still, and then added, “Why?”

“He’s one of the few bounties that the New Republic has out...” Admiral Tarus commented, his eyes scanning whatever was on the datapad’s screen, “Stealing a prototype starfighter...attacking and destroying many of our own starships...assisting in the escape of at least two very dangerous captives...” he trailed off a moment and then the two green eyes finally looked up to Rulae, “That’s just the tip of the iceberg. The bounty’s been out for almost twelve standard years now.”

Rulae met the Admiral’s gaze, unsure of where this was going. He managed a slow nod before trying to coax more out of his commander, “I’m sorry, sir...but...I don’t see how this is relevant to our current situation.”

To his surprise, the Admiral actuall nodded, “I understand...” he then turned the datapad around to show the screen to Rulae, “This is the list of charges and the clearest holo of Akan Tavos that was ever captured.”

It wasn’t terribly clear. However, the dim, blue-tinted image showed a human looking around over his shoulder towards the general direction of the holocam that had captured the image. And, immediately, Rulae recognized the face. Duros’ eyes could not widen, so instead he simply opened his mouth slightly.

After a few moments of simple confusion, Rulae tore his eyes from the datapad to look back to the Admiral, “Sir...I...I’m not sure what you want me to do about this.”

“I am in the same position,” Admiral Tarus nodded, then put the datapad back into his jacket pocket, “Unless he has a twin, your XO has not been entirely truthful with any of us.”

“But why would he come back?”

The Admiral shrugged and turned to look out at the planet again, “Only he knows that. I should arrest him on the spot and have him thrown in the brig...” he sighed and shook his head, “But morale is low enough as it is. Even before Agamar, he was a very strong presence aboard this ship...now he’s a symbol of survival among the fleet. Take that away, and everyone in the fleet will lose the will to fight.”

It was dramatic, probably too much so, but straight to the point. Most Admirals would likely have simply arrested the criminal right away, but Rulae had always known Ven Tarus to be a man that relied on the strength of his crew and pilots. He would never do anything that would hurt them if he didn’t have to. And, for some reason, that brought up another question...

“How many people know about this?”

Even the Admiral was surprised at that question. The quick glance to Rulae said that, but then he looked back out to Ithor and said quietly, “Only the two of us.”

Ven Tarus truly was a man from the Rebellion days. He had a great military and tactical mind, but at the same time had the secrecy and protectiveness that the Rebellion bred amongst all of its fighters. Twenty years later...after all of the fighting, including infighting even, it was a refreshing thing to see that some in the New Republic still hadn’t changed. Perhaps it wasn’t the safest thing in all cases, but it always seemed to mean that the officers knew what they were doing and understood the men fighting under them...not like some of the politicians that were running things these days.

But, before Rulae could ask another question, the Admiral spoke up again, “The two of you were the only survivors in your squadron over a decade ago...he trusts you. What do you know about him?”

This time, Rulae, too, turned to look out at Ithor, “Honestly...not much. When I’ve asked him where he disappeared to after he left Starfighter Command, he’s very careful about what he says. This would, of course, explain why...but he’s a good man. I can see it.”

“Good men can do very bad things.”

Rulae couldn’t help nodding at that, “I trust him.”

“You know about the Peace Brigade, yes?” the quick change of conversation through Rulae off for a long few moments.

Finally, though, he composed himself and nodded again, “Yes, sir...I’ve read all of the reports.”

“Then you know that there are reports of plants among many ships in the fleet,” as he spoke, the Admiral once again turned his head to look at the Duros standing next to him.

Quickly connecting these pieces, Rulae was able to finish that thought, “You think he’s a Peace Brigader?”

“They’re mostly pirates...smugglers...terrorists...” the Admiral shrugged, “The profile fits surprisingly well.”

“It does...” Rulae couldn’t help but agree with that, “But why would his wife bring in a Peace Brigade man and turn him over to us so easily?”

“A trade off, perhaps,” Admiral Tarus suggested, though he didn’t seem completely sure of that, himself, “Or, perhaps, she’s not even involved.”

And then, Rulae said something that even surprised himself, “Morale of the crew or not, if he is Peace Brigade he has to be detained immediately.”

“You know him better than anyone else here...while I do not want to harm our effectiveness, if you truly believe that action must be taken, then I will authorize you to do so yourself.”

Noting that the tone of the conversation was changing, Rulae turned to face the Admiral and adopted a more formal stance, “I will travel down to Ithor and...deal with this situation, sir.”

The Admiral turned to face Rulae and just gave him a simple nod, “Do so quietly. If we must do something about him, then the less that know about it, the better.”

“Yes, sir,” Rulae saluted, turned, and left the briefing room.

He started straight for the hangar, knowing that his fighter would be ready for a quick trip down to the planet. Jyren...Raan...Akan...whoever he was, had gone down in that strange transport with his family two hours earlier. Rulae did not want to consider the option that Jyren truly was working for the Peace Brigade, but the precautions had to be taken to protect all of them. 

The simple fact of the matter, and the most terrifying part of it all to Rulae, was that it really did make too much sense. It would explain so much, and considering the small amount of explanations that Jyren had given since his sudden return, they were even more likely to be correct.


----------



## Angcuru

Oooh....what a twist!    I was wondering when all of that was going to catch up with Jyren/Akan/Raan/that guy.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 382: Not Like We Planned*

Floating high above the lush, untouched forests of Ithor was the city of Tafanda Bay. The capital of the planet, and the largest of the great, floating cities that the Ithorians inhabited, it was where the Jedi had gathered for their makeshift meeting. But it hadn’t been simply Jedi...Ithorian officials, New Republic officers, and other people focused on protecting the planet were all there, standing around a great courtyard in the open air.

Because of the amount of people there, it wasn’t hard for Jyren, Marix, and Tobias to go relatively unnoticed. Well, until Skywalker looked up and straight through the crowd to them. He said nothing, however, but the fact remained that Jyren and Skywalker had never truly...gotten along in their few meetings. Most of it was probably because Skywalker asked too many questions that Jyren knew he couldn’t answer. Not only to protect Alraxia, but to keep any extra suspicions off of himself.

But the gathering itself centered around a few more vocal Jedi. Arguments erupted about the duel that Corran Horn had challenged the Vong commander to...and, apparently, about Horn’s position in the New Republic military. It wasn’t long before things had lost control and shouting began.

At that point, Jyren and Marix exchanged a careful look. Even the link was silent, though, as neither needed words to express their feelings. This was exactly why Tobias did not need to be involved with the Jedi. They were divided...like the rest of the galaxy. Infighting was growing and people were too busy beating themselves up than focusing on fighting the Vong. And yet...both of them saw the light in Toby’s eyes. He seemed completely unfazed by any of this.

[Something is watching us.]

Marix finally broke the link’s ‘silence’ after finally having enough of that feeling. It wasn’t from the Force...it was just...her natural senses.

[I don’t feel anything.] Jyren responded, his eyes glancing from side to side but doing his best not to turn around...just in case.

Turning her head to give him a look, Marix rolled her eyes. [Something is watching us.]

[Fine.] Jyren sighed and shook his head. [Something’s watching us. There are a lot of people here. That shouldn’t be too surprising.]

It was a miracle she didn’t punch him. Instead, though, she gave him a good kick to the shin, which required less movement. Jyren managed to bite back any noise beyond a groan, then glared at her. [Fine. Lead the way.]

Marix gave him a nod, then looked to her other side where Tobias stood and took his arm while saying quietly, “We’re leaving.”

Before he was given any chance to protest, Marix dragged him away, with Jyren right behind to make sure he couldn’t turn and run back. This drew no attention, thankfully, as others had left as the Jedi’s arguments grew more heated and pointless. Leading the way down an open street, Marix wove a path through the few Ithorians that were around before stopping in the center of a long, open area with a large amount of shops. But it was surprisingly empty of people...

The protests from Tobias about being dragged along ended immediately. Even he could feel it.

“I don’t like this,” Jyren said simply.

Toby’s eyes turned from the street to Jyren, “Why are we here?”

“You can feel it, Toby,” Marix answered, her eyes carefully scanning the open street but finding nothing.

Jyren watched Tobias shake his head, “No, I can’t! There’s nothing but us here!”

Marix then turned around to look back to Tobias and then to Jyren, “That’s the problem.”

Nodding, Jyren helped explain as quickly as he could, “This street was packed with Ithorians before the Jedi gathering.”

Footsteps silenced any other response from either Marix or Tobias. All six eyes darted up to see a pair of humans in normal looking clothes walking out of a building and down the street the other direction. They took no notice of the three ‘humans’ who were all on edge...

[Those people shouldn’t be there.] Jyren said over the link, wanting Toby to hear it but suddenly terrified to speak out loud.

[No, they should...] she trailed off a moment, about to go on about people needing to be on a busy street, but then she picked up on it, too. [They aren’t there.]

[But they are.]

That could only mean one thing.

“Hey!” Jyren called out to the two humans, “You two! Stop a second!”

They did stop. Almost in one motion, the two very tall, plain looking humans turned around and looked at the three of them. They said nothing, though.

Marix looked to Jyren a moment, obviously ready to act but noting that he seemed to have taken the initiative for once. Taking a few more steps closer to the two of them, Jyren reached into his jacket and retrieved his not-so-well-hidden lightsaber.

“Stay where you are!” he said in the same stern voice, which was then followed by the distinct snap-hiss of the lightsaber activating and the blue-green glow bathing the area in a soft light.

Then the two humans did speak, “Jeedai!”

And then, suddenly, each of the ‘humans’ were charging at Jyren, a snake-like coil slithering down their arms and into their hands. The coil became a solid staff-like weapon with the head of a snake that Jyren knew as a Yuuzhan Vong amphistaff.

“Toby, get back!” Jyren yelled over his shoulder while quickly getting into a defensive stance and bringing his lightsaber up to slight the amphistaff, that was swinging down at his shoulder, in two. But something went wrong. It didn’t cut.

Instead, the amphistaff impacted with his lightsaber blade with a strength that Jyren could barely match as a human. But instead of having to force the weapon back like he would with most lightsaber combatants, the attacker took a step back, pulled his weapon away to throw Jyren off balance, then dove forward, driving the staff’s snake head at Jyren’s stomach.

Somehow, Jyren managed to keep his balance and swing his lightsaber down to bat the head of the weapon off to the side...but that was when the second attacker started his strike. From Jyren’s side, the second amphistaff swung down at his back, the snake-head tilted down and ready to rake its teeth across him.

But by then, Marix was close enough to drive her metal knife deep into the second attacker’s spine. She had used Jyren’s open distraction to sneak around, looking as helpless in a fight as she could until she withdrew the weapon and got in a position to strike. But when her blade dug into the attacker’s back, there was no noise beyond a grunt and the knife cutting through fabric and...and...something that wasn’t bone and definitely was not human flesh.

The Vong spun around at her, forcing Marix to withdraw her weapon as she ducked under the staff as it swung over her head before assuming a more whip-like structure. At the same time, it became obvious why the knife had felt strange digging into the thing’s back...just as with the first Vong she had encountered, the human ‘skin’ peeled away. 

And, in another second, standing before her was an Alraxian-sized Yuuzhan Vong warrior. His scarred and tattooed face formed a sneer as he growled, “Bre’ln eck dre!”

This was followed by the amphistaff, which had half of its body coiled around the Vong’s massive right arm,  to swing around and then strike out at her just like the snake it resembled. Marix sidestepped the sudden strike before bringing her arms up to catch the Vong’s leg, which had followed with a quick kick towards her chest. But Marix caught his boot and then reversed his momentum to spin the Vong hard onto the ground.

Knowing, already, how dangerous the Vong were in combat, Marix did not waste this advantage. She immediately came down on the massive warrior, her leg stamping down on the amphistaff that was coiled around his arm and holding the both of them down before she bent over and used all of her strength(which, as a human, wasn’t much) to drive the knife into the Vong’s neck. There was a gasp, a sharp hiss from the Vong, and then before Marix watched his eyes glaze over, the ampistaff wrapped around her leg and dug its fangs deep into her thigh.

The violent pain of this was followed by a sharp feeling of something being injected into her leg, and she wasn’t able to hold back the cry of pain before wrenched away from the now-dead Vong warrior and his weapon.

“Marix!” Jyren spun around to look over his shoulder to her the second he felt the pain in his own leg. He watched her stumble back a couple of steps before falling to the ground on her back. But before Jyren could do anything, the attacker in front of him(also shed of his human disguise and another very large Vong) struck...and Jyren paid for his lack of attention by taking a slash to the face from the sharp edge of the amphistaff.

He yelped as the pain caused him to nearly black out, and did his best to use the Force to heal the wound rather than just remorphing it right there. It was impossible to tell who all was watching.

Gritting his teeth, Jyren turned back to the Vong and gave him a good, strong kick to the chest. It sent the large warrior into the building behind him with a hard crack, and provided Jyren with just enough time to point his saber at the Vong and drive it straight into the warrior’s chest. For good measure, Jyren cut a long wound out of the Vong’s shoulder before the thing finally collapsed to the ground.

With the adrenaline fading, the sharp, intense pain of the slash across his face nearly overwhelmed Jyren. His vision faded into a blurry mesh of colours as he tried to turn and make sure Marix was alright. No longer caring who might be around, Jyren decided to get rid of the pain and focused on remorphing the wound before it became a permanent scar.

When it faded, the pain didn’t completely, but the echo of it was bearable. His vision became cleared, and he could then see Tobias next to Marix, who, through the link, he could feel destroying a violent poison in her system. She was alright. In fact, it was better her to be the one poisoned...as he would have had no idea how to fight it.

But before he could walk over to the two of them, Jyren’s ears picked up another sound over the still-thrumming noise of his lightsaber.

“Put down the weapon, Captain,” Rulae Nok said in a slightly wavering voice from across the large street. The Duros was wearing his uniform and holding a blaster pistol, aimed straight at Jyren.

((It should be mentioned that the exact timeline of events has been/is going to keep being fudged a bit. Some of this is just to keep things fresh or make them work better for THIS. Overall, though, everything that happens is still close enough to the actual timeline of events for the Vong War that its hard to tell. ))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 383: Complications*

The Vong had arrived already, their fleet in a distant orbit of Ithor...much farther from the planet than the planet’s defenses could currently reach. But the transport and its two Coralskipper guards were allowed through, and down to the planet’s surface below. Down where Corran Horn and a small group of other Jedi waited. Waiting to decide the fate of Ithor...and hoping that the Vong would hold to their word of leaving the planet if their command lost.

And nearly everyone left on Tafanda Bay waited. Most of the cities of the planet had been evacuated in the previous days, but some always remained behind in any evacuation. Together with the Jedi and New Republic forces in the cities, they all waited.

All but a few...

A fizzling sound signaled the deactivation of Jyren’s lightsaber as he looked across the street to his Duros friend, “Now yours.”

Rulae shook his head, still holding his blaster steadily, “Put the weapon down, Akan.”

Jyren’s eyes went wide for a second before he got his reaction under control. But he did noticed Tobias’ head spin around to look at Jyren in surprise. Even Marix, who was now sitting up and shaking off the dizzying feeling from the remainder of the poison, glanced his way.

Knowing exactly what that meant, Jyren said, “Its more complicated than you think, Rulae.”

“I do not think that is possible,” Rulae’s voice was flat, and his two, teardrop shaped eyes seemed to somehow be focused on one tiny detail that Jyren just couldn’t pick up. And then, Rulae added, “That amphistaff should have taken your face off.”

Damn.

Just...damn!

Why did everything always have to go so pear shaped exactly at the wrong points? Always, right when it was the worst possible time...BAM! The universe got turned on its head and everyone was out to get Marix and Jyren again. Of course, he should have been used to that by this time, and it shouldn’t have been a surprise at all. But...as usual, it was.

So, Jyren decided it was best to just jump the gun and play dirty, “I’m still your friend, Rulae. Still the same person. I told you everything I could. Everything I left out was to protect my family.”

“The charges against you are not against your family,” the Duros responded with a few steps forward, “They are against you, and you alone.”

“No,” Marix suddenly spoke up, her voice as strong as ever as if nothing at all had happened. And she was on her feet, too...not all that impressive, considering her relatively short height as a human, but it still said much.

Rulae glanced in her direction and had a look of slight confusion for a moment, but before he could say anything Jyren cut in again, “I told you that I tracked down a man that had captured Marix. He was a former Imperial...and the only person who knew how to find him was the man I broke out.”

“That does not excuse anything, Raan.”

“I did the right thing!” Jyren snapped, a sudden wave of anger rippling through the Force from him, “You cannot imagine what would happened to the New Republic if I had not done those things. You can’t possibly think of the billions that would have been murdered. Yes, New Republic men died trying to stop me...but I did what I had to do, and it was the right thing.”

For a long moment, there was silence. Rulae seemed to be trying to piece things together, but before he could say anything at all, the three others exchanged quick glances. They all, suddenly, felt something.

Something strong and...and...

“We need to leave this planet now,” Marix stated, grabbing Tobias’ arm and then looking straight to Jyren.

“I can’t let you leave!” Rulae snapped at her, turning his weapon towards her but noticing she had turned her back and was heading off.

Jyren, having taken a few quiet steps towards the Duros, then reached out and snatched the blaster pistol from his blue hand. As Rulae started to swing at the human, Jyren stepped back again and looked him straight in the eye, “Something is happening, Rulae. The duel...or...no...worse. If you want to live, come with us.”

Rulae stared at him and blinked a few times before sounds could be heard. People....yelling...moving...running? Something had happened. And...and then another sound. A sound that Rulae knew very well. The odd noise of Coralskippers.

“Go,” Rulae said finally, “The Araddon is where I should be.”

“Your fighter is too far away,” Jyren said, shaking his head and just doing what Marix had done and grabbed his friend by the arm to drag him to Loki, “Come on.”

There was not a chance to argue. Rulae found that Jyren’s grip was stronger than it should have been, and fighting it was useless. Besides, from the looks of the sky above, they were right. The blue was...was...fading, almost. Not like a fade from day to night, but something else. Something...sickly. Something wrong.

It barely took any time before they arrived at the small docking bay where Loki rested, and for the first time, Rulae got a good look at the odd ship. It was like nothing he’d ever seen. And, at the speed they were running, something he wasn’t getting much of a chance to see, either. By then, Jyren had let go of his arm and, as they were heading for what looked to be the hatch, Rulae noted the distinct sound of engines powering up.

“Someone’s already inside?” he yelled, noting that the two others were only a few steps ahead of them.

“Its complicated,” Jyren said over his shoulder before stepping into the hatch and then immediately rounding a corner to follow the other two.

The hatch closed like an iris behind the Duros, who noted the unique design of the corridors before quickly turning to follow the other three. Out of his element, he decided it was best to tag along and figure things out as he could.

“Loki, get us the hell out of here!” Marix was yelling at...at...nothing, as far as Rulae could tell.

“And what in the name of the Force happened?!” Jyren yelled...upwards, Rulae noted.

But before he could say anything, they’d reached what had to be the cockpit. Both Jyren and Marix swung into the only two seats there were in the interesting looking cockpit, while the young human stood behind Jyren’s chair and held on slightly. 

As Rulae took up a place near the back of the cockpit and he watched the ground rising through the viewport, he ‘heard’ something very odd. [The New Republic is saying the Jedi won...but...]

“But what?” Marix was growling almost as he hands grabbed what looked to be a control yoke and aimed them into the now-green sky.

[...the Vong released a toxin in the atmosphere...]

All of them exchanged serious looks this time, but it was only Jyren who managed to speak up, “Get us off this planet as quickly as you can, Loki.”

Rulae was beginning to think this ‘Loki’ was some kind of AI program within the ship...especially when the odd response sounded in his head. [I am trying but...it hurts...]

Okay...maybe not. Though everything was getting stranger and stranger, Rulae couldn’t help but note that they were definitely moving fast. It wasn’t long before the sky gave way to the black of space. And...off in the distance, flashes of red and green could be seen.

“The fleet.”

Jyren nodded, but looked over to Marix instead, “Do it.”

She nodded and, as Rulae started to yell, they escaped the planet’s gravity well and made the jump to hyperspace.

In the silence that followed, Rulae said quietly, “...I should be on the Araddon.”

“No,” Jyren responded over his shoulder, “We have to show you something. The kids...they’ll be alright.”

“...but what about Ithor...?” the voice of young Tobias was soft and obviously terrified.

Rulae wasn’t sure what to say, but he couldn’t help but notice that both of the other adults looked up slightly. Then came that voice in his head again. [I am alright but...but that toxin...it was very strong...]

“They lost the duel...so they won’t take Ithor...” Jyren said silently to himself.

It was Marix who finished the thought, however, in a flat, cold voice, “...but they made sure no one can have it if they can’t.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 384: Images*

[Why, again, am I letting you do this?] Marix asked through the link.

Jyren glanced across the cockpit to where she sat, eyeing him carefully, and replied. [Because it’ll get that bounty off of our heads once and for all.]

[Ah...] the eye roll that went with that wasn’t comforting. [Tell him anymore than he needs to know and this is over. All of us, including him, are going home. Understand?]

It was the cold, Empress...motherly tone that Marix only used in diplomatic situations(because she hated them), when dealing with Toby(because he was impossible), and when making sure Jyren knew he was walking the line(which he nearly always did).

With that settled, Jyren got to his feet and started to leave the cockpit, motioning to Rulae who was sitting behind him, “C’mon.”

Though there was a confused look on his face, the Duros nodded and turned to follow Jyren down the single corridor which, he noted, had an unusually high ceiling. It looked like it was about an extra meter higher than most...but, then again, maybe it was just the odd, almost tube-like design of the corridor that was throwing his perception off.

It didn’t take much walking before Jyren stopped at what Rulae assumed was a door, waited for it to open in that very unique way, and then stepped through. Rulae followed, noting the room was large, open and...empty. Except for the two of them, there was nothing at all in the room.

“Loki, can you project that holo in here?” Jyren asked upwards to the ship.

Rulae heard no response this time, but in another moment, the center of the room was filled with an image. It was...space...not empty, though. A giant ring, the larger than the two of them sat in the middle of the projection of some unknown area of space.

“...it’s a ring,” Rulae mumbled, obviously unimpressed.

Jyren gave him a sideways look, “It’s a scaled projection.”

Rulae turned to match the look, but then looked back at the projection in time to see a small object appear. It was...it was...tiny. And it took a him stepping forward a few steps to identify the tiny little thing as something that looked exactly like the ship they were in.

“Okay,” Rulae conceded, “Its big. Your point?”

Wondering when, exactly, Rulae had learned sarcasm, Jyren pointed to the thing, specifically at the blueish tint in the center of the ring, “This protects a single hyperspace route. Through it...there are thousands of worlds inhabited by people like you’ve never seen. It is almost like another galaxy through there, Rulae. And...and through that thing is my home.”

Only the sound of the ship could be heard for a long moment before Rulae spoke up again, “You always told me you were from Corellia.”

“I grew up on Corellia...” Jyren nodded, “I was born through this gate. I...I told you that I learned a lot about my family after leaving the New Republic. That’s just one of the things. But I’m not telling you this because of that.”

“...then why are you telling me any of this?” Rulae asked him, “I fail to see the relevance.”

That, Jyren could undersand. Running a hand through his hair, he idly walked closer to the image and looked at the tiny little Loki sitting there in front of the gate, “They’re peaceful people through there...like you could never imagine. I never thought I’d see ships without weapons. That very thought is even offensive to most of them. And...and despite all of that, there were threats to them. I...” he paused a moment, then shook his head, “We had to protect these people. They couldn’t protect themselves, Rulae, they didn’t even know how. I know I did many things that would have gotten me many years in a cell, but all of them...all of them were to protect these people. To protect them, and to protect Marix.”

Rulae didn’t seem to wait for any of that to sink in before asking, “Is that why you came back?”

“Yes,” Jyren said with a nod, “They aren’t directly threatened by the Vong but...but its too close.”

This brought another wave of quiet, and it lasted for a fairly long time. But then, finally, Rulae stepped forward and turned to look directly at Jyren instead of at his back, “You know I believe you. And I know you’re telling me this because you want that bounty of your head.”

“And Marix’s,” Jyren added, which got a look of surprise from the Duros, “You think I did all that alone?”

“Good point,” Rulae actually smiled slightly at that, but then, after glancing at the holo for another few moments, said, “You know, carrying me off like this isn’t going to look good.”

Jyren looked back over to the door and a few seconds later the holo faded, leaving them in the emptiness again, “We’ll get you back to the kids as soon as we can.”

Starting to follow Jyren out of the room, Rulae didn’t miss that comment, “You’re not coming with me?”

“I don’t know yet,” Jyren shrugged and stepped back into the corridor. He glanced both ways, then lowered his voice, “And its probably not up to me.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 385: Back and Forth*

Loki dropped out of hyperspace in the middle of no where a few lightyears from Ithor. The second the ship reverted back to realspace, Marix opened up a channel to the Gate. It took some time, but soon the face of a young Alraxian girl, probably not much older than Tobias. She was one of the young Tam’Day’U that Marix remembered, though she had no name at the time, meaning that Marix only knew her face. The girl probably had a name now...all of the Tam’Day’U did...

Her silvery-green eyes widened slightly at the sight of Marix, who was still human, but easily recognizable to any Alraxian. Quickly adopting a formal tone she asked  in Alraxian, “Yes, My Lady?”

Marix hated that. Hated but...tolerated it to the point that it didn’t show on her face how much she despised being called that, “How many of our scouts have moved through the Gate in the last standard week?”

The ‘standard’ time issue was something that had driven Jyren absolutely insane over the years. He knew what a standard week was by galactic standards...but that wasn’t what the Alraxians used. Their standard for everything was off just enough to make it difficult. Thankfully, Marix didn’t have that problem. It wasn’t too terribly hard to remember who she was talking to and adjust accordingly.

The Alraxian on the other end glanced down, obviously to a console out of view of the holo, then a moment later looked back up to Marix and responded, “Four Kanyaks have left the Empire. Eight have returned.”

Exactly as was planned. Even with the fusing of the Knights and the Tam’Day’U, they were still just as punctual as ever with their jobs. Any tension created from having the cursed ones as actual Knights of the Empire did not harm their effectiveness. So nothing out of the ordinary...

But why did she still have a bad feeling about all of this?

“What is it?” Tobias asked in Trade...or Basic, depending on which side of the Gate they were on. The change in language caused her to glance over at him when normally she would have continued in her train of thought without distraction, “Is something wrong?”

“A moment,” Marix said out of the side of her mouth in Alraxian, and the girl on the other end simply nodded and waited. Her eyes still on Tobias, Marix switched to speaking in Trade, “Reach out with the Force.”

Toby blinked a couple of times before nodding and doing as he was told. After a moment, Toby’s eyes seemed to refocus on reality and he gave her a look of confusion, “...what am I looking for?”

Sighing, she couldn’t help but wish Jyren could have been there to do that instead. Tobias tried, and was strong enough in the Force to be helpful...but he just didn’t have the focus yet. Not enough, at least. Shaking her head, she instead decided to try again, herself.

After a few deep, calming breaths, Marix closed her eyes and did her best to find that...feeling. Finding it and focusing on it, she did her best to clarify it more. But it was still vague and uneasy. So she concentrated more and tried to at least get some kind of center on it. But now matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t pin it down.

Finally, Marix opened her eyes and ran a hand through her short, jet black hair. Whatever it was, it was faint and elusive...for now, at least. But still...she was worried about the Empire. With the knowledge that the Vong had of the Gate’s location, and the fact that they had ‘human suits’, Marix just couldn’t shake the feeling that it was dangerous to open that Gate at all.

“Have any humans come through?” Marix finally asked the Alraxian girl, speaking in Alraxian again so as not to confuse her. Besides, she probably didn’t speak Trade, anyway.

It was, truthfully, an odd question. Though there were some humans in the Empire, none were among the Knights at all. In fact, they very rarely were involved in Alraxia’s affairs at all. They seemed quite content to sit on their worlds near the Jendari home and keep to themselves.

As was expected, the girl shook her head, “No, My Lady.”

Though the question was obviously on her tongue, she didn’t ask ‘why?’. Though the Tam’Day’U did not exist as they had before, the training never really faded from those who had lived in that small space station. And a Tam’Day’U would never question their orders. Not openly, at least. Of course, it was rare if a Knight would do that, either...or anyone, when the Empress was involved.

And then she made a decision, “Have all of those who have come through the Gate held there until I return. If they’ve already left for Alraxia, bring them back immediately. Any that have left on a scouting mission...have them held at the Gate when they return.”

“Yes, My Lady,” the girl simply nodded.

There was no ‘goodbye’ or anything similar. Marix simply shut down the transmission. 

“We’re going home?” Tobias cut in just after it was shut down.

Marix looked at him again, finding it odd to see him without the silver tint to the eyes. For some reason that just seemed to go away when he morphed to Human. She’d never wondered if hers did...it had never been an issue. Forcing that to the side, she got to her feet and said over her shoulder as she was stepping out of the cockpit, “Yes.”

And then she left him alone, hoping he wouldn’t follow for once. It was getting tiring having Tobias attached to her all of the time. Sure, she knew how Jyren felt...but that didn’t mean she liked it.

This war was getting to her. Anti-Jedi movements, Ithor being poisoned, Tobias actually wanting to be a Jedi, and Jyren running off to fight and ignoring the fact that their home could be in danger. It was just...all too much. It wasn’t like the things she was used to dealing with. Simple fights where Marix knew the enemy. But here she knew nothing...and perhaps that was why she had that bad feeling.

No.

No, it was something.

And it was close to the Empire...Marix was sure of that much.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 386: Choice*

“I don’t feel anything,” Jyren said with a sigh, shaking his head and trying to avoid the pointed look that Marix was directing at him. He was smart enough to not stop there, though, “But that doesn’t mean your wrong.”

Though the sharpness of her gaze didn’t lessen, she nodded at least, “I need to be there.”

“I know,” nodded Jyren. He spared a quick glance to his side, where Rulae was watching carefully...but remaining politely quiet. 

[I could make you come with me.] Marix said over the link.

When Jyren nodded again, Rulae knew he was missing something. He could tell something was up, at least...but what it was, he didn’t know. And they had gone suspiciously quiet.

[I know.]

Marix sighed and rubbed her forehead. [I’m not going to force either of you to come.]

That surprised Jyren. Not so much that she wasn’t going to force him, but that Marix was including Tobias in that, too. [Do you feel okay?]

Rolling her eyes, Marix caused further confusion in Rulae by speaking outloud, “Yes, I’m fine. And I’m serious. You should know that by now.”

“You know he won’t go back if you give him the choice,” Jyren also shifted to normal speaking, giving the poor Duros the correct feeling that he had missed a vital part of this conversation.

“It is his choice to make,” Marix said sternly, that icy look sliding back in.

Not one to fight that look, Jyren instead said, “Then I’ll go where he goes.”

[You know he won’t go home.] her voice sounded just like his had with those same words.

“I’m sorry.”

At that, Marix shook her head. [Don’t say that to me.]

Jyren sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He knew she wasn’t going to like what he was about to do, but he didn’t care at this point. Ignoring the fact that Rulae was still watching them, Jyren stepped forward and drew Marix into a warm embrace, saying quietly, “You know I’d rather stay with you.”

“I know,” she grumbled into his shoulder, going slightly red and fighting that while ignoring the Duros. [But there is a reason linked Alraxians stay close to each other. It...] she trailed off a moment, obviously not liking having to admit it, even though he knew exactly what she was going to ‘say’.

[Because it hurts.] Jyren finished for her. [I know it hurts...but we’ve been through worse, right?]

She pulled back enough to give him that look again, which didn’t get the desired effect. He laughed. When he did this, Marix took another step back so she could add crossing her arms over her chest to the look.

[What?]

The voice that could kill anyone was back.

Shaking his head and still with a grin on his face, Jyren said, “If only your father could see you now. You’d never hear the end of that one.”

Marix just rolled her eyes, glanced over to the Duros and gave him a sharp glare, and then finally turned around and headed to find Toby. It was obvious what he was going to choose, even without the knowledge that Jyren would go wherever he did. But she had to ask...just to make sure.

And in another few hours they would likely be going there separate ways again. It seemed that they were meant to be on opposite sides of the galaxy for this. And she wasn’t going to force them to come back with her...being the Empress meant she had certain obligations, but neither Jyren nor Tobias needed to be tied down by them. Besides, she wanted to protect the Empire. It was as if she wanted to run away from it like she had tried so many years before.

But, as she headed to the cockpit where Loki told her Toby still was, Marix found a stray thought through the link. It was definitely Jyren’s, but it made her question giving Tobias the choice to go home or not. She saw...the twins...and it caused her to stop completely for a moment.

She cared about them a great deal, obviously, but they had been almost inseparable from Jyren since the day they were born. This had been the first time he had been away from them for any more than a matter of days since then. Was it really fair to force Jyren to stay in this part of the galaxy, so far away from them, just because Tobias was bent on staying away from the Empire?!

But then Marix was walking again. The answer to that was obvious.

Yes.

Jyren had made his choice...and even it would deprive him of seeing the twins for that much longer, he would be able to make sure Tobias was alright. And one of them had to do that. At least, Marix knew he wouldn’t strangle the kid like she sometimes felt the need to do.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 387: Old*

They had taken a relatively long detour...twelve standard hours to the nearest New Republic planet where Jyren, Tobias, and the Duros caught a transport back to Ithor, where the fleet remained. And that left Marix and Loki to head across the galaxy...back home.

Sighing, Marix wondered why it seemed like every time she and Jyren could use some time to themselves, they only had a matter of hours. Not that she was complaining about any time at all, but it was annoying, to say the least. She shook her head and looked to the chrono, displaying the Alraxian characters instead of the Trade ones that Loki used for Jyren’s sake. Another three hours to the gate.

[Just like old times.] Loki cut into her thoughts. He’d been distracted with a few smaller things for most of the hyperspace jump but, apparently, they were dealt with enough that he could be his usual, annoying self.

Marix’s eyes tilted up a moment before going back down to look to the chrono, “Sounds like your getting sentimental in your old age.”

[One of us has to.]

“I’m not old, thank you,” she rolled her eyes and glanced out to the swirling blue. She could see her reflection there, too, and was glad to see an Alraxian face looking back at her again. It got unnerving to see a human face looking back after a while. And she wasn’t old, especially for an Alraxian. Though her face had changed slightly over the years, it wasn’t much...and probably the only people who would notice it were herself, Jyren, and Loki.

“And its not like old times,” Marix said under her breath after a little while.

There was the feeling of being watched, but Loki said nothing. Obviously he was waiting for her to explain that.

She shook her head, “How is anything like old times beyond it just being you and me?”

There was a continued silence from Loki after that, but she could tell he was working that out. [At least that’s something that hasn’t changed.]

Why that brought a smile to her face was beyond Marix. The very fact that it came so easily was just more evidence of how much had changed, “I know you wanted to go with them back to help in the fight.”

[I want to go where I’m needed...just like Jyren. Just like you.] That was a surprisingly rational response from a ship that had proven over the years to have an ego greater than even Jyren’s. [And no one can get you home faster than I can.]

“At least old age hasn’t hurt your ego,” the smile didn’t fade as she idly patted the chair. She idly look over to the empty seat next to her, and found herself saying her thoughts before she could stop herself, “I shouldn’t have let the two of them go off like that.”

[You didn’t let them.] Loki correct her, catching the tone and remembering the days when the only person she’d ever speak her doubts to was him. Because of that, the ship knew how to respond much better than Jyren did. [They made their own choices.]

“Mother wouldn’t have let me go like that.”

So that was it.

It wasn’t the first time, and Loki also knew that it wasn’t something Marix had ever said to Jyren. The ship couldn’t sigh, but he would have if it was possible. [You are not your mother.]

“I know that, Loki,” Marix actually sounded insulted at his tone...and she probably was, knowing how she usually reacted to such obvious statements. Subtleties and other non-literal meanings still had a way of slipping past her despite her constant use of them.

[Every time you’ve had to make a difficult choice for the Empire, you’ve come in here and hidden yourself from everyone.] Loki was trying another angle at this, hoping that a softer approach might get the desired effect.

The seat was leaned back so that Marix was in a more rested position and, also, looking up at the ceiling, “You know that our people are not prepared for war. They can barely handle border skirmishes. That is why my mother was such a good Empress. She was a healer, a protector...I’m a fighter. A killer, even. I’m nothing like the people who I’m supposed to be making decisions for. I want to protect them, but I can’t shield them from this war like my mother would have been able to.”

[You don’t know that.] Loki’s ‘voice’ became stern suddenly, adopting the cold tone that she usually did when yelling at Jyren. [This war is spreading like a fire...anyone can see that. Our home has already been found by these Vong, and its only a matter of time before it reaches us. A healer couldn’t stop that. A fighter can.]

Marix did not respond. By now, she had closed her eyes and was trying to keep her thoughts under control. After a few more minutes of this, Loki decided it was about time to add the last little bit in. [It hurt us all when your mother was killed...you hid it well, but you know I could tell how hard it was on you. But nothing happens by chance. It was your mother’s time...and yours. You and Jyren came home to protect it, and you did...but I believe it was not mere chance that caused the events of those weeks to happen. And they made us all stronger...] he paused a moment, then finally said. [Perhaps all of that happened to prepare us for this.]

Nothing was said for a long half hour. They both simply ‘sat’ in the silence and were left to their own thoughts. But finally, and very quietly as Marix sat up straight in her chair again, she said, “Sometimes I wonder if you’re really Loki.”

[What’s that supposed to mean?]

“You’re making far too much sense lately,” Marix mumbled, holding a perfectly neutral expression on her face, “Whatever happened to that egotistical little airhead Kanyak that would challenge a planet to a race if he could have?”

To that, Loki could only find one response. [He got old.]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 388: Aftermath*

A soft hiss announced the opening of the still-not-locked door to Jyren’s quarters aboard the Araddon. Both of the humans sitting in the room turned to look as Rulae Nok stepped in and directed his red-eyed gaze in Jyren’s direction, “You’re off the hook.”

“Completely?” Tobias cut in before Jyren could ask the same question.

Both Jyren and Rulae glanced over towards the young human before they looked back to each other, when Rulae said, “They’ll be keeping an eye on both of you. And the kid will probably have a security detail with him at all times, but you’re off the hook.”

“How did you manage that?” Jyren asked, still surprised that they had gotten off so easily, “I’m still shocked they didn’t shoot us out of the sky the second we arrived in the system.”

The Duros just shrugged, “You’re lucky that the Admiral likes you. He’s the only one other than myself that knows about the bounty.”

“Obviously it wasn’t too hard to figure out, though...” Jyren mumbled under his breath, but then said louder, “I’m glad you trust me, at least.”

“And so does the Admiral,” Rulae nodded, “The bounty’s been removed. Akan Tavos is a free man. So are the others associated with him. But don’t think you’re completely free, Jyren. I will be watching you carefully...trust or not, there’s still a lot you aren’t telling me.”

There was no polite way to respond to that, and so Jyren simply kept his mouth shut. An awkward silence took over the small quarters before Rulae produced a datapad and tossed it to Jyren, “We’re leaving the system. There’s a briefing in an hour...you’re holding it.”

And then the Duros left. Jyren knew what that meant. His old friend knew he had other things to worry about, and wasn’t expecting him to show up at the briefing. Of course, it would probably be a good idea, if only to keep the squadron’s morale up...but there was much to do. Most of it involving what to do with Tobias.

But for the moment, Jyren’s eyes dropped to the datapad and he quickly took in the glut of information there. Ithor was dead. Everything on the planet had been killed by the poison. Everything. There were estimates on how long it would take to at least make the planet habitable again, but all of them pointed to decades...if not centuries. The damage was done, and there was no reversing it. Thankfully, many of the Ithorians had been evacuated, but it was only a fleeting victory. Their beautiful homeworld was gone.

Below the information on Ithor were things that Jyren saw were marked to not be spoken to the squadron. In fact, Rulae had specifically pointed out that they were for Jyren, and only for him, to see. It quickly became apparent why this was the case. Blame was already spreading like wildfire for the disaster at Ithor. It was pointed squarely at Corran Horn, who had resigned his commission in the military and as a Jedi, but that was really only for the masses. The governments of nearby planets were blaming the New Republic’s lack of action, and rightfully so. The Senate was deadlocked on the issue of what to do about the war, leaving the military to fend for themselves. Yes, the Vong fleet had been destroyed at Ithor, but it had been to late.

Because of this lack of action on the part of the Senate, which was mostly the fault of greedy Senators trying to make the best of a very bad war, the Admiral was no longer waiting for orders to direct the fleet to its next location. After a briefing of his own with the Bothan in charge of the New Republic Navy, the Admiral had decided to move his fleet to the library world, Obroa-Skai.

There wasn’t any direct threat on the planet, but it was close enough to Ithor that it was a logical place...especially since no other fleet was currently stationed there. Others would head to the so-called front lines and attempt to push the Vong back, but it was questionable just how much good that would do. So much was still unknown about the Yuuzhan Vong that too many assumptions were being made in these battles. And every single battle, the assumptions were proved wrong. The Vong were like nothing anyone had ever encountered. Their tactics were unique and unpredictable on the best of days. And until more was known, especially when it came to how to weaken the effectiveness of their so-called War Coordinators, charging into the planets they had taken was likely a suicide mission.

“What is it?” Tobias asked as he watched the expression on Jyren’s face get worse.

Glancing over to the young human, Jyren shook his head, “You shouldn’t have come back here with me.”

It surprised Jyren that Toby didn’t argue that. Instead, he seemed to sit deeper into the chair he was in and adopted a hurt look. Through the Force, Jyren could tell the boy was suddenly very worried. This was why he liked having his father around...that man always seemed to know the right things to say to these kids, while Jyren just had a habit of telling the simple truth and ending up making things worse.

So, Jyren moved over and reached out to put an arm on Tobias’ shoulder, “I know you’re strong, Toby, but this isn’t a game. This war is going to get worse before it gets better, and you’re on a military ship,” he sighed and shook his head, “But it was your choice to make...and with the tension on the Mrrakesh border to complicate things, I doubt home is going to be much safer.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 389: Problems at Home*

Marix looked at the small image provided to her on the console and attempted to study the Alraxian being shown. It was hard to make out any details, as it seemed like whoever had actually constructed the Gate between the Alraxian Empire and the rest of the galaxy had used a mix of technologies to put the thing together...meaning that there were probably six or seven different kinds of holo devices recording at once with different power sources. This mix of construction was also why the giant ring was made of metal...something that made all of the Alraxians that were stationed there very uncomfortable.

She did not ask the name of the Alraxian she was watching. He was a Knight that had been assigned to one of the many scouting missions and had just returned a few hours before Marix had...and while the technician that had brought up the image for her had started to ramble on with a name, Marix had cut him off and instead directed her attention to simply watching the image.

A pair of guards stood next to the door behind her, keeping their distance but doing their job. The only other person in the room with them was the single technician, a young Alraxian male with a rather scruffy complection and a few too many colours mixed in between his clothes and his hair. Currently, he was trying to busy himself on the other side of the room, despite the fact that he continually glanced over at Marix wondering why she was so silent.

Why she had locked onto this Alraxian, Marix wasn’t sure. There were a dozen scouts being held currently, none of which were particularly irritated by this sudden action. But the second she had seen this image, she couldn’t look away. There was nothing particularly remarkable about this Knight, and perhaps that was the problem. He was...average in about every way.

There was only one way to figure this out.

With a quick turn, Marix headed out of the small room, with the poor technician left speechless and wondering what he’d done wrong. The guards glanced at one another, but fell into step a good distance behind her. She had taken note where that particular Knight was being held, and headed straight for that chamber.

Once there, she punched in a quick key sequence on the panel next to the door, which was actually in Jendari script as all the panels seemed to be, and the door slid upwards to show a much cleared view of the moderately sized quarters.

Immediately, the Knight stood up from where he sat on his bed and bowed before speaking in Alraxian, “My Lady.”

Marix simply nodded to him, noting that the guards were now much closer despite the fact that she’d not even stepped into the room. Perhaps they felt it, too...unlike her mother, all of the guards that Marix kept were former Tam’Day’U, and were well trained in the Force. Pushing the distracting thoughts aside, she focused and reached out with the Force. It took a moment, but she was able to pick up on her two guards and much of the others in the nearby areas...but the room felt empty to her.

But, while this was turning her towards a very worrying possibility, Marix did not let that one thing damn the Knight. There were other reasons for the odd emptiness to that room...and so, she attempted something else. In a calm, very simple voice, she asked in Trade, “What is your name?”

The Knight simply stared at her with the same expression. It was clearly obvious he did not understand her. And that was a problem. Every single scout that they sent to the rest of the galaxy was well versed enough in Trade to get by without any problem...except maybe an odd accent.  Through the Force, she felt a sudden tension behind her and knew exactly why. The Tam’Day’U guards could speak Trade, and were starting to understand that something was very wrong here.

Slowly and deliberately, Marix reached down to her belt and withdrew the long-bladed, metal knife that rarely left her side. When it was drawn and in her hand, the expression on the Knight’s face changed. There was a slightly wide eyed look that was to be expected from most Alraxians when confronted with a metallic weapon...but that was something else that shouldn’t have been so obvious. They went through a great deal of work to teach the Alraxian scouts not to fear metal, simply to be careful of it. But this Knight was attempting to show fear.

This was not one of their scouts, and she was now very confident that it wasn’t an Alraxian, either. And so she was left with a quick decision. A very quick one, that she made without any hesitation. Still speaking in Trade, Marix said over her shoulder to the guards, “Hold here and do not let him run.”

And then she stepped into the room.

The moment she did this, the so-called Knight seemed to pick up on what was going on. And suddenly an image like she saw on Ithor returned. In a quick motion, the Knight lifted his left arm just slightly, and a snake-like thing slid out of the loose-fitted sleeve and coiled around his arm as he took a tight grip on it.

An amphistaff.

Marix did not even think about the lapse in their own security to allow this weapon in. Instead, her focus was on the moment, and the second she saw the snake-like head of the Yuzzhan Vong weapon, she was moving. Her simply step became a lunge, bent down low to use the ‘Knight’s’ average build against him. Before the amphistaff even had time to form its rigid, bladed end after being revealed, Marix was on him, toppling the infiltrator to the ground and driving her weapon deep into his throat.

The struggling only last a few heartbeats, and in another moment Marix was on her feet and cleaning her blade...cleaning it of black coloured blood. Neither Alraxian nor any other species she knew of bled that colour. Returning the knife to her belt, she turned to the two guards and said, still speaking Trade out of habit, “Check the back of the neck for a small bump. And have all of the other scouts checked...make sure they can speak Trade.”

There was a fire in the eyes of her guards as they nodded and headed two different directions. On to the dead body, the other to get more assistance in checking all of the other scouts as soon as possible. It was that Tam’Day’U determination...that icy cold way they all got when following orders, especially after a deception such as this was revealed.

Marix did not wait for the first guard to check on the body. She already knew what he would find. Alone, she left and headed back to Loki. For now, the Gate would be safe. There were enough Alraxians to protect it from more infiltrators. Her current focus was on how many there really might be...because if there was one, there was probably another. And if all of the remaining scouts checked out as Alraxian, then it could only mean others got through the Gate.

To the Empire.

To Alraxia.

Home.


----------



## tmaaas

Just popping in to once again say how much I'm enjoying the story. 

Thanks for sharing it with us.


----------



## Angcuru

*nudges*  Then what happened?   

Glad you've kept this up, I really enjoy this story.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 390: Another Hour*

After convincing Tobias that he needed to get some rest and not wander off, Jyren left the young ‘Alraxian’ in their quarters and made sure the two guards that were stationed outside knew not to let the kid go anywhere. He stepped into the briefing in the middle of information he already knew about, and Rulae was the only one to give him a flat look when everyone turned and smiled.

It still amazed Jyren how much the kids seemed to like him. Not that it was a bad thing. Still, it was nothing he had expected to ever need to deal with. And knowing that it was bad form to interrupt them getting to know what was going on, he waved them silent and quickly had a seat near the back so he didn’t have to be in the spotlight, as it were, for any longer than he had to.

And soon Jyren was very glad he had decided to head to the briefing. There were some things that came up that had not been on the datapad. Items that Jyren figured were very recently received information. And when Rulae spoke up about them, it was obvious that they were very important.

The Vong were, of course, still on the move, slowly pressing into the galaxy from the Outer Rim. With Ithor out of the way, the Mid Rim was open and they were taking advantage of this...taking smaller worlds or completely obliterating ones that held no value to them. What held value to the Vong was another matter, as some planets they destroyed were rich with resources...but that was another matter.

The important matter was where the Vong were moving. Their direct path towards the Core was becoming an arc with multiple points. While one still headed straight through towards the Core from Ithor and, probably, through Obroa-Skai, another was heading through the Outer Rim territories still. And it was obvious why...

Hutt Space.

They were headed for Hutt Space. While the Imperial Remnant had been passed over from the looks of things, the Vong seemed to be heading straight for one of the other major powers in the galaxy. Not that the Hutts were an ally of any kind to the New Republic, but seeing what happened there was yet another way to gather much needed intelligence on the Vong. And, as always, agents were reporting back from Hutt Space on the goings on...but it was not looking like there would be a direct attack on the Hutts.

Unlike anything anyone had ever seen from the Vong before, there were reports of actual talks happening. Almost as if the Hutts were trying to buy their way out of the fight. Which, of course, would not be surprising when it came to the Hutts, but it was not at all like the Yuuzhan Vong conquering planet after planet in the galaxy.

To Jyren, this meant something was up.

To the New Republic, it meant an interesting turn of events that were worth watching if only to see if diplomacy was the answer.

...and to the men and women fighting the Vong and those who had lost their homeworlds, it was just another reason to despise the invaders. Dealing with the Hutts couldn’t mean anything good, even if there was something else hidden going on. 

“Part of me wishes you had kept the information on the Hutts to yourself,” Jyren said after the briefing had ended and only he and Rulae were left in the room.

Sliding a datapad into his pocket, the Duros gave his old friend an uninterested expression, “Its good to know every part of you has an opinion. I am a bit afraid to ask exactly which part you’re speaking of, however.”

Jyren just glared at Rulae as he walked past before sighing and following, “When did you develop a sense of humour?”

“I didn’t,” the same flat, analytical voice responded. He headed up the steps, and then stopped to look over his shoulder to Jyren, adopting a more serious tone, “There is something else I kept out of the report and didn’t let out here...something I expect a new part of you won’t like, either.”

Before responding to that, Jyren at least made sure to head up a few steps so that he was on equal footing, literally, with Rulae, “I don’t think any of me is going to like it...but lets hear it.”

“We dropped out of hyperspace about twenty standard minutes ago to adjust course and got a few extra reports...” Rulae was an expert when it came to setting something up, which was horribly annoying, “The local garrison on Obroa-Skai just came into contact with a group of Vong sympathizers.”

If that didn’t cement that Obroa-Skai was a target to the New Republic government, it was unlikely that anything ever would.

“When you say ‘came into contact with’, I assume you mean ‘shot at’?”

Rulae nodded. Jyren just sighed and shook his head, trying to ignore the fringe of his hair getting in the way again, “This Peace Brigade is popping up everywhere...”

“Two Yuzzhan Vong warriors were killed, also.”

Okay, Jyren had been wrong. That was what should have solidified the danger to the library world.

And for some reason, that only brought one question up, “When do we arrive in system?”

“An hour,” Rulae raised a long-fingered hand to quiet anything Jyren was about to say and then added, “You, Officer Lor, and Lieutenant Loro will be going to the ground when we arrive.”

Knowing what that hinted at, Jyren nodded but then couldn’t help yet another question, “Aren’t there SpecForce troops or Fleet Marines in the fleet to do that?”

With another nod, Rulae said simply, “Yes, there are. But you haven’t been ordered to go...understand?”

“Ah...” Jyren returned that with a nod of his own, “I understand.”

Saluting, the Duros officer turned and left Jyren alone in the briefing room. It was rare for Rulae to act like that...but obviously he felt this was important. It also meant he wanted people he could trust on the ground. So this wouldn’t be boring at all...

...and that wasn’t even thinking about putting Tobias into the equation...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 391: Escalation*

On the surface, very little had changed on Alraxia. The planet looked exactly as it had for thousands of years, as did the many cities and communities that pocketed the planet here and there. The Palace and the city that had grown around it were still the same, and it would have been just as easy for an Alraxian that had lived when it was created to identify it as the ones that were currently occupying it.

And, perhaps, much was still the same beneath the surface, too. At least, to most people living in the Empire it was. But they were the ones that had always seen the Tam’Day’U as stories told to scare children, nothing that was actually true. The silver-eyed children that could have given evidence to this had always been slipped away too quickly for anyone to notice.

To those that actually knew the truth about that, and many other things, too much had changed. The Tam’Day’U were now a part of the Knights, protecting the borders of the Empire and, still to the horror of many, the Empress herself. Of course, this was ignoring the fact that the Empress was one of the Tam’Day’U...a fact that many simply put aside and decided to pretend was not the truth for as long as possible. And now the Empress had come home again, and many noted that the Knights stationed at the Palace seemed to be much more numerous and much more...paranoid.

It was likely a good thing that many did not know why. Tam’Day’U were one thing, but the very idea that invaders were living anywhere on the planet could very easily cause a panic not unlike when Ket Halpak had returned a decade before. And so only those that needed to know did. That meant, primarily, the Knights.

But as Marix looked out over the Palace from the balcony that extended out of her unnecessarily large room, none of that really seemed to phase her. To her, none of those were even very dramatic changes...except that the Vong had her slightly on edge. But even that felt slightly distant compared to the changes that were closest to home. In fact, there wasn’t much out there to compete with the one right in front of her.

...well, no.

Marix idly glanced down to the little ball of fur in her arms. She couldn’t help but feel a bit strange, as if she was quite literally holding a younger version of herself. The black stripe that traveled down the center of the young Alraxian’s predominately white coloured fur did nothing but make it even more confusing. Probably not to Marix as much as to the nannies that were still around the Palace doing their best to meddle no matter what anyone said to the contrary.

“I would expect that I’m not supposed to tell my son you’re actually holding her, hm?” Navik Keros spoke up from inside the room.

Rolling her eyes, Marix turned and stepped into the section of the room that was currently occupied by far too many toys and a simple off-white desk that the older Alraxian was standing next to while eyeing a few things that were laid out on it. She had heard him come in a few minutes earlier, but simply hadn’t said a thing, and decided to continue the silence by not responding to his sarcasm.

When it became apparent to Navik, he stood up straight and adopted his usual formal tone, “The Knights have sealed off the Palace area but they haven’t found anything yet.”

Marix only nodded. She may have said something, but there was a small yawn at her shoulder that caught her attention. In another moment, a pair of big, silvery eyes up at Marix from her shoulder. The little girl gave her a sleepy look, and Marix allowed herself a smile while she reached over to gently scratch the child’s ear.

As a soft purring sound started, Marix felt the weight return to her shoulder, and so she looked back over to Navik, “They won’t find anything until they’ve had time to look. It has only been a few hours.”

Jyren’s father nodded, and then she caught a hesitation through the Force. Marix’s eyes narrowed and she glared at him, “What is it?”

Somehow, he was never as surprised as most people seemed to be when she picked up on things like that. She’d asked him why more than once, but never gotten a straight answer from him. She probably never would.

“The Mrrakesh have taken two of the border systems.”

Narrowed eyes suddenly went wide, and it took a great deal of effort to keep her shock out of the Network...keep it hidden from the rest of the Alraxians in the Empire. After a few deep breaths, she still couldn’t find any words worth saying, and when Navik seemed to catch onto this, he elaborated, “Unoccupied systems, and none of our Knights were killed...but they are now very close to the Jendari homeworld,” he paused a moment and shook his head, “We cannot fight their ships out of our territory. All of the other border systems are well defended, but if the Mrrakesh push them, you know what will happen.”

Marix was currently doing her best to calm the torrent of thoughts circling her mind. The border had been held, somewhat nervously, for well over a thousand cycles. And while it had always been tense, the Mrrakesh had never truly pushed into Alraxian space, despite their obvious advantage due to the fact that their starships were quite well armed.

But why now?

It made no sense.

It made even less sense that they would take empty systems.

If the Mrrakesh really were making a push into Alraxian space, reigniting the war from so very long ago, then they would surely take a planet that had some value...some...symbol, at least. They weren’t foolish people, and they knew how to fight a war. Countless power grabs and internal wars proved that much.

Biting her lip as she tried to figure out what was going on, a thought came to mind suddenly, “Alyx is on Jendari.”

After a moment of thinking, Navik nodded, “I believe he is.”

For a long moment, Marix looked at the child in her arms. A war with the Mrrakesh, especially now, meant this little girl wouldn’t have a home. The Knights were stronger now, yes, but too few in number to truly fight back an army. And that was ignoring the fact that Kanyaks had no weapons. There was a reason they were attempting to stay out of the war consuming the rest of the galaxy...

“Send a message to Alyx to stay where he is,” she said finally, in a very stern voice that sounded disturbingly like her mother’s, “Keep me informed on the state of things here.”

Navik simply nodded, also sparing a glance to his granddaughter, then said in a quiet voice, “I am sorry that you had to be told of this now...you don’t get to see the twins enough, as it is.”

Marix’s eyes locked with the older Alraxian’s for a long moment, “Don’t apologize to me.”


----------



## tmaaas

Ankh,

Has this storyhour received the .pdf compilation treatment yet? It definitely deserves it, and I'd be happy to do so.

-- tmaaas


----------



## Angcuru

I'm pretty sure that this hasn't been tucked into PDF form yet.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 392: Signs*

“Explain to me, again, what we’re doing down here?” Rea asked as she walked the large streets of the library world with Jyren, Tobias, and the Mon Calamari, Loro.

It was Loro that spoke up, in a somewhat quieter voice than he usually spoke in. Probably because of all the people around them on the streets, “I believe the correct term is gathering intelligence.”

“Also called spying,” Jyren said with a smile, not at all meaning that but feeling like someone had to lighten the mood. The conversations on the way down to the planet had been bad enough. Rumours spread across the fleet quickly, and none of them seemed to be good, anymore.

“On the Fleet Marines, though?” Rea’s face showed her confusion and the Force easily gave way to the uncomfortable feelings that was also brought up by those thoughts.

Sighing, Jyren shook his head. Sometimes, he decided, it was probably best to listen to Marix and not attempt sarcastic comments, “We’re here to be the eyes for the Commander.”

It was the Mon Calamari who seemed to understand this when he added, “First hand information is more accurate than reports that have gone through multiple departments.”

“Exactly,” Jyren nodded with a smile, glancing over to Tobias, who seemed oblivious to the conversation going on behind him. The young, and currently, human was a few paces ahead of the other three, all of whom were out of uniform and somehow managing to look like normal people. But Tobias, on the other hand, seemed to wander from side to side on the street, nearly running into any and everyone that got near him.

A few minutes earlier, Jyren had reeled Toby in, but that meant that he was now just barely managing a straight path. The streets of the library world were wide, but surprisingly populated...likely due to refugees that were flooding towards the Core Worlds from the Outer Rim. Far ahead of them, and barely visible over the other buildings, was the massive library building that housed thousands and thousands of years of knowledge from all over the galaxy.

But that was not where they were currently headed. Reaching forward, Jyren rested a hand on Tobias’ shoulder to turn him down another street towards their destination. It was a rather small apartment complex near the market district of the main city where the Vong had been found. Next to it was a small, supposedly unoccupied building that had housed the Peace Brigaders.

And, when they arrived at the pair of stone-carved structures lined with a rather bland looking duracrete, it was obvious that something had definitely happened there. A group of ten New Republic soldiers was holding the two buildings, though none of them were openly holding weapons...they were there in holsters at the belts of each soldier. The street was still populated, but it was decidedly lighter than most others, likely due to the soldiers, as most on Obroa-Skai weren’t used to any kind of military presence. 

Two of the nearest troopers seemed to notice something off about the group as they were heading to the buildings rather than just down the street, and stepped forward while raising his hand, “I’m sorry, but this area is sealed off for now.”

Jyren, his hand still on Tobias’ shoulder, pulled back the young man to stand behind him, then reached into his jacket pocket to produce a datapad. He allowed himself a very short glance to the others, then handed the datapad to the trooper. As the human’s eyes checked over the completely blank screen on the datapad, Jyren calmed himself and did his best to use a technique that Marix had taught him, pulling the Force into his voice, “My name is Nara Lutaine. We are with New Republic Intelligence. Everything should be in order here.”

To their credit, the two young pilots kept their mouths shut. Jyren knew Toby would, but he was unsure of the others and didn’t exactly want to tell them ahead of time for fear that they wouldn’t go along with it. Not that Rulae was going to find out about this, either. Sometimes, though, it was just best to get things done and not worry about how, even if one had to reduce to somewhat unsavory tactics.

A few moments passed, as they always seemed to do in situations like the current one, and the soldier handed Jyren the datapad back with a nod, “I apologize, sir.”

Jyren allowed himself a smile, then glanced to the others one more time and headed in. They went for the large building first, which was where the Peace Brigade had supposedly set up. The door slid open to reveal a rather boring looking entrance way that was scarred with black marks across the walls. So there had been fighting all the way through...

They got down the hallway and to the first turn before Rea’s silence finally broke, “You lied to him.”

“Yes,” Jyren nodded, turning left and following the area where the blaster scoring got tighter and dried blood could be see on the walls and the floor, “I did.”

“I saw the datapad, Captain,” Loro said in a still-quiet, but watery voice, “There was nothing on it.”

“No,” he was doing his best to get a feel through the Force, too, a trick he’d picked up back when he actually was working with New Republic Intelligence, “There wasn’t.”

Before another comment could be made, however, Tobias cut in, “Dad...”

It was the way he said it that caused Jyren to stop. Slow and...he sounded worried. Both of which were not at all normal coming from Toby. Jyren stood up straight and turned to see a half-dented door that Tobias was looking at. Toby gave him a look, and Jyren did his best to calm him with the Force while at the same time he realized just what had gotten the kid on edge.

“What is that?” Rea asked, leaning in but not being able to make out just what the scoring was. And it smelled, too...not like the ozone smell that followed a blaster bolt...but something else. Something that she couldn’t identify at all.

But just as Tobias knew what it was, and the smell, Jyren did, too.

Through the center of the door, in a long, half-curved arc, was the burn mark from a lightsaber blade.

But it was the only mark like it amongst all of the blaster scoring. And there was nothing near the door to hint at any other details...not even from the Force.

Quietly, with a sigh as he knew that they were going to have to force that door open the hard way to get through it, Jyren said, “Its not a good sign.”


((And nope, the only copy of this that exists beyond what's here on the boards is my extremely messy Wordperfect file. I definitely wouldn't be opposed to seeing it PDFed, but as you guys can probably tell, life's been really busy for me lately again.))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 393: Trapped*

The systems that were hidden away in Alraxian space were very different from the rest of the galaxy. Isolation had that effect on things. But Jendari was as alien to the rest of the Empire as Alraxia was to the majority of the galaxy. The avian species that called the planet home had watched both the Alraxians and the Mrrakesh develop and grow over time, having been there from the beginning. When the Sith came and began their experiments with the life forms they found, the Jendari were millennia old.

And yet, they sat happily on their planet, with no ambitions of power of any kind...quite happy to be a part of the Alraxian Empire, and giving advice and assistance wherever it was needed. Longer lived than even the Alraxian people, many of the older Jendari had been there when Marix’s grandmother had been Empress. Perhaps that was why they were always able to catch her off guard.

Be it a simple comment or a gift, the Jendari always had a way of surprising Marix with their knowledge of her life. While she couldn’t prove it, she was fairly sure they had scouts in the rest of the galaxy for thousands of years. It was the only way to explain how they knew certain...details...about her. No one but Jyren knew about her old smuggler friend, Max, and yet they had once given her a small crystal with the name inscribed on it but in Alraxian letters. And that was only one of many, many things they had done to surprise her. There were so many others that she had lost count years ago...or at least, given up on counting anything more.

Unlike Alraxia, the planet itself was covered in very little water. There were no oceans on Jendari, but there were very large lakes. The cities that were scattered across the planet reminded Marix of the floating cities of Ithor...or at least, that had once been on Ithor. But it made sense for an avian species to put their homes in the sky. There were walkways and other things for species that could not fly, but the Jendari rarely ever used them.

Loki set down on a small, hexagonal pad near the outskirts of one of the large cities, with blue-white buildings rising all around...both upwards and towards the ground, which was still a good distance below. Without a word to the ship, Marix stood and headed for the hatch. A brisk pace meant she was outside and on the surprisingly soft ‘ground’ in a matter of moments.

The pathway leading to the platform was not empty, despite her speed in exiting the ship. Walking towards her was a small group, five Jendari and one Alraxian. Even as an adult, Alyx was as short as his sister. He was also built the same as she always remember, a little too thin for his own good and with hair that made one wonder if he actually remembered it was there when he woke up in the mornings.

There was also a smile on his face that made Marix wonder if he had lost his mind. But she ignored it as best she could, and also did her best not to cringe when he embraced her.

“Its good to see you,” he said in a voice that was much happier sounding than she was used to from her ever-quiet twin.

Reluctantly, Marix returned the hug before, gently, pushing him back to arms length. One thing, at least, it was nice to be able to look directly at someone than up their nose, “You got my message.”

“I wasn’t leaving anyway,” Alyx shrugged, “But yes.”

Marix then turned her attention to the Jendari she recognized, put on her best smile, and bowed her head, “It has been too long, Arelin.”

The Jendari who had been appointed to the short-lived council bowed his bird-like head and put on what was best interpreted as a smile of his own, “You look more like your mother every time I see you, my lady.”

Of course, Marix froze...sure, it was only a half second, but it was enough to drive her crazy. It had been something so simple this time...not a comment about something he shouldn’t know, but something plainly obvious that threw her off. She couldn’t help but wonder if they enjoyed that or were simply oblivious to how it always effected her.

“T-thank you,” she managed to put herself back together quickly, “I am sorry, but I believe we should get to business as soon as we can.”

“Of course,” Arelin bowed his head before turning and leading the way.

In a few minutes, they were near the center of one of the large spires, with open windows all around the very large, circular room that allowed a calm breeze to flow through. The room was an interesting mix of technology...with metal consoles fused with grown, Alraxian technology and then things that Marix only knew as Jendari. What they were, exactly, was still beyond her, and she never felt it was important enough to actually ask.

The center of the room was taken up by a large, square holoprojector. It was currently displaying a green-tinted image of the Alraxian Empire, with a reddish section showing the Mrrakesh space. Not far from the bright blue dot that represented Jendari, was a small intrusion of red covering two planets.

“The Mrrakesh have shown no aggression beyond breaking through the border and taking the planets,” Arelin said simply, motioning with a taloned hand towards the protrusion of red which was eerily close to Jendari.

Marix’s eyes were on another console to the side of the image where Alyx had brought up the reports from the Knights that had been attempting to guard the border, “Five warships but they didn’t fire a shot. At least twenty transports...” she shook her head, “And all to two unoccupied worlds within the Empire.”

“They are guarding the planets fiercely,” Alyx cut in, glancing down at his own display of the last information they had received from the two planets. He sighed and looked over towards his sister, “With the size of those transports, could they have been bringing people to actually live?”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Marix said under her breath, “There are hundreds of empty planets within their own space...and even more outside of it. Even with their warships, they don’t war anymore than we do...but crossing the border and taking two of our planets? When word of this gets out, there will be panic, and it is going to be difficult to hold any kind of peace anymore.”

It was a sad truth. The Alraxians were not, in any way, a warlike people. Even the Knights defending the border had no weapons on their ships. The Knights weren’t even an army, simply a peacekeeping force...and a tiny one compared to the number of people living in the Empire. And yet, all of the Empire, even the many non-Alraxians, were terrified of the Mrrakesh. A push like this would be seen as an invasion...the start of another war. Some would even go as far to bring up the Darkwing Wars. The Alraxians had been forced to fight then, and it would happen again if they had to.

“They are afraid,” a soft, almost quiet voice said from off to the side.

Marix looked over to see an older Jendari female...one of the group that had been on Alraxia when she and Jyren had first arrived all those years ago. She was the one who had given Jyren the crystal for his lightsaber...and the one that had told Marix that...that she...

“What do you mean?” Alyx asked.

The Jendari woman pointed to the red of the map much like Arelin had, “They are afraid. Fear drives them to the closest escape.”

Finally turning completely away from the console she was looking at, Marix stepped over to the older Jendari, “That doesn’t sound like the Mrrakesh.”

Her two foggy eyes looked up at Marix in an almost blank way, “Neither does the Mrrakesh bringing five warships across the border without firing a shot...” she paused a moment, then pointed to the other edge of the display, on the far end of Mrrakesh space and the edge of the galaxy, “For thousands of years, the Mrrakesh have only had our Empire and themselves to fight. They do not run because they know how to fight those fights...but something else has found them that they do not know how to fight.”

Marix’s eyes turned to look at the display again, taking in what she knew to be the section of ‘Known Space’ that was not far at all from the Mrrakesh. Seeing the image like that brought up a dangerous realization, and she quickly turned back to the older Jendari, “The Vong.”

That recieved a slow nod, and then the Jendari woman pointed to a section far away from the green of the map to where Marix knew the Gateway rested, “They know no other place to run...but they do not know that we are both being pushed.”

“We’re trapped...” Alyx mumbled a little too loudly.

Marix shot him an icy glare, but quickly turned back to the map and bit her lip. In a way, he was right. With Vong coming through the Gateway in disguise, there was no where to run for Mrrakesh or Alraxians. And the more that the rest of the galaxy was pushed by the Vong, the more that the Gateway itself was becoming cut off.

The thought that came to mind was one that she despised.

They needed weapons.

It was coming to the point where it was going to be impossible to keep the Empire safe without it.

“Arelin,” Marix broke the uneasy silence and looked over to the other Jendari, “Send a message to the other council members. Have them brought here as soon as possible...and I need to use the long range communication system.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 394: Storage Closests*

“Just go check down the hall,” Jyren was doing his best to keep his voice level and calm, but that was always difficult when he was forced to repeat himself, “Let me worry about the door here. Go make sure there’s not anything else we need to know about.”

The Mon Calamari and Twi’lek exchanged glances, and Rea started to open her mouth to argue once again...but Loro’s fin-shaped hand grabbed her arm as she reached to point at Jyren. She shot him a surprised look, but his voice remained surprisingly calm, “Come on.”

There was a sigh from her, but she relented and followed the Mon Calamari down the corridor to check the rest of the building’s ground level. When they were out of sight, Jyren turned to the door that had a long lightsaber mark across it...and was also dented inwards a great deal. And yet, attempting to force it open had done them no good.

“What happened here?” Tobias asked in a quiet voice, knowing it would carry and actually being cautious for the first time in his life.

Jyren spared the young man a glance before shrugging and focusing his attention on the door. There was one way to open it, and it required the other two to leave. Now that they were gone, Jyren didn’t have to worry about it...

Half-closing his eyes and drawing himself inwards, Jyren did his best to silence his mind and focus. It took a few moments, and then Jyren opened his eyes and drew on the Force. There was a series of creaks followed by a sudden, unnecessarily loud crack before the door broke off of its seals and shot inwards, hitting the back wall of the room a good ten meters away...that also made a loud bang that, if they had been Alraxian, would have got his and Tobias’ ears ringing.

Immediately upon the silence that followed, Jyren cringed. He hadn’t meant to use so much...well...force, but the damn thing was jammed well and so he’s just put more into it until it broke. Of course, this meant that another second later both Loro and Rea scrambled back around the corner with blasters drawn and ready to shoot.

Jyren, face in hand, called over to them with a sigh, “I got it open.”

By the time the two were next to them again, the blasters were holstered, thankfully, but there was still a definite look of surprise on both of their faces. Or at least, what passed as surprise for a Mon Calamari. It was Rea who stepped over in front of Jyren to look straight at him, “How the hell did you do that?”

“I just pushed...” he shrugged, stepping around her to finally look in the room and put aside the fact that ‘just pushing’ wouldn’t have put the door on the opposite wall.

If any other questions were asked, Jyren pretended not to hear them and turned his attention to the room. It was, from what he could tell, a storage room of sorts...boxes and crates, some of which had been smashed by the door, were stacked across the large room, leaving it generally unremarkable. But as he looked around, his eyes caught something that was definitely not a box.

Near the back, thankfully off to the side, was a body. More specifically, the body of a Yuuzhan Vong.

But it wasn’t like any Vong Jyren had ever seen. This was not an Alraxian sized and powerfully built warrior. In fact, the only weapon he could see was a small, dagger-like object sitting on a cloth loop at the hip of the corpse...it wasn’t even drawn. This Vong was tall, yes, and still looked to have had strong muscles beneath the mutilations, scars, and tattoos across his flesh, but he wore robes. And not only did he wear robes, but his right hand was...odd...Jyren was forced to kneel down to look at it more carefuly, seeing a six fingered hand that had strange devices grafted onto them.

As he sat back and the others came to look, Jyren noted a few black marks across the Vong’s already dark skin, indicating he was killed by a volley of blaster fire. But certainly not in the raid that had killed and captured the others. This Vong was the only body left, the rest had been cleared out...and it was inside a room that Jyren had used the Force to break into it. The sweep of the first New Republic troops through here hadn’t even gotten into this room.

So how had this Vong been killed?

Jyren just shook his head as he got to his feet. There was, as usual, something odd going on that was far enough beneath the surface to be out of reach.

“Get the soldiers outside,” he said finally, “Tell them we found something new and get them in here.”

“Yes, sir,” Loro saluted and squeezed past the others to head back outside.

As he did so, Jyren looked to Rea, “Stay here with Toby.”

“Where are you going?” it was, of course, Tobias that asked that.

“Going to find a console and see if anything else important was missed,” Jyren started to head out of the room, and he didn’t need the Force to tell him to stop and wave a hand, “Stay here, Toby.”

He didn’t turn around to make sure that Tobias listened. Jyren simply turned a corner to head down where Loro and Rea had first gone towards before he’d managed to open the door. No, he didn’t know if there even was a console anywhere near...but he had to try to find something. More importantly, though, he needed time to think. From the moment he’d seen that door, there had been a very bad feeling rising in him.

And, sadly, Jyren knew that his bad feelings were rarely wrong.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 395: Suggestions*

Marix sighed.

Of course this wouldn’t go well. She had known from the start it would be difficult...but still, somehow, it managed to give her a terrible headache. It didn’t particularly help that all of the vocal disagreement was being directed solely at her. This was, apparently, what she got for being direct.

“If we do not act, we’re showing weakness and they won’t hesitate to take more planets,” she said in a stern, but still calm voice, despite the reactions she was getting.

There were eleven others sitting around the table in the open-aired room. One for each of the different species living in the Empire. It had been a sound and logical idea at the time that the council would have one for each, plus the Empress, but sound ideas rarely worked out exactly as planned. All of the other species were just like the Alraxians...quiet and liked to keep to themselves. The Empire held well because of it, as everyone within did their best to keep it strong, and as one, they ignored the outside galaxy.

The hope had been to bring in alternative viewpoints to get a good idea of things...but that had failed miserably. The Empire truly was united, even if it wasn’t exactly in the best way.

“But the planets are uninhabited, my lady,” it was the human representative, a young woman named Huen, that was the first to respond after Marix had managed to get them all quiet again.

“Exactly,” Marix tried not to show her frustration, “Test the waters in a safe place before you dive in.”

Arelin, the Jendari that had greeted her on arrival to the planet, nodded, “The Jendari agree that action must be taken to protect the Empire.”

Any other responses were silenced by that one statement. All eyes turned to the avian Jendari, who sat off to the side, his large eyes idly looking forward at nothing in particular. After a few moments, the others began looking around to each other, keeping silent but taking in the situation as best as was possible. The Jendari were a wise people, and everyone respected them. It was interesting that Arelin normally kept quiet at these council meetings, and perhaps the reason was shown right then.

When the Jendari spoke, everyone listened. The very idea of what Marix had been suggesting, retaking the planets from the Mrrakesh, was shocking to all of them. The arguments were all against it and were quite heated considering that, when the council was first formed, Marix had found it difficult to get anyone to speak their mind. They were just so used to the Empress making decisions on her own that it had been surprising to have such a strong voice all of a sudden. But Arelin had never spoken up unless all the others had said their pieces...except for now.

If the Jendari agreed that something had to be done, then perhaps something truly needed to be done.

The uneasy silence did not last long, however. Sitting next to Marix was Jyren’s father, the Alraxian representative on the council, and he turned to face her, asking loud enough to make sure everyone listened to the response, “My lady...what are you suggesting we do?”

*  *  *  *​ 
“I’m suggesting that there’s a lot more going on here than just some Peace Brigade cell!” Jyren growled. He was currently cornered by a pair of Fleet Marines and a real member of New Republic Intelligence.

“And so you lied about your identity to get in this building?” the Intelligence man, who was half bald and a little too short for his own good, raised an eyebrow, “Not to mention disturbing the scene of an investigation.”

Running a hand through his hair, Jyren tried not to punch the man, “And, in the process, I found something you didn’t. Sounds to me like you’re just angry some idiot starfighter jockey did your job better than you could.”

“Explosives didn’t break down that door, Captain,” the response was filled with anger and venom, but nothing like Marix could manage and so, Jyren barely noticed it, “We tried everything we had on hand.”

“And I got it open,” Jyren made sure to put as much arrogance and pride into his voice as he could manage without being sick.

“Sir,” one of the Fleet Marines, a Twi’lek male that was about Jyren’s height, cut in, “Because of the discovery of the Vong, the Admiral will not be taking any action against you.”

Jyren repressed a smile.

More and more, he was starting to like the Admiral.

The Intelligence officer shot a quick glance over his shoulder to the marine before pointed a finger at Jyren, “But don’t make this a habit.”

He then turned, and left.

The Fleet Marines didn’t.

Once they were left alone in what was left of a communications room, the Twi’lek holstered his blaster rifle and adopted a more casual stance, “He was worse when the cleanup started.”

“Hard to imagine that.”

“You’d be amazed, sir,” the second marine, a young man from Kuat, if Jyren remember correctly, raised his helmet slightly, “Also, Commodore Nok sends his congratulations on a successful survey.”

Now allowing himself to smile, Jyren nodded. The entire fleet was behind him. Well, no, they were behind the Zephyrs. It was not unique to just the one squadron, of course, but it was a bit stronger since the name had gotten around a great deal after Agamar. It also helped, in this particular case, that Jyren knew these two marines. A fact that was probably not known by the Intelligence officer.

“If they’re done with the questioning, would you mind taking my son back up to the ship?” Jyren asked. These were two of the marines that rotated shifts...guarding Tobias. Truthfully, they were really meant to make sure he didn’t wander off, but that wasn’t anything that bothered Jyren.

“Yes, sir,” the Kuati man nodded. There was a series of weak salutes that were only done for formalities’ sake, and the two marines left.

Jyren sighed and looked down at the computer console off to his side. It was damaged and, by the time he’d got to it, the marines and the Intelligence man had found him. He had managed to ask if any information had been gathered from the consoles, but he had been brushed off. Which meant something had been learned. Which, to Jyren, was a good thing...even if he didn’t get to see things.

But it wasn’t time to leave just yet.

“Excuse me, sir.”

Jyren looked up to see Loro step into the room, and Rea poking her head around the corner carefully. Jyren motioned for them to come in, and decided to just skip the question and get straight to the answer, “We’re not going to be able to poke around here unnoticed anymore.”

Rea stepped into the room completely and asked, “So we’re heading back?”

“Not yet,” he shook his head and stood up straight, “There’s still something I need to check on down here.”

“You mean ‘we’?” Loro asked after a moment.

That got a sigh from Jyren. He didn’t like the idea of the two of them coming with him. It was going to bring up a lot of questions that needed to be avoided. But he couldn’t send them back without raising too many questions. Which meant, “Sorry...yes. Something we need to check on down here.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Just an update...

No, I'm still alive. But the new semester has started and its taken a bit to get settled in and such. However, things are good now and I'm into a schedule that's working well.

This means, of course, that updates should be getting back to some sense of normal by tomorrow.


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## Angcuru

Huzzah!


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 396: One Step Forward*

Names were things that Marix had grown up learning as unnecessary. Or, at least, not for her or her ‘kind’. Because of this, then, it was not surprising that many times, Marix simply did not pay names any attention. It was the reason she did not know the name of the planet hanging in space in front of her, despite having been to it more than once. In fact, it was where she had taken Jyren not long before the twins were born as an escape from the general chaos of the Palace on Alraxia.

But even without a name, she knew the planet. It was on the edge of Alraxian space, and only inhabited by small, generally harmless creatures. Unlike Alraxia, it was not forested and had very little oceans. Instead, it was mountainous and dotted with a small number of rivers and lakes near the equator, where most of the native life survived.

From this distance, it was impossible to see the Mrrakesh, but Marix knew they were there. She could feel them...a heavy veil in the distance, making it difficult to see beyond. Shaking her head, she looked down at the various lights and objects in Loki’s cockpit and asked, “Still no response?”

[They are ignoring us.] the ship answered, a hint of a sigh(or whatever a Kanyak considered a sigh) at the end of that.

It was not surprising, though. They had sat there for over an hour, transmitting a simple, unencrypted signal to the planet and waiting for some kind of response. The fact that the Mrrakesh were obviously ignoring something as simple as that was not a good sign. In their own space, they had a habit of treating outsiders this way, but Marix refused to accept that this was, in fact, their space now.

“Are you sure they’re getting it?” she asked yet again, not really wanting to move beyond this point but knowing it was going to have to be done very soon.

[Absolutely.] Loki couldn’t nod, but the feeling was there. [There are two warships in orbit easily within range to detect both us and the signal...they are simply ignoring us.]

It had now been long past the time that had been originally planned on to wait. Marix wasn’t going to be able to hold this position any longer and just watch the blank nothing in front of her. A heavy sigh escaped her and she ran a hand through her hair, getting a few loose strands of it out of her face as she tried to think. She was glad Jyren wasn’t here for this. That would have been one more distraction that she didn’t need right now...

...but this wasn’t like previous times. Jyren wasn’t all that was on her mind. The twins were safe back on Alraxia in the Palace, but unlike everything else, she simply could not find a way to thrust them from her thoughts. They just hung there, getting in the way of what she needed to do in the form of worries that never in her life had she expected to encounter. There was no way Marix could find to just put them out of her mind, or at least bury the thoughts as she was able to do with Jyren when it was necessary.

And so, Marix decided, she would just have to find a way to survive with them.

“Send a message to the Knights,” she said quietly, “Tell them to make their way here immediately.”

*  *  *  *​ 
“There’s something here,” Jyren stated firmly as the three of them stood in the middle of the street off in the outskirts of the main city on Obroa-Skai.

The Mon Calamari, Loro, gave him a sideways glance before saying, “It is an unmarked residence...but yes, I expect there is something here.”

“Something important,” Jyren grumbled, already tired of trying to hide the fact that he was allowing the Force to guide him from these two.

On his others side, his Twi’lek wingmate wrinkled her nose, “And you know this...how? We’ve been wandering in circles following nothing for half an hour.”

Jyren turned to give her a look he’d learned from Marix, then said flatly, “And now we’ve found something. Just trust me.”

The last part had been repeated so many times now that Jyren was beginning to sound like a broken holorecorder. However, every time he said it, the two of them went quiet. At least Tobias had gone back to the ship in orbit without much of a fight.

But without allowing this to go any farther, Jyren stepped up the couple of steps to the door and hit the small button to its side. For a long moment, they just stood there looking awkward, but soon the door slid open with a soft hiss to reveal a human female roughly Jyren’s age. Her hair was pulled back and she was wearing the kind of clothes that one would expect from someone who did a great deal of work...however, her features showed none of the details that would confirm that.

She looked confused for a half second after the door opened, but even the other two pilots caught the sudden change in her expression afterwards. However, the two of them didn’t know why. Jyren did.

“Afternoon,” Jyren nodded his head politely, “We are part of the New Republic Intelligence and are following up some leads...would you mind answering a few questions?”

“Of course,” she spoke with a thick Coruscanti accent, and motioned for them to come in before leading them to a very small room with a few minimal pieces of furniture. Both Loro and Rea were not foolish enough to ignore how odd all of this was. She was being too cooperative and a little too helpful without asking any questions at all. Something was up.

When they’d sat down, the two younger pilots got another surprise, as Jyren leaned forward to look the woman in the eyes and got straight to the point that neither of them knew was coming, “What were you doing in that Peace Brigade cell earlier today?”

“What are you talking about?” she was a good liar.

“Please, its been a long day and I’m not in the mood for games,” Jyern shook his head, “I know you were there. You left a trail leading here easy enough for a kowokian monkey lizard to follow. And that,” Jyren pointed to a small, hand-sized cylindrical object that was ‘decorating’ a nearby table, “Is not very well disguised.”

For a long time, there was nothing but the silence that the shock of his direct questions had brought up. But then, the woman sighed and hung her head before looking back up at Jyren and grumbling, “Those were for Master Skywalker to follow, not whoever the hell you are.”

“Well I found them,” Jyren snapped, “And I’m here, and I need to know what is going on here.”

“And why, exactly, should I trust anything you say?” that question seemed to be more of a default one to ask rather than something that actually needed to be spoken out loud.

And because of it, one more thing was added to confuse the two non-humans in the room when Jyren said, “You know you can. You wouldn’t have let us in if you didn’t. And, as far as I know, Skywalker isn’t anywhere near this planet, so I wouldn’t be expecting any help from him if that’s what you were hoping for. You’re stuck with what you can get, and that’s us. So I suggest you tell us what the New Republic wasn’t able to figure out and why you hid that Vong’s body in the storage room.”


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 397: Two Steps Back*

The stunned silence that hung in the small room where Jyren, Rea, Loro, and the currently-unnamed human woman sat was most definitely not a comfortable one. Rea and Loro were completely lost, wondering if Jyren was even more out of his mind than they’re originally thought...and the woman...she was...unreadable. In fact, so was Jyren. That was the most unsettling part about the entire time after he’d gone quiet.

But eventually, it went away, when the woman said quietly, “You’re Jedi.”

“No,” Jyren’s voice was just as firm as before, a trick he’d picked up after being around Tobias so long. It worked extremely well with...well...anything, “But we found the trail you left behind, and now we’re here. What is going on here?”

There was another silence, but this one didn’t last nearly as long. It seemed as if she was going through the last few motions of trying to understand if she really could trust any of them. However, something definitely won out, as her shoulders slumped slightly and she said in the same quiet voice as before, “The Vong found something nearby. A system or something like that. The Peace Brigade had some kind of records of whatever it was, but it was destroyed in the raid.”

“What about the dead Vong?” Jyren asked, adopting a more helpful tone and doing his best to exude a sense of calm through the Force, “What was a Yuuzhan Vong doing here?”

“I...I’m not really sure...” she mumbled, sighing and shaking her head. While the woman was definitely the age that Jyren should have been(he tried not to think about that too much, as it had a way of causing headaches), Jyren couldn’t help thinking of her as much younger. But maybe that was mostly his fault, and so he tried not to push too hard as she trailed off, simply trying a helpful nudge through the Force. After a bit, she shrugged and looked to the other two in the room, “They have to know about the libraries here...about all the information. Maybe...maybe the Vong was here to find more information?”

It was a fairly logical thought...but rarely did logic dictate Vong actions, and so, it was bothering Jyren greatly, “What is your name?”

The sudden change had a way of shaking things up...but Jyren had meant it to alleviate tension and get as much information as he could. Something here was very wrong, he could feel it. He was sure of it. After quickly recovering from the sudden change, she managed an answer, “Venda.”

Jyren nodded, and motioned to the two very-confused pilots with him, “This is Rea and Loro. My name is Jyren. We’re a part of Starfighter Command and we arrived just a matter of hours ago with the defense fleet...we aren’t here to get in the way of any Jedi business. We just want to help...the same as you.”

“Starfighter Command?” Venda mumble, obviously going over it herself, before giving him a confused look, “But you’re a—“

”I’m a pilot,” he cut her off quickly, not wanting her to even suggest the next part and, honestly, knowing it wasn’t necessary. He was a pilot. And that was all that was important. But, while she obviously didn’t accept that completely, Venda held back anything else, allowing Jyren to push back to the first subject, “You know more about what was going on here, Venda...don’t you? You wouldn’t have left a trail here if you didn’t have something to tell that you didn’t want broadcasted across the Holonet. I know we aren’t who or what you expected, but we can help...we need to know what you found out.”

The woman let out another sigh but this one was coupled with the slightest of nods. She took a few moments in which Jyren could feel she was putting together a lot of chaos in her mind, and then, looked up again and spoke in a much calmer voice, “I infiltrated the Peace Brigade cell...that’s why I was there during the raid. It was hard enough getting in, considering they kill Jedi on sight. But I earned their trust, and I was able to keep just on the edge enough to stay out of view of the Vong. They’re just puppets of the Vong...they don’t realize it...or maybe they do and they simply don’t care, but the Vong are using them.”

She paused a moment, letting the information sink in. While it was suspected that there was a deeper connection than just sympathizers, a true, deep connection between the Peace Brigade and the Yuuzhan Vong was a dangerous thought that had remained in the world of people with unfocused imaginations.

“The Shaper...” Venda paused a moment and shook her head, “The Vong arrived two local days ago to coordinate some kind of information gathering. She was a Shaper...whatever that means. Her Basic was sketchy, but I was able to listen in on her orders to the leaders of the cell. She was looking for information in the Great Library here...information on a planet or a system or something like that near the Imperial Remnant. The only details she expressed was something about a scout group finding evidence of a large power in the Unknown Regions,” she shrugged and shook her head, “Obviously, there’s nothing in any kind of detail about the Unknown Regions. If there was, they wouldn’t be unknown. So that’s all I know.”

There was something in that which was causing Jyren’s stomach to turn. The uneasiness was growing considerably, and he still couldn’t pinpoint why. Quickly, he scrambled into a pocket in his jacket and produced a datapad, as he was bringing up some information, he said quickly, “If I can bring up a map of the galaxy can you show me where?”

Venda nodded, leaning forward to try to look at the datapad, “I think so. The Shaper spent a lot of time looking at maps while she was here. I managed to get a glimpse or two of where she was looking.”

In the time it took for all of that to be said, Jyren was able to bring up a rather crude holo of the galaxy on his datapad. The Core Worlds were green, the Mid Rim blue, and the Outer Rim orange. He tilted it down so that the Jedi woman could see it more clearly, and then waited. When she placed a finger on the screen to indicate the location, Jyren felt his heart skip a beat.

Nearly snatching it back to look more carefully, and putting the pieces together, himself, his head shot up and he couldn’t help the sudden hint of panic that shot across his face, “You’re sure?”

“I think so,” she said, trailing off and then asking, “What’s wrong? You feel...terrified.”

“Are you alright, Captain?” Loro spoke up from his side, leaning in to get a look at the map, himself, but having no trouble seeing the distress on Jyren’s face.

Rea was doing the same on the other side of him, leaning in and asking, “What’s there?”

Jyren’s mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried to find a way to dig himself out of this. But there wasn’t a way. Now, not only did both Rea and Loro have a lot of suspicions about Jyren, but this Jedi here was also able to see his reaction to where she’d pointed...where nothing should have been, but everything was. And to make it all the worse, the Vong knew where the Gate was...they could get to Alraxia...they even sounded interested in it...

A beep from his belt caused Jyren to jump just slightly. He immediately dropped the datapad onto the floor and grabbed the comlink, switching it on and asking a little too quickly, “What?!”

The voice that came back was that of Rulae Nok, “Captain, we need you three back up here now. A large Yuuzhan Vong force has just arrived in the system.”

And now that.

“We’re on our way,” Jyren got to his feet immediately, pocketing the comlink and ignoring the datapad on the ground. Rea and Loro got up just as quickly, still concerned about Jyren but knowing where they needed to be. Even Venda got to her feet, heading for the lightsaber that was a ‘decoration’ on a side table as the other three quickly headed for the exit.

Jyren stopped as the other two headed out into the street and turned to face the woman, “I need you to come with me.”

She had just finished hooking the lightsaber to her belt when she reached him. Of course, she had to ignore that and say something else entirely, “They don’t know you’re a Jedi, do they?”

“I’m not a Jedi,” he said firmly, not wanting to get into this again, “And they don’t even need to hear you suggest that. Do you understand?”

Venda just shook her head, “You bury yourself like no one I’ve ever encountered.”

He tried to ignore that, and instead asked, “Are you coming or not?”

“Lead the way.”

He did.

But when they exited the small building to meet Rea and Loro in the street, they were greeted by the two of them staring up into the sky. Of course, that meant both Jyren and Venda’s heads went up, too.

“I think they arrived in system earlier than just now,” Rea mumbled.

The usually clear sky of Obroa-Skai was pocketed with asteroid-like objects careening down. Red and green turbolaser fire could be seen arcing up towards the rocks, but nearly all of it was absorbed by the dovin basals aboard each of the Vong ships.

The Mon Calamari looked to Jyren first, “Its not going to be easy to get up there in a shuttle craft with the Vong already landing.”

If the Vong were already landing, the planet was already lost.

But Jyren didn’t say that.

Instead, he looked to the others, then said simply, “Then it won’t be easy.”

And then he broke into a spring towards the docking port, with the three others right behind.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

As you can tell, updates are going to be a bit erratic for a bit. This is mainly because I'm loaded down with the requirement to do tons of sketches a night. So, obviously, that takes priority. 

However, wanted to peek in here and let you guys know that I AM going to do something I'd mentioned before the crash a few months ago. It may take a bit, but I'm going to compile a list of all the music and such that either goes with the story at points, or just fits the characters, etc. Once its together, I'll post the list with song name, etc etc...it'll be EXTREMELY random, though, as there's so much that has gotten things going that I just stick to certain scenes and such.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 398: Diving In*

A wave of Kanyak was not something normally seen. Alraxian space was safe enough that one could normally travel alone with little difficulty. And so, even to Marix, the sight of a thirty of the ships of various sizes darting straight towards the planet in front of them was like nothing ever seen. But that wasn’t actually holding her attention for the moment. Her eyes, and all her other sense, were focused the nothern edge of the planet where two Mrrakesh battle cruisers were approaching them. The metal sheen of the ships was easily visible thanks to the system’s nearby blue star, and it was obvious how alien the ships were compared to the living Kanyaks. Not to mention four times their size.

“We need to move faster,” Marix said, her hands on the control yoke despite the fact that Loki was taking a direct course straight for the planet.

[Thirty seconds before the Mrrakesh are close enough to fire.] Loki announced, a hint of nervousness in his voice. Kanyak had thick hulls and some even had very unique shields that were unlike anything in the rest of the galaxy due to being integrated with an actual lifeform, but Mrrakesh weapons were extremely powerful. In the few instances of a fight between the two ships, the Kanyaks rarely survived. Their sole advantage was in speed.

Eyes darting down to the sensor board, Marix focused on the Network and sent a simple message to the other pilots and their ships. [Everything to the drive systems. Head straight for the camps that have set up on the surface.]

‘Camps’ was not the right word. In fact, what was really down there was another of the cruisers that a small series of encampments had been built up around. The other planet in the system that the Mrrakesh had taken was likely occupied in the same way. 

As they darted for the planet below, the group of ships pulled in closer together, forming a much tighter group in the process. It was not necessarily the best of plans to avoid any fire from the Mrrakesh, but it was a habit of Kanyak when they traveled in groups to stay close to one another. There was only so much that could be done to counteract that instinct.

And then there was a flash off to the side. Marix’s eyes shot up to see a bright green beam fly straight from the cruisers towards them...but it hit nothing. Instead, it passed a good distance in front of them.

[A warning shot.] Loki announced.

Marix shook her head, “Mrrakesh don’t fire warning shots.”

Yet another thing that just plain didn’t add up. By now it was starting to make her angry, but Marix held that down and kept her focus.

She glanced over to the side again to see the small shining spots where the cruisers were as the planet grew to encompass the entire viewport, “Why isn’t the second ship coming up behind us?”

Again, something else that didn’t fit. Surround and destroy. They Kanyaks were close enough to the planet that it would be very difficult to escape at all if they were cut off from behind, and the Mrrakesh had to know that...yet both of the cruisers were simply coming towards them.

[They’re firing again.]

Loki spoke up before Marix caught the flash. The green beam lanced towards them, and suddenly there was a violent shock of pain that wracked through the Force. The Network immediately explained, as one of the outer ships had taken a hit to its wing. The pilot and others aboard were alive, but the Kanyak had been knocked unconscious from the violence of the impact. This meant the pilot was doing his best to control a half-dead ship.

One down.

It wasn’t long before there was another flash, but this one came from the surface directly below them. Another green lance shot up, just barely streaking over Loki and hitting one of the rear ships directly on its nose. There was another violent shock through the Force, and then a sudden nothingness.

Two down.

With the Kanyaks entering the atmosphere and charging straight down towards the surface, the fire from the three cruisers was intensifying. Beam after beam of green energy shot out towards the formation of Kanyaks from their left flank and directly ahead. Again and again, a Kanyak was hit...only two survived direct hits.

With only twenty Kanyaks left, the cruiser on the ground was visible. By now, the two in orbit could not fire without risking hitting their ally, and the formation of Kanyaks had come so close to the surface that the remaining ship on the ground could not fire accurately at all.

The Network did all the work of coordinating the remaining ships movements, and so no call was needed when they reached a very low point to the surface. All of a sudden, the formation broke up and pulled up, dispersing in various directions around the still-firing cruiser beneath them. They were headed for the ground now, surrounding the grounded ship and finding safe, guarded places on the surface to set down.

Loki was one of the first to set down on the planet, wedged beneath a small rock outcropping just north of the large Mrrakesh cruiser. As he was setting down, Marix was already out of the cockpit and headed for the hatch. She wore the light armour that she had always carried with her as a Tam’Day’U, with a short, metal blade at her hip and her lightsaber hidden in a small pocket on her leg.

The hatch opened to a hot, dry air that Marix ignored and immediately stepped out into, her eyes darting along the immediate area as her ears, nose, and Force senses checked for any sign of an ambush. There was none, so she started up around the hill that led out and to where the cruiser was landed. On the way there, she caught sight of a group of five other Tam’Day’U who had landed nearby. All were similarly equipped and moving like she was, low to the ground but extremely fast. There were a few Knights among the landing groups, and they were distinguishable only by the weapons they carried...short blades much like the Tam’Day’U, but crafted of a hardened crystal from Alraxia that was not nearly as dangerous to them as metal was.

And so, from all sides, the Tam’Day’U and the Knight approached. The twenty ships that had made it to the ground meant there were sixty three Alraxians on the ground. The ship they were all approaching easily held three times that many Mrrakesh, who, individually, were easily a match for even the strongest Tam’Day’U. And they had no element of surprise here. This, at least, was planned for.

Marix and ten others would be heading to find the leader that would most definitely be on the ground. Alive or dead, dealing with him was currently the best option in driving the Mrrakesh away. And with the ship on the ground, it was likely he was near the bridge watching and coordinating the efforts to stop this attack. It meant finding him would not be nearly as hard as getting to him.

But that would, hopefully, be made easier by the remainder of the ground force who carried explosives and other devices designed to act as a major distraction. They simply had to hold the majority of the Mrrakesh away from the bridge until the leader was dealt with. Easier said than done, but it was something all of them, Knights, Tam’Day’U, and Empress, were determined to make happen.

They had no other choice.

If this didn’t work...what was to stop the Mrrakesh from taking other planets?

So, as quickly and carefully as they could, the Alraxians approached the grounded cruiser that was being fortified and prepared for an attack every second it took them to arrive.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Sorry for the lack of updates lately...but for some reason I'm just not feeling it for the moment. Trying to get through this, as I can't seem to get a damned sketch down on paper, either.

Going to push a little harder this week and TRY to get something down. Just one of those  weeks, it seems.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 399: Regrets to Come*

Flames engulfed most of the city by the time that Jyren and the others got anywhere near the docking bays. Not moments earlier, waves of tear-dropped shaped Coralskippers broke through the minimal defenses of the planet and performed a series of random, but very destructive, strafing runs. It had been hard to tell, then, what exactly had been hit beyond random buildings...but now it was obvious.

“I think we have a problem,” the Mon Calamari pilot, Loro, said flatly as they stared at the mostly destroyed series of docking bays that were concentrated in the area of the city they had taken a long five minutes to run to.

They all exchanged a series of quick glances, and it was Venda who spoke up, “The other port is on the north edge of the city...” as she trailed off, she caught on to the fact that they were all staring at her, then clarified, “A ten minute walk on a good day.”

Rea sighed and shook her head, resting a hand on her blue forehead, “So an hour today. Wonderful.”

Jyren had only considered trying to check the other port for a few short moments. This ended when his eyes glanced up to see more of the rock-like ships coming down and littering the entire sky. He shook his head, “We don’t have time for that. This planet is lost and we need to get out of here now.”

There was a silent agreement on this, and all eyes turned to what was left of the docking bays. It was about that time, conveniently enough, that four very large, very well armoured Yuuzhan Vong rounded the corner right in front of them.

They stopped short when they caught sight of the four others, and Jyren took that moment to step in front of the rest and say, “Find a ship and get off this rock. I’ll keep their attention.”

Any and all arguments to that were silenced when Jyren withdrew a small object from his jacket’s inside pocket. Though he knew, if he survived this, that he was going to regret this, Jyren eyed the four Vong, who were now starting towards them, and thumbed the activation switch on his lightsaber.

Snap-hiss!

The noise alone caused another slowing by the Vong, their eyes locking onto the bright, blue-green blade immediately. One of them growled something that Jyren couldn’t undersand, and in another second the four Vong were charging at him, amphistaff’s rigid like giant staves.

“This is the part where you run, dammit!” Jyren growled over his shoulder. It was all he had time for. And, unlike every other fight he’d been in, the Force wasn’t screaming at him to move. Thankfully, Jyren was expecting this and his eyes and ears were doing their jobs.

In a quick motion, he dropped to the ground and rolled to his left, barely dodging both a vertical and a horizontal slash of two amphistaff. As he came up into a crouching position, he whipped his lightsaber around and slashed at one the nearest warrior. There was a grunt of pain as the blade cut through the armour at his ankle and found the skin beneath. It was enough to throw the warrior off balance and to the ground, putting him out of the fight for maybe ten seconds.

The long sweep of Jyren’s blade ended just above his head, catching another vertical slice at him, and parrying away the amphistaff meant to cleave him in two. While delivering a strong kick to the Vong’s stomach to throw the warrior back a few steps and give Jyren room, he caught sight of Venda, Rea, and Loro running past towards the docking bays.

Finally.

But it wasn’t going to be that easy, apparently.

Just as the kicked warrior charged in for another violent series of strikes and the injured one got off of the ground and came for Jyren’s flank, the two remaining warriors turned and headed for the fleeing trio.

That was typical.

The minor distraction that provided meant that Jyren’s felt a sudden, sharp pain across his right shoulder. He spun away to end the amphistaff’s blade from going any deeper, backing up and parrying two more fast strikes meant to carve him to pieces.

This was not a fight he was going to win.

Resisting the urge to remorph the wound and simply ignoring it for the moment, Jyren took another two steps back, sidestepping a heavy swing from the first Vong and then using the Force to propel him over the two warriors. Jyren landed easily and started sprinting after the two others warriors as fast as he could, calling on the Force both to help him ignore the pain and give strength to his legs. Realizing he wasn’t going to catch them and knowing that the other three were being smart enough not to turn and fight and instead simply run for it, Jyren decided on an alternate course of action.

One good thing about the heavy attacks on the city was that there was debris everywhere. While it made running somewhat difficult, it also provided Jyren with a series of very heavy, very lethal weapons. Reaching out with the Force, Jyren found a rather large piece of rubble and took a mental hold of it. Then, with all of his ‘strength’ he hurled it at the two Vong in between him and the other three.

This was much easier said than done...as, normally, the Force could be used to aim the projectile, also. In this case, however, the Vong were simply not there according to the Force, and so, Jyren had to aim with his eyes and throw with the Force...something very awkward and unlike anything he was used to.

Perhaps that was why the thud of the human-sized piece of duracrete hitting the two Vong and flinging them to the ground felt so damn good. The heavy noise also caused the other three to turn around and see Jyren catching up to them. But they stopped when they turned, with both Rea and Loro drawing their blaster pistols finally and waving at Jyren to move.

He didn’t risk glancing behind him, and instead ducked as low as he could while still running to give them clear shots. A series of blaster bolts shot straight over him, some close enough that Jyren could smell the ozone burn in the air, and it wasn’t long before he heard two more thuds. At that time, he stood up straight and managed a glance back to see the other two Vong were down, unmoving.

By now, he’d caught up to the others, two of whom were staring at him in disbelief. The human woman, Venda, however, was giving him a very cautious look. Jyren simply ignored it and looked to the two pilots, still somewhat out of breath, “This is no time for what both of you are about to say so keep it sealed,” he shook his head then pointed to the docking bay facilities in front of them with his lightsaber, “We’re not out of this yet.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 400: Getting Worse*

Only four of them remained.

Marix looked over her shoulder a moment to the other three Alraxians who had survived their infiltration, if it could be called that, into the currently-grounded Mrrakesh ship. They were safe for the moment, though...hidden within a smaller air duct that was easy to climb and also very much ignored. It also helped that it was just the right size for an average Alraxian to fit into.

And so six, at least, were dead...leaving herself with a single Tam’Day’U and two Knights. The Knights were behind her, with the other Tam’Day”U, a nameless female with nondescript brown-black hair, brought up the rear. In silence, they were heading upwards as far as this would take them. The metal walls made the other three nervous, but it wasn’t so much that they could not go on...they were forced to touch it, and all had taken the ‘precaution’ of putting on gloves and boots over their light armour. All except for Marix, of course.

While they moved up and Marix put the image of the very violent deaths of the other six out of her mind, a vicious fight was going on outside. The distraction to get the ten inside. It was not going well...but it wasn’t truly meant to. But it did mean that Alraxians were out there dying when they didn’t even have to be anymore. They were in, and so the distraction was no longer necessary.

...but it would continue until they were out. The only way it would stop would be if all of the Alraxians outside were killed, which was, sadly, a distinct possibility considering the force of Mrrakesh that had met them outside.

These, too, Marix pushed aside, focusing on the moment. Trying to put her mind back into the old ways of thinking. Focus. Focus on the kill. But no...this wasn’t necessarily a kill but...yes. Focus on the kill. Ahead. Above....near.

The bridge was two more decks up, roughly midway into the ship and slightly off center of the bulky warship’s body. If all went well, and it probably hadn’t, there would be very little people there beyond whoever was in charge. Again, if all went well, the Mrrakesh had no idea at all that there were four Alraxians inside their ship. Their group had met the attack force outside, and the six had died outside...but so had the attackers...which meant Marix and the others had been able to slip through, hopefully, unnoticed.

And then they were at the top.

She made no signal at all, knowing that the Mrrakesh could easily detect them through the Force if they attempted any kind of communication through the Network. Thankfully, the others did not need signals. There were unspoken commands that were like instincts to even the Knights now.

In front of her face was a somewhat large panel that looked like it could be removed to exit the duct and into the actual ship itself. It was a risk, but Marix reached out very carefully through the Force before trying anything...

...empty.

Focusing on the moment, still, and not letting the feelings of the fighting outside get to her, she extended her claws and quietly cut the panel off. She pushed it out, and quickly followed, getting to her feet and finding herself actually on the bridge...that was a surprise.

Marix was near the back corner, shielded from view by a number of bulkheads and consoles, all of which had very sharp, slightly triangular, features to them. There was speaking and barking of orders in the Mrrakesh language ahead of her, and she very carefully risked a glance around the bulkhead she was now pressed against to get a better view of the situation.

The bridge itself was rectangular, with two sets of doors to Marix’s right, and a small viewport on the opposite wall that provided a somewhat limited view of the world outside. In between were consoles, all triangular, as were the chairs in front of them, and all a shiny, polished metal. The quick scan of the room showed four Mrrakesh. Two were sitting in chairs monitoring consoles, while two others were standing at the viewport looking out carefully.

It was not hard to identify the commander, as he wore a flat green uniform and was a head shorter than all of the others...who wore the normal Mrrakesh grey. Short...hmm...that was odd. He was about her size, actually, which was odd enough for a Mrrakesh in general, but especially for a commander. He would have been seen as weak and...hmm...something was odd about this.

By now, the two Knights had escaped the confines of the air duct and were next to her, tightly pressed to the wall and clinging crystalline weapons close and ready to move the second she did. And then, just as the Tam’Day’U was getting to her feet, the door next to them slid open with a loud hiss.

It was bad enough that the two Mrrakesh at the viewport turned to look...but the real problem was that three very large Mrrakesh soldiers stepped in, immediately seeing the four Alraxians who had snuck into the bridge. The lupine features of each of the soldiers curled into snarls and a sharp growl was elicited from one as he snatched for an energy weapon at his side.

He never got to it.

The Tam’Day’U with them swung her feet around, sending the Mrrakesh onto his back with a heavy thud before she bounded up to her own feet and landed on his throat, making a distinct twist as she landed to crush his windpipe. A half second later a powerful, clawed arm slammed into the Tam’Day’U, sending her into the opposite bulkhead with an immense amount of force.

Marix saw the girl’s head snap back and the streak of soft blue when the body went limp. Dead. Another dead...

And two more were trying to follow, apparently.

The Knights had taken the opportunity to take two quick steps to the door and attack the two remaining Mrrakesh soldiers.  One managed to drive his blade through a weak point in the monstrous creature’s armor and then slid it across its chest, rupturing vital organs and creating more than one mortal wound...but this was answered by the Soldier firing his already-drawn weapon into the Knight’s stomach. Marix’s eyes saw the green pulse shake the Knight’s body before literally tearing through him and not only leaving a hole in the Alraxian, but a black mark on the bulkhead.

As the last remaining Knight grabbed the arm of the last of the Mrrakesh who had just entered, pushing its energy weapon to the side so that it couldn’t fire on either of them, Marix moved. Without time to draw her own weapon and seeing that the Mrrakesh soldier, who was nearly four meters tall, was about to simply tear the Knight’s arm off, Marix instead delivered a strong punch to the Mrrakesh’s nose.

It was stunned for a half second, long enough for the Knight to wrench the energy weapon out of the Mrrakesh’s hand. Not foolish enough to simply ignore this slight opening, Marix took the time to draw her small, metal blade, and drive it up through the underside of the Mrrakesh’s chin. If that didn’t kill it, nothing would.

The loud burst of sound from next to her indicated that the Knight had changed priorities, having turned the Mrrakesh’s own gun against them. One of the two seated Mrrakesh now had a very large, smoking mark across his face and was sprawled out on the deck unmoving. The other had drawn his own weapon and nearly squeezed off a shot, but Marix used the Force to violently launch him out of his chair and into the two others, only one of whom was actually drawing his own weapon.

The three Mrrakesh hit the deck together, all scrambling against one another to get back to their feet while two of them tried to fire their weapons at the two remaining Alraxians. But time seemed to stop for Marix...as she immediately noticed something that was very, very wrong.

When she had opened up herself to the Force to throw that Mrrakesh, she had only felt a one other Mrrakesh in the room...there should have been two. In fact, now, as they were standing in slow motion, the Force screamed at her that only two were standing, not three.

But her eyes told her something different...and according to them, the green uniformed commander was there, pushing to the side and not drawing an energy weapon, but a large Mrrakesh knife, which just happened to be a sword by most of the galaxies size standards.

By now, though, Marix knew exactly what the difference between her eyes and the Force meant...and it was a horrible, horrible thought. Something she didn’t want to be true but knew, right here and now, was.

A green pulse jolted her back into reality, and she dove forward and under it. Staying low, another pulse went over, hitting one of the two the Force told her was there and ending his short stint in this fight. Seeing the other taking aim at her, Marix flung her blade, using the Force to guide it. The metal weapon did not hit the Mrrakesh, but instead his gun, sending both weapons off to the side as the large Mrrakesh reeled back. It was enough time for the Knight to fire another shot to send the Mrrakesh sprawling.

And then the commander had reached her, swinging his weapon like she’d never seen a Mrrakesh swing one. She rolled to the left, reaching up with her arm to catch a backhanded swing from the short commander. Her arm hit his wrist, and she immediately twisted her hand around to grab his wrist, wrench the weapon from him, and then throw him hard onto his back.

That had been the intention at least.

Marix had only gotten as far as getting the weapon out of his hand, when the throw had been reversed, and she had been tossed into a nearby console to hit it hard at the same time as the pang of the metal knife hitting the ground off to the other side echoed through the room. The pain was short from her back, but before she had a chance to get to her feet and catch a very oddly placed strike that was coming towards her, another, final, pulse was fired, and the commander was flung to the side and then to the deckplates.

Silence took over.

Marix turned to look at the only remaining member of their infiltration team, and gave the Knight a simple nod. He half bowed before dropping the disgusting, metal weapon to the deck and then stepping over to her. He was not foolish enough to ask if she was alright.

Besides, she likely would not have heard him. The second she had remorphed the wounds from the fight, Marix stepped over to the commander of the Mrrakesh and rolled his body over. Very gently, she ran her hand up the back of his neck...then stopped.

There it was.

She shook her head and got to her feet, motioning to the Knight that it was time to transmit a retreat message to the Mrrakesh and then get off of the ship itself. As he did this, Marix’s mind reeled. There was a reason that Mrrakesh was short. It was a Vong. A Yuuzhan Vong...in a Mrrakesh suit. She’d seen human and Alraxian now...but Mrrakesh...attacking here...pushing the borders...

It was getting worse.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 401: Left Behind*

“That’s not our shuttle,” Loro said flatly...or at least, as much as a Mon Calamari could manage with their gravely voices.

Jyren glanced over his shoulder and then back to the small, and obviously modified, Lambda-class shuttle that had been popular among the Empire. This one had seen its share of hard times, obvious mainly through the fact that two of the side wings that were folded off ended halfway up their normal size. Chopped in half for whatever reason. Jyren headed for the shuttle, saying over his shoulder, “This is no time to be picky.”

Things were getting worse on the planet.

Above the bay was an open, square-shaped section that gave a very good view of the sky above...and the many ships clouding it. The Vong were all over, and they had been lucky not to encounter anymore on their way through the mess that was left of these hangars. But the Vong didn’t seem to care about the hangars...as the majority of the ships within were crushed by whatever the Vong had dropped on the buildings. It had taken a good deal of searching to find one ship that looked like it would fly.

As they headed to the shuttle’s ramp, which was extended but the door above still closed shut, it became apparent there was a problem.

It was locked.

Jyren first attempted the old fashion punch to the panel, but that did no good. He sighed and shook his head. Lightsaber could cut it open, but then they’d have a problem of a hole on the hull of the starship. A bad thing. So...

“Loro,” Jyren said, remembering the Mon Calamari’s background as a technician before he had joined Starfighter Command, “Can you get this open quickly?”

The Mon Calamari, still in a state of mild shock from all of the events in the past few minutes, stared blankly at Jyren for a long moment before nodding and stepping up the ramp to look at the panel. Sounding somewhat uncertain, he mumbled, “It may take time.”

“We don’t have much,” was Jyren’s quick answer as he stepped around to look up at the sky just in time to watch a squadron of coralskippers destroy a pair of escaping transports.

This was not going to be easy.

Rea’s voice cut through the sounds of the invasion force in a somewhat timid tone, “Um...Captain...”

Sliding his lightsaber hilt back into the inside pocket of his jacket, Jyren gave looked to the Twi’lek, “Not now.”

Before anything else could be said, and from the looks of it, the Jedi woman, Venda, was about to say something, Jyren’s comlink came to life with Rulae’s voice, “Captain? Where are you?”

His hand grabbed the small comlink quickly and hit the switch to let him talk, “We’re working on getting off the planet...” he bit his lip and looked up, trying not to watch another ship being destroyed, “We could use a little help once we’re in the air.”

The pause that followed was a very unsettling one. But then the voice of the Zephyr’s commander returned, “I’m sorry, but we can’t help you. All the fighters have been recalled and we’re retreating. Obroa-Skai is lost.”

Jyren stared at the comlink...so did all of the others, including Loro, who was still having trouble with the lock on the shuttle but suddenly didn’t care. Very slowly and as calmly as he could manage, Jyren said what they were all thinking, “You’re leaving us here.”

Another pause...then, “I apologize, Captain, but we can’t get through the Vong ships. There’s just too many.”

Jyren understood. It was probably worse in orbit than it was in the sky above them, which was something that he didn’t like thinking about at all...nor did he enjoy the idea of being left behind with such a heavy invasion force. It wasn’t hard, though, to feel the mood among the others dying, and so Jyren put on a stern voice he’d learned from Marix and said into the comlink, “Transmit the jump coordinates to my datapad. We’ll meet you there.”

He didn’t think they would.

In reality, Jyren doubted they’d make it into orbit.

...but they would try.

And though no voice returned in the comlink, the datapad at Jyren’s belt lit up with information. He didn’t bother looking at where, as it didn’t matter. But they had the information they needed to escape...if they could get out. Which was doubtful anyway. But...

“Get that hatch open,” Jyren growled, putting his comlink back and knowing that time was going to be even shorter than any of them had hoped. But this was more important than any of them here. Venda was too important...she had...information. Information about the Vong’s interest in the Alraxian worlds...and that they knew where the Gate was.

That had to get off the surface of Obroa-Skai and into the New Republic’s hands. A fleet had to go to the Gate, no matter how much the Alraxians would hate it or how much the New Republic failed to care about a system so far away. Jyren cared. And he would find a way to get them there...to protect his family and his home from what was most definitely coming.

“Are you alright?” Venda asked him, breaking the thoughts and surprising him for a moment, “You look...feel...terrified, still.”

Looking the woman in her eyes, Jyren just said, “Once we get out of here, then we’ll worry about other things.”

“Got it!” Loro yelled a little too loudly as the hatch hissed open.

In another few moments, they all ran into the ship, pulling the hatch back up as they headed for the cockpit at the nose of the modified Lambda shuttle. The interior was tighter than usual, hinting at more, unseen modifications that would hopefully not be completely useless. They crammed into the cockpit, noting there were only four seats instead of the usual six, with Jyren taking the pilot’s chair and Rea next to him at the co-pilot seat. Venda took the sensor station, with Loro at the guns.

As Jyren ran through the warm-up procedures for the ship as fast as he could manage, Rea took the datapad and input the hyperspace coordinates into the navcomputer. But then Loro mumbled, “Whoever this belonged to really cared about weapons...”

“What do you mean?” it was Rea who turned to ask that, trying to see the console in front of the Mon Calamari.

Loro’s two large eyes scanned the screen, reading off, “Shields are brand new model, the usual weaponry for a Lambda, but then two rear firing linked sets of lasers, what looks to be an underside turbolaser cannon, and at least two extra torpedo bays.”

At least they could kill a few Vong on the way up.

When the engines warmed up, Jyren started to get them into the air, looking up into the chaos above one more time as they began the slow rise, and said to the others, “Ready those weapons...we’re going to need everything we can get.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 402: Night Sky*

Marix stared out the window at the rest of the Palace she could see, not really paying attention to anything and barely noticing that Alraxia’s sun had set already. As she looked down on the barely-lit and definitely alive building that was encompassing most of her view, she couldn’t help but feel a certain hate for it all. No...no that wasn’t right. Not for the Palace...or the people...but...for her mother.

This was when they needed her the most, and now the Empire was stuck with an Empress who didn’t know what she was doing. At least, not in the diplomatic sense. If Marix’s mother hadn’t gone off and gotten herself killed for no good reason then they’d likely all be in better shape.

A sigh nearly escaped her, but the beginning of it was cut off by a giggle from behind. Marix turned her head slightly to look back into the room, easily finding the source of the sound. Not far behind her, the twins were playing with their toys, most of which she recognized as Jyren’s old toys. Though she didn’t particularly understand the actual reason the items existed, she had found that they were a good way to keep the twins entertained and not driving her mad.

Again, her silvery-violet eyes turned to look out the window, this time up towards the darkening sky. One of the moons was full, providing a fairly good light. Ten had made it back from the assault on the Mrrakesh. Three Tam’Day’U, including Marix, and seven Knights. But despite the heavy losses, which were expected, the mission had been a success. The Mrrakesh ship on the ground was destroyed with some clever rewiring of a few vital systems, and not long after the two ships in orbit left the system.

Within an hour of this, another large group of Knights arrived, this time in numbers to hold the unoccupied planet. A makeshift camp was built up in a safe location, and the previously empty planet was suddenly settled. Yes, it was only Knights, and they would not be there for too much longer, but it was settlement nonetheless. A sign to the Mrrakesh that the planet was Alraxian. The two other planets that had been taken were currently being left alone, the hope that the Mrrakesh would retreat on their own.

It was a hope that Marix was not sharing in.

She rubbed her forehead and tried to ignore the feeling of that old scar that was still there. A Vong amongst the Mrrakesh changed everything. Especially in a command position. Why the Vong even cared about their little corner of the galaxy was beyond Marix, but the whys rarely mattered. The fact was that they did, and they were using the Mrrakesh tensions to push the borders...probably even attempting to start up a war between the two peoples and leave the weak enough to be easily conquered.

And because of that, Marix found herself fighting her instincts. Everything in her told her to fight. To push the Mrrakesh out of their space and then take one of their planets to show them that the Alraxian Empire was not weak...but if the Vong were truly behind this...no. That couldn’t be done. It would lead to outright war. A war that the Alraxians likely wouldn’t win...especially knowing that the Vong had the location of the Gateway. So caution was required...a kind of caution that Marix had never before had to deal with.

All of this, she had sent to Jyren through a long-range message that would be relayed by the Knights stationed at the Gateway. The problem with that, however, was the message had been sent three Alraxian hours before...and Jyren always responded immediately. There had been no word from him. That, in itself, was worrying. He was too damned clingy, both with Marix and the twins, to not respond after so long. It didn’t help that, though the twins both still had very limited vocabularies, they were both very good at asking where their daddy was.

Turning from the window, Marix walked over to sit back in a rather large chair near where the twins were playing. Children were not something Marix had ever understood, and the twins were not much of an exception. Though she found herself learning a great deal, it was hard to see the silvery tint to their eyes and realize that they were both here...happy...playing...feeling.

By their age, Marix was learning to kill...being turned into a weapon. She shook her head. And that wasn’t happening to anyone anymore. The Tam’Day’U training was still there, but was voluntary, and now a part of the Alraxians Knights. Children of Tobias’ age were accepted into the Knights, but not infants. And so this was all something terribly new...the significance of it all was not lost on Marix, and perhaps that was one of the problems she was having. It was lost on Jyren. He understood it at one level, but didn’t feel it at another.

Marix closed her eyes and forced away the millions of stray thoughts, bringing one important thing to the forefront of her mind. 

What to do next?

The message to Jyren had basically been asking what he had found out along with information on what had occurred in Alraxian space. Their link was distant that she couldn’t feel a thing from him beyond the fact that, somewhere out there, he was there. But what could be done next?

Nothing.

It always came back to that.

Any action could provoke the war that would destroy them...but no action...no action...it felt wrong. It just all felt wrong to not do anything at all. Her mother would have known what to do...damn that woman! Marix was never indecisive but she had never before had to decide things for billions of people! Damn her mother!

As that thought echoed through her mind, a series of tugs could be felt on Marix’s trouser leg. She opened her eyes to look down and see the twins both climbing up, doing their best to not use their claws, which were very sharp and something they had been yelled at about far too many times. In a moment, they were up in her lap, grinning up at her with those big eyes and Marix wondered how they could just disarm her so easily like that. Even Jyren couldn’t pull that off...but the twins...it was like nothing she had ever experienced. When they were like this, so happy for who knew what reason, it was intoxicating...and it always found a way of bringing a genuine smile to Marix’s face.

“Let me guess,” she said to the both of them, “You’re hungry.”

There was a series of nods from both, and Marix’s smile didn’t fade. In one motion, she had one little child in each arm and was on her feet, heading to find the three of them something edible. For the moment, the worries were gone. Sucked away thanks to two pairs of eyes that could dispel anything. It was not lost on Marix how much she had changed in the past years, but she also couldn’t help but think it wasn’t a bad thing. It was different, of course, but not bad.

The bad things, the truly dangerous ones, were all around them, kept out by the borders that had held for thousands of years. Borders that were failing. Borders that they couldn’t protect. The thought of what might happen if they truly fell was one that Marix would not even entertain. And yet, through the Force, she could feel it...something growing. Maybe it was what Jyren had seen, she didn’t know. But it was close, and it was coming, and it was going to make everything worse.

But for now...dinner.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 403: Straight Shooting*

“The shields are down!” Rea said a little too loudly in the rather cramped cockpit as they took another hit from pursuing coralskippers. 

Jyren gritted his teeth as he continued to weave and maneuver around the six fighters that were after him, “The bloody shields are always down!” he paused a moment to yank the ship hard to starboard and out of the way of a series of shots from a pair of skips that had decided to come at them head on, “Dammit, Loro, shouldn’t you be shooting things?!”

“I’m trying!” the Mon Calamari growled back, “If you’d fly straight I might hit something!”

“If I fly straight they’ll hit something!”

Though Jyren was unable to take his eyes off of the view in front of him, he gave the Jedi woman behind him a nudge through the Force. She responded to it exactly how he’d hoped, but in a much calmer tone than the other three in the small cockpit of the shuttle, “No sign of the New Republic fleet.”

“What?!” Rea spun around, one of her head tails nearly hitting Jyren in the face in the process.

Jyren shot her a quick glare before avoiding the shots of the coralskippers from behind them, “They weren’t going to wait for us. Tell me you’ve got the coordinates in the navcomputer already.”

The blue atmosphere of Obroa-Skai had given away to the blackness of space just a few moments earlier. The usual empty blackness was dotted with a series of rocky objects that could only be the Yuuzhan Vong fleet. It was also easy to tell that at least three of the smaller cruiser-analogs were slowly making their way towards their shuttle’s current course.

“The computer’s ready,” Rea said, finally turning back to face forward to see what was going on in front of them. Hundreds of other objects were turning towards them, also...more coralskippers. And though Jyren was taking a very roundabout and random path to get them out of the planet’s gravity well, he was still going towards the larger mass of oncoming ships. Very quietly, but just loud enough to be heard over the curses of Loro from behind them at the guns, Rea mumble, “...sir...”

“What?” Jyren tried not to snap at her, but considering the current situation, it was hard not to snap at himself, even. It felt like he was flying blind...unable to feel where his enemies would fire and instead having to just...guess. The Force told him nothing about these enemies. This was what everyone else must have felt like...it was amazing that anyone survived a dogfight at all, as Jyren knew that his Force senses were what kept him alive nearly every time.

Rea very carefully pointed forward, and though the ship juked(as much as a shuttle could juke, of course) to the side her finger remained fairly steady towards the same point, “More skips are coming at us.”

This time, Jyren managed to not glare at the Twi’lek. He may not be able to use the Force to detect the Vong, but he wasn’t an idiot. Instead, though, Jyren simply ground out, “I know.”

He sent another Force nudge to Venda behind him, who responded exactly as he had hoped for the second time. She was good.

“One minute at our current speed and we can jump,” she said in the same disturbingly calm voice. It was the one thing that always made Jyren angry about the Jedi that came from Skywalker’s academy. They sounded so damned arrogant. Always calm when it was definitely stupid to be so.

But one minute they could make. From the looks of it, the oncoming skips were far enough off that they wouldn’t get close enough to fire...Jyren glanced to the larger ships, having no idea the range for the cruiser-analog’s weapons and hoping they were just large and very far away instead of simply getting very close. Which just left the skips behind that Jyren was doing fine with keeping their fire off of the ----

Suddenly, a violent explosion rocked the shuttle, deafening all of them for a few seconds. Jyren had been thrown forward, but had managed to catch himself before going face-first into the consoles. Alarms were blaring suddenly, and a quick glance to the viewport showed a dizzying spin that made him feel sick, so instead Jyren quickly looked down at all of the alarms and very red lights.

Shields were out. That he already knew. Sublight drives down...right stabilizer wasn’t functioning...maybe that was the grey blur he had seen for a moment flash past the viewport...the outer hull was breached but the cabin and most other important areas of the ship were still safe...

He looked to the side to see Rea hadn’t caught herself, and was currently face down on the console with a trickle of red from her forehead. Looking back, Loro had managed to grab Rea’s seat but it looked like his wrist had broken from the force of the hit, and Venda had managed to hold herself upright through the Force. Alright...people were alive. Next focus. Quickly. Think.

You can’t fly this thing. No drives. Spinning. Easy target...one minute to hyperspace jump...the Jedi held herself up...

“Venda!” Jyren yelled behind him, noticing his voice sounded muffled and actually noticing he was hearing a ringing in his ears now, too, “Get the ship straight and point us to our jump trajectory!”

“I don’t know if I—"

"Remember what Loro and I were just yelling about?” he cut her off, speaking a lightyear a second, “We’re in a spin, but we’re flying straight. That means someone’s going to get shot very soon and I highly doubt Loro can aim at anything in the spin we’re stuck in. Do you understand that?!”

Venda understand. Immediately, Jyren could feel her drawing on the Force, projecting it outwards as she had done around herself when they’d taken the heavy hit. He risked a glance up to the viewport and watched their spin slowing. He saw two red-orange blasts shoot passed, and managed to trace them back to one of the cruiser-analogs that couldn’t have been more than kilometer away before losing it in the spin. And then it was righted and they were going forward again from their previous moment.

Jyren didn’t wait. He doubted it had even been a minute, and didn’t even know if Venda had managed to get them facing the right direction. It didn’t matter anymore. It was die to a not-so-lucky shot from a Vong or die trying to get the hell out of that system. Jyren chose for all of them, and he picked the latter.

His hand shot to the side, pushing Rea’s unconscious form to the side, and pulled the hyperspace levers as fast as he could.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 404: What's Left*

“Jyren...you were right when you said things were going to get worse before they get better. We have just driven out a force of Mrrakesh ships that attempted to take three of the border planets, and though they have no retreated back into Mrrakesh space, it will not likely be long.

“But the attack on our planets is not the problem. There was a Vong leading them in one of their skin-suits. He looked like a Mrrakesh, spoke their language, and fought like them. If they Vong was commanding them, then they are behind more of this than the Mrrakesh are. They are being manipulated and driving our peoples to war. The only reason I can think to do this is to weaken both of us for the Vong to come through and destroy both sides. We know the Vong know where the Gateway is, and now we know the Vong are inside the Mrrakesh’s command structure.”

There was a pause, and the blue-tinted image of Marix shifted slightly, but still held the stern, neutral expression, “There are also likely to be more Vong among our people, also. We have found no others since the first, but they are there somewhere, hiding and waiting. I don’t know, and I don’t care why they are doing this, but they are. We need to find a way to stop the war that is coming. You know as well as I do that we cannot win in a fight. The Mrrakesh are better armed, stronger, and larger in number. The best we can hope in any war is to bring them down with us.”

Another pause, and a rarely seen shade of doubt crossed her face for a moment, “Despite this, the Knights are recruiting anyone that can fight and training them as quickly as possible. The Jendari are...assisting us in ways I would never have dreamed, as if they were waiting for a war all along and just holding back. But even with all of this, it is a delaying tactic for the next time our borders are breached.”

Marix’s eyes narrowed for a short moment before she adopted a nearly unreadable mask, “The Mrrakesh know where we are weak, though, and they will fight us in the air. We will not fall so low as to harm the Kanyaks by grafting weapons to them, and we are therefore defenseless in space. We will attempt to capture a Mrrakesh warship in the next few days, but it will not be enough alone. What we need is a real defense against them, and that is something we simply do not have access to.”

The mask was lifted suddenly, and right there, staring through the blue-haze of the holoprojector, Marix’s emotions could actually be seen on her face, “I’ve sent your father and the twins away from Alraxia, to the other end of the Empire where they will be safe. Since the Mrrakesh have known where Alraxia is since Halpak gave them the location, we are not safe even here...”

The voice trailed off, and her eyes simply stared out as if waiting for a response that wouldn’t come. When it didn’t, for obvious reasons, the previous mask returned and she was once against defended, “All of our scouts have returned except for two ships. Hermes is one of them, and he and his pilot reported back to us an hour before I sent you this message. There is a small Vong fleet that is jumping from system to system within the same sector as the Gateway. They stay for only a matter of hours, then jump again to appear only a few lightyears away and repeat the process....

“There is nothing out there, as you know. Nothing but dead rock and empty star systems. It is the reason the Gateway has been safe for so long...it is empty. That is obvious to us, to the New Republic, and it must be to the Vong. So they cannot be simply jumping around for no reason. They are looking for the Gateway again, and they are going to find it soon.”

This was allowed to hang in the air for a little too long, and when Marix spoke again, her tone had not grown any lighter, “I know you can feel something coming. I feel it, too. I have tried but I cannot see beyond the haze and I do not know what is coming, only that it could end everything for all of us. This isn’t about you and me anymore...this isn’t about a rogue running around the galaxy for revenge and trying to take out our home and our people. 

“This is a tipping point like our people have not seen for thousands of years. The last time we fell into the Darkwing Wars...this time I cannot imagine where we could fall to. But we must find something to stop this. We have to protect the Empire, our people, and the twins. This cannot tip against us, Jyren.”

A rare, true sigh escaped her and she shook her head, a lock of her white stripe falling down and in front of her face. Marix seemed to ignore it, “I know Tobias made his choice about what he wants to do, but it has reached a point where it is too dangerous for both of you to be away from the Empire. I cannot focus without you here, and I know you cannot focus, either. You know I will not order or beg you to come back, but you need to be here with our people and stand with us. Tobias needs to be safe with your father, also...this is not his war, and you know I will not let it become his war.”

And then she went silent. But with the silence came something else...the features of her hardened face slowly grew softer. Her expression did not change, but something happened in the eyes. Something that words could not accurately describe. And in them, were things that words could not describe.

The closest they would ever come was ‘I love you’, but that was also so far from what was there that it was almost laughable.

As the image disappeared, and the room was left silent again, Tobias looked at the empty space in the quarters where the image had hovered. He had not been able to identify the last part, and, in fact, much of it was confusing to him. Currently, though, his mind was latched onto the fact that they had received this message not a minute before the fleet had jumped away from Obroa-Skai...leaving Jyren behind...

Tobias had known he should have left the holo but...with Jyren gone and...and nothing he could do(and he had tried)...he just...activated it, needing to see some kind of familiar face. What he found, though, was not something he wanted, and it was something he regretted viewing quickly after it was over. That had been for Jyren, who was definitely still alive and was going to make it back soon. But not just that...more importantly, it was not for Tobias. Not just the part directly about him, but all of the details of what was going on.

He didn’t need that...and, honestly, he didn’t want it. But now it was there, sitting in the front of his mind with a thousand other things, and the young Alraxian could do little but wonder what was going to be left of his galaxy when all of this was over.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 405: Short Jump*

Other than the hum of the ship and a few other noises from the cockpit, the shuttle was relatively quiet. So far, they weren’t dead yet, which was a good sign. For all any of them knew, a star could be coming right into their path and then there would be nothing left. The three conscious people in the cockpit of the shuttle were, however, ignoring this fact as best as was possible.

“She’ll have a bad headache for a while, but she’ll be okay,” Jyren said after sitting Rea’s still unconscious body up straight in the co-pilot’s seat so that he could get a look at how bad she’d been hurt. From the looks of it, just a good pounding to the head from the sudden hit they’d taken. Yes, there was blood on the console where she had hit, but it was a small amount, thankfully.

After making sure she wouldn’t fall over again, Jyren turned around to look behind her to where Loro sat holding his webbed hand, “How are you holding up?”

“Its broken,” the Mon Calamari said in a rather bored tone while nodding his large head to the hand, “But I’ve had worse.”

Jyren nodded, and turned his eyes behind his own seat to the Jedi woman, “You going to make it?”

The blonde haired woman gave him a simple nod, “I’m fine...” she paused a moment, and then spoke up again, sounding a bit cautious all of a sudden, “What about you?”

“I’ve had worse,” Jyren repeated Loro’s words but in a dismissive way.

He would have turned around then to look forward, but he caught sight of Venda’s face forming a thoughtful stare as he eyes narrowed slightly, “I saw you when we took the hit...you went forward as fast as she did. I can believe you caught yourself, but not without breaking your own wrists in the process...” she trailed off, then added, “I would have felt the Force if you’d used it.”

Jyren’s face went blank. It was a defense mechanism he’d learned all too well from Marix. He became as unreadable on the outside as he was doing his best to be on the inside, and managed to somehow not sound trapped when he said, “Just lucky, I guess.”

That was when he took the opportunity to turn back to the consoles in front of him and pretend to be busy. The thing that bothered him now was just how damned aware of everything this Venda was. He was sitting directly in front of her so she shouldn’t have seen a thing, but he could tell she knew something was up. And something was, in fact, up. The sudden impact had broken both of his wrists as he pushed himself back from going face first into the consoles as Rea had, but Jyren hadn’t felt it. Years with remorphing meant that it happened far too naturally in most cases, and in seconds his bones were fine and he was grabbing the hyperspace lever and getting them away from Obroa-Skai as if nothing was wrong.

Just lucky.

That wouldn’t fly for long.

But now he had another problem.

Her mind was likely trying to figure this out, and that would just bring more questions. Not to mention the fact that Loro was also giving him a somewhat odd look. Though most looks from a Mon Calamari were a bit odd compared to human-like faces, Jyren had been around enough to know when they were thinking hard. It was in subtle shifts near the eyes, not unlike in humans, but off to the sides and not where one would normally look for them.

A beep from the navcomputer pulled Jyren out of his thoughts and he could only hope it did the same for the other two. He gave each a quick glance over his shoulder without saying a word before reaching over to the hyperspace levers. Part of him felt like he should say something or be dramatic about it in some way...but another part, the part that was likely Marix from the link, told him that was stupid and would likely have found a way to hit him if he did.

So, Jyren simply took the levers and pushed them back. The stars slowly came back into existence, and there they were again...Realspace...

A new beep picked up, and Jyren knew that one, too. The comm system. He quickly looked over to the IFF broadcaster and made sure it was saying something helpful, then opened up the channel to hear the familiar voice of the Araddon’s comm chief, “Unidentified vessel, this is the ----“

”This is Captain Jyren BlueIce of Zephyr Squadron,” he cut the officer off, truly not in the mood to deal with the usual formalities, “I’ve got two of the other pilots that were on the ground with me and a Jedi here. I’ve got wounded, so I suggest you get a medical team to meet us in the hangar bay.”

Before closing his end of the channel, he made sure to transmit his clearance code just so they knew it was actually him. Or, of course, something that had killed him, sounded just like him, and was about to blow them up. The latter was unlikely.

After a few short moments, the comm chief’s voice returned, “Good to hear you made it off that rock, Captain. The Admiral and Commodore Nok would like to see you immediately after you have landed.”

And then the other end went silent. Good. Jyren wanted to meet with them, anyway. He still had no idea what he was going to do about the information Venda had, but maybe she would push the two into doing something...and then Jyren would just have to nudge a little more. He closed his eyes and shook the thoughts away for the moment.

Right now, he still had to land the half-beaten hunk of junk that had, before their leaving of the planet, been a shuttle.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 406: Protection*

Jyren and Venda stood in the small briefing room near the bridge of the Araddon, with only the Admiral Tarus and Rulae as the other two in the room. Jyren had arrived last, having taken a quick detour to his quarters to check on Tobias...and had then seen the message that Marix had sent.

Being greeted by armed marines had been expected. The medical team had quickly moved them out of the way as it was...but when he saw that message, an icy chill had fallen over Jyren. Everything was coming together to a horrible point that he could feel there, just as Marix could. And so, the entire way up to the briefing room, his mind had whirled around how to do what had to be done.

Currently, the Jedi woman was going over everything she had found out. Though it was a good deal of information, it hadn’t taken too terribly long to get it all out. It was as the Admiral and the Commodore were working the information through their brains that Jyren decided to speak up.

“The Vong are going to attack that point,” he said in a surprisingly restrained voice considering the current insanity in his head.

Again, the two officers looked at the projection of the galaxy map. It was the Admiral who spoke up, in slow, cautious tones, “Light years from the Imperial Remnant...practically the Unknown Regions...” he trailed off a moment, then looked up to Jyren, “There is nothing there, Captain. Even if there is, it is behind the front line. I fail to see why this has you so distressed.”

Jyren hadn’t realized he was so easy to read, but when the words were spoken, he wasn’t so surprised. Trying to focus his thoughts to make sense of everything and get where he needed to be, Jyren looked straight to his Duros friend, “Rulae, you reported the information about that Gate I showed you after we got back, yes?”

Commodore Nok nodded, “Of course.”

“I remember reading that report,” the Admiral noted, shifting his glance to Jyren yet again, “But I still fail to see the relevance to our current situation.”

Stepping over to the holo that was currently being projected in the center of the circular table in the room, Jyren put his finger right on top of the red dot that was representing the point of interest that Venda had found, “That is exactly where the Gate is.”

And this was it. The secret that he was supposed to be protecting was gone. But Jyren didn’t care now. This still wasn’t enough. He still wasn’t there yet, and he could feel the darkness coming. Be it the Mrrakesh or the Vong...or both...he needed to be back to Alraxia as soon as possible.

To the others in the room, well, the two officers at least, things began to make sense. Keeping a very diplomatic tone, Admiral Tarus said, “I understand your concern, Captain, and I believe I know what you are wanting to do. However, our orders are to return to Corellia for supplies that you know we badly need. Despite that, though, you should know very well that we cannot take a fleet to some unknown location just to protect your family.”

Jyren was barely holding a neutral face, keeping back the anger at all of that which was, in the end, irrational. He bit his lip, shook his head, then turned to Venda, who was giving him a rather concerned look, “You said the Vong are after something, yes?”

She nodded carefully, “From the information I recovered, there was something at that location of great interest to the Yuuzhan Vong. Its impossible to say what but...one would expect it to be some kind of advantage they could gain in the war if they are diverting resources that far back from the front line.”

Perfect! Jyren held back a smile. She had said exactly what he’d hoped, and in such a way to show it was important. He had a damn good idea what the Vong were interested in. How they knew was beyond him, but the very idea of the Alraxian natural ability to change their form, in addition to their technology, was definitely something that could interest even the Vong.

Eyes then turned to Jyren, even Venda’s, as if waiting for something. When that something didn’t come, the Admiral spoke up again, “You seem to agree with this, Captain. As you say it is your home...what is there that would interest the Vong so?”

It was extremely difficult to hold the Admiral’s gaze. Marix’s, Jyren could manage...but something now...he just couldn’t do it. After only a few moments, he shook his head and broke away, glaring down at the table and nearly hitting it. Through gritted teeth, he ground out, “I can’t tell you. Its not my right to.”

The odd statement was not lost on any of the others. Rulae was the one to push it, “You have come this far, Jyren. If you cannot tell us, you wouldn’t have done any of this. What is so important about your home?”

“I can’t...” he trailed off, his voice just barely audible. He took a few deep breaths and then looked up again, the desperation very obvious on his face now as he spoke, “The people there are defenseless against the Vong. That Gate is all there is, and it will not last. If the Vong take the Gate they will do worse than kill my people. They need my...they need our help. They would never, ever ask for it, but they need it.”

Silence held for a moment.

“Captain,” the Admiral’s voice was still calm, but not obviously attempting to calm Jyren down, “We cannot take this fleet to protect those people without knowing why. I cannot disobey Admiral’s Kre’fey’s orders without a damn good reason. You have one. I don’t need to be a Jedi to see that. But if you do not tell me, I cannot take this fleet there.”

Jyren stared at the Admiral. The man was actually considering it...but...but Jyren couldn’t say it. Marix was going to kill him enough as it was but...if he didn’t...

“I need you to trust me, sir,” Jyren’s voice was slow as he found himself having trouble making the words come out.

It was not the answer that was hoped for, but it was all that Jyren could manage. That Admiral blinked a few times before shaking his head and sighing, “You have lied about who you are, refused to tell anyone where you really come from, and continue to hide a great deal of information that could very well remove all of this suspicion that is following you around, Akan. How can I trust you, Captain?”

He had no answer to that. The fact that the Admiral knew the name “Akan” more or less destroyed it all for Jyren. His hand was shaking now, and he tried to grip the table to stop it as he looked to Admiral Tarus, hoping to find something but unable to. Unable to make the man do what had to be done, knowing that he could force the Admiral to go, but also knowing that forcing the man was against everything he was.

“He is being honest,” the voice of the Jedi woman cut through the silence like a vibroblade. All eyes, including Jyren’s, darted to the blonde woman. She seemed to have no problem letting the eyes simply pass through her and then directing a pointed look to the Admiral, “The Captain is not lying. He is protecting these people as best he can, and I can feel that telling us anything about them existing is bad enough...but the Vong are interested in them, even if we are not. They will go one way or another, Admiral. And the Captain is not lying to you that they will meet no substantial resistance if you do not take your fleet to protect them.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 407: The Enemy of My Enemy...*

Marix looked calmly at the image in front of her. She stood in a small room near the ‘north’ section of the Gate. It was the communications area, with long enough range to communicate with roughly anywhere in the galaxy with a fairly short amount of delay. The Gate was definitely more than physical, as this function had a way of keeping the galaxy out, and the Empire in.

But currently, the image in front of her was unlike anything the screen had ever projected. Staring back at her with a very predatory and angry look was Zeven Sacul, the current leader of the Mrrakesh Confederation. Truthfully, Marix wasn’t sure if it was an angry look, as she had never anything beyond the current one on a Mrrakesh before. Their lupine features and visibly sharp teeth seemed to make them incapable of any expression out of the ranges between mildly annoyed and murderous. Even though there were the human-like qualities there, just like the Alraxians had within the feline ones, the Mrrakesh just looked so much more...animal...

The line of thought went on its own in the back of her brain, while the front latched onto something else. There was a good reason that Sacul wasn’t looking very happy. As the Alraxians were a matriarchal society, the Mrrakesh were almost militantly patriarchal. One of the main reasons that the two peoples were always on the brink of a very one sided war was simply due to the fact that the Mrrakesh were downright insulted by the fact that they were forced to speak with a female.

But he was there on the screen, actually having answered the communication that Marix had reluctantly sent. That said a great deal about the situation, even if he was being incredibly difficult.

“You invaded our space, Sacul,” she said, speaking Trade, in a firm tone, deliberately ignoring the Mrrakesh’s formal title, “We had every right to act. You are lucky that was as far as it went.”

There was a soundless snarl on the Mrrakesh’s face and his eyes narrowed and he, too, spoke in a rather accented form of Trade, “The planets were within no borders according to our records. And if you cared so much about them then perhaps you should not have left them completely empty.”

On the inside, Marix laughed. On the outside, she did nothing but look right back into his orange eyes, “We protected them, did we not?”

That was met with silence.

What Marix was currently finding so interesting was the fact that Sacul was not being nearly as aggressive as was normal for a Mrrakesh, especially in such a situation. He was being cautious. She could not see it in his face because she had no experience in truly reading Mrrakesh expressions, but she could hear it in his voice and tell from the way he would not press a fight. The Mrrakesh were, indeed, having problems of their own...or perhaps just Sacul was. It wasn’t as if the rulers of the Confederation had very long terms. Assassinations were common enough that they were pretty much expected.

After allowing the silence to run its course, Marix allowed herself to blink before saying, “I did not contact you to discuss the attempted invasion of our planets. I also did not contact you to start a war.”

“Of course not,” Sacul cut in, shaking his head, “The destruction of our ships was enough to do that.”

This time Marix’s eyes narrowed, “If that began fighting then why is your fleet no where near our border? In fact, why is it that I have very reliable information that nearly all of your ships are on the other side of your space, fighting another war of their own?”

This was also met with silence, but also by the widening of Sacul’s eyes.

She had been bluffing, actually, but it confirmed much. Marix did know that the usual defense fleets that patrolled the Mrrakesh border were no where to be seen. Alraxian spies always had difficult getting into Mrrakesh space, due to Alraxians having a very distinct smell to their neighbors, even when in another form. So there, in fact, no spies. Instead, Marix had used the information she already knew about where the Vong had entered the galaxy and put a few pieces together and then...hoped.

She was right.

By now, Sacul had put himself back together and was back to being unreadable and angry looking instead of shocked, “If you are attempting to show off, end it. The business of my fleets is not yours, and I do not take kindly to your assumptions.”

So...the Mrrakesh were losing. That was why they needed more planets. They were losing planets. Losing space. Losing everything. And they didn’t even know the Vong were in their ranks...or did they? Either way, it didn’t matter. The Mrrakesh were being pushed hard and weren’t able to push back hard enough. Now that was obvious to Marix.

Not being a diplomat, Marix quickly tired of the dancing around the point and instead shot right for it, “I don’t care what you think of my assumptions or my information, Sacul. I contacted you because you have a problem. You are losing ground. You are losing your ground. I know who you’re losing it to.”

A strange look came across Sacul’s face, as if he was trying to inspect her through the image but failing to succeed. Slowly, he asked, “You would insult me by insinuating that we need your help?!”

“No,” Marix ended that before it went anywhere, “I do not care about your planets. I care about mine. And what is affecting you is affecting my people,” she put a firm note on the last few words, and then, before he could attempt to be insulted again, got straight to the point, “You are falling back, and the only place you can fall back to is my space. But it will do you no good. Not only do you know that will start a war between our peoples, and leave you fighting on two fronts, but the invaders you are fighting are preparing to attack us from the opposite end.”

There. She’d said it. Against all better judgement, she’d just told the leader of the Mrrakesh that the Alraxian Empire was in a weak position. They were exposed and vulnerable. But she was counting on the fact that the Mrrakesh were, too, and that this Sacul would be intelligent enough to see the danger this posed to his own Confederation. It was a time she hoped this Mrrakesh was selfish like the rest of his people.

But his expression did not change. He continued to examine her and, after seemingly finding what he was looking for, leaned back slightly, “So you are telling me that we are both trapped, and these invaders that you seem to believe are out there are going to pit us against each other while destroying the both of us in the process...” he trailed off a moment, and after not seeing any denial from Marix, leaned forward again, “Then you did not contact me to help me. You came for help. And you think I should care about you and your miserable Empire, don’t you?”

“No,” again, Marix put that to a stop with a single word, “I expect you to be intelligent enough to realize that, once they are done with my Empire, you will be surrounded and then destroyed even easier than you are being destroyed now. What will you do when you give yourself no where to run to anymore, Mrrakesh?”

The last word was said with enough venom to poison a dragon, but Sacul seemed immune to it. Instead, a grunt escaped him that could have been a short laugh, and then his tone seemed to change, “Then tell me, little Empress, why did you contact me?”

So here it was. This was it. Somehow, she’d managed to keep the Mrrakesh listening for long enough to get to the point. Though she was inwardly tense and was currently in the mood to hit something very hard, she kept her outer appearance as dangerously calm as it had been the entire time. She did, however, allow her narrowed eyes to widen slightly to remove a hint of the threat that was there when she finally spoke, “I want ships. You have more than enough to push back the invaders on your side if you start thinking like a pack instead of a bunch of lone wolves. Give me enough to fight the invaders on my end and I will allow you to settle your refugees on our border planets until this is over.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 408: The Black*

From the black, they came.

Four identical objects jutting into reality from seemingly nothing.

Their metallic sheen caught the light of distant stars, causing an odd contrast against the black that surrounded them. And for a long time, the objects simply sat there in the nothingness, doing nothing.

But then other objects, smaller ones, appeared from the four, turning and moving as one to what would, in the gravity of a planet where orientation mattered, have been behind the four objects. And then, in a matter of short moments, they were gone...gone into the nothing that these four things had appeared out of.

And, again, the objects sat in the nothing.

After another lnog period of time, a series of smaller objects approached cautiously. These did not shine. Instead, the distant lights simply bathed the new objects and highlighted the dulled colours as they approached the shining metal.

When the new objects disappeared within the original four, there was yet another long period where nothing seemed to happen. But then, some time later, the four objects began to move again.

It was slow at first, but they seemed to stay even with one another the entire time. And then, all of a sudden, they disappeared.

Into the black.

They left.

* * * *​ 
“Four, my lady,” the Knight said quietly. She was standing at attention but staring at the Empress’ back, which made it difficult to decipher any reaction...well, more difficult, at least.

Marix stood there without moving for a long minute, simply looking out the viewport and to the space beyond the Gate. Eventually, though, she turned and nodded to the Knight, “I trust they have been carefully looked over?”

“Yes, my lady,” she nodded, ignoring the loose strand of hair that fell in front of her eyes in the process, “They have not been altered in any way as far as we can tell. There are no...traps, either.”

Marix returned the nod, “When will they be operational?”

This was not such an easy question to answer. The Knight tried to figure out the best way to put it, but eventually gave up, and simple spoke in the best tone she could manage considering the tension of the previous few hours, “It is...hard to say. Everyone is wearing gloves and focusing on the task at hand but it is...difficult.”

Sadly, that had been expected. All of the Knights aboard those four ships were wearing a light armour usually reserved for the rare battles they got involved in, but with the extra addition of a pair of simple gloves so that they did not have to actually touch the metal. Apparently, being surrounded by the metal was bad enough.

“The ships must be operational and ready to fight within a day,” Marix said sternly, and the Knight could read nothing of her expression, “This is all we have, and it is enough, but you will have to push them past their natural instincts.”

At that, the Knight bit back a comment. But her expression showed it and the Empress had little trouble in reading it.

Aloud, Marix said, “Yes. Like Tam’day’U...” she trailed off for a moment, then nodded to the Knight, “You wear your gloves even here on the Gate, as do nearly all of the Knights. We...” she paused and changed the wording quickly, “The former Tam’Day’U that have joined you among the Knights do not. But there are not enough of them to operate these four ships alone.”

“Y-yes, my lady,” the Knight managed a slow nod, and noticed it was also her cue. She bowed simply, then turned and left the Empress alone in the small room.

When the door slid shut with a barely audible sound, Marix let out a long sigh and turned back to the view. She could almost see them from this angle...glints of light that weren’t quite stars. A decade ago she had been aboard one of those Mrrakesh ships with Jyren, trying to stop Halpak and all of those damned ships.

And now...

...now there were four Mrrakesh ships sitting there outside the Gate, and with Alraxian Knights aboard them. She had expected less. One, maybe. But, apparently, the Mrrakesh leader understood the danger of the situation. It was even more unnerving that there were no traps or explosives or anything wrong with the ships at all. They were in perfect fighting condition. The Knights simply had to learn to fly them.

And that was the tricky part. Ignoring the fact that the ships were metal and the Knights had enough difficulty even being inside them. The problem was a thing of time. Marix quite literally had no idea how much time they had. The Vong were out there. Scouts confirmed a small flotilla exploring nearby systems. They were out there, and they would find the Gate again.

But this time they would hopefully find a fight.

Marix ran a hand through her hair and let out another sigh, shaking off the sudden reach she made for the painfully distant link. She understood that change was necessary and would come one way or another but this all felt so...wrong to her. Her people weren’t fighters but they were being forced into a fight. The problem was figuring out who was doing the forcing. The obvious candidate was the Vong, of course, but Marix had a disturbing feeling that she was the one driving them to something they could avoid.

_You are the fire._

That voice was just an echo now. A phantom she had seen in her reflection a decade ago. It had terrified her then, and for some reason, it had come back to her memory in the recent days. She had once thought she had figured out the meaning of those words that had come from seemingly no where...but now she was rethinking that. Marix looked at the thousands of years of her people’s history since the Darking Wars.

She looked at the thousands of years of peace. The fact that there had been galactic conflict throughout it, and yet the Alraxians had remained separate. But now...

Now she brought the fire. She could not help but feel it was her fault this war was coming to the Alraxians. She had, along with Jyren, simply sought it out. The flames of change had been burning in the Empire since her mother had died...but Marix worried suddenly about all of it.

And she worried because of the lingering darkness that she could almost see with her eyes. It was there, in front of all of them, slowly coming down like a curtain of black over everything she knew. The worst part of it all was that she could do nothing to stop its slow falling...

No.

No, that was a lie.

The worst part of it all was that she could see no one through the blackness. As it was falling, Marix found that she was utterly alone in the galaxy. Perhaps she was raised differently than most Alraxians because she was Tam’day’U...but she still felt her people’s strong connection to the Force. Her people’s strong connection to one another.

And when she closed her eyes to see the black and find a way around it, she felt none of that.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 409: Out of Darkness They Come*

An Alraxian day was a good five standard hours longer than the galactic standard. Probably more, as the hours were off, too, but that was something Marix had never contemplated. The odd thing, she found, was how her mind worked in two different measurements of time. She knew the hour, day, month, and year in both the Alraxian calendar and the galactic standard without any effort. It was so very clear to her that she wondered if part of the other personality within her was still ‘alive’ somewhere, albeit in a very small form.

Shadow.

The cloned child that could never have grown up, and would have died long ago, was not technically dead within her now. She was not technically alive, either. And though Shadow had been the dominant personality for the first few years after they had merged, certain...things occurred that caused her to fall back and Marix to ‘step up’, as it were. Most of these things centered around Jyren. Though both clone and original had been wiped of emotions and turned into weapons, Marix, after so many years to herself, had seemed to move past it, growing to what most would call something close to normal.

It likely came hand in hand with having truly grown up, something that Shadow was never very good at handling. The physical changes were enough to drive the child’s mind off the deep end, and the mental ones sure didn’t help. So Marix became the dominant. And somewhere along the line, Shadow seemed to disappear. Or, at least, fade so seamlessly with Marix that the difference was simply not noticeable.

It was odd, really, as Marix couldn’t pinpoint the exact day when she really had begun thinking herself as ‘Marix’ instead of ‘Shadow’. She was sure it was before the twins were born, and was also fairly sure it was before they were conceived at all. But she was ‘Shadow’ when she and Jyren were...married(a word that somehow still sent a shiver down her spine, another hint of the Shadow personality)...so it was sometime in that gap. That gap of...barely a standard year. Not even a full Alraxian year.

So much had happened. Back then, she wouldn’t have stood like this, staring out at the six Mrrakesh ships from her vantage point on the Gate, really just thinking. Her mind had always found a way to just be blank so that it wasn’t clouded with all of these...things. But now...now things were different, and that was all she could come up with.

A surge of emotion through the Network caused her to slip back into the moment, her eyes refocusing on the view and her mind working through the Network to do her best to calm the sudden panic. As she did so, she found the source and sent a very simple message. What is it?

But no response came from there.

Instead, one of the Knights that was at a console behind her, as she was standing in one of the many control rooms that dotted the huge, ringed Gate, turned and spoke up in a somewhat alarmed voice, “My lady, a group of ships has just appeared from darkspace.”

Marix tried to reach out with the Force to confirm this, but found nothing beyond the occupants of the six Mrrakesh ships. She cursed to herself and then turned to face the Knight, noting that he was definitely not one of the former Tam’Day’U, as he had too much worry slipping into his voice. Keeping her voice calm, she asked, “Can you identify them?”

 She caught sight of the Knight’s tail swish behind him, which answered her question. He did, however, glance down to the console and put a gloved hand to the metal screen to touch, carefully, a command before looking back to her, “It is the same group that has been searching the nearby systems. At least ten objects, many of them close to the size of Thor...”

His reference to the largest of the Kanyaks was notable, as the ship, which was technically supposed to be her ship, as the Empress, was massive. But, then again, it was only massive by Kanyak standards. The Mrrakesh ships weren’t much smaller, which meant that these ships, that were definitely Yuuzhan Vong, were about that size, too. Cruisers of some kind. Maybe not a true battle group.

That was wishful thinking.

“My lady,” the Knight cut in, and when her eyes focused on him again, he went on, “There is an audio transmission coming through...it is...originating from the new ships and it sounds like it is in Trade.”

“Put it on,” Marix said in Trade, not meaning to but her mind was already switching to prepare to hear it rather than the Alraxian they had been speaking before. Thankfully, the Knight understood her, even if he didn’t speak the language, and did so.

In a moment, a gruff, angry sounding voice echoed through the control room, and Marix noted that odd accent she had heard from a Vong trying to speak Trade before, “...Subaltern Juula Kreesh. Your defense is an insult to my warriors, infidels. These unliving beasts will be torn from the skies by the power of Yun-Yammka!”

And then it ended. Cut off into the usual nothingness of the ‘airwaves’ of space.

Marix looked out towards the Mrrakesh ships. Apparently, this Subaltern Kreesh was as fanatical as the rest of his people. So much so, in fact, that he had transmitted that message simply as a boast than to make any real demands. It was, however, not surprising. The Vong did not seem to make demands. They simply took.

She turned her eyes from the view of space outside the Gate and walked over to the console where the Knight sat. Reaching down past him, she hit a few simple buttons on the screen to set the comm unit to transmit what was supposed to be a secured channel to what was the flagship of their defense, the Mrrakesh ship that the Alraxians had renamed Sekhmet.

“Commander,” she said in a firm voice, and speaking Alraxain again. She did not need to identify herself or even wait for acknowledgment that they had received the message, “Your training is over. The Yuuzhan Vong have arrived in system and are coming towards you...” she paused a moment, and then could only find one other thing to say, “Mar Dresio ni achla pann.”

May the Force Protect us all.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 410: Assistance*

There was a small shockwave through the Force as the Amunet was engulfed in both flames and the swarm of coralskippers. Marix closed her eyes and forced the deaths out of her mind, trying to keep both herself and the Network as peaceful as was possible at the moment. A great many Knights died in that moment, and it was likely that many more were soon going to follow.

The Amunet had led the defense, pushing in with two of the other Mrrakesh cruisers, the Horakel and the Dresian, and had taken the brunt of the Vong’s forces. Two of their cruiser-analogs had charged in with waves of coralskippers, and though the three ships put up a significant fight, the smaller fighters were too fast to hit. Which meant they had to be ignored while the three cruisers fired on the Vong capital ships. And, so, it wasn’t a surprise to see the swarms of tiny asteroid-like ships tear apart the Amunet.

It reminded Marix so much of what she had seen at Agamar. The green blasts from the Mrrakesh weapons on the ships were constantly firing, but few shots seemed to do any damage...and it was too hard to tell if they were actually causing any real damage to the Vong ships anyway. But while this was not a surprise, the loss of the Alraxians aboard that ship caused a deep scar in the Force and in the Alraxian Network. This was something new. Something their people had not encountered in thousands of years. And now, after so long, they were fighting, and dying, again.

Marix closed her eyes a moment. She would not falter from this decision. It had to be done. The Knights on those ships knew it had to be done. And while she could feel the panic of the Alraxians aboard the Horakel, which was now the one under the swarm of coralskippers, she knew they would fight to the deaths. It was a symbol that the Alraxian people would not lay down when they were threatened. They would fight, and if they had to, they would all die. And these Knights, with many former Tam’Day’U among them, would be the first to fall.

A ringing sound from behind her caused Marix to open her eyes and turn away from the viewport to look at the Knight operating the sensor station of the Gate...which was surprisingly similar in design to what Marix had seen aboard the Mrrakesh ships. A simple ripple through the Force was enough to get his attention, and he immediately turned to look at her, a pair of deep silver eyes meeting hers and showing he was one of the many Tam’Day’U now among the Alraxian Knights.

In a calm, almost cold voice, he answered her unspoken question, “Another group of ships has appeared, Commander.”

Marix raised an eyebrow at that, but stayed focused on the Alraxian sitting at the station in front of her. She always found it interesting that the Tam’Day’U still called her ‘Commander’, despite the fact that she technically did not lead them, as they were now a part of the Knights and not a single, hidden away, group. Their loyalty was disturbingly strong...and Marix couldn’t help but find it interesting that many still expressed the same cold, emotionless attitudes as they had before. Such strong conditioning didn’t seem to leave very easily...

“Yuuzhan Vong?” she asked simply, knowing that she did not need to elaborate at all for this Knight...who’s face she found herself recognizing but, as with all the former Tam’Day’U, one that she had no name to attach to.

There was a pause from the Alraxian, as he turned to look to the screen, his bare hand touching the metallic surface with no hesitation at all before his ear turned slightly in the thick mess of grey, mottled hair. He then said in the same tone, without even turning to face her, “I do not believe so. They are broadcasting on an encrypted frequency, but our systems cannot decipher the encryption.”

Marix had to think about this a moment. But before she could say anything, the Knight’s ear twitched back to the forward position and he added quickly, “There is another signal coming through...” he trailed off, then looked up to her again, “It is on the frequency used Kanyaks and the systems are automatically bypassing it to Alraxia...”

“Keep it here and put it on,” she said flatly, knowing exactly what they meant. Well, no, she didn’t. The thought crossed her mind that there were two people that could do that, not one. But she sure as hell had a feeling of who it was...especially considering the link had gone ablaze the second the Knight had reported the arrival of the other ships.

It took a moment for the Knight to complete the task at hand, but soon a familiar voice sounded through the Gate’s control room...and it was speaking Trade, “...there, and I know you’re getting this. I had to pull way too many strings I shouldn’t have to do this and you damn well better accept the help.”

If she hadn’t been surrounded by so many Knights, Marix might have smiled. She didn’t want to look outside the viewport again, for fear of what she would see, and knowing that it would destroy the happiness brought on just by feeling Jyren in the same system again. It was still a bit distant and weak, but it was there, and she could feel him. It was...only emotions due to the distance, but that was more than enough.

And then, of course, the moment was ruined when the Tam’Day’U spoke up, “The transmission is coming from a battlegroup roughly the same size as the Vong fleet. They are...holding position at the edge of the sector.”

Inwardly, Marix cursed. She didn’t need to look outside to see what was out there, and likely couldn’t see it with the naked eye anyway. But a short glance to the sensor screen confirmed it. Jyren had brought that damned New Republic fleet with him. Now, not only had he given his secure comlink to some random Jedi, but he’d brought an entire fleet to the exact location where the Gate was! She was going to kill him!

But the rage disappeared in a flash. Another shockwave went out through the force, and Marix turned quickly to see a flash of fire disappear into the vacuum of space. And that was the last of the Horakel and her compliment of Knights. There were only two Mrrakesh ships left, with the Dresian holding the front line by itself, and the ‘flagship’, the Sekhmet, towards the back as a sort of rear defense, if it could have been called that. But now, that ships was turning to face the rather large New Republic fleet that had just jumped in system.

Immediately, Marix stepped past the Knight in front of her to one of the comm stations and hit the crystalline switch to activate it on a return channel, “You know you’ve done something very stupid.”

Jyren’s voice returned like he was right there, snapping back, “The Admiral will have no problem leaving, I assure you. But I won’t. And you need us.”

Marix bit her lip, not looking out to the viewport again but instead reaching out with the Force. She could feel the Alraxians of the two remaining ships...she could feel the panic...and, farther off, she could feel the New Republic fleet, with so many aboard the ships. And she could even pinpoint Jyren, but that was due to their link, and her being so used to exactly what he felt like. They did need the help. It was true. She knew it, and so did every single Knight on those ships and on the Gate.

That was not the issue.

The issue was the sudden loss of the one protection the Alraxians had...their secrecy. And now it was gone, in a second, thanks to Jyren. She wanted to blame him for it all, but knew she couldn’t. He had, as always, done what he felt was right and, not like always, actually been right to do it. It would make some situations difficult, but it would also give them a stable defense rather than a show of force while they got wiped out.

But she didn’t get a chance to say anything like that. In fact, she knew she didn’t have to. The link was enough at this point that the feelings of it all flowed through, and Jyren knew. She could feel that, too. And so, when his voice returned, his tone wasn’t nearly as combative, “I sent a short burst transmission with the New Republic battle codes. The Admiral won’t make a move until he knows he has the support of the leader here.”

Marix let out a sigh. At least, with that, Jyren had done something right. She despised it, but it was the right thing. Some might scream the rest of the galaxy were coming to take them over, but this would show them listening to the Empress and might just smooth out the extra chaos all of this was going to cause.

With a quick glance, she saw the transmission from Jyren, and watched it get encoded into the Gate’s comm system. The Knights that operated the station worked fast, especially in such a situation...and especially the ones that spoke Trade.

When it was all in, she hit the small activation switch again, and said in the most firm voice she could manage, which sounded, to her ears, at least, disturbingly like her mother’s, “This is the Empress of the Alraxian Empire to the New Republic fleet...” she paused a moment, noting that all of the eyes of the Knights were suddenly on her, as even the ones that didn’t speak Trade could understand what was happening through the Network, “Our ships cannot hold back this attack. We welcome any assistance you can provide.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 411: Into the Fray*

Jyren stood between Venda and Admiral Tarus aboard the bridge of the Araddon as the other ships of the fleet began to move to their positions. The strike cruiser and two Corellian gunships were moving with the Araddon to meet the Vong forces head on, next to what Jyren had told the Admiral were two ships they needed to defend. At the same time, the single Nebulon-B Frigate and a smaller corvette were moving towards the giant Gateway as a sort of rear defense.

Currently, the Admiral was dividing his attention expertly between paying very close attention to Jyren and to the coordination of the fleet’s movements. And as things were currently moving on their own, with no one yet in firing range, the Admirals full attention turned to Jyren, “The comm officer tells me you did a few things you shouldn’t have just a few moments ago.”

All Jyren could do was attempt to match the Admiral’s stern gaze, “I apologize, sir, but it was necessary.”

It wasn’t hard to notice when the Admiral’s eyes shifted to glance to the Jedi woman, who seemed to give him no response. But a moment later, they were back on Jyren, “Fleet Command is not going to be happy about any of this, Captain. The last thing that needs to occur here is giving them more reasons to object. If you are forcing these people to accept our—“

”I am not forcing anyone,” Jyren cut the Admiral off in a very sharp tone, something he regretted a few seconds later. He sighed at himself, knowing that he was letting the tension of seeing a Vong fleet fighting, of all things, Mrrakesh ships, was getting to him. After quickly attempting to calm himself down, Jyren adopted a new tone and direction, “Sir, if I can, I would like to get my son off of this ship.”

Admiral Tarus did not hide his reaction, and a single eyebrow went up very noticeably, “Are you expecting something to happen to the Araddon, Captain?”

“No, sir,” that was ended quickly and decisively, “However, this is not a place he should be. I can take him in a shuttle to the Gateway and he’ll be fine.”

“Captain,” the Admiral started, this time turning to face Jyren fully, and showing the lines of age on his face in the process, “You are not leaving this ship. You are the reason we are out here, and your place is on the bridge as an advisor. I will not have my single contact with a people I know nothing about running off. Do you understand?”

There was more left unsaid, and it didn’t need to be. The Admiral didn’t trust Jyren...and for good reason...but he was following along here. He was only going to step so far, though. And Jyren couldn’t fault the man for that. And so, Jyren allowed himself a nod before saying, “This may be my only chance to get my son out of this war. Its as close to home as he’s been in weeks, and I doubt we’ll be out here anytime soon again. I need him to be safe and off this ship, sir, even if someone else has to get him away.”

A silence held...or rather, a silence between the two of them. The bridge was still ablaze with noise as they approached the front lines of the fight. From the sounds of the comm officers, the fighter squadrons were already engaging the Vong. It wasn’t going to be long before the Araddon was in the thick of it all.

“I have no ships to spare, Captain,” the Admiral shook his head, “I’m sorry.”

Jyren bit his lip, shaking his head in return before turning to the console in front of them. He said nothing, but instead went straight for the comm panel on it. It didn’t take long for him to input a short encryption sequence and then he hit the activation switch, “Marix?”

In the pause after he spoke into the comm, Venda put a hand on Jyren’s shoulder, “Jyren, I do not believe this is the time to—“

”What is it?” the voice that both Venda and Admiral Tarus recognized as the Empress who had just sent the fleet a message came through the comm unit’s speaker.

That had been Jyren’s goal. He could have said this through the link, and had even done so, partially, but it was more important that these two knew. Everything, all of a sudden, was about image. The Alraxians had to be painted in the right light very quickly or everything was going to, as Marix had a habit of saying, go pear shaped.

...whatever that meant.

“I need you to come get Toby now,” he answered in a calmer tone than he’d used in the last two hours.

Through the link, Marix responded. [I can’t just run over and get him, Jyren.]

But Jyren didn’t answer through the link, and it was something that reminded Marix of the old days when he seemed to forget it was even there, “You see the black coming...closing in on everything....don’t you?”

That, she couldn’t answer out loud. Her voice through the link was steady, hard, and completely unnatural sounding. [Yes.]

“I see it, too,” he answered, trying to ignore the people around him that were listening, “And its here, Marix. This is it and I can feel it. He needs to be away from it and safe.”

“I’m on my way,” she finally sounded through the comm again, which almost surprised the other two listening to the conversation...as they had both gotten used to hearing only one side. There was a click as the connection was closed, and Jyren looked up to the Admiral first.

But he didn’t speak first. Venda did, “That was the Empress that asked for our help, wasn’t it?”

To that, Jyren could only nod. But when he felt another question coming, he said firmly, “There is not time to explain. Any of it. You’ve trusted me far enough to come here, sir. Now we have to win this battle and protect these people.”

The timing worked out well enough, as the ships of the fleet had soon moved into position just behind the two remaining, and very badly damaged, cruisers. The coralskippers had scattered, with all of the fleet’s fighters in a violent dogfight with them...with the Zephyrs out there...

Admiral Tarus turned to the nearest of the two crewpits on the bridge in front of them and said, “Open fire on the nearest Vong ship. Concentrate all of the fleet’s firepower and overload their dovin basal defenses. If any of those ships head for that Gateway, have the Madine and the Corusca break off to intercept.”

And then the viewport lit up with green turbolaser fire to match the red volleys from the various Vong ships.

But Jyren found that he saw little of it. Before she had cut off the comm on her end, Marix had said one last thing to him...and it was something that worried him because she so rarely ever said it.

[You need to be safe, too.]


----------



## Angcuru

I was wondering when the Republic would directly encounter the Alraxian Empire.  Me likee.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 412: Just Out of Reach*

It was in the distance now...just out of reach. A blurry image that was starting to focus, but still just too far away to make anything of. Any probing towards it caused it to retreat just enough to remain in the distance. But it was there...close. How close was impossible to determine, though.

Perhaps Jyren was right. This enclosing darkness Marix could see through the Force but was unable to grasp...perhaps it was here. It certainly felt stronger and closer than ever, but she knew well enough he had a habit of exaggerating or taking things out of context far too much. Still, though, the ‘when’ didn’t matter as much as the ‘what’ did. She was sure it was nothing like before. Not like Sadrak or Ket. Not like the Mrrakesh...and it couldn’t be Vong because they simply didn’t seem to exist in the Force. It was something else...and stronger.

Marix closed her eyes again, trying to find it and focus but still reaching the same problem as the last time. It was there, but it wasn’t. It was like...a nexus of sorts. Everything boiling down into a single point, and then everything coming out of it. Or at least, that was the assumption. Marix could not see beyond the nexus. And that was the most worrying part of it all. She could feel the close connection to whatever this was, and the sense of nothing after the single point could have meant any number of things...few of them, however, were very positive.

[Are you alright?] Loki asked in a soft voice in her head.

Opening her eyes, Marix avoided looking out the small viewport and instead kept her eyes on the various controls in the Kanyak’s cockpit. Ever the honest one with her constant companion through the years, Marix shrugged.

When she did not respond in any other way, the ship added. [It was bound to occur one day...everyone knew that.]

“It didn’t have to be like this,” she said simply.

[Maybe it did.] Loki responded a little too quickly for a ship that was supposed to have an aversion to clear thought. [Maybe this is exactly how it had to be.]

Marix sighed and closed her eyes again. There it was...still there. Still out of reach. And yet...so close to home.

“Something is coming, Loki,” Marix said softly, “Something I cannot see. It is only a distant darkness to me...our people have been brought into a galactic conflict that we are not ready for. This isn’t something we can protect them from now, either...and...”

[And we are strong, Marix.] Loki did not finish that the way she was going to. [We have all been through very hard times, and we will get through this one together again.]

Marix did not respond at all to this, and so the point was ended there. It was a long few minutes of silence before Loki spoke up again. [The Araddon has given us permission to land...]

“Then get us there quickly,” she almost snapped at the ship, but Loki knew she wasn’t angry at him and so didn’t take it the wrong way. 

But as she looked up to the viewport to see the battle outside, she knew why Loki had trailed off. The large, wedge-shaped Star Destroyer they were headed for was at the front line of the fight, its turbolaser batteries ablaze as it fired on a single Vong ship that looked almost like a tentacled asteroid...that was returning some kind of molten-fire like shots back at the larger ship.

Smaller dogfights were easily identified as bright flashes throughout the entire area, but from the looks of it, they were concentrated near the two remaining Mrrakesh ships...which were doing a very good job at both surviving and assisting the New Republic fleet in attacking the lead Vong ship.

Marix didn’t need to tell Loki to stay out of the fight. He knew not to...even if he wanted to get involved and have some ‘fun’. And so, as the Kanyak did his best to take a wide arc towards the Star Destroyer, Marix considered her next move.

There was a very delicate decision that needed to be made very quickly. She was leader of the Alraxian Empire, and while she had met these people before, it was under a different guise...though she had foolishly used her real name. So now, she had to decide whether to be up front with the New Republic and actually step off the ship as an Alraxian (which would complicate things immediately), or keep up the previous ruse and step off Loki as a human (which would likely complicate things in the long term).

The last piece of her people’s secrecy seemed to hinge on this, and yet Marix could find no good answer for it. There were too many questions lately...none that seemed to have good answers, either.

* * * *​
Jyren watched the battle from his place on the bridge. He knew Marix was close, both from the reports of the sensor officers and from the Force. Tobias was already in the hangar with his usual two guards, who had taken him down there as soon as Jyren had been allowed to let them know of what was happening.

“Admiral,” the sensor officer from the left crew pit looked up to where they were standing, “The Empress’ ship has began its approach. It will be aboard in a few moments.”

“Good,” Admiral Tarus nodded to the man, then looked to another man in the crew pit, who Jyren recognized as the second officer of the ship, “Commander, the bridge is yours.”

“Yes, sir,” the Commander nodded, then moved to leave the crew pit and take the Admiral’s position and do his best to continue to coordinate the attack.

The Admiral then turned to face Jyren and Venda, “As much as I despise the idea of leaving my bridge during a fight, we have a dignitary to meet with.”

And then, without a word, the Admiral started to leave the bridge. Jyren exchanged a glance with the Jedi woman, who seemed to still be trying to figure him out, and then they both fell into step behind the Admiral. As they were leaving the bridge, however, Jyren heard the Commander speaking, “Good work. Push into the Vong’s main forces and take out that ship trying to break through our line.”

So...one Vong ship down. That was a good thing, at least.

The walk to the turbolift, the ride down to the hangar, and the walk across the deck to where Tobias and his two guards stood was disturbingly silent. By the time the three of them arrived, though, the unique form of Loki was just setting down in the hangar in front of them.

More fleet marines stepped up, obviously meant as both protection for Admiral Tarus and as the usual honour guard that seemed to be so common when someone felt like playing a little diplomacy. But, as they were currently involved in a battle, it was likely more the former.

It was not long before Loki’s hatch irised open, and a single figure stepped out.

Through the Force, surprise could be felt from most of the occupants of the hangar, as an adult Alraxian, even Marix, had a fair height advantage over even the tallest of humans. She was wearing what Jyren recognized as an altered Tam’Day’U commander’s uniform...a simple blue-black tunic with no markings at all but a distinct shape that showed it was meant simple to conceal a morphsuit beneath. But she did not carry her usual weapon at her belt...which didn’t actually surprise Jyren as much as seeing her step out as an Alraxian.

As Marix stepped over to the group of them, the Admiral nodded formally, “I apologize for the lack of a proper meeting between our peoples, but I believe you understand the circumstances better than I.”

Marix returned the nod, but it became more of a bow thanks to her height advantage, which, internally at least, she was absolutely loving. Her voice was that diplomatic one that Jyren knew she hated, but was also very good at, “You have my people’s thanks...” her silvery-violet eyes then looked over to Toby, “Time to leave, Tobias.”

The young human, currently, looked surprised...he’d obviously not been told why he was in the hangar. He immediately turned to Jyren, “But—!”

“Toby,” Jyren’s voice was as firm as he could manage without being angry, “You need to go.”

“But I—“

Jyren cut him off again, this time with a much stronger tone, “Tobias. Go with your mother.”

The fact that Jyren had just called Tobias, who was human at the moment, the child of the very not-human Alraxian woman was not lost on anyone in the hangar that could hear it. But Jyren didn’t care. Some things were more important, and he could feel through the link that, while Marix was annoyed, she understood the point. It was obviously why she’d walked out as an Alraxian. Get all the problems away as quickly as possible.

Thankfully, Tobias didn’t argue anymore. He grumbled something under his breath that, if Jyren or Marix had been a little closer, would have gotten him clipped across the head for. But they weren’t, so he got a pair of glares instead as he shuffled to Loki.

Eyes then shifted to Jyren...and then to Marix. A question was going to be asked that neither wanted to answer, but then the Admiral’s comm beeped. He grabbed it and spoke into the small device, “What is it?”

“Sir,” it was the Commander that was on the bridge, “A small Vong ship broke through our line. It was too fast and we were unable to break off and stop it...” there was a pause, then, “It has just rammed into the Stardust, sir. It was no bigger than a freighter, but there is significant damage to the lower sections of the ship.”

All eyes had now shifted to the Admiral and his comlink. Jyren knew that the Stardust was one of the two ships holding the rear line...it was the single Nebulon-B cruiser in the fleet, and usually an excellent ship at taking down fighters and smaller craft. Obviously, things still got through.

But before the Admiral could respond, the voice returned again, “Sir, the Captain of the Stardust is reporting Vong warriors aboard. They are heading up the decks and killing and destroying anything in their path.”

That was not expected.

And neither was what came next.

“Sir,” that was not the comlink. It was Jyren, “Give me some Fleet Marines and let me go.”

“Captain, I need you here,” Admiral Tarus shook his head.

“I can do you more good on the Stardust,” he answered, “And I don’t need a ship to get there. But you know as well as I do there is a small complement of troops on that ship. They need more. Now.”

Silence held in the hangar.

It didn’t take long for the Admiral to look to Marix again, “Can you take them to the Stardust?”

“Yes,” Marix nodded.

At that, the Admiral looked to the roughly twenty Marines that were around him, “All of you, into the ship. The Captain is in command,” Tarus then turned to Jyren, “Get in contact with the Stardust’s Captain immediately, and do whatever you can to keep that ship up.”

“Yes, sir,” Jyren saluted, and then looked to Marix.

In a few more moments, Loki had more passengers than he’d carried in a decade.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 413: First Time for Everything*

Standing behind Marix, who was in the pilot’s chair, aboard Loki’s cockpit, Jyren looked over her head and out to the view in front of them. The axe-shaped Nebulon-B Frigate, Stardust, sat there with the giant Gateway behind it...the lower sections of the main decks looking a mess. From this distance, it was easy to see a large black section where the Vong ship had hit, though there was no sign of the previous ship at all. Nothing else seemed to have broken through the main lines of the battle, and so it was a clear path back from the Araddon to this ship...which Loki appreciated.

[We have already received clearance to land.] the ship announced, just to Marix and Jyren. Tobias, who was sitting in Jyren’s usual seat, heard nothing...and was currently staring out at the view while also trying to look to the side to get a glance at the battle going on.

“Set us down as quickly as you can,” Jyren said, “We’ll get off right as you’re down.”

Though the link twitched at that, Jyren paid it no mind and instead turned to the open hatch that looked out to the small corridor that lead through most of Loki’s interior. The twenty-three New Republic Fleet Marines stood there, looking forward and a bit confused, as the ship was unlike anything they’d ever seen. To keep them focused, Jyren said, “Be ready to step off shooting. It looks like the Vong started in the lowest decks but other than clearance to land, we haven’t heard a thing from the Stardust.”

Only a few of them nodded. Most seemed to be lost in their own thoughts...though they all checked their blaster rifles, with others handing out small concussion grenades to make sure everyone had a fair amount.

When Jyren turned to face forward again, he noted that Marix’s right ear was turned around towards him. Putting that together with the feeling he was getting through the link, he asked, “What is it?”

This time, Marix surprised him and did not respond through the link, “We won’t be dropping you off, Jyren.”

It wasn’t hard to figure out what that meant.

“Marix, no —“

”If it must be an order, Jyren, it will be,” her cold voice was accompanied by a strong feeling through the link that knew there was no fighting this. Despite the fact that he was intolerably difficult, and being the Empress, she very well could order him to do anything, not once in the last decade had she done so...nor even threatened it with any seriousness. But now...

Now, she was serious.

“Toby...”

“Will be fine if he stays close and listens to the both of us,” Marix finished the sentence differently than Jyren had planned it, and he noted she had also turned to say the last part directly to the young Alraxian. To that, Tobias actually nodded without saying a word.

All of it brought up a question in Jyren, though, and he felt the need to ask it before he didn’t have a chance to. However, he used better judgement and reserved it to the link that was growing in strength again as they were so much closer. [What is it?]

[You know exactly what it is.] came her response in exactly the same tone as before.

Not liking that, Jyren tried another angle. [We both agreed that Tobias needs to be as far away from this when it happens.]

[Yes.] Marix’s tone had gone just slightly softer. [Yes, we do agree. But you need me with you on that ship. And you know as well as I do that we cannot just leave Toby on the ship.]

Jyren wanted to argue the point about needing her there...but he caught something through the link. It was not the fact that she didn’t trust him to keep himself alive, it was something else. Something even she couldn’t clearly place. But it came down to the fact that she felt it was important. And so, trusting in the Force and her natural instincts, she had made a decision.

By now, the large ship was dominating most of the viewport, and the hangar’s blueish glow illuminated it easily again the stark grey of the hull...and the blackness from the scorches of the heavy impact below. Jyren only took a small glance at the hangar ahead of them, noting it did not look to be any different than hangars usually looked while all the fighters were gone.

But that was the only look he allowed himself. Moving his hand down to Marix’s shoulder, he gave it a gentle squeeze before turning around and stepping past the marines, “To the hatch, boys. Hangar looks safe but we’re not taking any chances.”

There were a few ‘yes, sir’s that were a bit disturbing to Jyren, but the majority simply nodded and fell into step behind him towards the hatch. Through the link, Jyren felt annoyance from Marix about what he’d done...but at the same time, she seemed to understand.

Stopping in front of the hatch and waiting, Jyren looked to the marines who were all watching him, “Still no word from the Stardust so we don’t know what we’re walking out into. The second we’re down, we need to make sure the hangar is secure, and then find a comm panel to contact the bridge. We’ll proceed from there. Everyone understand?”

They all nodded...though Jyren could feel an unease through the Force.

He glanced down at his uniform, noting the Starfighter Command patch on one arm and the Zephyr on the other. Then, he looked up to the marines and said simply, “Yes, I’m a pilot. But I need you to trust me. I spent a good amount of time with SpecForce, so I know what I’m doing here, okay?”

The uneasiness continued for a short moment, but then one of the marines, tilting his helmet back slightly to look at Jyren better, spoke up, “Sir, we trust you.”

Jyren’s eyes went to the man. He was one of many humans amongst them, though there was a fairly diverse group overall. The white helmet covered his hair, but the lines of his face showed him to be roughly Jyren’s age(or at least, the age Jyren was supposed to be) and his eyes were mostly obscured from the shadow of the mask. But the man looked like he’d seen his share of battles. And, from the looks of his rank insignia, he looked like he was also the one in charge...if Jyren wasn’t around, at least.

“There is something, though,” Jyren said calmly, feeling through the link that Marix had them in the hangar and Loki was just setting down. This needed to be settled first, though.

“Well, sir,” the same marine spoke up, and Jyren finally managed to identify him as a Sergeant, “This is uncharted territory for all of us. That woman...Empress...whatever...we’ve never fought with anyone like her before...and we’ve never fought with a Jedi at our side, either.”

Jyren simply held the man’s gaze for a few moments. It was...expected, though not consciously. Perhaps unsurprising was a better word. Jyren had made no effort to hide his lightsaber since stepping aboard Loki, mainly because he simply didn’t think about it. So he wore his grey and red-piped formal uniform with the weapon at his belt next to his blaster pistol without a second thought. Of course it had been noticed...of course it had been recognized.

And...of course, he had to hold back a comment that they would be fighting with two of this ‘new’ species. Not just the Empress, but their Emperor, too. Somehow, though, Jyren doubted that would go over well. The title ‘Emperor’ even had a way of unnerving him sometimes.

[We’re down.] Marix’s voice sounded through the link, and he knew she was already heading towards them.

Nodding to himself, Jyren looked to all of the marines and then, as he took the lightsaber off of his belt, formed a smile that was only possible for a person that had been around Marix for so long, “There’s a first time for everything.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 414: Stardust*

“None of them are alive, sir,” the Sergeant said as he turned back to face Jyren.

He was left to stare at the side of Jyren’s face, though, as it was hard to take in the entire view of the relatively small hangar of the Stardust. While a couple of shuttles were still sitting off to the side like was to be expected, the rest of the hangar was a mess...crates, parts, random objects that didn’t seem to be anything at all, and bodies were everywhere.

[You should have said something.] Jyren sent over the link to Marix, who was on the other side on the hangar, kneeling next to one of the larger collections of bodies.

He caught sight of her looking over her shoulder to him, but couldn’t make out any details of her expression. The fact that the only response he got was a simple annoyance was enough, though.

As one of the other marines stepped over to where Jyren, the Sergeant, and Tobias stood, it was the Sergeant(who’s name Jyren hadn’t caught, somehow), who turned to the other and asked, “What’s the count?”

“Twenty four of the crew and six Vong,” the other marine answered.

Jyren nodded upon hearing this. It sounded about right for the number of crew that would be in the hangar of a ship this size. But there was an obvious question that needed asking...however, Jyren didn’t have a chance to ask it.

It was Tobias who asked it, finally speaking up for the first time since they’d set down on the ship, “How long ago did...did this happen?”

“The blood is fresh,” Marix cut in, halfway to them by now and not doing anything to hide her voice...and so the unnerving statement was heard very easily by everyone in the hangar. Not that it mattered to her, “The warriors are moving very quickly. They did more than just kill everyone here, they tore it apart except for those two shuttles.”

[They are looking for something, Jyren.]

It was easy to understand why the second part was kept to the link and only there.

Trying to put pieces together and make sense of things, he glanced over to the turbolift tubes which looked to still be operable...though a comm panel next to it was completely smashed. Jyren sighed and then realized all eyes were on him, including those of the marines who had finished checking bodies and looking for anything helpful. He was in command here...they were waiting.

“We need to get in contact with the bridge,” Jyren said, stating the obvious, “I doubt the Vong would have used the lifts to go up the decks so they’re likely either in the tubes themselves and climbing the things or taking the ducts and ventilation chambers between the decks.”

It was the marine Sergeant who nodded to that, “The bridge is four decks up.”

“Then lets check the turbolifts and get moving,” Jyren’s answer was quick, and as they started moving that direction, he said, “Leave five behind to guard Loki and watch our backs. Once we get to the bridge and figure out the situation, we’ll see what needs to be done with protecting the rest of the crew.”

[This doesn’t make sense.] he sent over the link. [The Vong don’t do this.]

[They’re looking for something.] Marix repeated herself in the same tone.

Thankfully, three of the four turbolifts were operational. The fourth had its door jammed and was likely the way many of the Vong were moving between the decks considering the odd damage to it. But as priorities had already been set, this was simply noted as they divided up amongst the other lifts and headed up to the bridge.

[Why here?] he was continuing the previous train of thought. [What could they possibly be looking for?]

Marix had no answer for that.

The ride in the turbolift was a short one, and in a few moments the door slid open to reveal the simple corridors that looked like most every other ship in the galaxy. Except that there were suddenly blaster rifles aimed at them.

“Hold your fire!” Jyren called out instinctively upon seeing the weapons and noting the marines with him(and Marix) beginning to raise their own weapons.

They stood face to face with a group of four other fleet marines, all wearing similar uniforms but with a patch on their shoulders that identified them as being attached to the Stardust. Upon realizing they were not looking into the face of Vong warriors, the four marines, who’s faces looked panicked, managed to slightly lower their weapons.

One of them managed to find her voice, “W-who are you?”

“We’re from the Araddon,” Jyren answered quickly, while trying to step out of the cramped turbolift. “We’re here to help where we can. Can you take us to the bridge?”

The woman nodded, then looked to a Duros to her side, “Take them quickly, Private. Return to us as soon as you can.”

“Thank you,” Jyren nodded to her as the Duros Private led the way down the corridors and through more than one heavily guarded areas that looked to be made of makeshift barricades. As they made it quickly through the corridors and towards the bridge, Jyren managed to get the marine with them to explain what was going on.

Apparently, the group of Vong warriors was a deck below, and the marines had already retreated to try to set up some kind of defense for the bridge. They had taken as many of the rest of the crew up with them, but a great deal had been left behind in the chaos...and were likely dead or soon to be dead. The remaining personnel had been handed weapons and were either preparing to assist in the defense of the bridge or taking up stations in places where others had been forced to leave for whatever reason.

From the sounds of things, it was a sort of controlled chaos...ready to explode at any second.

And then they reached the bridge.

Unlike the large bridge of a Star Destroyer, the Stardust had a bridge of roughly half the size, with stations along the walls and a series of consoles spread out in a half circle near the viewports in the front. There were also twice as many people there than was normal, and adding Jyren, Marix, Tobias, and five extra marines didn’t help how cramped it was.

The Duros that had led them there said something to a crewman without any rank insignia on his uniform, and then turned and nodded to the group before leaving and heading back to his post on the front line, as it were. Even in large red eyes that many found hard to see any emotion in, Jyren could tell the Duros was ready to die. Expecting to die. And it was a courage that Jyren had to admire.

But there wasn’t much time to, as soon after the marine had left, a man roughly Jyren’s age and wearing the markings of a New Republic Navy Captain turned and greeted them with a nod, “If you’re here to help, we need more guns protecting this bridge.”

Jyren looked to the marines with him, and two of them nodded and headed off the bridge to see what they could do. He then walked over to the man in charge and kept his voice as low as was possible considering the fact that the bridge was dealing with the battle outside and inside at the same time, “Sir, I need to know the situation here. This isn’t like anything I’ve ever seen from the Vong.”

“No, its not,” came the quick response as the Stardust’s Captain looked over a tactical display of the battle outside. A quick glance showed Jyren that the fight was moving very close to them.

Obviously, this man was preoccupied with other things and not up for conversation. However, Jyren’s mind was racing as he tried to make sense of everything, “It looks like they’re searching for something.”

That got the Captain’s attention. When he reaction was noticed, he just allowed himself a short nod. The man also was intelligent enough to not wait for the next question, “We were equipped with a prototype device to try and counteract the Vong War Coordinators at Ithor...it worked. But now...”

“...now its not, and the Vong are after it,” Jyren finished for him, starting to understand. 

But he had no chance to ask anymore questions or gain more information. From the consoles in front of them, one of the crewmen called out, “Captain! The large Vong ship has broken through the line and is headed straight for that ring.”

At that, eyes went from the tactical display to the viewport. It was easy to see the Araddon firing away in the distance with a collection of various shapes returning fire. And out of it, from what was the back line of the Vong’s formation, came a ship...it was large, nearly the size of a Star Destroyer, and while it was still firing red-orange shots to her side at the New Republic fleet, it was suddenly bolting past the fight at a speed that seemed terrifying for a ship its size.

And something came through the Force then, too.

Suddenly, Jyren saw the Vong ship plow past the Stardust and the other defenses that were sent back to catch it. The turbolaser fire seemed to do nothing to the ship’s rocky hull as it shot past, straight for the Gateway. In a matter of seconds, it simply slammed right into the Gateway, tearing it apart and, as a testament to the strong craftsmanship of the huge Gateway, destroying the Vong ship along with it...but...

...but it was gone, and more Vong ships came through, ignoring the battle and heading straight for the open hyperspace route into Alraxian space.

“Evacuate the ship,” the words escaped Jyren before his eyes even returned to the reality of the moment.

The Stardust’s Captain turned to regard him with a look of shock, “I will not abandon my—“

”The turbolifts are clear for the moment. Get all the data you can, destroy that prototype, and get everyone off of this ship before the Vong get what they want and kill us all in the process,” Jyren’s voice was as harsh as Marix’s could be when she was giving orders. But when the Captain attempted to protest again, Jyren cut him off a second time, “There are more things on the line than a prototype, Captain.”

That seemed to get through. The man stood up straight, nodding slightly, but then asked an important question, “That Vong ship will get through.”

“No it won’t,” Jyren answered that without really answering it, “That’s my problem. You have more important things to do. Get these people out of here before you can’t.”

Truthfully, Jyren had cheated. He had used the Force to push his point, allowing it to resonate with is voice and tell the man no information at all while convincing him to do what Jyren suddenly knew had to be done. It was probably not a good thing to manipulate people like that, but there wasn’t a choice and there wasn’t time. 

It wasn’t long before the ship’s Captain gave the order to evacuate, and the bridge crew headed out.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 415: Too Late*

The bridge of the Stardust was soon empty save for Jyren, Marix, Tobias, and the two fleet marines who had accompanied them this far from the Araddon. The latter two, however, were being more or less completely ignored by the other three. Marix’s eyes were on Jyren, narrowed and managing a very piercing look that would likely have shot turbolaser bolts if they could have.

“You’re crossing a line.”

Jyren’s eyes met hers, holding the dangerous glare thanks to years of practice. He allowed silence to hold for a short moment before shaking his head, “It had to be done.”

The others in the room did not know what was being referred to, but that didn’t really matter. Jyren had used the Force to do something that he should not have done, and even if they didn’t know what, exactly, had happened, it was obvious that something odd had just occurred. The Captain and his crew had left far too easily and far too quickly.

[There was no other way.] he sent over the link, his ‘voice’ softer as he tried to push the images he had seen across the link to her.

Marix shook her head. [You are the one who has always told me that there is always another way. You are the one who has preached your idealistic view of the galaxy to me time and time again. And now you turn around and cross a line even I would never cross. You forced those people to leave...forced. That’s not like you at all.]

Hearing that, Jyren couldn’t help let out an audible sigh. After a moment to compose himself outwardly, he looked past the taller Marix to the two Fleet Marines, “Get out of here with the crew. Report back to the Admiral that this had to be done to save the most lives.”

The two marines looked to one another, and while they looked ready to protest for a moment, it passed. They nodded, saluted, and headed out. When the bridge door slid open again, Jyren could see the others that had been amassed there already moving, heading for escape pods or the turbolifts in hopes of reaching the hangar. They were listening. Good.

When the door slid shut again, he turned back to Marix and said firmly, “If this doesn’t happen the twins will die.”

It was a rather blunt statement, and while Marix could see the same thing he had thanks to the link, she knew very well that he was jumping to conclusions. It was possibly a correct conclusion, yes, but it was nothing he had seen for certain. Part of her wanted to hate how damned idiotic he could be when they were involved, but the rest of her completely understood...and kept to itself the fact that she would likely make the same kinds of stupid decisions to protect the twins.

In the next few moments that passed, Marix took in as much through the link as she could, quickly noting that Jyren was telling her what he was going to do through their link for a reason. He also took the time to morph back to his Alraxian form, now taller than her again, but back in a familiar body...which was an odd thought in its own right. But she took little notice of the physical change, as the majority of her focus was completely on the link...taking everything in and trying to find some way to fight the fact that he’d made up his mind and, like her, when it had come to that point it was usually far too late.

And so, she could only find one thing to ask, “Are you sure it will work?”

“Yes,” his answer was even and calm, and it was obvious that he meant it.

“Sure what will work?!” Tobias cut in, catching onto the fact that he was definitely missing something and knowing it was something fairly important.

The two other Alraxians, however, ignored him.

Marix, instead, took the time to walk closer to Jyren so that she could speak out loud, knowing it had a greater effect with him, while keeping her voice low enough that Tobias wouldn’t hear it. When she was close enough, she looked up to Jyren and asked quietly, “This is not just for the twins, though, is it?”

“No,” the response was just the same as before, but it was soon followed by Jyren’s usual tone that made him sound like the Jedi he’d always wanted to be, “You know they are first...but if we...if our people fall, then the Vong will have more forces to put on their main lines against the rest of the galaxy. If we hold them off here, we weaken them and can maybe help to turn the tides of all of this.”

All because of one ship...

Marix’s eyes darted over Jyren’s shoulder to the viewport. She could see the large, asteroid-like ship making its way from the main lines and towards them. It was so similar to what Jyren had seen, and she couldn’t help feel a chill because of it. One ship....just one ship.

When her eyes returned to Jyren, she found that she asked a question that had not had the decency to go to her brain before reaching her lips, “Are all of their lives worth ours?”

It was a terribly long half minute before Jyren answered that. He just looked down at her for most of it, and she saw something there that she’d never truly seen from him before. A cold determination that was...worrying, really. He’d been stubborn before, but this was something new, and, quite honestly, Marix simply didn’t know what to do. It didn’t help when he replied, “Yes...they are.”

And then it was plunged into silence again. Tobias stood farther back from them, staring and trying to remember how to read lips but failing miserably. He was intelligent enough not to move in closer to hear better, but also being driven crazy by the fact that something very important was happening, he was right there in front of it, and he had no idea in any hell what it was. Curiosity was very close to killing him.

Something else was closer to killing Marix, and after a moment, she simply shook her head again and growled under her breath, “Stop standing here and just do it before I stop you.”

She gave him no chance to respond, and quickly spun around, heading for Tobias and the exit to the bridge. But she only got one step before a tight grip suddenly latched onto her left arm. Her head spun back around to see Jyren had reached out to stop her, and while she knew she could easily get herself free, something about the look in his eyes stopped her.

Stopping fully, Marix turned around again to look him in the eyes. When she did, Jyren said softly, “Go as quickly as you can. Tell the twins that----“

”They know,” she cut him off quickly, hating what he was about to say and not wanting to hear a word of it, “And I will do what I can.”

Marix then tugged her arm back, not with any strength, but simply as a sign for him to let go...but he didn’t. She saw the same look was still there, and forced her feet to stay planted for another while trying not to turn around and drag him off with her. His voice barely above a whisper, Jyren asked, “Do you trust me?”

Holding his gaze for a long time, Marix wondered how she should answer that. He should know. By the Force, if he didn’t know that after a decade then he likely never would. She wanted to claw him for something like that, as it was downright insulting....but another part of her mind stepped in before she could. It held her back and showed her what she needed to do here, despite the fact that it didn’t really make sense as to why she should.

And so, Marix nodded and replied, “I do...if this is the only way, then it is the only way. But you cannot do this without letting go.”

The last sentence meant more than she had expected it to. Even Marix found herself surprised by the words, though immediately she understood them. And at that, after only a few more seconds of simply looking down at her, Jyren let go of her arm. This time, though, Marix found herself reaching up and resting a hand on his cheek for a short moment. She managed to force a smile onto her face, and watched Jyren return it before gently kissing her hand.

And then she pulled back, allowing herself one last, very long, look at him before returning her hand to her side and turning around in one swift motion. This time, Jyren didn’t stop her from going. Marix headed straight to Tobias, and when she got close to him, after noting he, too, had morphed back to his Alraxian body, she said sternly, “Time to go, Toby.”

“What?!” he cried out mainly due to the fact that she grabbed his arm in much the same way Jyren had grabbed her’s...but with a stronger grip so that he wouldn’t be able to pull away, “But what about—“

”Tobias,” Marix said in the same voice, this time louder, though, as she began to literally drag him to the door, “We are leaving.”

“No!” he yelled out, suddenly starting to understand what was going on. His eyes went wide and he attempted to wrench free of Marix’s grip, looking past her to where Jyren stood watching and trying his best to just stop her from doing this to him, “Let me go! I won’t leave him! We can’t!”

“Stop,” Jyren called, and Marix did, though she did not release Toby or even turn around to look back at Jyren.

Tobias’ eyes were on him, though, as he reached to his belt and detached the lightsaber from its place. For a second, Jyren simply looked down at the metal object, but it passed and he looked up to Tobias. In a quick motion, he tossed the lightsaber to the young Alraxian without saying a word.

Instinct meant that Tobias caught it with his free hand, but his mind caught up a moment later...which was also the same moment that Marix started moving again. He struggled and screamed as she pushed and dragged him to the door, but said nothing the whole time. Marix even ignored his claws digging into her arm to attempt to wrench himself free. She simply continued forward.

Jyren could not hear the hiss of the door opening through Tobias’ screaming, but he did hear it close. He heard the solid, metal bulkheads slide shut and then was left in silence. But he hadn’t moved...still standing and staring at the closed door.

He should have kissed her.

He should have told her that he loved her.

He should have said that he was sorry.

He should have begged her to stop him.

He should have done something.

No...no he just should have kissed her. Really kissed her. She would have hated it with Tobias right there, but he should have.

But he hadn’t.

He hadn’t done any of it, and now she was gone.

It was too late.

Too late for any of it.

Jyren nodded to himself and gave the door one last look before turning around to the viewport ahead of him. Seeing that the Vong ship had already broken past the New Republic fleet’s defenses and was nearly to the Stardust, Jyren went to the control consoles of the ship.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 416: End*

They say your life flashes before your eyes right before you die. They say you see everything in a sudden moment of clarity before you never see anything again. They say that all of your hopes, dreams, doubts, fears, regrets...all of the things that have made you who you are get put on display in front of you.

They never say why.

No one ever really stops to think about whether it happens or not...

...but maybe that’s what all of this is.

My life.

No.

No, there was no idyllic vision of the events of my life leading up to the last moment. I wasn’t granted a retrospective view of it all. Instead, my eyes simply took in the massive, rocky Yuuzhan Vong starship ahead of me. They showed me the bright greens and reds of the turbolaser cannons I had trained on the ship, simply firing wildly to at least hit them with anything I could with the vain hope that some would make it through....and a few did. Rocks and shards of the ship were actually quite easy to see from the distance I was at as I shifted nearly all of the struggling Stardust’s power to her engines.

Behind me, there were the faint echoes of bangs on the door...likely much louder than I could hear them. In fact, I’m sure they were louder. And yet, for whatever reason, I barely heard them. They were...distant....almost dreamlike, as all of my focus was ahead of me. All of my attention on the moment, as Marix had taught me. And so, in front of me, everything was impossibly clear and vivid...

...or maybe that was because the Vong ship was growing in the viewport as the Stardust continued to charge forward with all of the speed her engines could manage. It amazed me how fast such a large ship could truly go while still firing away with everything that could aim towards her forward arc...doing everything she could in her final moments.

As the Yuuzhan Vong’s ship encompassed the entirety of the viewport and the collision alarms screamed at me through the bridge, I did not close my eyes. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t.

Not because I was afraid...or because I wasn’t afraid. In fact, fear had nothing to do with it.

I did see something. It was not my life...it was more important than my life. It was what I had lived for. It was everything that life meant to me. It was what I had made this decision for...what mattered. What truly mattered.	

As clear as if they were there between my eyes and the bridge of the Stardust, I saw my children. I saw their smiling faces as I remembered them clearest...the image that got me through so many nights through the years. And with them, I saw Marix. She looked like she had the night we’d shared our first kiss under Alraxia’s three moons...as beautiful as ever.

I didn’t feel the impact.

I couldn’t.

_I should have kissed her._


----------



## aro

sniff....does this mean it is all over?  does this mean its all over for marix too?  (since jyren is her nothlit doesnt his death mean her death?)  great story...but sad!


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

I'm going to be good and not answer those questions directly(...I want to...).

However, I'll answer them indirectly by asking this to all of you who read(and I nkow you're out there, I get about 150 or so pageviews per update).

So...come out of lurking to help me with this one thing! YES, there is more. NO, this isn't over. BUT...I present a choice. When I continue this(soon, can't let the dramatic moment hold for too long ), what would be best:

Continue in this thread OR start a new one.

I leave the choice to all of you...and if I don't get responses after a few days I'll just flip a coin!


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## DethStryke

This has become a huge thread, but I can click the "last page" button and it will skip directly to your last update. It takes at least five or more pages to do that, so starting a new thread would condemn me to a life of scrolling for the new installment... 

Yes, I'm lazy. Why do you ask? 

All joking aside, I don't know what the limit for the thread is... so depending on that, it may be a good idea to skip to a new thread and put up links to this one in the first post. Other than technical limitations, I don't really see the reason to start a new one.


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## aro

DethStryke said:
			
		

> All joking aside, I don't know what the limit for the thread is... so depending on that, it may be a good idea to skip to a new thread and put up links to this one in the first post. Other than technical limitations, I don't really see the reason to start a new one.




i concur....though on a side note im thrilled to know there is more to come


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## DethStryke

Is it normal to have so many lurkers that don't come out of the woodwork to sing the poster's praises for a story hour? I know Sep.II, P-kitty & Old One get a bajillion "Wonderful!!1!" comments after every post... it's like a page / 2 page to every single post ratio.

Is that common in Story Hours, or are they the minority and everyone else gets to suffer in silence like AMG?

The irony, for me, is that the lack of comments by the masses means my "last post" clicking is almost always on target. 

For the record, though, I'd like to reply with "Wonderful!!1!" for this story hour.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

The thing on comments is interesting to me. I don't mind that its small, as I know people are reading every update from the 100-150 pageviews I get each time...if not more. It may have to do with this being the only Star Wars SH currently running, so its a bit of a niche here as it is. All the big names are just that, the big names, and they're all also D&D  so more people will read them.

Not that I mind. Its kind of nice to know that I have 14 pages of nearly ONLY updates when some people have 14 pages of mostly comments. Hm...its been a while, let me pull up the stats for the Word Perfect document and see where its at.

Current Stats(note this is written in size 10 font): 656 Pages, 618863 words

...wow...hehe.

Okay, going to give another day or two before the next update. The reason for the question was just to gauge what people wanted, as the thread IS getting big(no need to worry about the cap, though) and I know some other polls on the forum have shown people prefer multiple threads. Seems you guys are different in that aspect, too, and that's just fine with me.


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## Angcuru

I'm glad to hear that there's more to come.   

I personally don't see any reason to begin another thread, this one's just fine as it is. 

Kind of funny that you mention being the only active Star Wars SH out there currently, since I'm currently working on the next/revival post for my own.   

Dethstryke, it's fairly common for a SH to have only a small group of regular readers, and even then .  My own experience for my story hour was an average of 30-80 views per update, and the rare comment.  Quantity isn't everything though.  The views mean the story keeps people interested, and that's good enough for me.   

Anyone know what the cap on a thread is nowadays, anyway?


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Wellll, I couldn't stop myself from writing anymore...and I might as well post it now, too. We'll continue here since that seems to be what you guys would prefer.  My other reason for another thread was stylistic reasons, but methinks it'll survive just fine as is.

BAH, why can't I stop posting long enough to let a cliffhanger really, really HANG? 

*Part VI
Chapter 417: Meant to Be*

Labels like names will tell you nothing about me beyond, perhaps, the hopes of my parents. We cling to them for ease of identification, but divert too much meaning to something that is, in the end, simply a word like any other...and one that is rarely unique to the person claiming it to be their’s.

That aside, I expect you know my name well enough by now, despite having used more than one in my lifetime. Not only that, but you know very well who I am. Or at least, who I have become through the years.

I cannot argue that a great deal about me has changed. When I look at the faces of my children I see clearly just how much really has changed. Their very existence speaks it all. But even to this day, so many years later, I find myself feeling that I have stepped into a path that was not my own. Not one that I would have ever approached if not for the young human who called himself Akan when I met him, and Jyren not longer before we grew close. Perhaps it is that closeness that is what has altered where I am going.

It was not something I should have ever been a part of. As the eldest daughter of the Empress, I was expected to be married for political reasons...as a Tam’Day’U, a Cursed One, I was expected to be dead before I came anywhere close to adulthood and the need for such a political move...as an exile from my people and my home, I was alone and ignored by all but the seediest of creatures among the rest of the galaxy....and then...

There always seems to be an ‘and then’. It makes tracing the point at where things went so strange for me very difficult. Was it the fact that the clone that escaped from the Imperial facility on Coruscant who somehow befriended that young human that altered it all? Do I really see myself as so different from her, despite knowing that she is here inside me, a part of me? Was her decision to bind him to herself something I, too, would have made? If not, then why, when I merged with the clone, did I not cast the human aside?

Once, on one of our wanderings through the forests of Alraxia, Jyren asked me a strange question. Did I love him because we were linked together, or did I bring us together as one because I loved him then?

I still do not have an answer for that.

The Force has a way of making things that should happen, happen. It has a way of coercing events to occur as they should. It is the closest thing to an answer I have...and perhaps that, in itself, answers everything else. It was all meant to be the way it ended up.

Why, then, do I look out at the view in front of me, seeing the eruption of flames a great distance away, and wonder if I could have stopped it from happening? Wonder if I could have stopped him....or rather, knowing that a single word could have stopped him. Why didn’t I?

It was in that short moment that I truly understood the choice my mother had made that ended her life. The choice for the greater good. A choice that seemed so irrational, and yet no one would step in and stop it from happening because it was meant to be.

So I watch the scene in front of me, hearing the sobs of a young boy to my side in a seat that should very well have been empty instead, and try to accept this truth as I have come to accept so many through the years.

It was meant to be.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 418: Aftermath*

“He’s gone.”

The words forced Marix’s eyes to refocus on the moment rather than continue to stare forward, but into nothing at all. She had to pause for a moment, as her mind came to the realization that she was, in fact, still there. Alive.

Alive.

She bit her bottom lip and looked out the viewport again. The flames had died down now...and now it was simply wreckage floating. She could make out distinct pieces of what had been the Stardust and then the rocks of the Vong ship...though the rest of it was continuing onwards towards the gate. Thankfully, though, the collision had not only knocked the ship off course and severely damaged it, but it had also given the New Republic ships time to turn and fire on the Vong ship from behind. It was now in as many pieces as the Stardust.

It had worked....and she was still alive...

Finally, Marix realized what it was that had pulled her out of the haze she had been in since leaving the Stardust. She turned to her side to look to Tobias, who’s face was still stained with tears and a small amount of blue covered blood thanks to a good scratch she’d given him for attempting to go back through a group of Vong Warriors. He had been Alraxian since they had left that bridge, mainly to try and pull himself away since he was stronger in his normal body...but not nearly as strong as her, and so it had been a futile effort.

Overall, he looked a mess, and the feelings radiating through the Force from him heightened that. But he wasn’t looking at her, instead, his large, silvery eyes were staying wide open like they used to when he was little...looking at the view in front of them. Marix doubted he’d turned away since they’d left...she hadn’t.

“He’s not gone,” she finally managed to find her voice, though her throat ached slightly from the amount of yelling she’d had to do to get Tobias off of that starship and onto Loki.

Marix saw him open his mouth to say something, fail to communicate anything at all, and then attempt again. However, the only words that came out were the same ones as befoer, and at the same whisper, “He’s gone.”

“Toby,” Marix put on her firm voice for a moment, immediately identifying a problem that needed fixing. This was what she knew how to deal with. Well, no...not Toby...but fixing things. But he didn’t do anything or respond, and so she spoke up louder and in a much stronger voice, “Tobias BlueIce. Look at me.”

He did.

It was likely more out of reflex, as she so rarely used his name like that or a tone so similar unless he was about to be killed. But when he turned to look at her, Tobias found an expression on her face that did not match the voice. It was almost something that could be described as calming, but truthfully, it had the usual edge of ice that always found its way onto her face when she was forcing back her emotional reactions and focusing on the job to be done.

Knowing she had his attention finally, she held his gaze and said in a much softer voice that would have been completely alien to the old Shadow, “He’s not gone, Toby. Look at me. I’m here. I’m still here. And until I’m not here, Jyren is not gone. Do you understand?”

He just stared back at her, the same lost and terrified expression on his face. It was then that Loki cut in, very carefully, and only to Marix. [I understand lying to him...but don’t lie to yourself.]

Marix was intelligent enough not to react to that so Toby could see. Loki was a good friend, and knew her better than anyone, with only Jyren coming close to that. The ship could read her like no one else, and never let her get away with something stupid. He had felt the thoughts that were openly flying across her mind. He knew what she was thinking...and would have even without his knowledge of her.

[There are, and have always been, ways around the strong connection created through two Linked Alraxians.]

Again, Marix held herself and her reaction to an internal one only. He was right. There were ways around it. There had been for thousands of years. But they were difficult, complicated, and not something one just suddenly did. She would have known. It would have been obvious...

[But he isn’t there.] Loki cut in again, reading her as if he, too, shared a link. It didn’t take long for him to elaborate on it, and Marix kicked herself for being so stuck in the panicked thoughts that she didn’t really understand how Loki was getting all of this. [I can find nothing in that wreckage that is alive. Nothing. Do not think I haven’t tried with everything I have...but I can find nothing.]

It was then that Tobias saw a change in Marix. It was subtle, but when you got used to a neutral to angry expression on her face all of the time, it was easy to notice when neither were present. But like any change in her expression that she had not meant to occur, it did not last long. Marix pushed past the immediate emotional reaction and was back to normal. She said nothing to Loki, but instead spoke again to Toby, “He’s not gone.”

* * * *​

Not far from his home in the Blackflame territory towards the southern edges of Alraxia and half a planet away from the Palace, Navik Keros sat in the sand at the edge of the water watching his two grandchildren. They were in one of the many tide pools that was scattered across the long, generally empty coastline. It wasn’t too terribly common for Alraxians to come out this far from the safety of their settlements, what with all of the predators that still roamed around, but it wasn’t unheard of either. There were four Knights not far away keeping an eye on things for that extra measure of protection.

He smiled to himself as he looked at the two little Alraxians in the water that was knee deep when they stood up...which was something they were both still having a little trouble doing, especially with the way the sand was sinking under them. Currently, the little girl, Andrea, was sitting off to the side idly pawing at something in the water. Andrea. Technically, her name was Andreanyl BlueIce, but Navik knew full well why they always called her Andrea, and he still was greatly appreciative of the fact that she was named after the grandmother she’d never know. And she looked so much like Marix...

Andrea’s twin brother, Saaran, was a bit more active. The little Alraxian, that looked much more like Tobias had when he was younger with his black and blue fur, was on the other side of the pool pouncing and obviously trying to catch one of the tiny fish that sometimes got stuck in the water there. Or maybe he was just pouncing and splashing. He seemed to be much more of the active type already, the exact opposite of his sister, who seemed quite content to just sit by herself and find ways that did not involve splashing water everywhere to entertain herself.

For a moment, Navik looked off to the ocean. He had never liked the water that much. But this was one of Andrea’s favorite spots...not the little girl over in the pool, but his long dead wife. She had been born on a planet covered in water and had always found a reason to come out here...and so, even though Navik cared little for it, he found himself, a good thirty standard years after she had died, still coming out here. And besides, the children seemed to love the change of scenery.

And then he heard a dreaded noise. Crying. Loud crying.

Turning back to look to the children, he saw little Andrea wailing at the top of her lungs...which were very, very strong for such a small child. First instinct told Navik that Saaran was splashing her again, as he had enjoyed doing that for the first hour they’d been out here and it had driven the little girl up the wall to the point where she stopped splashing back and simply started wailing like that. But no...no, Saaran was on the other side of the tide pool and had spun around, his eyes wide open with shock...not guilt.

Navik’s feet were working already, getting him up and heading over to where the children were. His eyes scanned the area around Andrea, noting that nothing seemed any different than it was before, and she was never the type to simply burst into tears for no good reason. She was a strong girl for her age, and so this was...worrying, to say the least.

The second he reached her, Navik knelt down and picked her up. He had to resist the urge to cringe at the volume of her voice when he had her up against his shoulder. Very gently, he reached up to stroke her hair and said quietly, “Shhh...its okay, little one...its okay...”

At his touch, she had gotten a little quieter, and he immediately noticed her hands were clinging to him by the very sharp claws. The pain was easy to ignore, but it was another thing to set off alarm bells in Navik’s mind. After a few minutes of simply repeating himself and stroking her hair, Andrea’s wailing had quieted to simple crying and whimpering.

At this point, Navik decided to try to figure out what was wrong. The twins were young and had very limited vocabularies, both in speaking Trade and Alraxian, but they knew a few words in both languages and were usually able to get across simple things like what was wrong. So, Navik shifted Andrea on his shoulder slightly so she could look up at him and asked softly, “What’s wrong, little one?”

She managed to sniffle a few too many times before mumbling in a tiny voice, “...want daddy...”

For the one of the twins that usually spoke her thoughts in broken Alraxian, hearing her speak Trade was a surprise to Navik. But then he began to become more worried. The twins were very, very attached to their parents. In addition to that, Andrea had a way of never, ever leaving Jyren’s arm if he was around. And despite being so very attached to him, she never said anything when he had to go away, because every single time, he sat her down and promised her he’d be back soon. She never liked it from the look on her face, but never asked anything about him while he was gone. She simply waited for him to come back like he said he would.

And, suddenly, Navik was terrified for his son.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 419: Survivors*

Through everything else that was happening, there was a battle going on. A fierce one, at that. For a great deal of the battle, it looked like a stalemate, with the Vong ships simply firing away at the New Republic fleet and the two remaining Mrrakesh ships. Early on, the two smaller ships had fallen back into the New Republic lines, finding precarious positions but doing this best to add their own shots in with the flurry of turbolasers.

In the midst of it all, the Zephyrs and the other fighter squadrons were involved in a countless number of dogfights with the Vong’s coralskippers. The fighters faired well compared to what they were used to experiencing, and they could only attribute this to the smaller number of skips than most Vong fleets seem to have. But that did not make the fight any less deadly.

And when the Stardust collided with the Vong’s larger ship, the battle seemed to turn completely. Whatever they had attempted to gain by charging that direction had caused a great deal of chaos amongst the Vong fleet once it had failed to occur. The Araddon had finished off what was left of the ship before turning back, with the rest of the fleet and the two Mrrakesh cruisers, to focus fire on the remaining enemies. The repositioning that was caused by chasing down the long Vong ship meant that it was now possible to box in the rest of the Yuuzhan Vong, and because of this, the rest of the fight went fairly quickly.

It was only a matter of time before one of the smaller cruiser analogs was left, with a myriad of coralskippers and other smaller ships that seemed to be lightly armed picket ships. The ships were small enough and fast enough to break free of the New Republic fleet that was surrounding them, and after looping around through the wreckage of the Stardust and her victim, they were able to break far enough from pursuit to escape into hyperspace.

“We’ve finished recovery efforts, Admiral,” one of the comm chiefs in a crew pit of the Araddon spoke up.

Admiral Tarus nodded to the man, but instead of saying anything, turned to face the others with him. Without pause, he motioned for them to follow him, “I believe we must discuss a few things.”

A small briefing room was attached to the main bridge near the rear sensor stations, and so the Admiral led the way there. It was definitely a small room, oval shaped with a square table and too many chairs for the size of the thing. There were deactivated viewscreens on the walls and a holoprojector in the center of the table, also, but they did nothing but cause the room to feel even more cramped.

Once they’d all stepped in and the door had closed, the Admiral motioned for everyone to take a seat...though no one did. After nodding to himself, he simply stood behind a chair and looked directly across the table at the very tall Empress who had returned to the ship a few minutes earlier. He was, admittedly, surprised to see her return. Or would have been if he hadn’t been kept very up to date on the occurrences of the battle.

As he looked at this Empress whom he knew nothing about, Admiral Tarus found himself coming up with far more questions than he was comfortable with. Though she was maintaining a very passive and neutral expression on her face, he could see something else in her eyes and the way she was carrying herself. Something he couldn’t put his finger on but was sure wasn’t anything good. It was hard to be sure, though, considering her features were human but...not. Just different enough to be alien and similar enough to be familiar. An odd combination, really, but it was there.

“You’ll have to forgive me for being blunt, but there’s some questions I need answered.”

That was not the Admiral, though he was thinking the same thing. Instead, it was Rulae Nok, who was looking worse for wear after his squadron lost four of its pilots...including Captain BlueIce. Though it sometimes difficult to tell what the Duros was thinking, he was practical man and had a way of just getting to the point so no one had to wonder too long.

Instead of actually responding to him, though, the Alraxian Empress looked to the young man at her side. It was, as far as the Admiral could tell, the son of the late Captain...except that he was not currently human. In fact, the boy, who’s name was eluding the Admiral at the moment, looked to be the same species as the Empress, though nearly a head shorter than her...and his hair was a blue-black mix that might have been a stripe if it was neater.

“There are some things I cannot answer,” the Empress said, finally, in a distant voice that didn’t sound at all like the woman whom had first appeared on their ship at the start of the battle. A pair of silvery-purple eyes shifted from the Duros, then to the Jedi woman, Venda, who was on the other side of the table, and then back to the Admiral, “You have put me in an uncomfortable position. My people value our privacy. The fact that you now know where we are is dangerous enough for us.”

“I did not put you in this position,” Admiral Tarus said calmly, leaving off any title as he was not sure how to properly address her, “It was the late-Captain BlueIce that brought us here. And I do not mean to insult you, but I believe you would be in a much worse position had he not convinced me of the need to come here.”

Though he had finished the sentence, Admiral Tarus caught sight of an immediate change in the face of both the Empress and the young man with her at the mention of the Captain. There was a question on the tip of his tongue, but he was unsure of how to ask it correctly. He was no diplomat, and suddenly wished there was one on the fleet, as this was suddenly becoming a very tense place to be, in his mind.

Thankfully, though, it was Rulae who spoke up again, his two large, red eyes somehow managing to stare straight at the tall, feline woman, “If you must protect your people, then fine. But there are some things I will not let you leave here without answering,” there was a surprising coldness in the voice of the Duros, and it was suddenly very apparent how close a friend he had been with the Captain, “You are Marix, Jyren’s wife...are you not? And that boy is Tobias, isn’t he? If I have to expand this further, I can, but I think you know exactly what I want to know by now.”

For the longest of moments, the Empress’ eyes simply stared right back at Rulae, holding his gaze with a dangerous look that actually had Admiral Tarus close to calling in the Security detail. Or maybe it was also the fact that one of her hands was out of his sight and he was worrying too much....but a look from her shot his direction a moment later, and as the eyes shifted back to Rulae, the Admiral couldn’t help but notice that both of her hands became visible to him...and empty.

The silence that was holding was tense, though. While he couldn’t see it, the Admiral had been around enough tough decisions to know when one was being made. She was keeping it off of her face, but it was still there in the eyes. Human enough to read, but alien enough that he couldn’t decipher all of it.

“We are shapeshifters,” she said finally, in a matter-of-fact tone but also sounding as if the words were forced out. Tobias looked up at her with an expression of surprise, as if her saying this was something that he had definitely not expected. The Admiral noted that to himself, and made sure to pay attention as the Empress went on, “Jyren’s is a longer story than most and there is not any time to explain it nor do I care to. However, he was the man you knew...and he was my mate,” her eyes scanned the three of them a moment before adding, “As you are all suddenly having trouble trusting me or Jyren simply because you now know we can change form, you will understand why this is something we have done our best to keep to ourselves.”

“I apologize, but you haven’t done a very good job at it,” Rulae cut in, not looking at all sorry for what he had said despite the preface.

Marix gave him the same look from before, then simply shook her head, “Jyren has a way of making everything difficult.”

It was amazing how one sentence could lighten an entire air of tension...but that one did. In a moment, they were all sure that this Jyren was the same one and not just something out of the old stories about shapeshifters.  But then the Admiral saw something in her that surprised him. There was a change. The hardness that had held the entire time faded for the shortest of moments, and when she turned to face him again, he saw an expression he always hated to see so much, as it always came with the question she asked.

“Did you find him in your recovery efforts?”

The question itself felt like a knife, as there was suddenly no avoiding it. But Admiral Tarus looked straight into her eyes, holding as straight a face as he could, “We recovered five of our starfighter pilots, twenty seven members of one of the ships we lost, and thirty three from one of your ships before it was destroyed.”

“You didn’t answer the question,” that was Tobias, who hadn’t said a word the entire time. His voice sounded hoarse and all together about as much of a mess as he looked.

Admiral Tarus closed his eyes for a long moment and took a few calming breaths. When he opened his eyes again, he looked up to the Empress for a second time, “We recovered who we could from the evacuees of the Stardust. Most of the crew was killed trying to reach the escape pods, but a third of them managed to get off the ship and were brought aboard the Araddon just a few moments again...” he paused for as long as he could, then finally went on, “Our shuttles made thorough checks of the wreckage as we were detecting many distress beacons...also, Jedi Venda aided our recovery efforts with her abilities in the Force...I am sorry, but Captain BlueIce was not among the survivors.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 420: Seperate Paths*

Even after a decade of it, Marix still despised politics. But they always seemed to be necessary and she didn’t want to accept that there might be a chance she was good at it. Instead, she decided to attribute any skill at politics to her training in combat, as Marix always treated situations like this as a fight, of sorts. There just always seemed to be many more feints and misdirections than she liked to deal with.

Thankfully, though, this Admiral seemed to have much the same thinking. It was obvious that, after the battle, certain things had to be settled and decided. Bringing the New Republic to the edge of Alraxian space was dangerous enough without any of the politics involved, but now Marix was left to figure out how to handle the aftermath. It did not help that her mind was elsewhere, but at least there wasn’t much question as to what had to be done. The Alraxian Empire would not be joining the New Republic in their war effort. She thanked them for the assistance they provided, but made it clear that her people had problems of their own to deal with, which was completely ignoring the fact that, even if the Alraxian Empire was doing just fine on its own, they wouldn’t be asking for help.

“They are likely to come back,” Rulae Nok, Jyren’s old friend, spoke up when the two leaders had finished the body of the discussions.

Marix turned her eyes to the blue-skinned Duros and allowed herself a small nod, “I know how the war is going for the New Republic. The Vong are already beginning to push the Core Worlds. That makes this far away from the front lines of the battle. I believe that you have more to worry about from the Vong than we do.”

In all honesty, that was a blatant lie, but it was necessary. She had to present a strong tone and keep the Alraxians as independent as possible despite what Jyren might have wanted. He wasn’t exactly around to argue at this point, either. Of course, the situation she describe was true, and since none of the others, save Tobias, in the briefing room had any real idea of the Alraxian Empire, then they would likely believe it...or something close to that.

After a few moments of a rather uneasy silence, Admiral Tarus looked across the table to where Marix stood, “You understand that it is doubtful we can assist you if you are attacked again.”

“I do,” Marix said in a not-so-polite way, then added turning to where the blonde, human woman sat silently, “And as I said, we are grateful for your assistance. I believe I already know what the Vong are interested in my people for.”

“As do I,” the Jedi spoke up finally in a calm, if not a little detached, voice. When that got her a pair of looks from the Admiral and Rulae, she shrugged, “They are shapeshifters...we have already seen what the Vong do with prisoners. Enslave them and...alter their genetics. While they have their own suits that can make them look like a species they aren’t, imagine the prospect of actually becoming a species they aren’t. They would be able to infiltrate every single one of our planets without the slightest way for us to defend against it.”

At that, Rulae looked worried...or at least, as much as a Duros’ small amount of features could show any emotion. But the older Admiral had obviously had enough things like that thrown at him through his time in command to keep a perfectly straight face. With another slow nod, his eyes went back to Marix, “I am going to have to report this to my superiors.”

Marix simply nodded, but she had no words for him. Jyren had obviously known the consequences of bringing this fleet to protect the Gate, and while it had succeeded, she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d thought about what would happen after. He had a bad habit of looking too far ahead, but barely an hour earlier Jyren had shown he was looking directly at the moment...had he finally focused his sight on what she’d been telling him to for so long, but also forgotten to look ahead at least slightly?

A sigh escaped her involuntarily, which just made her angry with herself for losing her restraint. After another few moments, she spoke up again, “We will not change our encryption codes. If you find out anything that could help us...use them same frequency Jyren input into your system.”

The Admiral nodded, understanding that her request was more about Jyren than anything about the war. He didn’t need the Force to see her struggling to keep a neutral expression for the past standard hour. Normally, at the conclusion of a meeting, he would stand to signal it was over. But as they were all standing, save for the young Tobias who was sitting in the chair in front of the Empress. Since his usual method wouldn’t work, the Admiral simply started to move around the table.

It seemed to work, as Commodore Nok was taking the cue well enough and moving to the side so that the Admiral could pass and go about the duties of preparing the fleet to leave. But the Admiral found himself stopping when Rulae stepped over to Marix and looked up(as was necessary considering how much taller she was) and said in a formal tone, “Raan....Jyren told me that he was protecting his home and his family by keeping everything a secret, even from me. He told me all he could, but always stopped himself. When we left Obroa-Skai after it was attacked and he learned for the Vong’s interest in your people...he...he was terrified...” he paused a moment, looking down to see that Tobias was staring up at him with an empty look on his face, “On the way here, he told me you would be furious with him. Jyren...laughed about it but I’d only ever seen him that worried once before, years ago. Perhaps I don’t even have much of a point with any of this. I just wanted to make sure you know that he was trying to do the right thing...like he always did.”

Marix looked down to the Duros, studying the large red eyes curiously for a few moments before allowing herself a nod, “I know...but thank you.”

The Duros returned the gesture and then, with a gentle pat on Tobias’ shoulder, left the briefing room. The Admiral and Venda started to the door again, ready to lead the guests to their ship, but while Tobias stood up, it was easily noticeable that Marix only turned around to face them both as they had reached the door.

When she had their attention, Marix said, “I would like to ask one more favour of you.”

Both the Admiral and Venda noticed her eyes were on the Jedi woman this time. Despite this, Admiral Tarus decided it was his place to respond, “I will do what I can.”

Marix then placed a hand on Tobias’ shoulder, a gesture that caused the young Alraxian to flinch noticeably. It was obvious she didn’t usually do something like that unless he was in trouble. But as there were no claws that dug in with it, a confused expression passed over his face and he turned to look up at her with the same question on his face. After a quick glance down at him, Marix said, “I would like you to take Tobias to Yavin IV.”

“What?!” Tobias sounded as shocked as his face suddenly became. He suddenly spun around to face her, “But what about—“

”If you do not go now, Toby, you won’t have another chance,” Marix’s voice told him that she wasn’t lying. And while it didn’t seem like she wouldn’t let him go after...but there just wouldn’t be any way to.

The young Alraxian bit his lower lip and shook his head, “But Jyren...”

Marix’s hand on his shoulder shifted to Tobias face and a bit roughly forced him to look up at her, “Look at me. Do I have to put my claws into you before you believe that I’m still here?”

For a long moment, Tobias’ silvery-green eyes didn’t seem to show anything that made any sense...and neither did his feeling in the Force. But then it came to a focus, and he managed a nod even if he couldn’t find any actual words to go with it. For once, he was understanding what she meant when she always said that words never really could grasp things like they were supposed to.

With that end of it settled, Marix looked up and past him to the two watching them. It took no time before the Admiral said, “Yavin is on the way to the Core from here.”

And then, with a bow, he turned and left the briefing room to the bridge. It left only the two Alraxians and the Jedi woman whom Marix knew only about through a few impressions she had received through the link from Jyren before...

The blonde-haired woman, who reminded her a bit of Jen Zaarin Voort, also bowed, but then added, “I am due back at the Academy, myself. I will....I will take care of your son.”

“Thank you,” Marix returned the bow, then started for the exit, not needing nor wanting an escort out, though she knew she was going to get one. But she stopped a step in front of the door and turned back to look to Tobias, “Jyren is alive, Toby. You do not need to be stuck to my side every second of every day to know that.”

“But I can’t feel—“

”He is alive.”

The words were strong enough to blast through the hull of the ship. No response came, and even if it had, Marix had left. She wasn’t going to hear argument about it. When it came down to it, Tobias was right. He couldn’t feel Jyren...she couldn’t either. Through the Force or through their link. Loki was right, he’d found a way to protect them...to protect her...to cut off the link. To end it so she wouldn’t die with him.

If she didn’t have an escort with her as she headed back to the hangar, Marix would likely have punched a very deep hole in the durasteel wall.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 421: Rain*

It was raining on Alraxia. That, in itself, wasn’t the most common occurrence in the region where the Palace was located, and when it did rain...well, it really rained. What would normally have been a bright day was instead feeling more like night...a wet night. It meant that most of the Alraxians were staying inside and taking the day off from whatever duties there would have been. While the shield was still active and able to protect them from the predators of the planet, there was an odd curiosity about the shields that actually allowed weather through.

Marix stood on the balcony outside of her room in the Palace that she found herself occupying more and more lately. It was calming to just stand there and be able to see all of the Palace. Of course, at the moment, she couldn’t see much beyond a few levels below her. But that didn’t bother her...where most would likely have hidden away, Marix simply ignored the fact that she was completely drenched and simply getting wetter, and stood out there as she always had.

For the third time, she found herself closing her eyes and searching for the link. Where it had always been, she simply found...nothing. It was disturbing and terrifying. Through the years, there had been problems with the link...starting from the moment Faban Sunrunner tampered with it with the help of that damned Kato. Since then, the link had never actually been as strong as it once had. Though it had been repaired, and being together for so many years strengthened it, there was always the knowledge of how strong it had once been. And then, with this damned war keeping them apart it had gotten weaker...or at least, more distant.

But this was different. Through all of it, even when Faban and Kato were up to their own idiocy years ago, it had been there. It may have been weak or distant or just hard to reach...but it was always there. Now...now Marix closed her eyes and found nothing at all. Nothing. The very idea of nothing in that place in her mind was hard enough to grasp. But...but Loki was right. Damn Jyren! An idealistic bastard to the very end! By the Force, he had to know what doing this would have done! But...

A growl escaped her and she slammed her firsts down on the railing, which half broke before reshaping again.

[...ow...]

For a short moment, Marix glanced down at the reformed railing. She did not respond to the Palace, though, still lost in her own thoughts.

It was exactly like Jyren to do what he’d done! She had let him go, knowing full well what it meant for both of them. Not for him. Both of them. She cursed and looked up at the sky, ignoring the rain that was not pelting her face. He was too damned human. He always had been! Despite everything, he was still a damned human and made a human decision. He knew the importance of the link but did what a human would do and just ignored it and protected the other...it was bad enough that he always acted like she needed that kind of protection!

“Are you going to stand out there getting wet all day?”

Unlike the Palace, that voice got her attention. Marix opened her eyes and turned around to see Navik Keros standing just inside her room. Her eyes searched for the twins, but they didn’t seem to be with him. But then she found herself looking at the older Alraxian. He didn’t know about his son...she had been waiting for him to get back with the twins...to tell him...

“It was your son that needed to be treated like a child, Navik,” she said, turning back to look away again, “You do not need to do the same with me.”

To her surprise, she heard a laugh from him, “I believe I do, Marix. Now, please, come inside.”

It was his tone of voice that really bothered Marix. He sounded worried, and that unlike him. Maybe he did know...but...he couldn’t. No one knew. So, she turned and walked inside, stepping past him and ignoring the fact that she was dripping on everything. After Navik had closed the doors to the balcony and turned to face her, Marix looked him in the eyes and did what she was best at...getting straight to the point, “Navik...Jyren is gone.”

The older Alraxian stared at her in silence for a long few minutes. She could see him working through this and knew he wouldn’t need to ask her to be specific on what she meant. He knew. It was the way she said it...coupled with how she’d been acting for the last ten minutes that he’d stood watching her quietly. It was the only time she’d ever not noticed him before he’d even walked in.

Finally, though, Navik asked quietly, “You must...forgive me for this...but how are you still here?”

“He found a way to cut off our link...” Marix ground out the next words, “...to protect me...”

And it was then that, considering she had just told this man that his son was dead, Marix realized he was taking it far better than she would have expected. Or rather, better than she was taking it. Which just added to her annoyance and caused her brain to go off and ignore the rest of her by changing the subject suddenly, “How are the twins?”

Marix did not like what she saw on Navik’s face after she asked that. For a moment, she found herself actually wondering if they weren’t okay, but stopped that quickly. She would know. Despite this idiocy from Jyren getting to her...she would know.

“They are...” he trailed off, obviously trying to find a way to answer best. There was a slight change of direction, and Navik started again, “Andrea has been screaming to see Jyren for the last five hours.”

To her credit, Marix did not outwardly show her reaction to that in any way. She at least was able to keep that much control over herself. She managed to simply nod and start past him to the twin’s room where, now that she was listening, she could, indeed, hear a very muffled noise that was fairly constant.

But as she got to the door, Navik said one more thing, “Marix...I received a transmission from Alyx on the way here. The Knights on the border are reporting the Mrrakesh are still pushing through, even after the deal that was made.”

Because she wasn’t facing him, Navik didn’t see her scowl. It was probably for the best, as the look on her face was usually the same one when she was to the point of tearing someone’s throat out. Marix forced it away in a second, then said over her shoulder, “I’ll deal with it tomorrow.”

That was probably a bad choice. But Marix didn’t care. For the moment, the Mrrakesh, the Vong, and the New Republic could all go and drop out of an airlock. She had once said to Jyren, years before, that actually having a quiet life with a family might not actually be all that bad. Of course, she’d stopped herself and been shocked to say it...but it had come out. And now...now the rest of the galaxy be damned, Marix hadn’t really had time to spend with the twins in too long, and even if she could push through what the galaxy through at her, there was no way they could...not yet.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 422: Past and Present*

“Hold it tighter...you’ll lose it with a light grip like that.”

Tobias looked down at the lightsaber in his hands and tried to tighten his grip as best he could while keeping the hold on the hilt as he had been shown. It was an...odd grip, really. Not how he had naturally picked it up, and because of that, tightening on it made the hold even stranger. He shook his head and then grumbled, “I don’t see why I have to hold it like this.”

“Trust me. You’ll understand in a moment. Now, I’m going to attack and all you need to do is parry like before...but this time I’m not going to tell you where to look. Watch my eyes, my legs, and how I shift my stance to see where I’m going to attack. But don’t trust your eyes, either...feels my movements. Okay?”

Tobias nodded.

“Ready?”

Again, Tobias nodded.

And then, the light in front of him shifted as the blue-green blade swung around to his left side. It was a slow swing, and Toby had little trouble shifting around to the side to parry it. But then he got a surprise. The second the two blades collided, the blue-green light from the attack reversed, and Toby watched a flash as it spun around and, in another second, was on his right side, all too close to his neck.

The blade was also close enough that the loud thrumming of the weapon was almost a scream in his ear. Which meant it was hard to hear Jyren when he said, “That weapon is an extension of your body...not just a weapon. You don’t need to look at it anymore than you need to watch your own hand. You have to know where it is...okay?”

“But...”

Jyren shook his head, though he didn’t move his blade from its position next to Tobias’ neck, “Listen to me, Toby...you asked me to do this, now you need to just trust me. You’re holding the weapon like that for a reason, but I can’t spell everything out for you. Watch me. Stay focused on me...not my weapon.”

Finally, Jyren pulled back his blade and held it up in the neutral position, “Lets try this again.”

Tobias nodded and pulled his lightsaber up into the same position, looking through the violet glow of the weapon as best he could without going blind and then...

“Tobias?”

He blinked. After another moment, Toby sat up straight in his chair and shook his head, waiting for his vision to refocus. When the reality of the moment finally came back to him, he saw that Venda was standing across from him. He quickly reminded himself that he was on Yavin IV, sitting in the large mess hall of the Jedi Academy there, and simply had been waiting for her to return. They’d only arrived about ten minutes before, and the Jedi woman had herded Toby into the mess before telling him to wait and then disappearing.

“Hm?” was the best he could manage as he was still coming back into reality. Tobias was sure it hadn’t been a dream. He was...awake. But...that had happened, about a standard year before. Was he seeing things? It was too vivid to just be a simply memory but...

It was then that Tobias noticed the tall, broad shouldered human male standing next to Venda. He wore the Jedi robes and was an odd contradiction to look at...the man looked like he could easily break Tobias in half(this was ignoring the fact that, to make things easier on everyone, Tobias was currently human), but had a peaceful smile on his face that belied everything else.

Venda motioned to the man, “This is Master Solusar. He is in charge of the Academy here in Master Skywalker’s absence.”

Taking the hint, Tobias stood and bowed, but since he was unsure of what to say...remained silent. Master Solusar returned the bow and help a smile, “It is good to meet you, Tobias. Though I am...sorry to hear about your father.”

Tobias managed to keep a neutral face at that, knowing that the Jedi Master was simply trying to be polite. An uncomfortable moment passed, but the Jedi Master soon ended it, “I must also apologize in advance for the nervous atmosphere here. I expect you understand why, but because of the situation in the galaxy, it is hard to continue training as we have done before. This is a time where the Jedi are greatly needed...so we must all do what we can to help.”

“That’s why I wanted to be here,” Tobias said softly.

Master Solusar stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder, “I am glad to hear that. But before we can place you to begin your training, we must assess your abilities as they are now. Can you use that?”

Following the Master’s gaze, Tobias found his eyes on the lightsaber at his belt...Jyren’s lightsaber. He had to run this through his already overworked mind, but Toby finally managed to nod, “Somewhat.”

The hand on Tobias’ shoulder shifted to his back as Master Solusar began to lead him towards a turbolift, “Good. Then we’ll have to see how well you are with that along with the other tests.”

The turbolifts were very odd to Tobias. Compared to the huge, ancient rocks that made up the rest of the Great Temple, the lifts were as modern as they could be, and looked more like something on a starship than in this ancient temple. 

As they silently rode down in the lift, Tobias said quietly, “Jyren...my father said that a true Jedi would never need his lightsaber to win a fight.”

“He was a wise man,” Master Solusar nodded, “And he was right. However...it is an ideal that is not achieved overnight. With the galaxy as it is, we must be able to protect ourselves. Even the younger students are trained in basic lightsaber techniques for their own protection. These are...not the best of times for anyone.”

That, Tobias understood. While the idea of a more militant Jedi order scared him, the need for protection made perfect sense to him. Especially after...after everything he’d seen. It had barely been a standard day since the battle, and Tobias was still having trouble with it all.

“Do not worry,” the Jedi Master cut into his thoughts, “You will learn to control your mind. But the first thing you must understand is that you cannot dwell on the pain. Given time, it will draw you to the Dark Side and that...that is the last thing that anyone needs, especially with a war like this surrounding us.”

Tobias managed a silent nod.

A few moments later, the turbolift door slid open and Master Solusar stepped out, leading the way down a vaulted corridor to a large set of metal doors. They opened at the touch of a switch to reveal a large, open room with a series of obstacles and other objects that had to be for training purposes. The room, itself, was empty beyond that, and so Tobias simply followed where he was led to the center of the room.

“Jedi Venda will be in the observation chamber above us,” Master Solusar nodded to a room above them with a series of consoles that Tobias couldn’t see, “I must admit, it has been a long time since I have tested a prospective student, myself, but...as I have said too many times now, we are quite stretched. We will start with the basics and move from there...are you ready?”

“Are you ready?” Jyren asked him a second time. He could see him there...in front of Master Solusar. Taller than the man thanks to the fact that he was an Alraxian. The fringe of his hair still out in the way of the right side of his face and the metallic blue coloured stripe cutting a very unique look into his otherwise plain, white hair. He stood there, smiling slightly as he waited for an answer from Tobias, bathed in the blue-green light of his own lightsaber.

The lightsaber that was now hanging on Tobias’ belt. The weapon he’d taken so many times when no one was looking just to hold...as if it were a toy. What he’d always dreamed of having, because, deep down, Tobias had always been terrified about his true parentage. He knew what Jyren always said...that no matter who his biological parents were, Tobias was his son. No matter what. And then he’d given Tobias his weapon...his mother’s weapon. A symbol of his family. The only connection to it that Jyren had for so very long...

...and now it was in Tobias’ hands.

He closed his eyes and tried to go through the quick calming techniques that Marix had taught him, and when he opened his eyes again...Jyren was gone.

“I’m ready.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 423: War*

Tomorrow always came too quickly.

It had been a long night and Marix had managed maybe an hour of sleep, if that. While, for a time, that had been the norm...that was years ago. The twins no longer had constant screaming matches in the ungodly hours of the night. Even though Jyren had been the one to deal with those fits, normally, it didn’t mean the extremely loud noises didn’t wake her. But for the last few years, the twins had actually slept.

However, Andrea was simply continuing to demand to see Jyren, to which Marix had no real answer for. She could only do her best to try to distract the little girl, which was difficult after the previous day’s events and the fact that, when Andrea screamed, Saaran woke up and made things...more difficult. More than once during the night, Marix wondered why she had children.

But finally, when night had come much closer to morning, the twins both fell asleep. That was when she finally was able to get some sleep, though it wasn’t worth counting as Alraxia’s sun crept in not long after to put the light right on her face. Thankfully, though, Marix noted the twins were still asleep as she got to her feet and tried to get her thoughts under control. It was disturbingly difficult to not reach for the empty place where the link had been, and the fact that she had to continue to stop herself was getting even more frustrating.

When she exited the bedroom, Marix walked into the larger living area to see a new shape on one of the couches. It took her a moment, likely due to being so damned tired, but she realized that the white haired and black-striped Alraxian that was passed out there was her twin brother, Alyx. He was definitely asleep, but how long he’d been there was beyond her...which was almost terrifying. Marix always had a very good awareness of the area around her...and for Alyx to have been here long enough to fall asleep...

Marix sighed and had a seat in a chair next to him before reaching over with a foot and nudging him not-so-gently. As he was never a heavy sleeper, Alyx immediately reached by groaning and feebly swinging a hand at where her leg had been. He rolled over and, as he did, Marix caught sight of a half open eye looking around and trying to make sense of things while staying mostly asleep.

After another few moments, the eye looked up enough to see her, and his mind seemed to come to terms with the fact that sleep was no longer an option. When Alyx’s other eye opened, he made a noise that could have been anything from ‘good morning’ to ‘I’m going to kill you’.

“Good morning to you, too,” Marix mumbled, sitting back in her chair and waiting for him to wake up more.

For Alyx, that had never taken long. As the fuzziness faded from his eyes and his mind, Marix found herself proud of him all of a sudden. She’d sworn to be a better sister years ago, but...life had gotten in the way, as always. She was able to help him more, but with the twins and actually deciding to raise them themselves...it simply came down to her not doing what she’d really wanted to. But, despite that, Alyx wasn’t the timid, nervous, and all-together silent brother she remember that he’d been growing up.

No...in the decade that had passed, he, too, had changed. While he was still quiet most of the time, having moved to the role of ambassador had given him a great deal of experience that had never been there before. It had actually been Navik’s job for the longest time, but he now spent most of his time advising Marix...and so it gave Alyx the chance to step up, and Marix could see in the way he looked just how it had changed him.

Presenting her with a rather concerned expression, Alyx cut her thoughts off and said, “I ran into Navik on the way here...he told me what happened. I...I heard wailing and didn’t want to disturb you after...after...”

As he trailed off, Marix found herself nodding. So he knew now, too. Not knowing what to say but feeling like she should say something, Marix decided to resort to something pointless and mostly off topic, “They both finally fell asleep a little while ago.”

“How are you doing?”

The question was not something Marix liked. Even with Jyren, that was a question that she rarely answered. The link could handle that just fine, and when it came to Alyx...well, he could read her well enough. They were twins, after all. No amount of distance through the years could get rid of that kind of connection between them. And so, she concluded he was asking it for her benefit, trying to get her to talk as Jyren had tried so many times...well, not just Jyren...everyone always did. It just came down to most people putting far too much value in words, as if they had any ability to truly convey how one felt.

When he didn’t get an answer, Alyx sighed and looked down at the floor, “I guess I already know the answer to that. I’m sorry, but I’m just trying to help.”

“I know you are,” Marix said quietly, then added under her breath, “But don’t apologize to me for it.”

That actually got a hint of a smile on Alyx’s face, which Marix was glad to see. He looked up to look her in the eyes again and tried a more direct approach, “I came here with bad news and when I ran into Navik he...told me what happened and I just...I don’t know what to do now,” he paused and bit his lip, and Marix just kept her mouth shut as she could feel he wasn’t finished. She was right, “It doesn’t make sense to me! Navik...Navik said Jyren is...dead. But you’re...”

“You know as well as I do that nothing in the galaxy is set in stone,” Marix cut in before he could go over the same point that had come to her from too many people already, including herself, “And you also knew Jyren very well. He did what he felt was right, as always...but...but it meant he had to go and add in his usual idealistic stupidity with it. Do you really think he would have done something like that, with full knowledge of what the consequences, and not find a way to keep all of it on himself?”

For a long few moments, Alyx watched her. She looked so...angry. He hadn’t seen her like that in so many years. It was terrifying, as it reminded him of what Faban Sunrunner had done to his sister when they were young. But this...this was different, and he could understand it more, “He was...human, Marix.”

“I know that, Alyx,” Marix nearly snapped at him, but managed to keep her tone light enough to not sound like she was going to kill him, “But he’d been so much like us lately. I should have known better with how he reacted to this damned war...”

It was now Alyx’s turn to watch his sister trail off into nothing. Silence took over, which was rather comforting for Marix, as she couldn’t hear the wailing of children in it. But then, Alyx decided to change the subject, and though it wasn’t anything positive, it was something different that he hoped would at least help Marix to focus her thoughts away from things that could not be changed, “I came here to give you an update on the Mrrakesh situation...”

“Navik told me,” she seemed happy for the change of subject, though Alyx could see no notable change in her expression, “What’s happened, Alyx?”

Marix’s brother sighed heavily and sat back this time, looking up towards the ceiling, “They settled a few small groups on the planets you loaned to them. Steady streams have come in the hours since that happened. But not long ago five of their attack cruisers crossed into other systems...occupied systems, and settled down. There was fighting on one planet, as it was a human system, and now the humans in the Empire are mustering what little weapons they have to fight to get their land back...”

“So what you’re telling me, Alyx, is that not only do we have the Yuuzhan Vong and the New Republic knowing exactly where the Gateway is with the situation with the Mrrakesh becoming even more tense...but now, we’re about to be drawn into an actual war with the Mrrakesh?”

Alyx bit his lip and continued to stare up at the ceiling. It took a few moments before he looked down again and leaned forward to meet her strong gaze, again. Even though it was his sister, Alyx found it hard to look at her when she was so...hard and cold like that. He’d enjoyed seeing her without those qualities in the past years...

“The humans don’t have much in the way of weapons...but...even though they were attacked first...” Alyx sighed heavily, “If they so much as fire on a Mrrakesh, you’re right. They will declare war on us in a second.”

Marix just stared at her brother, doing everything she could not to take out her anger on him. Damn the Mrrakesh...and damn the humans! They had lived in the Empire since the days the first Jedi had arrived thousands of years ago, with a small community that kept to themselves but also was part of the Alraxian Empire. And yet...yet they were still human. Damn them all! They were as bad as Jyren!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 424: An Extra Pair of Eyes*

Rulae Nok found himself, yet again, in a horrible situation. In fact, he had a great deal of trouble imagining anything worse. Currently, he sat at what was technically his desk looking over the information from the previous battle. The overall report was, sadly, not as depressing as the previous task of writing messages to the families of the pilots in Zephyr Squadron that had been killed in the engagement. Over half of them were dead, and it reminded Rulae why he didn’t get attached to them anymore.

The Duros let out a sigh and sat back in his chair. The fact that he had a desk job whenever there wasn’t a battle going on was bad enough...but he had never been good at telling families of the deaths that occurred. Of course, that was probably a good thing, and it wasn’t something he wanted to be good at, but sometimes he just wished he didn’t have to do it at all.

And, on top of everything, his good friend was dead. This wasn’t like before. The last time they had simply gone their separate ways after they were the only two left of the original Zephyrs. Rulae had chosen to stay in Starfighter Command and was moved to a new squadron, and Jyren...Raan simply moved on to other things. Truthfully, Raan had pretty much disappeared off the face of the galaxy, and had been reported dead when Rulae tried to track him down not long after...but it was still different.

This time, Jyren hadn’t just disappeared. During the battle, Rulae was, obviously, caught up in trying to keep himself and the other Zephyrs alive. Because of this, he had no idea what was going on behind the screen of starfighters other than vague orders passing through the main comm channel that he had done his best to ignore unless a direct order was sent his direction. But he did receive a direct message, though it wasn’t an order. It had come from one of the New Republic’s ships that had been left to defend the rear of the fleet, and that, alone, was enough to get his attention.

When Rulae switched his comm channel over to pick up the message, he was even more surprised when he heard Jyren’s voice. Now, many hours later, the words were still eerily clear in his mind and just made all the other tasks, including staying alive during the battle, that much more difficult.

“Rulae...I know this is going to distract you but I had to send you a quick message while there was still time. I’m sorry I couldn’t be out there with the rest of the Squadron, but I think you understand why I’m not. But now I know why. I’ve made a choice, Rulae, and its not one I can turn back from. It’s the right thing to do, and it’s the only way to protect my family that I can see. If there was a way out of this...I would have found it by now, but there’s no time. But before everything went even crazier, I wanted to ask you a favour. Take care of the kids in the squadron...keep them strong and keep them hard. And...if you can, keep an eye on my family and make sure they’re okay. It was good to fly with you again, old friend...you did a lot more for me than you know. Thank you.”

And then it had cut out, returning to the panicked sounds of the squadron’s channel. Several times, Rulae had attempted to cut in, but Jyren had ignored him and kept talking. It was for the better, though, as Rulae was able to keep himself alive by continuing to maneuver instead of also trying to fight back through the comm system. But it was...a terrifying thing to hear from his friend, as he knew nothing of what was going on. Nothing, at least, until the Stardust rammed into the single Vong ship that had gotten past the main lines, and then Rulae knew what had happened.

The Duros closed his eyes and rested a hand on his large forehead before a sigh escaped him. Over the years, he had become hardened to the deaths of squadron mates, as was necessary, especially being in a command position. But losing a close friend...and so soon after he had come back. There was no need to write the message to his family...his family was there. Perhaps that made it worse. He hadn’t even had to tell that Empress what had happened...as she knew better than he did.

“Sir...?”

Rulae opened his eyes. He hadn’t heard the door open, and the only people who knew it wasn’t sealed were the other Zephyrs. Because of that, he wasn’t surprised to see that it was the Twi’lek pilot, Rea, standing there as the door slid closed behind her. It did, however, annoy him a great deal that he had gotten so distracted as to not hear the door open.

“Yes, Lieutenant?” Rulae managed to keep his formal tone and was even back into his usual mode of thining enough to remember that the Twi’lek had received a promotion after the last engagement. Considering the numbers they had lost during the battle, the promotions that were given out to the survivors had been almost mandatory. Rulae hated that kind of thing, but understood why they always happened.

The young pilot looked as bad as Rulae felt, with her blue skin even seeming pale compared to the usual colour that it was. She took a few steps closer to his desk and tried to smooth our what was currently a mess of a uniform she was still wearing before shaking her head and mumbling, “Sir, I...I’m not all that sure, actually...I...I just can’t believe we’re running off like this after...”

After everything.

It was always hard to lose a wingmate, especially the first time it happened. And so, Rulae couldn’t blame Rea for focusing on the loss on Jyren while ignoring all of the tactical reasons for the fleet’s return to what most would call the real fight. Everyone always felt the same way when they lost their wingmate...

He was intelligent enough not to address what she had brought up, knowing that it would likely make the situation worse. The best thing now was to find a way to move on. However, there was something important that he felt he could do to help. Glancing down at his next, he picked up a small piece of datafilm that was on top of the piles of other useless junk that he tried to ignore most of the tmie and offered it to her, “The Captain sent me a transmission before the Stardust was lost. He asked me to keep an eye on his family...to do what I could for them.”

Not really following him, Rea took the datafilm without looking at it and simply gave Rulae a somewhat lost look, “But I thought the Empress and his son went back to their home through that Gate thing.”

“The Empress did,” Rulae answered before motioning with a long-fingered hand to the datafilm to try and get her to look at it...she didn’t, so he went on, “The boy...his son went with the Jedi to Yavin.”

At hearing that, Rea finally looked at what she was given, going over what was imprinted on the film and finally understanding what he’d given her. After a moment of studying it, she looked back up and asked, “Am I being transferred, sir?”

“No,” he corrected with a shake of his head, “We need all the pilots we can get, and you’ve got experience that I need out there.”

One of Rea’s lekku twitched very slightly, but it was something that Rulae took notice of, “I’m sorry, sir, but...I don’t understand why you’re showing me this if I’m not being transferred.”

“That comm frequency is specially encrypted,” he explained, “I was told that the comlink it responds to has been modified to pick up very long range transmissions...and its currently in the hands of the Jedi Master in charge of their Academy on Yavin.”

Now, things made sense to the Twi’lek pilot. A knowing look passed across her features and she nodded to herself before looking to him again and managing a polite smile, “Thank you, sir. I’ll...I’ll keep an eye on Tobias for you.”

“For Jyren,” Rulae corrected her carefully.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 425: Alone*

A pair of nondescript and interestingly shaped objects hung a meter above the metal-plated floor of the Academy’s training room. It had been a long two hours of going through the most basics of the Force, with Tobias’ previous training obviously being tested. But up until this point, it had been a purely mental exercise. It was hard for Toby to gauge if he was doing well, as Master Solusar was simply helping him along and telling him what to do in a rather reserved voice.

“Clear your mind,” the Jedi Master’s voice cut through the silence again, and it had the opposite effect on Tobias than the words were meant to. Tobias’ eyes opened completely, and for a half second, darted to his side where the Master was standing. That tiny lapse in concentration was enough, and as Toby’s mind caught up to the problem and he turned back to look to the objects, they had already both come crashing to the floor.

Tobias stared down at them and sighed heavily, then said towards the floor, “You did that on purpose.”

“Not to throw off your concentration,” the Jedi corrected, “You were not holding them steady enough. You were about to lose them.”

Just staring at the small objects, Tobias wasn’t sure what to say. After a moment, he looked back up towards Master Solusar, who held the same stoic look that had been on his face since they’d started. Seeing that he had Tobias’ attention, the Jedi Master went on, “You have done well, Tobias.  The training you have had up to this point has been very effective...”

Sensing that wasn’t the end of the statement, Tobias jumped in when he noticed the pause, “...but?”

A smile crept onto Master Solusar’s face at Tobias’ comment, and it was obvious he was glad to see that he was paying attention, “But you lack control. While you are obviously skilled, throughout every one of these tests you have not truly focused.”

Tobias was at a loss as to how to respond. He stared up at the tall human with a look that was something more common on someone being told that their beloved pet had just died. Seeing this, Master Solusar motioned for Tobias to stand and added, “You will learn control.”

The sound of a door sliding open behind him made Tobias spin around as he got to his feet. The Jedi Knight, Venda, had stepped in and nodded politely to the two of them. Toby had forgotten she had been watching and monitoring things the entire time. Master Solusar motioned towards the door she had come from, “Jedi Venda will show you to your quarters. Get some rest and tomorrow you will begin the formal training.”

At first, Tobias just nodded and started towards the door. But a thought crept into his mind and he stopped, turned, and bowed to the Jedi Master. Master Solusar returned the bow and then, without a word, Tobias turned and followed Venda out into the corridor.

They walked silently to the turbolift and Toby made sure to note the level where they were going...two above where they were now. He had learned to take note of buildings as much as possible from Marix, who emphasized to him the need to know his surroundings in case anything went wrong. Truthfully, it was mainly meant in the case of an assassination attempt, as it was always a constant worry, but Tobias, like Marix, applied the teaching to anytime he was in a new area...no matter how safe it was supposed to be.

When they reached the small door to the room that was supposed to be his quarters, Tobias couldn’t help but worry at what would be inside. He’d only ever really known three rooms that he considered his through his life...in the Palace, in his grandfather’s house on Alraxia, and on Loki. So, he felt a nervous pause when Venda hit the switch to open it, and then a pang of relief when it was revealed to be a small, simple room with a single bed, desk, and another door that, Venda mentioned, housed the fresher.

After she explained the basics that sounded rather scripted to Tobias’ currently human ears, the blonde-haired woman stopped in front of the door, turned, and spoke in a tone that made Toby wonder if she wasn’t actually just attempting small talk, “How are you doing?”

“Huh?”

Admittedly, Tobias was not the greatest when it came to conversation, even if he was intelligent enough to pick up most of the little things.

“Its barely been a day,” she tried again, “And this is a very big transition for anyone.”

“Oh,” Tobias’ mind caught up finally, “Um...yeah. I’m alright. Thank you.”

She smiled and nodded, “Good luck, Toby.”

This time, he wasn’t so far behind and managed to catch a thought that strayed through the Force, “Are you leaving?”

Again, Venda nodded, “I am needed on Coruscant.”

“But you’re the only person I know here...”

“That will change,” she stepped forward to rest a hand on his shoulder, “And, you must admit, it is a stretch to say you know me. We are not much more than familiar faces. Despite that, though, if you need anything, I shouldn’t be too hard to get in contact with. Just ask Master Solusar and he can help you. Alright?”

Tobias just nodded, suddenly feeling abandoned. He had never actually gone anywhere truly on his own before, and hadn’t even thought about the fact that he might be alone at the Academy. Sure, this Jedi woman was only a familiar face, but that was something, at least. When it came right down to it, Tobias had no more exposure to the outside galaxy than Marix had when she had first left Alraxia years before...

And before he knew it, Venda had left and he was alone in what was supposed to be his room. Slowly, Tobias sunk down onto the bed that felt far too hard and stared at the room. It was...blank. Whoever had been here before him left no marks at all, physically or in the Force. With a new sense of care for the object, Tobias removed the lightsaber from his belt and rested it on the desk that was next to the bed, looking at the metal cylinder and starting to wonder if all those stories he’d been told over the years about the Jedi were just that...stories.

Maybe this really wasn’t going to be easy. Maybe this wasn’t going to be fun.

Tobias closed his eyes.

Maybe this was going to be hard...like he’d always been told but never listened to because of the glamour attached to the Jedi. And now, finally, Tobias began to understand what he’d been told...and he started to worry that he’d made the wrong choice despite the fact that he knew it was far too late to turn back.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 426: Sneaking*

For thousands of years, a small community of humans lived in the Alraxian Empire. They occupied a pair of star systems near the outermost edge of the Empire, close to both the Mrrakesh border and the very edge of the galactic rim before there was, quite literally, nothing at all. Because of their existence on the edge of the Empire and the fact that the humans tended to keep to themselves, most Alraxians never saw a human in their entire lives. The Jendari interacted with them on a close basis, but there was always an uneasy tension between the Alraxians and the humans.

Some of them were likely descendants of the Jedi, or even the Sith, that had come to this hidden region of the Unknown Regions countless millennia ago and had been involved in the first Darkwing Wars...or maybe even dating back to the origin of both the Alraxian and Mrrakesh species. Thanks to the knowledge provided by the oldest of the Jedi complexes on Alraxia, Marix knew the origin of the two species, though she didn’t particularly like it. The fact that the Sith had genetically manipulated their ancestors from non-sentient species into walking, shapeshifting weapons was not a comfortable one.

Perhaps that was why she didn’t care for the humans in the Empire. As Empress, Marix was required to meet with their leaders here and there, and was obviously involved in the other important political duties that she was stuck with, since the humans were technically part of the Empire. And, while they may have been descended from those ancient Sith, none of the current generation showed any Force ability, nor did they seem to care about it. In fact, the humans seemed to not care much about their history at all...or know much of the ancient information. But that was a trait of humans...being so...short sighted...

Marix sighed and shook her head, clearing it before the thoughts could even creep to her conscious mind. This was not the time for that. She glanced away from the viewport in front of her to the control consoles and said aloud, “Have anything for me yet, Loki?”

[Only a report from the Jendari.] the ship responded casually. He waited the normal amount of time he always did when making sure she would not object to him continuing, then went on. [The humans do have enough weapons to put up a fight. Small ships, the size of young Kanyak, with very light weaponry...they will be destroyed by the Mrrakesh, but they seem determined to go down fighting.]

And to drag the entire Alraxian Empire into a war with the Mrrakesh. A covert operation by Alraxian Knights against invaders was one thing, but a militant group of humans fighting with their metal weapons and ships would set the Mrrakesh off. There would be no negotiation this time. This would spark into a true war...and it was the kind of war that the Mrrakesh would win.

“Any word from the Mrrakesh?” she asked, though already knowing the answer.

A feeling of unease passed through the Force from Loki. [Nothing...] he paused, and then added in an offhand fashion. [Like the old days.]

More to herself, Marix nodded. That was expected. There were rumours that the previous leader of the Mrrakesh was dead, and that one of the many state rulers amongst their Confederation had forcibly taken power. This was not anything unusual for the Mrrakesh, as they commonly had rather violent endings for their leaders as more ambitious local rulers decided they should be in charge. With enough supporters, it was usually not too difficult. But the problem with this rumour, though, was that the previous leader had been willing to talk, and had obviously understood the severity of the situation with the Yuuzhan Vong.

Signs did point to a new leader...and if that was true...it looked very much like the chance of at least a slight truce was gone again. Only two days after being loaned Mrrakesh cruisers and it was not only back to the way things were before, but suddenly even more dangerous. The Vong were pushing the Mrrakesh into Alraxian space...and the Mrrakesh, who had always been interested in taking it but afraid of the consequences, not had an excuse. And they were smart enough to go for the damned humans, who would react like all humans and fight back without thinking about the consequences of their actions!

No!

Calm.

Focus.

A few deep breaths later and the thoughts were gone again. Normally, Marix had more control over things like that...but...no. Stop this. It would only lead straight down that again, and this was definitely not the time. Admittedly, there never was a time for it, but this was up there as one of the worst ones.

Leaning forward in her seat, Marix looked at the blue-orange coloured planet out through the viewport, “They haven’t detected us yet?”

[Of course not.] the feeling of a grin passed through the Force, whatever that felt like... [I am quite good at being sneaky, thank you.]

A once-again-rare smile crept onto Marix’s face and she patted the control panel, “Get us in as close as you can. I want to see this fleet myself.”

Slowly, the planet began to grow in view. As they began to move forward, Loki spoke up again. [You didn’t tell me why we’re being sneaky, though...]

“You didn’t ask,” she shrugged and sat back again. Forcing back the urge to look to the empty seat at her side, Marix explained, “But do you really think the humans would let me see their ships if they knew I was coming?”

[Good point.]

“And you’re getting old...you need practice sneaking.”

[...I’m not old.]

The smile was still on Marix’s face, “I saw a grey streak on your belly on the way in.”

[You did not!]

“Calm down, calm down,” she laughed slightly, suddenly glad to be back with her old friend as if nothing was wrong at all, “Its where no one can see it unless they look. Just make sure to land fast so no one looks up.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 427: Choices*

Rulae Nok looked at the four others in a much smaller briefing room aboard one of the Golan Defense Stations that orbited Coruscant. That was all that was left of the Zephyrs. Five pilots. Most of the other squadrons were in the same situation, but it was harder to deal with when it was them. When it was their friends.

He glanced down at the datapad sitting on the podium in front of him before looking back up to the four others. To be honest, he was unsure of what to say to them. It was sitting in front of him on the datapad, but after everything else that had hit the kids in the last couple of days, Rulae found it difficult to break the next bit of news to them.

And so, Rulae was relieved when the red-haired human woman, Adria Harken asked, “I’m sorry, sir, but I’m not quite sure why you wanted to see us. We just got the debriefing report an hour ago.”

Resisting the urge to show any emotion to that, the Duros commander simply shook his head and said, “I know its late and you’re all tired but...I just received our orders from Command.”

Not once had he received orders and brought all of them together. Worried looks appeared all around, and it was the Cest Uu’vel, a tan-furred Bothan, who very wearily spoke up, “Should we start packing up, sir?”

That was a hard question to answer, mainly due to the fact that he wasn’t too far off of the truth. Rulae looked to Cest and managed to shake his head again, “The squadron isn’t being disbanded, if that’s what you’re worried about. Lieutenant. However, the fleet is going to be off of the front lines for at least another three months while the ships can be repaired and those that were lost replaced.”

“What about the Admiral?” Rea asked, sitting in the seat farthest from the podium where he stood and with a completely unreadable expression on her blue-skinned face. She had just asked a question about something she shouldn’t have known about, but then again, Rulae remembered what it was like to track down every bit of information one could to figure out what was going on.

Upon their arrival at Coruscant, the Admiral had left for Fleet Command’s headquarters for what was likely to be a very long debriefing. Whether he would retain his command afterwards was something Rulae worried about, as running off to the edge of the galaxy, and losing so many in the process of defending a previously unknown species, had not exactly been in his orders. 

After a short exhale, Rulae looked to the Twi’lek girl, “I know nothing more than you do about that,” he then scanned the others a moment and adopted the formal tone again, “The reason I wanted to get all of you together was to let you know of our situation. Zephyr Squadron will stay with the Araddon and her fleet, and so we will also be off of the front lines for the next few months. This will give us time to get new pilots and fighters to replace what we’ve lost and be ready for when we get back into the fight. I want us all together once the replacements are ready so that we can train and be ready together, as a full squadron and not just a group of random pilots.  But getting new pilots is going to take at least a standard month...”

He trailed off a moment and sighed, not liking what he had to say next, but knowing it was necessary. The pause was long enough that it made the rest of the pilots even more uneasy. Seeing this, Rulae quickly continued, “It leaves the four of you with three choices, all of which have gone through Starfighter Command and have been approved. If you wish to assist in the selection process, I am open to it. You are all experienced enough now to know what we need in new recruits. You’ve seen what happens to those that aren’t ready. You may also take a month of leave. Obviously, in a time with a war like we have, this is unusual...but Command says that we’ve been through enough combat and experiences that you have earned it,” he paused for a short moment and then, after glancing down at the last option on the datapad, decided he had to say it whether he liked it or not, “Finally, if you wish, you may apply for a transfer to another squadron. Obviously, I would not like to see any of you leave, but it is your choice. If you feel the need to stay in the fight now, you can do that...only not as a Zephyr.”

When he’d finished, Rulae noted that the four pilots were looking at him with expressions he just plain couldn’t read. He decided to blame it on the fact that all of them were different species, and while he was getting better at reading humans, Adria was one of the difficult ones. And so, Rulae simply watched them, noting that none of them looked to each other, only seemingly watching him as they went over this new information in their heads.

“Sir,” that was the Mon Calamari, Obrack Loro, “I would like to believe that I speak for all of us when I say that we are Zephyrs until the day we die.”

A furry hand came down on Loro’s shoulder, and Cest nodded to the Mon Calamari, “You speak for me.”

“And me,” Adria said from off to the side, a hint of a smile on her somewhat sharp features.

Behind them all, Rea leaned forward, “You do speak for all of us, Loro.”

A smile did find its way onto Rulae’s small mouth, and the Duros cut in, “That is very good to hear. And it also leaves the two of you with two choices...and I will leave you to make them on your own time. Now, this has been short, but please, go get some rest.”

He managed a salute to dismiss them, and they all returned it before standing up and starting out of the room. Rulae did his usual thing and stood at the podium trying to look busy while they all left. And, as always, one stayed behind to catch him in the ruse. Out of the corner of his vision, Rulae could see it was Rea who was waiting on him to acknowledge her. When he looked up to her, Rulae didn’t need any words to do that.

Seeing that she had his attention, Rea decided to get straight to the point, “If you don’t need me around, sir, I’ll be taking that month of leave.”

“I thought you would,” Rulae admitted, finally picking up his datapad and dropping it casually into his jacket pocket, “And if you leave early enough, you can your X-Wing without anyone trying to grab it for maintenance that you should be able to do yourself.”

That got a surprised look on her face. However, it slowly formed into a grin, and she nodded, “Thank you, sir.”

The Twi’lek saluted him a second time and then was gone. As Rulae waited a few moments, so that he would still look like he was busier than he currently was to the others, he admitted to himself that he had just done something he shouldn’t have. Technically, that X-Wing was the New Republic’s property, and definitely not meant for running across dangerous portions of space on what would be classified as personal business. But...

Rulae smiled to himself and shook his head.

But this was for Jyren...and, not only did Rulae have a soft spot for his old friend, but he had given his word. Actually, no, he hadn’t given his word. Jyren hadn’t given him the chance to. Perhaps that was what had been bothering him so much. That bastard ran off and did something stupid, then didn’t even give his friend the chance to say anything to him. It wasn’t like so many others that had died and he hadn’t had a chance to say anything to...there was a chance that time, though. And yet...

Reason slipped in as it always did for him, and Rulae pushed the thoughts aside. What was done, was done. And so, he would simply move on. Which meant that his next destination was filled with a few hundred datafilms covered with profiles for potential replacements.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 428: Do I Know You?*

The Jedi Academy was a truly amazing place. Though that might not have meant much coming from Tobias, who found most everything that wasn’t the Palace to be amazing, there was no one around that would bother telling him otherwise. In fact, Tobias quickly found that most everyone he encountered was rather friendly, no matter their age or species...both of which were things he was finding to be amazingly diverse. There were beings of all shapes, sizes, and colours, most of which Tobias could not even begin to put a name to...and he loved it.

It had been only a day since he’d first arrived on the moon of the gas giant, Yavin, but he had already begun what was a surprisingly strict regiment of training under an Omwati Jedi Master named Corentan Ral. Currently, though, Master Ral had given Tobias a break from the tedious and almost mind numbing exercises that had dominated the entire day. He had told Tobias to rest and meditate for an hour before coming to find him again...from the way the Jedi Master spoke, though, Toby had a feeling that the finding part was another test meant to hone his skills.

Ten minutes later and Tobias was not actually resting or meditating. He had attempted to...walking outside of the hangar area that was being used as a rather large training area and into the clearing that surrounded the Great Temple before the jungle took over...but...well...he’d gotten distracted.

The source of this distraction was in another apprentice. A young human boy, who looked a few standard years younger than Tobias was supposed to be(as he was doing the smart thing and staying human while in the open) with dark brown hair and wearing a simple tunic that Toby found most of the students had a similar version of. But this young student stood out from all the others, currently standing in a calm pose with a violet-coloured lightsaber held in front of him as five remotes slowly circled around him.

Tobias did notice he wasn’t the only one who stopped to watch, and then he quickly understood why. All at once, the five remotes fired and began to dart around, firing their low powered lasers again and again. But somehow, the young human was dodging and deflecting every single attack. In the blur of motion, two bright flashes suddenly appeared as the lightsaber cleaved through two of the training devices, and a second later the form that was the wielder of the weapon flipped up and over the others, which tried to spin around and follow, but were for some reason unable to.

When the student landed, it was obvious why the remotes were not moving. His free hand was off of the lightsaber, extended out to the remaining devices, and Tobias could feel the Force flowing strongly. He was...holding them there! Holding them so strongly that he was able to slice through all of them with one simply stroke, ending the exercise after only a few seconds.

With the flash of energy ended, many of those that had stopped to watch went back to whatever they were doing...mostly training exercises that didn’t come close to the flashiness of what they had just witnessed. Tobias, however, didn’t walk away, and simply stood watching the young man, swearing he had seen him somewhere but unable to pinpoint just where.

His staring didn’t go unnoticed.

After deactivating his lightsaber, the young Jedi hooked it to his belt and, as he was turning to head back towards the Great Temple, caught sight of Tobias. He shifted slightly before changing direction and curiously approaching the now-worried Tobias...who was starting to wonder if he’d done something wrong.

And so, when the other student was close enough to negate the need to yell to be heard, Tobias said, “That was amazing.”

A very unique looking smile appeared on the young man’s face, “Thank you...” when he trailed off, Tobias kept quiet, sensing that there was something else there. Perhaps that was why he was seemingly examining Toby so carefully, both with his eyes and through the Force, “Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?”

“Um...” Tobias looked down at his feet then back to the slightly shorter student, “I don’t...think so. This is my first day here...”

“No...no...” the human shook his head, a look of concentration on his face. Then, suddenly, it faded into realization, “Wait a moment...were you on Ithor?”

The words hit Tobias hard, as he did not like to think about what had happened to that planet. That planet that reminded him so much of Alraxia...

“Y-yes...” the words escaped Tobias before he could stop to think whether that was even a good question to answer or not. But now that it was out, he decided to attempt to alleviate his own confusion...or part of it, at least, “You were there? I...I thought I’d seen you somewhere, too, but...well...I don’t know...”

The smile returned to the young man’s face, “My name is Anakin Solo.”

The way that Anakin said those words made Tobias think he should know that name. Or at least, he was expected to...which meant that, because the name meant nothing at all to Toby, he went slightly red and said under his breath, “I’m uh...sorry but I...I don’t...that doesn’t really mean anything to me.”

And somehow, the smile grew, if not in a slightly lopsided way. A laugh even escaped the young man, which was the last thing Tobias would have expected, “You can’t imagine how nice it is to meet someone who has no idea who I am.”

Slightly uncomfortable with the situation he’d gotten himself into, Tobias simply tried to do his best to pretend he had the slightest idea of how to deal with other people. Admittedly, he was better than Marix had been at his age, “I am uh...Tobias...BlueIce. Hopefully that, um...doesn’t mean anything to you...”

Another laugh escaped Anakin and he extended a hand, a gesture which took Tobias a moment to recognize. He extended his own hand and found it gripped tightly, then shook a big too vigorously before being released, “Its good to meet you, Tobias.”

“Good to meet you, too...” he trailed off a moment, then felt odd and added, “..Anakin.”

Anakin nodded with that same smile on his face, but then a feeling of disappointment washed through the Force so noticeably that even Tobias picked it up without too much trouble, “I’m sorry for this being so quick but...I have to get going.”

“Oh...that’s alright...” Tobias shuffled his feet in the dirt, somewhat happy that this was ending as he truly felt he was missing something very important that should have been plainly obvious.

With a bow, Anakin turned and started towards the hangar, but he stopped himself after only a few steps and turned back around to look to Toby again, “If you’ve got time later today, track me down. I’m leaving the planet tomorrow, though, so if you can’t just tell Master Solusar that I wanted to ask you a few things. He can get you in contact with me, probably.”

Ask him a few things?!

The look of panic must have been as obvious on his face as it was in the Force, as Anakin laughed again and shook his head, “Don’t look so worried! Its nothing horrible. Honestly, I was wondering who you were when I saw you on Ithor. That’s not too much to ask, is it?”

“No...not at all,” Tobias managed to nod.

This time, though, when Anakin waved and turned to leave, he didn’t turn around again. In a few more moments, the young, dark haired human was inside the Great Temple and out of sight, leaving Tobias to stand where he was and feel even more lost than before.

Anakin Solo.

He would remember that name now, mainly because that had been the longest he’d spoken with anyone close to his ‘age’ since arriving. Part of him wanted to consider this Anakin kid a friend, but, truthfully, Tobias had always been a bit isolated when it came to things like friends...so he wasn’t quite sure what qualified as a friend and what didn’t. Tobias had always considered himself more like Jyren than Marix, but experience usually proved the reverse to be true.

Pushing those thoughts aside, though, he decided he couldn’t mediate or rest or anything like that. Just seeing what Anakin had done fueled Tobias’ desire to be a Jedi even more! So, quickly drawing on the Force as Master Ral had told him to, he decided to simply go looking for his new Master...even if it was an hour early still.

That was something new he had found in himself in the last few days...the ability to put everything aside and focus on a task directly in front of him. He was really a lot more like his mother than he liked to admit...


((Random note...I've been working on a Timeline of sorts that can give some reference on what happens when compared to other major events not related to this story hour. Only thing is I originally did it by just labelling the SH parts as the Part # as they're divided up here.

I'm going to go back through and change this slightly, though, adding in more detailed things for important events(battles, etc) while keeping the basic(Part 1 occured on this date).

Will try to get it at least mostly together and up in the next couple of weeks.))


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 429: No Response*

“Tell me I’m not seeing what I think I’m seeing,” Marix said as her eyes looked at the ragtag fleet that the humans in the Empire had ‘put together’. The group of ships was gathered on the far side of one of the moon of the planet, Cyr, which was one of the larger worlds that the humans occupied. Currently, Loki was close to the moon’s surface, and, since it was an empty and very dead moon, that meant they were able to stay low, sneak in close, and not be noticed because no one was looking.

[I uh...] Loki trailed off a moment, sounding just as surprised. [I think that I am seeing the same thing.]

Marix shook her head and brushed a streak of black hair out of her face before leaning back in her seat again, “Maybe Jyren wasn’t the only human that was completely crazy.”

Through the Force, Marix could tell that comment made Loki uneasy. Strangely enough, it didn’t phase her, and that was something she decided not to dwell on. Noting the ship’s discomfort, though, she added, “Those ships are over forty standard years old. No, actually, two of them look to be that young. The rest are designs I don’t even think I’ve ever seen.”

Marix could tell that Loki was trying to get a closer look from the fact that his sensor panel showed more detailed readings on the seventeen ships that were hanging in orbit not far above them. After a moment of studying them, the ship decided to add in his own comment. [One of the medium sized cruisers looks like the ancient Jedi Battle Cruisers...]

“That’s not possible,” she shook her head again and leaned forward, trying to find the ship he was pointing out, “Those are thousands of years old. There is no way one of those could still be flying.”

[...my mother clearly remembers the Darkwing Wars...] Loki said sheepishly.

The very word, ‘Darkwing’, sent a cold chill up Marix’s tail. She left reality for a short few moments, but something strong grabbed a hold of her and yanked her back. Her mind realized what Loki had been saying, and she decided to respond as best she could without that...word, “But you’re both Kanyaks...alive. Meant to live that long. That thing is a rusted, metal, hunk of junk that has to be held together by the terror of the people on board!”

That actually got a mental laugh from Loki.

Raising an eyebrow, Marix glanced upwards to the ceiling.

Even though she said nothing, Loki knew that gesture and what it meant. He calmed himself and explained. [Remember the stories you told me about some of the ships you and Max flew aboard years ago?]

A hint of a smile crept onto Marix’s face. Most of those stories involved very dangerous endings where she had barely gotten out alive...and one where Max hadn’t...but the ships had always been just like she’d described a moment ago. In fact, the very phrase itself came from Max. That, alone, caused memories she didn’t particularly want to come back to start to surface. Her old smuggler friend was long dead, and yet...

[So what do we do now?] Loki, thankfully, cut off her thoughts. For some reason, in the last few days, it had become harder and harder to keep her mind from wandering off.

But Loki, as always, was able to see the problem and help her focus in on the moment when, for whatever reason, she couldn’t do so herself(which was rare, admittedly), “Once you’ve got as much information on all of those ships as you can get from here, we sneak out...then turn around, and come back in system along a noticeable path,” she let out a long sigh and closed her eyes, “Then I have to be the Empress.”

A mental nod could be felt through the Force as Loki did as he was asked...well, no, told. But he knew that, in reality, she was really asking him to rather than ordering him to. For some reason Marix always avoided orders with him...something that, Loki noted, had only ever extended to one other person...Jyren. [They must know they will not stand a chance against the Mrrakesh.]

“Has that kind of logic ever stopped a human?” Marix asked out loud, more as a general question to the universe as a whole than one directed at the moment. But then she found that she had to add on to that, “...has that kind of logic ever stopped us?”

[I would like to think so...] Loki’s ‘voice’ sounded slightly distracted, which was good because that meant he was doing his job. [...not that we are perfect, but we try our best not to take trillions of lives with us.]

For some reason, Marix was feeling odder than usual, and it was the only reason she could give herself for why she ended up saying, “I’ve put trillions of lives on the line more than anyone, Loki...and always when I didn’t have to.”

The ship didn’t know how to answer, and so he just decided to keep going on with what he was doing rather than responding with something stupid. Strangely, though, the silence ended up annoying Marix. She’d gotten to used to Jyren saying something...well..stupid. There was something both very endearing and impossibly aggravating about how he would never give up on a point...

Finally opening her eyes again, Marix pushed that away. This was most definitely not a good time for thoughts like that. Deep in the back of her mind where she wouldn’t really notice, she admitted that there would never be a good time, but that was kept away from her primary thoughts. She didn’t need to deal with that right now...and, quite honestly, didn’t want to.

And then, finally, things started to get back to normal.

[Four small ships have just changed their course and are accelerating straight towards us.] Loki said just as Marix’s Force sense started to tell her that something was wrong. Loki sure had good timing.

Immediately, Marix sat forward and had a look at the small screen that was the primary sensor for Loki’s systems. On it, she saw the ships, roughly the size of an X-Wing, but dart shaped and extremely fast despite the fact that they had to be older than she was...which was saying something. Her eyes quickly shot across the other controls to look for something, but found no indication of it, “They haven’t tried to contact us?”

[No.] Loki answered flatly. [I do not believe they care what we have to say.]

A curse escaped her lips and Marix looked to the communications systems, “They are bloody well going to care in a moment,” she then opened a channel on the frequency used only by herself and one that, across the Empire, would cut in over all others to be heard. Marix had taken a deep breath beforehand, then hit the switch as she put on her Empress voice, “Incoming ships. You will stop your intercept course and turn away. That is an order.”

No response came.

Marix waited an entire minute.

Now, the four ships could be seen more clearly in the viewport against the backdrop of nothingness. If they didn’t respond, that meant they either didn’t know who she was or didn’t care. Hopefully it was the former, as the latter would make things even more difficult. But...she sighed. It was hard to find anyone in the Empire who didn’t recognize her voice, but that would be typical of this situation.

Alright. Fine. She hadn’t wanted to do this, as it was always a dangerous thing to do...but they had given her no choice.

Hitting the switch again, Marix spoke sternly, “This is your Empress. I am ordering you to stand down now.”

She knew the message got through.

There was no way it couldn’t at this range.

And yet, still nothing happened.

[Marix...]

Her silvery-violet eyes were watching the four growing forms above them. They were becoming distinct shapes now, getting closer and closer every second that passed. She allowed five more of those seconds to go by before, finally, she said to Loki, “They’ll be in range to fire in a few moments...Loki, start moving and don’t let us get hit...” she trailed off as the surface of the moon below them began to move, “...and send a message to the Jendari. Tell them they need to jump in now.”


----------



## javcs

I hate it when I'm all caught up on SHs ...
Anyway, just started reading this a few days ago, and I like this one.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 430: First Lesson*

You thought this would be easy.

Why you thought that is beyond anyone.

But you did.

“Well done, Tobias,” Master Ral said in a soft, slightly airy voice. The pale-blue skinned Omwati sat on a large rock a few meters from where Tobias was on the ground. The Jedi Master’s white hair was a stark contrast to the green around him, and made him very easy to spot.

Of course, that was what Tobias had hoped when he’d gone looking for his new Master. He had quickly discovered, though, that his eyes were mostly useless in the thick jungle that covered Yavin IV, and so he had to rely on what little he knew about finding someone through the Force. To make matters difficult, it had been quite obvious that Master Ral had been hiding. But, after a good two local hours of searching, Tobias had found the Omwati sitting on the same rock he was now, eyes closed, and waiting.

That had been hours and hour ago.

After managing to find the Master, which Tobias had to admit had a lot of luck involved in it, he had spent the entire remainder of the day sitting in the underbrush with his eyes closed lifting rocks and other objects with the Force. Somehow, though, he found himself drenched in sweat as he lowered the last rock to the ground and opened his eyes again. It probably had something to do with being a human, as they seemed to react adversely to the tropical environments like Yavin IV.

Finally, after hours of not moving, Master Ral slid off of the rock and to his feet. Standing a good two meters tall, he offered a long, wiry arm to help Tobias to his feet and said, “You are showing a great deal more control already. That will be enough for today...but we will start early tomorrow.”

After allowing the Jedi Master to help him to his feet, Tobias managed a polite bow, but was unsure of anything to say and so remained silent. A slight smile was on his Master’s face, and Ral soon motioned for them to head back to the Academy.

This was the part that drove Tobias crazy.

It took five steps to reach the clearing around the Great Temple.

He had searched for hours in the thick of the jungle, only to find Master Ral right here...within plain sight of where he’d started. But Tobias brushed that off as they headed for the hangar while the system’s star fell below the horizon. With a simple ‘goodnight’ to Master Ral, Tobias headed for the nearest turbolift, and when he was in it, straight for the mess.

Minutes later, he had a good amount of food and was sitting at a small table near one of the few windows that had been recently installed in the Temple. He sat eating for only a few minutes before he caught a slight movement out of the corner of his eyes(something he knew he should have detected through the Force first...). Looking up, Tobias saw Anakin Solo step over and sit across from him.

Tobias managed a polite nod, only staying silent because his mouth was currently very full of food. Noticing this, Anakin smiled and said, “Looks like you had a hard day...” he paused a moment and the smile became a very unique looking grin, “Though if it makes you feel any better, its probably just going to get harder.”

“Makes me feel a lot better,” Tobias managed between bites, still not having a great handle on sarcasm and failing to put enough of the right tone in his voice like Marix had done for so long...and still did on occasion. After another large bite of food, he looked across the table to Anakin and asked, “What was it you wanted to ask me about earlier?”

This took the grin off of the young human’s face. His complexion became a mask of nothing and his voice took on a more serious tone, “Honestly, I was just curious what you were doing there. It wasn’t exactly...well...a good place to be.”

No, it hadn’t been. Tobias had seen a great many bad places to be in his life, but he had the advantage of being extremely young when he was around most of them...and couldn’t remember his biological parents or anything involved with them. Because of that, Ithor was really the first time he’d seen a truly horrible event occur on a massive scale. He had watched, and even been there, as a planet had been killed. A planet that looked like his home...

His mind then returned to the present and reminded him that a question had been asked indirectly. Tobias noted the somewhat haunted look on Anakin’s face, and managed to keep his voice quiet enough, “My...parents were there.”

“Your parents are Jedi?”

“No,” the answer came out of his mouth without the decency of checking with his brain first. Immediately catching this, Tobias tried again, “Well...” he sighed. It was too late now, “Its...complicated.”

Thankfully, Anakin nodded at that. But the young Jedi seemed to detect something, as an eyebrow went up, “Are they alright?”

“...huh?” the question made no sense to Tobias.

“Your parents...” Anakin was obviously trying to be careful with his words, “When I said that you...well...you just felt...” he trailed off again and seemed unable to find a way to bring up the face that he was essentially reading Tobias’ thoughts in a polite way.

Tobias looked down at the empty plate in front of him, suddenly wishing he was alone again. Realizing that wasn’t the most polite thing to do, or a good idea, he just whispered, “My father...” he paused, then just shook his head.

“I’m sorry,” Anakin said in a similar voice. There was something in the way that Anakin looked that actually helped Toby...somehow, he felt like Anakin truly understood.

And then it was silent, both young men lost in the thoughts of who they had lost.  It was Anakin that ended it, though, “I’m sorry to have brought it up. If I had known...”

“You couldn’t have,” Tobias said simply with a shrug.

There was another few uncomfortable moments before Anakin got to his feet, “I’m glad you made it away safely, Tobias. I probably won’t be around here again for a while but...if you ever need anything, Mater Solusar can help you get in contact with me.”

“Thank you,” Tobias said towards the table, trying to push the thoughts of Jyren out of his head, but at the same time, glad to know he had a friend in Anakin.

When he looked back up, though, Anakin was gone. Tobias glanced behind him a moment but didn’t see the young Jedi. Quietly, he sighed and then looked back down to the table.

You thought you could forget that, too...

...Jyren told you it wasn’t what you thought...so did Marix...

...this is going to be so much harder than anything you had ever imagined...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 431: Tensions*

While the Alraxian people had always called themselves a peaceful civilization, and, to an extent, this was true, it was definitely an exaggeration. Though the vast majority of the population never saw a weapon of any kind or encountered any kind of actual violence, everyone knew about the Knights. They were well trained in various forms of combat, most had at least some Force potential that was helped along to a small extent, and guarded the Empire in unarmed Kanyaks...though they always carried weapons on them, even if their ships didn’t.

And then, of course, there was the dark secret of the Tam’Day’U. The small group of assassin culled out of the normal population at a very young age and considered nothing more than terrifying stories by most of the Empire. But they were real. Not only were they real, but they were killers of a kind that would have shocked anyone in the Empire had they known the extent of the Tam’Day’U’s training. These assassins killed silently ended the lives of a great many dangerous people among the Empire, and even protected the border planets from Mrrakesh on occasion. Of course, in their later years, their leaders became more corrupt due to the fact that they were in control of a great many very powerful weapons and so the jobs became much more...personal. Rivals were killed. Some who simply disagreed with the current leader of the Tam’Day’U were killed. And though this ended with Faban Sunrunner’s exile, it did not make the Alraxian’s any more of a peaceful people...in fact, it put their darkest secret out in the open and then in with the noble Knights.

But that was the Alraxians. Peaceful on the surface, and mostly through the interior, but with very violent capabilities that most of the species simply attempted to keep quiet and hidden away. It was likely this philosophy came from the influence of both the early Jedi who helped the Empire to form and, more importantly, the Jendari. Then Jendari were wise, powerful, and truly a peaceful people.

Yet, despite this, Marix sensed there was a violent past for their avian allies. All of the Jendari seemed to speak of wars and battles in a very somber, knowing way, and yet always had a great deal of knowledge on such subjects. It should have surprised her that the Jendari had a fleet of ships, but it didn’t. Somewhere in their past, there had to have been a reason for it to exist, and the species was long-sighted enough to keep their ships up-to-date and in working order for thousands of years.

Moments before the four ancient looking starfighters came into firing range of Loki, the Jendari ships appeared in the system, right next to the moon and directly in view of anyone within the star system. There were nine of them, massive ships of a scale only comparable to that of Thor, the largest of the Kanyak’s and technically the Empress’ personal ship. The ships were metal, of a kind at least, but their exact shape was impossible to determine due to a bright blue-violet glow that emanated from what, on most metal ships, would have been the seams of the bulkheads. The glow made them look like giant, interestingly coloured lanterns in space, and their size gave a very threatening feel to such beautiful designs.

Tearing her eyes away from the new arrivals, Marix’s hand went to the comm switch again, “If you do not stand down immediately we will be forced to take action...” she paused a moment, then decided it was important enough to add on one last thing, “And if you come anywhere close to firing on my ship, you will not like the consequences.”

Yes, it was a threat. Something that her mother would never have said...but Marix was not her mother. She was a very different woman than her mother. If that hadn’t gotten through to most of the Empire in the past few years, it would definitely hit home now.

There was a very long moment where the four starfighters continued on their course, coming so close that Marix could see far more detail than she wanted to. But then, suddenly, they broke off and looped around to head back towards the ragtag fleet they had launched from.

Marix watched the blue engines fade as they retreated, noting how odd they looked next to a Kanyak and then the monolithic Jendari ships. Then, after allowing the moment to last long enough, opened up the comm channel again, “Whoever the hell is in charge had bloody well better respond to me right now.”

It was the same cold, hard voice that could make Jyren do something before he’d realized he was doing so. She knew it would work here, too...if, of course, whoever was in charge wasn’t a complete fool.

“I am in charge,” a strong, definitely female voice responded not a minute later. There was a pause in a similar way to the one Marix had left in her own words, and then the voice went on, “I am Commander Helias. I believe this is the part where we agree to meet and discuss the situation.”

A scowl sat on Marix’s features and an angry, icy tone slipped into her words, “You believe wrong. There is nothing here you and I will discuss. What you will do, however, is to leave those ships immediately.”

“You cannot ex—“

”I am your Empress, Helias,” Marix snapped back, “I can expect whatever I want and I will get it. This is not your Empire to defend and you are putting billions of lives on the line because of your own arrogance!”

“Arrogance?!” the Commander’s voice hit a note that Marix’s hadn’t heard in a long time. It was one that most humans reverted to when they were completely shocked. Quietly, in the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but wonder what this woman’s face was twisting itself into, “Where were you, our Empress, when they took our planets and killed our people?!”

And that was it. Marix had had enough. Her hand firmly on the comm switch, to the point where it might actually be hurting Loki slightly, she growled, “Your Empress was defending this Empire from a fleet of enemies like you have never seen! Your Empress was fighting to protect all of you from the greater threat, not squabbling over a couple of border planets with barely any life on them in the first place!” her voice lowered a moment, and then she decided to add in one last thing, “And your Emperor...my mate...sacrificed his life to protect us all. Not just for you, or your people, or his people...for the entire Empire. And he did.”

Her hand left the comm switch, and there was a great deal of control being used to keep her hand from shaking with rage.

Two minutes passed, and no response came.

This was long enough for Marix to have gone through some old calming techniques to bring herself back to a much safer level rather than one where she was ready to find this ‘Commander Helias’ and tear her throat out. Softly, she hit the comm switch again, speaking in a voice that was so different from the one before that it would likely have a great effect on anyone listening, “This is the last time I will say this. Leave your ships and go to the planet. Go back to your families and your friends. It is not your job to protect this Empire, and you should never forget that you are part of it...not a single entity, but one of a whole. The whole will protect itself, not the pieces...” she trailed off a moment, then looked to the Jendari ships, “We will lose no more planets to the Mrrakesh. We will also not be drawn into a war because a select few are angry. Those are two things I can promise you.”

Finally, she let go of the comm switch and fell back into her seat completely. With a heavy sigh, she closed her eyes and mumbled, “Loki, figure out which of those is the lead Jendari ship and get us the hell aboard it.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 432: Redirecting Our Course*

The interior of the Jendari ships was much like the rest of their construction: large, open, bright, and circular. Panels and consoles lined the circular area that was the bridge, though there were no actual walls that cut it off from the rest of the ship. To one end, almost as a way to orient those who were aboard, was a large viewscreen wall that showed the small fleet that the humans had put together.

Marix stood next to Arelin, a Jendari she was finding herself dealing with more and more over the past months. The bird-like humanoid stood a full head shorter than her, but had the same strong presence that all Jendari had that made them seem monumental in size. For a moment, his red-green feathers along the back of his head ruffled before speaking, “They are following your command...though very slowly.”

“Salvaging what they can,” Marix grumbled under her breath, shaking her head and trying to stay calm, “I had hoped you wouldn’t have to come out here.”

“But you knew as well as we did that it was necessary,” Arelin said, turning to look at her, “War has a way of causing people to lose their sense of the rational. They take extreme measures that are not at all required. Because of this, extreme measures must be taken to prevent a situation from developing further.”

Marix nodded, but found herself unable to find any other words. She was still too...angry. Angry that these damned humans had come so close to bringing all of the Empire into a war they couldn’t survive.

“My lady,” Arelin cut into her thoughts, “We will leave one ship here to make sure that this does not happen again. As for the others...as we stated in our message to you, we will place them in the border systems with your Knights. Hopefully it will be enough to keep the Mrrakesh out of our space.”

“And if it isn’t?” that was something Marix would not have said to anyone but this Jendari.

Arelin looked back towards the viewscreen, “If it is not enough, then we will be forced to fight.”

That got Marix’s eyebrow to shoot up, “You seem almost determined to.”

What could have been a smile formed on Arelin’s avian features, “Hating wars and fighting does not stop them from occuring, my lady. After thousands of years, we are able to see what is coming and deal with it as best as we can.”

There was so much truth in that. So much and then something else...the Jendari did have a way of seeing things. Sometimes, Marix couldn’t help but wonder how much these allies of her people truly knew about where the galaxy was going. They had proven time and time again that they were strong enough in the Force to see events thousands of years in the future. And yet, despite all of that, they were more interested in helping the Alraxians grow as a species rather than ruling them as they so easily could if they wanted to.

“Alyx is going to speak with the leader of that group of humans,” Marix said in an offhand tone, “Hopefully he can talk some sense into them.”

Arelin nodded, “Your brother has proven to be a good diplomat.”

Returning the nod, Marix realized it was time for her to leave. It was up to the Jendari and the Knights to deal with this situation personally, not her...even if she wanted to. If she was needed, they could get in contact with her. Sadly, there were other matters back on Alraxia that needed dealing with, not to mention the twins. She had found it hard to just leave them this last time, which was never easy but now...now there was no Jyren to leave to keep them company.

Shaking those thoughts off, Marix turned to Arelin and bowed her head, “Thank you for this. I know how long is has been since you have come this close to a war.”

“We are not safe yet, my lady,” Arelin said, still looking away. He then turned to face her and presented another of those interesting smiles, “And you do not need to thank us. We do our duty to our Empress and to our Empire.”

For some reason, that put a smile on her face, even if it was slightly forced. She felt like it was necessary, “I believe it is time for me to leave. If anything happens...”

“You will know before anyone else,” Arelin tilted his head, “You forget, you are the Empress. Of course we will tell you immediately.”

Marix nodded to him and then turned to leave. Thankfully, she had a good memory, because the corridors and bright blue-glowing walls all looked the same to her now. But before she could step out of the bridge area, a taloned hand took her arm gently, “My lady,” the voice of Arelin caused her to turn around to look at him curiously. He was holding an object in his other hand, extending it to her, “We wish for you to have this. It is our hope that it will bring you light in these dark times.”

Not understanding, but not one to refuse a gift from the Jendari, Marix took the small box and nodded in thanks. Her arm released, she knew it was time to leave. As she walked back to the hangar where Loki sat waiting, Marix opened the box and looked inside. Inside was a small, transparent datacard that the rest of the galaxy used to store information from datapads on. Yet...to Marix’s eyes, it looked to be very old. Thankfully, there was a datapad sitting in Loki’s cockpit, as it was impossible to go most places in the rest of the galaxy without one, and she could figure out what this was then.

But when she stepped into Loki and he started to take them away from the fleet as she walked to the cockpit, the object slipped from her mind. Instead, she found herself caught up in relaying to Loki all that had gone on aboard the ship, which truthfully hadn’t been much.  But by the time she was in her usual seat, the viewport showed the blue, swirling tunnel of hyperspace. She set the box down in the empty seat to her left and closed her eyes to rest while they headed home.

Her eyes had been closed barely five minutes when something happened.

Out of no where, a sudden, white-hot pain erupted in her stomach.  Marix’s eyes shot open in shock, but she could see nothing beyond the haze of pure, burning white. All of her senses lost their touch with anything but the pain, which seemed to burn through her insides slowly and violently, taking their time to singe everything that they came into contact with.

But then, as suddenly as it had come, it slipped away and Marix was able to see again. Loki was panicked and asking a thousand questions, as apparently she’d clawed two long gashes into the seat and let out a cry like he’d never heard from her before, but Marix was ignoring him. She immediately looked down to her stomach, seeing nothing out of the ordinary at all, save for the memory of that sudden flash of intense pain.  Just to make sure, she checked herself over with the Force and then found nothing wrong at all...

As she was retreating from the Force, though, Marix caught...something. She grabbed onto the thread of whatever it was and held tight, following it to its source. In another moment, she found herself in a familiar place. Familiar and yet...so very unfamiliar...

Deep breaths had finished calming her still tense body, but there was still no evidence of anything actually wrong with her. She could only manage to speak in a whisper, but said softly to Loki, “Take us out of hyperspace at the safest moment you can. Change our course for the Gateway,” she paused, and Loki started to protest, but that was quickly ended before he even got a single word out, “I don’t know! I don’t know what that was. But...I...” she shook her head, “I have an idea, though...and we need to go to the Gateway right now.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 433: Jumping Away*

[I don’t see a thing.]

That wasn’t entirely true. Loki could, in fact, see quite a bit. All around him the wreckage of starships of various types hung in space. They were outside the Gateway near the center of where some of the fiercest fighting had occurred. Loki was currently busy navigating through the pieces of debris, trying to avoid getting hit again as a great deal of the pieces were large enough to leave marks. Through all of this, he was also doing his best to, as Marix had told him ‘keep an eye out for anything odd’.

Since then, she had said nothing, and Loki was left to try to search for whatever it was they were searching for. Something had happened to her. He had felt the sudden panic that faded suddenly, but nothing else. Beyond that, all that Loki could tell was that she had felt...well...something. She had said nothing else about it, and was doing what Loki had seen her do many times when something was bothering her: trying to figure out the source of the problem as soon as possible. It seemed that, to Marix, explanation had a way of slowing down her process of finding out what was going on.

Loki tipped himself slightly to the side, letting a rather large chunk of an X-Wing float over without actually hitting him at all. Making sure there was nothing else close to hitting him, Loki turned the brunt of his attention back to Marix. [If you could at least give me an idea of what I’m looking for this would be a lot easier...] he trailed off then changed his orientation again to avoid what looked like a piece of floating asteroid that was likely the remains of a Yuuzhan Vong ship. [...and I wouldn’t be coming so close to getting bombarded with wreckage...]

For the first time since they had passed through the Gateway to reach this location, Marix’s expression changed. The glossed-over, ‘I’m not in right now’ look faded and her eyes seemed to gain a bit more life. She blinked twice then reached up to run a hand through the black stripe in her hair before finally saying quietly, “Take us out of this...move to the rest of the wreckage.”

If Loki could have sighed, he would have. Instead he simply found a safe course out of the thick wreckage and started, slowly, towards the other group that was closer to the Gateway. As he did, he managed to divert enough of his attention to keeping an eye on her so he could see any other changes and said. [What are you looking for?]

“I don’t know,” Marix answered in the same voice as before.

[But you have an idea.] Loki managed to push it more mainly due to the fact that he had gotten out of the thickest area and wasn’t fearing for...well, not his life, but his comfort, at least.

This time, she sat back and, as he noticed she had a habit of doing, glanced upwards, “Loki...what happened before I told you to change course?”

That was an...odd question ,to say the least. But, at this point, he decided it was not the time to question and just the time to, well...answer. [I felt a surge of panic from you. Then you...cried out and then you told me to come here.]

Marix seemed to think about this for a few moments, then asked, “That was it? You didn’t feel anything else?”

[Not a thing...] he paused to maneuver around a very large chunk of durasteel that was likely the remains of a very large ship’s hull. [...should I have?]

Sitting forward again, Marix’s eyes scanned the view in front of them, “I felt a surge of pain like I haven’t felt since...since...” she closed her eyes, shaking off a memory as far as he could tell, then went on, “...since before I left home the first time...”

Loki understood that. He remember what she had been like then...very clearly. While he didn’t know all of the details, Marix had told him a great deal of what had happened in her time as a Tam’Day’U before her exile. He directed his attention to not hitting another object before responding. [What does that mean?]

“That it wasn’t the Force,” she answered right away, though it was obvious her attention wasn’t completely there. Her eyes followed an object for a moment before returning to the previous state of simply scanning things idly, “And there is nothing physically wrong with me. That leaves two other options, and if it had been the Network, all of the Empire would have felt it and I would have known...”

Loki was able to follow that line of thought, but didn’t exactly feel comfortable finishing that sentence for her. There was something unsettling to him about that subject, and even in his mind he was avoiding any specifics about it just to be safe. Perhaps he simply was trying his best to help to protect Marix in his own way, which was something that, if she found out he was doing, she would yell at him for. Despite that, though, Loki still did it. In a way, he really was a lot like Jyren.

Out of no where, Loki felt a strange sensation from Marix in the Force. He ‘looked’ to her and saw a curious expression on her face. Before he could ask, though, she spoke up, “Did you feel that?”

It was obvious she wasn’t referring to what he had felt from her, but something else. Because of that, Loki had only one answer as he tried to find a safe place to sit still in the middle of all of the floating starship wreckage. [Feel what?]

Marix bit her lower lip a moment as she was working through how to explain, then finally seemed to find a way, “Something...familiar but...”

Realization must have struck her right then, as she suddenly went quiet. It was that sudden silence that altered Loki to what she might have felt. He knew where they were sitting. He knew what kind of ship that piece of durasteel floating past was from....and he knew why there were chunks of asteroid-like Vong starship pieces floating around through it all at the same time.

[Is this what brought you out here?] he asked, still hedging around the subject and hoping she knew what he meant.

“I’m not sure...” she said quietly, shaking her head, “It feels...felt like an echo of sorts. Strong enough to be felt but...I don’t think anyone else could notice it,” sighing, Marix rested a hand on her stomach, “Maybe that was an echo, too...I think I’m losing my mind again.”

Loki was about to say something to that, but he caught a sudden movement off in the distance. Any movement like that out here was completely unheard of, and he immediately shifted his attention to it. In the distance, he could faintly make out an object shooting out of the wreckage they had first been in. [Marix! There’s a ship trying to leave!]	

“What?!” the previous somber mood was gone as she dove forward and tried to see it on the sensor screen.

Spinning around, Loki started to move as fast as he could towards where the ship was flying towards while avoiding the larger pieces of starship around him. As he wove through them, he detected a buildup of energy. [Its going to jump to hyperspace! I can’t catch them!]

A growl escaped Marix, as the idea of a ship being out here was as angering to her as it was worrying to Loki, “Get a lock on their vector and plot every possible jump from there!”

That was asking a lot. However, Loki had done that before, and so was on it in a second. The second after, though, the ship disappeared. Trying to ignore this, Loki finished what he was doing. Thankfully, there weren’t many places to jump straight to from this close to the Unknown Regions that had safe routes. [There’s only one straight shot from here from their vector.]

“Plot a course,” Marix said as she was sending a message back to the Gateway, telling them what was happening. Loki was busy doing his best to plot the course and get them to a safe spot to jump to hyperspace from while she sent it, so he didn’t really have a chance to pay attention to anything that she said to them.

A few minutes later, they were in hyperspace.

A few minutes after that, Marix finally asked, “Where are we going?”

Taking a short break from making sure everything was going fine with himself, Loki answered simply. [Mygeeto.]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

No update tonight...but, I've attached the Timeline I babbled about earlier. This is rough, and some things may be off slightly but I tried to hit things as best I could. I earlier thought about listing more than just the Part Numbers for when HoAK action kicks in, but left it as is for now. May go back later. And yes, that's the one, half-started part of my other SH that didn't live too long(and is technically on hold) inserted near the end. 

Got another related little project for this going on, but won't babble about that until more is done with it.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 434: Visions*

	Tobias opened his eyes and sighed, looking up to where Master Ral stood against a tree. It was four local days after Anakin had left and Toby was stuck with the strict training of his Omwati Jedi Master. Currently, they were near a lake a good kilometer from the Great Temple, with Toby sitting in the dirt with his back to the water and the blue-skinned Master carefully watching him from a few meters away near the treeline.

“You must focus, Tobias,” Master Ral said in his soft, almost hard-to-hear voice.

Sighing again, Toby looked to the two rocks that he was supposed to be levitating while holding up himself and, at the same time as all of this, attempting to reach into Master Ral’s mind. After grumbling something to himself, Tobias just shook his head, “How am I supposed to focus when you want me doing so many things at once?”

That question hung in the air as Master Ral’s pale blue eyes stared serenely down towards Tobias. After a few moments, the answer came, “Do not focus on each individual task. Through the Force, they are all the same. Let it flow through and around you and you will find the focus.”

For a moment, Tobias just stared at the Omwati. Then, shaking his head again, he closed his eyes to blank out the world and allow him some kind of focus despite being told he was going to have to actually find it. Okay. Calm. Starting was easy, and considering that he’d attempted this at lest six times now, Tobias knew how to get that far. First he had to clear his mind. This was accomplished through a few deep breaths in a repeating series that he learned from Marix. Two, then three, then two, then four, then two, then three, and so on.

It wasn’t long before the two medium sized rocks were up a good half meter off the ground, and, though they were shaking slightly, sat in a somewhat comfortable hover. After a few moments when Tobias made sure he had it down right, he, too lifted off the ground, though not nearly as high up. This, too, lasted a short while as Tobias did his best to maintain his focus as if it was all one task, rather than three.

But then came the part he’d yet to manage. Keeping his focus as best he could, Tobias stretched out with the Force even farther, trying to ‘aim’ his attention towards Master Ral while still keeping himself and the rocks in the air. Eyes still closed, he reached towards the Omwati Jedi, trying to find the surface thoughts that were his target...

“NO!” Jyren cried out in a voice filled with everything from rage to painful sadness. His eyes were wide open and staring at Marix who stood next to him. She had a look of shock and pain on her own face, but it was impossible to tell what was really going on.

“Jyren...” it was the voice that Tobias recognized as his grandfather, but he could not see the older Alraxian, “...it is true.”

Jyren’s head snapped around to glare at something out of view, which Tobias assumed was his father. He stared that way for a few moments before looking back to Marix, his hand gripping her shoulders tightly as if he couldn’t support himself. This time, his voice was a bit lower, “...how could they do this...?”

Marix opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. It was then that Tobias noticed that Jyren’s claws were digging deep into her shoulders, a definite sign of him trying to hold on for...whatever reason.  She shook her head and reached forward, carefully placing her hands on Jyren’s shoulders and obviously doing her best to calm him down, “Remember all of the times the Mrrakesh tried to kill us?”

A slow nod came from Jyren, and something else must have been said that Tobias could not hear, as Jyren slowly let go of Marix with his claws and practically fell onto her shoulder. Barely, he was able to hear, “...this was our son...not us...”

In a sudden moment of pain, Tobias hit the ground hard below him. The rocks landed with a thud next to him, but he was too busy trying to catch his breath to notice.

“Tobias?!” there was a sudden movement and Master Ral was kneeling next to him, reaching an arm under Tobias’ head to lift him up off the ground slightly, “What happened?”

He did not ask if Tobias was alright. There was a good reason for that...as the young man was covered in sweat, breathing as if he’d run ten miles without stopping, and his eyes were wide with an obvious terror in them. But despite the panic going through his mind as he tried to understand what had just happened, Tobias felt slow waves of calm overcoming him...likely from Master Ral.

Thanks to that, he was able to speak through his heavy breaths, “I saw...saw something...”

“What did you see?” by now, the frail-looking Omwati was helping Tobias to sit up, an arm still on his shoulder and a look of concern over his features.

Tobias just shook his head at first, but then looked up to Master Ral, “I saw...my parents...they were both alive and...and something was wrong...something had happened...my father he...” Tobias shook his head again, trying to get the image to go away but still needing to explain, “...he said his son had been killed...”

Master Ral knew enough of Tobias to know the important parts of his family situation. Most importantly, that Jyren had sacrificed himself not long before Tobias had come to the Academy. This had been something that had been a focus early on, as it could easily develop into a dangerous pull towards the Dark Side. So the Omwati knew the significance of what was being told to him.

“Calm yourself, Tobias,” the Jedi Master said, finally sitting down completely next to him and leaving it to Tobias to take control of himself. As Toby started through the calming techniques, Master Ral said, “Though our goal here was for you to read my surface thoughts while also focusing on other tasks, I believe you have succeeded in your own way. The vision you had...I cannot say its meaning. The Force can grant us many things...including visions of the past, the present, and the future...and possible futures. I have seen things that will never come to be, Toby. Your attachment to your father is very strong, and it drives much of what you do here...”

He trailed off a moment, reaching down to pick up one of the rocks that had fallen and holding it up in his hand, “You have no difficulty in lifting this rock. It is a simple task. You put your mind to it, you focus, and it rises as you wish.  But your mind, Toby...your thoughts run wild. Before you can go any farther with your training, you have to learn to control your thoughts. What you saw could have been from the Force...it could be reality. But it could also have been a tangible vision brought up from your own thoughts. Until you can learn to control that, to truly find peace in your mind, neither of us will know what you saw.”

Staring down at the ground, Tobias found he couldn’t argue with Master Ral. He was right. The way he let his thoughts run wild made it impossible to know what he’d seen...which meant...

“How...” Tobias paused a moment to actually find his voice rather than the whisper that had escaped instead, then tried again, “How can I learn to control my thoughts?”

The face of his Master kept the same serene look that was usually there, “It is not an easy task for anyone. You are going to have to confront yourself...your hopes, dreams, fears...everything.”

“How do I do that?” Tobias asked, truly wanting to know so that he could know if what he’d seen was real or not.

Slowly, the Omwati got to his feet and extended a hand to help Tobias up, “Come with me.”


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 435: Downward and Forward*

Marix sighed and tightened the heavy coat that was wrapped around her. Doing her best to ignore the white puff of frigid air that escaped with the sigh, she decided to kill Loki when she got back. If she got back.

No...no, she’d kill him anyway.

Mygeeto had just been a name to her a few hours earlier. She knew of the general direction where it supposedly was, but nothing else save for a faint remembrance of battles that were fought there years ago...the last had to be during the Galactic Civil War that she had mostly blanked out of her memory mainly due to the fact that, during the time, well..thoughts of the clones the Empire created of her surfaced and, thankfully, froze with the rest of her to die quickly.

The planet, she quickly learned, was colder than Hoth on a bad day. Since Loki had entered the atmosphere, all Marix could see were giant crystals jutting out in all directions from the surface down there...somewhere. Everyone so often, pockets of smoke from cities could be seen, but the Vong were dealing with the metal buildings that were constructed into the giant ice-crystals. They had set down about ten kilometers north of what Loki identified as a settlement that wasn’t burning. Considering the amount that he had identified that were burning, both of them deduced it was the one to inspect first.

On the trip through hyperspace, Loki had managed to figure out what kind of ship they had been chasing. It wasn’t Vong. It was an old model transport about half Loki’s size and twice his age that Marix had already forgotten the name of. They had, at a distance, followed it into the Mygeetan system and then hung back upon seeing a Vong fleet orbiting the planet. Thankfully, Loki didn’t have much trouble sneaking down to the surface without them getting noticed, and that had simply left them to figure out where the ship had gone to. It said a lot that the Vong hadn’t fired on it...

But, upon reaching the surface, other problems had come up. Most of them centered around the cold. For a while, Marix convinced herself that it wasn’t, in fact, snowing, but it was just ash. It was when Loki set down in a relatively slat spot between two huge crystal spikes that went hundreds of meters into the air that Marix was forced to accept the truth...and forced to morph to a body that wouldn’t die a quick death in the cold.

The smaller human woman that she now was stood a against one of the impossible cold crystal spires as she looked down into a huge valley where she could see unique looking structures. It would have been hard to identify her as human, though, as Marix was in three layers of clothes...four if the morphsuit underneath it all counted and five if the second jacket, which was Jyren’s old one, also counted. Her face was wrapped up so only two violet eyes shown through, and they were doing their best to ignore the sight of both the snowflakes falling around her and her own breath. She was also currently a master of thinking warm thoughts.

From what she could tell, there were a good six starships of various makes and sizes lined up on the far side of the encampment below. Despite the great distance between herself and what might have been the ground below, she could identify a good thirty small buildings that looked nothing like she’d seen before. Between them, various dots and other shapes moved around, with a larger clump of them between the ships and the encampment. The large group contained at least fifty individuals, but probably more.

The cold was bad enough...as were the giant crystals that made moving anywhere on the planet near-impossible...but the idea of that many down there was not a good thing. It didn’t help that they were probably Yuuzhan Vong. 

Her black-gloved hands moved from hugging herself to keep warm to the next task. Another of Jyren’s old pieces of clothing, the gloves didn’t fit perfectly, and were probably a size too big, but they were from his old flightsuit and strong enough to help with the next task without freezing Marix’s hands. Eyes shifting to the other edge of the cliff she was on, Marix decided that it was definitely out of sight of the encampment below. It also looked to be climbable...at least, more so than most of the crystals that covered the planet. And so, focusing her mind and trying to ignore her body, Marix put herself to the task of the long climb down. She shifted over the edge, found a good foothold, and started the descent.

* * * *​
Tobias looked across the shimmering blue lake that was to his right. The forest of Yavin IV surrounded it, and directly in front of Tobias, at the edge of the water, was a smaller version of the Great Temple that was used as the Academy’s main building. It had taken two hours to walk this far, and while he was fairly sure it was an eastward trip, Tobias had gotten lost in the navigating of the jungle that Master Ral had lead.

“Thousands of years ago, this was one of the temples that the Sith, Exar Kun, had his Massassi slaves craft for him,” Master Ral said in a voice that was as haunting as the temple that was sitting at the lake’s edge, “He sealed himself in there when the ancient Jedi came with the Republic army to end the war he had started...about ten years ago, he returned, his spirit coming out of hiding to attempt to retake this place. The first group of Master Skywalker’s new apprentices defeated Kun, ending the threat he presented. Despite that, though...” the Jedi Master extended a blue arm to the Temple, “...a dark presence remains within this place. It is an echo of the powerful Sith Master that was sealed here for so long.”

Tobias was a bit taken aback by all of this information. He knew very little about the Sith beyond the stories of their involvement with the early Alraxians. Seeing that such a place existed so close to the Jedi Temple was a bit...unnerving. Vague knowledge of Yavin IV’s history was one thing, but knowing it in more detail just had a way of getting him more worried than he probably should have been.

“I want you to go inside the Temple,” the Omwati Jedi said calmly, “Follow the main corridor straight until you reach a large, octagonal room. There should be seven pedestals within it. Bring me the object that rests on the fourth.”

A few moments passed as Tobias tried to put all this together. He wasn’t sure what to say, as he’d pretty much asked for this...turning back now wasn’t really an option anymore. So, instead, he just managed a slight nod before taking the first steps towards what was probably the entrance to the Temple.

“Wait,” the voice of Master Ral stopped him only a few steps later. Tobias turned around to see the Jedi Master’s hand extended and his palm open, “Give me your lightsaber.”

That caused a few different reactions within Tobias, none of them any more comfortable than what had been evoked from the story of that Temple. He reached for the weapon, Jyren’s weapon, at his belt, but hesitated and said quietly, “You said to be careful in the deep jungle...to keep a blaster or something with me at all times...isn’t it going to be dangerous in there?”

The Omwati Master’s pale coloured eyes looked down to Tobias in a hauntingly piercing way, “The only danger that is in there is the danger you take with you. You will not need your lightsaber.”

“But its not mine...” he mumbled in a whisper towards the ground, trying to find some excuse now and clinging to the one at the forefront of his mind.

As Master Ral knew enough of the occurrences prior to Tobias’ arrival on Yavin IV, it was not a mystery to him who’s weapon it was. Despite this, his hand remained outstretched, waiting, “I understand that your father entrusted you with that weapon, Tobias. However, you will not need it within those walls.”

“But...”

“The only reason you would require that weapon is to fend yourself off,” this time, the Jedi Master’s voice was much more forceful, “You wish to be a Jedi, Tobias. A Jedi is still a Jedi without his lightsaber. If you cannot leave your weapon behind, then you will never understand what it is to be a Jedi and to serve the Force.”

For a moment, Tobias simply stared at his Master, almost shocked at what was being implied. He’d yet to hear Master Ral speak in anything beyond a calm, serene voice...and now he sounded angry. There was something terrifying there, and he wasn’t sure why. Perhaps it was because Tobias knew he was right, he just didn’t like it.

And so, slowly, Tobias removed the lightsaber from his belt and placed the metal hilt in his Master’s hand. It took a few seconds for him to let go of it, but when he did, Tobias turned and started towards the Temple in front of him.

To his credit, he didn’t look back.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 436: Icy Infiltration*

It was a long, slow climb down the crystal of ice. Marix kept a steady pace, but made sure to stay slow enough to make sure the footholds she was kicking in would remain strong and not break. Because she started a good hundred meters, at least, above the ground(well, no, above the next layer of crystals), it was well over an hour before she finally found a solid surface to stand on, again. This, however, did not give her trouble. Marix had climbed down far more dangerous slopes in much worse conditions.

When she was down, Marix took a moment to look up again, taking in the features of the wall of ice above her to remember where she had to come to climb back up. Once the location was committed to memory, she turned and headed around the huge crystal spire towards where the encampment should have been. It was a short trudge through the lightly-snow-covered ground beneath her feet before Marix saw the ships from before.

The six bulky, metal starships sat in a line of sorts on the ground right where they had been...but now Marix could see something else. A good few meters in front of them was a line of very large, armoured figures. It didn’t take a genius to identify them as Yuuzhan Vong warriors. Of course, the fact that Marix had seen them more than once helped.

Keeping herself behind the large crystal she had climbed down, Marix leaned her head around to get a better view of things. She was still a good distance out, but was keeping her eyes and ears open just in case she was spotted. Not being able to detect the Vong through the Force was not terribly annoying for her, but it did mean she had to be extra careful and alert with her other senses. Not far from the line of warriors that were guarding the ships was a various collection of other humanoids. From this distance she was at, Marix wasn’t able to identify them, but they looked to be dressed in more...well...normal clothes. Not only that, but she could sense the being in the Force, meaning they definitely weren’t Vong.

So Marix put two and two together and, unlike Jyren, managed to come up with four without too much effort. Most likely, they were the occupants of the ships that they were now cut off from. Marix cursed human ears, noticing that there was a pair of smaller figures walked in front of the group of non-Yuuzhan Vong. Those two, though, were definitely Vong. Not only could she not sense them, but they were wearing elaborate robes that looked to be clinging to the figures’ shoulders with huge talons and spikes. Even at the twenty odd meter distance she was at, Marix could see that much clearly...and that the figures were saying something.

If she was Alraxian, she would have been able to hear it. Of course, if she was Alraxian, she would also be frozen to death. Part of her considered the not-so-often used Wookie morph that she had hidden away in her mind, but reminded herself why she wasn’t here like that. Yes, Wookies would be fine in the cold, and climbing was a natural skill...but they weren’t exactly the best creatures for sneaking around. The point was to stay out of sight, and so she was human...and still cursing it despite the fact that she’d managed to get so close.

Another moment later, Marix shook the distracting thoughts off. If she stood around like this she was going to get caught. This needed to be quick, and she needed to figure out whatever it was she came here for. For now, Marix turned back from the view and stood completely behind the cover of the giant crystal spire. Her eyes and ears were not going to do anything to help on that end...they would only be able to keep her alert of anything approaching.

Which left the Force...and which left out of the Vong. Thankfully, that eliminated nearly all of the options, leaving one clear course of action. Keeping her eyes closed and her ears open, Marix reached out with the Force to the group of humanoids that were between the Vong warriors and the two others. Immediately upon finding them in the force, Marix knew something was wrong. There were...holes in them. She could feel the humanoids and most all that she normally could for a first glance at other beings, but a close inspection showed literal empty spots in the Force littered throughout.

It reminded her of the Vong.

And it was inside these humanoids.

What that meant, Marix wasn’t sure...but she didn’t like it.

Marix withdrew back into herself, glad for the fact that none of the Vong were patrolling anywhere near where she was. If they had any patrols...the fact that she hadn’t noticed any had been unnerving enough. But she’d watched the area for a good amount of time before heading down, so Marix was fairly certain there simply wasn’t one. Why would there be, anyway? They had no enemies here, and were obviously in control of the planet.

Certain of the lack of any patrol, and now feeling a need to dig deeper to see what was really going on here, Marix looked around from her cover again. Carefully, she eyed the ships. They weren’t far from the Vong line, but the warriors were facing inward, away from the ships...watching the backs of the humanoids. Which meant that the only ones she could see looking to the ships were the two Vong that were apparently speaking to the humanoid group. Her eyes scanning the area one more time, she then looked ahead of her. There was another group of two or three of the giant crystal spires a good sixty meters ahead of her, and if her eyes weren’t lying to her, then it would be about another ten meters past the second spire to the closest of the grounded starships.

However, there was a definite flaw in the plan that was forming...there was no cover at all. The edge of this giant crystal that was serving as the ground didn’t end for a great distance off to the side, making it look like a giant plateau rather than the crystal that it really was. That meant she couldn’t duck down and climb across, out of sight. Dropping to the ground would be difficult, as the layer of snow was barely enough to reach the top of her boot and that meant she would look like a brown thing sliding across the ground of white. Part of her was starting to regret adding Jyren’s old jacket as her last layer...despite the fact that it was nice and warm...

Morphing was out of the question, too, as she would have to morph back and it wasn’t going to work very well with all of the layers she was wearing. So that left out the sneaky way and the slow way. Marix had two options left...the direct way and the fast way. Technically, they were both about the same thing, though the direct route meant going through the Vong warriors, while the fast way meant heading for the cover.

Deciding that this was not the time to get into a fight with an army by herself, Marix decided her best option was going to be the fast route. She looked to the crystal spires in front of her...sixty meters was necessarily that far, but it was such an open area that she was going to have to be absolutely she they didn’t spot her.

Marix took a moment to take in a sharp, freezing cold breath, then looked straight to her goal. Drawing the Force to herself, she took off as fast as she could, releasing the Force into her body and using it to push herself as fast as she could go. The hope was that they wouldn’t see anything at all, but if they did...it would be a passing something that couldn’t be identified and would hopefully be brushed off. And in a matter of seconds, she stopped, grabbing onto the crystal with her gloved hands to steady her rapid deceleration.

Immediately turning around, Marix could see a soft line of white that was already dissipating. Good. She started a careful walk towards the other end of the two giant crystals while keeping a great deal of her attention behind her...just in case she had been noticed. When she reached the other end of the two spires, nothing had come to follow her. She carefully looked around to see a generic looking Bulk Cruiser that was about the size of Loki a good ten meters off...she could see that the boarding ramp was down, but it was, annoyingly enough, facing the other direction. At least there was enough room under the ship that she wouldn’t have to run around it.

Before starting a much shorter sprint, Marix reached up to tighten the hood of the first jacket she was wearing. She also made sure the piece of cloth over her nose and mouth was secured tighter...the run had sent a sharp cold into her face like daggers and she was going to make absolutely sure that didn’t happen again. This was bad enough without the cold getting in the way.

Sure that she was as warm as she was going to get again, with only her eyes and half of her eyebrows visible. Marix took another glance towards the Vong line, making sure none of the warriors were facing her. She attempted to look past, but couldn’t see the two other Vong through the group of humanoids...which she decided was a good sign. So, she turned back to the ship in front of her and sprinted towards it without the aid of the Force.

Marix ducked to not hit her head on the underside of the freighter before wrapping around the other side and not-so-quietly heading up the boarding ramp. Three loud footsteps clanged under her before she heard, “Kee chu---?!”

A moment later she barreled into a Rodian that was about her size. The green-skinned Rodian hit the deck first, with Marix falling on top of him. She didn’t take a moment to even think about what to do next, knowing that any more time could mean she was caught. Her hands were moving even as she fell, and though hitting the Rodian threw her aim off, it was only another second before she grabbed his neck and his head and twisted hard.

The basic human female, which currently was what Marix was, did not have nearly the kind of strength that a female Alraxian did. However, Marix knew this, and had adapted her attack accordingly. The fact that Rodian’s weren’t very strong creatures meant it was that much easier to snap his neck before he could say another word. It had been all of a few seconds and now this Rodian was dead, likely before he knew what had happened.

Marix did not waste time thinking about that. Instead, she got to her feet and looked around. The corridor went two directions, and she saw a door close by. After reaching down and grabbing the Rodian’s arm to drag him behind, she headed for it. Marix let go of the Rodian’s arm before reaching out with the Force into the room...it was empty...or should be empty. There could have been Vong. Because of this, when she hit the switch to open it, Marix spun in ready to take down anything there.

Thankfully, she found nothing at all beyond a small storage room filled with various crates. It was exactly what she needed. It took another moment, but Marix dragged the body in and closed the door after finding how to activate the light. That was another thing about humans...horrible eyes. But when the door was shut again, she looked down to the Rodian to see something that didn’t take sharp, Alraxian vision to notice. Protruding from the side of the Rodian’s face was a piece of...coral. Or something like coral. Marix would have touched it, but knew that she wouldn’t get a good feel of it through the gloves and wasn’t about to remove them. Instead, she reached out with the Force and found...nothing...

She found a hole in the Rodian’s face.

A hole in the Force.

Marix bit her lower lip. This was not what she’d come to this planet for...she’d been tracking a ship that had come close to the Gate. Now, however, she found something that might have been more disturbing. Despite that, though, Marix was still unsure of exactly what this meant. As she stuffed the body behind a pile of crates that looked to carry rations of some kind, Marix decided to dig a little deeper.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 437: Another Kind of Ice*

Very little on Yavin IV was ever cold. Even the food that was supposed to be chilled had a way of becoming room temperature, at best, within seconds. Some said it was the humidity...but Tobias figured it was just the Force having fun with people. It seemed appropriate enough to him.

However, the moment he set foot inside the dark, empty opening chamber of the ancient temple the air felt as cold as ice. This was a shock to Tobias, who was, like most Alraxians, accustomed to a tropical climate and not at all used to anything near a cold temperature. Because he was attending the Academy as a human, the cold didn’t kill him, but it stopped him in his tracks and forced him to lean against the ancient stone wall nearest to him.

As he began to slowly work through the cold, which took some time as he was also trying to figure out what, exactly, was causing it, Tobias also noted that the corridor, or room, or whatever it was in front of him was completely pitch black. After a few moments of shivering, Tobias knew he couldn’t turn back and so instead reached to the object left on his belt...a small glowrod. An Alraxian wouldn’t need it, but, currently, he wasn’t Alraxian and so, couldn’t see a thing.

When the light was switched on, Tobias couldn’t help a sigh that it gave off no heat. What he wouldn’t have given for a simple flame on a stick right now...

But now he could see a good distance ahead. The light from the entrance behind seemed to be sucked into the cold, disappearing into it...but the glowrod provided enough light to see that he was in an ancient, crumbling corridor that looked much like the ones in the Great Temple. The only difference he could really see, however, was a great deal of inscriptions that lined the walls that were in a language that meant absolutely nothing to him. Because of this, Tobias didn’t stare at them long, simply getting a general idea and then starting in the only direction he could go...forward.

He needed to find the room described to him by Master Ral, which was apparently straight at the end of the corridor he entered from. At least that meant he didn’t have to navigate this place. But as he started to walk forward to what he hoped was the chamber, Tobias’ eyes caught a shift of dark movement at the very edge of the glowrod’s light. It went left to right, wall to wall, then disappeared into the darkness of the cold again.

“Who’s there?!” was Tobias’ first reaction...and not the smartest one, either. But it had been too late and he’d said it. His second reaction, moments later, was much more thought out...he reached out with the Force. This provided him with a result he hadn’t been expecting, though. Instead of seeing something...he saw...something that he couldn’t even describe to himself. It was as if cold, itself, was manifested into the Force. He looked at it from a distance, but the second he did, it froze him in place and looked right back.

Somehow, Tobias managed to wrench himself away from the icy presence, stumbling back a few steps in the process. He nearly fell over, but reached out with his free hand to grab onto the wall as he tried to catch his breath. What had just happened?! What had he seen?! What had...seen him?! There wasn’t supposed to be anything dangerous in here, but...

“The only danger is the danger you bring with you...”

The voice echoed through the corridor, coming out of the cold itself and sending a shiver of fear down Tobias’ spine. It wasn’t Master Ral. It wasn’t...anyone he knew...and yet...he felt a familiarity with the voice and it terrified him to his core.

“Who are you?!” Tobias yelled out again, trying to keep himself up and waving his glowrod defensively in front of him.

“You know who I am, Tobias,” the voice, this time, came from behind him. There was a twisted sound to the voice that made it sound like the speaker was on the edge of sanity.

Immediately upon hearing this behind him, Tobias spun around with his glowrod as if it was a lightsaber, swinging it in a long arc in front of him and revealing...nothing but the corridor he’d been walking down. Even though he saw nothing at all, Tobias yelled towards the entrance to the temple, “Tell me who you are!!”

This time, there was a cold brush across the back of his shoulder, but no words to come with them. The touch was enough, though, and Tobias spun around again, swinging his light source. This time, though, he did hit something...the ancient, stone wall. The glowrod hit it hard and fell from his grip, its casing shattering upon hitting the ground at his feet and the entire corridor collapsing into blackness. The shock of hitting something, even if it was just the wall, send Tobias stumbling back again, but this time he couldn’t keep his balance and fell flat on his back.

He only heard the thud of his impact echo once, and was thankful for half-catching himself so that his head hadn’t snapped back and sent him into unconsciousness.

It was then that the voice returned, this time laughing, “Look what you have become, Tobias! Soft! Terrified! You’re more a child now than ever!”

Still feeling panicked, Tobias’ hand found the wall and used it to help him scramble up to his feet, “Stop taunting me and tell me who you are!”

The faintest of glows returned to the shattered glowrod at Tobias’ feet. It pulsed slightly, a dim light compared to what it had been before, and fading slightly before returning again every few seconds, but it was a light again. And in the light, dim though it was, Tobias could see a figure. Standing in front of him was an adult Alraxian, as tall as Jyren and built just as strongly. He wore the same armour that Marix wore...Tam’Day’U armour. His face was hard to see in the light, but Tobias could make out hardened features and a maniacal smile as two red-orange eyes watched him with that piercing gaze. The Alraxian’s hair looked a mess, but was cut fairly short and the colour was hard to see in the darkness...but one feature, of all of the ones that Tobias could see, stood out in his mind...the Alraxian only had half of a tail.

“You know who I am, Tobias Halpak,” the Alraxian said in that same voice, sending another chill through Tobias.

“That’s not my name!” Tobias screamed at the figure, taking a few steps back while doing his best not to fall over again.


The Alraxian in front of him did not seem phased at all, and simply took two calm steps forward, “You cannot deny your lineage, and you know who I am. You can feel it. You can even remember it, too...from before they made you so soft and weak...you remember when I made you strong,” the smile on the Alraxian’s face grew and somehow, in that, became more terrifying, “You cannot hide behind your illusions any longer, Tobias...you know your true father is Ket Halpak...and you know that I am him.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 438: Information*

Marix knew, immediately, that the rest of the occupants of the freighter she had boarded were either Rodians or similar creatures that didn’t seem to notice horrible smells. The entire ship reeked of...of...things Marix didn’t really want to think about. Not to mention the fact that half of the bulkhead in the corridors she was navigating to reach the bridge were patched up with random plates of durasteel.

Thankfully, it wasn’t a big ship, and it also wasn’t very occupied at the moment. She managed to find the bridge without running into anyone else, literally or figuratively. Like the bridges of most freighters this size, it had four seats and just enough room to maneuver between them. The rest of the walls were covered in controls and switches, half of which probably didn’t do anything, and then there was the slit of a viewport in front of it all.

With a quick glance behind her to make sure she hadn’t been followed, Marix stepped forward and slipped into the pilot’s chair. While her hands skimmed across the control panels, her mind was bringing up the old memories about these things. Years ago, with Max, she had flown ships like this. Well...more pointed and pressed ‘go’, but it was close enough. She just needed to remember where the flight logs were stored...

A small, rectangular protrusion near what Marix was fairly sure was the general alarm(why a ship this small needed one was beyond her) caught her attention. It was greyish, and looked to be set into the panel itself. Carefully, she reached over and attempted to pull the object up. Slowly, and with a bit of resistance, the rectangular shaped object relented and allowed her to pull it out of the slot. A moment later, she held a small datacard that could be read by, hopefully, any working datapad. It took a moment, but Marix managed to find a pocket to stuff the object in before getting back to her feet.

Flight logs were one thing, and would be helpful to a point, but she needed more information. If this ship had been the one they had chased from the Gate, it didn’t really matter. At this point, the specific ship was not important to Marix at all. Currently, Marix was trying to work out the ‘why’, which wasn’t terribly hard...the Vong were likely going to come back. Scouts were inevitable. The real ‘why’, was why they were using smugglers. She had a feeling it had something to do with the Peace Brigade, but wasn’t liking how far this whole connection between the two might just go. Implants in that Rodian definitely did not seem like there was a partnership going on.

Very carefully, before she left the cockpit, Marix reached out with the Force. It didn’t take long at all before she found a glint of light in it...another nearby being. It felt to be close, too. Still keeping her layers on tight, as the ship was open to the freezing air and definitely no warmer than outside, Marix left the cockpit and looked down the short corridor to see where this other being might be. There weren’t many doors at all, likely due to the fact that there wasn’t much space in the ship at all.

This made it easy for Marix to pick a target, heading for the first door she could find. After leaning against it to listen, but hearing nothing, she sighed to herself and decided to just head right through. Standing back and ready, Marix hit the switch to open the door.

It clicked, then hissed as it slid up to reveal a small quarters. As soon as the door opened, another Rodian, this one with pale-blue skin, got to his feet. Upon seeing Marix, the Rodian started to literally dive across the room to where Marix could see a blaster sat on a table. Ready for this, Marix also dove forward, but instead of going for the blaster went straight for the Rodian. She hit him hard, forcing him to the ground with her on top of him. When the Rodian attempted to swing a punch at her face, she caught his fist and, with the help of the Force to strengthen her arm, broke his wrist.

The loud crack of the bone snapping was accompanied by a nasal yelp of pain from the snout of the Rodian, though he still struggled under her to reach the blaster. Marix dug her knee hard into his chest...even by human standards, Rodians were frail, “Stop struggling and I won’t break anything else.”

It was likely hard to understand what she was saying, as Marix was still talking through the cloth that was across her face. Despite this, though, the Rodian seemed to get the point, “Kee uata!”

Huttese.

Marix rewired her thought process and responded in Huttese, “You will answer all of my questions. Each time you hesitate, I break something else. Do you understand?”

The large, glossy eyes of the Rodian somehow managed to look worried. He said nothing, but instead just nodded hastily.  Certain, now, that this was going to work out well enough, Marix asked, “Why are you working with the Vong and what are you doing here?”

If it was possible to almost hesitate, the Rodian managed it. However, he obviously took to heart Marix’s threat, and answered quickly enough, “Hutts exploit my people! Me! Get revenge! We help them take Mygeeto, they help us with Hutts!”

Thankfully, Marix was strong-willed enough not to react outwardly to this. Instead, she just asked another question as she followed this train of thought, “The Vong are going to attack the Hutts?”

“Hutts ally with Vong...” the Rodian made a sideways glance to the blaster, which caused Marix to dig her knee in harder and his voice to come out with much more effort, “Vong in charge here...he gloat! Hates the Hutts...Vong know the Hutts only try to use them...Hutts no get away with that. They will see.”

So he could understand the Yuuzhan Vong...that was an insight, all by itself. And it prompted Marix to ask another question, “Why don’t you have an implant like your friend?”

“Friend...?” he paused, then seemed to realize what Marix was saying, “Neetar...you kill him! I...” he paused again, realizing the situation, then seemingly realizing, again, that it was not possible to fight back right now, “Slave seeds...they not put in all...not trust us. Think we betray them. Like Hutts...try to use us. Think we weak...but we know galaxy...they don’t. We stronger and they see that soon...so will you!”

It was then that the Rodian used what strength he could manage to throw her off. This didn’t take much, as Marix was human and, therefore, fairly light. She fell backwards, hitting the bulkhead and immediately flipping up to her feet. The Rodian, however, was smart enough to not just have kicked her off. He had used his momentum to also get up, reaching for the blaster once more. This time, he got to it.

When Marix was up on her feet, the Rodian fired a quick pair of shots without really aiming. The first went high over her left shoulder, but the other was aimed dead center for her stomach. In the close quarters of the small room, Marix had only the blink of an eye to react...but it was more than enough for her. By the first shot, she was moving, and so the second simply singed the outermost layer of her clothes. After the shift to the side, she charged forward again, hands reaching for the blaster and wrenching it from the Rodian’s hand.

A fairly strong knee came up and caught her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her and sending her back a half step. The Rodian used this time to dart for the floor, once again going for his beloved blaster pistol.  Marix recovered quickly, though, and dropped a two-fisted slam to the back of the Rodian’s slim frame. It sent the Rodian’s body straight down hitting face first with a loud thud. But Marix knew it wasn’t over, and wasn’t going to let it continue, either.

The second the Rodian’s body hit the ground, she dropped over him, reaching down and snapping his weak neck as she had done with the first.

Now it was over.

Marix got up to her feet again, wishing she’d had a chance to learn more. But that was it. She’d pushed her luck far enough, and now it was definitely time to leave before things started to go pear shaped.

“Bos sos si?!” the words echoed through the corridors twice. Marix had no idea what they meant, but she recognized the harsh, violent tone of voice that spoke them...which meant that, most likely, the language was that of the Yuuzhan Vong.

...apparently, the Force had decided that this had all been far too easy for her.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 439: Father and Son*

Tobias stared at the Ket Halpak, a fear gripping him in a way that froze him in place. He knew about his real parents; that had never been hidden from him. But they had...used him. Turned him into a weapon when he was barely able to speak. To Halpak, he had been nothing more than a means to an end...not a child. Not his child. 

And yet...here he was, standing in front of Tobias a good eleven standard years since he was supposed to have been killed. Standing in the way...despite getting turned around a couple of times, Tobias knew that beyond Ket Halpak was the chamber he was sent in to find. And now this damned Alraxian was taunting him, keeping him here in the middle distance and it was getting him no where.

“You used me!” Tobias growled, finally, “You are not my father!”

With that, he reached down and picked up the glowrod. Tobias steeled himself then charged forward, straight for Halpak. But he hit nothing...instead, he ran right through where the Alraxian had stood. Tobias didn’t stop, though, and continued at a sprint down the corridor, still able to feel that cold presence around him everywhere...following...watching...

Suddenly, the flickering light of the glowrod expanded as the walls of the corridor gave way to a large, open chamber. Despite the constant changes in the light from the damage glowrod, Tobias was able to see a series of seven, waist-high pillars in a circle in the center of the room. Carefully, now starting to feel like this was too easy and waiting for some kind of trap...or worse...Tobias stepped in to the center and looked to the pillars.

On each there was an object. He ignored the objects, themselves, simply trying to figure out a point of reference for the ‘fourth’ pillar. That was the one he was looking for. But they were in a circle, without any real break to mark a starting or ending point. And, as far as he could tell, there were no markings of any kind of the pillars, themselves. Just the objects on them and ancient scratches caused by time.

“Running simply delays the inevitable, Tobias,” Ket Halpak’s voice echoed through the chamber in such a way that Tobias couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

He spun around, but saw nothing at all in the limited light. This evoked a laugh from...somewhere, “So jittery...just like when you were a boy. You could never sit still. It seems that very little has changed.”

“Shut up!” Tobias cried out, listening to his own voice bounce around the chamber in the same way Halpak’s was. When it echoed back to him, he couldn’t help but feel a bit...disturbed at how angry he sounded.

“See?” Halpak laughed as he spoke, and somehow, Tobias felt like the voice was closer to him, “As quick to anger as always. You were perfect, Tobias. The first child of two Tam’Day’U...stronger than you can imagine.”

“I don’t care about that!” he yelled out in protest.

Another laugh echoed, this time even closer, “But you do...why do you lie to yourself? You want to be a Jedi...a pathetic ambition, considering what you are capable of...but you want to be a Jedi to be powerful. Strong.”

“No!” when Tobias turned around this time, he saw Halpak again. The Alraxian stood just a couple steps behind him, and the shock of how close he was caused Tobias to stumble backwards. He caught himself on one of the pillars and glared at Halpak, “I don’t care about power! I want to be like my father!”

Halpak took two long strides to come into view again, the same terrifying look on his face as before as he shook his head, “You are like your father, Tobias. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Look inside...feel it. I am dead...you know that. Yet, I live in you...my son.”

“You’re lying!”

A grin formed on Halpak’s features, and it only served to cause a more unnerving feeling in the way he showed his fangs in the process, “I would not be here, otherwise.”

	By now, Tobias was gritting his teeth and trying to figure out what to do. Halpak was dead! Dead! But...he was here! And he wasn’t at all like a projection of the Force or...or his mind or...no, Halpak was standing right there! Solid as any living being and more terrifying than anything Tobias had encountered. No longer did he care about what he had been sent in to do. All that Tobias wanted was to leave, and yet despite the knowledge that Ket Halpak was long dead, the Alraxian was standing there in his way. Again. But now...

Now he was stepping closer.

Tobias shifted back another step, around the pillar before stopping himself. His hand brushed across something. Risking looking away from Halpak, Tobias looked down to what he’d felt. There, on the pillar, was a good sized, ancient looking, metal sword. Quickly, he shifted the glowrod to his right hand and picked up the sword in his left. Without really thinking, and in one quick motion, he turned around to face Ket Halpak, swinging the ancient weapon at the long-dead Alraxian.

Clang!

The sound of two metal blades hitting one another echoed through the chamber. Tobias’ eyes went wide with shock as his arm shook with the same shock from the impact of his sword against one that Ket Halpak was holding. Halpak held a rather boring looking metal blade in his right hand, easily parrying Tobias’ random strike, and laughed, “You would attack a dead man, then?”

“You aren’t real!” his voice was more pleading at this point, now lost completely. He had expected to slice through air, the image of Halpak...not meet resistance at all. Halpak was dead! But...not.

“I am very real,” Halpak grinned again, then pulled back his sword and took a single step forward as he thrust his blade towards Tobias’ stomach.

Uncomfortable with the metal weapon and having only picked it up out of reflect, Tobias wasn’t really sure how to parry. It felt so much different than a lightsaber. Because of this, he sidestepped the thrust, stepped between the pillars and forward as he hastily attempted another swing at Halpak’s midsection.

This was easy for Halpak to defend against, as he was able to quickly pull his blade in and parry Tobias’ strike for a second time. This time, however, Halpak did not simply hold the blade there. After pushing Tobias’ weapon back and forcing him against one of the other pillars, Halpak quickly swung down to cleave the currently-human Tobias in two.

Tobias simply dove for the hard, stone floor and rolled to the side and out of the way. He could see Halpak moving to come at him again, and Tobias only had time to get to his knees before reaching up to parry another downward strike.

His one-handed hold on the sword was not nearly enough to parry a strike from an adult Alraxian, though. When the blades met, Tobias felt his wrist give way and a sharp pain from it before he lost his grip on the sword and it clattered to the ground loudly. The force of the strike also sent him down onto his back again, but Tobias managed to keep his head up a second time. It seemed to be the only thing he was managing to get right.

Immediately, his hand reached out to grab the sword again, but when his fingers wrapped around the hilt to grip it, another sharp pain shot through his hand. He released the grip in time to dive to the side again, away from another strike from Halpak.

“Get on you feet!” the Alraxian growled, obviously enraged at this point, “My son is better than this!”

“I am not your son!” Tobias yelled back, this time throwing the glowrod up to where Halpak stood.

Ket Halpak brought his arms in and shielded himself, the half-broken object hitting his closed arms instead of his face before clattering off a good distance away...illuminating the exit corridor. That quick glance towards where the light had fallen triggered something in Tobias’ mind.

With his right hand, he reached over himself and grabbed the sword again, darting up to his feet as best he could when he had a grip on it. By this point, Halpak was coming at him again. Tobias ducked a swipe at his neck, then immediately used the time given to him not to strike back at his opponent, but to make a run for the corridor.

As fast as he could, Tobias bolted towards the tiny light at the end of the corridor. By the time it had grown to the size that told him he was nearly there, Tobias risked a glance behind him into the black...and saw nothing. Not even the dim flickering of the glowrod he’d left behind. When he turned back, though, he didn’t just see the light of the exit to the Temple...blocking it was the form of Ket Halpak.

“A Halpak does not run from a fight!” he snapped at the young Tobias before swinging his sword at Tobias once again.

Tobias managed to shift to the side, pressing against the wall in the small corridor, to avoid the strike, “My name is Tobias BlueIce!”

With the opening given to him, he thrust the sword towards Halpak. While the Alraxian size gave an advantage in most situations against a human, currently it meant that Halpak had no room to move...and his sword was off to the side as he was pulling it back from its previous strike. This time, the resistance that Tobias’ blade met with was not metal, but flesh.

A cough and a choking sound escaped Halpak, but that damned smile remained, “You can lie...to me...but not...to yourself...son...”

And then Halpak fell to the ground, hitting the stone floor hard and not moving again. Tobias was shaking now, but still somehow holding the sword in his hand. He looked down at the unmoving form for a long few moments, trying to push the thoughts out of his head that maybe, just maybe, Halpak was right...

Quickly, Tobias shook that away, then stepped out of the Temple and back into the light of the jungle.


----------



## Angcuru

Nice father vs. son fight there.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 440: Rodian Encounters*

For an assassin, quick thinking was a necessity. If one wasn’t able to make a fast decision, it meant a fast death instead. Because of this, Marix’s mind flew through her options. There was a Yuuzhan Vong probably at the base of the boarding ramp to the freighter she was in, and two dead Rodians along with her. That was it. The only thing she noted different was that the Rodian corpse with her, currently, did not have any strange, coral-like extrusions from its skin. What this meant, she didn’t know, but she could guess.

Quickly, she searched the Rodian’s body for anything out of the ordinary, both with her hands and through the Force. It was the Force that found something...or rather...nothing. An emptiness where she very well knew there should have been something because she was feeling nothing at all from close to the Rodian’s skull. Part of her was a bit worried about her next move, but the rest of her knew it might just be more important to keep inspecting rather than die at the hands of an army of Yuuzhan Vong.

With a grunt, as she was still human and not exactly the strongest one, either, she lifted up the Rodian’s frail body and leaned down. Carefully, she looked into the opening that was nearest the lack of feeling in the Force...the right ear. And, sure enough, there was something there. And it moved.

Marix jumped back slightly, expecting something to come flying at her. But when nothing did, she leaned in, more carefully this time, again. From what she could tell, there was a small...thing...in the Rodian’s ear. It was definitely still alive, and it definitely was not normally part of the Rodian ear. Not liking where this was going, but not seeing anywhere else to go with it, Marix carefully reached in with two gloved fingers.

She got a hold of a small, moving...thing...presumably the same thing she had seen, and gave it a small pull. There was no resistance like she had expected. Clearly, this was not like the coral she had seen on the face of the other Rodian...that was more a growth while this...was...

A little worm of some kind. Marix held the slightly moving thing up to her face and peered at it. Only her eyes and gloved-hands were telling her the thing was there. According to the Force, there was nothing at all in her hands.

There was another guttural yell that echoed up the ship and to her. There were definitely words attached to that, but Marix couldn’t even make them out this time. All she could tell was that it sounded angrier than before. Which meant she had to act faster than she was currently moving. Getting to her feet, Marix pocketed the small worm-thing and then quickly shed the topmost two layers of the clothes.

It only took another few moments, and where a human had been, a blue-skinned, female Rodian stood. Marix had only ever used this morph a few times, and always found it awkward...even compared to a human. She stretched slightly, getting used to the lighter limbs, then fell into stride and headed to the exit, looking as terrified as she could manage for this encounter.

When she rounded the corner to step down the boarding ramp, Marix nearly went straight into an amphistaff.

“Remaga corlat, migan yam?” the warrior in front of her bellowed the words before she even saw him.

For the moment, Marix’s two large eyes were squarely focused on the amphistaff, with its bladed edge just waiting to cut her into pieces. Slowly, her eyes shifted down the length of the weapon to the warrior...who was twice her size, both in height and bulk, with that usual crab-like armour and a heavily scarred and tattooed face. This one seemed to be missing most of his left ear in addition to all of the other scars.

In a nasally, annoying voice even to her Rodian ears, Marix spoke in Trade...Basic, “Wait!” her mind quickly ran through possible reasons for why the Vong had suddenly appeared, also trying to ignore the fact she had no idea what had been said to her, “Was fixing engine! Need repairs!”

The Vong warrior’s eyes narrowed, and Marix was currently unsure of whether he could understand her or not. In a swift motion, the warrior pulled back his amphistaff for a short moment. Marix knew what was coming next...she could see it in his muscles, the tension and the way he was preparing himself. Because she knew it was coming, it was even harder to play the part she needed to...but somehow, Marix did. When the warrior whipped around the other end of his amphistaff, she didn’t move, and simply allowed the blunt end to slam hard into the side of her face, sending her to the snow-covered deck with a grunt of pain and a thud.

“Kraasa ne,” the Vong growled under his breath before delivering a strong kick to her side, sending her completely to the ground and now, also, out of breath. Without another word, the warrior marched off back towards the line of others, only a few of which were looking her direction.

The pain was ignorable, despite the fact that she now had at least a few broken ribs. Had he done anything else, Marix would have been forced to retaliate, and that would likely have been bad. She knew she could have killed him...but...not with all of the others. But that had happened, and now she simply had to get back to Loki with whatever extra information she’d gathered on the datacard in addition to what the Rodian had told her...and what was also now stuffed into Jyren’s jacket pocket...

Marix got to her feet slowly, resisting the urge to remorph in the open like this, and then headed back into the ship. As she made her way back to where she’d left the other layers of clothes, Marix remorphed to the human body, glad for the fact that the clothes fit better like that anyway. The Rodian body was shorter and they were loose and...cold...Marix shuddered as she finally got back and began to add on the layers again, finally pulling the hood over her head again and getting the cloth around her face again.

After checking her pocket for the little worm-thing and finding it was, sadly, still there and still moving some, Marix gave one last look to the body before turning and heading back out. The plan was to leave the way she’d come in, and, hopefully, it wouldn’t be too difficult. Part of her wished she could get in closer to listen to whatever was going on in that gathering, but Marix knew that wasn’t possible. She was lucky to be alive right now.

So, after a careful glance down the ramp and then dropping her head down to look to the line of warriors, Marix focused on simply getting back to Loki as anything but an ice cube.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 441: Lessons*

Master Ral watched Tobias silently as the young man walked to him from the entrance to the temple. There was something in the Omwati’s eyes that Tobias couldn’t pinpoint, and the Force didn’t help one bit. Sure, Tobias was no expert with the whole Force thing just yet, but Master Ral had a way of keeping his emotions extremely well hidden...or not there at all, he guessed. The lanky, blue humanoid was the epitome of a scholarly Jedi, Tobias realized.

Tobias did, however, feel the Jedi Master reach out and touch him with the Force, which was as uncomfortable as always. Something about that bothered him to know end and always had...even when it had been Jyren just teasing him. Something about getting into his head like that just felt...wrong. He hadn’t ever bothered with the why to that.

Despite the fact that the Omwati was standing calmly with his hands at his sides, Tobias felt like the stoic expression on that blue face made up for the lack of crossed arms. When he was within a few meters, the Jedi Master finally spoke up, “You are injured.”

Suddenly worried that he’s missed something, Tobias followed his Master’s gaze down to the hand that held the ancient, metal sword. It was then that he noticed the grip was covered in a deep red that was sliding down the rest of the weapon. Quickly, he switched the blade into his other hand and lifted his left to look at his palm. Two scars ran across his palm and there was a rather large bruise in between them, and while they weren’t that deep, they were still bleeding enough to be...disturbing. Tobias had the same aversion to red coloured blood that his mother did.

“I...” he trailed off, shaking his head then looked up to the Omwati’s face, “I don’t know how this happened.”

“You were careless,” Master Ral said simply while he reached out and placed his hand over Tobias’. In a moment, Tobias felt the Force flowing through the wounds and closing them...something that was completely unnecessary since he could morph...but then again, he wasn’t about to morph in front of anyone that didn’t know he could. Then, returning his hand to his side, Master Ral added, “You failed, Tobias.”

The young man looked worried and slightly panicked for only a few seconds before looking down to the sword in his right hand. He sighed and shook his head again, “I didn’t have time to find the right object...I just...”

“What you retrieved was not important, Toby,” the Omwati’s answer shocked him, causing Tobias to look up with wide eyes, “It is how you retrieved it.”

There was silence, then the Jedi Master seemed aware of the surprise that was emanating from Tobias. In the same calm voice, he expanded on the somewhat cryptic statement, “Before you entered that place, I told you that the only danger you would encounter in there was what you took with you. The only thing you took with you a glowrod I currently cannot see on you anymore. You return to me, barely ten minutes after you entered, drenched in sweat, your own blood from a wound you admit not realizing you had, and radiating a fear through the Force so strong that every animal anywhere near us has fled.”

Opening his ears first, and into the Force second, Tobias confirmed that this wasn’t an exaggeration. He could hear nothing nearby, and only feel himself and Master Ral...the wildlife that always populated the moon had all but vanished. Realization finally starting to hit him, Tobias jabbed the ancient sword down into the sand at the edge of the lake before letting himself fall down next to it and sigh heavily, “I’m sorry.”

In a much slower motion, Master Ral moved to sit in front of his young apprentice. He soon was also in the sand, cross-legged and as serene looking as ever...though, for once, Tobias could detect a hint of concern from the Omwati. After a few more moments of quiet, the Jedi Master asked, “Normally, an apprentice would be left to contemplate the events in that trial by themselves to come to an understanding of why they failed. You must understand...it is not an easy test. Most do fail when faced with it. But this...” the Jedi Master’s head tilted to the side very slightly, “I feel this situation is different. Tell me, Tobias...what happened in that place?”

For a moment, Tobias couldn’t help but feel those words sink in. But he shook it off more quickly than usual and spoke towards the ground, “I saw my...my father...” he shook his head then quickly corrected himself, “My biological father. I don’t remember him at all...I just know that he tried to kill billions out of some twisted wish for revenge and I was just a pawn in his plans.”

Reaching up, Tobias pushed some of his unruly hair out of his face and looked at the sword...while trying to ignore the red streaks all around the hilt, “He wasn’t...real. It was just a vision but...he taunted me...laughed. I don’t even remember his voice but I knew it the second I heard it. And he kept taunting until I...I grabbed whatever I could find a swung at him. But he stopped it,” finally, Tobias looked up to his Master, “He wasn’t real. He’s been dead for a decade but he...he had a sword and he stopped me. He tried to kill me. I just...I panicked. I threw my glowrod at him and...and I ran.”

“You have a strength in the Force that is not often seen, Tobias,” Master Ral said after Toby had finished, “It would not surprise me to learn that both of your natural parents were also strong in the Force. You must understand that while our bodies die, we join with the Force. We do live on...everything does. Those strong enough in the Force can, essentially, hang onto to this reality. But that does not mean they can regain their physical form.”

“But my hand and...he blocked the sword when I swung it at him...” Tobias was still trying to make sense of everything but, for obvious reasons, not succeeding.

Master Ral, who had obviously been going over what Tobias had told him, seemed to be working out everything.  It didn’t take long before he asked, “Tobias, you said you threw your glowrod at him, correct?”

Not sure what that meant, Tobias just nodded. Though now he was looking at his Master with interest, wondering where this was going.

“Did you pick it back up?”

Stopping and thinking about this a moment before he answered, Tobias went over the events. It had shattered first...then he’d scrambled for it...and throw it after. He still didn’t understand where Master Ral was going with this train of thought, but said, “It...broke first. I fell and it shattered. I picked it up and ran to the room you told me to find and that’s when I uh...threw it.”

At that, the Omwati master simply nodded, “The cuts on your hand weren’t deep enough to be from a blade. Not only that, but you could not have received them while holding that sword. Could you have cut your hand while on the fragments of the glowrod when you tried to pick it up?”

A look of surprise washed over Tobias’ features and he replayed the events in his mind again. He had felt a pain in his hand, now that he thought about it, but it had been so minimal at the time...overshadowed by the fear that was gripping him. He didn’t even notice it...

“What about the sword?” Tobias asked after another moment.

Master Ral leaned in slightly and carefully placed his hand on the metal’s edge. After a quick inspection, he said, “If this blade hit another, it would have shattered. The metal isn’t strong at all and its thousands of years old,” he paused a moment, and then before Tobias asked the obvious question, Master Ral answered it, “The Dark Side is strong in that Temple. It was once a home to the ancient Sith. Illusions can become more real, especially when you let your fear grip you.”

It was hard not to nod at that. It was true, of course. Quietly, Tobias mumbled, “So I’m right back where I started.”

“No, Tobias, you aren’t,” as Master Ral spoke, he got to his feet again. Once up, he extended a hand down to help Toby up, “You must learn from what happened today. Do not pass it off as a simple failure...every failure teaches us something both about the Force and ourselves. Find that, and you can turn a failure into a success.”

Tobias took his Master’s hand and didn’t complain at all about being helped to his feet. Once he was up, the Omwati Jedi gave him a simple nod, then turned and started the walk back to the Great Temple. Tobias watched his Master walk off for a moment, going over what had been said.

Then his stomach rumbled.

Shaking his head, Toby reached down and grabbed the sword, seeing no reason to leave it behind, then headed after his Master. Not only was he exhausted from what had happened...but he was starving.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 442: Next Stop*

[Part of me was hoping you’d get back with an army behind you so we could make a fun exit.] Loki commented idly as Marix calmly took a seat in her usual, currently freezing cold, chair.

She had taken the time to shed the extra layers of clothing and return to her Alraxian body...but it was still cold. As she placed the small datacard she had retrieved one of the organic consoles, she spared a glance at the glassy-white of the crystal spires that surrounded them. Looking back down and starting to dig around for the datapad that should be around somewhere, she said, “I decided that they didn’t need the exercise.”

[You’re no fun...but then again, you never were.] the feeling of a sigh passed through the Force from Loki. [Why you have to be all sneaky is beyond me. Its only fun when they see you.]

“You’re worse than Jyre—,” Marix ended that sentence quickly. Thankfully, it also coincided with her finding the datapad which meant the entire slip could be, and was, ignored...at least she ignored it.

Loki, on the other hand, was unsure of how to respond and instead sat there being...curious and concerned at the same time. She hadn’t said much since arriving, and though he’d been ready to leave, the general impression he was getting was they were in no rush at all. That, alone, was worrying. They were always in a rush to escape whatever chaos had been caused...well, no...not always. Decades ago, that had been the norm. But ever since Jyren had appeared it seemed like those days were gone, and it was something Loki didn’t mind. He loved the rush of an escape, and welcomed the change. Now, though, he was bored.

[What is that?] he finally asked, noting that the datapad’s screen was lit up for more than a minute so she had time to read whatever was there.

“Flight logs,” Marix said in a distracted voice. After a few more moments of quiet, she added, “Hutt Space.”

Loki gave it a moment to make sure she didn’t add anymore to clarify, and when she finally didn’t, decided it was alright to ask. [...what about Hutt Space?]

Setting down the datapad in the empty seat next to her, Marix sat up straight in the chair and look out the viewport again, “The ship has been traveling in and out of Hutt Space consistently for the past two weeks...different planets all along the border and then a few deeper. Each return trip is taking the ship back into Vong-occupied planets.”

[Scouts?] Loki asked, starting to get an idea for where they might be going.

“No, that doesn’t make sense,” she shook her head before reaching up to get a few of the black strands of her stripe out of her face then looked up towards. A look of concentration appeared on her features and then she said, obviously thinking out loud as she usually did, “It was a Rodian freighter. Smuggler types. They would know Hutt Space. It looks like the Vong are implanting...things into these smugglers. They’re using them. That would mean the Vong would know Hutt Space, too...or should.”

The thoughts trailed off into nothing. Loki was going over all of this, too, though with a definite lack of information as Marix was doing her usual thing and only speaking half of the information out loud. Working with what he had, though, he attempted to help. [They’re obviously looking at Hutt Space, though.]

Slowly, the lack of movement from Marix turned into a nod. A sigh escaped her and she leaned forward again, “Still too many pieces that don’t all fit together.”

That, at least, Loki could agree with. [Where to, then? Back home or...?]

“Not home yet,” she said rather quickly, then realized that Loki caught that and added, “There’s something...wrong about all of this, Loki. I can feel it. Its connected to us, too. To home. We have to follow this trail to the end and make sense of what the Vong are up to with the Empire.”

Again, Loki couldn’t help but agree. As he started to prepare himself to leave the icy and rather annoying to navigate planet of Mygeeto, he decide there was another important question. [Then where do we head?]

It didn’t take too long for Marix to think about that and her answer wasn’t a surprise to Loki at all, “Nar Shaada.”

It was the logical place to go in Hutt Space. The only thing was that Loki hadn’t been there in...well...years. He knew that Marix, too, hadn’t been there for a very long time. The last time he knew of was when the newly-merged Marix and Shadow had gone with Jyren and the Voorts...chasing after that damned Delta Nine and Halpak...who had captured Loki...

He didn’t like remembering those times.

As he was starting to get into the sky, carefully moving upwards and trying not to scrape against the crystals around them, Loki heard Marix make another comment to him, “Please try to get us out the way we came in. The less they see us the better.”

And then she started to get up and head out of the cockpit. [Awww...telling me not to have fun then you run off?]

She stopped and glanced up, a tendency he’d always noticed and was mildly curious about, “I need to rest and...figure out what’s going on.”

When she left the cockpit, she didn’t leave Loki’s ‘view’, but he let his focus shift to the task at hand. That was what had been bothering him so much lately. On the surface, it was just like the old days. Just him and Marix, sneaking around where they weren’t supposed to be and, somehow, not getting caught. Yet...that was the distant past now. The years in between had changed so much for the both of them that it just wasn’t possible to go back to that again.

They’d both lost friends before. They’d lost people that had hurt them both in ways it shouldn’t have, especially for Marix, the supposed emotionless Tam’Day’U. But, eventually, the pain had gone away and the loss accepted. Alraxians celebrated death as a return to the Force, though for some it took time to see that way. But now...now it wasn’t going away. It was affecting everything, even in small ways. Loki couldn’t help but worry about Marix. It was a situation she had never expected to be in, for obvious reasons.

If he could have sighed, he would have. Instead, Loki turned skyward, and headed to the atmosphere and away from this cold, out of the way planet. He had a bad feeling about Nar Shaada.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 443: Fear*

“Were you ever afraid?”

That got him an interesting look, “That’s a pretty dumb question, little guy.”

He shook his head, sighing and hating that he’d brought that upon himself, “You never seem to be, though. I mean...its been quiet lately, and I was young back when all of the craziness was going on, but I remember it. You just...you ran in without any fear at all. How did you do that?”

“I told you it was a dumb question, Toby,” but that was followed by a shrug and a calming of the voice, “Of course I was afraid. Terrified, most of the time.”

Tobias sighed and looked at the back of the figure standing across the room from him, looking out a window, “But...it never showed and...and it never stopped you.”

“It nearly killed me,” that was whispered, almost to the point where Tobias couldn’t hear it. The head shook and the voice rose, “To be honest, little guy, I was so afraid of losing someone close to me again that I stopped caring. My fear drove me to push everyone away, and nearly drove me into a darkness I couldn’t have gotten out of.”

“But I thought there wasn’t a dark side...”

Another shrug, “Your mother believes that. I did...but now...I don’t know. Maybe the Force itself doesn’t have sides, but I know I do. In the end, it doesn’t matter which is true. I nearly fell into something I could never have gotten out of because I was so afraid.”

That had gone in a direction Tobias hadn’t expected, despite prompting the conversation. So it took him a moment to figure out what to say next. When it finally came, he looked down at the floor, not really able to ask it directly, “...how did you...what—. How did you get out of that?”

With a slight turn, Tobias could see a single, blueish eye giving him a curious look from over a shoulder, “Things started happening. I didn’t have a choice. If I’d sat around anymore, hiding from things, more people would have died. I thought I’d cut myself off from everyone, but I hadn’t. In a matter of days I was right back to where I’d been years before and I...I just couldn’t let it happen again, so I fought it.”

Truthfully, Tobias knew this story. He didn’t need it repeated and yet, here was an aspect completely new to him...and almost terrifying. This man was not a god or some perfect creature that Tobias had always made him out to be. He was...normal. It was frightening.

“But...”

It was all Tobias could say. He couldn’t finish that sentence. He could speak the names of the people he had no memories of his own of. He couldn’t speak the names because he worried what it would do to his father, now suddenly unsure how far across the line he’d gone.

This time, finally, Jyren turned around to face the young Alraxian. There was something close to sadness on his face but that wasn’t the word. In fact, Tobias didn’t have a word to describe it accurately. Slowly, Jyren walked over to have a seat in the chair that was across from Tobias and leaned forward to look him in the eyes. In a quiet, reflective voice, he said, “But I watched my friend become the first Darkwing in thousands of years. But I found out that even after I’d stopped that, not only was the man behind it still alive, but the friend I’d saved was going to die anyway because she was a clone. But I killed a man that was one of the strongest, most noble humans in the galaxy because I didn’t even think to talk him down...”

Jyren stopped, looking down at the floor and resting his face in his hand. Before the gesture, Tobias had seen tears on his face. Tobias wasn’t able to say anything, though, as Jyren continued, though his voice was a bit muffled and obviously struggling to stay even, “But I lost another friend that day and I could do nothing to stop it, despite her being the one who convinced me it was worth going on. But I saw a friend who I had fallen in love with tortured in front of my eyes...I felt it,” finally, Jyren looked back up to Tobias, “And with each time that something happened, I became more afraid...more terrified of what was next. But the fear drove me to protect what I had. And despite the fear of what could happen, it was all worth it. Do you know why?”

At this point, Tobias was sitting in shock, unsure of what he’d just gotten himself into. The best he could manage was to shake his head.

In response to that, Tobias received another surprise. Jyren smiled. A real smile, “Because I’m still alive right now thanks to Jen worrying about me. Because I met a man who I thought I hated...and after his death, I realized how good a man Titus Voort was. I learned what it was truly like to be honourable and noble from him. Because, thanks to Halpak, I met you. Because I met me real father, a man I’d thought dead and didn’t even know I needed him...and then found out about my mother, too. Because I fell in love again, after thinking I’d already had my chance at that and it had been taken from me. Because, even though Jen fell and did horrible things, in the end, she saved my life...because I told her I had a son and that brought her back. Because of Andrea and Saraan and the way they look at me with their big eyes like I haven’t seen since you first latched onto me.”

Jyren stopped then, and reached up to put an hand on Tobias’ shoulder, “The reason I told you all of that right now is because you need to understand that fear can only hold you back. If you let it, if you focus on that alone, you’ll forget about all the wonderful things that happen.. When something happens to you and you feel like you’ve lost everything, it can consume you...but you can’t let it. You have to be strong. You have to remember to take something away from each loss, each pain. Learn from it...” he sighed but managed to hold the smile on his face, which was almost worrying to Tobias, “No one’s life is easy, Toby, but you have to find a way to stand back up after each punch. You have to see the good, even if its just what you took from someone after they were gone. But don’t ever, ever let your fear stop you from living.”

Slowly, Tobias opened his eyes. It took him a moment to get his bearings, but as he sat up, he took in the boring view of the rather empty room that was ‘his’ inside the Great Temple. There was no window. There was a single chair, and a basic desk. No place for Jyren to have sat...no place for him to look out a window.

Sliding out of the surprisingly comfortable bed and still having trouble adjusting to being human, Tobias’ eyes adjusted to the relative darkness of his room and locked onto the chrono that was on his desk. It was the middle of the night...bordering on morning. That had been a very odd dream...so clear and vivid. He didn’t even remember, exactly, when that conversation had taken place. It had been...years ago.

“Halpaks don’t run.”

The voice of his biological father echoed through Tobias’ head suddenly and a cold fear gripped him. But this time, unlike when he’d been in that old Temple kilometers away, he fought it off. One thought pushed it away.

BlueIces don’t run, either.

There was a reason he’d dreamed that. There was a reason it was so clear. The Force was telling him something. For the first time in Tobias’ life, he heard the Force and understood what he needed to do. He could feel it...like never before.

As quickly as he could, Tobias got to his feet and got dressed. In a matter of minutes, he’d left the room. With him, he took nothing at all...even Jyren’s lightsaber...his lightsaber, remained at its place sitting at the desk. Master Ral had told him the truth before. He didn’t need the lightsaber.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 444: Information Gathering*

[You’re going out like that?]

Marix rolled her eyes. Neither of her parents had ever said that to her, mainly because they wouldn’t have ever had to, but that was besides the point. Loki, on the other hand...that seemed to be his favourite question through the years. She looked up and said flatly, “Yes, thankyou.”

Loki only took a few seconds to consider this. [But you always say its best not to get noticed...]

“This is Nar Shaada,” Marix nearly snapped as she headed for the hatch, “People know to keep to themselves or they’re likely to be killed,” she waved a hand idly, “Besides, if I stay human any longer I may start to like it. I’m tired of being so short...”

The last part was muttered, but Loki still heard it. He help back the comment that immediately came to mind, mainly because it was that she was still short compared to Jyren...that would have been a bad idea, for obvious reasons, to say. So instead, he double checked the surrounding area, which was a rather dismal little hangar that he could barely fit in, and decided on another sentence. [Be careful out there.]

Now at the hatch, Marix actually stopped. She reached over and gently patted the bulkhead next to her and managed a smile, “I will be, Loki. Just make sure you’re here when I get back.”

[Right.] he would have grinned if he could have. [I’ll do my racing through the sky lanes when you aren’t looking and be back before you!]

Again, Marix rolled her eyes, and said quietly as she exited the ship, “I know you, Loki...you’d crash.”

If he said anything back, and he probably did, Marix didn’t hear it. She specifically blocked out any response, knowing it was time to get to business and focus. Nar Shaada was...the same as it always was. So much like Coruscant with its huge, towering buildings and endless canyons between them, but a thousand times dirtier and dingier than Coruscant could dream to be.

The polluted, grey sky above was dominated by the equally-horrid looking sphere that was the planet Nal Hutta. They were on the other side of the Smuggler’s Moon, no where near the tower that had once been Halpak’s. So now, instead of a simple view of space...the horizon just showed something no one wanted to see, and so everyone looked down at their feet and around them, just in case they were being followed.

Marix knew the streets fairly well. She’d spent enough time with smugglers to know where she needed to be to find out pretty much anything. Those kind of places didn’t disappear over the years. They were kept running, be they bars, cafes, or just beat-up looking buildings, by the people who used them more than the owners as a safe haven from whoever was trying to enforce the ‘law’. Of course, said ‘law’ rarely made it anywhere near Hutt Space, and when it did it was in the form of bounty hunters who knew where they could and couldn’t go. Most of them did, at least.

It took an hour of walking down the not-so-crowded walkways high above the surface of the moon, which couldn’t be seen from this elevation, before Marix found what she was looking for. It was a tavern without a name as far as she knew. Everyone always just called it Soff’s Place after the grungy looking, pale-skinned Trandoshan that ran the place.

Marix was forced to duck slightly to not hit her head on the entrance, but thankfully the ceiling to the dark tavern was higher once she was inside. It was, like most taverns, dark, compact, and smelling of a thousand different things that were best left unidentified. There were circular tables in a seemingly random placing across the bulk of the main room, with a bar against the left wall that dominated most of the side. Beyond tiny, very dim lamps at the tables, the bar itself had the only collection of lights.

Approaching the bar, Marix slipped a small amount of credits onto the counter and took a seat with her back to Soff. She gave him a careful look before ordering a Corellian Ale, then let her eyes scan over the occupants of the place without looking like she was actually paying attention to any of them at all. She’d handed the Trandoshan a good twenty extra credits than the drink cost, and he would have been smart enough to know why.

She didn’t want any questions or to be bothered. With the extra money, she could sit where she was and simply not be bothered at all. It also meant she could use her sensitive ears and skill in the Force to take in the various hushed conversations within the place...and Soff wouldn’t throw her out like he might someone who didn’t give him a generous tip.

A hard sound on the counter caused Marix to turn and see her ale there. Soff, a big, grey-scaled lized, essentially, simply gave her a nod before tapping the bar with a clawed finger and moving off to server others. He said nothing. She also kept quiet, not even offering a nod of thanks. Now satisfied that she wouldn’t be stabbed in the back, Marix turned around to face the bar, leaned forward and began to take slow sips of her ale while she focused on the sounds around her.

First, she let the Force guide her attention. Anxiety permeated the entire building...that wasn’t a surprise. Most everyone came here to hide out from something. There was fear, anger, hatred...all around in pockets here and there. It wasn’t long before she realized that it was going to take more than just feeling out the place. It was hard to get any information at all when she really didn’t know what she was looking for...so, she turned to her ears.

“I don’t trust that Varith! Slimy little Hutt will vape us in a second if we so much as turn our backs on—“ the voice was hushed but frantic, and it sounded to be in the back of the room.

”Twenty thousand or I walk,” this one was stronger, harder...definitely not human. There was an accent that Marix couldn’t pinpoint but she didn’t bother to turn around and look.

“Kee chai chai cun kuta?,” another was saying, in Huttese, this one more nasally but managing to keep at a quiet level so as not to be picked up by many others. Sadly, it was just idle questioning and nothing of interest.

“I hear they made a good deal...” that was a Corellian accent if she’d ever heard one.

“Hwen dorix bijunize?” someone speaking Bocce. Something about traveling...that was one of the few languages Marix didn’t have a firm grasp on. However, she had enough of a knowledge to pass it off as more idle conversation.

“...haven’t seen them in months. Probably lost to da Vong like da rest,” a quieter voice, but while it was closer to what she was listening for, Marix still passed it by and continued to listen to the mess of conversations around her.

Wait.

Marix quickly filtered through the voices she was hearing and latched onto one from before. It was the Corellian. Gruff sounding...and now quieter, but she could definitely hear it, “With the Vong. Somethin’ about lettin’ em go straight through ‘ere without a fight. Stayin’ neutral.”

There was a second voice nearest to this one, and it was definitely a response. This one was gravely, and it had a certain tone to it that told Marix the speaker’s vocal cords weren’t designed for Basic, “Like thee guud old dayz. But Vong are no Empiire.”

“Hutts are comfy with it, though,” the Corellian responded, “Old Gorla sounded like he got the advantage in the deal, even.”

“And you beeelieeeved hem?”

“Not a bit,” the Corellian lowered his voice, “But they’re sounding pretty smug. Sounds to me like there’s lots of money to be made from Gorla now that he’s playin’ both sides.”

That was all Marix needed.

By now, she’d finished the ale. She looked up to meet the eyes of Soff, who caught the look. Marix gave him a nod of thanks, then, as she placed the empty mug back onto the bar, dropped another pair of cred chips down with it. She then turned, glanced around in a way that anyone would have when leaving a place like Soff’s, and then was out.

She did not, however, walk far. Instead, Marix simply went across the walkway to a small alley, that looked like it had once been a cut-through to shorten pedestrian’s paths but was abandoned years ago, stopped in a sufficiently dark spot and waited, her sense alert and eyes focused on through the grey, misty air on Soff’s.

On the way out, Marix had identified the two speakers. A human and an insectoid Verpine. Now she just had to wait for them to leave, tail whichever one let their guard down first, and see where this trail let her go. Hopefully to this Gorla...though Marix knew she’d get to that Hutt one way or another before she was done digging.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 445: Father and Son Bonding*

Night on Yavin IV could be very dangerous if one wasn’t careful. Even though Tobias had only been on the moon for a short time, he was well aware of the many native creatures. Some of the first lessons in the Force were learning to identify them, both for the practical purposes of honing one’s Force technique and knowing what the local creatures felt like. He was filled with a sense of unease the entire trek through the thick jungle, but kept his ears, eyes, and sense in the Force good and alert...and nothing approached beyond a distance to curiously watch him.

After the surprisingly short trek in the darkness of the moon, with the gas giant of Yavin not visible in the sky above during this night, Tobias stood looking at the Temple from the day before. There was much more of a haunting quality to it in the night air, with the blue-grey mist rising off of the nearby lake doing nothing to help. But he didn’t let this affect him...at least, not much.

He stood in front of the entrance again, that dark corridor that was blacker than black. A part of him felt it would have been a good idea to morph back to his Alraxian body. Not only could he have heard things better that way, but his eyes could see much, much better...especially in the darkness. But Tobias shook that off. He would do this as a human. The darkness was part of the test. Negating that, even though he was not technically human, was too close to running away for him. He came here as a human, and he would stay here that way.

A few deep breaths, and Tobias decided he couldn’t wait any longer. He clenched his fists at his sides, then let out a last breath and relaxed his body and mind as best he could. Then, calmly, he started in. Remembering the place fairly easily, Tobias simply started walking forward in the blackness, unable to see his hand when he put it up in front of his face. Since it rendered him completely blind, he turned to his other senses.

As Marix had taught him, he let his ears focus on his own footsteps. The echo helped to determine what he was walking on and how close the walls were...and, if he was careful enough, if there were side corridors. With his nose, even the weaker human nose, he could pick up a smell that wasn’t the dank disgustingness of the Temple’s interior...a clearer smell might hint at hidden passages or other openings...or dangers. A trick Jyren taught him he also quickly adapted, reaching out to his right side until he found the stone wall. Tobias kept his hand there as he walked, making sure was he going the same direction as best he could.

But most importantly, he opened himself up to the Force. The second he did that, the oppressive, heavy and cold feeling that permeated the Temple bore down on him. At first he had trouble breathing, and had to stop and take time to force himself to keep calm, knowing that it was the strength of the Dark Side, or something like that if there wasn’t actually a Dark Side, that was doing this. After a good half minute, Tobias started walking again.

It took fifty four steps before he felt something different. It was not in the Force, but under his boot. Instead of the usual stone flecks and pebbles, something crushed under his foot and he heard a cracking noise. Tobias stopped and tried to place himself...it didn’t take long. That was where the glowrod had first shattered. That meant he was close to the open chamber.

He started walking again, making sure to count his steps the entire way if only to keep him focused as he had no other markers. With each step, he felt the Force bearing down on him more and more, something prodding at his mind like a predator testing its prey. He did his best to defend against these, but found out it was much harder to do that and keep track of how far he’d walked to get where he was.

Thirty eight steps later and the wall left his hand. Tobias stopped then, moving to his right and feeling that the wall moved out at a sharp angle. He’d found the room...but there was no change in the smell of the place or the light...though he did note his footsteps were sounding slightly different.

Okay. Now the hard part.

There were steps in the room. Small, and only a few from what he remembered, but they led down to the center area where the pillars were. It would be very easy to simply fall down them in this darkness. Not only that, but he’d have to leave the wall and could get easily lost in this place if that happened.

Now it was time to trust the Force.

Doing his best to push through the natural weight of the Temple’s presence in the Force, Tobias opened himself up to it even more to attempt to actually see through it. As he did so, his hand left the wall. The Force tried to tighten the air around him, but he still pushed against it, forcing it to let him see like he knew it could...

His eyes opened, or at least, he was fairly sure they opened, to see a blue-white view of the room. Maybe his eyes were closed. All that mattered was that, while concentrating strongly, Tobias could see. He could see the blurry, somewhat indistinct pillars and the objects on them...three swords in the middle, a single empty pillar there, too, then the other three looked to hold simple, odd-looking pyramid-like objects.

And in front of them all, arms crossed across a large torso and a neutral look on his dangerous features, was Ket Halpak, “You’ve come back.”

The words weren’t spoken. Or, at least, Tobias was almost sure his ears didn’t hear them. He also didn’t see Halpak’s mouth move.

“You’re still dead,” Tobias said back, speaking out loud and part of him still wondering if he was seeing all of this with his eyes or not.

The figure of Ket Halpak shook slightly in what could have been a slight laugh, but Tobias heard nothing. Halpak did not move, and again, neither did his mouth, but Tobias heard him, “I am proud you listened to me, my son. It does not do well for you, a Halpak, to run from a fight.”

“I did not come back here for a fight, Halpak,” the last word was spoken like the curse it really was, “And I came back because a BlueIce does not leave a task undone.”

“Really?” a look of amusement was on Halpak’s face now, though again he wasn’t actually speaking and not even moving really, “BlueIces are political idiots. They are the ones who enslaved us. They disown any children with eyes like ours and enslave them, too.”

It was then that Tobias noted Halpak’s eyes were a sold, slightly-glowing silver that strongly contrasted against the blue-grey tone of everything else he was seeing. But he didn’t let this intimidate him, and shook his head, “They took me in when you threw me out. They let me make my own choices where you enslaved me just as you claim they did to you. Times have changes since you’re death, Halpak.”

Finally, Halpak moved. He took one step forward, unfolded his arms, and pointed a single, accusing finger across the chamber to Tobias, “Do not use your own name as a curse.”

“It is not my name,” Tobias ground the words out as calmly as he could manage considering the situation, “And it is a curse. You were a curse.”

“And you are a disgrace to my legacy!” when Halpak yelled this, Tobias was sure his ears weren’t hearing it because they were the only part of him that didn’t hurt. A shockwave of the Force slammed into him with the words, nearly sending him into the wall however far behind him it was.

But Tobias held his ground, digging his feet in as best one could do with stone under them, and growled back, “Your legacy deserves nothing less!”

And that was it.

“Enough!” Halpak’s yell was as powerful as before, but Tobias had been ready for it and just felt the strong push of it against him, “This was your chance, child. I told you before that I am not as dead as you think. I am very much here, and if you will not accept who you are then you will be dealt with as who you wish to be. Accept your heritage, my son, or I will have no choice but to end my line.”

Tobias took two steps foward, standing at the edge of the steps and actually able to look down at Halpak despite their height difference. He planted his feet again, stood as tall as he could, and spoke firmly, “My father is dead. He died protecting his people, his family...not trying to murder them. He did not betray his people. My father, my real father, is a stronger man than you could have ever hoped to be, Halpak...and he killed you.”

The words echoed through the chamber and then it faded into silence. The silver slits of Ket Halpak’s eyes narrowed as he examined Tobias, and there was a strong sense of probing through the Force...but Tobias fended it off with all of his strength while still focusing on the Force to help his sight.

Slowly, and without a real sound, still, Ket Halpak drew a long, metal blade from his side. He held it in front of him, then looked through its blurry form and straight into Tobias’ very core. The words he ‘spoke’, Tobias only felt.

_So be it, BlueIce._

And then the image took a single step forward before bounding straight for Tobias withe a push of the Force...but the one footstep sent a sudden tremor of fear through Tobias because it was like nothing else. It wasn’t soundless. It didn’t just appear in his mind. He heard it. He heard the echo. It was real.

In the seconds as Ket Halpak dove towards the young human, Tobias realized he could see the figure with his own eyes, and not through the distorted image of the Force.

He was real.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 446: Back to the War*

The war, and it was a true war now, was not going well. For a time, Rulae Nok wondered if it wasn’t just a series of defeats. But now, after a few major defeats, the New Republic government seemed willing to accept the threat was real and not only declare it to be a war, but to actually dedicate the entire might of the military to the effort. For the moment, it was defense after defense, losing planets and falling back...

Through it, Rulae had spent his time working to rebuild his squadron and train the new recruits as best as was possible. But the Vong did not stop to let the Zephyrs catch their breath. It was just a month ago that Ord Mantell came under attack. Since the beginning of the war, the planet had become a place where refugees from lost words had gathered...and then the Vong took it. Rulae had wished he had been there to fight, but it hadn’t been possible.

Instead, he’d been sitting in an officer on Coruscant looking at potential recruits and, even worse, reports. A month since the loss of Ord Mantell and still, the Zephyrs weren’t back together. Rea’tin Lor, who had been Jyren’s wingmate, had not yet returned from wherever it is she had gone to. Rulae had pretty much put her up to it, but he had at least expected some kind of contact but...three months now and no word. The thought that she was dead did not escape him, as with the way things were going in the galaxy, it would not have surprised him.

Those who had remained were doing their best to assist Rulae when he would let them. They weren’t green recruits anymore. They were pilots who had survived three heavy engagements, which was saying something considering the life expectancy of most starfighter pilots. So now they were learning about the possible recruits, and even helping to select some of them.

But that came to and end before they’d managed to get a full roster together. With Ord Mantell lost to the Vong, even more refugees had been displaced. The government of Gyndine decided to accept refugees to assist in the effort of relocating so many millions. And with that, came the fear of the planet being taken by the Vong like Ord Mantell. The already stretched forces of the New Republic military were pushed to their limits even more to protect the planet and its refugees...and someone, somewhere up in Starfighter Command volunteered Rulae to oversee the organization of the defense squadrons that were on the planet.

Which meant that now, Rulae was not at a desk. That was about the only positive thing he could currently come up with.

Gyndine might once have been a beautiful planet, but it was hard to tell now. There were forests, lakes, oceans, and fairly large cities all over, but now it was crowded with millions of refugees displaced by the Vong invasion. He’d arrived two standard days earlier, alone, and wondering if the Zephyrs back on Coruscant could manage to not get dragged around like he had been.

He let out a short sigh before looking out the window he was standing next to. Rulae was on the third level of small building in one of the cities near the planet’s equator. He didn’t remember the name of the place, and, honestly, wasn’t sure if he’d even been told it when the shuttle had taken him down. The fleet hadn’t come with him. The Admiral and his ships were still docked at Fondor, repairing and getting a short rest while technically being a part of the local defense force.

Rulae’s red eyes scanned the streets he could see. Gyndine had been a rather industrial planet from the looks of things, not at all as backwater as some worlds were that weren’t in the Core. It was then that he heard a voice. Looking down, Rulae saw a small crowed gathered in a nearby square, centered around a pair of humanoid figures that were shouting about...something.

It was hard to hear them.

The reports he’d been handed on the shuttle flight down talked about the local population being in a tense state due to the influx of refugees, and from the animated way the two humanoids were going on with, Rulae had a feeling it wasn’t a very positive gathering. The marines that were now on the ground with the other defense forces that had been shifted to sorting out the refugees could probably have dealt with this without trouble...if there were any around. But the planet was so overloaded now that everyone was overworked and overstretched.

A part of him felt like he should do something, but the rest of him knew the reality of the situation. If he went down there, alone and in uniform, and tried to break that up...he’d be killed if he was lucky. That wouldn’t be because he was a Duros, as it would have been back in the Empire’s days, or because he was in uniform, but just because groups like that had a way of turning into angry mobs far too easily. Provoking it wouldn’t help...and so, maybe, that’s why it was left there. Someone was probably watching it...at least, someone else.

A muffled been sounded from the single desk within the small office that he’d been assigned to. Rulae closed his eyes a moment, not wanting to be bothered. But then the beep sounded again and he gave up, opened his eyes, and walked over to the desk. It took a moment to push off the piles of datafilm that were strewn across the desk to reveal the built-in comlink, but when he did clear it, he hit the small switch to its side and said, “This is Commodore Nok.”

“Commodore,” it was a strong, very deep voice that Rulae knew immediately to be Commander Ilkana, the man in charge of Gyndine’s Defense Fleet, “A group of unidentified vessels has just exited hyperspace at the edge of the star system.”

Rulae’s blood went cold. They knew it had been coming. It was logical. But...why they came for refugee planets was just beyond everyone’s comprehension.

“I’ll get the squadrons in the air, sir,” the Duros spoke in his level, official voice.

“Good,” a nod could somehow be heard in the man’s deep voice, even through the comlink, “I need everything we have in orbit in a matter of minutes.”

“Already on it, sir,” and he was. There was another switch on the desk near the comm, it was the building’s general alarm. It was also the general alarm for the hangar, which was connected to this building. The pilots would be hearing it and should be scrambling to their ships immediately.

And then Rulae hesitated. The expression he had on his face couldn’t be read by the Commander, as there was no holo to go along with it. So, uneasily, Rulae realized he had to speak what usually didn’t need to be said, “Sir...if you’ll excuse me.”

“Of course, Commodore,” the deep voice sounded apologetic, which meant the man would have been able to read Rulae’s look if he’d seen it. That was always a good thing for a commander, in Rulae’s eyes. So many didn’t understand things like that. And then Ilkana added something that nearly made the Duros smile, “Good hunting out there, Nok. Ilkana out.”

Then the line went dead.

Rulae stood there for a moment, please to have that kind of man in charge of the defense forces despite the fact that they were now under attack. Then, the alarm seemed to finally get hold of him, and he tapped the desk before grabbing his personal comlink and starting at a run out of his office, through the corridors, and to the nearby hangar where his starfighter was waiting.

All the way, he was reporting what he knew to the commanders of the other squadrons.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 447: Disjointed Trail*

Nar Shaada was practically designed for tailing people without them noticing. The high buildings, narrow walkways, and large amounts of people, along with the speeders providing a distraction via noise and movement made it extremely difficult to keep a focused attention all around oneself.

While an Alraxian would tower over most sentients that were walking the narrow skypaths, a human didn’t. The planet was crowded with humans, Rodians, Trandoshans, Duros, Bothans, Nikto, and a hundred other species...but there were no Alraxians.

Quietly, even in her mind, Marix was glad that her human body wasn’t tall. It meant she was good and hidden while she trailed the Verpine that had left Soff’s tavern. She had gone after the Verpine because he was easier to keep track of...and the Corellian moved much faster, meaning she lost sight of him early on. This Verpine wasn’t tall, but his pair of antennae were enough to let her keep a good eye on him from about twenty meters back.

He was walking slowly, taking his time, through the main skypaths that crossed some of the airspeeder lanes near the upper levels of the city. Here, the air wasn’t as grey or stench-filled as around Soff’s, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t pleasant. This was, roughly, the same level that Halpak’s tower was on...high enough that one could see the tops of the giant buildings and actually see the system’s lone star.

When the Verpine turned to a large building and entered, Marix waited to go in. Instead, she walked past it, then found a back alley and wrapped around to make sure it didn’t look suspicious and to check that she wasn’t being followed. Through the Force, she tried to lock onto the Verpine. He’d been a constant feeling of unease, making it hard to keep up with him in the flood of that emotion that seemed to permeate from Nar Shaada itself.

Five minutes later, she, too, entered the building. It was an apartment complex from the looks of things. The main entranceway was probably once an elegant lobby, but now more of a rundown, faded looking collection of old furniture and Hutt carvings. The hallways branched out into a large circle on both ends, with rooms on either side and a trio of turbolift tubes directly in front of her.

Marix didn’t stop moving, but slowed down. Though there was no one around, she would look suspicious just stopping and staring. So, she let the Force and her natural instincts guide her...and ended up heading right, down the circular corridor. As she walked down the corridor, her eyes scanned the area and she reached out with the Force...and found a familiar feeling. Relatively familiar, at least.

She stopped in front of a small door a good distance from where she’d started walking. It was nondescript, with nothing to identify it beyond a simple number on a box next to the doorway...12. Quickly, she checked herself.

Marix was wearing, over her standard morphsuit, a simple pair of black trousers and a jumper that matched it. She had left Jyren’s old jacket aboard Loki and wished, now, that she’d taken it with her. It had a way of really helping one look a mess. And, right now, if she was going to try looking like she worked for a Hutt, it would have helped...but, hopefully, this would do. After putting on the right expression of neutral anger, she banged on the door hard.

It took a bit, but the box with the number on it made a crackling sound and the odd voice scratched through it, “Wha...whooo is it?”

Marix turned and looked down at the thing, then noticed a small button next to the box. She reached down and pressed it and said in an angry voice, “Gorla sent me.”

Hopefully that was enough. She could only use generic phrases before so long, and it was going to be difficult to reach out to the Verpine and pick his brain for help...something about those insect species’ brains made them impossible for her to make heads or tails of. Not to mention that, if she could see a face, she couldn’t read it one bit. This was going to be purely based on her natural instincts...

The voice returned to the comm panel at the door, “What does heeee wants from me?”

Now time for another guess, and it was going to be pushing things but she knew how most people would react to it and hoped this Verpine would do the same, “Your last payment was short. This is your one chance to fix that.”

This time, there wasn’t a long wait before the Verpine responded, “I paid Gorla double what we first negotiated!” that was, admittedly, a bit loud for what Marix was used to hearing from people being accused by a Hutt agent. She wondered if he even cared about what his neighbors thought...or heard.

“And the account you gave was bogus,” Marix growled, pushing her luck even more and just hoping it would get the right reaction. Just to make sure, she added, “If you don’t open that door I will break that and more.”

There was a pause, then the door slid open. Marix could see a small entrance way that led into a barely-furnished room...and nothing else. Before she walked in, she said, “Step out where I can see you.”

Slowly, the thin, insectoid Verpine stepped out from a place behind a small wall near the far end of the room. There was nothing in his hands, which he was making a point to show. Good. He was afraid.

Keeping aware of everything around her, Marix slowly stepped in and walked towards the Verpine. His two large, alien eyes were watching her carefully, and it was hard to tell exactly how he was reacting beyond the fact that he’d been hiding when the door had opened. She stopped before entering the large, main room he was in, and instead stood in the small hallway where she could see everything around her, “Because Gorla values your services, he does not wish for me to harm you unless you are difficult...do you understand?”

Slowly, the Verpine nodded his oversized head. He didn’t say anything though...another good sign she had the upper hand.

“Now,” she spoke in an almost conversationally dangerous tone that most Hutt thugs liked to use, “Why the account you gave Gorla didn’t clear doesn’t matter to me, so don’t bother with that. I’m here to get the money you owe him. If you don’t have, we will go, together, and get it. So, now, what you need to do is to tell me whether you are going to hand me the credits right now...or if we have to take a walk.”

“I-I...” the high-pitched voice stuttered, then the Verpine waved his long arms, “I have it...”

Thankfully, Marix knew that most Hutt contacts had a way of cheating their bosses. It wasn’t too hard to guess about it and sound truthful to scare them into thinking someone knew something. When the Verpine moved to get something, turning away and heading towards a small desk, Marix called to him, “Move slowly, and if you do anything that makes me nervous I will kill you before you can do a thing.”

The Verpine slowed down. He took a long time to make sure she could see what he was doing, digging through a desk drawer. In a moment, he withdrew a small credit chip. When he turned around, he was still, intelligently, unarmed and slowly walked to her and extended his hand with the chip, “This...this...has iiit all...”

“Thank you,” she reached out, took the credit chip calmly, then, with her other hand, snapped out and grabbed his hand. With a strength helped by the Force, she crushed the small, long-fingered hand with all of her strength, which got a disturbingly high pitched screen from the Verpine.

When he reached out to get her to let go or attack in some way, he got no where. Marix spun him around by his arm, snapped it back behind his spine, which would have broken it if he’d been any other species that wasn’t so flexible, then threw the small-framed alien down to the ground on his face. She was on his back the second he hit, withdrawing a vibroblade from a sheath at the small of her back and carefully placing it up against the long neck of the Verpine...who stopped struggling immediately.

Leaning down slightly to put more of her weight on him, she said quietly, “Thank you for the money. Now you’re going to tell me everything you know about the Hutt dealings with the Vong.”

“Wha...Iii thought you were-“ the protest meant that Marix dug her knee into his small back, getting another screech as his hard exoskeleton was crushed slightly, “Iii know nothings!”

“Lie to me and again and I will kill you,” she snapped, pressing the blade, with its vibration to help cutting actually off, right up to the exoskeleton covering his neck, “That Corellian told you about it!”

At hearing that, the Verpine seemed to give up. He obviously wasn’t a fighter, as he’d not put up a single fight this entire time. She was glad it was going easily. In a defeated voice, the Verpine said, “Theey...make deeeal with Yuuzhan Vongs....Hutts not fight. Hutts stay out of wars...let Vong through to kill New Republic. Vong not fight Hutts...Vong leave Hutts alone and go to Core.”

Marix sighed inwardly. Nothing she hadn’t heard. From the sound and feel of it, that was all he knew. So, another tactic, “Where is your Corellian friend?”

“Iii...don’t knows!” the Verpine struggled against the pain he was having to deal with in addition to the threat to his life, “Harent goes alls over. Never tells meeee whereee. Heee not trust meee enoughs to tells me whereee hees live.”

It sounded truthful. Again, nothing useful. So...one more chance, “Where is this Gorla?”

“Heee’ll kills meee if I tell!”

The Hutt probably would. Especially considering what Marix was going to do when she found him.

But...

“He’ll kill you if he finds out,” Marix stated flatly, “I’ll kill you right now if you don’t tell me.”

A few beeping-like sounds escaped the Verpine that Marix took as a kind of stuttering. After a few of them, Marix dug her knee in deeper to get a long screech which slowly turned into words, “Stop! Iii tells! Gorla...Gorla on Ryloth...”

Ryloth?! The Twi’leks would lose their minds if a Hutt was on their planet. He would be competition right there under this noses, not to mention that the Twi’leks were fully supporting the New Republic during the war...suddenly it made sense why the Verpine had been so hesitant to speak it.

Without another word, she reached down with her free hand and, right after slipping the knife away, slammed the Verpine’s head hard into the ground. He stopped moving.

Marix quickly got to her feet and pocketed the credit chip while putting the knife back in its place and heading out. Now she had another destination on a trail that she wasn’t sure why she was following...or where it was going.

As she left the apartment building and started the long trek back to Loki, she went over it all.

A ship left the Gateway to Mygeeto...the Vong were there with Peace Brigaders, who all seemed to be the kind of people normally found under the Hutts...so then she went to Nar Shaada. After listening around, she found that the Hutts were making deals of neutrality with the Vong...

Did that mean the Hutts and the Peace Brigade were connected?

No.

No...the Peace Brigade seemed to be actively working for the Vong...then what was going on here? She’d followed a trail to protect her people and now was getting caught up in some kind of political mess within this war. And yet...while the obvious thing to do was to duck out and only make sure the trails to the Empire were cut, something told her it was important to keep following this. And if there was one thing Marix had learned over the years, it was to truth her instincts.

Currently, they were telling her that this was very important...and she needed to figure it out as quickly as possible.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 448: Dark to Light*

Immediately, reflexes that Marix had drilled into Tobias from a young age reacted. Despite his body’s best efforts to freeze in place through fear, his reflexes took control and threw him to the side. Tobias rolled across the hard, stone floor of the ancient temple, coming up to a knee and looking up through the darkness. He could not longer hold his concentration to use the Force to see, and so was looking at a pitch blackness...with the faintest image of a figure moving.

There was a glint of metal for a half second through the black and something in the Force screamed at Tobias. He did not resist it, and dropped to the floor in a forward roll. At the end of it, he pushed himself up to his feet...coming into contact with something solid. He hit the object, which felt like the body he expected it to be, a full second before he was close enough to see that it was, in fact, Ket Halpak. The much taller Alraxian was glaring down at him with a look of surprise, and in another second, he was on his back with Tobias on top of him, pinning him down as best he could manage.

To the side, a clang of metal...the sword that Halpak had held as it dropped to the stone and, hopefully, out of reach. It was a struggle to hold an Alraxian adult down, especially for a human, but somehow, Tobias was managing it. His knee was dug into the larger being’s stomach, pushing hard enough that too much movement was likely causing a great deal of pain, making it that much easier for him to hold Halpak’s arms down.

“Finish it,” the words were spoken by Halpak. They were no longer just in Tobias’ head and possibly not real. They echoed in the room. Tobias could feel them...the air that was moved by them...something had happened here important and he’d missed it.

Or had he?

It was then that Tobias finally seemed to hear the words that were spoken rather than the sound, itself. 

Finish it.

Yes.

That was what he came here to do...to finish it.

When Tobias released Halpak’s left arm to put a hand around the man’s throat...he didn’t notice the struggling had stopped. But when he place his hand around the neck of this evil person who should have already been dead...seconds away from letting his hand morph to form long claws that would end his life...Tobias stopped.

He stared down at the face of this man...seeing the biological evidence of his paternity...in the face shape...things he’d seen in a mirror here in front of him, and now, smiling.

And then, slowly, Tobias stood up. He let out a few long, deep breaths, calming himself from a rage that had been building almost out of no where, then looked down into the darkness to where he knew Ket Halpak was, “I don’t have to finish this the way you want me to. My father finished that a decade ago when you were killed. I can do nothing to harm you now...except for this.”

Tobias took a very short moment to get his bearings, then turned, and walked in the darkness to the corridor that would lead to the exit of the temple. He should have been afraid...terrified, even, but he felt...felt...there wasn’t a word for it. Not in Basic or Alraxian.

Admittedly, it took a great deal of effort for the walk to not become a run. There was still a heavy presence bearing down on him in all directions. A sense of danger...distant but watching. Waiting, even.

“Have they taught you nothing?!”

The voice echoed down the corridor at Tobias, or rather, past him. It took a moment for him to realize just how close the words had been. He spun around, looking into the darkness and, of course, not being able to make out anything. But even in the black, his eyes could detect movement. The slight hint of grey that darted across his vision was accompanied by an almost screaming feeling in the Force.

The air moved next to him, but not before Tobias’ reflexes took a hold of him again and he ducked low. The strike came close enough to him that he was able to see, very clearly, a sharp-clawed hand pass over him. Still crouched low, Tobias naturally looked upwards...and saw two bright silver eyes glaring down at him.

The Force screamed in his head again, and Tobias didn’t fight it, finding himself rising up some and stepping to the side as another claw struck at him. But then, to his surprise, something caught him in the back...hard. He cried out in both shock and pain that was cut off when his face hit the stone wall on the other side of the corridor. Tobias’ head felt light and he had a feeling that, if it wasn’t so black around him, his vision had gone blurry, too.

He managed to stumble back a couple of steps as he reeled from the sudden pain. Tobias lost his footing, then hit the ground hard, his head snapping back and adding another sharp pain to it all. Before his head could stop spinning, a large, very powerful hand wrapped around Tobias’ neck and, through the darkness, a face appeared...Halpak’s face...

“Never turn your back on your enemy,” Halpak hissed at Tobias through sharp fangs.

Tobias could feel the hand being tightened around his neck. He couldn’t even cough, but through the pressure, somehow managed to cry out, “You are...not...my...enemy!”

The pressure stopped.

Ket Halpak stared down at Tobias with a look of shock on his features, but he seemed unable to say anything, or even move. Still not moving, either, Tobias found himself speaking anyway, “You...used me...manipulated me...you killed...thousands...but...but you are dead. You...died before I even knew who you were,” slowly, Tobias found that he was having less and less trouble speaking, “No matter what you do...I am not afraid of you.”

And then he was alone.

Tobias lay there, staring up through the darkness as he lay on his back, head still hurting on both ends. For a few minutes, he didn’t move, unsure of...of...everything. But slowly, as he decided he wasn’t in the best place to sit and think, Tobias crawled up to his feet. His head was spinning still, but with a hand on the wall as before, he started the slow walk to the small light at the end of the corridor.

When he finally stepped out of the Temple, the both Yavin and its star were high in the sky above him. He looked up to the huge gas giant and its star, then back down to the jungle and lake in front of him. It was all slightly out of focus and he couldn’t help but notice that none of it was sitting very still, either.

“Tobias.”

For a very short moment, Tobias thought it was Halpak again. But then he managed to identify both the voice and its direction, and slowly turned to see the blurry form of Master Ral standing only a few paces away. But the movement made Tobias’ head spin even more, and he finally lost his balance completely.  He failed at an attempt to catch himself but, by the time he hit the ground, the blood loss had been too much for him and Tobias finally blacked out.


((Well, you guys beat me. I've been working on a series of sketches for all of you who keep reading this...headshots of every single cast member through this story. The plan was to have them done by the time this thread reached 20k views...and...well...you beat me.

So now that you guys were too fast for me, I guess I'll have to work even faster. So far, three pages are sketched, with about 20 people on them so far. Another page is half done, and one is completely finished, even with colour. Soon...I shall post them. Will try to get an order of appearance thing going, but they are a bit random in the groupings.))


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## Angcuru

That sounds great, I'm looking forward to it.


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## DethStryke

Angcuru said:
			
		

> That sounds great, I'm looking forward to it.



/seconded


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Sorry for lack of updates...busy as hell the last couple weeks.

However...I have finished the first four of those cast images I talked about. So, in place of the update that shuold be here...here's four big images(in the spoiler tags because of size AND because a few of these people might not be recognized yet ).

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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 449: Grounded*

The one thing that the Duros native language had the most in common with Basic was the sheer number of curses that it contained. Thousands of years of space travel added onto the older parts of the language only added to such a wide variety of choices when things didn’t go well. When an explosion rocked the corridor that Rulae Nok was charging down to get to the hangar, he decided it was time to utter one of those words...and he picked one that didn’t have any equivalent in Basic, and was definitely far more foul than most.

There was a reason he decided it was a necessary word, even if no one was around to hear it.

The explosion had been nearby, so much so that it had thrown him to the ground. He heard a loud, violent crashing noise and when he looked up, saw that the corridor itself had collapsed in a good five meters ahead of him. Light from Gyndine’s native star was now seeping into the corridor from the large, open hole in the ceiling that was now above a section of very large pieces of duracrete that were blocking the way to the hangar.

Not one to let things get in between him and a starfighter, Rulae got to his feet and ran to the rubble. His first attempt was to dig through it, but it proved to be both too heavy to move most of the pieces and too deep. The sparks from severed wires weren’t terribly comforting, either. So the Duros took the second option, and started to climb the debris to get out instead of turning and going back the way he’d come.

The second he started up, he was able to see the sky above. The grey-blue sky of Gyndine was now littered with hundreds of objects. Rulae could make out the teardrop shapes of Yuuzhan Vong Coralskippers, as well as various other flying-rock-like designs that looked to be larger and gave Rulae a bad feeling. Amongst the Vong ships were everything from TIE Fighters, to X-Wings, to A-Wings, and even a few E-Wings from the looks of it. All of this was ignoring the bright flashes of red-orange molten fire from the Vong ships and the bright lights of the other starfighter’s laser cannons that lit the sky up. And looking even farther up, Rulae could see the shapes of the defense fleet in orbit...the larger ships, at least. The fact that they were in such a tight orbit to be seen with the naked eye was not a comforting feeling to him.

A piece of duracrete moved under his booted foot and Rulae nearly slid down the jagged wall he was trying to climb. When he caught himself, he decided it was best to focus on the task in front of him rather than above him. He took a careful scan of the so-called ‘wall’ again and this time took more time in selecting foot and handholds to scale the few meters to get out of the corridor. It paid off, and in a matter of moments he was up and on top of the building’s roof...

...and looking straight at a huge blaze of fire at the end of the corridor he’d been following. The large building at the end was the hangar, and from the looks of it, had been quickly identified and targeted by the Vong. Despite the flames, though, Coralskippers continued to strafe the building, firing globs of molten something from their nose cannons and causing showers of liquified durasteel and duracete to shoot into the air.

So much for getting to his X-Wing.

For the first time, Rulae’s two red eyes looked down to the chaos he was hearing from that direction. The corridor he had been in was an enclosed bridge, of sorts, between the hangar and the main administration building and it was a good two stories above the ground level. In the street below, Rulae could see a mass of people moving in every direction they could...panicking, obviously.

He cursed again, then felt the roof of the corridor under him start to give way to his weight. Typical. Immediately, he moved closer to the hangar, looking back as the roof where he’d been in also collapsed. The section he was now on would likely go soon, too...the entire structure wasn’t going to last...and not only was Rulae stuck on top of it, but the street below had far too many people and if it fell, it wasn’t going to be pretty.

Thinking quickly, Rulae retrieved a grappling gun from his belt, glad that he was in at least half of his flightsuit, then tried to figure out how exactly he was going to get off of the building and then down before it all collapsed. No elegant solutions came to mind, especially since none of the buildings around him got much higher at all. Most of the solutions he came up with would mean him being splattered against a building’s wall, and that wasn’t exactly ideal. The other option was...was...

...was something that he figured Jyren would have been crazy enough to do.

But there wasn’t much choice left and he knew the corridor wouldn’t hold much longer, not with the hangar still being pounded by Coralskippers and some of the shots getting closer and closer. So with a tight grip on the grappling gun and making sure he wasn’t a complete fool, Rulae took a few steps back.

When he felt the roof giving way under his feet again, Rulae was left with no chioce. He got a quick, running start, then jumped off the corridor. As he jumped, he was spinning himself around while at the same time trying to find a sturdy spot to aim at. Considering he was falling very quickly, there wasn’t time for that...and so he just pulled the trigger and hoped. The cable shot out, digging into the duracrete. In a fraction of a second, the cable went taut and yanked hard on Rulae’s arm, forcing the gun out of his grip and dropping him into a fall.

Thankfully, two stories wasn’t far at all, and he’d taken most of the distance down already...and though it wasn’t his plan to land hard on the ground below, he did manage to tuck into a quick roll and only barrel into a few people in the process. His entire body hurt from hitting the ground, as he had still fallen a good five meters unexpectedly, but Rulae was scrambling to his feet as fast as he could, yelling, “Clear this area, everyone!”

Despite his yelling of this, not many people seemed to get exactly why. And it sure didn’t help that he heard cries from some members of the crowd to not listen to him. But that was about the time the corridor above decided it was enough, and finally crumbled under the pressure of the attacks. Rulae glanced up again, then yelled again for people to move while he, himself, bolted away from where he was and tried to push as many of the currently stunned people with him as possible.

He got a good distance before realizing there had been no loud crash behind him. Rulae stopped and spun around, immediately noticing that there were hundreds of pieces of the corridor just...floating there above the heads of the few stunned people not smart enough to get out of the way.

Rulae’s eyes scanned the area, and quickly say a young looking human with his arms outstretched and a look of concentration on his face. Rulae wasn’t an idiot, and connected the dots quickly...also noting that there were still people in the way.

Against his better judgement, Rulae turned and ran back, grabbing the people still under the now-floating pieces of duracrete and durasteel and moving them out of the way as fast as he could, while yelling at them the whole while to motivate others. In a matter of seconds, they seemed to all come to their senses and were out of the way.

At that, Rulae looked to the Jedi who was now just a few steps in front of him and said, “Its safe now...thank you.”

Before he got any response, the Jedi slowly lowered the pieces of the rubble, then, once it was down, nearly collapsed from what looked like exhaustion. Rulae stepped over to help him, but was pushed away, “I’m all right.”

Even though he was being pushed away, Rulae helped the young man up to his feet again. Once the Jedi was straightened, a renewed strength seemed to take hold of him, and he quickly seemed to notice the rank insignias on Rulae’s uniform, “Shouldn’t you be in the sky?”

“Shouldn’t you be finding another place to make a dramatic entrance?” Rulae asked, a hint of a simle on his large mouth. 

The Jedi chuckled slightly then looked over his shoulder and down the street towards a section of the city that was ablaze just like the hangar was, “I have to go.”

Rulae nodded, reaching for his comlink to figure out where he would be needed now that he was grounded, “May the Force be with you, friend.”

Though the Jedi had already turned to leave, the words stopped him. He looked over his shoulder to Rulae and allowed a smile on his hardened features, “And with you, sir.”

Then he darted off through the crowd of people towards the flames.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 450: Another Planet, Another Seedy Tavern*

“You’re kidding,” Marix shook her head, not able to believe what she’d just heard.

Jyren, standing next to the window he seemed to enjoy looking out of in their rather large room inside the Palace, managed a weak shrug, “I spent most of my time in the Core.”

The look that Marix was directing at him was the same one that she would use if he had told her that he was, in fact, a bantha. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts, but the best she could manage was, “Jedi boy’s never been to Ryloth...”

Catching that tone, Jyren rolled his eyes, “I’m sorry if I wasn’t involved in the seedier aspects of the galaxy.”

“Ansion is seedier and you know it,” she raised a finger at him to stifle any objections on that end. It was odd, she’d been telling him about a planet in the Alraxian Empire that was close to the galactic rim, almost beyond it, in fact. Off hand, she’d just mentioned that it was very similar to Ryloth, and then he’d ruined the moment by actually saying that he’d never been there before.

Marix sighed and looked out the viewport to the dull, brown planet beyond. It only filled a part of the viewport, but it was growing slowly.

[We’ve been cleared to land in Sarazine City.] Loki announced in a rather bored tone. Obviously, he liked it when they had to break in, as it were, rather than being allowed in.

“Lets hope this Hutt isn’t far away from there...” she said idly. The odds weren’t great, as all the underground cities were connected by various tunnel networks that were seemingly endless. It wasn’t hard to hide on Ryloth, honestly.

She closed her eyes again as Loki took them to their destination. Once they were down it was back to business. But until then...until then Marix found herself doing what she always yelled at Jyren for doing. Gripping to the past. After that conversation with Jyren about Ryloth, Marix had told him that the next time they were in the rest of the galaxy she would make sure to drag him to Ryloth and show him just how seedy it was...and maybe try to sell him off...

Marix sighed and opened her eyes again, glaring idly at a black clump of hair that was obstructing her vision for the moment. The Alraxian ideal of celebrating the dead was so much easier when it didn’t feel real...when it was believed. But, despite everything, Marix still couldn’t accept it. That very fact scared her a little, as she knew that was the thought pattern that had driven Jyren crazy for so many years.

But she wasn’t Jyren. There was still a great deal of control within Marix that he never had, and she was able to clamp down on stray thoughts and emotions with relative ease...it was just...sometimes...she just didn’t want to. That was the new element. A wanting. Before it was just done, but after the merge between Shadow and Marix, and after becoming an adult...and then...falling in love...she started to find that it really did cloud her judgement. And now, even without him, it was affecting her strongly...perhaps even more so than before.

With a great deal of work, Marix pushed the stray, distracting thoughts away yet again. She had more important things to deal with now, and getting distracted like she was would likely also get her killed. Or worse.

By now, Loki was skimming the rocky surface of Ryloth’s night side, where it was cold enough to kill an Alraxian in a matter of seconds. Of course, the other side of the planet, which was always facing the system’s star, wasn’t much more habitable, with heats high enough to be dangerous even to an Alraxian that would usually consider a tropical climate ‘a bit chilly’.

Because of these conditions on the surface of the planet, and the heat storms that had a way of scorching the day side, most of the settlements and cities were underground and near the slim temperate zone of Ryloth’s equator. The various mountain ranges of the planet provided adequate space for underground cities, and thousands of years of tunneling by the native Twi’leks also helped out a great deal.

Sarazine was nearer to the surface that some of the cities that were scattered across the planet, and it was situated towards the middle point between the night and day sides. Marix had been there once before, trying to pick up a shipment of spice with Max to sell somewhere else...though she never found out where, as, with most deals on the black market, it went bad fairly quickly when the sellers tried to kill them. Marix and Max had escaped without trouble, but they’d also left without the spice, so it was pretty much a failure.

Loki approached a large, open cavern that had its interior lined with durasteel, an obvious way to announce that there was a settlement below...but Serazine didn’t try to hide, anyway. The cavern’s entrance was huge, enough to fit four Lokis with relative ease. A series of blue lights guided Loki to the docking bay they’d been assigned, and in a matter of moments, he was down within the confines of the rather space hangar.

[We have this birth for two days before they will request another payment.] Loki commented as Marix got to her feet and started towards the hatch. She wasn’t planning on morphing here. Certain parts of Ryloth were rather cosmopolitan due to the amount of smugglers that came in and out of the planet, and Serazine was one of them. A large, feline Alraxian wouldn’t be questioned...especially when she had that blank, deadly stare that she always adopted in places like these.

“If I’m not back in two days something’s wrong...” she paused, then stopped and patted Loki’s interior bulkhead in the corridor she was walking down, “...and considering how demanding the city’s council here is, I’d suggest getting out of here before they try to scrap you,” she grinned, then added, “Not that they’d find much useful.”

[Love you, too.] grumbled Loki as Marix patted him again before opening the hatch and heading out.

As she headed for the closed door that would lead to the rest of the city, Marix began plotting together her next moves. She needed to find the Hutt...who was definitely hiding as the local Twi’leks wouldn’t be happy with competition right under their noses. That also meant that any information on the Hutt wouldn’t be easy to find...and that it was going to mean she was heading to yet another dive in yet another city on yet another planet. Not that she had a problem with run down, dark, muggy, bad-smelling taverns but...well...

As she stepped into the mess that was the underground city of Serazine, with its walkways and buildings coming out of the cave walls in all directions, Marix made a decision. She was going to find Jyren. One way or another. And then, after severely beating him to within an inch of their lives, Marix would demand a vacation and make sure he did all the work.

And if he was really dead...well...she’d just find a way to do all of that anyway.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 451: From the Dark*

The one thing that Tobias most clearly remembered from when he was younger was the stories Jyren would tell him. He would swear none of them were made up or even exaggerated, though that was...questionable. Even when he was a lot younger, Tobias wondered how much was really true. Through all of the stories, there was one constant event. There wasn’t a single one he could remember that didn’t have the words, “And that’s about the time I blacked out...and when I woke up, it was all fuzzy and I wasn’t quite sure where I was for a few minutes.”

It had always seemed strange to Tobias that Jyren had a habit of...well, going unconscious during critical moments. It was just a bit anticlimactic and sometime Toby couldn’t help but wonder if it was put in just because Jyren’s memory was off and he didn’t quite remember it all. That or Jyren wasn’t exactly the best under pressure...or very alert, considering the amount of times things seemed to sneak up on him and catch him off guard.

But as Tobias’ eyes open into a world of fuzzy, confusion, with his head spinning slightly, his first thoughts were that maybe, just maybe, Jyren hadn’t exaggerated that part. It was at least a minute before Toby was able to identify the ceiling above him was a mix of rock and durasteel panels, meaning he wasn’t outside...which wasn’t hard to figure out but considering his mind’s current state of dizziness, the conclusion was an accomplisment.

“Easy, Tobias...” the voice was calm, almost emotionless, and something he recognized but, at the same time, didn’t have the mental capacity going to identify it, “Draw on the Force...but don’t overdo it. Just enough to regain your focus.”

Some part of Tobias managed to make sense of those words and did as he was told, using the little strength he had to call on the Force...to...pull it to him, as it were. Slowly, but surely, his vision began to come into focus, as did his other senses, though when he relinquished his grip on the Force, Tobias felt even more exhausted from the effort.

“Well done,” it was Master Ral, sitting in a small chair next to a small bed that Tobias was on. After a quick glance around, he identified the room as the small infirmary within the Jedi Temple, which he’d only seen in an initial tour of the place just so he knew where it was. The blue-skinned Omwati Jedi then leaned forward in his chair slightly, “What you did was foolish and very dangerous.”

It was then that Tobias experience another constant in Jyren’s stories that always seemed strange to him. He opened his mouth, and no words went with it. Embarrassed, he quickly shut his mouth and tried to find his voice, realizing just how tired he was. A few deep breaths later and Tobias was ready to try defending his actions again, “I needed...to go back...”

“Do you know why?” the way Master Ral asked that was piercing and suddenly Tobias was glad they were the only two in the room.

But the question, despite its ominous tone, was an easy answer, “I...I ran away before...I failed. And I...had to go back.”

“Failure is a part of life, Tobias,” his Omwati Master said in that same tone, “Yes, you failed when you entered that temple the first time, but you failed because you weren’t ready yet. That is not a failure on anyone’s part but my own. But it called to you, didn’t it?”

Tobias was starting to figure out where this was going, and was getting a knotted feeling in his stomach because of it. This time, he only managed a slow nod, unable to lie at this point despite knowing what it probably meant to tell the truth.

Master Ral returned the nod and sat up straight again, “That Temple was built thousands of years ago by a powerful Sith Lord. His essence remained there long after his body was destroyed, tied to the very stones until not long ago. He was defeated by Master Skywalker first students, but the taint of the Dark Side was so strong that even though he is gone forever, that Temple will always carry a weight of Darkness. What called to you was the Dark Side, Tobias...and it spoke to you in exactly what you needed to hear, what you wanted to hear.”

“But I didn’t fail this time! I didn’t even take my lightsaber!” Tobias protested as best he could manage, feeling like he was cornered for doing what he thought was right.

The Jedi Master shook his head, though, “By answering that calling, you gave in to it. You opened yourself to the influence of that Darkness and you walked right into it. You didn’t even give yourself time to learn what your own mistakes were.”

“But I did, Master!” Tobias tried to fight it again. Now, though, Master Ral went quiet and gave Tobias a very careful look. Knowing what that meant already, Toby managed to look at least slightly sheepish before going on, “I had a dream. I saw my...my father. It was years ago and...and I’d asked him about why he was never afraid despite all the things that happened to him. And he explained to me that he was...that...that we couldn’t let our fears consume us. We had to face them, not run from them. And then...” Tobias closed his eyes a moment and said more quietly, “And the next thing I knew I was awake...and I knew what I had to do. I’d run...and...and my fear of what I found in that Temple was still there. I had to go back and face it.”

“Tobias...your father...” he stopped a moment there, obviously hesitating and unsure of whether he should go on. But then, after another moment from an uncertainty that Tobias had never seen in the Jedi Master, he said, “Your father gave you very dangerous advice. Sometimes facing our fears when we aren’t ready is the very way they can consume us.”

“But he was right, Master,” Tobias was doing his best to ignore the fact that his Jedi Master had just said things about Jyren that normally would have made Toby very angry, “I went back and saw the same things as before but...but I stood up to him. I faced him and...and I wasn’t afraid anymore. I didn’t hate him. I didn’t fight him. He tried to...to kill me but...but I don’t...I’m not even sure what I did. I just stopped being afraid and then he was gone.”

The words hung in the air for a few minutes, and Tobias carefully watched the Jedi Master, who’s face showed no hint of emotion. It was obvious the Omwati was thinking, but part of Tobias wondered if he was pausing just to make Toby think, too. It would fit with other things Master Ral had done...and it was working, too.

But, finally, the Jedi Master stood up and spoke, “Rest here for another few hours, Toby. I want you to understand why you succeeded this time. I apologize for my slight at your father, but I still wish for you to be cautious. Fears are driven by the Dark Side and they can consume you in many ways...they are not all the same. However, I am glad that his advice has done you well today, and you have made me proud. When you’re ready, I will be meditating outside. After that...I believe you are ready for the next step of your training.”


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 452: Of Fire*

The skies of Gyndine were in chaos, but it was the ground that had Rulae’s attention for the moment. He’d managed to contact a nearby group of New Republic troops who were holding off a Vong landing party. Rulae had found them by accident, and before he knew it was commanding them...finding that their commanding officer had been taking down before he’d arrived and they were just standing around firing wildly. He may have been a pilot, but he did know at least a bit when it came to ground tactics.

“Tell me you have some charges,” Rulae snapped to the nearest of the ten troopers while he held behind the cover as he jammed a new power pack into his blaster pistol.

The trooper ducked down behind a pair of heavy crates he was using for cover as two loud thuds hit it...thud bugs, the Vong equivalent of blasters but simply thrown little bugs that were much nastier than anything a blaster could do. The trooper was humanoid, but grey-skinned and with an odd ridge on his forehead that the helmet he wore half-covered...it took a moment for Rulae to realize he was a Chev, and he was surprised to see any of them off their home planet at all. They’d been slaves to a completely non-humanoid race for so long that it was still rare to see them around.

“Only one, sir,” his accent was also nearly impossible to catch. This one had learned Basic very well.

Rulae nodded, then risked a glance over his cover.

There were only a few seconds to scan the area, but what he managed to take in was, generally, the same scene that had been in front of him for the last ten minutes. There was a large, open courtyard from what had been a rather nice building that was now a heap of flames and rubble. The Vong landing craft was in the center of it all, looking more like a somewhat oval-shaped rock, with a giant hatch lazily opened at the back in an almost random carved shape. Out of it, the warrior had poured...at least thirty at first, but Rulae and the troopers he’d run into had found good positioning, covering the only exit to the courtyard and holding the Vong in. With crates hastily thrown down into a makeshift wall, the soldiers lined them, staying low under and firing their rifles when and if a warrior got close.

Rulae counted five Vong left standing.

Thermal detonators were all gone, but on their lower setting had caused most of the destruction in the courtyard...and to the Vong. But now they were out and it looked like all they had left were a few more power packs for their blasters and a handful of charges...but that would at least take the ship out.

He raised his voice so that all the other troopers could hear him over the firefight in front of them and above them, “Time to push back at them. Pairs on each end start laying down some covering fire...the rest of us are heading in,” he then lowered his voice and reached a hand out to the young Chev next to him, “Hand me that charge.”

The trooper handed it over hesitantly, and by now all of the others were staring at him. Well, all but the four on either side who had taken the orders seriously and were currently unleashing as much blaster fire as their rifles could manage without overheating the power packs. Shifting the charge into his left hand, Rulae gripped his blaster pistol and look to the rest of the troopers.

After a short moment to steel himself, he got to his feet over the cover, “Move!”

The other troopers were up in that second, and Rulae led the push, blaster pistol ablaze, straight for the Von’g landing craft. Two of the Vong were out in the open, huge, tattooed and scarred, they let loose a battle cry and went straight for the advancing soldiers, but were quickly cut down by the blaster fire.

The others remained behind their cover, tossing those damned thud bugs. To Rulae’s side, one of the troopers took a thud bug to the face, going straight under his helmet and sending him sprawling to the ground without anything more than a grunt. But the blaster fire was heavy enough to pin the Vong down for the few seconds that were necessary, and suddenly Rulae had his back to the strange material that made up the Vong’s landing craft. The three troopers were on the other side, still hurling their weapons when they could while the remaining troopers caught up to Rulae or continued to hold the Vong down.

Rulae turned and shoved the charge hard onto the ship’s hull, noting that it stuck to the thing just like it would a metal bulkhead, then got the timer set. Two other troopers caught on and attached a charge to other parts of the ship, and when it was set, Rulae didn’t need to tell them to move.

The advance quickly turned into a retreat, and though the four troopers still providing cover did their best, the Vong manage more hits...not to mention that one had come around on the opposite side of the ship and was chopping through the troops with the sharp end of his amphistaff. A volley of blaster fire from a nearby trooper took the Vong down, but by now it was getting too late.

Rulae and the main group of troopers had made it back to their cover, diving behind it and ducking low. A few seconds passed and then the charges went off. They were so close that the heat from the detonations was enough to scorch some of the uniforms, not to mention the crates they’d been using for cover. Yorik coral fragments from the ship rained down, as did duracrete and various unidentifiable pieces of both Vong soldiers and the unlucky New Republic soldiers that hadn’t gotten to the cover fast enough.

After a few seconds, and with his hearing slowly returning, Rulae sat up and got a careful look at what had once been a courtyard. The charges had definitely done their job. The entire area was a black mess of...everything. It was not a pretty site, and so Rulae quickly turned to check on the remaining troopers. Most had cuts and bruises, but of the six that were left alive, the worst wound looked to be some minor burns on a young human who hadn’t ducked down early enough. His face was a bit burnt, but he somehow didn’t seem to notice.

And by now, all eyes were on Rulae. He didn’t outwardly sigh, knowing the affect that would have and not wanting to bring the kids down at all. They weren’t his troops, but they had found an officer and latched onto him...and he had just led them to a minor victory. His place may have been in the sky, but that didn’t seem to matter to Rulae anymore. He was needed on the ground now, and this battle wasn’t over thanks to one minor success.

Remembering the short report he’d gotten through his comlink before finding these troops had told him, Rulae got to his feet and motioned for the others to follow. He purposely spoke in a yell, barely able to hear himself and figuring the others were in the same shape, “South end of the city’s got the most of the Vong attacks. They’ll need us there so lets get moving.”

That got a series of nods, and it wasn’t long at all before the seven of them were back on the main streets, running to through the still thick crowds of panicked citizens and watching for more Vong on the way. But they only got two blocks before a loud, alien roar ripped through the sky.

“That can’t be good,” one of the troopers, a grey skinned Twi’lek, shook his head and looked to Rulae for an answer.

Before Rulae could even guess what the source of that noise had been, a jet of flame shot across the sky just above the buildings a block ahead of them. This was followed by another roar, and through the arcing flames that were engulfing the nearby buildings, a huge, bulbous walking shape could be seen.

It was the Chev that asked a question most of them were thinking, “So they have fire breathing monsters now...when did anyone plan to tell us that had fire breathing monsters?”

“Apparently now, Raek,” the Twi’lek mumbled.

Rulae stared at the thing for a long moment, watching another jet of flame shoot from the creature’s mouth...which was a good distance up in the sky. The thing was about the size of an AT-AT walker...and breathing fire. He was starting to wonder how things could get any crazier. He was also starting to wonder how bad of an idea it was to just be standing in what looked to be the creature’s path.

“We need to bring that thing down,” Rulae finally said, giving the troopers a serious look, “Or at least get it out of the city. We’ll have to worry about the fires later,” he then turned and found a good back alley that looked like it would take them to another large street much closer to the creature and started for it, “Lets move!”

“But sir!” it was a human this time, the one who’d gotten his face burned from the explosion earlier, “How are we going to take that thing down?”

Rulae looked over his shoulder to the kid for a moment but didn’t stop running, “We’ll figure that out on the way.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 453: Tracking*

It didn’t take long before Marix remembered why she hated Ryloth. The cities, being underground within caves, no matter how big, still gave her a very claustrophobic feeling. That was, in itself, a curiosity to her, as she never felt like that anywhere else. It was something about the way the buildings came out of the walls and just...enclosed the entire limited area that were the streets and other walkways. Marix had spent a good hour scouring the city’s lower sections where, as on most planets, the scum usually gathered. It wasn’t hard to listen in and find out information on ‘some Hutt down in the lowest levels of the caves’.

But Marix hadn’t left the tavern she’d gotten the information from yet. Something was bothering her. A feeling. Distant but...still close. Small, rather. It made her feel like something was doing its best to hide. Maybe not from her, but from something. The chance that it was hiding from her, though, meant that Marix was suddenly reviewing the area around her again.

She was sitting at a small, for an Alraxian, table towards the side wall in a tavern that wasn’t small, but at the same time managed to feel cramped and enclosed. That was probably due to the low ceiling. The lighting was also like most places that were shady and hidden away in the lower sections of cities...dark. It made Marix glad she had remained in her Alraxian body, as she could see just fine and was able to keep an eye on the mostly Twi’lek clientele. It would likely even be dark for the Twi’leks within, also making her glad that she’d not gone in that form...which was ruled out for other reasons, mostly the way that Twi’lek females were treated. 

Among the Twi’leks, Marix spotted six humans, two Trandoshans, four armoured figured who’s gender and species were unable to be determined, save for the single Ubese. It was a much less diverse crowd than she was used to seeing in places like this, but that wasn’t surprising on Ryloth. Her mind was wandering, though, and so she quickly brought it back into focus on that odd feeling. She brought it into focus, or rather, tried to...but couldn’t. Not only was it small but it was hard to pinpoint, slippery. As if it was...

Marix’s eyes latched onto a moving figure immedaitely. It was one of the humans, a woman from the look of the figure, though she was facing the other way and leaving. She had blonde hair that was pulled back in a way that reminded Marix of Jen, which made her start to put names to who it might be. But still, Marix waited for the woman to leave the tavern before getting up and leaving...or rather, following.

When Marix exited the tavern she was back in the lower sections of the city. Above her, were walkways carved from rock and lined with durasteel and duracrete, while above them small speeder paths to traverse the city that, since it couldn’t build up, was built outwards. She was down on the ground level, or rather, the lowest level, which was well below the ground and deep within the cave systems that netted Ryloth’s interior. Being taller than most Twi’leks, Marix had no trouble looking over their heads to spot the moving, blonde haired figure that she’d decided to follow. The feeling off oddness through the Force was definitely moving with her...

Calmly, and not walking at a fast pace at all, Marix started after the figure, who didn’t seem to have noticed she was being followed. Nevertheless, Marix did what she always did in situations where she was tailing someone...she drew her presence in the Force within as much as she could, and let her other senses pick up the slack. Currently, it was her eyes and ears doing the work. She did her best to filter out the noises of the bustling city to hear exactly what she needed to, while her eyes kept on her target. Sadly, the Alraxian sense of smell was strong, but not nearly good enough to track with it...at least, not in an environment as enclosed as this city was.

After five minutes, Marix’s target ducked between a pair of larger, more crudely crafted buildings. These, like most near this bottom level of the city, looked to be more rock than synthetic materials...and were more carved than built.  Obviously, it wasn’t the rich that lived down here. Marix reached the tight alley between the buildings and looked down it to see no sign of the human. She did see, however, a small access hatch against the rock wall at the opposite end. That made things obvious enough, at least.

Keeping up the air that she owned the place, Marix casually walked over and knelt in front of the hatch. It was Twi’lek sized, and would be a tight fit. The panel next to it had a small key pad written in the native language, Ryl, and a series of five unlit panels that looked to be different security code levels. With none being lit, Marix assumed that the hatch wasn’t locked.

She hit a small button at the bottom of the panel that didn’t have any symbols on it, and the hatch hissed open to reveal a ladder that led down into darkness. The lower tunnels. Apparently, they connected most of the cities on the planet and were used, officially, for safe transport during heat storms on the surface. Of course, they got more use from the smugglers and other illegal merchants that pocketed the planet. It was going to be a squeeze, too, but Marix figured she could make it fine. Mostly.

After a careful look down, seeing nothing, she turned and grabbed the ladder to start the long climb down. Once she was in, she found an interior panel exactly the same as the one outside and hit the same switch.

The hatch hissed closed, and she was consumed by darkness. To her annoyance, Marix’s eyes did not adjust to the lack of light...which meant there was no light at all. She couldn’t see a thing. But...

Twisting her head, Marix looked in the direction she assumed was down. There was a faint hint of light down there. Good. Why they didn’t light the access tube, though...

Marix put the annoyances aside and climbed down as quickly and quietly as she could. She’d have simply jumped, and would have been fine, except for the noise it would have made. It was hard to tell how close she was to her target, and any clues to a pursuer was always a bad idea. Patience was more important...and Marix had a great deal of patience. Most of the time. When she wanted to.

When she reached the bottom, Marix turned to see the large, open tubes that would, on most worlds, be sewers. Thankfully, though, there was no gunk and sewage in the tubes. Instead, there were lights that lined the bottom and top of the tubes and showed that they went in both directions. Now came the hard part...in the dim light, she couldn’t see too far either way, and couldn’t tell where the human had gone. At least she was probably getting closer to the Hutt along with tracking this odd feeling instead of getting detoured. 

Her ears suddenly picked up on a sound of movement behind her, seconds before the Force alerted her to an attack.

Marix spun around at the same time she heard a very familiar snap-hiss. Her claws extended at the same moment of the sound, and she stopped herself when she saw who the person was holding the green lightsaber and standing behind her...and had stopped the blade in mid-swing.

“You!” the Jedi Knight, Venda, exclaimed in surprise.

Lucky for the Jedi, Marix had similar restraint and didn’t use the opening to tear out the blonde-woman’s insides, “I thought it was you.”

The Jedi lowered her lightsaber, but didn’t deactivate it and instead gave Marix a curious look, “You were the one following me?”

Marix also assumed a more casual stance, though her claws did not retract, “You were hiding from me. Why?”

“I thought it was one of the Hutt’s people...”

“Chuba!” a thick, very angry voice echoed down the corridor, “Kee hasa do punyoo!”

Both Marix and Venda spun to see a group of six...two Twi’leks and four Trandoshans, pointed very large blaster rifles at them. Marix shifted a glance towards the Jedi woman, “I think they were following you.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 454: Change of Heart*

There was a lot to be said about Marix BlueIce for the simple fact that her cousin, Kato Ka’BlueIce, was still alive. Even in a society like the Alraxian Empire, which was generally weaponless and not at all militant, what she and Faban Sunrunner had done years before would have easily warranted their deaths. Faban Sunrunner was in exile, with his clan on the other side of Alraxia, and constantly watched by a well armed contingent of Knights.

Kato, though, had remained in the Palace. She couldn’t help but think that she was alive still simply because it would cause more pain and anger than simply having killed her years before. Knowing Marix like Kato did...that wouldn’t have surprised her at all. The damned woman didn’t deserve anything she had...not her life, her position as Empress, and especially not her mate. Of course, Jyren was also just as angering to Kato, though she still felt strangely drawn to him...likely due to the temporary and weak link they had shared for a short time.

But what was the most infuriating of it all was those damned noises! She could hear them now, outside her window and down in one of the Palace’s many courtyards. She’d heard it for years in various forms...and it had only gotten worse.

It was laughing...the children laughing. Those two little jai who looked just like their parents and seemed to be everywhere in the Palace that Kato turned as a constant reminder! Kato didn’t hate the children...their parentage was not their fault, but she hated that they were always there. Always so...so damned happy! They were silver-eyed freaks just like their mother and shouldn’t have been anywhere near any of them...and yet...and yet somehow that didn’t matter to anyone anymore! The Tam’Day’U were all over the Palace now! They were the guards, even! Killers as guards!! As the Empress! Her children!

Kato growled and resisted the urge to kick the wall.

[Thank you.] the Palace, which was, as always, bored with the usual dutires of being...well...the Palace, was obviously paying attention to her.

But the violet-haired Alraxian woman just waved her hand at the wall and sat back on her bed. There would be four guards outside. There always were. And, of course, they all had the silver eyes. That was obviously on purpose. The only place she could be alone was in this small room that had been her’s for as long as she could remember. She didn’t get a new room with more space...but she didn’t need one. She was alone, and likely would remain that way for the rest of her life. Attempting to steal another Alraxian’s mate was a very scandalous act, and the fact that it had been a very popular soon-to-be Emperor that had been Kato’s target...well...not many in the Palace gave her anymore than a scowl even a decade later. That is, if they bothered to look at her.

But now...now something was bothering her more than the sounds of two happy children. In the pocket of the loose-fitting tunic she currently wore, was a small note she’d received not an hour earlier. It was on a kind of film-paper used by the Jendari, but the writing was Alraxian. It was a message that she didn’t want. It was a message from someone she didn’t ever want anything to do with again. And yet...somehow it brought a distant hope back. A hope that she could return to a position of at least slight respect...but...

But it was something like she’d seen before. Perhaps that was why it was so...unnerving. Times were changing, she knew that much. But they weren’t changing the way some wanted them to, or the way anyone expected. Truthfully, this was exactly the climate that would have been needed for it to work years ago. But that was...long ago. Kato, despite any other delusions, knew that this wasn’t possible anymore. The chance was gone. And yet...

Kato sighed.

She had two options. One was using the frequency that was written on that note and doing as it was asked. Well, not asked. Told. That was another problem. He always talked like he was in charge and yet he never did anything right. He needed her more than she needed him, especially now...and he was still a bastard. It was his fault it all went wrong in the first place. He wouldn’t just kill her. Noooo. That was too easy. Besides, she was too ‘important’ to just kill! Idiot.

Of course, Kato’s other option was equally annoying. She could give the note to someone who could do something about it. She could rat that manipulative little animal out. She could get revenge on him instead of trying to get it on Marix a second time. She could also, possibly, redeem herself at least a small amount and not be guarded every hour of every day. But...

* * * *​ 
Navik Keros was enjoying another day with his grandchildren. Nights were difficult. Neither wanted to go to sleep, hoping for their mother or, worse, their father to tell them a story before they went to bed. It had even reached the point of asking for Tobias. Not to mention that they seemed to both wake up a great many times in the night wailing at the top of their little lungs. Their strength in the Force didn’t help, as it usually meant things were broken, too.

But days...during the day, all of that seemed to go away. Saaran and Andrea became the happy little children that they always were, playing with anything and anyone. Due to the fact that they’d been in Blackflame territory at his home for a few weeks, they were enjoying the Palace as if it was a brand new place again. The Palace, too, seemed to be enjoying the attention, shifting the outside walls in the courtyard into different shapes for the two little jai to jump around on and climb.

Navik sat under one of the large trees that was in the courtyard, smiling as he watched the two jumping and clawing their way up the random shapes the Palace was providing for them. They looked to be playing an intricate game of tag, but was slowly developing into ‘I can grab your tail before you grab mine’, and that meant he’d have to step in soon and put a stop to it before someone starting screaming. Usually it was Saaran, but that was because Andrea was...well...sneaky. Navik assumed she got that from her mother.

“Um...excuse me...”

The voice from behind him sounded both female and very timid. When Navik turned his head to see who it was, he was shocked at the latter observation. It was Kato Ka’BlueIce, who he knew only through the stories that Marix and Jyren had told him, none of which were positive. She was standing a couple of meters behind the tree, hands behind her back and shuffling her feet in the grass. Unlike the usual descriptions of her, she was not wearing a flowing dress or with a haughty expression on her face, nor was her hair in some odd, supposedly beautiful style. The latter part was Jyren’s addition in the description of her.

Instead, she wore a simple looking, loose green and blue tunic with a matching pair of trousers. Her violet hair simply hung behind her in no real style at all, and her tail was down, hovering just above the grass. But it was the look on her face that caught his attention...well, that and the four guards standing right behind her, all armed and watching her. She looked as the voice had sounded...timid...nervous, even.

Slowly, and with a slight groan, Navik managed to get to his feet. He gave another glance to the twins behind him, decided they’d survive without his eyes on them for a bit, and then turned back to Kato, “Yes?”

With great care, Kato reached into her pocket and retrieved an object. She did it slowly because the guards were watching for any sudden moves, and looked ready to simply kill her right there if she tried anything against the children or their current guardian. But what she retrieved was a small piece of film-paper and she handed it to Navik.

He raised an eyebrow, but took it and unfolded it a couple of times to the point where it was readable. It only took a moment before his eyes went wide and he looked back to her, “Who sent this?”

“Faban Sunrunner,” her answer was short, precise, and in the tone of voice that made it sound like it took a great deal of work to say it.

Biting his lower lip, Navik glanced at the note again, then realized there was an important question, “Why are you giving this to me?”

Kato had not yet worked this out. She’d spent the entire walk down to their courtyard trying to understand why she was doing it. Every time her answer was something about lessening the guards on her, getting back at least a little trust with her people, or something similar...but all of that felt...wrong. For some reason she didn’t want to lie because she truly wanted to know why.

And now, truly confronted with the question, she found herself speaking before the answer right away.

“Because it is the right thing to do.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 455: I am...*

Tobias looked out across the forest that covered Yavin IV. The usual look of the moon was now covered by a thick haze of rain, drenching everything below. Tobias was included in this, having been out in the jungle with Master Ral for a good hour before the rain had started. Now they were in the large clearing outside the Great Temple which was now covered in mud and underbrush rather than the usual dirt...and Toby felt like he was carrying two extra people with every step. His clothes were definitely not designed for the rain.

“Stand up straight, Tobias!” the Jedi Master, also drenched but seeming not to notice it, had to practically yell to be heard through the torrent.

Grudgingly, and with a bit of a growl under his breath, or at least, as much as a human could growl, Tobias stood up against the weight of his clothes and looked to his blue-skinned Master. The rain actually made it hard to see, despite the fact that Master Ral was only a few meters away. That was the point really...to limit his vision. It didn’t help that he was already tired from earlier exercises during the day, but that seemed to only encourage Master Ral’s sadistic enjoyment in watching Tobias reach new levels of exhaustion.

And then there was movement.

Tobias didn’t see it. He couldn’t see it. But he did both hear it and feel it through the Force. Left. Up high...arcing towards his head.

Quickly, Toby raised his left arm in a defensive position. A second later, he yelped as a sharp pain wracked through his arm. The object had to have been moving nearly as fast as a blaster bolt and was large, heavy, and, from the feel of it, very solid.

There was a thud a moment later that Toby could barely hear, though he felt the ground shift near his foot. He clenched his teeth to hold back another noise of pain when he moved his arm, then instinctively reached over to hold the injured limb...somehow managing not to remorph it.

Master Ral took a few steps towards him, close enough to be clearer in the rain, and let out a sigh, “Tobias, you were supposed to dodge that.”

A whimper escaped him this time, and it was because Tobias managed a shrug and it sent a shock of pain down his arm again. But he didn’t say anything, and it became obvious quickly that Master Ral was detecting something he’d been looking for. Without another word, himself, the Omwati placed a hand on his young apprentices shoulder and led him into the hangar bay.

Within the bay was the usual collection of various ships. All of them were off to the sides, leaving the open center section for training and, of course, room for the ships to arrive and depart through. Currently, with the weather as it was, many of the Masters were using the area for some of the more basic training for the younger students. This kind of rain was a bit difficult to deal with for the children, usually, and could easily get in the way of some of the early lessons.

Once out of the rain, Master Ral turned and gave Tobias a serious look, “Why did you raise your arm rather than avoid the object, Tobias? You knew it was coming...and you should have sensed the danger it possessed.”

“I...” Tobias shook his head, still clutching his injured arm gently, “I don’t really know. I just reacted.”

“You have reacted that way more than once,” the Jedi Master’s eyes narrowed. It wasn’t menacing, but what Tobias had learned occurred when he was thinking hard about something, “It is...dangerous. You seem to have no concern at all for your own personal safety. I can feel it from you. The Force does not make you invincible, Tobias.”

“Its not that...” Tobias mumbled, realizing he was being caught in a situation that Marix would probably know how to get out of. But he didn’t. Well...no...he did, but she’d kill him, probably.

Then again, she hadn’t killed him when he’d asked to come here in the first place, and that said a great deal. So...maybe...

“I cannot continue this training if you continue this way,” Master Ral was still going on, having taken Toby’s mumbling as idle defensive statements that most people made when confronted with an ugly truth, “I have known many young apprentices, Tobias. I have seen many nearly killed because they think the Force means nothing can hurt them. That they can simply do anything without worrying about the consequences. The Dark Side is a danger in that, yes, but not as much as the prospect of getting yourself killed.”

“No,” this time, Tobias’ voice was less defensive and stronger. That was because he’d come to a decision. Motioning to the lift tubes at the other end of the hangar, he asked, “There is something I need to show you...is there as...uh...place without so many people around?”

Through the Force, Tobias could easily detect his Master’s curiosity, though it was mixed with a strong concern. Despite this, though, Master Ral nodded and led the way. It was an awkward silence as he led the way, and to Tobias’ disappointment, he didn’t dry off during the process at all. Instead, they both left a good long trail of water from the hangar, to the turbolift, and then to a small, empty training room that was usually used for sparring from the looks of the mats that were everywhere.

Once the door slid shut, the Omwati Jedi turned to face his apprentice again, “You are terrified, Tobias. Why?”

He let out a long, deep breath to try to calm himself. 

Why?

Because Marix could do worse things that kill him.

Of course, he couldn’t say that, but...he could say...

“I have kept this to myself for a reason, Master.”

“And why do you suddenly feel that this should be shared...whatever this is?”

“Because...” he trailed off, went over a thousand reasons in his head, then came up with one that seemed reasonable enough, “Because you are my Master. I should not keep things from you...especially when you are questioning my...my...well...me. Like that.”

When Master Ral did nothing but simply stand there, a blank expression on his face and his presence in the Force remaining the same as it had before, Tobias decided that continuing to explain things over and over wouldn’t do any good. So, very carefully so as to avoid more of those painful shocks, he removed the jacket that, for some reason, he continued to wear on this planet. It probably had something to do with Jyren...or at least, Marix had once commented about his idiocy in wearing heavy clothes on scorching hot planets.

Once it was off, he dropped the drenched piece of clothing to the mat at his feet and then rolled up the sleeve on the shirt he wore under it. It revealed that his arm had been not only bruised, but very well broken by the impact. The bone was bent at such an angle that the damage was disturbingly obvious. Tobias just tried to ignore this, holding the arm up as best he could for his Master to see...then closed his eyes, and let his body remorph the arm.

Soon, only the shadow of a pain was left in his arm.

For a few moments, Master Ral simply continued to watch him. Eventually, though, still showing no signs of what he was thinking, the Jedi stated, “That was not the Force.”

Tobias shook his head slowly, “No, it wasn’t.”

“You are a Changeling.”

“No,” he shook his head, then realized that the term didn’t really apply to just one species as he’d thought immediately, then corrected himself, “Well...yes.”

When his Master’s expression turned into a more curious one, Tobias realized he might have made a misstep and tried yet again, “Actually...no. I mean...not...really. Sort of,” he sighed and looked at the floor, “Its...not...that. I...”

Sensing, easily, that Tobias was having trouble here, Master Ral raised up a hand slightly to stop him, “Please, Tobias, calm yourself. I know that many are distrustful of Changelings and fear them...but I am not. Especially not one who has proven himself with me as you have.”

“But I’m not a Changeling,” Tobias was finally starting to sort out how to do this. He did his best to remember the stories Marix had told him to keep safe out here. Changelings were a reptilian species that most of the galaxy considered to be lying thieves...for good reason, as they mostly were. Using their shape changing abilities to get what they wanted no matter what.

“I am...” he started to say ‘Alraxian’, but realized the name would mean nothing to his Master. Instead, he decided he might as well just get it all over with. No point hiding any of it anymore. So, slowly, as he wasn’t exactly an expert at it, Tobias returned to his ‘natural’ form. He remained the same height, but a few muscles became apparent that humans didn’t have, especially near the arms. While his face remained mostly the same, it took on the subtle changes that shifted it to Alraxian, and his eyes returned to their natural silvery-green colour. Two large ears appeared through a dark blue streak of hair that cut through the black and, uncomfortably, his tail returned to a pair of trousers that were never designed with tails in mind.

Once it was done, Tobias shuffled his feet, managed to look a bit more sheepish somehow, and mumble, “I am an Alraxian.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 456: Ground Assault*

“Is anyone else offended that its just ignoring us?!” one of the troopers with Rulae yelled as he jammed a new power pack into his blaster rifle.

“Not at all,” another of them responded. It was the grey skinned Twi’lek and he had also been the first to stop firing his rifle at the huge, walking, firebreathing...thing that was going right past them. They’d been firing since it was a block away, having made it up on the roof of one of the smaller houses that populated this edge of the city on Gyndine.

Its bulbous form on spindly legs that didn’t seem capable of holding it up simply went past them, a mouth-like protrusion tilting to one side and sending a jet of liquid flame to consume another series of buildings in front of it. This one fire breather was causing enough problems for them, but to make matters worse, once he’d gotten onto the roof, Rulae had spotted at least three others in different parts of the city.

On the bright side, the coralskippers had been pushed back into orbit with the rest of that end of the fight.

Rulae lowered his own rifle, realizing, too, that their blaster bolts weren’t doing any damage to the creature. Instead, he reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved his comlink. Quickly switching it to one of the encrypted frequencies being used by the ground forces, he ignored the other voices coming through it already and hit the activation switch, “Has anyone figured out a way to take down these damned fire breathers?!”

So it wasn’t a usual military-style communication. But, at this point, Rulae didn’t care. These creatures were burning the entire city without anything in their way and they needed to be stopped immediately. So, though the blaster fire, general sounds of chaos, and the roars of the giant creature that was moving past away from them now, he tried to listen through the comm chatter.

From the sounds of things, it was bad all over. The north side of the city had two of the creatures working together and the fires had consumed all but a few buildings near the edge of the city, itself. The number of dead was unknown, but considering that many civilians had been evacuated to that end of the city...well...it was probably something that was best not to think about.

And then a voice cut off the others. It was hard to hear thanks to interference, but the speaker’s Corellian accent was still easy to catch, “This is Mobile Artillery Platform 325R. We’ve taken down two of the fire breathers that were burning the forests not far from your position and we’re moving as fast as we can.”

Once it cut off, another voice came through on the channel. The voice sounded gruff but thankful at the same time, “Is there anything we can do to help you out?”

“Contain the creatures if you can,” the Corellian spoke again, and now, off in the distance, Rulae could spot the large, round-shaped object that had to be the artillery, “If you can’t do anything about them just do what you can to get the civilians to the east. There are several transports on the ground waiting to get as many off as they can.”

And then the chatter returned to the comm channel. Rulae pocketed the comlink again and then called out, “Shoulder the weapons, boys, we’re heading east.”

“But, sir—“

One of the troopers started to protest, but was cut off by a loud, powerful sound that they all knew very well. Turbolaser blasts had a very distinct sound in any atmosphere, and their heads all spun to see a pair of green bolts arc from the distant, flying platform until they slammed into the large, fire breathing creature. There was an alien screech and pieces of the creature flew in all directions as its huge body fell to the ground, taking out a series of structures with it.

In the silence that followed, Rulae spoke up again, “They’re under control. Now, lets get moving. The transports that brought our new friend down here are waiting to on civilians. Its our job to get as many as we can there.”

As the artillery platform began to move to its next target, Rulae and the troopers he’d ended up commanding made their way through the mostly-ransacked residential building and back out to the street. Pockets of fires were abound through the street, but as bad as it was on the other end of the street where the fire breather had seemed to concentrate most of its efforts. The people on the streets were in the same state as before, panicked, and so it took a great deal of yelling from all of the troopers to calm them down enough to hear that there were ships ready to take them off-planet. With this information, the civilians started listening, and seemed perfectly fine to follow the relatively small group of soldiers.

It wasn’t long before they had a good forty or so civilians of various species following them. Despite a few injured within the group, they managed to keep a fast pace heading out of the city. What worried Rulae, though, was the lack of any Vong on the way. He had seen the transports, and they’d only encountered that first one. For an invasion, it was far too light.

Of course, as things normally seemed to go in the galaxy, Rulae was quickly shown that he probably should have just kept his thoughts on anything else.

“Sir!” the Twi’lek trooper called out at the same time they all heard the distinctive buzzing sound of a Yuuzhan Vong’s thrown thud bug. A half second later, there was a yelp of pain from another of the troopers as it hit him square in the neck, sending him to the ground with a disturbing and gruesome end.

“Everyone get cover now!” Rulae called to the group behind, pushing nearby civilians to small alleys and other areas out of the way of the open street. Coming around the corner, he could see a group of Vong. A very large group. Scarred, angry looking, and charging right for them. They weren’t going to keep this fight at range, and with the civilians taking cover, it left the New Republic soldiers out in the open...

All of them realized what this meant, and so took advantage of the very small amount of time they had to use their blaster rifles before the Vong and their deadly amphistaves came into reach.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 457: Ryloth Underground*

“Is there any chance...” Venda began, taking a step back and turning her active lightsaber from Marix to the six others pointing blasters at the both of them. At Marix’s side, she risked a glance to the Alraxian woman, who was a good head taller, and finished the sentence, “...that you speak Huttese?”

That didn’t seem like something very important, truthfully. Or...

Marix found herself nodding, starting to put a plan together, finally, “He said drop your weapon.”

Actually, that was a lie. He had actually said, ‘drop your weapons’, but since Marix wasn’t holding one she decided to ignore that minor detail. She couldn’t really drop her weapon, anyway...as, technically, she was that weapon. Jyren would probably have yelled at her for that thought, but it was the simple truth.

Before Venda had a chance to respond, though, Marix quickly added, “Do it.”

She didn’t say why. It was likely at least one of these thugs could speak Basic, and saying that this was the best way to track down where this Hutt was probably wasn’t the best plan. So, instead, Marix could only hope that this Jedi wasn’t an idiot, like a certain so-called-Jedi she closely identified with...

A fizzling sound echoed through the tunnel as Venda did the intelligent thing and deactivated her lightsaber. They now had only the dim lights that lined the walls to see by, but it was more than enough for Marix and she barely noticed the change. And so she had no trouble watching Venda follow up by tossing the hilt of her lightsaber to the feet of the six Hutt lackeys.

Slowly, the nearest of them, a red-skinned male Twi’lek, reached down and picked up the weapon, eyed it for a moment, then slipped it into his jacket. Then, with his blaster rifle, motioned for them to turn around, “Kapa tonka. Gorla keesa to naya. Boska!”

Understanding that, Marix started walking forward. So they were taking them to Gorla. Good. That solved that. So now the problem was figuring out what she was going to say to this Gorla the Hutt. As the six lackeys led them, at gunpoint, through the tunnels, Marix went over what she was actually doing on this damned planet again.

The Hutts were going to stay neutral in the war. That was fine. The Alraxians were, too. But...but Hutt Space was vital to any travel through the galaxy and a major section of space. And, from the sound of things, they were going to be more than neutral, actually allowing the Vong to freely pass through their space. With what Marix knew of the Vong, that was more than just neutral. But...why did this matter?

That was still bothering her because she wasn’t quite sure. It had something to do with the Peace Brigade. Those damned Vong sympathizers, most of which looked to be from Hutt space as it was. That didn’t mean that the Hutts were behind the Peace Brigade; they probably weren’t, it wasn’t there style. However, there was something there and at least one Peace Brigade ship knew of the Gateway’s location...along with who knew how many Vong. But the latter she couldn’t do anything about just yet...the former...well, maybe that was it. The thread she was following almost blindly.

“Where are they taking us?” Venda’s voice was barely a whisper, but Marix’s ears easily picked it up.

Keeping her voice just as low and hoping the human woman would actually hear, Marix whispered, “To Gorla...I assume you were looking for him, also?”

“Not directly,” the Jedi woman shook her head just slightly. It was a small enough motion to be taken as normal movement and not communication, which their escorts probably wouldn’t approve of, “I have been following rumours of a group of Vong working under Ryloth’s cities with a powerful crimelord.”

Interesting.

“Gorla is one of the Hutts who has signed a neutrality treaty with the Vong,” Marix said in the same low voice, using the Force to make sure they weren’t heard. She could tell that the six others were keeping their distance, probably because they were intelligent enough to understand the threat a Jedi could be. They probably hoped a meter or so distance would give them enough warning...it wouldn’t, but it was worth hoping for them.

“You sound like you’re going to kill him.”

Marix thought about that for a moment. In it, she noticed that the rough patches of the tunnel below their feet was hardening and becoming smoother. They were getting closer to their destination, “I do not plan to.”

“What do you plan to do?” Venda asked as they both noticed a brighter light not far ahead of them.

Again, she took time to think about that question. No, this wasn’t a good time for planning. She had to think on her toes and keep her mind clear, “Nothing yet.”

Both of them then went silent as they could see four other figures ahead of them, all humanoid and probably well armed. Guards. So here they were, the illustrious underground hideout of Gorla the Hutt...Marix wondered if the other Hutts knew Gorla was hiding underground and out of Hutt Space. They probably wouldn’t like that. The slugs were as distrustful as one another as they were everyone else, and having someone as powerful as Gorla out of sight of the rest of the Hutts had to be unsettling.

The four guards turned out to be humans, and they were in front of a large door that lined the entire corridor. Orders were shouted and Marix casually listed to a quick, heated argument between the Twi’lek and one of the humans. But then, finally, the Trandoshans that had been with them stepped closer to she and Venda and carefully searched them for weapons.

It took every ounce of control for Marix to not simply break their necks and fight her way straight to Gorla.

But she didn’t, allowing them to find that she carried no weapons at all. They also found no other weapons on Venda. Marix couldn’t help rolling her eyes. A typical Jedi. Even Jyren always carried a blaster or three with him. It was just smart. This was ignoring the fact that she had none, of course, as she didn’t need any.

“Bsha,” the Twi’lek said in a gruff voice. One of the humans moved over to a panel on the door, hitting in a key-code that Marix couldn’t see, and then the large door slowly opened upwards. There would be more of a walk before they reached wherever Gorla was, but they were in now, at least.

As they were led through the doorway into a building with finely carved walls, a stark contrast to the unfinished looking tunnels outside, Marix made sure to take in everything. Doors. Hallways. Droids. Anything that might be needed if things went south.

And they usually did.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 458: Lack of Training*

The silence that held within the small sparring room was more uncomfortable that Tobias’ tail having no where to go. Master Ral seemed to be looking at him very carefully before finally saying quietly, “I apologize, but ‘Alraxian’ means nothing to me.”

That broke the uneasy silence and got a slight grin on Tobias’ face, “That’s uh...good, actually. My...my people are a bit weary of the rest of the galaxy. They generally like to keep to themselves. The few that do venture out into this part of the galaxy...well...they can hide fairly well.”

“I can see that,” the Omwati Jedi Master nodded, “I know a little of another species that has the ability to change their shape. But what I know of them suggests you are very different. They require a great deal of concentration to maintain their assumed forms. Losing this concentration means they revert back to their natural bodies. From what I have seen of you, Tobias, this is not true.”

Tobias nodded, knowing at least a bit about other species that had the ability. That was also common in Alraxians that weren’t well taught in their morphing abilities, “Keeping a shape is...easy with practice. Its getting between them that takes the work. But uh...practice can even make that simple.”

Slowly, the Jedi Master took a few steps to Tobias to look him over a bit more, “I am not sure this fully explains my earlier question, though. Unless your species is even more different than most, you should not be averse to pain or death.”

“No, no, its not that...” Tobias mumbled, shaking his head and realizing he hadn’t actually made his point, “I...it...hurts. And we can die like anything else. We are very...fragile. But. Well...if you trust me, will you do something for me?”

“That is a worrying tone, Tobias,” Master Ral said slowly, “But I have a great deal of faith in you. Despite your faults, you show much promise in your training. I asked you to explain why you seem to constantly step straight into danger rather than avoiding it...so what do you want me to do?”

Tobias bit his lower lip, thinking about what he was going to suggest. It was going to hurt. A lot. In fact, he’d never actually done it before...but he’d seen Marix do it hundreds of times. Even Jyren, once. Though he’d always been reluctant about it. But...but Toby knew he could. And it would, hopefully, put his Master’s mind at ease...after the initial shock.

Slowly, Tobias extended his right arm off to the side and looking down at the floor, “Use your lightsaber and take my arm off.”

“What?!” it was the first time Tobias had ever seen a strong emotion from his Master. He shook his head and said firmly, “I will not do that, Tobias. Whatever point you have to prove, that is not the way to do so.”

In his head, Tobias cursed Master Ral. Of course he wouldn’t do it. That was stupid. But...there wasn’t another way. Explaining it wouldn’t have the right effect and probably wouldn’t get it through right. So...fine. He hadn’t wanted to do it himself, but...

Quickly, Tobias reached down to his belt and took Jyren’s lightsaber into his left hand. A snap-hiss echoed through the small room as the blue-green blade came to life, and before his Master could stop him, Tobias gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and cut his right arm off at the elbow.

“Tobias!”

He didn’t hear that as much as know it was said. Toby had dropped the lightsaber to the ground and fallen to his knees, nearly crying from the pain and the shock of it all. He’d known it was coming...he’d done it himself...but...it hurt...so much! He felt hands on his shoulders, the Force starting to gather around him from his Master who was obviously trying to heal the wound.

Carefully, Tobias managed to open his eyes and look to the limb on the mat next to him. The lightsaber had made a clean cut, leaving only a few specks of blue blood, though it looked like the part of his arm that was still attached hadn’t faired so well. His mind catching up to the moment through the pain, Tobias ground out, “No, Master. Don’t do anything.”

Then, somehow finding the focus he needed through the extreme pain, he closed his eyes again and remorphed his arm. In another moment, there it was, as if nothing had happened...though his jacket’s sleeve was not cut off at the elbow and ruined. When Tobias opened his eyes again, he looked first to the arm, which he was able to move without any problem. For some reason, though, he still felt a sharp pain from where the wound had been, but not evidence of it remained. How Marix could do this in a second was beyond him.

He then looked to his Master again, who was wide-eyed, and said, “That’s...that’s why...”

That had not been what he’d meant to say. It had been all he was able to say, though. His mind was still spinning. Master Ral’s eyes returned to a more normal shape, though his hands remained on the young Alraxian’s shoulders, when he finally said, “That should not be possible, Tobias.”

For a moment, he followed the Jedi Master’s gaze down to the arm that was still on the ground. He just managed a weak shrug, “It...it is...and I’m fine. See? I don’t need...I don’t need to...to dodge.”

An audible sigh escaped Master Ral, “I believe you do. As amazing as that was, you are still acting as if you’ve lost a limb.”

“Oh...well...” this was as good a time to say it as any, “I’ve uh...never done that before...only seen it...”

The Jedi Master almost looked angry...almost, “That was foolish, though. This ability to heal your wounds like that is a great one, Tobias, but you should not have to rely on it. Do you stand in the way just to show this off?”

The Omwati had to be picking up on Tobias’ mind. He had to be. And...well...maybe he was right. Maybe he did want to show off. Maybe...

“I just...” he mumbled, then shook his head and tried again, “My mother. She is...she an expert at morphing. I have seen her lose and remorph limbs in the blink of an eye and keep on fighting. It doesn’t stop her. It...it shouldn’t stop me.”

Master Ral was absorbing all of this very well. If Tobias had been a bit more clear headed, he wouldn’t have been surprised. His Master was not a fool, “You are here to train as a Jedi. I can train you in the Force. I cannot train you to do what you just did. And it seems obvious to me that a great deal of training is required to reshape your injuries as quickly as say your mother can...” he paused, then said something completely different that threw Tobias off balance, “Why did you come here as a human, Tobias?”

The question had an obvious answer.

To protect Alraxia. No one needed to know what he was or...or...what he could do. But now it was too late. So that didn’t matter to him, obviously. That was just a lie. That wasn’t the real reason. That wasn’t...

“Alraxians are stronger than humans...faster...our senses much sharper,” his mouth decided it was going to answer while the brain was left confused, “My father was human...but he can keep up with any Alraxian. I...I wanted to be able to do that.”

Master Ral helped Tobias up to his feet again, “A Jedi is more than the warrior you seem to want it to be. Everyone comes here with the stories of the great Jedi weighing on them. But that is not all we are. Yes, we can fight. And yes, we must a great deal of our lives. But the real balance is internal. You...Tobias, have to be one with the Force itself. You must hear its calls and be able to release yourself to it and allow it to guide you. Our species does not matter...the Force calls to all of us, and we must learn to hear the call and follow its guidance with all of our abilities.”

“Wait...” Tobias mumbled, “So...I should use my natural abilities? But you said you can’t train me in that...”

“No,” Master Ral shook his head, “I said that the Force calls on us and we must use everything we are to follow its call. But you cannot do that recklessly. You are not trained in this ability, Tobias, it is obvious. You could very well do more damage than harm to yourself just as you could do by attempting to use the Force without understanding it.”

“So...so you don’t want me to morph anymore?”

Again, Master Ral shook his head, “No. I want you to do what the Force calls you to do. If you are here to train as a human, you must accept those limitations. If you are here to train as...an Alraxian, then you must accept the limitations of your lack of training, there, too. Do you understand?”

“I...think so,” Tobias said quietly, managing a nod. He then took a moment to concentrate and soon he was human again. The pain in his backside being gone was a relief, “I apologize for...being so reckless.”

Slowly, the Jedi Master reached down and picked up the severed limb that was still on the floor, “You are still learning. Get some rest and we will continue tomorrow.”

Tobias nodded, then turned to the door, deciding that Master Ral would know what to do with...well...an arm. But before he got to the door, the Jedi Master spoke up again, “Toby.”

It was the first time he’d ever shortened the name. Tobias didn’t fail to notice. He stopped and turned, “Eh?”

“I will tell no one.”

Truthfully, that hadn’t even crossed Toby’s mind. Or maybe it had and Master Ral had picked up on it...or...it didn’t matter. Not now, at least.

“Thank you, Master,” Tobias bowed, managed an uneasy smile, then turned and left, wondering if Marix would kill him when she found out about this.


----------



## Krafus

I've been reading this story for some time now, and I've gotten to the middle of page 10.

First, you're great at writing prose. And the battle scenes are very detailed - you could give R.A. Salvatore a run for his money. You make those scenes very easy to visualize, and one understands why one side is winning and the other is losing. The Alraxian culture is also quite well developed, and I really felt like I was reading a Star Wars story.

However, Akan/Jyren is one of the least likeable protagonists I've read about in a while. He's come across as rather stupid and quite incompetent, especially in getting his ass kicked by BBEGs. He never seems to learn; even after doing some dumbass move, he follows it with more. Plus he seems to be inferior in every way to Marix except for piloting, which doesn't happen enough to truly make him shine. Or rather, even when he's piloting, he makes foolish decisions. And his emo/angsty routine got tiresome fast.

As for Marix, while she's obviously a bit better than Jyren skill-wise, she too seems totally incapable of matching BBEGs. Her Darkwing kicked her ass. So did the Mrraskesh, Nine and Ket. And her letting herself be abused by everyone when she arrived on Alraxia did nothing to improve my appreciation of her.

Oh, and I have to note something Marix said to Jyren after Ket's death, about how Ket would have been more valuable had he been taken alive and Jyren made a mistake in killing him. Hmm, excuse me? She and Jyren did their best in taking him down, and as usual, their best wasn't good enough. Ket was beating them, and was about to kill Marix. So exactly how was Jyren supposed to save Marix and capture him? "I'm sorry, I should have held back. We were doing so well against Ket until then, after all. I really should have come up with and implemented a viable strategy to defeat and capture him in the fraction of a second I had to react when he was about to decapitate you."

Also, the progression of the relationship between Jyren and Mirax feels very awkward and unnatural. At a certain time, I was wondering if Jyren was neutered or an eunuch; how else could he be so completely clueless as to the other aspects of the link, especially once they arrived on Alraxia? 

As for Mirax, she was dishonest with Jyren from the start, first in explaining to him fully the aspects of the bond and what it means in Alraxian culture, then in admitting her feelings for him. It's as if she had to dragged and all but tortured into admitting her feelings, making it that much less convincing. And even then, she's obviously very uncomfortable with the situation. Even in her thoughts at the end of of page 9 (chapter 270), she's incapable of actually saying the word love, which IMO means she's still incapable of accepting the idea, regardless of everything that has happened between the two of them by then. If Jyren wasn't so emotionally needy in regard to the link, I would have recommended for him to ditch Marix and find someone who can be honest with others and herself as to her feelings instead of needing to be raked over coals before admitting anything.

Mind you, I'm not saying that you should have put in something that would have shocked Eric's grandmother, but more acceptance of the idea - or even of their mutual attraction -, along with some physical signs of affection, would IMO have gone a long way into making their relationship feel more genuine.

Gah. I'm sorry if this read like a long rant.  I actually enjoyed reading the story - I just can't help but point out the areas where IMO some modifications would have made it even better. 

Oh, and if I haven't made you too angry, I was wondering what were Ket and Nine's stats? I'm always interested in high-level characters.


----------



## Angcuru

Would you rather he wrote it so that Akan/Jyren and Marix/Shadow were perfectly balanced and likeable individuals with no real emotional or psychological issues?  I wouldn't, it's these quirks that make them interesting to read about.  I also really like how they're almost always outmatched, it fits in well with the 'underdog' feeling evoked in the original Star Wars trilogy.  Honestly, would you want them to be able to overcome every obstacle they encounter with little to no effort?


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Krafus said:
			
		

> I've been reading this story for some time now, and I've gotten to the middle of page 10.
> 
> First, you're great at writing prose. And the battle scenes are very detailed - you could give R.A. Salvatore a run for his money. You make those scenes very easy to visualize, and one understands why one side is winning and the other is losing. The Alraxian culture is also quite well developed, and I really felt like I was reading a Star Wars story.




Those are some very big compliments, thank you. I honestly worry about the combat a lot when I'm writing it, wondering if its too detailed. So it feels great to know that its working.

As for the other things...lets see if I can help out a bit with it.



> However, Akan/Jyren is one of the least likeable protagonists I've read about in a while. He's come across as rather stupid and quite incompetent, especially in getting his ass kicked by BBEGs. He never seems to learn; even after doing some dumbass move, he follows it with more. Plus he seems to be inferior in every way to Marix except for piloting, which doesn't happen enough to truly make him shine. Or rather, even when he's piloting, he makes foolish decisions. And his emo/angsty routine got tiresome fast.




Most all of Jyren's problems end up trailing back to losing Mare. I wouldn't really call it emo, as he has a very good reason for being so screwed up, but that's exactly what happened. He allowed himself to become so attached to one person, that losing them pretty much destroyed him. Tiresome? Maybe, but its just who he is. A great deal of all of this is him slowly finding a way PAST that, which is much easier said than done.

Its not that he's stupid, either, but he has a habit of thinking with his heart before his brain can get a word in edgewise.  He's very, very idealistic and has a strong sense of right and wrong, and acts on that. In that sense, he's the polar opposite of Marix, who is the complete LACK of emotion. So all of his decisions are coated by that and it means he does far too many things that look dumb to everyone but make perfect sense to him.

Marix IS better than him, purely in the sense of fighting skill. She was born and trained as a weapon to kill, then her clone got similar training...so you have two killers in ONE body. Jyren, though, is much more of a self-made person and so his skills are naturally inferior. His only real training was in piloting and a smattering of Special Ops that he ran from quickly, anyway. So its all being made up as he goes along. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But he usually manages to pull through when he needs to.



> As for Marix, while she's obviously a bit better than Jyren skill-wise, she too seems totally incapable of matching BBEGs. Her Darkwing kicked her ass. So did the Mrraskesh, Nine and Ket. And her letting herself be abused by everyone when she arrived on Alraxia did nothing to improve my appreciation of her.




To be truthful, she WAS the Darkwing and there really was nothing she could have done on that end. Mrrakesh are to Alraxians what Alraxians are to Humans...stronger, faster, and pretty much a hundred times more dangerous. The fact that she could fight one and survive says a great deal. And though that might not have been clear right away, things being hit now will start to shed more light on the Mrrakesh. 

Nine and Ket are both similar cases...with Nine, essentially, being an insane version of herself and not worried about a damned thing. By the time Marix is really dealing with Nine, she's worrying about Jyren and not the same old killer that Nine still is. Ket is better than her, though. He is, essentially, what she was: the best of the Tam'day'u, except that his time capture by the Mrrakesh made him bitter and (more) violent. For both Ket and Nine, its their anger and need for revenge that makes them so dangerous and powerful.

As for the abuse on Alraxia...Marix took that because she's supposed to. Tam'day'u are inferior, supposedly. Cursed scum. She was raised like that, despite the feelings of her parents towards that. Her attitude changed completely there because that was how she knew it was supposed to be, and Faban didn't help the situation at all.



> Oh, and I have to note something Marix said to Jyren after Ket's death, about how Ket would have been more valuable had he been taken alive and Jyren made a mistake in killing him. Hmm, excuse me? She and Jyren did their best in taking him down, and as usual, their best wasn't good enough. Ket was beating them, and was about to kill Marix. So exactly how was Jyren supposed to save Marix and capture him? "I'm sorry, I should have held back. We were doing so well against Ket until then, after all. I really should have come up with and implemented a viable strategy to defeat and capture him in the fraction of a second I had to react when he was about to decapitate you."




It is a constant storytelling cliche that the good guys are out of their league, so that's really one reason it keeps popping up. But another is because these aren't the best of the best. Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie...they are the #1 group of Star Wars. Even at the time of this story, those four are out there doing thier thing and being heroes. Of course, they can't handle or even know about everything...so you get others stepping up. The idea, really, was that this is the second string, as it were, stepping up to deal with first string style problems.

As for her anger at him for killing Ket...she didn't want to kill him. Marix had the chance to do that before, but stopped herself. She saw Ket as what she could have been, and started to actually want to find a way other than killing him, not that she had any ideas, to get out of the situation. And she probably wouldn't have been so angry with Jyren had he not let HIS anger take control of his actions.

Remember, the Dark Side can make a person strong, but it can also make a person do something they wouldn't otherwise. While Marix, herself, has different beliefs in the Force, seeing Jyren's reaction was enough to make anyone angry. He very much crossed a line and, unlike others(say...Anakin Skywalker), his own fear of it didn't drive him farther INTO it, but AWAY from it.



> Also, the progression of the relationship between Jyren and Mirax feels very awkward and unnatural. At a certain time, I was wondering if Jyren was neutered or an eunuch; how else could he be so completely clueless as to the other aspects of the link, especially once they arrived on Alraxia?




We have a near-suicidal human that, three years later, is STILL overly attached to the girl he loved and a trained assassin who was brought up where her earliest training was in rejecting her emotions. Its basically the couple from hell.

The simple fact is that Jyren was still stuck in the past. Marix was his friend that helped keep him alive, and never would be anything because...because that's what Mare was. Jyren is the kind of person that probably should have been locked up in some mental hospital for years, to be honest.



> As for Mirax, she was dishonest with Jyren from the start, first in explaining to him fully the aspects of the bond and what it means in Alraxian culture, then in admitting her feelings for him. It's as if she had to dragged and all but tortured into admitting her feelings, making it that much less convincing. And even then, she's obviously very uncomfortable with the situation. Even in her thoughts at the end of of page 9 (chapter 270), she's incapable of actually saying the word love, which IMO means she's still incapable of accepting the idea, regardless of everything that has happened between the two of them by then. If Jyren wasn't so emotionally needy in regard to the link, I would have recommended for him to ditch Marix and find someone who can be honest with others and herself as to her feelings instead of needing to be raked over coals before admitting anything.




She wasn't really dishonest as much as just didn't have time to worry about it. As for the rest, and especially with the whole feelings thing...they're alien to her. They don't make sense, and, honestly, they're terrifying. Happiness, anger, and the other basic emotions aren't that bad. But when you get into something like love, well, its something competely different. There is such a strong attachment and vulnerability that goes with it that its like nothing Marix had ever experienced. She is so internal that having to open up, even though they share a link, it a lot to come to grips with.

And a lot of it, for Marix especially, is having to say things. Words can't grasp concepts like love at all, and the only reason she really uses that word is because its the closest she can come up with even though its so far away from it. Their love for each other is extremely strong, but that, alone, makes it so much harder for someone like Marix to make any sense of. If not for the link, it probably wouldn't have worked out. Words aren't needed that way, even if Jyren gravitates towards them because that's his comfort zone.



> Mind you, I'm not saying that you should have put in something that would have shocked Eric's grandmother, but more acceptance of the idea - or even of their mutual attraction -, along with some physical signs of affection, would IMO have gone a long way into making their relationship feel more genuine.




See page 7...end of Chap 211 and then 212. Course, there's all the events leading up to it, especially the whole "Three Full Moons" thing.

But the best explanation is really:
[sblock]But when she started for the door, she noticed that Jyren didn’t go anywhere. Stopping just two steps later, Shadow turned back around and asked what had to be asked, “What is it...?”

At first, he just shrugged. Then, smart enough to remember the link provided at least some insight for her, Jyren gave in and asked an honest question, “Why couldn’t this have happened months ago instead of now when you have to just run off like this?”

Ah. That. Carefully, Shadow walked back over to him and somewhat awkwardly drew him into a hug. She spoke in a quiet voice, “For one...we were children.”

“Well, yeah but...” he trailed off, returning the hug as he tried his last fight against reality, “...I should have said something a long time ago.”

“I should have, too,” Shadow admitted, pulling back a little to look him in the eyes, “But neither of us did. And besides, it might not have meant a thing then. You were still very caught up with Mare and I...well...I barely understand any of this right now, so I know it would have gone right over me before.”

“So we get a few hours and then that’s it?” Jyren asked, voicing a thought that was as much hers as it was his own.

But Shadow shrugged, “A few hours is better than not at all, right?”[/sblock]



> Gah. I'm sorry if this read like a long rant.  I actually enjoyed reading the story - I just can't help but point out the areas where IMO some modifications would have made it even better.
> 
> Oh, and if I haven't made you too angry, I was wondering what were Ket and Nine's stats? I'm always interested in high-level characters.




Not angry at all and its all good. I love reading what other people think on things, and, honestly, its an excuse for me to jump back and skim a few parts while diving back into Marix and Jyren's motivations. This has moved a bit past that time by now, and I have to admit, one of my favourite parts of all of this is the awkwardness of Jyren and Marix falling in love. Sure, it isn't ideal, but that's the point. These are two very screwed up people. 

On the stats end...give me a couple days and I'll see what I can find. Need to dig through old info and see.


----------



## Krafus

Thanks for the thorough answer, AMG. And, too thanks in advance for the stats. If you can't find them, an approximation of classes, levels and ability scores will be just fine. 

Now I understand a bit more about why Jyren and Mirax act the way they do... But all the same, all those issues they have, both individually and as a couple, makes it quite hard to empathize with them. And if one can't empathize with the protagonists, it's difficult to muster the enthusiasm to keep reading. 

That's the realization that leapt at me as I read your post - I like this story _despite_ Jyren and Mirax and not _because_ of them, which IMO is not as it should be. I've always viewed characters as the most important part of a story, and while your characterization is spot-on given your explanations about Jyren and Mirax, it also makes them rather difficult to like or just empathize with. It's only because of the quality of your writing that I kept going.

As to their relationship, it also makes more sense with your post. You mention that one of your favourite parts in all this is the awkwardness of Jyren and Mirax falling in love. Well and good. But it starts becoming a problem when it feels like it's only awkwardness between them. 

Part of the problem is that the two short moments you mentioned aren't enough to compensate. After so many hints and innuendoes, so many struggles and lies and misunderstandings, after _so much_ having happened (and after having read so many thousands of words), to only have an awkward moonlight kiss and a "fade to black" one-night stand as tangible proof of their feelings for each other is rather frustrating. It feels like being fed crumbs when one has spent days starved for a meal, like receiving a rusted iron medal when one has done an Olympic-level performance (in this case, slogging through the seemingly interminable awkward buildup of Jyren and Marix's relationship).

I call this the "Lost" modus operandi - it seems that tv show's producers thought that they could hint and tease and never deliver anything substantial, and viewers would keep coming back. Instead, Lost has, well, lost a lot of viewers who got fed up with only being fed crumbs. I can still remember my disappointment at the end of the first season. "That's it? That's _all_? Sorry guys, you can feed me crumbs throughout the season, but I expect a full meal in the finale." I quit watching Lost then and there. 

I might have done the same with this story, though by then I was reading more for the plot and fighting scenes than for the characters. Still, a satisfying "reward" in the relationship department might have compensated for the characters getting regularly trounced in fights. 

And this leads me to my reply to Angcuru's post. No, I wouldn't want Jyren and Marix to be perfectly balanced and likeable and all that. The problem is that, for me at least, they come across as the exact opposite - characters who are ultimately inadequate at everything they undertake. I don't mind them being underdogs. I do mind them being inept underdogs whose defeat is practically a foregone conclusion. By page 10, I no longer wonder whether Marix and Jyren will be able to defeat difficult opponents - I wonder how long it will take them to lose, and what will happen to save them after they get their asses kicked.

Also, I've thought about Alraxian society a little. The Alraxians seem to be, if you don't mind my saying, all but begging for conquest by the Mrrakesh. The more I think about it, the more I can't understand why they don't have more military forces, or at least more people trained in the arts of warfare. While the Alraxians seem be allied with other species against the Mrrakesh, alliances can change quickly, and the Alraxians could quickly find themselves isolated and alone againt their ancient foe. 

By the middle of page 10, Jyren and Marix are preparing to leave Alraxia - because now the Mrrakesh know where its location, and will want to kill Jyren and force Marix to marry their prince. Essentially, it seems the Mrrakesh can now do whatever they want to Alraxia, whenever they want. Given the Mrrakesh people's apparent disposition toward Alraxia, I can't help but think that conquest, or at least serious probes and battles, can't be far off. 

Loving peace is well and good, but considering that a single Mrrakesh is a match for three battle-trained Alraxians (maybe even more considering that one outfought Marix and Jyren), for the Alraxians to rely on alliances and the secrecy of their capital to defend them strikes me as quite foolish and short-sighted. And now that the Mrrakesh obviously know the location of Alraxia, their legitimate ruler is forced to flee in order to escape forced marriage and avoid the death of her consort as a perfectly predictable consequence of the Alraxians' (lack of) planning.

Damn, I wrote a lot...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 459: Injured*

Four Yuuzhan Vong warriors dropped to the relentless blaster fire...and then the remaining Vong warriors charged straight into the troopers. The small group of soldiers that had taken up the center of the street as a huge number of civilians hid in the alleys was suddenly overwhelmed by huge warriors, amphistaves swinging in first. The two troopers at Rulae’s shoulders dropped first, as they were the ones up front. Somehow, Rulae managed to raise his rifle enough to put a blaster bolt through the face of the warrior attempting to cleave him in two.

The body fell on him, the amphistaff’s snake-like head hissing loudly before it hit the ground. The weight of the body threw Rulae to the ground, giving him a perfect view of the flashes of red blaster bolts going straight over him. The air filled with screams more than anything else, and Rulae’s vision was blurred by Vong moving over him...through the troopers. Through them.

And he couldn’t move. Partly because of the corpse that had fallen on him, and partly because...he couldn’t make himself move. They were being slaughtered. Torn through like they were nothing. It was then that Rulae realized the world was a blur to him. Maybe that was why he couldn’t move...he couldn’t really see or...or...his brain alerted him to a sharp pain that had been in his leg since he’d fallen. Slow to react...

Somehow, Rulae managed to look down and next to the corpse that was crushing him, was the dead warrior’s amphistaff. From its vicious fangs, a dangerous looking good dripped...and then Rulae realized it had bit him before going dormant once released from its wielder. It was poison. Of course it was poison. That was why the other warriors simply stepped over him to the rest of the troopers. He was dead already. Dead already...

...but he wasn’t. No. No, he could feel the numbness in his leg but it wasn’t killing him and...and it wasn’t spreading up his leg either. It was just in that one spot. Just below his right knee. He still felt a bit off but was able to think clearly...more or less. Realizing that the poison wasn’t spreading, he turned to look what was, to him, up.

He saw the feet of Vong warriors, now a good five meters away and moving fast. They were charging after a distant group of New Republic troopers. They were charging...away. He looked to the nearby alleys where many of the civilians had gone and saw no Vong there. The troopers that had survived had run, and they were drawing the Vong away, whether they meant to or not...but the civilians weren’t moving and...

Rulae called all the strength he could to force the Vong’s body off of him, then got up quickly, fell over thanks to putting too much weight on a leg that currently couldn’t support it, then tried again. When he was up, he could recognize the bodies of the troopers around him. All but two were there. The rest, the ones that lay around him, were in pieces.

Pushing this out of his mind, Rulae turned to the nearest of the alleys and saw a human looking straight at him. In a strained voice, Rulae called out, “We need to move now!”

It took encouraging and repeating of this over and over before anyone did. But soon, the large group of civilians were returning to the street and trying not to look at the bloody scene in the middle of it all. Not liking this situation and realizing he couldn’t move fast enough, he said to the now-gathered group, “Anyone that can pick up a blaster right now. There’s transports on the ground east of here. Just follow this road straight out of the city until you reach them.”

“I’m not a solider,” though one of the civilians said that, most were probably thinking of it. Thankfully, Rulae saw many of them reaching to the bodies on the ground and retrieving weapons.

He didn’t like say any of it, but he had to, “I’m injured. I can’t keep with the pace that you all need. You all need to move as fast as you can. Anyone with weapons needs to stay around the others just in case. Do you all understand?”

There were, of course, many still protesting this. But those with weapons seemed to be understanding well enough. In a short amount of time, they were running...all of them. Rulae watched them go, then turned back to where the Vong had gone. He couldn’t abandon this fight. He was a pilot...but not right now. This city was burning. This city was dying. Gydine was dying.

And good soldiers were still on it. He wasn’t about to just run off with them still fighting...injured or not.

So, hefting his own rifle up, he limped down the street and back into the fight.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

I do have to say I really love this kind of discussion. I like talking about these characters so much and don't really get the chance to. Let this be a word to any and all others...SPEAK UP DAMMIT! 



			
				Krafus said:
			
		

> Now I understand a bit more about why Jyren and Mirax act the way they do... But all the same, all those issues they have, both individually and as a couple, makes it quite hard to empathize with them. And if one can't empathize with the protagonists, it's difficult to muster the enthusiasm to keep reading.
> 
> That's the realization that leapt at me as I read your post - I like this story _despite_ Jyren and Mirax and not _because_ of them, which IMO is not as it should be. I've always viewed characters as the most important part of a story, and while your characterization is spot-on given your explanations about Jyren and Mirax, it also makes them rather difficult to like or just empathize with. It's only because of the quality of your writing that I kept going.




That last sentence there is a very very big compliment and leaves me at a loss. I'm not good with compliments. 

Though I do have to agree with liking it despite the two longest running characters isn't as it should be...to a point, it makes sense. To be truthful, the name "Heroes of Another Kind" wasn't just a random title. These guys aren't really heroes. Jyren wants to be, sure, and damn well tries but he fails over and over before he ever really comes through. While I will admit that is a very un-Star Wars quality, it is a much more realistic quality.

To be honest, Jyren has a great deal of me in him, which can account for the failings. He may want to be a hero, a great warrior to save the day...but he's so idealistic that he loses sight of what's right in front of him. When this all starts, he's on that path. Everything is perfect and probably would have continued that way had nothing happened...but something always does, and it threw him off completely. 

So, I guess it could be said that you shouldn't like him, at least not early on. Marix is much the same way, being what would really be a better BBEG type than a main character. But at the point you've reached is where the changes in both of them have really started. Sure, they've been happening slowly the entire time, but their coming together is the real push for both of them to start being something else entirely.



> As to their relationship, it also makes more sense with your post. You mention that one of your favourite parts in all this is the awkwardness of Jyren and Mirax falling in love. Well and good. But it starts becoming a problem when it feels like it's only awkwardness between them.
> 
> Part of the problem is that the two short moments you mentioned aren't enough to compensate. After so many hints and innuendoes, so many struggles and lies and misunderstandings, after _so much_ having happened (and after having read so many thousands of words), to only have an awkward moonlight kiss and a "fade to black" one-night stand as tangible proof of their feelings for each other is rather frustrating. It feels like being fed crumbs when one has spent days starved for a meal, like receiving a rusted iron medal when one has done an Olympic-level performance (in this case, slogging through the seemingly interminable awkward buildup of Jyren and Marix's relationship).




Truthfully, the buildup to their relationship was there from the beginning. There are small moments here and there through it all, even much earlier, that bring them closer despite their own difficulties. Admittedly, they are subtle but they're definitely there. Jyren, himself, starts to realize he's falling for her but pushes it away due to still not wanting to let go of the past.

But that's the thing about them. There aren't really lies at all...but a ton of misunderstandings. Most come from Marix but she was a child then, and children make stupid choices for stupid reasons. They don't understand things they do. And, to get a bit technical, when Alraxians grow up so fast in the way they do, their body is essentially flooded with hormones...its like puberty in a matter of hours instead of over years. So, for obvious reasons, that only adds to the confusion and she's going to make even worse decisions because of all the chaos going on with her.

But through all of the problems they still manage to trust one another. I can understand it being hard to see early on for the two of them, especially since Marix is so unused to being close to anyone. She wants to be, but doesn't understand how to be and so takes her cues from Jyren through the link...which, for obvious reasons, isn't the best place to learn anything.  

There is a point farther along in the story, about a page or so back from here I believe, that solidifies this trust. Maybe it started weak. And, in a way, they were forced together. But it wasn't unwilling, as they both just needed that push and then, over time, learned how to actually be truly together. Of course, this takes time and isn't instant, which to me is the essence of realism. 

What Jyren and Marix have is a connection that transcends the little things. The hard part for me in writing anything between them is the strength of their relationship is unspoken. There aren't words to even closely describe it, and they know that, too. It sounds cliche, but that's how it is for them. Strong feelings just don't have equivalents when it comes to words, so I'm a bit stuck on that end. So methinks a failure here, for me, is maybe a lack of pushing that part, though I'm still somewhat unsure of HOW to.

But if it makes you feel better, I was never a big fan of Lost. 



> I might have done the same with this story, though by then I was reading more for the plot and fighting scenes than for the characters. Still, a satisfying "reward" in the relationship department might have compensated for the characters getting regularly trounced in fights.




Another big compliment. 

This is a bit of tease, but maybe the reward you're hoping for is a little later in the story. There are definitely a few huge changes in Jyren and Marix's relationship that come later...HUGE ones, and they might very well be that reward. As for geting trounced well...that actually goes away some, too. Early on there aren't as many fights against mook types. You get lots of very dangerous enemies that are specifically aimed to kill them...while later on there start to be more mooks meant for tearing through, and Marix does her fair share of that. 

I think the thing to really keep in mind with both of them is that they're still very young. By the point you're at in the story, Jyren's barely over twenty years old. Mare died when he was a teenager. Marix is physically older but technically even younger than him when you get down to the age comparisons. So they're both going to make some very, very stupid childish decisions that make them look inept...that's what young people do. There's a reason so many swear of teenagers and young adults. 

As for the notes on Alraxia...very smart observations. They're also things that become very important at the point the story is at now. The only thing that I feel worth mentioning(as you're dead on right with most all of it), is that the Alraxian Empire is very stable. The other species in it are comfortable in the system and it operates as a utopia, of sorts. That can cause problems, but the one thing they don't have to worry about is any of the species within the Empire defecting, as it were, to the Mrrakesh.



> Damn, I wrote a lot...




Not a thing wrong with that.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 460: Flashback...Flashforward*

It was terrifying to watch him twisting and turning next to her. He was mumbling things that weren’t words, as far as she could tell, but sometimes real words would slip through and they were worse than the incoherent ones. But then, after nearly an hour of it, he took in a sudden, sharp breath and his blue eyes shot wide open.

Marix slowly reached over and put a hand on his chest, trying to help to slow his breathing as best she could and calm him down. Of course, she didn’t say anything, but that was far from unusual for her.

There were a few long moments as he calmed down, before turning and looking up to where she sat next to him. Somewhat confused at seeing her, from the look on his face at least, Jyren asked, “Shouldn’t you...be asleep?”

An odd smile crossed Marix’s face and she patted his chest gently, “Shouldn’t you?”

At first he just nodded but then sap up a bit, himself. His eyes shifted down from her face a bit and he mumbled, “Yes...but...you...”

Marix rolled her eyes and placed a hand where his eyes had gone, “I am pregnant, Jyren...not stupid. However it is hard to sleep at all when you are panicking...”

A few more deep breaths from Jyren and his breathing finally returned to normal. She was proud of him for that. Maybe he had been listening all these years after all. He then managed to look apologetic, and despite knowing she wouldn’t like it, said, “I’m sorry. Just...just dreams.”

“Usually your dreams don’t last that long,” Marix responded carefully, “And I haven’t seen or felt you that panicked from a dream since Arranis.”

“You still remember that?” he actually looked surprised.

She nodded, “I remember you clung to me like Toby does to you when you woke up.”

“And you said it was just a dream,” Jyren said quietly, more to himself really.

Again, she nodded, then her hand moved up to his shoulder. Through their link, she could feel that while his breathing had calmed, his mind was still racing, “What did you see?”

Jyren lowered his head, his hair clouding his face from her, and did his best to remember without really experiencing it again, “War. I...I think it was Mrrakesh. I don’t know though...something...they were...” he trailed off a moment, then looked her in the eyes while resting a hand on her belly, “They killed our children. I...I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t move. It felt so far away and...and...I couldn’t do anything.”

As he was explaining, some of the images he could remember were slipping through the link to Marix. The images were vague and hard to understand, as dreams normally were, but she could sense the feeling of being unable to get close. It like being trapped and she realized that he couldn’t actually see them...instead, he felt it. Very carefully, she rested her hand on his and squeezed it gently. Sadly, the best thing she could think to say was, “It was a dream, Jyren...just a dream.”

He managed a nod, wanting to believe that and doing his best to agree, then leaned his head back to rest it against the wall behind their bed. Technically, the wall and the bed were connected...but that was how most all of Alraxian furniture was. After watching him sit like that for a few minutes, Marix patted his hand and nudged him slightly through the Force, “C’mon...back to sleep with you. Alyx is going to need your help tommorrow.”

Jyren slid back down to rest his head on the pillow but mumbled, “Yes, mother.”

That got him a not-so-gently kick in the side, but an actual laugh from Marix accompanied that, “Keep that kind of talk up and you can have the floor like you wanted years ago.”

“Awww...” he grinned and then used this opportunity to slide close and rest his head on her shoulder, “I thought you said the floor was for bad little jai like Toby.”

“I did...” she grinned and scratched his ear gently, “And you agreed, so be a good one and get some sleep.”

He didn’t argue. Finally. And, in a few moments, he’d fallen back asleep. Marix didn’t get any sleep that night. She sat awake with Jyren resting against her, keeping an eye on him the rest of the night. She hadn’t been tired anyway. So as he slept, she made sure he didn’t have any more dreams like the one from before, trying to keep as many calming thoughts flowing through the link to help. But in another corner of her mind, well protected from the link, Marix found herself worrying about his dream. Worrying about their unborn twins....and deciding to keep a close eye on the Mrrakesh.

Marix blinked.

There were many times that she hated the Force. It had a habit of stepping in right in the middle of something important and showing you something completely the opposite. Or at least, something important but not really relevant to the immediate situation which was usually quite important in its own right. It didn’t help when it returned you to the current moment to a pair of large, bulbous eyes on an oversized slug that was in the process of what could very well have been sizing her up.

She had never liked Hutts. The slug part was bad enough. Smell came with that, and Alraxians having a good sense of smell made it even worse for her. But, beyond that, they reminded her of the Mrrakesh. Greedy, selfish, and downright untrustworthy. The fact that many seemed to have a thing for slaves never made her very much of a friend to them, either. She had a problem with slavery on the whole, anyway, but as many were dancing girls and other such females it was never easy to face a Hutt like that without wondering if the damned slug would try to capture her in the process.

In fact, it had been tried before.

That Hutt had been killed.

But from the way Gorla was currently eyeing both Marix and the human woman next to her, Venda, she detected that he was seeing something different. Money, perhaps. Then again, Marix couldn’t really tell. Hutts were naturally resilient against the Force and hard to read with more normal methods.

“You have been wandering in places you should not be, little ones,” as Gorla was a younger Hutt, he was actually not that large at all and still able to move with ease under his own power. Also, his voice was not as deep and booming as many of the older members of his species. What surprised Marix the most, however, was that he was speaking in Basic. Many Hutts considered their own language a thing of beauty and wouldn’t think of conversing in anything else, especially Basic.

“You are in a place you should not be,” Marix said with her arms crossed over her chest. She kept her self aware of the room around her. It was a large chamber with Gorla ‘throne’, as it were, at one wall and tables along the others. The center was an open area for speakers, dancers, or whatever there was. All of the walls, the floors, and the ceiling, were well carved stone straight from the cave it was built from. Around them were various members of so many species that Marix didn’t even bother to count...maybe of which were aiming blasters at the two newcomers.

Her comment got a slow laugh from the Hutt. He waved a stubby hand at her and smiled broadly, “Bold statement, Cathar...” Marix ignored this insult, and just decided it wasn’t important that he had no idea what species she was, “...tell me. What are a Jedi and an animal doing down in these tunnels so far from where they should be?”

Marix’s eyes narrowed and she didn’t give Venda a chance to answer, “You made a deal with the Vong, Gorla. I want to know what you’re getting out of that deal.”

Again, Gorla laughed...but this time, most of the spectators did, too. Once he recovered, the Hutt’s smile remained, “Why should I tell you anything?”

This time, Marix smiled. Now she had a plan. Gorla obviously was asking her, in a subtle way, what she had to offer. She then nodded to Venda, “You can have this Jedi in exchange for telling me what I want to know.”

“What?!” Venda yelped when she said this, and to stop her from doing anything else, Marix’s arm shot out and grabbed the smaller human by the back of the neck. Her hand wrapped around and was left in a position to dig her claws right in should the need arise.

As Marix pushed the human woman down to the ground like this, the Hutt laughed yet again, “Jedi are very capable...they do not keep well. And I have no reason to trust that you are not lying to me.”

“She tried to kill me before your men put blasters on both of us,” Marix growled, adding to this by squeezing Venda’s neck tightly and getting a cry out of the woman. With her free hand, Marix pointed to the group that had brought them in, “Ask them.”

Gorla did.

And, somewhat slowly, the six that had caught them acknowledged that it had looked like the Jedi was going to attack Marix.

There was a long few moments where the only sound in the room was Venda’s laboured breathing. Then, finally, Gorla looked Marix in the eye, “I like you, Cathar,” he made a hand motion to the side then two of the larger Trandoshan stepped over to take Venda.

Marix, however, beared her fangs and growled angrily at the both of them, causing the two large lizards to stop and turn to Gorla in surprise. Before anything else could be said, Marix also looked back to the Hutt, “You may like me, Hutt, but I don’t trust you. Answer my questions, then I give you the Jedi.”

When she said ‘Jedi’, Marix gave a good kick to Venda’s spine to make sure she didn’t try anything to make this difficult. It seemed like the kick was perfect, though, as Gorla’s expression changed from angry to that damned smile again.

“I do not trust you, either,” he said in a deeper voice this time, “But you may ask your questions.”


----------



## Krafus

Well, I've finished chapter 336...

I've gone from not liking Marix for not telling Jyren all the implications of the bond to despising Jyren for being a sullen, whiny brat. Plus his refusal to use the Force was rather stupid. He's already enough of a loser in combat, and now he wants to further diminish what little effectiveness he has? In previous posts I said that Jyren should ditch Marix. Now I think it should be the opposite.

Loki's comment about how Marix and Jyren had been intimate on a previous night made me both glad and sad. Glad because it seems they're loosening up about that sort of thing. Sad because we didn't get to see a single moment. Mind you, as I said before, you shouldn't put in something that would shock Eric's grandmother, but a scene where they decide to do it and start embracing, followed by a fade-to-black, would have been nice. As it is, I still feel cheated of perhaps the most interesting part of the relationship, which is quite frustrating while enduring Jyren's whining.

Jyren's fight with Jen... I think it was the first time he actually read like a winner. Unfortunately, it was of course too good to last. Instead of finishing his enemy quickly, he lets her live, and in comes the Darkwing. Then Jyren goes from winner to his usual loser habits in an eyeblink. Btw, why didn't he at least try to dodge the Darkwing? Did he roll really low on initiative or the Darkwing rolled a critical?

Looks like Jyren finally got the closure he needed with Mare. Hopefully it will make him less petulant in the future.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Krafus said:
			
		

> Well, I've finished chapter 336...
> 
> I've gone from not liking Marix for not telling Jyren all the implications of the bond to despising Jyren for being a sullen, whiny brat. Plus his refusal to use the Force was rather stupid. He's already enough of a loser in combat, and now he wants to further diminish what little effectiveness he has? In previous posts I said that Jyren should ditch Marix. Now I think it should be the opposite.




I do love seeing how strong your feelings are on this.

Jyren is definitely sullen, but I'm not sure I'd go as far as whiny. He's basically seen everything go wrong over and over and over, much of the time with him doing what he was absolutely sure was the right thing. He basically has no self-confidence and, in his opinion, no reason to have any. Despite that, though, he can't just sit around and watch more things wrong so he'll still try. Its definitely not the kind of heroic that would be expected, but he IS a kid when you get down to it, and he's a kid that's barely stable.

The Force thing is really drawn out of that. He felt himself step across a line with Ket. The Dark Side took control of him, and he let it, to protect Marix. For him, there's no excuse for that. The brush with the Dark Side was a wake up call for Jyren, and he was forced to face the fact that he didn't have any kind of control. Rather than step up, like a hero is supposed to do, he was so terrified by it that he tried to push it away to avoid any temptation at all.

That is, of course, easier said than done, and Jyren is definitely more capable than I think you give him credit for. Yes, he gets in over his head and gets the crap beat out of him many times. But he does step up and keep going. He does fight through and, one way or another, finds a way to win. Maybe its not by his own power, and maybe its from the help of the Force or others, but what's the problem with that? 

If there's one thing I've learned its that people fail. People get in over their heads. People screw up constantly. It is not how most stories are written, because that's not the formula, but it is how humans are. And if there's one thing that Jyren has proven to be over and over again, its human. He makes the same mistakes without wanting to accept the truth. He runs from what he's afraid of. He thinks with his heart rather than his brain. And yet, despite all of these things, he makes it out alive and does exactly what he sets out to do: protects people. He sets himself up to take the brunt of the pain so that others don't have to. It leaves him worse for wear every single time, but he keeps doing it because he's seen terrible things and doesn't want anyone to experience them...so, even if he knows he'll fail or knows he isn't as good as he should be, Jyren will stand up and fight it because he feels its right, and he would much rather fight and fail, himself, than send others in his place.



> Loki's comment about how Marix and Jyren had been intimate on a previous night made me both glad and sad. Glad because it seems they're loosening up about that sort of thing. Sad because we didn't get to see a single moment. Mind you, as I said before, you shouldn't put in something that would shock Eric's grandmother, but a scene where they decide to do it and start embracing, followed by a fade-to-black, would have been nice. As it is, I still feel cheated of perhaps the most interesting part of the relationship, which is quite frustrating while enduring Jyren's whining.




To be honest, I go a great deal farther than I should in keeping with how Star Wars usually is. A kiss is about it. Beds barely exist in what we see. To me, especially considering the nature of this place, I don't think anymore is appropriate or really all that necessary.

Of course, beyond this is the fact that they're relationship and connection is not focused on the physical. While that is, obviously, there, and to a point, important, they have something between them that is a thousand times stronger than any physical pleasure. Their lives are literally one. Two people that share an existance. There is an extremely strong mental connection that just can't be compared. This is in addition to the fact that Marix is the kind of person who isn't too good with the whole touching thing, even something as simple as a hand on the shoulder. She tries yes, and gets better about it...but some things that we grow up with just don't go away.

So yes, the phsyical aspect of their relationship does exist, but a mix of it not being appropriate for this board and, honestly, for the story itself, put it into the background and the world of assumption. Besides, that's important for stories. Spelling every little thing out can ruin it, especially if it isn't the focus. And, to be honest, what Jyren and Marix do behind closed doors isn't the focus of any of this.



> Jyren's fight with Jen... I think it was the first time he actually read like a winner. Unfortunately, it was of course too good to last. Instead of finishing his enemy quickly, he lets her live, and in comes the Darkwing. Then Jyren goes from winner to his usual loser habits in an eyeblink. Btw, why didn't he at least try to dodge the Darkwing? Did he roll really low on initiative or the Darkwing rolled a critical?




Jyren said it himself, she was a sister to him. This woman was the first person he truly connected with since Mare died and she cared about him. Not only that, but while Jen had crossed the line into Darkness, she hadn't yet truly acted on it. There was still a chance to save her, to bring her back, and Jyren couldn't kill her with that left. Star Wars is a tale of redemption, and to just kill someone like Jen would be against  that as much as it is Jyren's line of thought.

Remember Return of the Jedi. Luke throws his weapon to the side, and refuses to kill Darth Vader, one of the most evil men in the galaxy becaus he is Luke's father and he believes there is still good in him. He goes from winner, to loser in an eyeblink. He nearly gets himself killed because he believes his father will do the right thing. And he was right.

Jyren does this almost exactly. He stops his so-called fight with Jen, unable to go through with it and refusing to believe that she is gone. He tries to talk her back. He does everything he can think of to bring her back and, for a moment, it almost works. He almost gets through...but Jen orders the Darkwing to kill him before he can go any farther and maybe, just maybe, succeed.

Of course Jyren is taken by surprise. The Darkwing gets the jump on him when he's pretty much at his weakest...and that's the point. He had to be defenseless to bring her back. To show her he wasn't going to fight. That maybe he had grown from his mistakes and wasn't going to make another by just giving up on someone that had saved his life more than once. But she took advantage of what some call weakness, and the Darkwing got the better of him.

And yet, despite all of that, he did succeed. The Darkwing tore him to pieces, yes, but the Emperor did the same to Luke. Vader watched his son being killed just as Jen watched her friend behind killed. Luke begged his father to help. Jyren did, too...but he didn't ask for help, he told her that he had a son. That, alone, was a sign that he had changed. Vader stepped in and killed the Emperor, his master, to save his son. Jen stepped in and killed the Darkwing, he creation for revenge, to save Jyren.

As for the mechanics side of things, that first hit on Jyren is definitely a critical. It was left vague in the description but the creature had pretty much torn open his stomach. Caught flat-footed, but not only that, trying to talk Jen down. Jen was more important than the Darkwing was, and he was willing to put his life on the line to save her from the Dark Side. if that's being a loser then...well...he's a loser. 



> Looks like Jyren finally got the closure he needed with Mare. Hopefully it will make him less petulant in the future.




Now now, would it be any fun at all if he grew up?


----------



## Krafus

Darn, I didn't intend to have you write a near chapter with your answer. 



> Maybe its not by his own power, and maybe its from the help of the Force or others, but what's the problem with that?




The problem is that he then comes across as incapable of winning any tough battle on his own, further adding to his aura of ineptness. It also removes tension from the battle; the reader knows in advance that Jyren will lose, getting beat up in the process, and some outside factor will intervene and allow him to win.

Another thing I've noticed is that Jyren appears unable or unwilling to learn self-control. After chapter 336, he's practically still as lacking in self-confidence and control - and wits - as at the beginning of the story. He still blurts out stupid things on a regular basis. He might be a little more stable emotionally... but he still puts his foot in his mouth all too frequently. His heart is in the right place, no doubt. But his brain... one would think a few neurons would have developed during the course of the story.

As to the physical aspect of their relationship, as I've said, I wouldn't want you to put in anything that would be inappropriate for this board. But I've read other Story Hours that did go a little farther than you have, and I thought the tale was the better for it. You're right that spelling every little thing can ruin a story, but IMO a few more signs of physical affection between them would enhance it and make their relationship feel more real.

I admit, part of the reason I'm arguing this is that I'm fed up with what I see as the blatant hypocrisy of too many fantasy authors (and of a seemingly large part of the US population, judging by the Nipplegate), who give readers blood and gore by the wagonload but shy away from anything sexual. So feel free to call me biased and ignore my argument.

As to Jyren vs. Jen... Yes, I see and understand the RotJ parallel, but it was frustrating to see Jyren _finally_ winning all by himself, only to throw it away and get torn to shreds as usual. Also, I admit that given Jen's state, I didn't think "I have a son!" would be enough to make her decide to reject the Dark Side.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Krafus said:
			
		

> Darn, I didn't intend to have you write a near chapter with your answer.




If you can't tell, I love it. 



> The problem is that he then comes across as incapable of winning any tough battle on his own, further adding to his aura of ineptness. It also removes tension from the battle; the reader knows in advance that Jyren will lose, getting beat up in the process, and some outside factor will intervene and allow him to win.




Technically, he defeated the first Darkwing(Shadow, that is) all by himself without outside help coming in. Jyren vs. Voort wasn't realy a win, per se, but he wasn't losing the entire fight, either. In fact, that fight was pretty much even. Also, Ket wasn't killed by outside help and, in fact, it was Jyren himself that ended that AFTER working with Marix the whole fight.

Those were the important moments that Jyren was involved in(beyond the Jen thing, as that was gone over already). Each of them, he was definitely keeping up. If anything help him back in any(the latter two, especially) it was his own doubts or refusal to kill. Note that he came to the conclusion that he was not going to kill Voort. He was going to find another way to end it. He failed to. Then comes Jen, a similar situation...and he did find another way. He stopped fighting.

Most of the times Jyren gets beaten down is when he's plowing through extremely dangerous mooks.  Its usually accompanied with him not TRYING to fight as much as trying to get somewhere, so his focus is on say...running. Most of them are also prolonged and, in a sense, its the attrition that wears him down more than the single fights.



> Another thing I've noticed is that Jyren appears unable or unwilling to learn self-control. After chapter 336, he's practically still as lacking in self-confidence and control - and wits - as at the beginning of the story. He still blurts out stupid things on a regular basis. He might be a little more stable emotionally... but he still puts his foot in his mouth all too frequently. His heart is in the right place, no doubt. But his brain... one would think a few neurons would have developed during the course of the story.




To be honest, Jyren does get a bad image on the thinking end of things. Despite the constant comments about him being an idiot, he does show that he can plan and act on those plans, and he does make some smart decisions many times over. Everyone says stupid things, some of us more than others. Jyren just has a habit of looking after he's leaped. Impulsive? Yeah. Stupid? Not really. He does consider consequences, its just that he does so very quickly and usually writes them off as not as important.

Besides, it wasn't Marix, alone, that figured out what Ket was up to...or where Jen was going...etc. 



> As to the physical aspect of their relationship, as I've said, I wouldn't want you to put in anything that would be inappropriate for this board. But I've read other Story Hours that did go a little farther than you have, and I thought the tale was the better for it. You're right that spelling every little thing can ruin a story, but IMO a few more signs of physical affection between them would enhance it and make their relationship feel more real.




I think on this point it really is just a difference in point of view. I have no problem with sex in stories or anything like that. Its as much a part of life as anything else. But I don't believe that sex is the only way to show physical attraction or to show a physical relationship. There are instances throughout the entire story, long before Jyren and Marix started to accept things. For a person like Marix, who is very uncomfortable with any kind of physical contact beyond fighting, a hand on the shoulder is enough to send her into a panic...an embrace is even harder to really understand for her, and something as simple as a kiss even moreso.

So seeing any of those things, especially when Marix is the one acting first, is a very strong sign of physical affection. Its not about being afraid to show sex or anything like that, its just that there is a relative difference in how people are. The signs of their affection are there through pretty much the entirety of the story, but its different than one might expect. It isn't what's considered the norm. Course, neither of them are normal at all.

They're also, whether Jyren likes it or not, not human...and so 'real' is hard to put correctly. Maybe they're relationship doesn't seem as real for a human, but humans doesn't have the deep connection that Jyren and Marix share. Humans can't even get close to it. The link that the two of them share throws a wrench in things, as they are quite literally one person. They share everything, and that's why Marix always hates how attached to words Jyren is. They don't need words. They don't have to show each other how much they love one another, as they can feel it all of the time. Like I said, this doesn't mean sex isn't there or isn't a part of their relationship, but its definitely not of the same level as their connection to one another.



> As to Jyren vs. Jen... Yes, I see and understand the RotJ parallel, but it was frustrating to see Jyren _finally_ winning all by himself, only to throw it away and get torn to shreds as usual. Also, I admit that given Jen's state, I didn't think "I have a son!" would be enough to make her decide to reject the Dark Side.




Maybe fighting and winning by himself wasn't right, though. 

In fact, I would argue that Jyren was losing. He entered into a fight, a lightsaber duel, with someone he cared a great deal about and knew couldn't match him. But he still fought. He still stepped in without thinking. If he wasn't able to control himself(important!), he could have killed her. He has instincts when it comes to fights like that that Jen never developed. If he had let his instincts take control of him like in a fight of the caliber he had with Voort, she would have been killed in a quick strike. That would have been more of a mistake than anything else he had done. Anything.

But Jyren realized that. His mind caught up to his actions and he was able to stop himself, to step back and try to do what he should have done the entire time. Get his friend back. He shouldn't have fought her. Standing down and leaving himself open was the first time he truly did something like a Jedi should do, and he did his best to bring his friend back to the Light.

No, it didn't work immediately. But his words did have a strong affect on her. So much so that she couldn't listen anymore and had to send the Darkwing to do what she had been trying to do before, since the Darkwing couldn't be talked out of killing him. Alone, "I have a son" wouldn't be enough. But the thought processes were already in motion, and that one thing, coupled with seeing the Darkwing about to finally kill him, was enough.

The most heroic thing Jyren did up to that point was refusing to fight her any longer. All of that lack of thinking, acting childish, and lack of control was gone.  It nearly cost him his life, and it did cost him Jen's...but she did come back. The most important thing I've always taken from Star Wars is that no one is ever too far gone. Jyren never attempted to bring anyone back until Jen. He fought and killed so many others because that's just what you did. Heroes kill people and save the day. But what had slowly started with Voort finally came together when Jyren was confronted by Jen. He always wanted to be a Jedi, and that was the moment that he was.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 461: Surprise Visit*

Tobias ducked.

A rock flew over his head from behind, then stopped a meter in front of him at roughly eye level. He then glanced to where Master Ral stood near the tree line to see the Omwati had a smile on his face, “Well done, Tobias.”

They were outside in the large open area before the trees of the jungle took over the Great Temple. There were various other apprentices in different training exercises all around, and, thankfully, the sky was clear save for the usual orange mass that was the gas giant, Yavin. It had been a long hour of dodging debris, but Tobias had gotten the hang of it. He was finally getting good at letting the Force alert him to danger.

Taking a few steps over to him, Master Ral picked the rock out of the air where it hung and then looked to Tobias, “I see you don’t have any bruises.”

He did, however, take a few hits. Tobias nodded, “I...remorphed them as I went. They were easy.”

The Jedi Master leveled a critical look on his apprentice, “Are you sure you can handle that?”

Tobias managed to nod, though there wasn’t a lot of confidence on his face, “I have to. It is...who I am. If I am going to succeed as a Jedi, I have to be an Alraxian, too.”

“You still have a long way to go in your training, Tobias. However, you are already starting to understand that being a Jedi is more than combat. I am proud of you,” Master Ral put a hand on Tobias’ shoulder and smiled, “Eventually, we will find a way to teach you control.”

The smile hinted to Tobias something about that comment, and through the Force, he confirmed it. To show he understood, Tobias laughed and nodded, “You are in a good mood today, Master.”

A sound above them caught their attention. Ships arriving was really nothing new, but most of them were freighters or other transports coming and going. The sound they could hear, though, was very distinct. And, looking up, the shape of an X-Wing could be seen careening down towards the Temple.

While Tobias was no expert on all of the Jedi in the Order, he did know that very few flew X-Wings. Suddenly curious, he turned to Master Ral, “Who is that?”

The Omwati was also looking up, studying the shape of the ship as it came down closer into view. The underside of the starfighter was scorched and it was obvious the poor ship had been through its fair share of fights. But there were no identifying marks on it. As the sound of the ship grew louder and it came in over the trees, a few of the younger students moved from the center of the clearing so as not to be run over as the starfighter landed in the hangar.

“I do not recognize it,” Master Ral said as the starfighter made its slow entrance into the hangar.

Tobias was curious. He wanted to go see who it was, having a feeling that it was someone important. He’d yet to meet Master Skywalker, not to mention seeing the leader of the Order.

Noticing this interest that Tobias had, Master Ral motioned towards the hangar, “Let us go see.”

A grin on his face, Tobias headed to the hangar with his Master. With the X-Wing now having set down off to the side, the usual activity was returning to the area that had been quickly cleared for it to make its landing. Catching sight of the broad shouldered, Master Solusar heading towards the X-Wing from another direction, Tobias got even more curious.

The Jedi Master also noticed he and Master Ral, stopping to wait for them to get close enough before saying, “Just the person I was hoping to find.”

“Huh?” Tobias then realized that Master Solusar was looking at him, not the Omwati next to him.

“Come on,” the human didn’t give any more clues as to what that meant, and Tobias looked to Master Ral...finding no help from him, either. So, he just fell into step, heading over to the X-Wing, which had its canopy open now and the pilot was climbing out.

The pilot, orange flightsuit and all, dropped to the hangar deck just as they approached. Tobias noticed that the helmet had an odd shape...two large sections at the top. He then realized that there were two, blue tails coming out from it. A Twi’lek. A blue skinned Twi’lek that was just a bit shorter than he was and taking of her helmet with a smile on her face.

“Heya, Toby,” Rea let the then glanced up and, before the canopy could close, tossed the helmet back into the cockpit.

Tobias just stared. Jyren’s former wingmate, Rea, was the very last person he’d expected to climb out of that ship. He was, therefore, completely lost as to what to say.

Master Solusar seemed to notice this, and added in a little explanation, “Apparently, your friend here came to check up on how you were doing, Tobias.”

“Huh...?” Toby looked to the Jedi Master with a confused look, then back to the Twi’lek, who was grinning at him, “Check up on how I’m doing?”

She shrugged, “Captain...your father wanted me to look after you. I got a little bit of leave and decided to keep my word.”

“Oh,” was the best Tobias could manage. He wasn’t good with people at all. People as friendly as Rea was didn’t help things, either. He’d technically only met her once before, but she seemed like the kind of person who was pretty much always in a good mood. Not to mention that she seemed to enjoy watching him in these confused states.

“You said there was something else,” Master Solusar cut in, his voice a bit more serious now.

The happy look on Rea’s face quickly washed away and she nodded, “It’s a long flight out here from the Core. Had to take the long way to avoid the Vong...and I got some updates on the progress of the war.”

“From your tone, I do not expect that you have good news,” that was Master Ral, who was standing back being his usual calm, collected, and quiet self.

Rea shook her head, sending one of her lekku off her shoulder and behind her, “There’s a rumour that the higher ups are trying to confirm...that the Hutts have signed a treaty with the Vong,” she paused a moment to let that sink in, as the implications of what that meant would have been obvious to anyone but Toby, “Gyndine has been attacked, too, and it looks like it’s a setup for an assault on Bothawui or Corellia.”

Tobias recognized those last two planets and understood what that meant. Still, he kept silent, unsure of what to say about it. Master Solusar, though, seemed to have gone over this quickly, “The New Republic is preparing a defense fleet, of course.”

Rea bit her lip. After a moment, she sighed and shrugged again, “I was ordered to report to Bothawui in two days. I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, as I know some idiot higher ups don’t trust the Jedi for whatever reason, but they’re setting up a trap at Corellia. Lure them in, use the Centerpoint station to create a gravity well and hold the Vong there, and then jump in the fleet from Bothawui.”

The tall, human Jedi Master nodded. He obviously understood the anti-Jedi sentiment that was growing, though Tobias could tell he was glad that some still trusted them. Master Solusar then turned to look to Master Ral, “Have you ever been to Bothawui, Corentan?”

There was an implication in that question that Tobias didn’t miss. He didn’t get a chance to say anything, though, before Master Ral nodded, “About a year ago, yes. I must say, though, I was in a rush and did not have a chance to enjoy the planet.”

“Well, then maybe its time you got back,” Master Solusar smiled, bowed to them, then headed off.

Master Ral then turned to the Twi’lek who was standing there looking surprised and, at the same time, quite pleased, “I apologize. I am Corentan Ral. Though it seems you already know Tobias.”

Rea smiled and nodded her head, “Rea’tin Lor. I am glad to see that this kid’s in good hands.”

“Thank you,” Master Ral bowed, then said to both of them, “I must arrange for a transport. Be ready to leave as soon as possible, Tobias.”

Before he could react, Master Ral left.

Tobias watched the Jedi Master walk off, then turned to stare blankly at Rea, “What...what just happened?”

For a moment, she just grinned at him. But then, Rea burst into laughter. Tobias just stood there completely lost before she finally calmed herself down enough to put a hand on his shoulder, turn him around, and push him forward, “Looks like you’re coming to Bothawui,” she patted him gently, then added, “How about you show me where to get some actual food around here and I’ll try to walk you through all of that.”


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## Krafus

> Technically, he defeated the first Darkwing(Shadow, that is) all by himself without outside help coming in. Jyren vs. Voort wasn't realy a win, per se, but he wasn't losing the entire fight, either. In fact, that fight was pretty much even. Also, Ket wasn't killed by outside help and, in fact, it was Jyren himself that ended that AFTER working with Marix the whole fight.




Against Voort it was made clear that Voort was a bit better. As for Ket, Jyren used an ability he'd never before displayed - a kind of deus ex machina. Anyway, as I've said before, the impression I got through the majority of Jyren's fights was that he just couldn't win by himself.



> Impulsive? Yeah. Stupid? Not really. He does consider consequences, its just that he does so very quickly and usually writes them off as not as important.




Sorry, but after so many times of acting rashly and seeing the negative consquences - and not even trying to change his behavior - I'd shift him from the "impulsive" to the "impulsive and stupid" column.



> Like I said, this doesn't mean sex isn't there or isn't a part of their relationship, but its definitely not of the same level as their connection to one another.




Okay, okay, I give up. Given your explanations, the way you've written their relationship is consistent. I wish it delved a little more on the physical side, but of course that's your choice.



> The most important thing I've always taken from Star Wars is that no one is ever too far gone.




Not even Palpatine? 



> Jyren never attempted to bring anyone back until Jen. He fought and killed so many others because that's just what you did. Heroes kill people and save the day. But what had slowly started with Voort finally came together when Jyren was confronted by Jen. He always wanted to be a Jedi, and that was the moment that he was.




All right, he did well according to his beliefs and motivations. I just don't think I could ever lower my guard that way... Or resist the temptation to strike the final blow if I'm winning.

You know, I've looked at my posts, and the more I think about it, the more I believe that in the Star Wars universe I'd be a ruthless Dark Sider.


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## DethStryke

Krafus broke the silence! Oh Noes!   

As you may surmise from the few times I've chimed in, I have been reading this from the start. I found it primarily as I was searching for any SW Story Hour I could find as I was starting a SW table-top game myself and like to do as much research as I can of other examples. This is the only Star Wars story hour that I've found that has gotten regular updates and has a good quality of writing. Period. 

In my perspective, the story has unfolded from a table-top RPG quite directly. Many of the things Krafus mentions would be true for novels, but not always true of player's actions in a Table-top game. I had not reached anything that didn't seem plausible from that perspective, so I have not really analyzed the story very deeply.

One of the important parts of Star Wars in my opinion is that it is Space Opera - kind of a pop-corn movie theory.  In that vein, this story delivers. No offense but I'm not expecting A Game of Thrones over here, either.

My biggest beef is that some of the entries really could use an editor. 
Of course, that's _such_ a big problem that I had to rush in after two+ years to mention it...

In closing, let me say that if Jyren doesn't show the hell back up soon there's going to be a riot.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Krafus said:
			
		

> Against Voort it was made clear that Voort was a bit better. As for Ket, Jyren used an ability he'd never before displayed - a kind of deus ex machina. Anyway, as I've said before, the impression I got through the majority of Jyren's fights was that he just couldn't win by himself.




True, Voort was a bit better but overall it was even. Still, hard to say with the way that one ended. Not sure I'd count the Dark Side as a deus ex machina, though.

Though it is true that, in most cases, Jyren does have his fair share of trouble. I think one thing I remember from Marix's player that she said to me rings too true with it, though, "I do so love to watch your squirm."

There was also something about winding them up, too. 



> Sorry, but after so many times of acting rashly and seeing the negative consquences - and not even trying to change his behavior - I'd shift him from the "impulsive" to the "impulsive and stupid" column.




Heh, point taken. Have to say, I can't wait for you to get to the end of Part V and see how you react to that. Methinks it shall be interesting.



> Okay, okay, I give up. Given your explanations, the way you've written their relationship is consistent. I wish it delved a little more on the physical side, but of course that's your choice.




I do hope it doesn't come across as me arguing a point, though knowing me it does. I'm really just trying to do my best to show you where this is coming from.



> Not even Palpatine?




TECHNICALLY, not even Palpatine. Course, there are mitigating circumstances but hey, a Jedi is supposed to follow the will of the Force. At some point, that becomes hard to achieve, hence the need to kill certain evils, Palpatine and his Sith ilk. But, when it comes down to it, a Jedi is REALLY supposed to try and save them. If that fails, then killing is the last ditch effort for the greater good and all that...but, following the ideal, having to kill IS a failure in itself.



> All right, he did well according to his beliefs and motivations. I just don't think I could ever lower my guard that way... Or resist the temptation to strike the final blow if I'm winning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lowering his guard was definitely stupid. But hey.  Its resisting that temptation that is important to a Jedi, and for Jyren, at least, its that much easier when its someone he knows as well as Jen.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You know, I've looked at my posts, and the more I think about it, the more I believe that in the Star Wars universe I'd be a ruthless Dark Sider.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> hehe. To be honest, I think most people would be.
> 
> 
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> 
> DethStryke said:
> 
> 
> 
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> Krafus broke the silence! Oh Noes!
> 
> Click to expand...
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> 
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> THE WORLD IS ENDING!!!! RUN!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had not reached anything that didn't seem plausible from that perspective, so I have not really analyzed the story very deeply.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Have to say that I still think its interesting to think too hard about it.
> 
> 
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> 
> No offense but I'm not expecting A Game of Thrones over here, either.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Going to partially harm my geek cred here but...GOOD, I never liked Game of Thrones.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My biggest beef is that some of the entries really could use an editor.
> Of course, that's such a big problem that I had to rush in after two+ years to mention it...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> You are sure not kidding on that. I go back and look at older stuff for various reasons and nearly kill myself with the stupid mistakes that pop in. Course, I never can bring myself to edit this stuff. Almost too much work and the point seems to get across well enough. If it doesn't, yell at me.
> 
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> 
> 
> In closing, let me say that if Jyren doesn't show the hell back up soon there's going to be a riot.
> 
> Click to expand...
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> Oh, come now. He's been showing up consistently, thankyouverymuch. On the other hand, I've got my defense fortress built and am ready for the riot.
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


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## Krafus

Just made it to the end of chapter 379 at the bottom of page 12...

I have to say I'm enjoying the story more now than I was before. Maybe it's the fact that you've linked your story to the Vong invasion, and thus that the story is now as much about the Vong invasion than Jyren and Mirax.I enjoyed the alternating between Jyren and Mirax chapters, especially when you left on a cliffhanger.

Some more thoughts about the Alraxian Empire - the more I read about it, the more it looks like a house of cards that will collapse at the faintest breeze. It's a wonder Alraxia became the head of an empire considering how pacifistic its inhabitants are. Also, the Tam'Day'U, the planet's most able defenders, being treated like dirt up until Mirax's reforms... Stupid. And while I can understand why living ships wouldn't like weapons incorporated into their bodies, they're going to be in real trouble should the Vong or any other species with heavy firepower decide to invade.

Speaking of the Vong, you managed to reproduce the aura of unknown but powerful threat they had at the beginning of the NJO. I've never liked that the Vong's coralskippers were more agile than even A-Wings... But hey, the Japanese had better planes than the Americans when they started fighting in WWII.

Also, I've just thought of something... If Jyren's lightsaber is human-sized - as it must be since it was his mother's - then wouldn't it be a rather short weapon for a three meter-tall Alraxian?


----------



## DethStryke

Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> Going to partially harm my geek cred here but...GOOD, I never liked Game of Thrones.



Bleh, I would hardly consider it geek cred related. I hate the LotR books. That is well worse on the "geek cred" scale.   

The point of the comparison is that GoT is a highly in-depth, muli-tiered writing style. I think this SH is pleasantly deep, but there are usually not much more than 2-3 plot threads at any time which are strung more-or-less in a linear fashion. GoT is a bazillion threads which are woven together randomly in every direction into what ends up looking like a huge ball of twine.  Good/Bad considerations never factor into this in my mind - it's just a totally different style technically speaking.

As with movies: you don't watch a documentary-style super drama when you're in the mood for an action flick. Perhaps an even better way of putting it: If I wanted to laugh, I would not watch Shindler's List or Children of Men. You have to match the style and content with what you're interested in watching (reading).




			
				Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> You are sure not kidding on that. I go back and look at older stuff for various reasons and nearly kill myself with the stupid mistakes that pop in. Course, I never can bring myself to edit this stuff. Almost too much work and the point seems to get across well enough. If it doesn't, yell at me.



Hence why I have never said anything. I've noticed because I occasionally do editing and a fair bit of writing, but I have yet to not be able to figure out what you meant after a quick pass or two.



			
				Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> Oh, come now. He's been showing up consistently, thankyouverymuch.



Smarty-pants.    

I'm keeping spoiler-free for Krafus, but if I were in reaching distance you'd get a No. 9 boot to the tail for that one.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 462: A Little Help*

The city was burning and the streets were littered with bodies. Humans, Bothans, Duros, Twi’leks, Mon Calamari, Quarren, at least a few Wookies, and Yuuzhan Vong corpses made it hard for an injured Rulae Nok to backtrack and hopefully get back to where what was left of his new command had gone to. On the way, he’d run into pair of Vong and managed to come up behind them and taken them both down with a quick burst of blaster fire...but before the second warrior dropped, he launched a beetle-like creature at him.

Rulae had ducked, but the buzzing thing whipped past his head, then actually turned around before slicing through his right shoulder as it came back. Thankfully, though, the creature hit the ground after and didn’t move again. Apparently it just wanted to draw some blood. He had cursed it, and continued forward towards the mostly-destroyed center of the city, his left hand gripping the wound on his shoulder to limit the bleeding while he right tried to hold the weight of the blaster rifle. This was ignoring the fact that he was still limping thanks to the amphistaff’s poison. At least he was alive.

And then, strewn across the street amongst the rest of the debris, Rulae found what he had been looking for. Two bodies, clad in the armour that identified them as New Republic soldiers.  One of the men was face down, his armour scorched, cut, and eaten away by some kind of acid. The red puddle under his head made Rulae decide not to turn the body over to have a look. But he didn’t need to. He knew it was one of them, because the human body next to him was face up. His helmet was shattered, face left cut in two places, but it looked as if the deep wound in his chest had been what had killed the poor kid.

The gore of all of the bodies Rulae was seeing, especially these two, was jarring. As a pilot, he had the luxury of not having to see the faces of the kids when they were killed. The fireball that accompanied the screams over the comm were terrible, yes, but he was able to accept it much more easily without having to see them...like this.

A sound of movement in front of him caused Rulae to look up again to see a group of six Vong rounding a corner at a larger intersection. They were coming straight for him, too. He raised his blaster as best he could considering the shoulder injury and squeezed off a quick series of shots from his kneeling position.

Two of the shots hit one Vong square in the chest...but they didn’t take him down. He was wearing some of that damned armour! It was at least as strong as plasteel and looked like a giant grab wrapped around the upper body of the massive humanoids. Thankfully, though, his third shot was high and caught the same Vong in the face. That brought him down.

Of course, there were still five others coming straight for him, amphistaves raised and ready to come down in a few seconds. Rulae knew he couldn’t move fast enough, and so instead just held down the trigger on his rifle and let loose another volley in the hopes that it would do some good.

A deafening and distinct sound echoed to Rulae and the ground under the Vong suddenly erupted. He quickly shielded his face, but found that nothing but dust came down. Looking back up, the bodies of the Vong were scattered across the street. Rulae got to his feet as he heard a distinct mechanical sound getting closer, and then, around the same corner came a two-legged AT-ST. Its top hatch was open and a human in a New Republic Army uniform was half visible, a blaster in one hand and a pair of electrobinoculars in the other.

The officer that was visible seemed to quickly catch sight of Rulae, and called out, “Need a lift?”

Rulae smiled, though he doubted that could be seen, and nodded, “I wouldn’t complain. Looks like you had those Vong on the run. Haven’t heard of that before.”

The AT-ST walker took a few steps to where he was, and a long wire slowly dropped from its head to take him up. As it came down, he heard the voice of the human yell down to him, “I don’t think they were running from us, actually.”

Not liking that, Rulae looked over his shoulder. Rulae had never seen that many Vong before, but there were enough to completely fill the street. Not to mention that he could see enough black dots heading his direction to really not like it at all. Quickly, Rulae reached up and latched onto the cord that had been dropped for him. Immediately, it started rising up and taking him with it.

As he was going up, the twin-cannons on the walker’s chin lit up, firing loud salvos of blaster bolts into the approaching Vong formation. Rulae didn’t see the effect that the shots had, as he was up to the top and being helped inside by the officer. Once he was in, the hatch at the top was closed and four of them were crammed inside the small cockpit with only the two small windows in front to see through.

A loud series of thuds and pangs echoed through the cockpit and suddenly one of the pilots cried out. The other three turned to see a Vong thud-bug squarely in the man’s face, having gone straight through his half-helmet. Next to Rulae, the officer growled, “Seal those ports now!”

The remaining pilot did so quickly, the two small hatches quickly closed over the two windows that provided view for the pilots. The officer then got up and pulled the now-dead pilot out of his seat and took it instead. He sighed and then looked back to Rulae, “Can you help us out? These things weren’t designed to be piloted on instruments only.”

Letting go of his blaster rifle, finally, Rulae stepped over between the two seats and asked, “What can I do?”

The other pilot pointed to a series of consoles that was in between them, “Concussion grenade launcher and the side laser cannon. Left is the grenades and right is the lasers. Should be able to fire those based on the sensors.”

“Right,” Rulae then knelt down between the two seats and looked over the systems. They were similar enough to starfighter consoles that he could figure it out easily enough. As he familiarized himself with the controls, he could hear the main chin-gun still firing and asked, “Where are we going?”

“The transports in the east need cover so we’re heading that way,” the officer said.

“And this city is lost,” the pilot commented quietly.

He was right. There was a whole planet to defend and this one city was definitely gone. Hopefully they could help in other places. So they headed forward, back down the way that Rulae had come, but this time with serious firepower. He hated not being able to physically see what they were firing at, but he was very thankful for the extra few layers of armour of the AT-ST. It was also nice to be off his leg.

Rulae just hoped that they would be able to make it out in one piece.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 463: The Other Half*

“How many in your employ work for the Peace Brigade?” the question was direct, pointed, and also a very dangerous one to ask. But Marix had a way with words, and knew exactly how to talk with the scum of the galaxy. She showed no apprehension and made sure to keep an air of strength around her, using Venda, who was under claw and foot still, to her advantage that way.

Gorla’s jovial mood seemed to have passed, as his two large eyes narrowed and he responded with a question of his own, “Why would that matter to you?”

“Why isn’t important, Gorla,” Marix growled, “But thank you for answering truthfully.”

The fact that the question seemed to make him nervous meant that a great many of his men did...if not Gorla, too. She had him now. Now it was a matter of pushing hard enough without getting the Hutt so angry that he’d simply kill her. That meant she couldn’t be too threatening. Instead...she had to use a different angle.

Marix tilted her head up so that she was looking down her nose towards Gorla, “My organization has had its borders violated by Peace Brigade ships. We have allowed them to come and go for our own reasons but we will no longer tolerate it. I was sent to put a stop to this, one way or another. I would prefer this matter be settled peacefully...I believe you would agree with me.”

A long, slow look was leveled on her from Gorla. He was trying to read her; trying to see if she had been bluffing. Marix was no fool. She had kept some truth in the lie, enough that it might just prove to be real. The kink in her current plan, though, was if Gorla did decide to negotiate...she would have to tell him where this violation occurred. She would have to shown him where the Gateway was.

She realized how stupid that was, walking herself into a corner like that. It was a stupid slipup and now it was too late. Marix had cornered herself and...and what bothered her the most about it is that it was something she never did! Jyren had done that constantly because he didn’t think ahead, just going with things as they went. Marix realized, then, that she had been doing exactly that since she’d left Alraxia. She’d not planned ahead at all. It was why she had bounced from target to target with no real destination.

There was no destination.

There was just some damned loose connection of occurrences and she was following them like she was blind! Running around the galaxy when her children were back on Alraxia traumatized because their father was dead.

That was it.

He was dead.

She hadn’t accepted it and simply had...gone on. Their link had been cut off so many times that it was easy to convince herself that he was alive, somewhere. He’d do what he always did and show up late to the party, but at the same time exactly when he needed to show up. It wouldn’t make any sense...it never did, but he’d be there. And as Marix looked at the disgusting Hutt in front of her, she realized that Jyren wouldn’t be there. That he was really, truly gone. That running around the galaxy like he would without someone to guide her around, as she had always done for him, would not bring him back. Nothing would.

Nothing would bring Jyren back.

Nothing in the galaxy could make things the way they were again. Marix’s other half was gone. Jyren had been a moral compass, of sorts, for her. Idealistic and stupid to the end, but he saw things in a way she couldn’t. He always tried to do what was right, no matter what obstacles were in the way. He was so...different than she was. And yet, they balanced one another perfectly. Her faults were his strengths, and his faults were her strengths. And he was gone.

Marix was accustomed to death. Everyone close to her seemed to die suddenly, and this only added to why she had become so internal. What was the point in becoming close to someone if they were just going to die and leave her worse for wear after?  But...but Jyren wasn’t just another person. From the moment she’d brought him back in a new body, he was a part of her. And now she wondered what was the point of any of this. She was half of a person now...and had charged across the galaxy trying to find that other half but now, finally, realizing it wasn’t possible.

The Force broke in, alerting her to movement behind her. Marix did not turn her head to look. That was it. She had pushed the Hutt too far. Blasters were being drawn and aimed at her all around. The two Trandoshan next to her had withdrawn large vibroblades. The worst part of it all was that Marix had been so distracted that she had not detected the signal that was obviously given.

Reacting quickly, she shifted her foot from Venda’s back to the ground, and yanked the Jedi woman up to her feet before letting go of her, extending her claws, and spinning to the side to slash the nearest Trandoshan across the face. He cried in pain, hissing like a snake as the claw slash blinded him, and Marix’s other hand grabbed the reptilian’s wrist, snapped it, then snatched the vibroblade out of his hand when his large claws let go of it.

It had only take a second, and she now spun to use her newly-acquired weapon on the other Trandoshan. A loud snap-hiss caught her attention and by the time she had turned to strike, a bright green slash nearly blinded her vision. The green-white light faded into the darkness and Venda stood there, lightsaber in hand and an angry look on her face.

Marix met her gaze, knowing there wasn’t time for conversation. Because of this, all she said was, “We settle this once we’re out.”

That was about the time the rest of the Hutt’s lackeys fired their blasters. But they were ready.

Marix was ready.

For a disturbing few moments, she had wondered why she should go on. Marix had wondered what the point of living half of a life was. But the moment passed, and an answer came. The reason was simple. There were two of them. They were on Alraxia. They were scared. They were alone. And now, more than ever, they needed her.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Krafus said:
			
		

> Just made it to the end of chapter 379 at the bottom of page 12...
> 
> I have to say I'm enjoying the story more now than I was before. Maybe it's the fact that you've linked your story to the Vong invasion, and thus that the story is now as much about the Vong invasion than Jyren and Mirax.I enjoyed the alternating between Jyren and Mirax chapters, especially when you left on a cliffhanger.




Glad to hear you're enjoing it more. 

Though I have to point out something...Marix. Not Mirax. She was a smuggler, but isn't the daughter of a smuggler with a Star Destroyer...nor is she married to a Jedi/Pilot/former CorSec officer. Though I can see the comparison. And now I feel the need to drag my X-Wing books off the shelf again!



> Some more thoughts about the Alraxian Empire - the more I read about it, the more it looks like a house of cards that will collapse at the faintest breeze. It's a wonder Alraxia became the head of an empire considering how pacifistic its inhabitants are. Also, the Tam'Day'U, the planet's most able defenders, being treated like dirt up until Mirax's reforms... Stupid. And while I can understand why living ships wouldn't like weapons incorporated into their bodies, they're going to be in real trouble should the Vong or any other species with heavy firepower decide to invade.




Like I said before...smart observations.

The real key to the Alraxian Empire's survival is pretty much soley a result of their isolation from the galaxy. With, essentially, one hyperspace route to the entire sector of space, they don't HAVE to worry about outside invasions beyond the Mrrakesh. Internal problems were solved millenia ago, hence the different species within the Empire being no problem at all or a reason to worry about uprising.

The Mrrakesh are the only real wrench in it all. The key to them not invading is that they're essentially the polar opposite of the Alraxian Empire. Where the Alraxians(and the other species within the Empire, though to a lesser extent) are a sort of hivemind and united very firmly. The Mrrakesh, on the other hand, are much more like the rest of the galaxy. They're very individualistic and their entire society is based on the strong taking what they can. In a sense, its a hyper-capitalist society. And because of this, they don't really band together at all to take the Alraxian Empire(not to mention not knowing the location of Alraxia for thousands of years). One group couldn't do it.

Now...if for some reason the Mrrakesh ARE united and brought together by a strong leader(they do have an elected leader, though the power he holds is completely dependant on the strength of the leader), THEN they become a major threat to the Alraxians.

Course, Alraxia isn't COMPLETELY defenseless. Their reason for development to the point they have reached is thanks to the help of the Jendari, who are an EXTREMELY powerful and advanced race. They're the strong pacifists, and have been the ones to help the Alraxians grow since they were created and pushed them to the same ideal. But the Jendari have protected the Alraxians before(the ancient Darkwing Wars), which means they are capable of stepping in if necessary.



> Speaking of the Vong, you managed to reproduce the aura of unknown but powerful threat they had at the beginning of the NJO. I've never liked that the Vong's coralskippers were more agile than even A-Wings... But hey, the Japanese had better planes than the Americans when they started fighting in WWII.




Hopefully I can keep that up. 

While a lot of people hated the NJO, I loved it. Probably some of the love is because I've always been a huge fan of Jacen Solo(and I should also mention that _Traitor_ is probably the best Star Wars novel I've read...and reread...and reread...etc), but there's something about the Vong that I always enjoyed.

I especially love how similar they are to Alraxians, while being completely different at the same time. The whole 'living things as technology' that they both have going and their aversion to metal(for different reasons).  In a way, the Vong are what the Alraxians could have been without the guidance of the Jendari.



> Also, I've just thought of something... If Jyren's lightsaber is human-sized - as it must be since it was his mother's - then wouldn't it be a rather short weapon for a three meter-tall Alraxian?




...technically, yes.

Though lightsabers are usually big enough to be comfortably held in a two-handed grip for human-sized beings. They would be a bit small, but it wouldn't be too much different from say, a Wookie with a lightsaber. Two handed grip would be hard to do, but it wouldn't be a problem to weild a lightsaber in one hand.



			
				DethStryke said:
			
		

> ...but if I were in reaching distance you'd get a No. 9 boot to the tail for that one.


----------



## Krafus

Well, I've caught up with the latest updates...

Wow. Didn't expect that Jyren would have to sacrifice himself. Especially when it seemed he was finally starting to mature. Ah well.

Looks like you've replaced him with Rulae and Tobias' POVs. I have to say I'm really enjoying Tobias' POV - I like to see Jedi training. His Master is also an interesting character, and I hope you'll develop him in upcoming updates. I also hope Tobias will develop a particular skill of his own, like Marix's rapid regeneration.

Speaking of Marix, I know I've misspelled her name a number of times - and yes, I've read the X-Wing novels and know who Mirax Terrik (now Horn) is. But you have to admit, it's an easy mistake to make. Oh, and has Rea exceeded her leave time?

So the Alraxians' military weakness finally caught up to them. I could barely believe my eyes when I read the part about thirty Kanyaks attacking the Mrrakesh. That's all?! I thought to myself. In an Empire numbering billions, one would expect at least a few tens of thousands people able to fight at the very least. Hopefully the Jendari will be able to compensate for the Alraxians' weakness. Btw, did you model the Jendari on the Caamasi? The former reminds me of the latter, with the exception of the Jendari's military bent.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Krafus said:
			
		

> Well, I've caught up with the latest updates...
> 
> Wow. Didn't expect that Jyren would have to sacrifice himself. Especially when it seemed he was finally starting to mature. Ah well.




Well, we can't have Jyren being mature...had to cut that one off before it got dangerous for everyone. 



> Looks like you've replaced him with Rulae and Tobias' POVs. I have to say I'm really enjoying Tobias' POV - I like to see Jedi training. His Master is also an interesting character, and I hope you'll develop him in upcoming updates. I also hope Tobias will develop a particular skill of his own, like Marix's rapid regeneration.
> 
> Oh, and has Rea exceeded her leave time?




I'm glad you're enjoying Toby's stuff. My real worry with that is it could come across as the whole amazing kid syndrome that can take over too many things. But yes, Rulae(who I, personally, love), Toby, and Master Ral are going to be sticking around for a good long time. Same with Rea and most of the surviving Zephyrs. After so much time with it only being Jyren and Marix, its about time some others stepped into the picture.

...and yes, Rea has been gone a while. To be honest, though, the passage of time isn't exactly accurate throughout. So if she has been gone too long, it isn't by much.



> So the Alraxians' military weakness finally caught up to them. I could barely believe my eyes when I read the part about thirty Kanyaks attacking the Mrrakesh. That's all?! I thought to myself. In an Empire numbering billions, one would expect at least a few tens of thousands people able to fight at the very least. Hopefully the Jendari will be able to compensate for the Alraxians' weakness. Btw, did you model the Jendari on the Caamasi? The former reminds me of the latter, with the exception of the Jendari's military bent.




Technically, the Jendari aren't mine so I didn't create them/model them after the Caamasi. I can see the resemblance now that you mention it, though, but they're more the stereotypical 'wise, elder race' type. They're like most similar races in that they are peaceful and heart(hence pushing the Alraxians along that path), but at the same time they were around for the first Darkwing Wars...they know the value of defense. In a sense, its Jyren's mentality in an entire species: They will fight the fights to shield the other races in their care from having to be forced into the fights.


----------



## Krafus

> I'm glad you're enjoying Toby's stuff. My real worry with that is it could come across as the whole amazing kid syndrome that can take over too many things.




Don't worry about that. I've read about enough Mary Sues/Gary Stus to know Tobias isn't one. For one thing, he actually has to work to gain new powers, and is taking his share of bruises along the way, instead of having every shiny new thing and ability dumped into his lap in a tidy package. (If you ever want to read about a Mary Sue in a novel, I recommend, shuddering, Elizabeth Haydon's Symphony of Ages trilogy, where a woman named Rhapsody is the very incarnation of that cliché.)


----------



## Angcuru

Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> Well, we can't have Jyren being mature...had to cut that one off before it got dangerous for everyone.




Of course not!  One day, comprehending rational thought, the next....who knows?  *waves around crazy Jyren as Galactic Emperor picture that doesn't actually exist*


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 464: Choices*

It felt like it had been years since Tobias had seen hyperspace. But now he sat in a small shuttle next to Master Ral, staring out at the swirling, blue tunnel that seemed surprisingly unique every single time. Somewhere out there, not far from them, was Rea in her X-Wing. They had left Yavin IV not an hour earlier, heading for Bothawui to meet with the fleet that was, apparently, gathering there.

But something about that was bothering Tobias.

“You should rest,” Master Ral said quietly. 

Tobias turned to see that the Omwati Jedi Master had his eyes closed and, to everything he could tell, was asleep. But the latter was obviously not true. Sometimes Toby wondered if it was the fact that Ral was a Jedi Master or an Omwati that made him so hard to read. At first, he’d assumed it was the Omwati end of things, but the more he got to know the man, the more he started to think it was part of being a Jedi.

“Something is troubling you,” the Jedi Master said in the same voice, but this time opened his eyes.

Though there was no spoken question, Tobias could feel one being implied. He nodded and then did the intelligent thing and got straight to the point, “Master, what are we doing?”

Master Ral shifted slightly in his seat, adjusting the heavy robe he wore and then said in a matter-of-fact way, “To assist the New Republic.”

“Yes, but...” Toby sighed, knowing he should have expected this to be harder than just asking a rather vague question and getting the answer he wanted. So, after thinking it over quickly, he attempted a more direct approach, “We aren’t part of the military, though...and...isn’t this a Navy operation? What good are we to that?”

Tobias had a feeling that Master Ral knew what he was asking the first time. However, with this more specific question, the Jedi Master outwardly acknowledged the question’s depth, “You know there are Jedi among the fleet. They feel divided between Jedi and military allegiances. Despite this, they are Jedi. We are going to meet with one such Jedi that is stationed aboard one of the ships currently waiting at Bothawui. Beyond that, the Force will guide us.”

“But...” this next part Tobias was almost afraid to say. But when he noticed a change in his Master’s expression that showed a detection of this fear, Tobias quickly just said it, “But don’t they blame Jedi for Ithor? For...for not doing what they think we should be doing? For every little thing anyone can?”

A solemn expression passed over the blue face of his Master, who slowly nodded, “Times are tense, Tobias. You know that people will panic in times like these...as we were once protectors of the galaxy, we are an easy target for blame. But this does not mean we cannot help. Nor does it mean that the military will not accept our assistance.”

Tobias sighed, still not understanding, “But they hate us.”

“They do not understand us,” Master Ral corrected in his usual calm voice, “But how they feel towards us does not change what we must do...only how we go about it. If the commander aboard the fleet does not wish for our help or for us to board his ships to meet with our Jedi friend, then we will find more indirect ways to assist him...and we shall meet with our friend on the surface of the planet before the fleet leaves.”

It was hard to fight that. There was something disturbingly reasonable there. The logic was simple, but it made perfect sense. Still, it amazed Tobias that despite the current anti-Jedi bent that the galaxy, and the New Republic’s government, seemed to be taking, that the Jedi were willingly throwing themselves into the fight. He was unsure whether he could do that without the push from someone like Master Ral. Maybe that was why he was still an apprentice. Probably at least one part of that, at least, though he doubted that was the only reason.

Then an odd thought popped into Tobias’ mind. He started to find himself wanting to be back on Yavin IV. At least there he knew what to expect...mostly. But now he was heading into an unknown. Master Ral wouldn’t take him if he wasn’t ready, but that didn’t change how Tobias felt. He still lacked so many things that he knew a Jedi needed. And now he was going out to the rest of the war-torn galaxy, to a battle fleet preparing an ambush of the Yuuzhan Vong. Nothing like that had been tried so far, to his knowledge.

“Master,” he found himself speaking as the thoughts trailed off, “What do you...what do you feel about this?”

Not how. What.

Master Ral shifted again to regard Tobias. He understood the question well enough, and after a moment of considering, said softly, “I believe that we are coming upon a very important moment in this war. I cannot say for who or what that means at all...but what happens here will change the war.”

Tobias bit his lower lip, “The last person to say something like that was my father. And then...then the Vong attacked our home and he went and gave his life to protect our home.”

“He saw a point in the Force that he had to act on,” Master Ral answered, drawing on the various things that Toby had told him and what sounded like his own interpretation of things, “You know that the Force calls to us. If we follow its guidance, we will usually find ourselves at a point where we must make a choice. Sometimes these choices are small, but that is rare. If you are calm and at peace, you can discern what the Force requires of you...” he paused a moment, then brought it to the more sensitive subject, “Your father had to decide what to do when he found himself at a critical point that the Force had guided him to. He did what he did because he felt it was what the Force was telling him. It does not mean the choice was easy, but the important thing in those moments is to trust the Force and to trust yourself.”

Tobias managed a slow nod, trying to ignore the sharp pain that this discussion had brought about in him. It was his own fault, but that didn’t change the fact that it had reopened a still fresh wound. He could see Jyren’s face as Marix was dragging him out. As he was screaming and clawing at her. And Jyren looked like Tobias had never seen him. There was a pain clearly visible, but at the same time, something oddly calm there. He knew the choice he had made. He could have walked away and left with them as Tobias had wanted, but he didn’t. Jyren stayed and made sure that the Alraxian Empire was safe.

“I don’t ever want to have to make a choice like that,” Tobias said quietly, more to himself than to his Master.	

But Master Ral heard him, “Some of us never have to. But we must learn to listen to the Force and understand it so that if that day ever comes...we do the right thing.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 465: Both Sides*

Four bright flashes of white dashed across the green blaze that had crossed Marix’s vision, accompanied by a sound that was quite unique...but she knew it well. In the blink of an eye, four of Gorla’s lackeys were dropped by their own blaster bolts. In that same blink of an eye, the two targets of the remaining blaster bolts had moved, and the rest of the shots hit the wall just to Gorla’s side, getting a surprised noise from the Hutt.

Venda had ducked and gone left, her green lightsaber trailing behind her as she charged straight for the nearest pair of legs which looked to belong to a Trandoshan and a Rodian. A clean sweep of her lightsaber removed their legs from the rest of their bodies, and she was up again to deflect another pair of blaster bolts...though this time just away from her, without any time to actually aim them back at their origins. She was face to face with a myriad of very angry looking beings, all of whom were holding some kind of weapon. While she didn’t really want to kill any of them, this group didn’t look to feel the same.

The Force screamed at her and she swung her lightsaber towards the warning, taking off a green hand that was coming at her face with a vibroblade. The owned of the hand screamed and fell back, and Venda had no time to identify its species before the Force was yelling at her again. The chaos was almost too much for her, but she sidestepped the blaster shot to her face, sending her right into a large, wrinkled Weequay.  At this point, her danger sense wasn’t letting up and Venda wasn’t able to discern what, exactly, was going on...so she simply let the Force guide her actions.

She stepped left, away from a jab from the Weequay’s vibrodagger that would have easily dug into her stomach. Her left hand let go of the lightsaber and she sent an elbow into the Weequay’s face, while her right hand sent the lightsaber into a long, sweeping arc that cut across three other figures that she had no time to identify. An elbow was not enough to stop the Weequay, and had only give her enough time to take another step away from him. Already, he was diving in at her, and Venda quickly responded by calling on the Force.

An invisible hand took hold of the unsuspecting alien and flung him away, into a larger group and putting a good ten people out of the fight for at least a short time. When her eyes returned to her lightsaber and the rest of the attackers, Venda watched a grey blur shoot across her vision. Two Twi’leks were dropped, bleeding far more than should have been possible, before her eyes were able to catch up with the movement and identify Marix.

The Alraxian had quickly dispatched five of the larger creatures that were around them, finding that her new vibroblade, which was more a dagger in her hands, was quite a good weapon. Even with the sonic vibration turned off, she felt it was cheating and had thumbed off the power switch the second the weapon had entered her hand, Marix had no trouble cutting through the tough hides of the many Trandoshans that Gorla had in his employ. With the two Twi’leks down, both of which had been drawing blasters, Marix reversed the grip on the blade while ducking under a punch from another of the reptillian Trandoshan.

Being taller than the scaled alien, she had to duck a long way, but it was easy enough and Marix quickly whipped the vibroblade across its stomach and them back across his chest. There had been armour, but she was strong enough to cut straight through it without even worrying about the Force. Something touched her tail, which had been extended for balance, and Marix didn’t even turn to look at what the offending object had been before spinning around and kicking out the legs from under the approaching attacker.

With a heavy thud and a loud grunt, a pig-like Gamorrean fell onto its back. Marix was currently in a very focused mode. The threats needed to be completely eliminated as fast as possible before one of them got a lucky shot in. Because of this, she was immediately on the Gamorrean when he hit the stone floor, driving her blade into her neck to make sure he wouldn’t get up.

There wasn’t time to care about just knocking people unconscious. It needed to be fast. The small part of her mind that was able to think while the rest of her was on autopilot was glad that Venda wasn’t lecturing her on some Jedi ideal about not killing. Not that Jyren ever had, but he’d thought it a few times.

A loud thrumming sound went straight over her and Marix hesitated before getting to her feet again. She glanced to the side, seeing another Twi’lek drop, but this one with a long, red-orange burn streak across his chest. A lightsaber wound. This Jedi woman seemed to know how to fight, at least. Sometimes, Marix couldn’t help but wonder if Jedi knew how to do that through all the philosophy.

When she was up again, her ears caught a sound close by to her. Eyes darted to her left to see a metallic sheen moving towards her outstretched arm. A split second was all Marix had to decide on a reaction, and what she chose would, later, surprise even her. Instead of simply allowing the blade to cut into her arm, her arm remorphed. The sound of metal hitting metal echoed through the stone chamber and a shocked Rodian staggered back. He never knew what had happened, because before he was able to take a second step backwards, Marix’s vibroblade slashed across his upper chest.

Her arm returned to its normal flesh before anyone could have been the wiser. But as Marix turned to find another threat, she realized the attack had died. The only other standing being in the large chamber was Venda, holding her green lightsaber out in front of a group of about twelve humanoids of various species who were sprawled out across the ground. They looked like they wanted to find a way to attack the Jedi woman, but seemed to be realizing that they wouldn’t get far before losing a limb like many of their companions had.

Marix’s eyes scanned the ground. Limbs were more common than bodies. The former were all close to Venda, while the latter were from Marix’s path. So she was a Jedi after all. Maim before killing. It was quite a noble idea, but cutting off one arm, or hand, of an assailant usually just left them one armed, and angrier than before. Whether they were ambidextrous or not didn’t seem to matter, in Marix’s experience, as they’d find a way to attack one way or another. Oh well. Beyond the other groaning beings on the ground behind her, it seemed that Venda had the able-bodied ones under control.

Silvery-violet eyes turned on the stunned Hutt, “I have tried to be civil, Gorla. Apparently, that is not possible with you. So you have a choice now. You can tell me what I want to know or I can kill you and dig it out of your database.”

“You couldn’t break the encryption!” the Hutt bellowed at her, though there was something in his voice that made him sound very uneasy.

Marix took a simple step forward, standing in a way to let the vibroblade in her hand come into view. It was still a mess as she didn’t bother to clean it off at all. A subtle show that she was not playing anymore, “You are not in a position to make such assumptions. Perhaps I cannot break the encryption, if you even bother to have one in your little hole, but I can kill you and find someone to break it for me.”

The Hutt said nothing. His eyes remained just as wide as they had been since the fighting had stopped. That was signal enough to Marix.

She motioned to Gorla with the vibroblade, “What do you expect to gain by working with the Vong?”

Back to questioning, though this time she had a feeling she’d get more direct answers.

Of course, Gorla didn’t respond right away. So Marix took another step closer to him so that he was nearly within her reach and narrowed her eyes, “You would not sign a treaty with them if you did not have something to gain. You also would be on your so-called beautiful homeworld of Nal Hutta if you truly believed it. So you’re playing both sides, then. You do not trust the Vong, do you?”

Again, Gorla said nothing...but he didn’t need to. Marix could see his reaction. Hutts were not easy to read, but she’d had years of experience to know that she was practically taking the words out of Gorla’s head. Not that she was, Hutts were surprisingly difficult to read through the Force, but sometimes instincts were just as good, if not better, than the Force.

Even so, Marix moved within a meter of the oversized slug, “It is amazing that you have not learned that you cannot play both sides in a war. Staying neutral is one thing, but you want to gain something from both...which means that no matter who ends up victorious in this war, you lose,” she let that point hang in the air before reaching up with the blade again, putting it just against the Hutt’s leathery skin.

“Marix...” that was Venda, from behind her and obviously not liking where this was going.

Marix didn’t care.

Though her eyes couldn’t narrow anymore, her ears flattened slightly instead and Marix said through very sharp teeth, “If you do not tell me where the Peace Brigade is based, I will cut out your eye.”

“There...there is no base...” so the Hutt was listening, after all.

“Why are you working with them?”

Gorla’s eyes glanced to the blade that was a little too close, “Jedi...they...get in my business...Peace Brigade keeps them out...”

Now this was going somewhere.

“So the Peace Brigade aren’t just Vong sympathizers, then,” she said softly, but in a voice that could cut through a Star Destroyer, “You want the Jedi out of your business...ignoring the fact that this has obviously failed, why do you go to the Peace Brigade for that?”

Gorla just stared at her. Marix saw something in his eyes. They shifted just slightly, away from the blade. Movement.

Before the Force could even warn her of the attack, Marix was moving. She went up, jumping straight over the powerful tail that swung through where she had been. Of course Gorla wouldn’t give in that easily. Fine. This was over with.

Marix hit the ground and dug the vibroblade into the nearest piece of Hutt she could find. It was just above his eyes, and she immediately dragged the blade down and went through with an earlier threat. Gorla cried out in a massive roar that nearly shook the entire chamber, thrashing as he did. Not wanting to be hit by the tail, Marix moved out of the way as quickly as she could.

Venda was yelling something indistinct that was hard to hear through Gorla’s cries of pain, but Marix didn’t care. When she found what she was looking for, she hefted a blaster pistol, silently cursed the damned things, then unloaded what was left of the power pack into the Hutt.

He had died long before she had finished depleting the weapon’s power.

She dropped the blaster to the stone floor and turned to see a shocked Venda staring at her. Marix just looked past the blonde haired woman and to the group she was keeping at bay, “Where is the data center for this place?”

It was a Twi’lek that answered her, though his voice was shaky, he obviously didn’t want to see what else Marix was capable of, “Do...down the corridor...its...fourth room on the left...”

“Guards?”

He managed to look embarrassed, “I...was the guard...”

Good.

Marix picked up another blaster pistol as she walked over to the exit to the chamber, and as she passed Venda said simply, “I am leaving.”

She then left the room, not even waiting for Venda to answer. Marix had what she needed, and before she left she’d destroy all of the computers and databases that Gorla had. Any record he might have of where Alraxia was would be wiped out. And now she knew that there was more to the Peace Brigade than it had seemed at first. Perhaps this random trip around the galaxy hadn’t been such a childish adventure after all.


((Sorry for the delay on the update...longer than usual and I ended up wanting to post something with it so it had to wait. So...attached is another of the cast images I've been working on plus a little something extra: The last thing Gorla and his lackeys saw.))

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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 466: Coming and Going*

Rulae Nok stared blankly out the viewport to the scene in front of him. Hyperspace. Emptiness. Not an hour earlier, he had reached the transports on the ground and been taken, aboard a New Republic troop carrier, up to one of the Navy’s medical ships. He had been quickly treated, thankfully his injuries didn’t warrant any long term care, and by the time he was released from the ward they were in hyperspace.

He never even had a chance to see what the battle in space was like. He did know it was still going. The small amount of reports he was able to get said that the New Republic was doing their best to push the Vong back, and were even having success in some areas on Gyndine’s surface. Part of Rulae couldn’t help but wonder why so much effort was being put into defending that planet. It was a refugee center...get the people off and use the already stretched Navy to protect more important planets.

Rulae let out a sigh and shook his head. There was a reason he was just a squadron leader. Politics started to heavily weigh in any decision once the ranks went past that position.

But, at least there was some good news. While resting in this small observation lounge aboard the ship, an officer had stepped in and given him a datapad with rather important information on it. His two red eyes turned down again to glance at the screen on the small device.

So the New Republic was finally taking action. The higher ups had a plan. It looked like that, while the fighting would still continue on Gyndine, they were assuming it would be lost. From there, two very major planets were left open to direct hyperspace jumps: Corellia and Bothawui. Both very far Coreward compared to the current Vong activities. Both were planets that the New Republic couldn’t afford to lose. But instead of defending each planet, which would not be too difficult, High Command was setting a trap.

The New Republic fleet was currently at Bothawui to draw the Vong to a wide open Corellia. And it was a very large fleet. From the quick look of the ships amongst it, there were at least three fleets consolidated into one. Not only that, but the report said that other fleets from large systems were possible additions. The most notable was a possible Hapan fleet. Apparently it was still being negotiated, as the Hapan were attempting to stay out of the war if they could...some probably hated them for it, but Rulae couldn’t blame them.

Of course, the most interesting part of the entire report was the part specific for him. Apparently Zephyr Squardon would be in the air for the ambush. Or at least, the four of them that were around would. To his surprise, they would not be attached to another squadron but would operate as one despite being a third of the size they should have been. That told Rulae the higher ups were serious about this ambush. They were going to win this fight and cause the constant advance of the Vong to stop suddenly.

The hope seemed to be that recoil from a sudden victory would given the New Republic time to mount an all out offensive and take worlds back. It was a good plan.

Whether it would work, though, was another question entirely. Either way, though, Rulae was glad that he’d be back in the cockpit.

* * * *​
“Don’t you have your own way off this planet?” Marix asked as she turned around to see Venda stepping out of Gorla’s little enclave deep under Ryloth’s surface. She’d made sure to check the remainder of the place, which was surprisingly small considering the amount of people that Gorla had working for him, and made sure to completely destroy every computer terminal. There would be nothing left to salvage. She hadn’t bothered checking them for information she could use, as she was simply not a slicer and wouldn’t be able to get around the defenses that would definitely be there.

The Jedi woman still held her lightsaber in hand, though it was deactivated. There was an almost disgusted look on her face, “What was that, in there?”

Marix rolled her eyes. It was like Jyren was back from the grave, except blonde, female, and somehow a thousand times more annoying, “That was doing what I came here to do.”

“You’ll just kill anyone that gets in your way?”

Again, she rolled her eyes. But this time she motioned past Venda towards where they had both just left with her vibroblade (it was a good blade and Marix didn’t have the heart to just leave it behind), “Those kind of people will kill you if you turn your back on them.”

“I left that group alive,” Venda said in a voice that was even more annoying than before. It was almost as if she was trying to prove she was on higher moral ground than Marix...damned Jedi, “And they didn’t kill me when I left.”

“They didn’t kill you because they couldn’t see me,” Marix growled at the woman, “Like it or not, its over with. I’m not some idealistic little idiot who’s going to get themself killed trying to hold to some stupid ideal without any thought to how the galaxy actually works!”

By the end of the sentence, she was yelling. The outburst caused Venda to just stare in surprise. But then, after a moment, the woman’s expression somehow softened and she spoke in a much quieter voice, “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was that much like—“

”If you finish that sentence I will cut your throat out,” her voice was ice cold. There was not a blank expression on Marix’s face. Instead, it was an obvious attempt at holding back something much closer to rage than anger. The silence held, and then Marix finally lowered the blade in her hand, turned, and started to leave. She clearly remembered the path to take to get back to where she’d come down into this level.

She also clearly heard footsteps behind her. After a few turns to reach the larger shaft that looked to be some kind of underground transport between Ryloth’s major cities, Venda finally spoke up from a meter or so behind Marix, “I came here on a civilian transport following the rumours about a Hutt that helped broker the deal with the Vong.”

So Venda didn’t have a way off the planet.

Marix’s mood had not calmed at all, but she still had enough control over herself to keep her voice perfectly even, “I must return to my home. I found what I needed to find.”

That was only partially true. To tell the full truth, she would have to openly admit that she had left Alraxia to find Jyren despite knowing he was gone. Maybe accepting that, despite the anger it was fueling in her now, meant she did find what she needed to. No. No that was just even more infuriating!

The Force damn him! She couldn’t even think straight...

“And its all his fault!” suddenly lashing out, Marix slammed her fist into the stone wall and dug a good sized hole into it in the process.

Again, she caught herself too late.

Marix’s mind was a mess. The usual calm was suddenly gone and she couldn’t stop the chaos. She barely understood any of it, and even after a decade of truly getting used to having...well...emotions and feelings, they still didn’t make any sense to her. Living without them had been so easy. Everything made sense. Do the job, come home. Repeat. No care about how people felt or any trash like that. Nothing ever got in the way.  She had been effective! 

Even during that time she was effective enough...though emotions would get in the way she would still do the job! But now...now this damned emptiness was causing a pure chaos that was beyond anything she’d ever experienced!

Closing her eyes, Marix bit her lower lip so hard that she could taste blood. Quietly, she whispered, “Damn you, Jyren.”

“I can find my own way off of this planet,” Venda said from about the same distance back. Hopefully she hadn’t hurt the whisper...but she probably had...

“No,” Marix shook her head, wondering right away why she was saying it. She found a rational for the thought, though whether it was a lie she was telling herself or not, Marix didn’t know, “Word is going to get to Gorla’s lackeys soon that he’s dead and that we’re behind it. You stay, you die. Jedi or not.”

Marix said nothing else. She managed to compose herself, outwardly at least, and continued on. She was too busy trying to put her mind in order to care about the fact that she had just told Venda to follow her.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 467: Change of Plans*

“Faban Sunrunner has resumed his contact with the Mrrakesh despite the heavy security around him. How he managed this is still being worked out, but for the moment he is under constant watch and hasn’t left the sight of his guards. It is unknown how much he has relayed to them, as the only way with know of this at all is because of your cousin, Kato, coming forward that she was contact by him. However, he did not relay her any vital information at all.

“The damage is already done. From what Kato gave me, all we know is that he is attempting a power grab again. He seems to feel that he needs her if he wants any power at all. You know that the Empire wouldn’t just accept a random ruler in your stead, and Kato is still the next in line until Andrea is old enough. I wouldn’t expect he has many backup plans but that does not matter.

“The Jendari have been alerted to keep a close eye on the Mrrakesh border, but they report no increased activity. Since their guarding of the border has started, the Mrrakesh have kept their distance and that looks like it has not yet changed. Despite this, though, I am worried and I am unsure of what action to take. It is possible that Faban is not acting with the entire Mrrakesh Combine’s wishes, and simply a small group. But if we act at all against any of them, with the current situation they will band together against us.”

The image of Jyren’s father, Navik Kero shook his head and looked down slightly before looking back up, “I know it is dangerous to send this message to you, Marix, but there was no choice. I am sorry that it seems to be one problem after another...” he sighed and made an effort to not look exhausted, “The twins are doing well...but they miss you. I hope that you can return to us soon. If not for the Empire, then for them.”

And then the image faded, leaving the cockpit and viewport to be seen clearly.

[I can...drop out of hyperspace soon and change course.] Loki said very carefully. He had noticed Marix’s mood the second she and Venda had come aboard, and was doing his best to just be helpful and not make things more difficult. This news didn’t seem to help. He had received it not long after she had left, but had simply waited for Marix to get back to tell her about it and hadn’t even looked it over himself despite the boredom that came with sitting around in a hangar for hours.

Marix considered this.

They were headed for Yavin IV to drop off Venda, who was currently in Loki’s small galley meditating or something like that. It wasn’t much of a detour to go to Yavin first, but it would add at least a day to the trip...depending on the war. The longer it went on, the harder it was becoming to move to and from Alraxian space, which was towards the entrance corridor the Yuuzhan Vong had taken into the galaxy.

After a few moments to think it over, she decided there really wasn’t any choice and said in a soft voice that Loki wouldn’t have heard if he wasn’t the ship, “Yes...yes do that.”

Loki went about checking their relative position and noting that it would be a short few minutes before he was sure they were in empty space to drop out into. While he waited, he found his focus shifting again to his old friend, Marix. She had returned with the human woman in a mood that he’d only ever seen in her once before.

Back then, they were both children. Very young children and she probably didn’t remember it very well...but Kanyaks had strong memories even from their early years. It had been roughly an Alraxian year before she was taken by Faban Sunrunner to be trained as a Tam’Day’U, and her older brother, Tobias, had died. She had just closed up and hadn’t ever been the same since. The Tam’Day’U training didn’t help that.

[Marix...]

Her ear shifted slightly to the side despite the fact that the voice was completely in her mind. In the same quiet voice, she asked, “What is it?”

Loki was as inexperienced with these kind of things as Marix was. Despite that, though, he felt like he had to at least try. [Is there anything I can do to help...? I mean...beyond heading home right now.]

“Just gets us home, Loki,” Marix said softly as she got to her feet and started out of the cockpit. She stopped, though, and put her hand on the bulkhead that divided the small corridor from the cockpit. After standing there a moment, she gave the bulkhead an affectionate pat, “Thank you.”

Marix then made her way to the galley. She found Venda sitting at the single table that was against the wall and the Force was resonating off of her. But when Marix stepped into the small room, the strong feeling in the Force faded and Venda opened her closed eyes. She looked up to Marix curiously, but didn’t actually say anything. Like Loki, she knew something was wrong with Marix...but unlike Loki, Venda had no experience dealing with Marix and from the outbursts earlier, decided it was best to leave her be.

“We’re changing course,” Marix said in a droid-like, flat voice, “It is necessary for me to return to my home without delay. When we arrive at the Gateway I will attempt to find you a ship to take you back to Yavin, but I cannot promise that one is available.”

Venda at least knew a small amount about the Alraxians. It was a great deal more than most of the galaxy knew, and it mostly centered around their isolation. Because of this, she felt the need to ask, “If there isn’t one?”

Marix held the human woman’s gaze for a short time before saying something she knew that later she would regret, “Then you will stay with me until there is time to find you a ship.”

The Jedi managed a half bow while she was still seated, “Thank you.”

And that was that. Marix didn’t have the willpower to care about anything beyond what needed to be relayed, and so turned and decided to head to her quarters and try to get some rest. But as she stepped out into the corridor, Venda’s voice stopped her, “I know that we barely know each other but...can I help at all? I can be an ear to listen if nothing else.”

Marix stood there at first, but never turned around. Her tail flicked slightly, but Venda likely assumed that just happened and would have had no idea that it showed Marix was annoyed. Everyone wanted to help, it seemed. It was like being surrounded by Jyrens...the last thing she needed at the moment.

But her voice remained in the same flat tone and she said simply, “There is nothing either of you can do,” unbeknownst to Venda, Marix was also speaking to Loki at the same time, “Unless you can talk sense into the dead or change the past, there is nothing you can do.”

Without waiting for any response, not that one would come from either of the two listening, Marix walked off to Loki’s small, makeshift hangar. It was not the original plan, but at this point it seemed like nothing was going as planned, anyway.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 468: Of Heat*

It was hot. Hotter than he liked. The heavy gear didn’t help, but it was all necessary. Part of him wanted to ditch it but he knew every bit of it was going to be needed. The air smelled, too. He’d been warned about both the stench and the heat but that didn’t mean he was ready for either of them.

At least the mask filtered most of the smells. A small green light began to blink in his eye. His vision readjusted to pay attention to the information being fed into the eyepiece that rose up from the mask. The others were in place. All but one. So they would have to wait to move.

He shifted slightly to find a comfortable sitting position against the huge tree and looked ahead of him. Through a faint blue glow, he could see the flowering shape of the Palace. Such an odd structure. He knew it by heart, thanks to a great deal of studying, but it was still so strange. A living being coaxed into that shape, full of landing pads for ships and rooms of all sizes. And, apparently, it was alive and mostly sentient.

That seemed more dangerous than practical. What if the thing decided it was tired of all the occupants? It could easily kill them if the information was right. Reshape a room and crush everything within or simply trap the occupants inside. Unless they had something to gain, living beings never worked with other competing life forms. It was counterproductive to...well...living. Why compete for resources when you could just have it for yourself? And even if there was a mutual gain, things like that always came to an end and then it was back to competition. So much trust in something like that seemed...naive and foolish to him.

To be truthful, that logic followed through with all of this so-called technology. Ships that were arguably more intelligent than their pilots, if they could even be called pilots. He just couldn’t comprehend it no matter how much he tried to. At least it wasn’t his job to figure all of those things out. His job was much simpler. Go in, strike fast, get out.

He sighed, which was more a rough, heavy breathing noise thanks to the mask. His vision shifted again to the information on his small eyepiece. A day, at most. He had enough food for much longer than that and could find food in the wild without any difficulty, but it felt like he was wasting time. To say he was overconfident wasn’t true. He knew his skills and he knew what he was up against and a logical deduction was that he would be fine.

Four more with equal skills as his own, if not better in some cases, guaranteed complete success. Why wait for two more to arrive? He had no animosity towards the two of them, but it was foolish to wait. Five were in position and they were more than enough. The fact that the others were taking longer to arrive hinted at a possible increase in security, heightening the need to act quickly.

But while others in his position might go on ahead anyway, he did not. A more ambitious man might have, but he liked his place and was not willing to compromise it with a rash action. Some seemed to only crave more power, but he just wanted to continue doing what he was good at. He did enjoy it, also. That thought probably would repulse many, but that didn’t bother him, either. They could do what they enjoyed and he would not criticize them, either.

Reaching up, he lowered the eyepiece to give him a clear view of his surroundings. He looked over that building for a few moments with his naked eye before grabbing a small pair of binoculars from his belt and getting a closer look at a few of the taller sections. That would be a long climb. Not a hard one, but a long one. Coming down would be much faster, though likely much more difficult.

He lowered the binoculars and reattached them to their place on his belt. To pass the time, he once again hefted the rifle that was normally on the pack he carried on his back. The pack was still there, but he’d found that idly inspecting the rifle was a good way to waste daylight. It was a wonderful weapon. Brand new design, accurate up to two hundred meters and lightweight considering the amount of power it packed. It was a bit depressing to think that he might not get to use it.

If they were spotted early, there would be no turning back so that would be a chance to test it out. So would during the escape, though he’d likely end up being more focused on not being caught than to have time to line up shots behind him. It was the long, composite-metal knife that was still attached to his backpack that would likely do most of the work. To be honest, though, it was less a knife and more a small sword. It had a simple design and would have easily fit into a museum if not for the fact that it was constructed of materials that were unlike anything used before. The blade, itself, was designed in layers. Each layer was thin enough to shed itself when it came into contact with any amount of strong force. An interesting design and perfect for what was necessary. The layers were so microscopic that any worries of the blade losing its strength were pointless. And he was going to be one of the first to use it.

That, alone, was a great honour.

The prestige that would come when he returned home after completing this task would be great, yes, but that was not why he had agreed to join the team(though that word was a loose truth...it was more a collection of individuals with the same task). The chance to be the first to use all of this equipment is what had sold him on it. And he knew he’d use them well. The only thing that concerned him was whether they would hold up to the extreme stresses they would all receive in another day.

He leaned back and shrugged to himself. There would be only one way to find out. In the mean time, he slid the eyepiece back up to alert him to any changes and then crossed his arms over the rifle that rested on his chest. A little rest was in order...even if it was still hot.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 469: Tokarr*

“His name is Tokarr Anansin,” Master Ral said in a disturbingly mechanical voice, “He is Miraluka.”

Tobias’ features matched his mindset...confused. They had been permitted aboard the New Republic Mon Calamari Cruiser, Gemstone, which was currently in orbit above Bothawui with a the rest of the gathering fleet. Tobias found it hard to be comfortable aboard the ship as a human, seeing as the Mon Calamari liked to keep it so humid that it almost felt like walking through water.

Deciding it was probably a test of his focus, Tobias tried to ignore it and moved on to the next thing bothering him, “Miraluka?”

Master Ral had probably been expecting that question, as he easily switched into an explanation, “They are less common in the galaxy than even my people. They are a humanoid species but they have no eyes and see directly through the Force itself,” the Omwati Master sighed, “Hundreds of years ago, their species produced some of the greatest Jedi...but they are naturally Force Sensitive and so the Empire...” he trailed off and shook his head, “The Empire murdered thousands of them, blockaded their homeworld and then killed even more. But after the Emperor was killed, the Imperial troops on their planet retreated, pulled back to the Core to defend other worlds.”

At first, Tobias was distracted at the mention of ‘Empire’ and had to remember that Master Ral was speaking of the Galactic Empire and not the Alraxian one. Once he pushed that out of his mind, the rest fell into place easily. It also brought to the forefront a rare mention of Master Ral’s species...of which Tobias knew very little. Apparently they were descended from avians, but that was hard to tell beyond the way Master Ral carried himself. Tobias’ exposure to avian species was the Jendari, who still looked very much like birds and even had wings...but Master Ral looked like a blue-skinned human, though a bit thin and fairly tall for a human. But he had a grace to the way he moved that hinted at a history, somewhere far back in the genetic history. His hair even looked a bit like feathers...sort of...

It struck Tobias that the story of the Miraluka was similar to what he knew of the Omwati. They had, apparently, been a species that had been subjected to near-slavery under the Empire and brought to the brink of extinction. Few survived, and the ones that had mostly remained on their homeworld, too busy with the problems of a near-dead species to worry or care about the rest of the galaxy. Master Ral seemed to be one of the few exceptions.

Tobias glanced ahead of them at the Navy Officer who was leading them to Anansin’s quarters and, deciding the man was far enough ahead of them, looked to Master Ral again and asked quietly, “Why are we meeting with him?”

“Master Skywalker feels its important to keep in contact with all of our Jedi comrades,” Master Ral did not lower his voice, “Some left the order to join the fight more directly, as you know it is our job to protect the people, not fight the war itself. Tokarr was one of them and joined the Navy as soon as the New Republic government declared war.”

“Do you know him?” the question sounded odd after he’d asked it, but Tobias couldn’t help it. Master Ral was speaking in a strange tone about this Jedi.

The Jedi Master nodded as they turned a corner and passed two pilots who nearly ran into Tobias in the process, “He was my first apprentice. He had only been at the Academy for a month before the war broke out and...well, he left at the first early reports, before the New Republic even would admit that the Yuuzhan Vong existed.”

Now Tobias was starting to feel uneasy. There was a tone to Master Ral’s voice that he’d not ever heard before. He actually sounded...worried. For such a calm person, that alone was enough to make Tobias even more worried. This was ignoring the fact that it was Master Ral’s first apprentice they were going to meet. That was information he could have done without. Tobias hadn’t even known, or thought, about that subject before.

The officer leading the way stopped and motion to a door, “Here you are, Master Jedi.”

Master Ral bowed graciously. He was obviously glad to be receiving very good treatment from the New Republic so far...there was no hint of anti-Jedi sentiment in the air at all, only anticipation for what was to come, “Thank you, Lieutenant.”

With a smile and a polite nod, the officer turned and headed back the direction they had come from. It was no surprise that he had other business to attend to...the entire ship was fairly busy from what Tobias could tell.

Reaching to the side of the door, Master Ral hit the small switch to alert the occupant that someone was outside, waiting, and probably annoyed. Tobias had heard those things from the inside before and really hated the buzzing noise they made. At least it would encourage the person to answer so they wouldn’t have to hear it again.

And sure enough, after only a few seconds, the door slid open. Standing there, looking out, if one could look with no eyes, was a human by all respects except for one. He had short, rust-coloured hair and wore a dress uniform that Tobias recognized. It was Starfighter Command...similar to Jyren’s but with a different squadron patch on the shoulder. But the thing that Tobias noticed more than the rest was that he was staring face to face with a piece of cloth wrapped like a headband, except thicker, striped with green and blue, and came all the way down to the bridge of his nose, covering up where eyes normally would have been.

Maybe it was good that they wore a cloth to cover the lack of eyes...Tobias was unnerved enough when Tokarr’s head tilted back slightly in a gesture that would have been more easily identified with surprise if there had been eyes to go along with it, “Master Ral...”

The Jedi Master bowed his head, “It is good to see you again, Tokarr. If you have some time, I would like to—“

Then the door slid shut.

It was Master Ral’s turn to take a step back in surprise, and Tobias did the same. Composing himself quickly, the Jedi Master looked to Tobias and said softly, “We did not part ways on good terms...this is going to be more difficult than I had hoped.”

Tobias managed a nod, “Should I...not be here?”

“No,” Master Ral shook his head and preceded to place his finger on the alert switch next to the door, leaving it there so the buzzing would continue rather than simply pressing it lightly once, “Despite what you might think, I may need your help with this.”

“Really?” Tobias tilted his head in surprise.

The Omwati nodded and a wry smile formed on his face, “Yes. You may have to talk with him...or at least hold him down while I talk.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 470: Alraxian Reunion*

There had been a ship for Venda at the Gateway. However, Marix wasn’t going to let that particular ship go. It was a Kanyak and, more specifically, it was Hermes. Years ago, he was Kyren’s ship. Arrogant, hotheaded, and an expert at blackmail from what she was told. After Kyren had died, Hermes had been at a loss and simply sat at the Palace keeping to himself.

A solution had been found to that...though it was by accident.

About a year after the twins were born, Jyren had found himself without a ship(the X-Wing was being repaired by Jendari rather than terrified Alraxians) and a need to get to the rebuilt Capital world. Marix didn’t remember why, exactly, but he’d told her that he’d found Hermes and the ship seemed to perk up after that. The two had gotten on fairly well the first time they’d met, though it was a rather infuriating experience for Jyren, she was told, and this second trip together seemed to solidify a friendship between the two.

And now Hermes had lost another friend and pilot. He was not sitting around at the Gateway moping, though, but as one of the fastest Kanyak’s in the Empire, which was not a boast, he served as a quick warning ship in case of another attack. Messages could be sent, yes, but it was more reliable for Hermes to do it himself, just in case communications were cut.

That wasn’t why Marix didn’t let Venda borrow Hermes.

The reason she didn’t was because she just didn’t trust this Jedi enough. The ironic part was that she was now taking Venda to Alraxia, the Palace, and her children. There was a reason, though. She trusted the woman while keeping an eye on her. Marix knew that Venda couldn’t do too much looking around when she was being watched, and sending that Jedi off with Hermes, alone, just didn’t seem like a good idea.

“Keep your mouth shut and follow me,” Marix said as Alraxia grew in the viewport, “If you make any sudden moves, the Knights will kill you, so be careful. If you have any question, I don’t care. There is something very urgent I have to deal with and you just need to shut up and pretend that you aren’t seeing new things.”

Venda looked to Marix and there was a definite confusion on her face, “Isn’t that a bit...”

“No, its not,” Marix didn’t let her finish, “You are alive right now because of me. This is not arrogance, this is the truth. When there is time, I will find a way to get you back to Yavin, but there isn’t right now. There also isn’t time for you to argue this. If you don’t like it, Loki will have no trouble locking you in a room so no one can hear you until there is time.”

If Venda said anything, Marix neither heard it nor did she care. The point had been made. The flight down to the Palace was quiet, and it seemed like Venda at least had understood, as she said nothing at all as they passed through the shield around the city. Marix could clearly remember coming to Alraxia with Jyren for the first time and all the questions he’d asked. 

Technically, Venda shouldn’t have been even allowed on the planet. But Marix didn’t really care. She had no knowledge of the planet’s actual location and couldn’t compromise that, nor did Venda even really know who to give that information to. So the reasons for the “Swear Allegiance to the Empress” ritual before setting foot on the planet didn’t really apply. Okay, they did, but Marix just didn’t care. She was the Empress, anyway, and no one would argue.

Loki set down in his usual spot next to one of the larger courtyards and Marix inwardly groaned at seeing the Knights that were assembled. Of course they would be. Didn’t mean she had to like it or couldn’t hope that just once she’d sneak in before they could. Marix did catch sight of another figure approaching the pad and knew exactly who it was...and there was a familiar feeling in the Force there, too...one that she very badly wanted to see.

At that sight, she decided to let Loki do the rest of the work, got up, motioned for Venda to follow, and headed for the hatch at a pace that would have been a run if she was human. The hatch irised open just as she got to it and Marix was greeted with the sight she’d seen from above. She heard Venda a few steps behind, but ignore the woman and headed out of the ship and into the familiar warm, comfortable air of Alraxia.

The Knights did their usual thing and just stood there, but Navik Keros approached her with a smile on his face. Considering the message he’d sent her not long ago, that should have been surprising. But, considering the child in his arms, it wasn’t.

Saaran’s eyes lit up at seeing Marix and she couldn’t help a smile. When she was within a meter, the little child who looked so much like Tobias had escaped his grandfather’s arms and leapt at her with a giggle. Marix caught him and immediately went to scratching his ear while he clung to her shoulder and purred loudly. In that moment, nothing else mattered. Nothing. It was amazing how that happened.

“Andrea’s still asleep,” Navik’s voice floated in through the haze that Saaran carried with him, “Its been so hard to get her to sleep lately that I couldn’t bring myself to wake her.”

Marix nodded as she busied herself paying attention to Saaran who was busy being...clingy...which she didn’t mind one bit. Behind her, Marix heard footsteps behind her and knew it was Venda. The Knights knew ahead of time about her, vaguely at least, and so didn’t react beyond a slight feeling of surprise that came through the Force. Marix hadn’t mention she was a human or a Jedi...just that she had someone with her.

After a few moments, Marix glanced over her shoulder to see the woman looking around curiously, obviously taking in the unique sights around them, then looked back to Navik, “Where’s Kato?”

“In her room under guard as always,” Navik waited for Marix to start in that direction then fell into step next to her. Venda stayed a few paces behind, keeping up but taking in...well...everything. The Knights would be right behind her and making sure she didn’t stray...but she wouldn’t.

They were soon navigating the near endless corridors of the Palace, heading for the well guarded room that Kato still occupied. Marix had some direct questions for her cousin. After that she was heading to Faban, who had been, at her orders, removed from his home on the other side of the planet and brought to the Palace. He was locked away in a small, boring room on a different level. Alone.

And then Marix stopped.

She realized that Saaran had clung to her tightly, claws digging in, for no good reason. Then she felt it. A strong feeling in the Force. He had felt it first...amazing.

“I feel strong, focused, malevolence all around us,” it was Venda. She was speaking softly and more to herself, it seemed. But she was right, Marix could feel the same thing.

But she felt something familiar about it. Something terrifying familiar about it.

Marix detached Saaran from her, ignoring the pain of the claws and then thrust the child into Navik’s arms and spoke firmly, “Go to Loki. Now. Tell him to leave the Palace and find someplace safe.”

Out of reflex, Navik took the surprised child, and started to ask a question before Marix gave him a dead serious look that showed there wasn’t any time. He understood, and started back the way they’d come at a swift pace. Marix then shifted to speaking Alraxian and said to the guards, “You two. Follow him and keep him safe. Protect the Jedi, also. The rest of you get in contact with the rest of the Knights and set up a defense immediately. There are Mrrakesh coming.”

And then, as the Knights immediately went to their jobs without a question, she looked to Venda and switched back to speaking Trade, “Head back to the ship with those two Knights, that man, and my son.”

“What’s going on?!” Venda asked as the two Knights started to drag her away, not caring if she didn’t want to go.

Marix decided at least some explanation was in order, “What you feel is an attack. Protect my son and Jyren’s father. Make sure they get to Loki and you all get off this planet alive.”

At that, Venda stopped her struggling against the two Knights. She was now facing the same direction as them and running with them to catch up with the two others who hadn’t gotten very far ahead.

Marix then turned, adjusted herself to where she was in the Palace, and started at a run for her large room near the top of the Palace. The Mrrakesh were already on Alraxia. They were on the ground. They were coming. They were ready. And Marix finally put the pieces together. Faban didn’t want her to be Empress...and that meant he had to do more than just get rid of her. He had to make sure her children were out of the picture also, and then he could maneuver someone he could have influence over into power.

And Andrea was alone, asleep, and unprotected.

Marix ran faster.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 471: Anger*

“Tobias.”

Toby heard Master Ral speaking softly, but Tobias was too busy trying to force the door open to pay the voice much attention. He really wanted to just morph Alraxian and try, but had to admit that he wasn’t very much stronger in that body, anyway. Thinking about it, the lightsaber would probably work...

“Tobias,” Master Ral’s voice was firmer and it grabbed him this time. When he turned to face the Jedi Master, Tobias found that he was getting a stern look, “Step aside.”

Going a bit red, Tobias did as he was told and stepped back and away from the closed door. Master Ral simply raised his right arm and held it there for a few moments. In those moments, Tobias could feel the Force being focused and then there was a loud crack from the door as the locking mechanism broke and then it slid open again. Inside, Tokarr could be seen dashing to the door, though he didn’t go to block the way. Tobias expected that he was going for the comm panel.

As he moved, Tokarr growled, “I’m calling security.”

“They will not remove me from this ship as you want them to,” Master Ral spoke calmly, and it was obvious to Tobias that he was using the Force to pick at Tokarr’s surface thoughts.

It was even more obvious when a curse escaped the Miraluka. The young man then turned his head to face the Jedi Master and somehow, without any eyes at all, glared, “I am a member of the crew of this ship, Corentan. You are a civilian and you have broken into my quarters.”

“You are a Jedi, Tokarr,” the Omwati didn’t seem fazed by the anger that was strongly emanating from this young man, “No matter what else you are, you have a responsibility to that.”

Tokarr shook his head, “I am not a Jedi. I was a Jedi. But you and the rest of those cowards decided it was better to sit around talking philosophy rather than actually protecting the galaxy.”

Master Ral made a very quick glance to Tobias, which made him even more uneasy than he already was, before matching the eyeless gaze of his former apprentice, “Jedi have been fighting the Yuuzhan Vong since before the New Republic even acknowledged their existence.”

“And you call them rogues,” Tokarr pointed an accusing finger at the Omwati, “Darksiders, too. I’ve heard that. Why do you think I left? At least here I can help without being ridiculed.”

“So you hide here,” Master Ral shook his head and his disappointment was obvious, “And it is quite obvious that worries about your condition are not unfounded.”

Tobias immediately thought the Jedi Master was crazy. There didn’t seem to be any reason to make an outright statement like that. It was only going to antagonize Tokarr and make him even more angry. Which it did, of course. The feeling of anger was almost overpowering now, and it was taking a lot of effort for Tobias to not back away. The narrow corridor did help that, though...

“Condition?!” the fact that Tobias couldn’t see all of Tokarr because of the way he was standing didn’t help, “Are you damned Jedi so disconnected from any semblance of emotion that you take any kind of anger as an immediate threat?”

“In your case...yes,” Master Ral then took a very large step forward straight into the open doorway so that he was standing directly in front of the young Miraluka. The height difference was immediately noticeable as Master Ral looked directly down at his former apprentice, “Anger is one thing. Everyone gets angry. Everyone. But you have no control over your anger. You would have an excuse for that if you had never been trained but you very well know the dangers of uncontrolled anger. You’ve grown up your entire life with that, even before coming to Yavin.”

Tokarr didn’t look up to meet the gaze of his former Master. His cloth-covered face stared straight forward, but he managed to keep the same angry, determined tone to his voice despite the scene that Tobias was seeing, “You’re provoking me.”

“And you’re allowing yourself to be provoked,” Master Ral then took a small step back, “I taught you better than this.”

There was no movement from Tokarr at all, “What did you come here to do?”

“We came here to check on you,” it was hard to miss that Master Ral had said ‘we’, “We aren’t here to drag you away. You made your choice, but that did not mean you could just ignore the fact that you never came close to finishing your training.”

Tokarr’s head tilted to the side slightly, as if he was, for the first time, ‘looking’ at Tobias, “I am a pilot now, and that is all.”

“But being a pilot does not mean you can no longer touch the Force,” Master Ral motioned casually to the cloth wrapped around Tokarr’s head, “You see with the Force everyday. You, better than anyone, understand its connection to everything. That means you should know that you cannot ignore the things you were taught. The Yuuzhan Vong are a danger to this galaxy but they are not the only danger. Since you left, others have...and some have fallen, Tokarr. If you want to fight this war then you have to know we can’t fight it while fighting ourselves.”

There was an uneasy silence. A couple of crewman passed them and gave curious looks, but were intelligent enough to say nothing.

Eventually, though, Tokarr said quietly, “You never did trust me.”

“I did,” Master Ral didn’t let that sit in the air for long, “I wouldn’t have let you leave if I didn’t. But stop arguing with me and feel the air around us like I taught you. There is a cloud of anger around you and it didn’t just appear when I arrived.”

When Tokarr let out a sigh, Tobias felt the air of tension fade just slightly, “You didn’t answer my question, Corentan. What did you come here to do?”

“It seems that what needs to be done is to help you learn to control your anger,” Master Ral was speaking more lightly, in that way he did when instructing Tobias. It was a surprising change of direction.

“No,” Tokarr shook his head, “I have important things that I need to do that don’t involve sitting around and ignoring this war.”

His face turned to look to Tobias, and he could feel a strange strength in the Force around him, then Tokarr looked back to Master Ral, “Goodbye, Corentan.”

And then the door shut again.

Master Ral hung his head and sighed heavily.

Feeling he needed to do something, but unsure of what, all Tobias could do was say, “Master...”

“Its alright, Tobias,” he raised his head and seemed back to normal in that moment, “I apologize for that.”

“So...what now?”

“We head back to the transport and get some rest,” Master Ral started that direction, “But we aren’t leaving.”

Tobias nodded as he fell into step with his Master. After a few minutes of navigating the tight corridors, he finally spoke up again, “He’s dangerous, isn’t he?”

Master Ral glanced to Tobias a moment before nodding, “To himself more than anyone else.”

“He doesn’t seem like he’s going to let you help him, though,” Tobias had to raise his voice a bit as he stepped behind Master Ral to provide room in the corridor for others to pass.

Over his shoulder, the Jedi Master said simply, “You are correct. But perhaps, once he has calmed, he will listen to you.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 472: Mother and Daughter*

[Is there anything in my quarters?]

[Only the little one, my lady.] the Palace responded swiftly. But then he added something that Marix would rather not have been there. [However there are four Mrrakesh scaling my exterior. It is likely they are moving towards your room.]

Marix cursed as she rounded a corner. [How soon will they get there?]

[Five minutes at their current speed.] there was a hesitant feeling of unease from the Palace before it went on. [There are three others moving towards Loki.]

[Seal off my quarters.] Marix was climbing the last flight of stairs to reach it now, running as fast as she could and trying to keep the Network calm at the same time. [Doors. Windows. Any opening. Only open what I need opened to get to Andrea.]

[You will need to move fast, my lady. They are carrying a great deal of weapons and equipment and the seals will not hold them.]

After skipping the last handful of stairs, Marix was sprinting down the corridor, passing rooms that were being sealed to protect whoever it happened to be inside from the Mrrakesh. She was focused now, like she had been years ago. It was a kind of focus she hadn’t experience since...since she was Shadow. One-mindedness and the rest of everything be damned.

But now, her focus was unlike ever before. It had always been on a target, of course, but never like this. Always to kill. Kill it, get out. Locate. Kill. Leave. Simple. But not now. Back then the idea of being an adult never crossed her mind so much so that the very thought of having children was a galaxy away. But that felt like so long ago, now. Now...now the one-minded focus had something else with it: maternal instinct. 

The Palace cut in just as she turned the final corner to head for her quarters. [You have approximately two minutes before they will be inside.]

[Including breaking through the walls?] Marix couldn’t help but wonder how the Palace knew how fast it would be.

[Yes. Their equipment is very...strong.]

Thankfully, Marix was to the wall that was usually a door. As the wall shifted into a door which immediately irisised open, a part of her took notice of the lack of Knights outside the room. It wasn’t a surprise. After the years of being under their constant watch because she was assumed to be a threat to the Empress, Marix couldn’t bring herself to allow any of them to guard her room again...despite the fact that many of the ones among the Palace guard were Tam’Day’U.

By now Marix was inside the main living quarters and was glad to see that it was like a box. She had to stop next to one of the chairs to reorient herself and find where the door to the twins’ room should have been. The familiar feeling in the Force drew her towards a wall that was already turning into a door that was opening at the same time.

And as it opened, Marix could hear the little Alraxian crying. She was more sensitive to the Force than her brother and with the way he had reacted, Marix wasn’t surprise at all to see Andrea curled up on her bed looking at her with two big eyes. As she ran to the little girl, who sat up and stared at her mother with silvery eyes, Andrea mumbled softly, “Momma...?”

“Its okay, Andrea,” Marix said quickly as she scooped the little girl up into her arms and drew her close. She had switched to speaking Alraxian, as Andrea had always been more comfortable with that language than Trade. Well, with everyone but Jyren.

There was a heavy tearing noise a ways behind Marix and before she could turn to look, the Palace cut in. [Should I seal the room you are in?]

[No.] Marix said, turning and seeing a long metal blade through a wall in the other room that was slowly cutting through. [Just leave a path open for me and close it up behind. Anything to slow them.]

She then looked down to Andrea, who was shaking and starting to cry again. Still speaking Alraxian, Marix said firmly while shifting the girl into her left arm, “Andrea, I need you to put your head in my shoulder, hold on as tight as you can, and close your eyes.”

The little girl looked as confused and shocked as anyone would after being told that with no explanation. Not having time to explain or wait, Marix added quickly, “There isn’t time to explain. Hold on tight, use your claws if you have to...close your eyes and promise me you won’t open them.”

“Promise...” the word was mumbled into Marix’s shoulder as Andrea did as she was told. Marix then shifted her hold on the little girl so that she would be safe and headed as fast as she could to the exit.

But just as Marix made it into the main room again, the wall that had been an opening to a window gave way to a monstrous form. Mrrakesh were a good head higher than the tallest of Alraxians on average, and where an Alraxian had a great deal of natural strength, they generally had very lithe builds. Mrrakesh, though, were massive and somehow, despite their size, faster than most Alraxians. But the Mrrakesh that came through the wall looked like nothing Marix had ever seen.

He wore some kind of blue-black armour that covered every inch of his body save for the top of his head and one of his eyes. She could see a large pack on his back with a rifle of some sort in addition to another of the distinct, utilitarian designed blaster-like weapons that the Mrrakesh employed. But it was the large sword he was holding that caught her attention. Metal.

Not that it bothered her, but it meant she had to be extra careful with Andrea. Of course it wasn’t going to be easy.

Well, no, that was a lie.

The Mrrakesh had been on his feet for probably two seconds before Marix caught him by surprise. She extended her free hand, drew the Force to her, then unleashed it at the Mrrakesh. The huge creature was hit by an invisible wall and sent flying out of the hole it had just cut.

One down.

At that thought, two more Mrrakesh had cut through and were in the room, with a third cutting through. Time seemed to freeze as Marix looked at them...they all looked the same. A part of her screamed that she shouldn’t even be considering running. She should stand and fight. Who was the Empress, of all people, to run?

But the terrified child in her arms made the decision far too easy to make. The Mrrakesh were moving towards her with amazing speed, but once again, Marix called on the Force. She drew it into her legs and ran as fast as she could back the way she’d come, hoping that the Palace could at least give her a few more seconds to figure out how, exactly, she was going to get herself and Andrea out with Loki, hopefully, already gone.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 473: New Planet, Old Lightsaber*

Considering how fast things were moving around her, half of which she had no idea about, Venda was doing quite well. It helped that she had a great deal of exposure to cultures and peoples that were completely alien to her own, though admittedly, the Alraxians were the most...unique she’d ever seen. Their seclusion from the rest of the galaxy likely had everything to do with that.

The people themselves were interesting and she was doing her best to take in everything she could, especially the living ship...but it was Marix that, for obvious reasons, had her main interest. The woman was...like nothing Venda had ever seen. It was obvious to her that the threats against Venda were not bluffs...Marix would have no problem killing her. But then they step off the ship and Venda watches the woman embracing her child with a warmth that she’d never seen before. It didn’t seem to make any sense that one person could have such polar opposites within them. 

It was worrying, to be honest. There was a very strong darkness within Marix and Venda felt like she should do...something about it. Of course, there was the problem of knowing next to nothing of either Marix or the Alraxians as a whole, so it was hard to make a safe judgement. But still...

That didn’t really matter at the moment, though. An impossible darkness had suddenly appeared on a planet like she’d never been to before...so full of life. And now she was running, running to catch up with Marix’s son and the man that was carrying him. Running with two very large Alraxians at her side, both of whom were armed with swords nearly half her size. Running and feeling something approaching...something extremely dangerous and very focused.

And then there was a vaguely familiar sound.

It was almost a blaster rifle, but the pitch was too high and it was more like a speeder that needed a new engine. A half second later, there was a cry from the Alraxian at her left and she stopped her run to turn and see the large humanoid hitting the ground of the courtyard with a burning wound on his face unlike anything she’d ever seen.

“Mrrakesh!!” the other Alraxian let out a loud growl and dove past her to where Venda could see two humanoid figures that were even larger than Alraxians.

They were both holding metal swords that were straight and tipped at an odd angle and were running faster than any creature Venda had ever seen. Instinct was kicking in for her, and the Force was beginning to take control of Venda’s actions. Her lightsaber was in hand, green blade alight and ready as she fell into step right behind the Alraxian that was charging.

In a flash, the two huge creatures were on top of the Alraxian, their swords swinging in. A high blow was parried but Venda could see that the second sword, coming in for the feline’s gut, was not going to be blocked in time.

But then, suddenly, the incoming blade was wrenched into another direction and its wielder sent to the ground. The Alraxian was a Force user! A strong one!

Was that why this planet felt so alive?! Were they all Force users?!

There wasn’t time for those questions, though. As the Alraxian was forced onto the defensive, being driven down by strong blows from this monstrous attacker, the other was on its feet. But the first two had moved, and Venda had placed herself in between them, swinging her lightsaber in a short arc to catch the downed creature off guard.

It didn’t work...and she got another surprise.

Her lightsaber struck the sword and there was no sound at all as they held there, the lightsaber somehow unable to cut through it. She immediately knew why. The Force was flowing around that sword! These attackers were Force users, too!

Venda could not hold her blade straight, and was suddenly overpowered by an impossible strength. The push from the creature sent her into the grass of the courtyard at lightning speed and her head was spinning before she even hit the ground. The Force took control of Venda’s body and she rolled to the side to avoid a strike into the ground that would have cut her in two. Using the momentum and trying to ignore the blurred vision, she jumped up to her feet and took a couple of steps back to try and give herself a moment.

“Jeadai!” the creature spoke through a mask over its face that muffled its gruff voice, and though the word sounded odd at first, Venda could pick out ‘Jedi’ fairly easily. It reminded her of the Vong at first, but they didn’t have the same odd accent...there was a hint of understanding of Basic in the voice at some level, just not being able to pronounce the word, itself.

But it said that word as it was coming at her again, and as she sidestepped a strike, another voice called out, “Anda Mrrakesh! Ahleska ir Enrai’el!”

Venda’s movements took her into a position where she could see the speaker was the Alraxian. She had no idea what was said, though, and was also a bit busy ducking under a swing from the thing’s sword. A knee caught her in the chin and sent her head snapping back before she went to the ground again. Venda tasted blood and while the Force was trying to move her again, her body wasn’t responding.

A sword was coming down at her, and then it disappeared, pushed off to the side. An arm fell onto her and a blue substance that was nearly liquid followed it. Venda’s vision cleared enough for her to see the Alraxian standing over her, with on arm gone and the same blue liquid leaking from the wound. There was also a sword coming through his chest and his skin was becoming a metallic silver colour.

“Ahleska...ir...” he didn’t finish whatever he was trying to say. But his eyes shifted.

They looked over and past Venda. Hers followed and she saw the man nearly to the ship...running alone. Unprotected. Suddenly she knew what the Alraxian had been saying.

Drawing upon the Force to strengthen her injured body, Venda was on her feet and sprinting at full speed away from the two creatures and back to what she was supposed to have been doing. She could feel them behind her, hear their heavy steps in pursuit...so close that a single misstep from her would mean they were on her.

But she was almost to the older Alraxian...and he was almost to that ship.

Then she heard the sound again. The blaster-like noise that she realized was coming from the same general direction the first had. Time seemed to slow as the Force propelled her faster, yelling so many things at her that Venda had no time to even attempt to understand all of them. Instead she just did what she was taught and didn’t question...let the Force guide her.

Suddenly, Venda found herself a step behind the older Alraxian, her lightsaber swinging up and then holding for a fraction of a second. It was then that a green bolt of energy collided with her blade, the force of the impact sending her stumbling back as the bolt reflected into the ground, sending up a shower of dirt and grass.

But even as she lost her balance, her arms were still guiding the lightsaber. She caught a heavy blow from a metal blade and instead of fighting it, simply redirected it upwards, twisted to the opposite side and then lowered her lightsaber to catch the attack from the second creature. This one she managed to stop, but the strength behind the attack was so great that it broke her wrists.

Venda cried out in pain and lost her grip on the lightsaber as she fell to the ground of the courtyard again. It was obvious she was out of her league here. But the older Alraxian should have made it to the ship now...

Vaguely, she heard another sound. It was like the others, but much more blaster-like in origin. She saw movement above her and one of the two large figures that had been bearing down on her hit the ground and stopped moving. The first sound echoed again, followed by a symphony of the new one.

A few moments passed and Venda felt new presences around her...one overpowered all of the rest. It was...gentle. It was also helped her to her feet. As Venda’s eyes regained focus, she saw a group of Alraxians...at least a dozen, probably more. All of them were wearing the same uniforms as the first two, guards of some kind, and they were holding weapons that didn’t look like anything she had ever seen...some kind of circular device around the arm...

But no, the one helping her up was wearing something different. It was a female, barely taller than Venda, and she had a pair of bright orange eyes and a voice to match her soft presence, “Can you walk?”

“I...I think so...” something in that voice had Venda answering without realizing it.

“Come quickly,” the Alraxian woman was now helping Venda walk towards the ship, “There are a great deal more Mrrakesh in the Palace and we must leave immediately.”

Venda nodded, her mind a haze and the adrenaline rush gone. Pain was creeping in, mostly from her wrists but also from her jaw and shoulders. She realized she was covered in something that was probably blood, though it was blue, and that did little to make her feel better. But as she was being walked into the ship, still in a daze, Venda realized there was something important she hadn’t figured out yet, “Marix’s son...”

“Is safely aboard Loki as we all will be in a few moments,” the Alraxian woman had a smile on her face, “We are all in your debt, mistress Jedi. If you had not delayed the Mrrakesh the Knights and I would have been too late.”

As Venda was guided aboard the ship that was apparently called Loki, she managed a glance behind her. The other Alraxians, apparently the Knights that the woman had mentioned, armed with those odd weapons that didn’t resemble anything she’d ever seen, following quickly. And off to the side were two bodies...those creatures. There were pockets of black burn marks across their backs. And in the distance, she could see a pair of Alraxians running to catch up, carrying a large...thing between them.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 474: Bothawui*

“Its good to see you again, sir,” Obrack Loro said with a bow and what was, for a Mon Calamari, a smile.

Rulae Nok nodded politely and managed his own species’ version of a smile, “And you, Loro. I assume you all know what’s going on?”

Technically, ‘you all’ meant the three others in the room: Adria Harken, Obrack Loro, and Rea’tin Lor, the only remaining members of Zephyr Squadron beyond Rulae, himself. They would still be flying as Zephyrs in a single flight, as the rest of the pilots in the fleet were already assigned to squadrons and the operation was too important to send in half-trained rookies.

The three others nodded. Apparently they had all been briefed on the situation and the overall plan and that did make things much easier.

Rulae reached up to adjust his uniform slightly and then said, “They’ll be assigning us to some new XJ X-Wings so we’ll be flying good ships. I’d like to get us some simulator time in as soon as we can so we can brush up after a few weeks off.”

“Sir,” it Adria Harken, the red haired human woman, who cut in, “Do you really think this is going to work?”

Allowing himself a shrug, Rulae turned to lean against the wall in his new office, “I’m not a Jedi...I can’t see the future. But it’s a solid plan. Centerpoint can create a gravity well in the entire Corellian system and trap the Vong there. The only fleet they have that can attack us is the one that hit Gyndine and this one is twice that size. We’ll overwhelm them.”

“I don’t like the idea of trusting in Centerpoint,” Loro said quietly and obviously to himself.

To be truthful, neither did Rulae. It was an ancient space station with extremely powerful gravity generators. Some speculated it was the device that brought the planets of the Corellian system together thousands of years earlier, created by some ancient, long dead species. Scientists had studied it for years but they still barely understood it, and that was the worrying part for Rulae...using some ancient technology that was obviously extremely powerful without understanding all that it could actually do.

But it wasn’t Rulae’s job to question the plan, so he kept the concerns to himself. Which meant he decided that he needed to say something to the others that wasn’t exactly a lie, “Centerpoint isn’t our concern. Ours is to take out the Coralskippers and stay alive. So let’s worry about that.”

The other three all nodded at that. At least they had their priorities in line. So now they had who knew how long to get into the simulators and learn to work together again. Hopefully the Vong wouldn’t attack for at least another couple of days.

* * * *​
	Tobias sat in the small shuttle across from Master Ral, who had been meditating for a good three hours. Tobias had spent the time resting, relaxing, and idly doing nothing at all. He should probably have been meditating as well, but that was one thing he’d still yet to get any good at.

But he wasn’t.

Instead, he was sitting there enjoying the few moments of rest. Tobias had the feeling there was going to be precious little rest to be had. Of course, he was still unsure of why they were on this New Republic ship. There had to be more than just checking up on Master Ral’s former apprentice...who seemed at least a little bit unhinged. Though he hadn’t been in training for very long at all, Tobias could sense the thing in Tokarr that was likely worrying Master Ral. He could only describe it as a small point of unease. It was like an uncomfortable feeling manifested into the Force and buried deep within a person. 

And Master Ral wanted Tobias to talk with the Miraluka. That had the markings of a test all over it, which worried Tobias even more. It was one thing to deal with rocks, but another person? Another person that’s Force Sensitive and likely knows any tricks he would try? Tobias worried he would end up doing more harm than good.

Okay. One thought at a time.

As best he could, Tobias tried to calm his mind. He drew on the Force and did his best to push away everything else. It was a task so much easier said than done, and it was even more frustrating how easy everyone always made it look. But for Tobias, it always seemed like he spent more time trying to calm himself than actually remaining calm...though he was getting better.

His sense of time faded and Tobias soon found himself not really seeing as much as feeling. How long it took to reach this, he didn’t know, but the calm it provided was an immense relief. The Force itself was the only sense left feeding any information to Tobias’ brain, and it was an amazing sensation. A bright light next to him had the familiar feeling of Master Ral, while there were hundreds upon hundreds of smaller lights all around...all of varying brightness. Though he wasn’t really seeing them. It was odd. They were there, but Tobias just seemed to...to know they were there, with his brain converting the information into a form of sight even though he was fairly sure it wasn’t at all.

And then, suddenly, Tobias realized he was seeing.

It was Marix. She was...was...fighting? She was moving too fast and...she was holding something. Something terrified. She was worried, too. That was odd enough. Marix being worried...had Tobias ever actually seen that before? But what was that huge thing? By the Force, was it a Mrrakesh?! He’d never actually seen one but it was the only thing he could link with the monstrous, fast-moving thing. No...no, things.

Suddenly it was gone.

But as Tobias’ sight readjusted, he realize he was not in the shuttle.

What he saw was odd coloured walls that couldn’t have been made of anything he recognized. It wasn’t Alraxian, he was sure of that...and it didn’t look metal. But then what he was seeing didn’t matter. A violent, searing pain wracked through Tobias’ body from his stomach. It burned deep and then whipped around to his spine, digging upwards until he felt he was going to pass out from the overwhelming pain and then...

Tobias’ eyes opened. He was gasping for breath and could feel a vague burning along his spine that was slowly fading. It was then that he realized Master Ral was still there, eyes closed. He hadn’t moved...that seemed odd. Master Ral was always there to say something if Tobias experienced something like that...

But what was it?

After a deep breath, he closed his eyes and tried to at least slow his breathing.

What was that?

Mind racing, trying to understand what had just happened and make sense of the pain, Tobias had completely forgotten the first thing he’d seen. At least that had made sense...but no. His entire focus was on the pain. Why? What was the Force telling him? What was that place? What did it have to do with...anything?

Answers didn’t come, and Tobias was left in a state of fear for the entire hour until Master Ral finally ‘awoke’ from his meditation.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 475: Experience*

[I cannot seal the hallways fast enough, my lady.]

“Really?!” Marix growled out loud without thinking the better of it. The last thing she needed right now was Andrea to start crying again and she was still on the verge of it...Marix showing her own tension didn’t help.  In itself, this whole idea of getting Andrea to keep her eyes shut seemed altogether strange, but for some reason she had said it...and she was serious about it. Marix had never really understood why parents foolishly protected children from the harsh realities of life. It had never made sense.

Of course, then she’d had the twins and Marix found herself doing things she never understood. Truthfully, she still wasn’t completely sure of the real purpose for toys or play, but she had ended up just giving in to Jyren’s constant statements that it was what it was. The fact that he couldn’t explain it was frustrating, but at least he didn’t get angry with her for not understanding anymore. But with the situation she now found herself in, Marix had made a quick decision that had followed a line of thought that had begun many years before.

Children deserved a choice in life.

No one had any right to take a child and make them into something. The child deserved to grow up to an age to make the decision themselves. It was the driving reason behind why she had freed the Tam’Day’U. All of them chose to join the Knights, which wasn’t a surprise, but they had the choice not to. They weren’t forced. And Andrea was not going to be forced into a life of fighting if she didn’t want it. For all Marix knew, little Andrea would end up being a healer like her grandmother.

Marix suddenly heard the sound of a weapon firing. Or at least, she assumed that was what it was, as it was unlike any weapon she’d ever heard before. But analyzing the origin of the sound wasn’t nearly as important as moving, and Marix quickly stepped to the side as she was running, nearly pressing against the wall.

A green blaster-bolt-like-beam shot past, hitting the ceiling not far away that got lower at the staircase. As Andrea made a loud noise of surprise(it had been close and very loud), Marix glanced over her should to see one of the three Mrrakesh that were after her approaching fast. He was slinging a large rifle over his shoulder and withdrawing a sword as he got closer to her.

Reaching down to her belt, Marix retrieved the vibroblade that had been there since leaving Ryloth. However, she didn’t turn around. Stopping and fighting meant the others would catch up to her, and while Marix felt confident enough to handle three Mrrakesh herself...she knew the distraction of Andrea would make that impossible. Even one of them would be difficult, as she had to make sure her daughter stayed safe. What she needed to do was to slow them down when they caught up.

Speaking of which...

As Marix reached the stairway down, the heavy footsteps behind her got too close to simply ignore. Stopping at the edge of the stairwell, Marix spun around, making sure to keep Andrea as much behind her as was possible. In front of her, the Mrrakesh was charging in leaps. He took one more powerful step and then lunged at her, metal sword slicing down.

Marix reached up and swung her own blade to parry the sword, but knowing she wasn’t nearly as strong as the Mrrakesh, simply used the momentum of the swing against him. Her blade caught his and she was dropping low and sliding to the side, not pushing against his blade but instead redirecting his strike away. Using the Force, she helped to propel him, and in a flash, the fast dive took the Mrrakesh hard into the wall of the stairwell where it wrapped around. He was already getting up by the time Marix was sprinting down, but she had a few more seconds again.

[One of the Mrrakesh is cutting through the floor above.]

She had reached the next level down by the time the Palace warned her, and it was in time so that she wasn’t actually surprised to see a Mrrakesh drop down from the ceiling just a few meters in front of her. Marix stopped in her tracks, knowing that the other Mrrakesh was behind her and the third one...was somewhere.

In front of her, the Mrrakesh took two large steps forward and swung his sword to take off her head. Marix ducked and swept at his legs to take him to the ground, but the huge creature actually jumped up and over the sweep.

The Force screamed at Marix and she tucked Andrea in tighter and rolled to the side, knowing it would hurt the girl some but much less than the sword that struck the ground from behind her. The Mrrakesh in front of her had landed, but before she could even looked up to see where his next strike would be aimed, Marix’s knife-arm slashed outwards and cut across both of the Mrrakesh’s shins.

There was a growl of pain as he lost his footing, and as the Force continued its constant barrage of warnings, Marix this time rolled forward, avoiding another strike from behind, and jumped to her feet, hitting the ground at a run.

[How many levels to the nearest courtyard?] Marix demanded of the Palace as the Mrrakesh again pursued her. She would have a few seconds before they caught up again...even the injured one would likely be attacking swiftly again.

[You are three levels above the main courtyard, my lady.] the Palace didn’t seem to feel any urgency in the situation, despite the pain it was definitely feeling from all of the cutting at it.

Marix looked ahead of her, seeing a break in the hallways that went two directions. She had to make a choice very quickly. A part of her mind was still trying to figure out where the third Mrrakesh was, but the majority of her focus was on the moment...and doing her best to not let Andrea’s crying distract her.

“Kslath!” the growl from behind her sounded almost mechanical coming through that odd mask the Mrrakesh was wearing.

Spinning around and planting her feet, Marix saw the uninjured Mrrakesh already over her, sword coming in at a low angle to cleave her into two. Marix’s right arm suddenly changed form, and there was a loud clang of metal striking metal. Her eyes caught a flash of surprise from the Mrrakesh, and she used this to her advantage by twisting around the blade and striking out at the Mrrakesh with a strong kick.

Her foot caught him in the jaw, sending the large Mrrakesh stumbling back, trying to figure out why his blade hadn’t simply cut her arm off. But his companion, who was leaving a small trail of blood from the wound at his shins, simply pushed him out of the way and dove over to pounce at Marix, sword thrusting forward to simply run her through.

Marix had time to sidestep the thrust, and there was a loud thud as the Mrrakesh landed hard. And he landed attacking again, a free hand swinging out to catch her in the face. Marix ducked and twisted to keep Andrea away. The odd maneuver left Marix open, and the Mrrakesh took advantage of the situation by driving his knee directly into her face.

For a second, her vision went black and all her ears could pick up was a strange, heavy thrumming sound. When her vision returned, Marix realized her head had snapped back and she’d hit the wall behind her. Andrea was near screaming, but Marix was doing everything she could to keep her alive without hearing the sounds coming from her shoulder. And then she saw movement in front of her. It was a fast, bright flash, and she knew it was the sword coming at her left shoulder...Andrea!

Her reactions slowed from the blow to the face and with little room within the hallway to move, Marix found only one thing she could do.  She shifted her body to the left as quickly as she could, and suddenly a very sharp pain dug straight into the right side of her chest. She only made a grunt, gritting her teeth against the extreme pain as she was pinned by the sword to the wall behind, but the Mrrakesh made a sound that was almost a laugh.

Typical, arrogant creatures...

Through the pain, Marix’s body quickly began remorphing around the blade. Seeing this, the Mrrakesh made a satisfied noise, twisted the sword to the side to cause Marix to violently thrash against the pain, then removed the blade from the large wound. He saw what he had expected as her body continued to remorph...the metal took over. Instead of flesh forming, the wound turned a silver colour and it expanded outwards.

But then it stopped. A moment later, the metal changed back to the flesh colour from before and the Mrrakesh immediately knew something was wrong.

That was also the moment Marix’s still-metal right arm hit him hard in the face, getting a satisfying thud from the Mrrakesh’s skull as he stumbled back. But Marix didn’t let this one recover. She ignored the shadow-pain in her chest, stepped forward and revered the blade that was in her metal hand, which was remorphing to its normal form already, and thrust her vibroblade up under the exposed neck of the Mrrakesh.

Withdrawing the blade, Marix saw that the other Mrrakesh was already coming at her again. She ducked under his strike, which was so hard that the blade actually got caught in the wall behind her, and used the moment that was open to turn and sprint away again, doing her best to alleviate the panic that was running through Andrea. The little girl had felt the sword through the Force, and Marix was doing her best to soothe her daughter while trying to also figure out exactly what to do next.

Marix made her decision quickly.

[Open the nearest outer wall.] she ordered the Palace just as she was approaching it, knowing exactly where the wall should open.

Where normally it would have hesitated, the Palace simply did as she commanded, and the wall that had been at the split in the hallway opened up to the air outside. Marix ran straight through it and jumped out the opening. Three levels up as one thing to say, but seeing it was something else entirely. But Marix had to ignore the ground, as she could feel the Mrrakesh was almost literally on her tail.

She spun herself around mid-fall, gripping Andrae tightly as the little girl’s claws dug just a bit deeper, to see the Mrrakesh drawing a small blaster-like weapon from his belt as he fell just a few meters behind her. Marix didn’t give him a chance to even take aim. She immediately threw her blade at him, and it caught him square in the face.

Three down.

Still unsure of the last Mrrakesh that was likely about to appear at any second, Marix turned again to see the ground nearly already upon her. She called upon the Force again, beginning to feel tired from the constant exertion but letting the adrenaline fuel her and push her on more, Marix slowed her descent and landed softly...and a few seconds after the Mrrakesh’s body.

But then she heard another loud sound behind her and knew exactly where the last Mrrakesh was. It had just been a few steps behind.

She spun around to see a sword coming at her face. Marix ducked, then immediately twisted to the side as a knee came up to meet her. Her right arm swung in, catching the extended leg of the Mrrakesh and throwing him to the ground onto his back. But the second he hit, the Mrrakesh lashed out with his leg again, forcing Marix to jump up and back and giving him time to reach his feet again.

Marix was given no time to regain her balance, as the Mrrakesh was immediately in front of her again, sword swinging. In a flash of movement that Marix was proud to admit involved no use of the Force at all, she ducked, jumped, spun, and twisted out of the way of an amazingly fast series of swings of both sword and fist from the Mrrakesh.

And then Marix planted her feet, dug in as much as she could in the micro-seconds she had, and raised her right arm up in a guard position. Again, metal caught metal, but this Mrrakesh didn’t seem surprised at all.  However, it was a sudden stop and that alone was all Marix needed. She forced the blade away, then stepped inside the Mrrakesh’s reach and punched him hard in the jaw. The blow was enough to send the Mrrakesh back a few steps before recovering.

However, the blow was also enough to cause him to lose his grip on the sword, which Marix immediately grabbed before it even hit the ground, spun around in the tight grip of her metal hand, then swung with all of the strength she could manage, removing the Mrrakesh’s head from his body before he even had time to completely see what had happened.

And then the only sound was the crying of Andrea.

Marix quickly let the sword drop to the grass at her feet and loosened her grip on her daughter, gently stroking the little girl’s hair to attempt to calm her. [Are there anymore Mrrakesh?]

[It is...hard to say, my lady.] the Palace sounded pained. [I can detect nothing near you, however the injuries I have sustained makes it difficult to...to concentrate.]

Having gotten her bearings and knowing exactly where she was, Marix began to head around the palace to another section of the courtyard where a Kanyak would likely be. Not Loki, as he was on the opposite side of the Palace, but everything couldn’t be perfect.

[Tell the remaining Knights to search everywhere and make sure the Mrrakesh are gone. Focus your efforts on healing your wounds...when it is safe, I will make sure the Redstars help as much as they can.] she told the Palace as she swiftly rounded the corner to see a small Kanyak exactly where she expected it to be.

Heading that way, and keeping her entire senses alert just in case, Marix realized what she’d just done. Four Mrrakesh. Four. And she was fighting while protecting a terrified jai. She could remember a time where fighting even one Mrrakesh would have meant death. A part of her quietly commented that motherly instincts were behind a great deal of it, but Marix still didn’t like that voice and simply chalked it up to experience.


----------



## Krafus

Well, I've caught up to the latest chapter... The Marix vs. 4 Mrrakesh fight was fun to read, but I didn't like how Venda got pwned in her own battle. I had been wondering how a full Jedi would fare against a Mrrakesh, and I was disappointed, especially when Marix kicked the asses of _four_ Mrrakesh while protecting a child in comparaison. Or, to put in game terms, what are Venda and Marix's levels? (And any progress on finding the stats for Nine and Ket?)

I'm also wondering - how would the most powerful Force-users around, say Yoda, Mace Windu or Palpatine, fare against a Mrrakesh? Because if they got their asses kicked too, I'd have to call "Mary Sue" at Marix. Or maybe "OMG uber-races they are sooooo powerful in comparaison to puny filthy humans" at Alraxians and Mrrakesh.

It was fun to see more of Master Ral and Tobias. Here's hoping they can settle the problems between Ral and Tokarr before they meet the Yuuzhan Vong.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Krafus said:
			
		

> Well, I've caught up to the latest chapter... The Marix vs. 4 Mrrakesh fight was fun to read, but I didn't like how Venda got pwned in her own battle. I had been wondering how a full Jedi would fare against a Mrrakesh, and I was disappointed, especially when Marix kicked the asses of _four_ Mrrakesh while protecting a child in comparaison. Or, to put in game terms, what are Venda and Marix's levels? (And any progress on finding the stats for Nine and Ket?)




Truthfully, at this point, there's very little really known about Venda beyond the fact that she's a Jedi. She about Jyren's age(30 or so), but isn't a terribly experienced Jedi as she started her training later in her life like most Jedi of the era. She's really less of a combat type than some Jedi, though since so little has been fleshed out with her at this point, its obviously easy to not know that.

Not to mention that Venda was a bit lost at that point, while Marix had a very good idea of what she was up against, having fought Mrrakesh before. Marix also had the advantage of fighting in close quarters, meaning that all her attackers couldn't get to her at once, and she was also on the move most of the time rather than standing and fighting.

I've actually started going back to the Cast thread I made a while back and adding in stats again. Been trying to go, roughly, in order of appearance, but its pretty rough in that aspect. Sadly, the original stats for most everything is gone, so I've been rebuilding them as best I can. And actually did put up stats for both Nine and Ket a little while back and kept forgetting to mention it here.

Cast Thread



> I'm also wondering - how would the most powerful Force-users around, say Yoda, Mace Windu or Palpatine, fare against a Mrrakesh? Because if they got their asses kicked too, I'd have to call "Mary Sue" at Marix. Or maybe "OMG uber-races they are sooooo powerful in comparaison to puny filthy humans" at Alraxians and Mrrakesh.




Guys like Yoda, Mace, and Palpy would wipe the floor with Mrrakesh. They're just in a completely different league, and while I know they're statted out around levels 18-20, I don't think that really fits any of them. If anyone should be of epic levels in Star Wars, its those three. I'd even argue that statting them out is the equivalent of statting out Dieties for D&D...you can do it, but it kind of defeats the point.

Truthfully, though, the Alraxians and Mrrakesh are definitely in a different league than baseline humans. They aren't my creation, as I've said before, but the idea behind them is that are simply better. Of course, most Alraxians live quiet, boring lives and don't even dream of even small fights...and Mrrakesh fight amongst themselves more than anyone else. But both species are the result of genetic manipulation on the side of the Sith, who originally weren't human, anyway. So the species were both built to BE strong, with the Alraxians slanting more towards adaptability and the Mrrakesh more brute strength and power.



> It was fun to see more of Master Ral and Tobias. Here's hoping they can settle the problems between Ral and Tokarr before they meet the Yuuzhan Vong.




This makes me happy. I've been worried that the stuff with Tobias and Master Ral would be...well, boring.


----------



## Krafus

Thanks for the stats, I always enjoy looking at those. So, Ket was an 18th-level character... No wonder he was so tough to beat. I wonder, did you stat him that way so he wouldn't have four attacks per round (which might have made him too strong an opponent)? Oh, and his strenght score seems rather low in comparaison to Marix and Nine.

Glad to know Yoda and the similarly-powered could handle the average Mrrakesh or Alraxian with ease. As for their stats, I thought they were handled rather well in the online articles at WotC's site. IIRC, Yoda and Palpatine were 20th level, and Mace 19th, and all three had a full four attacks per round and BABs of 22 and or more.

As for the Tobias stuff, it's actually my favorite part. As I've said before, I enjoy reading about Jedi and their training.

Oh, and if I may ask, what do you think of the new SW Saga Edition?


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Krafus said:
			
		

> Thanks for the stats, I always enjoy looking at those. So, Ket was an 18th-level character... No wonder he was so tough to beat. I wonder, did you stat him that way so he wouldn't have four attacks per round (which might have made him too strong an opponent)? Oh, and his strenght score seems rather low in comparaison to Marix and Nine.




Honestly, 18 is a nice number to put him at a higher level than Sadrak but not too much higher to be completely impossible. His Str score I am a bit iffy on, myself. His emphasis is much more on the Dex end of things, and while rebuilding him I didn't want to just go and make him far too overpowered. Technically, he doesn't do anything that would directly show a very high Str score, so that's my rational for it. 



> Glad to know Yoda and the similarly-powered could handle the average Mrrakesh or Alraxian with ease. As for their stats, I thought they were handled rather well in the online articles at WotC's site. IIRC, Yoda and Palpatine were 20th level, and Mace 19th, and all three had a full four attacks per round and BABs of 22 and or more.




I do agree that the stats are good for what they are...I just don't think its really necessary to stat out guys like that. The biggest problem comes with when other players hit those levels. Then you have players that, by a purely numbers way of looking at it, are just as strong as Yoda and Palpy and that just feels...wrong to me.

I have no problem with Epic rules for Star Wars, as I think people like those three really would fit as an Epic moreso than just as a 20th level character.



> As for the Tobias stuff, it's actually my favorite part. As I've said before, I enjoy reading about Jedi and their training.
> 
> Oh, and if I may ask, what do you think of the new SW Saga Edition?




No Saga for me yet...I've had a chance to give a good look to the rules while waiting for the local comic shop to put up the new stuff last Wednesday, and I really do love it, but just don't have the cash on me right now.

Of course, I do have a problem with them that isn't the fault of the rules at all but something that's just me...I love the d20 rules. They work so well for me. I can very easily see myself continuing to use the Revised rules AND Saga, but I just have found that the Revised rules click so well for me I can't bring myself to just ditch them.

Besides, I enjoy one thing that the Saga book omitted...crafting. Some of my favourite characters I've seen were more non-combat type Tech Specialists, one even a Chief Engineer PrC and it was great. Its not as much movie Star Wars style to have that kind of character, but obviously I'm an EU kind of guy.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 476: Honouring a Stranger*

Venda allowed herself a long, calming sigh. She had spent the last few minutes with the Alraxian woman from before who had called herself a Redstar. Venda quickly identified this with ‘healer’, as she could feel the Alraxian using the Force to very expertly treat her wounds. Now, though, Venda’s wrists no longer were wracked with pain and she was able to think straight again.

“The stories tell of the Jedi being the most noble beings in the galaxy,” the Redstar was saying as she was now cleaning what was left of the wounds with a very interesting liquid, “I am glad that our limited experience with the Jedi of this time are just as noble.”

“Um...thank you,” Venda said quietly, a bit unsure of how, exactly, to respond.

And then the Alraxian woman stopped what she was doing. After a moment, she looked up to meet Venda’s eyes, caught something there, and then a grin formed on her face, “You have no idea what just happened at the Palace, do you?”

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable with that grin being directed at her, Venda shifted in the large chair some, “I know that Marix...” a slight shift in the Force from the Redstar was easy to detect, and Venda knew why, “That the Empress’ child was in danger. I did what I could to help protect him.”

The grin on the Redstar’s face became a broad, happy smile, “The two Knights who you fought with were among a handful of warriors amongst our people, and they were both handpicked by the Empress herself due to their previous experience. They were the best, lady Jedi. Both of them fell to our people’s greatest enemy, which are stronger and our better in nearly every way.. You, however, sit here with the only real wounds being broken bones...”

The thought was allowed to hang in the air, and the gravity of what had occurred began to weigh down on Venda as she gained a little more understanding. But despite that, the Alraxian woman was still smiling, and said very softly, as if to herself, “You remind me very much of Jyren when he first arrived.”

“When he first arrived?” Venda had caught something else knew that she felt like digging into.

The outward demeanor of happiness did not fade from the Alraxian, but her feeling through the Force was noticeably dimmer all of a sudden, “It is...not my place to go into the specifics. But yes, he was much as you are now, with little idea of what was happening around him and simply doing what he felt was right.”

“You knew him well,” sharp natural instincts tipped that one off for Venda. The Force was helpful, but sometimes being aware of what was around in the physical world was just as important.

With a nod, the Redstar idly got to her feet and also reached a hand down to help Venda up, “The only reason I was assigned to him was that I speak Trade. After that, I was simply a familiar face and he seemed to react much better to that than to some of the older Redstars,” she was now leading the way to the door, which opened in an interesting motion that was hard for Venda to describe, and walking slowly with Venda down Loki’s main access corridor, “I would say that he was a friend, and I am sad that he is gone...but it is my job to be strong for those in pain.”

It seemed like probing farther would not be appropriate, and so Venda silently followed the taller Alraxian. They came to another door, which opened to reveal a rather large room that had a table extending across most of it. A pair of Knights sat at the far end, with various other Alraxians dressed in uniforms that Venda couldn’t identify. All heads turned when the door opened and Venda was suddenly very aware they were all looking at her. After a short moment, they were all saying various things that she had no idea of.

The Redstar waved her hand and they went silent. She then turned and leaned forward slightly to look to Venda again, “The hardest thing for Jyren to understand was our people’s isolation. He told me once that when he first came here, the only thing anyone ever did was to stare blankly at him in surprise. He was right. It was...disrespectful and very unkind to treat him that way. It is still hard for many to understand why a stranger would come to us with no real knowledge of who we are and protect the things we all hold dear. But we are grateful for it. You have fought Mrrakesh and lived...and you showed no fear standing to fight them. What you have done is something few Alraxians could do, and you putting your life on the line for our people is something we will never forget.”

“Thank you,” it was all Venda could think to say. She was so used to being screamed at by locals at best, shot at when it was at the worst, that to be complimented and thanked in such a way was actually unnerving. The irony in that was not lost on her, and a pang of sadness was hard to avoid as her mind thought about the state of the rest of the galaxy with how the Jedi were treated.

She then turned directly to the Redstar and asked in a more quiet voice, “Have you heard anything from the Empress?”

“No,” the word had a way of cutting through the air like a blaster bolt, “But we would know if something had happened.”

The Redstar then put a gentle hand on Venda’s shoulder to help lead her back down the corridor and back towards the direction they had come. As they walked, Venda asked, “Where are we going?”

The question was more vague than she’d meant it to be, but the Alraxian woman seemed to pick up on the real meaning behind it rather than the thousands of others that were possible, “Safely away from Alraxia for the moment. We do not have specific procedures for this situation, as nothing like it has ever happened before, but it seems the most important thing is to protect the child.”

That didn’t answer the question completely. But, then again, a planet name or any location likely wouldn’t mean a thing to Venda, who knew nothing at all about the section of space. It was called the Unknown Regions for a good reason.

“Is he alright?” she asked.

“Yes,” again, the Redstar understood the real question, “He is scared, but no child of his age wouldn’t be. Beyond that, however, he will be fine.”

In front of them, Venda could see the end of the corridor, which was the cockpit of the ship. There were two Alraxian-sized chairs in the center in front of the consoles, but Venda immediately noticed no one sat in either of them, and the Redstar simply ended up standing behind the right one. As Venda stopped behind the other chair, she looked out the viewport to see a large, blue-orange planet off to one side. However, it was the giant, silver starship of a shape like she had never seen that caught her attention.

In a quiet voice, again as if speaking to herself, the Redstar said, “If the Empress does not arrive here soon, we will go back for her. The Jendari are our greatest allies. They have helped us grow to the point we are now. If the Empress does not reach us here, it will be the first time in four thousand years that a Jendari warship has been to Alraxia.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 477: Not-So-Aggressive Negotiations*

Starships were such amazing things. Most beings in the galaxy seemed to take them for granted, but Tobias was always amazed by them. It didn’t matter the kind, either, Kanyak, X-Wing, or bulk transport...all of them had their own unique qualities that were simply fascinating. As it was the first time he had ever been aboard a Mon Calamari cruiser, Tobias was easily lost in the nuances of the ship.

The most notable quality to the ship that was unlike anything Tobias had ever experienced before was the air, itself. The atmosphere within was humid, to the point where, on some decks, it felt like walking through water. It was so humid, in fact, that Tobias couldn’t help but be reminded of Alraxia during the rain, and it took a great deal of effort to resist the urge to stay comfortable and simply morph to his Alraxian body. But the temperature wasn’t all that was so unique. The construction of the ship was much more like a Kanyak than anything he’d seen in a metal ship. Curves and very natural shapes formed the entirety of the ship, and Tobias sometimes found himself wondering if it was, in fact, alive.

Of course, Tobias was currently trying his best to stop being distracted by the beauty of the ship he was aboard and focus on the task at hand. This was ignoring the fact that he wasn’t completely sure what that task was, exactly. Master Ral was still aboard the shuttle, and had sent Tobias to go talk with Tokarr. The problem was, Tobias wasn’t told what it was he was actually supposed to be doing. Master Ral had dodged the question very easily more than once, and before Tobias knew it, he was off the transport and wandering the corridors of the ship to find a single person.

At least tracking him down wasn’t hard. One thing Tobias was getting the hang of was calming his wandering thoughts enough to sense presences in the Force around him. While he couldn’t quite pinpoint or track individuals, Tokarr was easy to spot as he had the same feeling from earlier...annoyance bordering on anger in such a way that it overpowered most of the other feelings that were permeating through the Force.

And now, still completely unsure of what he was actually doing, Tobias had found Tokarr. It was a sparring room of some sort, with a large, padded mat on the floor and along most of the walls. The Miraluka was currently unleashing a rather violent punishing on a padded punching bag that was roughly humanoid shaped. The thing that bothered Tobias, though, was the fact that he was able to enter the room and stand there for a good five minutes before Tokarr even took notice of him. Someone trained in the Force, even for a short time, should have known he was being watched right away.

Well, no, that was a lie.

What really bothered him was the way the air became heavy and oppressive when he entered the room, but Tobias tried to push that away as he had in that temple on Yavin IV, and so picked something else to be bothered by instead. It seemed logical enough to him.

“I was focused, thank you,” Tokarr’s voice growled at the dummy in front of him. The Miraluka still wasn’t turning around to face Tobias, but he could feel the Force shifting to focus on him slightly more.

That was also a lie. Tobias couldn’t detect it with the Force, he wasn’t that good, but he could hear it in Tokarr’s voice. But he was still unsure of what he was really supposed to be doing, and so simply decided not to make things worse by saying the wrong thing...so he said nothing.

However, that seemed to flare up more anger in Tokarr, who did turn around and tilted his head to the side slightly as if inspecting Tobias. Through the Force, Tobias could feel that this was definitely the case, “So Corentan sent you this time, hm?”

“He just wants to help,” Tobias said quietly.

Without eyes, Tokarr could not roll them, but the sigh he let out was just as effective, “Help what? Help me be a Jedi when that is obviously not my path? Help me to do what he thinks is right?”

Something clicked in Tobias’ mind and he realized a pattern in what Tokarr had been saying, “Its not about Master Ral.”

That was why Tobias was there. Tokarr kept making it all about Master Ral, using that to ignore the actual problem. Without the Jedi Master around, though, the argument wouldn’t hold for long...especially since Tobias hadn’t been told what to do and was working this all out as he went along.

“Oh, wonderful,” Tokarr pointed an accusing finger at Tobias and managed an eyeless glare through the cloth over his face, “So you come here like all the other Jedi. Self-righteous and swearing that you know what’s best for everyone. Here to tell me that because I’m not doing what you think is right, I’m evil and dark. I’d rather here that kriffing pile of junk from Corentan than an idealistic little sycophant.”

“Shut up!” there was a layer in those two words that Tobias didn’t realize he’d put in. He’d gotten so angry at the tirade that he’d actually layered his voice with the Force to make it like a hammer through the air.

It worked, and Tokarr stood there looking surprised at the sudden outburst. Tobias quickly took advantage of the silence to get straight to the point, having immediately calmed himself and now back to speaking in a more level tone, “No one has said you have to be a Jedi, Tokarr. You don’t. But you have a responsibility to not just throw away what you have learned! You can’t take what you want and throw the rest away. Have you even stopped and tried to feel the air around you? Your anger is so strong that its probably even being noticed by people that can’t even sense the Force in the first place!”

“Sithspit, don’t give me that responsibility lecture!” Tokarr stepped forward again, the anger around him growing considerably.

Tobias nearly threw his hands up in frustration but kept them firmly at his sides. His voice, however, showed the annoyance openly, “Fine! Forget the responsibility! Go get yourself, and everyone you work with here killed because you’re so caught up in your anger that you can’t focus on the job you’re supposed to be doing!”

A snarl formed on Tokarr’s face, “See? Because I don’t listen to you, I’m going to get other people killed! If anger’s so horrible, then why are you screaming at me?”

The realization of that hit Tobias hard. Suddenly the he had lost his train of thought, which was probably a good thing, and was lost in the fact that he was doing exactly what he shouldn’t be doing to try and help this man. Yelling at him was only fueling his anger and making it worse. But, for once, Tobias didn’t fall into self-pity or anger at himself. His mind worked quickly to put him back into a level headed state.

By the time he was back in the present, Tokarr was storming past him to the door to leave. However, before he reached it, Tobias said in a calm voice, “You’re only angry because you know its true, Tokarr. You can feel the darkness in you and you don’t know what to do. You’re afraid of it, and you’re angry at us for seeing that. And that only makes it grow. Master Ral isn’t angry at you, Tokarr. He doesn’t look down on you or think you’ve failed...he just wants to help you.”

Tokarr had stopped halfway through that. By the time Tobias had finished, the Miraluka had formed a fist and his hand was shaking. There was a very short second of silence and Tobias actually thought he might have finally managed it.

That hope was quickly killed when Tokarr let out a wordless growl of pure rage, turned around, and charged straight for Tobias.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 478: Third Passenger*

Her name was Maia. She was a great deal younger than Loki and about half his size, and her pilot was one of the Knights stationed at the Palace on Alraxia, and she was quite surprised to find the Empress running inside and screaming at her to get off the ground immediately. Maia was smart, though, and positioned all of her surprised questions while she was reaching orbit rather than waiting.

Now they were in hyperspace, taking the short jump to meet with the Jendari ship and, hopefully, Loki a few star systems away. The small cockpit had only one seat, and Marix was comfortably resting and gently scratching Andrea’s ear. She wasn’t asleep, but wasn’t crying anymore, either. Marix wasn’t going to complain about that.

[You are sure you are alright?] Maia asked, no longer distracted with the task of getting off of Alraxia as quickly as possible.

[Yes, thank you.] Marix answered for the fifth time.

“Momma...” it was the first time Andrea had said anything since Marix had reached her room in the Palace. Immediately, she ignored anything else the Kanyak was saying and looked down to her daughter, who was looking up with red around her silvery eyes from crying so much. In Alraxian, the little girl said softly, “Is Saaran okay?”

Marix’s hand went to gently stroking Andrea’s black stripe, “He is safe with your grandfather. We will see them in a little while.”

Andrea just watched Marix for a moment, and she couldn’t help but feel a little unnerved. The little girl had an intelligence that showed through in those eyes that made Marix think that Andrea knew a great deal more than anyone gave her credit for. She looked so much like Marix, and even seemed to have the quiet, reserved personality that Marix had before she was taken by Faban Sunrunner to be trained as a Tam’Day’U. But there was more to it than that and Marix couldn’t put it in words, or even in coherent thoughts.

And then Andrea spoke up again, her voice still quiet but a hopeful tone sneaking in, “...will Daddy be there...?”

Inside, Marix froze. Her outer appearance would have done the same thing if Andrea wasn’t looking at her like that. In as steady as a voice as she could manage, Marix whispered, “I don’t think so, Andrea.”

The little jai looked like she was going to cry again, but instead just turned and rested her head on Marix’s chest again, “...wish he would be...”

“Me too,” Marix went back to scratching Andrea’s ear to hopefully make her feel better.

A few quiet minutes past as they continued the trip through hyperspace, and then Marix felt something. It was quick, and gone as soon as she realized it was even there. A feeling in the Force. Focused. Strong...angry.

And, immediately, she knew what it was.

[Maia, where is the third person aboard?] she asked, slowly sitting up and beginning to detach Andrea from her.

There was a feeling of confusion from the ship. [There is no one else, my lady...]

Oh, he was good.

By now, Marix was on her feet and gently placed Andrea down in the seat, “I’ll be right back. You stay here, okay?”

Andrea looked worried. She was definitely smart enough to know that something was wrong, “Don’t wanna be alone...”

“Maia is here,” Marix motioned up to the ship around them, “I won’t be long, I promise.”

She then leaned down and gave Andrea an affectionate kiss on the forehead before turned and leaving the cockpit. [Seal that off behind me.]

Marix heard the door close, but didn’t turn. Her entire focus was now in front of her. The central corridor leaving the cockpit was just like Loki’s, but so much smaller that she could actually see where it ended and the back sections of the ship, where the Kanyak’s organs were, was sealed off. Through the Force, she searched but still couldn’t find anything.

He was very good.

“I know you are there, Mrrakesh,” Marix knew he wasn’t going to be able to ambush her if she stayed right where she was, meaning that the best thing to do was to draw him out. When no response came, which was expected, she attempted again, still speaking Trade, which he would undoubtedly understand, “If you were intelligent you would know that I could have this ship simply crush all of the rooms within that you might be hiding in. So you may step out now and stop being a coward or be crushed by the walls around you.”

She waited a few moments, but still nothing. Ah. Wait.

“If you are thinking you can cut your way through with that sword of yours, I would not count on that,” she was still trying to find him through the Force, but couldn’t. That little flash in the Force, though, for whatever reason, told her that he was there...somewhere, “Kanyaks react faster than the Palace, Mrrakesh. You will be crushed before you can make any progress.”

And then, finally, the door farthest away, on the left side of the corridor, opened. Through it, one of the large Mrrakesh stepped out, sword in hand as he bent down slightly due to the low, for him at least, ceiling. She recognized him, too. It was the first of the group, the one she’d thrown out the window with. How he’d survived, she didn’t know...but she knew it was dangerous to assume any of her enemies were dead if she didn’t have a body to cut into little pieces to make sure.

He did not say anything, though. That didn’t surprise Marix. He was a tool for the Mrrakesh...for whoever had sent him. Just a lackey without any real information beyond what his mission was, and all he would care about was completing that mission.

Marix took a few deeep breaths, then shifted her body in the tight corridor to assume a readied, defensive stance. The vibroblade was back on Alraxia, still lodged within one of the dead Mrrakesh. But she didn’t need it. In this tight quarters, that sword would be useless anyway and she would have the advantage.

Her tail flicked in annoyance and she growled at him, “Do I have to tell you how to do everything, scum? If you stand there much longer I’ll kill you without giving you the chance of a good fight.”

She was angry. Very, very angry. Because of that, Marix wasn’t exactly thinking straight. She should have killed him by having Maia crush the rooms. But Marix didn’t. She wanted the pleasure of killing this coward herself. This stupid, foolish creature had made the dumbest mistake...it had tried to kill her children. It had brought an entire task force with it to kill two small, defenseless children.

But they hadn’t expected that the children’s mother would be around, obviously. If they had, they wouldn’t have tried it. Angering a Tam’Day’U was one thing. Angering Marix was another. But angering Marix after all of the things the Force had thrown at her in the last month by trying to go after her children was it. None of them were going to live.

And as the Mrrakesh finally charged at her, Marix smiled. He didn’t know what he’d gotten himself into.

Neither did Faban Sunrunner.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 479: The Rules*

Venda would likely have been more amazed by the Jendari ship if she hadn’t been so surrounded by new sights already. To her, it was simply a different kind of ship, which was made of metal, of a kind at least, rather than being alive like the Alraxian ships seemed to be. The Jendari ship seemed more similar to a Mon Calamari cruiser with its white corridors, but it was much more large and open with viewports everywhere they cold be placed to provide a view of space. It was obviously designed with its avian creators in mind, meaning that the stark white and somewhat rounded edges were the only similarities to the Mon Calamari ships.

Loki had docked with the ship upon arrival, and now, only a few minutes later, another, similar looking ship was landing in the large bay next to Loki. When the Alraxian Knights formed up next to the hatch, Venda didn’t need to be told the occupant. With the Knights, was the older Alraxian, Navik Keros, holding the Empress’ son, Venda and the Redstar, and a large group of the interesting looking, bird-like Jendari.

When the hatch opened up in that odd motion that Venda had never seen anywhere but on these Alraxian ships, the entire hangar suddenly echoed with a pang of shock through the Force. Two of the nearest Knights even started to dive forward towards the hatch, while the Redstar and most of the Jendari took very large steps back.

What emerged from the hatch was Marix. She was breathing heavily, had a good amount of blue and red liquid, which was likely blood, across her, and was holding up her daughter against her left shoulder. None of that was the origin of the surprise. It was what she was dragging along the deck at her feet.

It actually took Venda a moment to identify the...thing. And what alerted her to its identity was the blue-black suit it wore. One of the Mrrakesh...or at least, it had been. It had no arms, both of which looked to have been removed at the shoulder. The mask across its face was sliced, with a long scar that looked to be still bleeding going from its muzzle, across its left eye, and then to a spot where its left ear should have been...but was suspiciously missing. Its right leg also looked to be bent at a very unhealthy angle.

When she stepped onto the deckplates of the Jendari, Marix tossed the Mrrakesh face first to the ground, and Venda could see claw marks along the back of its neck. It also wasn’t that hard to see Marix’s hand was looking very claw-like for a few short seconds afterwards. The Empress then turned to one of the nearby Knights and said a few words in Alraxian. In a moment, the Knights were picking up the Mrrakesh and were being led off by a pair of Jendari.

“You have such a way with people,” Navik Keros commented after the Mrrakesh was gone. In his arms, Saaran, was oblivious to anything but his mother and his sister, grinning and reaching for them. In Marix’s arms, Andrea seemed to be in the same situation, and the feelings of happiness were surprisingly strong in the Force.

“My lady...” it was one of the Jendari, who was dressed differently and stood a bit taller. He was also, like Navik, speaking Trade, “Are you alright?”

“Of course,” there was a hint of annoyance through the Force, but Marix’s voice held none of it, “Unless he bleeds to death, the Mrrakesh will live.”

“How did...why...” it was the Redstar, a shocked look on her face that was the only sign of emotion beyond calm that Venda had seen on her, “Why didn’t he simply remorph his wounds?”

So Mrrakesh could heal like that, too...

“He did,” Marix’s words were flat, “Three times.”

“You want him interrogated,” the Jendari said, a three-clawed hand making an interesting motion in the air as he spoke. The words were also fast enough to feel like they were cutting Marix’s train of thought off to send them in another direction.

Marix shook her head as she shifted Andrea into her right arm, “I will interrogate him.”

There were a few seconds of uneasy silence, then the Jendari spoke up again, “My lady, I do not believe that would be appropriate. It would be best if you were not directly involved.”

Eyes narrowing, Marix looked straight to the Jendari, “You think I’ll kill him.”

“No,” the answer was swift, and perfectly spoken to show that there was no lie there, “I know you will, and you are well within your rights to. However, you left him alive for a reason and it would be a waste to kill him before we can learn everything we can about who sent him...also, your son has been here only a matter of minutes and I have heard nothing from him but asking for you.”

It was the last sentence that really sealed it. Venda could feel Marix’s emotions shift considerably at the mention of her son. There was a slow softening from the Alraxian Empress and her silvery-violet eyes redirected from the Jendari to Saaran.

Taking a step towards Navik, Marix extended her free arm to take Saaran from him, “Come here, Saaran-jai.”

The little black-furred, blue striped child didn’t hesitate, and immediate let go of Navik to be grabbed by his mother. As she pulled him close and rubbed her cheek against him gently, Marix said to the Jendari, “Do you have any quarters free?”

“Of course, my lady. Right this way,” the Jendari said with an odd expression on his avian features that was probably some form of smile.

As they all began to fall into step behind the Jendari, Venda couldn’t help but feel a bit more useless than before. But the Redstar was next to her, radiating a calm through the Force that was disturbingly intoxicating. Leading the way, Marix was discussing something with the Jendari, but Venda found that she couldn’t really hear. She was far enough behind, with Knights and a pair of other Jendari in between, that she couldn’t hear clearly and decided not to eavesdrop, instead simply taking in the unique ship around her.

Eventually, the large, open corridors began to narrow, and the Redstar nodded politely to Venda before stepping in front of her and around the others. The two Knights, Marix, and the Redstar walked into a room, leaving the others in what Venda felt to be even more awkward silence.

But Navik Keros stepped over to her and bowed, saying softly in perfect Basic, “I did not have the chance to thank you for what you did.”

“You didn’t need to,” Venda said with a smile, then motioned towards the closed door, “Besides, the Redstar has flattered me enough for one day.”

Navik laughed quietly and nodded, “Neasa has always been rather fascinated with Jedi.”

Venda caught something in that and a questioning look formed on her face, “You aren’t, are you?”

Reaching down, he placed a rather large hand on her shoulder, “My dear, I am very grateful of your actions today in protecting my family. But I believe I am the only Alraxian alive today to have known three Jedi in my lifetime. I know by now that the old stories are much more than just tales we tell our children.”

At that, Venda couldn’t help but smile. Of course, it did raise another question, “To have known three Jedi you would have to be much older than you look.”

Navik’s laugh this time was much louder, and the three Jendari standing with them all turned to look. They obviously hadn’t been paying attention, “I am not immune to flattery, but I am also not a very old man, either. Just a lucky one. My wife...Jyren’s mother was a Jedi. She escaped murder at the hands of Sith by trying to hide in what she thought were uninhabited areas of space...”

And a few more pieces fell into place for Venda. Interesting. While she had been fairly sure that Navik was Jyren’s father, there was still the chance that he was Marix’s. Or something else entirely and the culture was just completely different in family structure. Jyren’s mother a Jedi survivor of the purge, though...that was interesting. Venda felt compelled to ask Navik more about her, a curiosity about the Jedi-of-old suddenly appearing.

But the door opened again, and Marix stepped out along with one of the Knights. Marix gave a cursory glance to Venda, and while she said nothing, there was an unsaid gratefulness through the Force. But it lasted only a half second, and then Venda could feel nothing from the Alraxian. Some words in a language she didn’t understand were exchanged, and they were walking again, the Knight staying behind, guarding the outside of the door. Venda assumed that the other was in side...every precaution, apparently.

In a short few moments, they all entered another room. At first, Venda thought it was the bridge. The room was huge, circular, with a viewport stretching nearly the entire wall, excluding the walls just adjacent to the door. Very interesting looking, triangular-shaped terminals were all around, and while she could see many Jendari, there weren’t nearly enough to run a ship that size.

As Venda was wondering about the room’s purpose, they reached a large, circular table with no chairs in the center of the room. There looked to be a holographic display of a section of the galaxy embedded...underneath the surface of the table. Odd...it was definitely a three dimensional image, but Venda had never seen one projected under a surface rather than up.

Wasting no time, Marix looked straight across from her to where the Jendari that had done all the speaking stood, “How long until you interrogate the Mrrakesh?”

“He is already secured and we simply are awaiting him to regain consciousness,” the Jendari nodded its head at an angle, sending a few feathers off to the side before he reached up and brushed them back, “My lady, we will not execute him.”

Marix’s eyes narrowed for a few short moments, but then she leaned back slightly and said simply, “Learn what you can and alert one of the Knights when you are finished.”

An uneasy silence followed.

It was Navik who decided to brave this and speak what was on all of their minds, “Marix, you need to be calm before you make these kind of decisions.”

“I am calm,” the words cut through the air like ice, freezing everything they came into contact with. Marix locked eyes with Navik, who didn’t flinch at all, “And I am not your son, Navik. I know full well what I am doing. If you do not approve, I do not care. Leave.”

Another silence.

Navik didn’t leave, though.

Marix then turned to the Jendari, who was suddenly much more drawn in and harder to read through the Force, “Take us back to Alraxia immediately. Send a message before we leave that Faban Sunrunner is to be brought aboard the moment we arrive.”

“Yes, my lady,” the Jendari then reached down and touched a point on the surface of the table. His claw-like finger sunk into the material slightly before a soft glow emitted from the star he touched. As more of the Jendari around them began to move around quickly, Venda decided that they were, in fact, on the bridge. But then the Jendari looked up to Marix and posed a question, “What do you intend to do with Faban?”

“I am going to kill him,” the words were short, simple, and definitely the truth. The entire area seemed to stop at those words. This was something none of them were used to. Marix wasn’t oblivious to this, but kept her focus solely on the Jendari across from her, “You don’t approve. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. The only reason the Mrrakesh have not launched a true attack on the Empire since the Darkwing Wars is because they know that your ships, combined with Alraxian survivability is something they cannot defeat. Now they’ve decided otherwise. They’ve seen we will just sit back and let them take our planets. We showed weakness and now they aren’t afraid anymore. For the second time in our lifetime, Mrrakesh have set foot on a planet that was a secret from them until Faban Sunrunner betrayed us for his own selfish reasons.”

Marix stopped for a moment and Venda noticed that she was digging claws into the table and leaning forward, “But we tolerated that. Hoped that it was just a rogue faction. And now they’ve come back and they tried to kill my children. They attacked at a time when I was gone, and Faban knew it! Faban tried to kill my children. He told the Mrrakesh where we live, when to strike, and how to. And I am done ignoring it.”

A few short moments passed, and then the many Jendari around them were back to doing whatever it was they were doing. The others were left to simply look to Marix or to the image below them. But Navik’s focus was one that remained on Marix, and he began to speak more analytically, “It doesn’t matter if it’s a rogue faction amongst the Mrrakesh responsible for this. All of them will support the attack. And if you are correct and this was intended to occur while you were away, then they would do more than just assassinate the children.”

“A full scale attack,” Venda finally spoke up. She wasn’t an expert on politics anywhere in the galaxy, but she could understand basic tactics.

Marix was nodding, and when she spoke her voice was still that low, worrying calm, “There are more of these warships than the ones guarding the border, correct?”

A slight humming noise was what passed for a sigh from the Jendari, but he nodded, “You are correct. You are taking us into a dangerous place, Marix.”

“Faban took us to that place, not me,” she then looked down to the image beneath and reached down to gently touch another star, though it didn’t glow at her touch, “Send three ships here. Destroy every single city on that planet and then return to our territory.”

“Marix...” Navik obviously didn’t know where else to go, as he didn’t say anything else.

“That will guarantee a war, my lady,” the Jendari was more diplomatic.

Marix turned to glare at the Jendari again, “The Mrrakesh believe in strength and nothing else. They think we are weak. The rules are different now. They will stop whatever attack they have planned when they hear we’ve destroyed everything on a planet that deep within their own space. In that time, we will be have the knowledge from our prisoner and from Faban and we will be ready.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 480: Alarms*

Tobias took a heavy punch to his jaw before he had any chance at all to react. Crying out in pain actually made it hurt worse, and he had no real time to get his balance before Tokarr swung again. Despite that, though, Tobias attempted to at least raise his hand to block to punch. It was an action he’d seen Marix to many times...parrying a punch with her wrist or arm and deflecting it away.

Of course, like most things, it looked much easier than it was. Tokarr’s fist did strike Tobias’ arm, but at an angle that sent a shock of pain mixed with numbness through his entire left arm. Tokarr also yelped, having sent his fist straight into Tobias’ arm...it wasn’t deflected at all. There was a momentary pause, long enough for Tobias to yell out, “What are you doing?!”

The Miraluka didn’t dignify that with any kind of response. What he was doing was plainly obvious. Why he was doing it would have been a better question, but that likely would have gotten the same response...none. Well, nothing verbal. He simply charged straight for Tobias again, swinging again.

This time, Tobias allowed at least some sense to take hold of him. He didn’t have the time, or the training, to do any of the fancy things Marix or Jyren might have done. His combat training was very, very limited. In fact, most all of it centered around defensive actions and dodging, while he always pushed himself to be like his parents and simply roll with the punches he took. This was all because of his limited experience in how much punches actually hurt.

So Tobias ducked, and Tokarr’s swing went over him.

That was when Tobias realized that Tokarr had more combat training than he did, as a knee was already coming up to slam straight into Tobias’ face. He heard, and felt, a crack as Tokarr’s knee forced a very sudden stop in his movement, and the next thing he knew, Tobias was on the ground on his back, staring up at a blurry looking ceiling.

Vaguely, he heard a swishing sound, and somewhere in his mind, Tobias put the sound together with its location and decided it was a door opened...then closing. As he lay on his back, realizing that he was now alone in the small room, Tobias couldn’t help but wonder what, exactly, had just happened. An odd thought popped into his head. He had learned something. Tokarr was disturbingly violent.

Tobias managed to laugh to himself at that thought as he slowly sat up. A hand reached up to his nose and he very carefully felt it. Broken. With a sigh, he remorphed the injury and tried to ignore the faint shadow of a pain that remained. He didn’t bother with the bruise on his left wrist, deciding that he’d had worse and would live.

And then he heard an alarm. It was loud, repetitive, and came out of no where. The sudden blaring made him nearly jump out of his skin. Reaching a quick decision, Tobias decided he needed to get back to Master Ral quickly and ask someone what was going on while he headed for the hangar.

* * * *​
“Flightsuits on, kids!” Rulae said over his shoulder as he scrambled into his own orange suit, an arm extended to grab the white padding that went over his chest.

The words were spoken as the three other Zephyrs ran into the small room that held their uniforms. It had been a storage room hours before they arrived on board, and the crates were evident of the fact. But that didn’t impede the four pilots from quickly scrambling for their suits.

Nor did it stop the Coruscanti woman, Adria Harken, from asking the question they were all wondering, “They took the bait? They’ve attacked Corellia?”

“No,” Rulae’s answer was short, and there was a sullen tone to his voice that the others easily detected.

The other three stopped because of that tone, all turning to look at their Duros commander. Obrack Loro, the Mon Calamari pilot, spoke up this time, “Bothawui?”

Rulae shook his large head and pulled on one boot while grabbing his helmet with a free hand, “Fondor.”

“What?!” Harken was the most emotional of the pilots, so it wasn’t a surprise that she reacted first.

“We’re already in hyperspace,” Rulae explained as he pointed to their half-suited state, “We should arrive in time to join the fight before the local fleet is overwhelmed. This is not the time to talk politics or tactics. Suit up and get into your cockpits. We’re launching the second we drop out of hyperspace and if you aren’t with us then you’re on your own out there.”

The Duros then dropped his helmet onto his head, adjusted the chin guard, and left the others. Rea had been surprisingly quiet, and remained that way as she turned to finish getting the rest of her flight suit on. Of course, the others weren’t oblivious to this, and after Rulae was gone and they, too, went to finishing suiting up, Adria asked, “What is it, Rea?”

“Reminds me of Agamar,” the Twi’lek girl said quietly as she tightened the collar around her neck and made sure everything was commented correctly.

“Fondor’s one of our biggest shipyards,” Loro said as he picked up his helmet from a shelf that was obviously designed for much smaller objects. He stopped and formed a fist out of his fin-shaped hand, “Its not right. The Vong have better intel on us than we can dream of having on them!”

“The bloody scar-faces are smart,” Adria growled under her breath, her thick accent making the words a bit hard for Rea to understand, “I think its time we made an actual effort to find their spies because they sure as hell find ours.”

“Stow it,” Rea cut the two of them off as she picked up her own helmet, “The Commodore is right. Politics doesn’t matter right now. Fondor is under attack and its our job to protect them. How about we strangle the higher ups after we’ve taken out the Vong fleet?”

The other two exchanged a quick glance before both nodding. Together, they headed for the hangar. The alarms were blaring and the corridors of the cruiser were packed with other pilots, marines, and other personnel getting to their posts as quickly as they could. If the attack had come against Corellia or Bothawui, the three pilots would likely have exchanged boasts and even placed bets on who would score the most kills.

But this was different.

Yet again, the Vong had done something completely unexpected. And just like with Ithor, they had picked a very major target. But where Ithor was more a symbol and less a strategic target, Fondor was one of the most valuable worlds to the New Republic’s war effort. If it was lost, if they failed to drive back the Vong yet again, not only would there be an open path to the Core...but the New Republic would not be able to replace their losses fast enough to keep up.

Everything was going wrong again, and the battle hadn’t even begun.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 481: Eleven Years Late*

Marix sat in the small quarters aboard the Jendari ship, bent over, head in her hands. Her eyes were closed, but she could hear, and feel through the Force, the twins playing and laughing with some very interesting Jendari-crafted toys on the floor in front of her. They were happy...alive...safe...but...

But she was furious. Had Jyren been there, he could have probably talked her down and calmed her, but he wasn’t, and Navik was no good at it. Jyren could have stopped her from ordering the Jendari to wipe that Mrrakesh world clean. Odd, though, as she wasn’t actually sure she wanted him to be there to stop her from that or not. Either way, it was too late. They were in orbit over Alraxia now, the first time since the Darkwing Wars that a Jendari ship orbited the hidden planet, and the message had been sent. There wasn’t stopping it now.

Marix made a note to call all of the Knights together as soon as she could and have the former Tam’Day’U train the others. The Mrrakesh wouldn’t stand around after one of their worlds was attacked, even if it was retaliation. Most of the Knights were good fighters, but not good enough. A Tam’Day’U was at least a match for a Mrrakesh, and it was less natural ability and more training. Marix had a feeling the significance of silver eyes may very well have been an indicator of an Alraxian that was unusually strong in the Force. But Tam’Day’U had been trained in combat abilities and to use the Force to augment them. The combat training could easily be used without the Force, as with the extensive amount of morph training that made Tam’Day’U truly unique amongst the Alraxians of the Empire. It was a long time coming, but the rest of the Knights needed it now.

It was going to be the first war between the Mrrakesh and the Alraxians that didn’t involve the Sith or Darkwings. And the Alraxians were ill-equipped, undertrained, and had the problem of a tiny group of Knights compared to the entire population of the Empire. Some of the other species would likely step up to fight, like the Jendari, but it wouldn’t be like the Mrrakesh.

They had armies. Sure, there were so many factions loyal to so many different Mrrakesh, but that would change. The Mrrakesh might vie for power with one another, but they would unite in a second against the Alraxians. Especially with the Vong pushing their other borders. Especially with their growing population and need for planets. Especially when the Alraxian Empress ordered an attack on one of their populated worlds.

Their fleets would be opposed by the Jendari and, to Marix’s annoyance, the human’s. She hated that thought, but they would all have to be together in the fight. The small group of humans knew how to operate their ships, even if they were decades old. It would be necessary. And they would fight just as hard as she would, because they were closest to the border and would be among the first worlds attacked. In space, even with unarmed Kanyaks, the Alraxians might actually win.

It was the ground war that concerned her. None of the species under the Empire had an army. None of them had local garrisons. None of them had anything at all. The only thing in the entire Alraxian Empire that came anywhere close to that were the Knights, and they numbered barely four hundred.  And amongst the Knights, there there no more than fifty former Tam’Day’U. That wasn’t even enough to defend a single planet, let alone an entire Empire. The Knights were a peacekeeping force that settled small disputes and dealt with the rare pirates, they didn’t fight wars.

But they were going to.

There wasn’t going to be any choice soon.

Marix opened her eyes and lifted her head to look through annoying clumps of black hair to her two children.  It was like nothing was wrong. Saaran laughing and pouncing over Andrea to grab a toy she was trying to keep away from him. Andrea crying only for a short second before wrenching the little...animal...thing...back into her own grip, giggling, then scampering across the room.

How could anyone try to take the lives of two little children? They were so...so...there wasn’t even a word for it. But Marix did know that anyone who would try to kill children like Andrea and Saaran, no matter who their parents were or what they would be when they grew up, didn’t deserve to live. And so she didn’t care about the numbers. No one threatened children with assassin, especially not her children. 

No one.

“Marix...” she hadn’t even heard the door open, and that bothered her. But Marix sat up to see Navik standing in the door with a serious look on his face, “Faban Sunrunner has been brought aboard.”

At that, Marix quickly got to her feet and brushed the hair out of her face. In that one movement, she went from exhausted and the nearest she’d ever been to depressed to strong, angry, and the Empress she was supposed to be.

“I’ll keep an eye on the little ones,” Navik said as she went past. If she thanked him, he didn’t hear it.

Marix was soon following a trio of Jendari who were dressed in their usual uniforms. They attempted small talk, but Marix didn’t respond. She was focused. Her mind set on the task ahead of her. Distraction now meant a mistake with Faban, and he would take advantage of that in a second.

He was currently kept in a small room with no features at all and nothing inside but himself and a single, rounded chair. There would be a small hole near the ceiling that contained a surveillance device, and the Jendari would be watching. Not that it mattered to Marix.

When she entered the small room, she was not surprise to see Faban standing behind the chair, arms crossed across his chest, and simply watching the door. He stood just a bit taller than she did, but he was still shorter than Jyren. He wore dignified looking clothes and had a disapproving look on his angular, aged features.

“My lady,” he bowed his head and spoke calmly when she entered.

Marix kept her hands behind her and narrowed her eyes as she met his gaze, “Do not patronize me, Faban.”

The old Alraxian laughed shortly to himself and tilted his head to the side, “Not even a hello, I see. It seems I taught you too well.”

She ignored that easily enough, “What did you expect to gain?”

“And straight to the point, too,” he shook his head and shifted his weight slightly to one side, “But your instincts are still terrible. Have I ever served anyone but my own people?”

“Yes,” Marix said with a step forward, her eyes narrowing, “You wanted Kato on the throne again. Obviously you think you have something to gain here. What is it?”

“I want Kato on the throne because she should be there, Commander,” he spoke her old rank with a great deal of venom. That made Marix feel better, as it was more what she was expecting from him and meant he hadn’t changed at all.

Marix kept her calm, glad that he was already losing his, “Kato’s place is where she is now: in the Palace, staying out of the way and living quietly. She is intelligent enough to understand this and has actually learned from her mistake.”

“Cursed Ones do not belong on the throne!” Faban snapped quickly, pointing an accusing finger at her.

Snatching his hand out of the air, Marix began to very slowly put more and more pressure, crushing his hand at an agonizingly slow pace, “My eyes are a different colour than yours, Faban. That doesn’t mean I’m cursed. I think you’re just bitter that you don’t have any power anymore. But what I want to know right now,” at this point, Faban was trying to wrench his hand free and clenching his teeth to not make any noise, “...is what you expected to gain from trying to murder my children.”

She twisted his wrist sharply, getting a good snap from the bone, and then released his hand. Faban finally yelped in pain at his broken wrist, stumbling back into the wall the second he was free of her grip. He clutched his hand close to his chest and glaring back at her. He was not an expert at morphing like the Tam’Day’U he used to teach, and so it took an agonizing few moments to heal the wound. He was slower than Jyren had been when Marix had first taught him.

His hand healed, Faban managed to stand up straight again. When he spoke again, his voice was back to the calm, venomous control that it had been before, “Those children are an abomination!”

“And so you sell our people to the Mrrakesh?!” Marix finally lost her cool, screaming at him angrily.

There was a rage in her voice that caused him to hesitate. This was a man whose daughter had been a Tam’Day’U. He had trained her and sent her to die like all the others. While he never would admit it, Marix knew that haunted him. Now that she, too, had children, she knew what it was like...how important they were. While he may have actually still believed that two Tam’Day’U mating resulted in an abomination child, it was more likely that he was furious that she was allowed to have children and live a full life, herself, where his daughter wasn’t.

“I did not sell my people!” Faban growled, “You and your kind are not my people! You are no better than the Mrrakesh! At least Kato is a real Alraxian even if she is a whining little child!”

And that was it. Why he’d done it all.

He still hated Marix and the Tam’Day’U. Still clung to ancient prejudice that didn’t make any sense. He wanted her dead because she was supposed to have died long ago like a good Tam’Day’U. Killing her children was an extension of that. And the Mrrakesh...they were probably the only allies in that he could find. Kato would have been Empress if Marix was dead, and so that was why he was trying to put her on the throne. It had worked years before because Kato was ambitious and had a great deal of hatred for her cousin. But failure had softened Kato’s resolve, as had the outright rejection by Jyren. She wouldn’t help Faban anymore.

But there was one more important thing.

“How did you contact them, Faban?” Marix’s voice was suddenly calm again. While her mind was putting the pieces together, her rage was set aside. It would not help her. She had to have control here. Full control. Rage would take over and she would have none, so she pushed it away withe techniques that Faban, himself, had taught her.

Faban shook his head and actually looked insulted, “You think locking me away with guards all around can stop me from doing what needs to be done?”

“How did you contact them?”

“Why should I tell you that?” he finally took a step towards her instead of leaning against the wall for support, “You are still the creature I created, and I know what you’re going to do. No matter what I say here, I will not leave this room alive.”

Marix also took a step forward, putting her within arms reach of him again, “You should also know that there are many ways for you to die. And you have already shown me that you may have been a good teacher, but you are not a good student, even for yourself. You felt every bone in your hand snap before your wrist went. You couldn’t ignore it. You couldn’t focus on anything else but the pain. The exact opposite of what you’re supposed to do. And there are many more sensitive places on you to break. So tell me, Faban, how did you contact the Mrrakesh?”

He was still clutching the previously-injured hand. When he glanced down at it, Marix knew he was going to tell her. When he looked back up to meet her gaze, his face still had the same anger and disgust as before, but there was a sense of failure that she could see in his eyes. Quietly, he finally said, “There is a communications beacon in the northern mountains that relays the information to a Mrrakesh listening post on the border.”

Faban closed his eyes a moment before standing up straight and opening them again, “If you hadn’t ever come back, we would have been fine. None of this would have had to have happened. I was prepared to protect our people from the Mrrakesh. They would have never come back. But now you’ll fight them forever. And eventually they’ll win. They’ll win and this will all have been for nothing.”

The only reason Marix let him finish was because of that small part of her that had once been the link with Jyren...and was now the closest thing she had to him left. A small voice in her head that she knew wasn’t his, but sounded like it. No matter how terrible Faban was, Marix wasn’t as bad as he was. Where Faban would have cut her down and made her suffer, she would give him something he didn’t deserve...because she was a better person than he was.

His death was quick and painless. Faban did not fight back. He stood like a man that actually had honour. He barely even made a noise when she snapped his neck. Marix let his body simply drop to the ground. For an Alraxian, the only real instant death was separating the head from the rest of the body. While what she had done was close to that, he would have lived for a very few seconds and his natural instincts would have attempted to remorph the injury. But either he resisted this, or he simply wasn’t well trained enough to react quickly.

Either way, it didn’t matter.

Eleven years too late, Faban Sunrunner was finally dead.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 482: Time to Go*

“We have a ship aboard...it is old, according to the humans, but it flies well and can take you home,” the Jendari, Janis, said. He took a few steps towards one of the large viewports to glance to the view of the green planet below, his own feathers roughly the same colour, “I expect your friends wonder where you have gone off to.”

“They didn’t know when I’d be back anyway,” Venda said with a shrug. This Jendari seemed much more personal than the others she’d met, and he also had a very strong knowledge of things she really didn’t think he should.

“Nonetheless, lady Jedi, I suspect that if you do not take this opportunity to leave, another will not come for a great deal of time,” he turned back to face her, a pair of grey eyes that bore deep into her watching her movements.

Venda idly reached a hand up to rub the back of her neck. For some reason it was aching still after that fight with the so-called Mrrakesh, “The whole galaxy is at war. Its no safer there...besides, it doesn’t feel right to just leave. I should help if I can.”

Something close to a smile formed on the beak-like head of Janis and he tilted his head to the side for a moment while a few feathers stood on end, “You are as noble as the Jedi of old. I am glad to see their ideals survived even if many of them did not. But this is no place for you to be. This...this is something that the Alraxians must work through for themselves. It is not right for anyone to interfere.”

“Even you?” Venda hadn’t missed that odd statement.

Janis shook his head and then looked back towards the planet, “Since the Jedi left thousands of years ago, we have taken on the role of guiding the Alraxians. What we have learned is that it is not our place to stand in the way. We must let them grow as they will, and simply hope to teach them a greater wisdom to push them along the right path.”

“So you’ll go to war for them, even if you don’t agree with it?” by now, the Jendari ships were already gone. Everyone aboard knew it, and soon the Alraxian people as a whole would. The entire political situation was still fairly new to Venda, but she was getting a good grasp of it.

“You do not understand why we follow them,” Janis stated a rather obvious fact, “We are not...conquerors. My people existed here in this space long before the Alraxians or the Mrrakesh. We saw their creation and their manipulation at the hands of the Sith, and we interfered then to protect both species from their creators. The Jedi sided with the Alraxians, however, and when it became apparent that the Sith’s control of the Mrrakesh was too strong, so did we. When the wars ceased...the Sith were driven out and the Jedi left. Where the Mrrakesh quickly began to use what they could to solidify a society, the Alraxians were lost. We saw them as...children. So we protected them and helped them. But we are not their masters and we would never dream of that. Every species has a right to make their own choices.”

Taking this history lesson in, Venda sighed and shrugged, “That does answer one thing, but not my question.”

A whistling noise that was probably a laugh escaped Janis and he smiled again, “If we protect the Alraxians from making mistakes they will not grow and the Mrrakesh will kill us all.”

“But you could...”

She trailed off when Janis quickly shook his head, “Before the Alraxians and the Mrrakesh and all of the other species that exist in this sector were a dream, we found a small group of very human-like beings on a planet near our borders. It was our first encounter with another intelligent species, and they were...primitive. We were not completely foolish and did not simply give them starships. We gently nudged them along, attempting to help them develop a little faster than they might have naturally. But we made their choices for them. We pushed them to what we thought they should be, because they were the choices we made. It wasn’t long before we didn’t give gentle nudges and they may as well have been slaves to us. They killed themselves off a thousand years before the Alraxians were born. They killed themselves off because of what we did to them. Because we tried to control their development, rather than guide it as we had originally intended.”

Those pieces started to fit into something that actually answered her question, “So you’ll follow the Alraxians to war, even if they could all die.”

“If I told you that they will not die, would you believe me?”

For a long few moments, Venda just stared at him, trying to read that alien face. Finally, she let out a sigh and nodded, “I would.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know...” the answer came quickly, but it was honest. Venda really didn’t know.

Carefully, the Jendari reached into a small pocket at his hip. He retrieved a small, thin object and extended it to her, “This will not be the last time we meet, and you will return here soon. We will survive here, but there are some in your war that will not without your help.”

Slowly and cautiously, Venda took the object from Janis, realizing the second she grabbed it that it was a small datacard. She looked at it, wishing she had a datapad to see the contents, then looked back to the Jendari, “Thank you. But...what is this?”

He bowed his head politely, “There is no need to thank me, lady Jedi. Before you leave, I expect the Empress will meet you in the hangar. Ask her about the gift we gave her.”

Behind her, the sound of a door opening got Venda’s attention. She turned around to see another Jendari, who was much more red in colour than Janis. This Jendari looked straight to Venda and motioned towards her, “Please, lady Jedi, the ship is ready.”

She sighed. There were a great many thing that Janis had said that were leaving far more questions than she’d started with, but Venda had a feeling he was right. Unsure of much of it, but deciding to follow along with it anyway, Venda looked back to Janis and bowed, “I do hope we meet again, Janis.”

“As I said, lady Jedi, we will,” he smiled again as she turned to leave, “Until then, may the Force be with you.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 483: Fondor*

“Kark me...” Adria Harken’s voice cut through the rest of the chatter on the comm system as everyone got their bearings.

Rulae felt the need to reprimand her on that, but couldn’t help but agree with the feeling. The planet Fondor and its orbital shipyards were nearly impossible to see through the mass of objects that, according to the sensors, was the Yuuzhan Vong fleet. There were at least a hundred ships from transport size all the way up to some that were about the size of a Star Destroyer. Adding in the tiny dots and objects that were undoubtedly Coralskippers made it even more overwhelming.

But Rulae simply needed to turn his head to both sides to feel a bit better. To his X-Wing’s starboard side was Adria, currently designated Zephyr Two for this mission. Zephyr Three, Rea, and Four, Loro, were just slightly behind and above Rulae’s position. But beyond Adria’s X-Wing, Rulae could see even more starfighters. X-Wings, A-Wings, E-Wings, and even a few Y-Wings.

When he looked to his starfighter’s port side, Rulae could see more fighters. But there was also a sight he’d never seen with his own two eyes. That one ship, alone, an old, beat up looking CEC YT-1300 was a thing of legends. The Millennium Falcon. A symbol of the New Republic. But, truthfully, it was only one ship. The real morale booster for Rulae and the others wasn’t this wall of starfighters charging in at the Yuuzhan Vong lines, but what was behind them.

The New Republic fleet wasn’t as large as the Vong’s, but it was close. Star Destroyers, Mon Calamari Cruisers, gunships, and so many other large ships were heading in with them. For the first time since the war had started months before, it actually felt like a fair fight. 

“Alright, Zephyrs,” Rulae pulled in his amazement at the situation thanks to a quick transmission of their orders that had just shown up on his HUD, “Fondor’s reporting that the Coralskippers are actually ramming the shipyards like giant missiles. They’re flying straight through the defenses and hitting the ship and anything they can. We’re going to push through that big group of Vong ships and help defend the shipyards.”

“That’s a tough push, sir,” Loro commented, his watery voice getting an added depth thanks to the scratchy sound of the comm system.

Rulae nodded, despite the fact that the Mon Calamari wouldn’t be able to see it, “Correct. So form up tight on me and we’ll overlap our shields. Stay close and we’ll go straight through.”

And the blackness between the New Republic ships and the Yuuzhan Vong fleet suddenly lit up. The Vong ships had positioned themselves in such a way to fire both on the shipyards and on the incoming fleet, firing their molten-red energy blasts towards the wave of starfighters. As the mass of small ships suddenly broke up into hundreds of small formations to avoid being taken down, the New Republic capital ships opened fire, sending green and red turbolaser blasts across the gap.

Some of the fighters were taken out in that initial salvo. Most avoided the first wave, though, and continued to head straight into the Vong fleet at full speed, just waiting to get in range to open up with their own weapons. The fire from the capital ships on both ends did not stop, and experience said that it wouldn’t until the entire battle was over, but instead, a new attack joined in, and it was one that was currently more dangerous to the starfighters.

Coralskippers.

They seemed to come out of no where, appearing like little chunks of the larger ships just falling off then flying in, spitting fire as they flew. Chaos erupted the second that the Coralskippers joined in. The comm channels were filled with cries. Some cut off abruptly, others spouted orders, and most called for help. A great many of the fighters broke off into dogfighting with the Coralskippers, focusing fire to overwhelm the dovin basal defenses of the Vong ships.

But Rulae held his course. He could see an opening between the Vong ships. A straight shot through the formation and to the shipyards which were still being pummeled. A sudden, bright flash in front of Rulae’s X-Wing caused him to react by banking to port. Thankfully, the others reacted with him, as they were flying close enough to easily collide if they weren’t careful.

“Sir, two of the cruiser analogs are firing on us!” Rea’s cried out over the comm as more bright flashes began to occur. Vong shots impacting the shields. They were only holding due to the strength of all four combined. Even then, they wouldn’t hold long.

“A group of skips coming in from behind us,” Adria cut in.

Rulae did what he was good at and took the entire situation in, then made a quick decision on how to achieve the necessary goal, “Change course. Bearing three one seven, mark two.”

Another flash, but this time it caused Rulae’s X-Wing to shake violently. The shields weren’t liking this beating...

“There’s a small cruiser directly in that path, sir,” Rea’s voice was hard to hear through the sounds around him, but Rulae had learned early on how to focus his hearing in combat.

“Arm torpedoes,” Rulae answered the unsaid question as he juked his X-Wing to the new course, the others falling behind a short second before catching up, “As soon as we’re in range, fire everything you’ve got at that cruiser. If we overload those damned dovin basals we can take it down.”

“And the skips?” Loro asked, sounding worried, “They’ll be within firing range in a few seconds.”

Their target cruiser, which was directly ahead now as they passed over a much larger, rounded Vong ship that was taking heavy fire from the New Republic’s capital ships, seemed to notice the four X-Wings coming at it. The teardrop-shaped cruiser, roughly the size of a Corellian Gunship, turned to bring its port side cannons to bear on the fighters and was already firing.

“That should keep the skips off of us!” Rulae said as he began to fall into his instincts. Now it was going to be impossible to stay close. All four of them were banking, juking, and spinning to avoid the shots from the cruiser ahead of them and, suddenly, one above that had taken notice. The one good thing about it was that any Coralskippers that tried to pursue could get caught in the shots, too.

“Aft shields down!” Adria yelped, but a noise suddenly drowned her out. A loud beeping sound.

The cruiser was in range.

Suddenly, the X-Wings that were moving wildly on their push forward let loose with their laser cannons. Arcs of red-orange answered the shots of the cruiser, most of them being sucked up by the miniature black holes that were the dovin basals. But some got through, thanks to the four of them firing on different areas and stuttering the shots so that the dovin basals couldn’t capture each of the shots.

Catching another flash in his eyes, Rulae wrenched his X-Wing to port hard, a shot from the cruiser singing his lower shields. Seeing he had a straight shot, and still holding down the trigger for his laser cannons, Rulae’s thumb shifted to hit another switch. Again, the X-Wing shook...once...twice...a third time. But these were Rulae’s doing. Mixing with his laser fire were three proton torpedoes, all on different paths and streaking towards the rapidly growing cruiser.

“Torpedoes away!” Rea called out a second later. While the other two said nothing to that effect, Rulae soon saw a good twelve or so bright blue objects joining the chaos.

Two of them were hit mid flight by stray shots from the Vong ships. The other half of them were sucked up by the cruiser’s dovin basals. But the rest hit. Five of the proton torpedoes slammed into the rock-like hull of the Vong cruiser, and the relatively small ship began to break apart from the force of the blasts.

As it broke up, small explosions rocked the interior before it finally stopped firing. Shards and chunks of the Vong cruiser flew in all directions, and Rulae quickly mapped out, in his head, a safe course through the wreckage to the shipyards beyond.

“Those skips are still on us!” Loro’s voice was strained, “Two on me!”

“Hold on, Four,” that was Rea.

Rulae managed a quick glance to his port to see an already battered X-Wing suddenly decelerate and drop back at the same time. Idealistic little...she was going to get herself killed.

“Two,” he said, hitting his comm switch, “Stay on my wing.”

“Right with you, sir,” Adria said as her ship pulled in a bit tighter.

Then, after ducking under a large chunk of the destroyed cruiser, Rulae looped around. Adria’s X-Wing followed, and the second they were facing the other direction, the two Coralskippers pursuing Loro were easy there. There were only a few short milliseconds before they shot under Rulae, but he managed to squeeze his trigger with some quick aim on one of them. His own fire was joined by a series of shots from his side, which meant Adria had done the same.

He didn’t even see the thing explode, as it had gone past already and Rulae was pulling hard to whip his X-Wing back around and get the other skip off of Loro’s tail. To the Mon Calamari’s credit, he was very, very good at not getting shot. By the time Rulae was looped back around, he was behind both the Coralskipper and Rea’s X-Wing, which was opening fire already.

Rulae pulled up above her and joined in, firing down on the small ship. The Coralskipper quickly banked away when it took a few hits, but Adria anticipated its direction and was already firing where it was flying to. There wasn’t an explosion, but the skip simply burst into pieces.

“Form up tight again while we can,” Rulae ordered as he put more power to his engines to catch up to both Rea and Loro, “Do what you can do get more power to your aft shields. Some of those Vong ships are still taking a liking to us.”

“Sir!” Rea’s voice sounded like she’d been shot, but since Rulae was still behind her, he’d have known if she’d have taken a direct hit, “I’m picking up one...two...seven...more...by the Force a huge fleet just dropped out of hyperspace!”

Immediately, Rulae looked down to his own sensor board. Sure enough, the already crowded screen got even more crowded. But they weren’t Vong. After a long second of a delay, the new arrivals turned green...broadcasting friendly IFF signals. And it was then that he realized the main comm channel was now filled with cheers.

He also realized they weren’t taking fire from the larger Vong ships anymore.

Rulae got his bearings and checked the sensor board again. Realizing where they would be, he looked to his starboard side and saw another new sight and something that was altogether wonderful. It was another fleet. They’d jumped in close, too. Hundreds of them. Some of the ships were round, and spinning as they spit turbolaser fire into the Vong ships. Others were like arrows, charging in already and firing everything they had. Battle Dragons and Nova Cruisers.

Hapan ships.

A Hapan fleet.

“I can’t believe it!” Adria was actually laughing. Truthfully, Rulae felt the same way.

But this time, the Commodore in him took over, “Zephyrs, eyes ahead. Those shipyards are still taking shots and it looks like there are still skips ramming them. Lets get them some cover while we have the chance. Its not our place to get in the way of the Hapan’s greeting of the Vong.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 484: Gemstone*

The world was currently a mesh of colours and blurriness. Slowly, it began to coalesce into a vaguely humanoid form. The wandering colours began to find single points instead of moving around, and there was familiar sight looking straight down at him.

“Come on, Toby...on your feet,” Jyren’s voice was distant, but that probably had something to do with the still blurry vision.

A few more seconds passed and Tobias realized there was a hand in front of him. He blinked, and the figure above him became clearer so that he could see it was Jyren extending his hand down and waiting calmly. Realizing he was on his back and his head was aching, Tobias accepted the help by taking the hand. In a swift, effortless move, Jyren pulled Tobias right up onto his feet, putting his other hand on the younger Alraxian’s shoulder to prevent him from falling over.

As his vision began to return to normal, again, Tobias’ mind caught up. He leaned back slightly and looked up to see a smile on Jyren’s face. Tobias had the sense to look confused, “How...?”

“You hit your head pretty hard there,” Jyren said, not seeming to notice the question, “You’ll be alright, though.”

Tobias shook his head, reaching a hand up to feel a bruise just under his hairline, “Be alright? I’m more than just seeing things I’m feeling things. And...and...” he trailed off and stared wide-eyed at Jyren, “I’m going crazy, aren’t I?”

A large smile formed on Jyren’s face and he reached up to ruffle Toby’s hair, “Its family tradition to be crazy, but you’ve got a few years left until then. You just hit your head pretty hard, little guy. Focus and get your bearing and you’ll be fine.”

As his head was still spinning slightly, Tobias decided that was probably a good idea. He closed his eyes a moment, took a few deep breaths, then felt his head settling. When he opened his eyes, Jyren was gone and he was standing on the bridge of the Gemstone, leaning against one of the rear bulkheads in the oval shaped bridge. Mon Calamari were everywhere in the white bridge, as were various human officers and, Tobias quickly noted, Master Ral.

His mind raced to catch up. They had headed to the bridge at the sound of the alarm, and were assisting the Gemstone’s commanding officer in coordinating with a group of Jedi aboard the largest of the Vong ships. Or at least, Master Ral was. Tobias had been staring through the large viewport at the absolute chaos around him. Flashes of green and red and orange were so abundant that it was actually hard to find blackness. As they’d moved in with the rest of the fleet, a few of the larger Vong ships had concentrated fire on the Gemstone and a strong hit had sent Tobias back and into the bulkhead behind him.

It was then that he realized there was a Mon Calamari holding him up. Tobias shook his head to shake off the last of the confusion and then looked to the orange-skinned medic to say softly, “Thank you...I’m alright.”

“You should head to the infirmary to have that checked as soon as you can,” the medic said, slowly letting go of Tobias’ arm. The Mon Calamari waited a few moments to make sure Tobias could stand on his own, then headed off to check with the minor injuries that others had sustained.

Quickly, he made his way back to Master Ral’s side. Still near the back of the bridge to stay out of the way, but apparently close enough to relay any important information to the commander in his chair near the center of the bridge with a good view of everything else.

Master Ral simply glanced down at his side to Tobias, but said nothing. Through the Force, Tobias could sense a bit of unease lifting from his Master, but it still felt a bit odd that the man didn’t say anything. But that was probably normal for him. But the silence from Master Ral didn’t last long. Through the orders being shouted across the bridge, the Omwati’s quiet voice was actually a bit hard to hear, “Focus on the Force...reach out and tell me what you feel.”

Of course he’d get a lesson at a time like this.

But Tobias was long past the days of feeling any urge to argue that. So he did as Master Ral said, first closing his eyes to cut out the visual distractions that were around him. Tobias made a conscious note to put his hands on the railing in front of him, just in case they took another strong hit, and then tried to bring his focus into a single point to then reach out from. That, alone, took a few minutes.

Slowly, though, he began to feel anxiety, panic, excitement, fear, terror, elation...and then something else entirely that he didn’t have a word for. It felt like a heavy, overbearing presence in the Force that extended like a blanket across Fondor’s outer orbit. And it was aware. Changing, reacting, adapting and...and angry. Very angry at something. Many things.

And then, in a sudden brief moment of near terror, Tobias realized that it could see him.

He jerked back into the world around him with gasp of surprise, immediately taking a moment to calm his breathing. When he was able to breath normally again, he looked to Master Ral and asked the obvious question, “What was that?”

“I am unsure,” Master Ral’s answer was not at all comforting, “From everything we know, the Vong somehow do not exist in the Force. They don’t even register as holes...if they did, we could just sense that to find them. Instead, its just nothing.”

“That was something, and it saw me,” Tobias mumbled, his voice not hiding the fear that feeling had elicited.

The Omwati Jedi Master nodded slowly, “It is also highly intelligent. I can sense it for short periods of time before it finds a way to hide from me again.”

That didn’t sound good at all. After another deep breath to finally calm himself as much as was possible, Tobias asked, “So you think its Yuuzhan Vong?”

“It is related to them,” that might as well have been a ‘yes’. Of course, Master Ral didn’t leave that vague statement alone, “It is centered around the Vong’s ships. I cannot tell if it is a single mind or more, but there is a relation to the Vong.”

“What does that mean?” Tobias’ question was asked as he looked out the viewport again. Fires were erupting from two nearby New Republic ships, but fighters were streaking all across the view and weaving through the asteroid-like wreckage of what had to be a Vong ship.

Master Ral looked down a moment as he thought on the question, then said in the same calm voice, “The Vong have no connection to the Force as far as we know. So unless that is false, which would be logical, they have either found or created something that can connect to the Force.”

“So...bad?”

That got a sigh from the Jedi Master, but Tobias sensed it wasn’t from the question, but rather the situation, “Quite. From what I can sense, it is also aware of the small group of Jedi aboard that large ship,” Master Ral pointed to the huge Vong ship that was near the center of the formation, “And it seems that most of its anger is directed towards them.”

Suddenly, a chunk of the large ship broke off. It wasn’t in an explosion, though, and there was no direct fire hitting the thing. Before Tobias could say anything, Master Ral held up a hand to silence him. Toby could feel his Master stretching out to the ship through the Force.

Seconds later, when Master Ral returned to his body and the emptiness faded from his eyes, a stern expression formed on his blue features. Leaning forward, Master Ral called out in a very loud voice to be heard over the rest of the various talk across the bridge, “Commander! There are two Jedi aboard the largest Vong ship and they’re going to need a way off!”

The chair that held the Mon Calamari captain of the ship spun around to face them and the aquatic creature waved a finned hand at Master Ral, “You know I can’t do that for just two Jedi, Corentan!”

The use of Master Ral’s first name surprised Tobias. Suddenly, he had a feeling that his Omwati Master had a few more connections on the ship than just a former apprentice. But Tobias didn’t say anything, and Master Ral was already snapping back at the Mon Calamari commander, “There are hundreds of captured New Republic citizens aboard that ship, too! Would you leave them all to die?”

The bridge didn’t go silent, but it sure felt like it.

Then, suddenly, the captain spun around in his chair to face what Tobias had quickly learned was the comm officer, “Relay that information to the Admiral immediately and see if he can convince another couple of ships to join us in punching through the Vong formation.”



I realized yesterday something that I felt might be worth mentioning here to add some clarity.

Many, many times I've made a comment towards a certain type of accent that a character speaks with. However, I haven't really changed spelling of words to reflect this too often, so its left as a rather vague idea and completely pointless if you don't know exactly what's what.

Soooooo...a little explanation since I have a strong connection to many of the characters imply BECAUSE of their accents and how they sound in my head.

One of the most common accents I've brought up is the Coruscanti accent, which could also simply be called an Imperial accent. Basically, its a British accent. Varying thickness depending on the character. Most all of the Core Worlds have a similar accent, and the best examples are most Old Republic Jedi(Obi-Wan, especially) and pretty much every single Imperial Officer. Kuati accent is similar, but with a bit of a thicker inflection.

Most of the Outer Rim worlds and most humans outside of the Core speak with North American accents of one kind or another. Corellian's especially, so you get a fairly American sounding accent with someone like Jyren, where Voort would have a more English sound to him.

Alraxians would also have a Coruscanti-like accent, though not as thick as many of the old Imperial Officers. The in-universe explanation for that would be the early contact in their civilization with ancient Jedi. The real reason is more of a 'just because'.

So there, 16 pages into it, after many, many mentions of accents...I realized people might have no clue at all to what they actually would have sounded like. Hopefully problem solved.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 485: A Long Day*

The day just didn’t seem to want to end.

As Marix had been making her way to where the Mrrakesh was being interrogated, a Jendari stopped her and mentioned that Venda had been provided a ship to leave. Marix had simply nodded at that and continued on. She made it about five steps before feeling a strong gaze aimed at the back of her head. There was no need to turn around to see that the Jendari hadn’t moved and was simply watching her.

Fine.

Annoyance was building again, but Marix pushed that away and turned around to follow the Jendari. He was undoubtedly going to lead her to the hangar where she’d be expected to say something important to some Jedi woman she barely knew, or cared about. In fact, she didn’t really know anything about the woman beyond the fact that she was female, human, and a Jedi. Venda could fight, but not exceptionably well. She seemed to be the type that observed everything around her before actually acting.

Of course, Marix was thankful for the assistance in protecting Saaran. Fighting a Mrrakesh was definitely a task to be commended. For Marix it seemed almost routine now, but she knew she was unique in that. As a human who had no idea what the Mrrakesh were capable of, coming out alive was amazing enough. To survive with a couple of broken bones that were easily healed and a few bruises was even more amazing. That didn’t mean Marix had to like Venda. Something about the woman just bothered Marix.

She had a feeling it was the whole Jedi thing. Marix really didn’t want to see Tobias again and have him acting like a haughty little bastard. That was harsh. And Venda wasn’t like that...not really. But still. Something about the whole ‘We know the one true path to enlightenment through the Force, and if you don’t follow it you’re evil’ thing really ate away at Marix. Mainly because she didn’t follow it and wasn’t evil. Or at least, not the kind of evil that the Jedi were talking about. The entire idea that there was only one understanding of the Force was beyond her, as she’d seen a great many in her time and very few of their practitioners were the evil darksiders that the Jedi seemed to swear they were.

She sighed.

This was usually the point where Jyren would explain to her that she was being narrowminded. Or something else horribly insulting that he wouldn’t realize he’d said until she was glaring a hole into his skull. Though, in a way, she found herself doing the exact same thing internally, something about that was just horribly depressing. There was an obvious answer to why that was, but Marix chose to ignore it for the moment. It would only make things worse. And, currently, the last thing she needed was an endless bad day getting worse.

When Marix and the Jendari reached the hangar, she saw a transport ship that looked to be almost as old as she was. Probably older. But if the Jendari were giving it to Venda, then it was more than the flying piece of ancient junk than it looked to be. They wouldn’t send anyone off without being sure they’re make it. In fact, Marix suspected the Jendari wouldn’t be beyond simply taking Venda all the way to Yavin IV themselves if it came down to it.

The blonde-haired Jedi stepped around the ship. She looked to be inspecting it, or at least looking it over casually. For a short moment, Marix thought she was looking at Jen. The two women looked very similar, and having both the same colour hair and the same preferred style with their hair didn’t help. But Venda was a bit shorter than Marix remembered Jen being, and this Jedi woman had somewhat more angular features. Still, the resemblance was not lost on Marix at all.

She didn’t believe in coincidence.

“Come to see me off?” Venda asked in a tone that was far too happy for the day’s events.

“Apparently,” Marix mumbled under her breath as she nodded. She then raised her voice as she stepped closer to the human, “Thank you for protecting my son.”

The damned woman actually shrugged, “No need to thank me. I’m just glad the little ones made it out alright.”

Physically, at least. Marix could feel through the Force that Andrea was still scared...Saaran hadn’t been as close to the fighting, but he seemed to be picking up on the feeling from his sister well enough. At least they had the ability to forget everything when presented with toys. They just played happily. Maybe that was what toys were for...

“The Jendari say this thing’s ready to fly...guess I better go,” Venda started to turn and head for the boarding ramp that was extended from the side of the ship. But she stopped. Marix saw the woman’s shoulders rise and fall in a deep breath, then Venda turned around and said more quietly, “May I ask you something?”

You just did.

Marix hated that question. But she didn’t show this at all, and instead allowed herself to at least pretend to be curious, “What is it?”

Venda looked down a moment, obviously trying to figure out how to say whatever it is she wanted to ask. She then looked up to meet Marix’s gaze, “What did the Jendari give you as a gift?”

What kind of question was that?!

But while a part of her mind was confused by the origin of that odd question, the rest of her was running through her memories at lightspeed. The Jendari had given her many, many gifts through her life. Its what they did.  But that was a specific question and there was one time when the Jendari pulled her aside and actually gave her...

“I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to...” Venda trailed off, and Marix suddenly realized that she was looking worried.

Marix then realized that the memory had brought up a very open reaction in her, having broken through the usual icy exterior she presented. As quickly as she could, Marix composed herself and stood up straight again. Her voice betrayed a hint of the surprise, though, “It was a sabaac card. From one of those special decks the crazy idiots in spaceports use to steal money from tourists by telling their fortune.”

“Oh...” the answer seemed to confuse Vend a as much as the original question had surprised Marix. Venda stood there awkwardly for a moment, then sighed and managed a shrug, “Guess I better get out of here before I wear out my welcome. Thank you again, and if you ever need anything...feel free to track me down.”

Marix watched the human turn around again and this time she made it to the boarding ramp before it was Marix that stopped her by saying, “I would like you to do something for me.”

Again, Venda stopped. She had gotten up the boarding ramp enough that only her lower half was visible, and so she had to duck down to actually be seen. When she just gave Marix a questioning look, Marix went on, “Make sure Tobias doesn’t get himself killed out there.”

It was Marix’s way of saying ‘Keep an eye on my son.’

Venda seemed to pick up on the real meaning, smiled warmly, and said, “Of course.”

And then she disappeared up the ramp, which soon retracted. Moments later, the Loki-sized transport was lifting up off the deckplates and flying away.

But Marix barely noticed it. Her mind had latched onto that question from before. She hadn’t thought about the sabaac card in years. She still had it, tucked away in a small box that the Jendari gave it to her in. The short explanation Marix had given Venda was so short, in fact, that it wasn’t any surprise that Venda had been confused.

When Marix was still Shadow, traveling with the old smuggler Max, they had made their way to Bespin. One of the floating cities held a few ‘old friends’ of Max’s, and while he was catching up with them(or rather, getting shot at and running to find her and leave), one of those con artist’s she’d mentioned to Venda had found her. Shadow had been fascinated by the old woman, who had, without actually asking for any money, decided to tell her future. Something about the woman made Shadow just sit there and let her do whatever it was she was doing.

She had a deck of sabaac cards, custom made, apparently, as none of the cards were anything she recognized from the normal decks. The old woman had done her thing, and told Shadow very generic things that could have meant anything to anyone. When she finished, Shadow politely nodded, stood up, and started to leave...but the old woman stopped her.

Holding the deck in her hands, the old woman extended it face down towards Shadow and told her to pick a card. Shadow had asked her why, as the old woman had already ‘told her future.’

“You didn’t believe my reading of it,” the little old human had said with a grin on her wrinkled face, “You’re smart. So you read it yourself...take a card.”

Now Shadow was interested. She reached towards roughly the center of the deck, let her fingers trail over a few of the thick cards before finding one that, for whatever reason, was to her liking, and withdrew it. Looking at the card, Shadow saw an image of two humanoid figures tightly embracing one another. The subtext of the card read ‘The Lovers.’

Shadow had rolled her eyes and handed the card back to the old woman, saying, “I liked your telling better.”

And then she’d left, never giving it a second thought.

That is, until many years later when she and Jyren were on the Capital world. It was the celebration for the two of them before the planet was invaded...before she was captured...before her parents were killed. It was a wonderful night that she could clearly remember all these years afterwards. There had been piles of gifts, most of which were useless trinkets that usually appeared at such celebrations.

But the Jendari had pulled her aside. They handed her a small, wooden box and asked her to open it there. When she opened it, she saw the same card looking back up at her. It couldn’t have been the same one...but it looked old enough to be. It looked exactly the same as she remembered it. She’d gone wide-eyed and stared first at the card, then at the Jendari, who simply smiled and said nothing else.

Somehow, they’d known. She was literally on the other side of the galaxy and they knew. Where she had passed it off years ago, the Jendari knew it and remembered it. Not only that, but they seemed to see a significance in it. One that suddenly grabbed her when she saw the card in that box...and it made sense. But she couldn’t believe it. It was another mystery built up around the Jendari for her, but one that she could never bring herself to ask them about for some reason.

Marix let out a long, deep breath and ran a hand through her hair. Of all the days, this wasn’t the one she needed to be reminded of that. Finally, she focused her thoughts on the present again, pushing away the lingering ones brought up by the memory, and headed back towards where the Mrrakesh captive was supposed to be.

She noted, immediately, that there were no Jendari in sight on the hangar anymore.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 486: Course Correction*

To be truthful, Venda had seen much more uncomfortable send offs. She attributed Marix’s cold demeanor to the events of the day. Of course, Venda had been around the Alraxian woman long enough that she should have known better, but for whatever reason she was trying to think positive. It was something that she’d always considered a good thing, despite how much it annoyed some people.

The ancient transport was in hyperspace now, beyond the Gateway and on a direct course for Yavin. She probably should have gone to Coruscant and reported directly to the Jedi Masters there. Yavin was just an Academy, but it was also much closer to the Alraxian space. She had originally been sent by Master Skywalker to look into the information about the Hutts and the Vong, and to try and find a direct contact with the Peace Brigade, as they were becoming more openly violent against Jedi in the recent weeks.

Technically, she hadn’t done much of a job with any of that. Before being trained as a Jedi, Venda had worked for one of the many galactic news networks. She was good at tracking down information because of that, but dealing with willing participants and dealing with Hutts were different things altogether. To her credit, she had followed a fairly loose trail all the way to Ryloth, hopping from transport to transport across the galaxy on the way. But then Venda had run into Marix and other things had gotten in the way. 

At least she had information on the Hutt deal with the Vong now, thanks to Marix. There had been Peace Brigade information, too, but nothing she didn’t already know.  Ever since Ithor had fallen and the defeat blamed on the Jedi Corran Horn, the galaxy had been turning against the entire Jedi Order. In that wonderful atmosphere, the Peace Brigade grew quickly from its tiny beginnings, and now was able to operate openly on a disturbing amount of planets.

The Peace Brigade were worse than the Vong. Playing to people’s fears and then pointing the finger at an easy target, the Jedi, just because they were there. The failing public opinion also meant that the New Republic, itself, was weary of the Jedi. While it seemed like many amongst the military still stood by them, the government didn’t. It was one thing to have a group of traitors blaming the Jedi for the war and the failures, but the New Republic’s higher ups joining in did nothing to help.

Letting out a long sigh, Venda reached up and let her hair down. It was only just beyond shoulder length, but she had learned early on in the training exercises that keeping it out of her face was a good idea. It was hard to stay alive without being able to see clearly. The thought made her looked down at her wrists. Perfectly healed. In fact, there wasn’t a scratch on her that hadn’t been there before she’d come to Alraxia.

What was she going to tell people?

Though it hadn’t been said, Venda knew she couldn’t say a thing about the Alraxians. It would be betraying a rather flimsy trust to do that. Thinking about it, though, it was only an extra two or so days. It wouldn’t be too hard to just attribute that to traveling time elsewhere. The ship could be explained away, and she couldn’t think of anything that would raise questions.

Suddenly remembering something that had slipped her mind, Venda dug in her pocket to retrieve the small datacard the Jendari had given her. It wouldn’t raise questions because it was just a normal datacard, but that, in itself, was a question for her. She’d seen no technology from the Alraxians or the Jendari that were similar to what she was used to. Obviously, a great deal of it served the same functions, but it was all different...Venda hadn’t seen a single datapad.

As she was thinking about that odd fact, Venda checked over the cramped cockpit around her for some kind of place to insert the thing, as she didn’t have a datapad on her. Surely the ship wasn’t so old it didn’t have something...

Ah ha!

Venda had to shift into the co-pilots chair, which was, oddly enough, behind the pilot’s chair instead of beside it, but she found a section of the terminal that seemed to be what she was looking for. Sliding the card in, Venda looked down at the small screen and waited for the information to appear.

The screen blinked to life, a soothing light blue glow appearing, then displayed a series of numbers.

At first, Venda simply checked to see what all was on the datapad, but she immediately found that it was almost completely devoid of information. All that seemed to be on it were the numbers. That annoyed her, as she was never good at figuring out things like that. Either it was obvious and just beyond her, or it was some kind of code and Venda wasn’t going to get it.

For some reason, Venda decided to run the number sequence through the ship’s computer.

As it was working that out, she sat back and attempted to meditate. But a beeping from the computer just moments later forced Venda to open her eyes and look back to the screen. She hadn’t expected to find anything at all. But just a few seconds and it had found something?

There was an image on the screen now. It was a generic looking planet that could have been any one of millions among the galaxy.  Next to the image was the series of numbers again, and then text that read ‘Fondor.’

Coordinates? The Jendari had given her a datacard with the coordinates of Fondor? Nothing about that seemed to make sense.

Yet...

Switching over to the pilot’s chair again, Venda checked the consoles for a moment before pulling the hyperspace levers back. The stars returned again, and Venda immediately found herself setting a new course and adjusting the transport’s vector. In a matter of moments, she was on the way to Fondor.

What was another delay in reporting back? Besides, the Jendari had given her that for a reason and there was something about it...Venda could feel the Force pushing at her to be there, too. Something important was going to happen. With the way it felt, though, Venda couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t going to be good.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 487: Skips*

“Tell me we aren’t the only ones here!” Adria growled over the comm as the four members of Zephyr squadron reached the nearest of Kuat’s orbital shipyards.

Rulae glanced over to his X-Wing’s port side to see Adria’s X-Wing. There were a few scorch marks on the new starfighter and he made a mental note to get her to be more careful, “Just us for now. We’ll break off in pairs...try to intercept as many of those skips as you can.”

“They aren’t even firing on us,” Loro commented quietly as he and Adria banked away from Rulae and Rea, firing at a nearby skip.

That was odd. There were Coralskippers just flying right past them, firing forward at the shipyards but ignoring their four starfighters. Small explosions were easy to see at various points across the shipyards as the skips simply rammed into them. It was insane.

“Is anyone else bothered by how easy this is?” that was Adria again.

“A little, yes,” Rea finally spoke up as she stayed on Rulae’s wing, firing on another of the skips that wasn’t even trying to evade their attacks.

“Is it possible they are unpiloted?” Loro asked a very valid question.

“Its possible,” Rulae answered, banking to avoid the debris from another skip, “But I doubt it. That isn’t the Vong’s style.”

“They’re probably loving it,” Adria’s voice was no filled with a good amount of venom.

Suddenly, one of the Vong ships exploded and Rulae was fairly sure he hadn’t been shooting at it yet. This thought was confirmed when a pair of new ships flew straight past his viewport. He immediately knew they weren’t New Republic ships. They were pincer shaped, with curved wings tipped in laser cannons. As they passed by his viewport then banked around to take aim on another Coralskipper, a new, heavily accented voice cut into the comm channel, “You boys think you’re getting all the free shots, eh?”

Hapan.

Rulae grinned as much as he could considering his small slit of a mouth. Breaking off to move closer to the shipyards and catch more of the suiciding skips, Rulae switching on his own comm, “This is Zephyr One...Plenty here for everyone. Glad for the help.”

“Don’t thank us yet, Zephyr One,” it sounded like the Hapan was actually laughing, “There were a few skips on our tails and they seemed quite fine with firing while they flew, unlike these.”

“I see them,” Adria cut in again, “Bearing two one five and they’re coming fast.”

Rulae looked to his sensor board and, through the mess of ships all around, he found them. At least ten of them, coming in from roughly the same direction the two Hapan fighters, Miy’til fighters, if he remembered correctly, had come in from, “Zephyrs, form up on me again.”

“Sir,” Loro at least had the decency to remain formal and rather calm during battle, “There’s too many skips getting through as it is, if we break off...”

“Our new friends can keep up with some of the defense,” Rulae cut the Mon Calamari pilot off, and was glad to see the two other X-Wings were headed towards him despite the objection, “But we’re no good to the shipyards if we’re dead.”

In a matter of moments, the four X-Wings were close enough again that their shields were overlapping. It was one of the best defenses against the strong weapons of the Yuuzhan Vong. It was one of many new little tricks that the New Republic had learned over the few months of the war, though it still didn’t seem to be enough. At least it worked.

And then they could see the incoming Coralskippers. Immediately, the four X-Wings opened fire , quickly converging onto the same target to overwhelm the dovin basal defenses. The rocky ship erupted just as the others began to fire, the two groups of ships charging right for each other unloading laser and magma fire at one another.

There was a sudden, bright explosion off to Rulae’s starboard side, and he reacted before he realized what he was doing, banking away from it to avoid any debris striking his ship.

“What the hell was that?!” of course it was Adria that screamed over the comm first as they spun around in formation to get the Vong’s back into their crosshairs.

“I’m hit!” Loro’s voice no longer sounded calm. In fact, it was actually hard to hear and coming in and out through static, “Slammed right into me!”

It wasn’t easy to stay alive in a dogfight and see if Loro was alright. Rulae had to look up to see, but easily caught sight of Loro’s X-Wing...which was completely missing its two starboard wings and was spinning uncontrolled towards the shipyards.

That was also about the time that Rulae’s ship shook again, and he looked forward to see one of the skips firing on him, thankfully not getting through the shields. Rulae lined up his crosshairs on the ship and squeezed the trigger, glad to see both Rea and Adria also firing on the ship. In a flash, the Coralskipper exploded and they were soon firing on another.

“Two of the skips have broken off from the group, One,” Rea said, and Rulae noticed her X-Wing was slowing down and starting to turn at a much sharper angle because of it...looping around completely, “They’re heading for Loro.”

“Do not pursue them!” Rulae snapped, and thankfully Rea had the sense to listen, easing her turn so that Adria and Rulae would stay close enough, “Loro, eject!”

There was no response from the Mon Calamari pilot, and Rulae was too busy firing on another of the skips to look. There was another bright flash in front of him and Rulae followed his instincts and pulled his X-Wing almost straight up.

“Are you alright, sir?” though he could hear her clearly, Rulae couldn’t actually see Adria’s X-Wing anymore. He’d broken off from the two others too fast for them to react and they were probably below him.

Quickly, Rulae’s eyes scanned his systems, “Forward shields are down. Navigation’s a bit fried, but I’m alright.”

As he spoke, he went to diverting power from the starfighter’s engines to boost the shields a bit more and hopefully get the forward shields back up. The X-Wing slowed a bit, and in a second there was Rea and Adria, easily catching up now that he was flying a bit slower.

“Loro’s alright,” Rea said as her X-Wing spit laser fire at the rear of a Coralskipper, “Saw him get out.”

“Good,” Rulae really was glad to hear that.

And then, yet again, Rulae saw a bright flash in front of him, but this time it was in the distance. His X-Wing was banking away, pulling back in a direction to put the main chaos of the battle into view, but he knew what the source had been. The shipyards. Something big had hit them.

“Zephyr One, this is Teril One,” it was the Hapan pilot, “A large Vong cruiser has just broken off from the main fleet. Its firing on the shipyards!”

Rulae forced his X-Wing down, trying to shake off a pair of skips that had gotten behind them and failing to do so, “Are you two okay?”

“Not for long, Zephyr One,” the Hapan’s voice was strained and there was an odd noise in the background that Rulae couldn’t identify, “Looks like another couple of Vong cruisers are coming to join in and they’re going to take notice of us soon.”

There was a yelp of surprise from Rea as her shields took a strong hit, but she quickly reported that it was just minor damage as the three of them vainly attempted to get the rest of the skips off of their tails. These pilots were good. Staying together made it harder to shake them off because Rulae had to worry about slamming into one of the two other fighters. But breaking off meant losing the extra shielding, and that was something they all badly needed.

“Teril One,” Rulae’s head was spinning around to try to see the ships behind him to get an idea of how close they were, “If you can get to us we could really use some help right now!”

“What about the shipyards?”

Rulae spotted one of the skips. It was a good distance behind. Damn. That made it harder to outmaneuver them with so much room for them to react in. After a quick signal through comm clicks to Rea and Adria, they all cut their engine power down a bit more to force the gap to close, then turned hard to port as the skips fired wildly, “Get these skips off of us and then we can worry about the shipyards!”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 488: Alien Landing*

“Master, what are we doing?!” Tobias cried out as the entire ship shook again, sending him into the corridor’s wall. He was expecting it, though, and managed to catch himself on it rather than just being slammed into the thing.

Master Ral was already off the wall, running back towards the hangar. Over his shoulder, he called back to Tobias, “There are hundreds of people aboard that Vong ship. We’re going to get as many off as we possibly can!”

“That’s insane!” this was emphasized by another violent shaking to the Mon Calamari cruiser.

The Gemstone had moved straight for the large ship that Master Ral had pointed out, along with two Star Destroyers and three gunships for support. All of them were currently unloading their turbolaser batteries on that various Vong cruisers in the way.

“It is our duty, Tobias!” Master Ral hit a switch on a door and then ran into the hangar, with Tobias only a few steps behind. 

Trying to keep up with his Master, Tobias also had to yell to be heard over the other people scrambling across the Mon Calamari cruiser’s hangar, “You said there are Jedi on that ship, too! Isn’t it their duty?”

“One of them has fallen, and...” whatever else Master Ral had said, Tobias didn’t hear it. A large transport ship that looked to have been fitted with a few extra guns rocketed out of the hangar and into the fight, its sublight drives roaring to life in the hangar and drowning out everything for a few seconds.

By the time he could hear again, Tobias was heading up the ramp of Master Ral’s ship, pointing out another obvious fact, “This ship can’t hold hundreds!”

The ramp came up just as Tobias was all the way in, and when he reached the co-pilot’s chair, Master Ral was already powering on the systems as quickly as he could, “We will get as many as we can.”

“What about that...thing you felt,” another important, but obvious, thing to point out.

Master Ral ignored that for a moment, spinning his chair to check the engine status. He took the controls, lifting them up off of the hangar’s deck and then cutting the sublight drives on, sending them shooting out into the chaos of the battle, “Even more the reason to go. We will move quickly, find what we can, and take as many people as we can fit aboard.”

There was one more obvious and important thing that Tobias felt he had to bring up, “Master I’ve...I’ve never actually fought anything before. Not for real.”

The viewport was chaos. Though Tobias could see giant, kilometers wide rock-shaped Vong ship that was their target, turbolaser fire and whatever-the-Vong-weapons-fired littered the blackness of space. Not to mention the countless number of ships, large and small, darting every direction. Because of it all, Master Ral was flying the transport as fast as it could go towards their target, while making very sharp maneuvers to avoid being hit by stray fire that made Tobias’ stomach lurch.

“There comes a time when we must learn by doing,” Master Ral’s calm voice was completely at odds to the chaotic actions around them, and it was strangely fitting. One thing Tobias had learned early on about his Omwati Jedi Master was that somehow, Ral could become the calm within the storm, “Stay close to me at all times and listen to the Force.”

“But the Vong...”

“Do not exist in the Force,” the Jedi Master finished the sentence as the transport suddenly pulled up, a pair of Coralskippers that had been tailing them flying right past as he also cut their speed slightly. Master Ral quickly readjusted to a new coarse towards the large Vong ship and put as much power to the engines as was safe to do, “The Force will still guide you, though. It simply means you must rely on your instincts and your other senses as well. Keep your ears and eyes open and aware.”

Tobias nodded, though he had a feeling Master Ral didn’t see it. The Omwati was calm, but there was a very focused feeling about him. And the ship was growing in the viewport...growing to the point where Tobia realized just how big it was: more than twice the size of a Star Destroyer, and probably close to the size of the huge Kanyak, Thor...maybe even bigger.

“Master...” Tobias’ voice was low, not wanting to break Master Ral’s concentration, “Do you...know where to land on that ship?”

“Look directly ahead,” Master Ral said, nudging Tobias with the Force that made him feel like he was being pointed in the right direction, “Ships are leaving that point there. Going to head in and set us down before they know what to do.”

“Then what?”

Tobias could see the point. It was small, compared to the size of the Vong ship, but that might have just meant it was farther away than he thought. Master Ral was doing a good job at maintaining a straight course through the battle, and most of the Vong seemed to busy fighting the ships that were firing back to fire on a lone transport that was shooting through the battle faster than an A-Wing. 

“Then we follow the Force to the people...or to the source of that thing.”

Now the point was larger. It was like a carved out hole in the ship, about the size of a small cruiser. No more ships were leaving it, and Tobias had the distinct feeling it was getting smaller, like an outer skin slowly regrowing over a wound. An image only an Alraxian would know without being sickened by the thought.

“Hold on to something,” Master Ral’s voice was sounding tense now...strained. And he wasn’t slowing the ship at all.

Tobias took the hint and made sure he was strapped into the chair and then took the extra measure to grip the armrests as tightly as he could without morphing claws. If they were slowing down now, Tobias still couldn’t tell, but he was sure the opening in the Vong ship was sealing...or...closing...or whatever the right word for it was. For an Alraxian, he wasn’t very good at describing organic technology.

And then, suddenly, they were inside. The hangar, if it could be called that, didn’t go very deep, and Master Ral had to not only cut the engines completely, but fire the reverse thrusters to avoid slamming into the spongy looking wall. As the ship lowered down to the ‘deck’, small dings and other noises could be heard echoing through the hull.

When they were down, Master Ral undid his crash webbing and got to his feet, lightsaber already in hand. As Tobias was getting out of his seat, the older Omwati gave him a very serious look, “Remember. Stay close to me. Trust the Force...trust your senses. Tobias just nodded, following the Jedi Master to the boarding ramp.

Holding up the hilt of his weapon, Master Ral thumbed the activation switch. A bright green blade of pure energy lit up the immediate area and the thrumming of it drowned out the sounds outside the ship. Seeing this, Tobias looked down at the lightsaber in his hand. Jyren’s. His family’s. It was just a piece of metal but...but there was somehow a great deal of significance to it.

The snap-hiss of the blue-green blade coming to life almost surprised Tobias. He’d always seen it as a toy of sorts. But now it was going to be used for what it was designed for. Now it was going to be the only thing that could keep him alive. Now Tobias suddenly felt like he wasn’t ready for any of it. He wanted to go back to Yavin...to Alraxia...anywhere but where he was.

And then Master Ral his the switch that lowered the boarding ramp. Gutteral, angry voices could suddenly be heard, and Tobias saw a black, flying thing shoot straight past the opening and dig deep into the hull of the ship. Without another look to Tobias, Master Ral charged down the boarding ramp and down to the alien ship below.

As Tobias quickly followed, holding his weapon up in a guard position and trying to stay close to his Master, the voices of the surprise Yuuzhan Vong ceased. For a short moment, there was silence except for the two lightsabers, and Tobias found himself standing on the odd looking deck right next to Master Ral, staring at ten scarred and tattooed Yuuzhan Vong.

“Jeedai!” one of the Vong screamed the word, suddenly drawing a miniature version of their amphistaff weapons that looked more like small daggers than the long, snake-like staves.

The others drew similar weapons.

And then, as one, screaming in their native tongue, the Yuuzhan Vong charged the two Jedi.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 489: Back and Forth*

Marix didn’t make it to the interrogation room where the Mrrakesh was being held. As she headed through the corridors of the Jendari starship, not really lost but not knowing exactly where she was, an odd compulsion had taken over and Marix found herself not at the interrogation room, but at the quarters where the twins were. The two Knights were still guarding the door, and when she entered, there was Neasa Blackflame, the Redstar that had been a great deal of help through the years.

And Marix, for some reson, decided not to turn around. She sat down with the twins, who were both elated to see her, and did her best to...play. It was one thing she was never good at, as it helped to understand what, exactly, play was, and that still eluded her, to a point. But there was something about the twins when they were happy and laughing like they were that made the meaning of it all pointless. Where she had once tried to figure out what the point of a little toy was, Marix just found it didn’t matter when they were so happy with something so...simple.

She was currently completely lost as to whatever game the two children were playing, but Marix was sure that it centered around her...literally. Saaran was perched on her shoulder, peering down at Andrea who was curled up and in a position that showed she was ready to pounce. Saaran was laughing and grinning, and then let out a sudden yelp of surprise when Andrea pounced.

But Marix surprised them both, suddenly snatching Andrea out of the air, mid-pounce, “Gotcha!”

Laughing, Saaran leap off of Marix’s shoulder and bound across the room, running to hide behind the bed. Andrea squirmed, laughed, and did her best to escape Marix’s grip. But she couldn’t get free, and thankfully didn’t attempt to use her claws, though Andrea didn’t seem to give up, just finding new ways to try and squirm free.

That was also about the time the door opened. Marix turned to see Navik standing there, his face showing that neutral expression he always used when there was news to be delivered that might not be good. She let out a sigh, then placed Andrea on the ground, who’d gotten the hint that something had changed.

Andrea was a smart one. As Marix got to her feet, she managed a smile for the twins, “I will be back soon.”

“Awwwww...” the sound came from both of them at the same time.

But Marix was intelligent enough to already be heading out the door. She knew they would, somehow, be able to make her feel guilty for leaving them and right now she needed to focus on other things. Which was bad enough.

Once she was in the corridor, Navik said, “The Mrrakesh is dead.”

She had actually expected that, “How?”

“We aren’t sure,” that, too, was expected, “Its nothing we did, though.”

“Did he say anything before he killed himself?” the question was direct and made a bit of an assumption, but Marix knew it was true. It was what anyone in his position would do if captured. Tam’Day’U had the same policy.

Navik started walking, and Marix quickly fell in step with him. As Navik led the way, he shook his head and answered the question, “Nothing useful. He spouted curses, insults, and threats when he would talk, but was mostly silent.”

“The Jendari should have been using the Force, too,” Marix didn’t like that it wasn’t mentioned at all. She knew they wouldn’t torture like the Tam’Day’U used to, but the Jendari should at least know how to do their job.

“I believe they were,” that alleviated some of the worry that Marix knew existed because she wasn’t involved, which still bothered her. Navik then shrugged, “I couldn’t tell you if they learned anything, but I doubt it was much more, if anything.”

Truthfully, that didn’t surprise Marix, either. The Mrrakesh would have been trained to resist the probing in their minds. Or at least, anyone intelligent would have trained them to. But still, attempting it and failing to learn anything was better than not attempting it and possibly missing something.

“So we haven’t learned anything at all then,” she said that more to herself, thinking out loud as her mind ran through other things at the same time.

Navik sighed and nodded, “It seems that way.”

Thoughts that had been worked out came to the forefront now for Marix, “We will learn more soon enough. After the attack on their planet, the Mrrakesh will send a message.”

“They’ll deny the attack was provoked,” Navik said as they came to a door. When he stopped, there was a short delay before it slid upwards to reveal a small room with a few Jendari within.

Marix followed him into the room, seeing the Mrrakesh’s body in a chair off to one side of the room. From the places that blood looked to be seeping out of, he was definitely dead. Looking back to Navik, she finished the thought, “Of course they’ll deny it. But who denies it will tell us who was behind this.”

One of the Jendari, who Marix did not know the name of despite recognizing him as one of their high ranking officials, nodded a plumed head at her comment, cutting in with a soft, but somehow very pointed voice, “Your analyses is correct, my lady. Our communications channels are awaiting any contact...but the ships have not arrived yet.”

“We’ll hear something before the attack is finished,” Marix said, stepping over to inspect the Mrrakesh for herself.

As she looked over his body, trying to decide what, exactly, it was that had killed him, Marix found that her initial rage had calmed. Now it was more a very determined and focused emotion that she didn’t even have a word for. It wasn’t anger and it wasn’t rage. It just...was. She didn’t regret her actions, as the attack on the Mrrakesh world would give them information on who ordered the attack on the Palace. But now, as Marix tried to ignore the shiver that went up her spine at being so close to red-coloured blood(which always bothered her, for some reason), she tried to consider what to do next.

If they went to war, they went to war. Train as many of the Knights in better combat tactics quickly. Recruit amongst the other species of the Empire to form a makeshift army for the sole purpose of defense. Basic tactics. It wouldn’t be offensive, though. The important point would be to prove to the Mrrakesh that the Alraxian Empire would not stand for attacks, and could hold off the Mrrakesh’s supposed power despite being weaker militarily. After enough losses, the Mrrakesh would finally back down and the stalemate would return.

But there was the off chance that it wouldn’t lead to war, and this was the first time Marix had considered that. The Mrrakesh might not respond at all, surprised by a suddenly aggressive action by the usually passive Alraxian Empire. It would not be the first time. Ket’s war on Alraxia should have provoked an outright war with the Mrrakesh, as they had the chance to attack. But they didn’t. They ignored the opening, and, according to the Jendari, a pair of attacks by Ket’s droid army on Mrrakesh planets, and simply stayed where they were. Ket had tried to provoke them and they hadn’t budged. Marix was not trying to provoke them, but still had to wonder what it would mean if the Mrrakesh didn’t respond to the attack that was coming.

“It was a neurological implant that killed him,” the voice was familiar to Marix. She turned around to see the Jendari, Arelin, standing with his hands behind his back in a formal position. Seeing he had her attention, one hand was extended towards the corpse, “He did not commit suicide to protect any information. The implant was designed to detect a certain brainwave pattern when being probed by the Force. We killed him.”

That was even smarter. There was always the chance that an operative wouldn’t want to die. An implant like that assured they wouldn’t divulge information, one way or another. There was likely something similar for if he had talked, literally, though it may very well have been the same device.

Marix nodded, stepping away from the body and giving the Jendari leader her full attention with the question that was plaguing her suddenly, “Arelin, if the Mrrakesh do not respond to this attack...what do you believe that means?”

“It is unlikely, my lady,” Arelin’s voice had that soothing calm to it that all Jendari evoked. He made an interesting motion between his shoulders and the feathers that formed a plume around his head that was more a wave than a shrug, then went on, “If that does occur, however, it would be possible that the Mrrakesh are too busy fighting on their opposite border to fight on two fronts. There is also the possibility that whoever did order this attack has other plans in motion that deem its success unnecessary.”

The first one was what Marix figured was most likely. But even then, could the Mrrakesh just ignore an attack on their own planets when they were supposedly losing ground to the Vong? They needed every planet they could get. Not responding would be the same as Marix not responding to the attack on her children: showing weakness. The one thing the Mrrakesh wouldn’t do was show weakness...not if they could help it.

“Plan for the most likely scenario,” she said in the formal tone that sounded like her mother, which was what Marix always assumed an Empress sounded like when giving orders, “Prepare a message to the Empire addressing the situation and the need for a defense force. Any volunteers should report to Alraxia immediately. Any other kind of assistance will be taken into consideration. And...” Marix paused, not liking what she was about to say, but knowing it had to be done, “Also, we will need to speak with all of the Kanyaks. Find at least some that are willing to be fitted with weaponry.”

There was an uneasy silence within the room. Kanyaks being armed was, essentially, a last resort. They would do it, the entire Empire knew that, but the gesture itself said a great deal. The Kanyaks were peaceful, and the presence of weapons on them actually hurt them most of the time, as they weren’t at all natural and were one thing their bodies couldn’t seem to mimic. It meant that had to be grafted on. The only time that had ever been done was the Darkwing Wars, and even then it was only a handful of Kanyaks.

“Yes, my lady,” Arelin said with a bow of his head, immediately leaving the room and likely heading to the bridge to prepare the message himself.

Marix looked to Navik but said nothing. He nodded for some reason, then put a hand on her shoulder to turn her towards the door, saying quietly, “Come on...I think you need the twins as much as they need you right now. I’ll make sure that anything new gets to you immediately.”

“Thank you, Navik,” when they entered the corridor, they went two different direction. Navik, following Arelin towards the ship’s bridge to monitor the situation. Marix...back to the small room with her children. It was an odd moment for her, but for some reason, again, she was walking that direction without any desire to be anywhere else.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 490: Philosophy*

In what had always been a chaotic torrent of possibilities, images, and emotions, there had been a single point instead. Everything, from the smallest action of an Ewok hunting with his brothers to a gigantic battle with the Yuuzhan Vong to protect a world, converged at one point. At the point, was nothing. Or rather, nothing that could be discerned. Perhaps it was due to the fact that everything came to that one point that made it impossible to see it, but it also meant that what that point was, what that one moment that everything in the galaxy was pushed to, was impossible to see.

And beyond the point, nothing was visible. It was as if everything simply ended where it all came together into a single moment. But there was a feeling beyond it. Not anything specific, and nothing that could be really described, just a feeling. And that, alone, meant the point wasn’t an end. It was a convergence that resulted in...something. The point was unavoidable, as nothing escaped it. That meant that the point was the determining factor. Not avoiding it, but what happened at it. And that would shape what came after.

Jyren had seen it first. He had never been the greatest with the more passive uses of the Force, but with help from Marix, he’d learned the basics. And then, it was there. Off in the distance, out of reach, but there. And when he found it, he looked everywhere to find a way out, because the idea of one point determining everything unsettled him. Destiny always got to Jyren. All that ‘will of the Force’ crap made him feel helpless and that was one thing he couldn’t stand.

Marix saw it first in a dream. The Jendari had taught her farseeing, though she’d had minimal training in it from Faban Sunrunner as a Tam’Day’U. Seeing what was coming in the near future was a vital aspect to being an assassin. Because of her experience with such techniques, she was able to meditate and fall back into the vision to get a calmer view of it...much more than Jyren’s panicked searching through the short seconds of the vision he was able to focus on. He knew it was there, and that was important enough. For Marix, she analyzed.

After a good amount of looking at it, seeing that it changed with each day that went by, she saw that the point still didn’t move. No matter what else happened, it remained. The random flashes of events leading up to it were always different. Maybe they were just different things seen each time, but then again, maybe it was simply the future shifting based on the choices of the billions and billions of people in the galaxy. It was likely a little of both. But what was important was that the point of convergence remained in the exact same spot, and had a vague feeling left beyond it...but nothing else. No events, no flashes of images, no emotions...just a feeling of something.

They had both seen it first just a month after the reports of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. Whether anyone else saw it, they didn’t know. Marix and Jyren kept it between themselves. If anyone in the galaxy could see it, the Jendari would have, but they said nothing. They likely wouldn’t if they were confronted with it. Jyren had once mentioned that the Jedi should have seen it. But the Jedi had suddenly been thrown into a galactic war and had their own problems to worry about. So in all of the galaxy, as far as they knew, they were the only two beings in the galaxy who knew something big was coming.

Good or bad didn’t seem to matter. In fact, the point itself didn’t seem to be either. Marix was the one who suggested it was not an actual event, but a choice. A moment that the fate of the entire galaxy rested on the decision of one sentient being. The time beyond was blank because it was impossible for even the Force to determine. That, or, as Jyren suggested, they just couldn’t truly understand what they were ‘seeing’ beyond. It was possible that it could be ‘seen’ and understood, but it simply took a different form.

But that was a detail that didn’t matter. A choice. A second where all of the galaxy and everything after fell into, and everything afterwards was different. There was a reason Jyren worried so much about it. Early on, he wasn’t arrogant enough to assume that either of them were the ones to make that choice, and so the worry came of who’s shoulders that would rest on and what that could mean. But over time, the natural assumption came that it was one of them that would have to make the choice, and Jyren did his usual thing and assumed the worst: that it would be him, and he would do the wrong thing.

That made things worse.

Jyren worked himself into a dangerous cycle with thoughts like that, and it only infuriated Marix that, after all the years she’d known him, he still didn’t trust his own skills. After Sadrak, Voort, Ket, Nine, Jen, Darkwings, armies of Alraxian-killing droids, armies of six-armed bugs, and good old Stormtroopers, he still didn’t trust himself. And then they’d gotten involved in the war, and everything had deteriorated more...and they both began to focus less on the single point in the future to stay alive in those events leading up to it.

And then came the battle at the Gateway. Jyren saw the point. He saw it right in front of him with his own eyes, and Marix saw it, too. He made a choice, thinking it was the one. Knowing he was doing the right thing, what had to be done.

But afterwards, Marix could still see the point. There was, however, nothing leading up to it. Everything was right up against the point, with nothing beyond. Not even a feeling anymore. Jyren had failed, obviously. Sure, the Alraxian Empire was protected from the Vong but what did that matter when the Mrrakesh were becoming aggressive? War was war. And the Mrrakesh looked a lot more dangerous than the Vong all of a sudden.

Each choice she made, Marix stepped back and tried to see the point again, but they didn’t seem to move. No matter what happened, they were still there. Right in front of it, pushing into the tiny little black hole in the future but not getting any closer. And like a black hole, it sucked in everything. Marix would turn around to see behind, see the past, and there was nothing. So close to the point in the Force, everything else was impossible to see. It was still there, it was still coming, and it was something else. Something beyond what they had thought it was.

If Marix had gone with Venda, she would have seen a moment that very well could have been that choice. She would not have seen the choice being made, but the effects of it. A shift was coming. It could have been the point itself, or maybe the point was more than just one moment. But whatever it was, one choice had been made.

A refusal to murder. A young Jedi Knight and his brother, fighting over what should be done about a battle another system away. Debating philosophy when lives were at stake. Whether war justified outright murder. What the implications of a species like the Vong, not existing in the Force, had on the morality that the Jedi normally followed. If any of that even mattered.

But even though a choice was reached, and the two Jedi both decided against using a powerful weapon, something neither of them expected happened. It proved to both of them that Jedi were not the only ones who could cause a moment of great change in the galaxy, and the terrible thing that both of them had decided against was done...and the consequences of it would soon reach Fondor.

Though part of her played with her children, another part of Marix saw the point draw slightly closer, where they might have even moved into it. And she felt something odd. It was a feeling of not being alone. That someone else was there, seeing what she was seeing.

Some Jedi, somewhere, had finally stepped back from the war to see it. Marix hoped it was Venda, as the woman seemed to have more sense than most Jedi. Maybe she’d actually do something about it. Maybe she was the one to make the choice.

What Marix didn’t know was the Venda was going to exit hyperspace soon, and the choice made lightyears away would catch up to her very quickly.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 491: Self Defense*

Tobias ducked under a swipe from one of the Yuuzhan Vong’s small, dagger-like weapon. There was a grunt of pain above him mixed with a deafening thrumming of a lightsaber passing too close, and when Tobias returned to an upright position, the Vong was on the ground with a slash mark across its chest.

He spun around to see Master Ral’s lightsaber a blur of movement, with the Omwati in the center relatively still. The Vong had quickly asserted that the Jedi Master was more of a threat than Tobias, who had taken a good cut across from the shoulder from one of the thrown razor bugs and then another slice across his arm when the Vong got close...only to have the attacked taken down by Master Ral. After that, they had gone for Master Ral, leaving only a couple of the Vong, who were wearing very odd looking clothes that looked to stick to their bodies at points on their shoulders and hips, coming for Tobias.

One of them was now dead.

The other was in front of Tobias, a safe distance from Master Ral and taking a short moment to gauge his opponent’s defenses. While he had to know that his opponent wasn’t exactly a master swordsman, hopefully the Vong had figured out just how inexperienced Tobias was. Currently, Tobias was holding his lightsaber up in front of him in the best defensive position he could manage with the sound of vicious fighting behind him.

Then the Vong lunged forward at Tobias, the dagger-sized blade shooting forward at surprising speed for his left shoulder. Tobias quickly reacted, spinning his lightsaber to cut off either the blade or the Vong’s hand, whichever the lightsaber managed to get. Instead, though, the lightsaber met with extremely strong resistance and just pushed the Yuuzhan Vong’s arm off to the side rather than cutting through it like it should have!

The Vong reacted quickly, spinning to the other side and then attempting a slash across Tobias’ now-exposed mid-section. In the movement, Tobias saw that the Vong was wearing some kind of shell-like armour in a few places...wrist, shoulders, and from the way the cloth ‘shirt’ was held, under that, too. And a strike from a lightsaber didn’t just go through it.

As the blade came in again, Tobias countered the only way he could. Hoping that he was faster than the Vong, he slashed upwards with his weapon. There was an odd sound as the lightsaber removed the Vong’s head from his torso and the rest of his body hit the deck with more of a thud than a clang.

Breathing heavily and now running completely on a mix of adrenaline and pure shock, Tobias spun around to see Master Ral...and instead saw another Vong coming at him. A flash of movement caught his eye, and Tobias quickly leaned left, hearing a buzzing noise slide right past his ear. One of those thud...or razor...whatever bugs. And a moment later, the Vong was bearing down on Tobias, sharp dagger thrusting at the young man’s chest.

This time, when Tobias swung his lightsaber around to parry the strike, he was ready to meet with resistance. Drawing on the teaching he’d received from Marix in close quarters fighting, Tobias spun with the momentum of his parry, pushing straight into the Vong. Tobias had the intelligence to shift the lightsaber into a one handed grip as he dug his elbow hard into the Vong’s stomach.

A shock of pain wracked through Tobias’ elbow as it hit the armoured chest of the Vong, but the sudden stop in his forward momentum combined with the surprise from a rather dangerous attack meant that the Vong stumbled back, slightly out of breath and recovering quickly. It was enough time for Tobias to do the one thing he knew could bring down a Yuuzhan Vong, and his lightsaber swung around to cleave this one’s head off, too.

However, this Vong ducked.

And then it drove forward at Tobias, tackling the smaller human and driving him down onto the ‘deck’. Tobias’ head spun from the force of the impact, and before he had a chance to even see what was happening, a sharp pain cut into his stomach.

Tobias made a noise that was both a gasp and a cry, leaving him at a loss for breath and desperately trying to convince himself that no, he wasn’t dead. While his mind was going crazy thanks to the intense pain, Tobias’ body took control and he kicked upwards, sending the Vong off of him and to the ground.

Gods that made it hurt worse!!!

The movement, especially using such force, had send another shockwave of pain through Tobias’ body, radiating from his stomach...and it felt like it was just pulsing constantly with pain. He didn’t know what to do! It hurt so much and it wasn’t like anything he’d ever...and...

Why wasn’t he morphing?!

The thought jumped up front and center, but through blurred vision, Tobias could see the Vong coming down over him again. And then his left hand reminded him that there was still a weapon in it. Immediately, Tobias swung the lightsaber across his body, trying to hit the Vong anywhere to just get him off long enough to remorph the wound. There was a cry of pain and a flash as the lightsaber made contact with something, and the form of the Vong was no longer visible through Tobias’ slightly red vision.

Okay. Quickly. Focus. Remorph. Quickly.

The pain didn’t go away. However, in a few short moments, it was an odd sort of pain that Tobias never really understood completely. It was like the brain telling the body that it was supposed to be in pain and hurting, despite the body having the evidence to back up its claim that it was, in fact, perfectly fine. The whole process seemed to be completely normal for Marix and Jyren but Tobias still found himself siding with his brain and being left in a state of confusion for at least a few moments.

But at least Tobias understood that this was one of the times he didn’t have time to be confused. As best he could manage, he pulled himself up to his feet and got the lightsaber up to defend himself again, eyes darting around. There were only two Vong around Master Ral now, each on opposite sides but still unable to break through the Jedi Master’s defenses...which was currently nothing.

Master Ral was simply standing between them, eyes on the one in front of him and green lightsaber held in front of him at a slight angle to protect his body. The two Vong were on either sides, dagger-like weapons in hand and crouched slightly, watching the Jedi Master intently. The bodies around them hinted at why they were suddenly being more cautious.

Tobias decided to tip the scales and use the moment of pause to his advantage, taking only three steps before swinging the lightsaber in a diagonal slash at the back of the Vong that was behind Master Ral. The Yuuzhan Vong spun around before Tobias reached him, the sound of movement and the thrumming of the lightsaber giving away any surprise attack, but when he raised his blade to parry the strike, he ended up losing an entire hand to the lightsaber thanks to the fact that Tobias was still moving forward and the weapon went past the defense.

Most things in the galaxy would take a moment to at least look down at their lost limb, but this Vong didn’t.  Instead, its other, free hand, swung straight in and caught Tobias hard in the jaw. A crack echoed through his skull, but Tobias was fairly sure his jaw hadn’t actually broken, though a second later he felt a leg sweep under him and yet again, Tobias hit the ‘deck’ below hard. But this time he lost his grip on his lightsaber and it fell to the side, out of his reach.

But the Vong was only able to take a single step forward before a green lightsaber shot straight through its obviously-unarmoured chest. Master Ral removed his lightsaber and the Vong dropped hard.

And then it was silent besides the sound of the lightsabers.

“On your feet, Tobias,” Master Ral turned and extended a hand to help him up, which Tobias gladly accepted. Once he was up, Master Ral gave him a very serious look, “Are you alright?”

Tobias looked down, seeing the patch of red that now stained his tunic. His next reaction was to reach down and pick up his own lightsaber, saying as he did so, “I’m okay. But I...I don’t think I’m going to be much good here.”

“You underestimate yourself,” Master Ral motioned, with his lightsaber, to the bodies around them, “Surviving five to one odds would suggest that you have more combat training than you give yourself credit for.”

“Just...self defense...” Tobias shrugged.

“Obviously, that is enough to keep you alive,” Master Ral then turned and looked around the violet and red coloured hangar they were in. He seemed to settle on one wall, though Tobias could see nothing special about it, and started that way, saying over his shoulder, “Lets keep moving. The faster we find out what that presence in the Force was the better.”

Tobias fell into step behind his Omwati Jedi Master, still feeling slightly in awe of this man who he still knew very little about, “How do you know where to go in here?”

“Reach out with your feelings,” the response was expected. And as Master Ral said that, he stopped next to an oval shaped indentation in the wall that reminded Tobias, vaguely, of the doors in the Palace on Alraxia...only it looked more like an actual organ of sorts. The Jedi Master looked over the section of wall, or bulkhead if it could be called that, and then added, “The only thing you feel beyond myself will be where we need to go.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 492: Reflection*

Marix stood with her arms folded across her chest in one of the small observation rooms aboard the Jendari ship, looking down at the green of Alraxia below. They were above the Palace, staying in a stationary orbit to watch the area from space...just in case. The attack on the Mrrakesh world was underway by now, and probably even over, but they’d heard nothing. It was an hour after she’d ordered it, and nothing.

Maybe that was a good sign, but she didn’t like it.

She closed her eyes and allowed her mind to retreat from the world around her, sliding back to a section that had once been where her link with Jyren was. In a sense, it was still there. Or rather, he was. An odd idea, really, but because of the closeness of their link, there really were only a few actual barriers that separated them as individuals. Because of that, if she dug deep enough, there he was...sort of.

He wasn’t really there in the sense that he could be seen or felt or anything like that. He was just...there. But it was hollow existence. Marix would reach to that area, searching for the link out of habit and find that echo of a feeling and then shut it off immediately. But now she didn’t. Now she looked to it and tried to...to do something.

“It is amazing to me how everything seems to go wrong at the same time,” Navik Keros’ voice caused Marix to open her eyes again. Yet again he’d entered a room without her noticing. Either she was losing her concentration, which was likely, or he was getting good at being sneaky...which, because he was Jyren’s father, was unlikely.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Marix glanced over her shoulder to where he stood and asked quietly, “Has something else happened?”

“Thankfully, no,” the answer was definitely a good one, for once, “But still no word from the Jendai ships. Or from the Mrrakesh for that matter.”

With a nod, Marix turned back to look out the viewport to Alraxia. Her gaze idly followed the coastline of the larger continent where the Palace was located as she picked out the islands that were just off the coast before finally finding the one with the old Jedi outpost, “If we hear nothing for much longer we may have to assume that the Mrrakesh launched a counterattack already,” she shook her head and reached out to rest her hand on the viewport, “Why the philosophical thoughts all of a sudden, Navik?”

“Its what we old men do,” there was a hint of a smile in that voice, though from his reflection in the viewport, Marix could see his face was weathered and looked extremely tired, “The Mrrakesh activity, the Yuuzhan Vong pushing them into our space and attacking us directly, the New Republic actually knowing where we are...losing Jyren...Toby running off into the middle of that war...now Mrrakesh actually on Alraxia and we’re on the brink of actual war. It seems there is no peace for us.”

These were all things that had not left Marix’s mind at all in the past months. She had gone over it all again and again and again and it was driving her insane. Marix missed the days when she was in charge of an Empire and decisions were easy. She also missed the days when she had more control over herself. It was still there, to a point, but she couldn’t help but blame Jyren for most of the changes...even though it wasn’t really all his fault.

But...

Wait.

Had he just said?

One of those odd feelings crept up and Marix couldn’t fight back a smile tugging at her face, “I didn’t realize you were so concerned about Tobias.”

In the reflection, Marix saw Navik shrug, “He’s my grandson, of course I’m concerned. Besides, the kid pretty much decided what he wanted to do based on bad tellings of exaggerated stories from Jyren. He’s still so young.”

Navik’s grandson.

Technically, Tobias wasn’t. Technically, Tobias wasn’t even her son. Well, no, technically, on the genetic level, he would have been, but that was the wrong kind of technically. He wasn’t her’s. The only people in the entire Empire that knew that, and were still alive, of course, were Marix, Tobias, Loki, and Navik. The last of which had only learned by accident and hadn’t been affected by it one bit.

Adoption was something extremely common in Alraxian families. So much so that the Empress took in all the wayward children of the Empire and they quite literally became a part of her clan. But they all received a ‘ka’ before their clan name to denote that. Tobias didn’t. And, technically, he didn’t need it since he was, again, technically, an actual BlueIce. Of sorts.

But Navik’s acceptance of Tobias so readily surprised Marix for the same reason they kept his true parentage silent. Being the child of Ket Halpak and a clone of Marix was not exactly something worth advertising amongst the Empire. And yet, Navik had never even seemed to notice it.

“It was his choice to go,” she finally spoke the words to Navik that she’d said to herself so many times, “The only way he’ll learn the truth of all those stories is confronting the reality of it all. It is a harsh lesson for him, but he is stronger than he thinks.”

“He’s a lot like his father,” Navik sounded more like he was thinking out loud with that.

And yes, Tobias was like Jyren. So much so that it worried her. That, in itself, was an odd feeling. It was his life to live as he chose, yes, but Marix didn’t want to see Tobias drag himself through things like Jyren had done. They were both stronger than they realized and had a bad habit of internalizing so much that it always came to haunt them later. For Jyren, it was a past he never seemed to let go of...and for Toby, it was his utter adoration of Jyren to the point that he wanted to be just like him.

Then, at a perfect moment, the door opened. Marix immediately turned to see one of Jendari giving her a serious look with a pair of orange eyes. He didn’t need to say anything, as she already knew what was coming. She felt it before he’d even started speaking in a calm voice that seemed wrong for the news being delivered, “My lady. The Mrrakesh have attacked two of the human worlds on the border. If there are any survivors they are few.”

“What about our attack?” she didn’t want to ask that, but it was necessary.

“The ships exited hyperspace moments ago and have reported a successful mission,” the Jendari paused, looked to the white floor a moment then back to her, “Two of them are currently en route here, with the third and another pair of ships headed to the human worlds.”

That was why she hadn’t wanted to ask the question. It brought up another question from the answer, and one she knew wasn’t going to be good. Keeping her face blank and her presence in the Force as dulled as possible, Marix asked, “Why are they coming here?”

“Multiple Mrrakesh ships have broken through our border defenses. At least one group of ships is headed here. They will arrive within the hour.”

So they were at war again.


----------



## Angcuru

This may work out to the Alraxian Empire's advantage, despite the whole being attacked by a warrior race thing.  By pulling Mrrakesh forces towards the new Alraxian front, they are removed from the Vong front and/or from Mrrakesh Reserves, thus weakening the Vong front.  From a tactical standpoint, that's a nightmare scenario.  Even if the Mrrakesh take quite a few Alraxian worlds, they will have to garrison them in order to hold them.  With the Vong fighting a war of attrition, the Mrrakesh are completely screwed from a tactical perspective.

Sooner or later the Mrrakesh will _have_ to sue for peace.

Eeenteresting.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 493: Dying*

The initial similarities between Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology and Alraxian biotechnology was a large reason for keeping even more quiet on details of the Alraxians to anyone that didn’t need to know. Suspicions would very easily arise in a galaxy that was looking for people to blame. While they were currently using the Jedi, another species that used living technology would likely cause even more trouble.

And the similarities were only there on the surface. Tobias had very little experience with Vong technology, but he could already tell. Alraxian technology was alive...really, truly alive, and almost always sentient. Of course, there were levels of sentience. Morphsuits were definitely alive but they had very limited thought processes and basically no communications skills. Many of the other Alraxian tools were similar, but they were very much natural extensions of their own evolution.

The Vong’s technology just felt so alien and...and unnatural. To Tobias, the corridor they were currently walking in looked forced rather than natural. The fact that they didn’t speak also made Tobias uneasy. Ships were supposed to be able to yell at you for hurting them. But this one...there was something else. Something about the chunks on the floor and the odd dripping ooze from the walls that just felt wrong. Felt like...

“Its dying,” Tobias said softly, his voice barely loud enough to be heard over the thrumming of his and Master Ral’s lightsabers.

“What was that?” Master Ral stopped a moment to glance back at Tobias, a curious look on his face.

Tobias bit his lower lip then motioned to the floor under their feet, “Its...falling apart. I think the ship is dying, Master.”

The Omwati regarded him with a serious expression for a moment, then turned forward again, “More the reason to move quickly.”

“Why haven’t we seen anymore Vong since the hangar?” it was a dumb question, as all logic told Tobias that asking it mean Vong would appear. Too late now, though.

Master Ral stopped a moment at a four way intersection in the corridor they were following. To the left and ahead of them were seals that looked like doors, and to the right, the corridor continued onwards, “If the ship is dying...either they are leaving or attempting to keep it alive longer, I would expect.”

There was a squelching sound to the left, and both Tobias and Master Ral turned to see, to their surprise, a human. He looked to be about thirty standard years old, with no hair and covered in ragged, torn clothes. He was bleeding from various wounds and looked terrified.

His eyes went wide at the sight of the two of them, “More Jedi! Thank the gods!”

Guttural voices could be heard from behind the human and Tobias looked past him to see a rather large room with many Vong within...most of which were coming towards them. Master Ral motioned for the human to come to them, and said quietly to Tobias, “The Vong we fought in the hangar were not warrior, Tobias. These are.”

“How can you tell?” the human had taken the signal, and run to them. Tobias shifted and pressed against the wall, feeling the ooze cling to his clothes , to let the man stand behind them, who was thanking them over and over.

Two of the Vong were now through the opening, charging at Master Ral with large amphistaffs, not the small, knife-like weapons from before. Master Ral planted his feet and raised his weapon, “These Yuuzhan Vong are much taller, they wear full armour, and they are much more heavily scarred.”

Tobias couldn’t argue with any of that. He also couldn’t help Master Ral, as the corridor was only wide enough for one of them to fight safely in, and the Jedi Master had slowly inserted himself between Tobias and the two Vong. In a second, Master Ral was a blur of motion, dodging and parrying the two warriors who were squeezing together to attack the single Jedi.

Before he could try to help, the human grabbed Tobias arm tightly, “Help me, please...”

When Tobias turned to face the human, he finally got an actual look at the man. Beyond the scratches and scars there was something else. On his right cheek was a protrusion that looked...it looked like a rock. Like the walls around them. And it was attached, it was actually coming out of his face. 

“What is that?” Tobias asked the question before he’d realized it, immediately wishing he’d found a better way to say it.

The man, who was emanating pure fear and terror through the Force, shook his head, “I don’t know! It...hurts...and the others...they have them, too! They’re dying! Its killing us!”

There was a loud growl from behind, and Tobias shot a glance over his shoulder to see that Master Ral had removed the arm from one of the two Vong, though there was a good sized scar across the Omwati’s face, too.  He should be helping his Master, but...

“I can try to take it out,” Tobias mumbled, starting to reach up with his free hand to the protruding...thing in the man’s face.

“NO!” the man batted his hand away then jumped back into the wall, making a squish sound as he hit it rather than a thud, “Will kill me! Already killing me! Its dying! Its dying and killing us all with it!”

“What’s dying?!” like his mother, Tobias didn’t deal well with vague statements. They just made him confused and, also like her, angry, “Is it the ship?”

“Yes! The ship!” the man nodded, removing himself from the wall as a few pieces of it fell away, “But...but its not killing us! That thing is! That tentacled thing that won’t get out of my mind! Its dying and its going to take all of us with it!!”

And then, suddenly, the man let out a terrifying cry and charged at Tobias. Instincts instilled in him by his mother took over, and Tobias swung his lightsaber up into a defensive position. The act of swinging the blade up was enough to cut a long, deep slash from the man’s hip to his shoulder. Tobias’ eyes went wide with shock when the man dropped to the ground, suddenly realizing he’d killed the man by accident!

“Grah!” the sound from behind Tobias snapped him out of his shock. He spun around completely this time, and saw Master Ral hit the ridged floor face first. The Vong with two arms was already following through, spinning his amphistaff into a one handed grip, with half of it coiling like a snake around his forearm while the rest of it became more a whip.

He cracked it forwards, and the snake-head of the staff shot out towards Master Ral’s body.

“Master!” Tobias, again, reacted with instincts he didn’t realize had been so well drilled into him. The problem was that while the instincts were there, the training was not. Nor was the experience that taught most warriors to at least take a quick assessment of the situation before acting.

Tobias swung his lightsaber upwards, batting the amphistaff up and away, and stepping over Master Ral’s body. The Jedi Masn’t dead, nor unconscious, and was quickly getting to his feet. But the Vong was already adapting to this quick change from the small human who’d stepped in the way.

A knee came up and dug hard into Tobias’ exposed midsection, with a spike from the Vong’s armour driving up through Tobias’ skin. He cried out, his vision going completely white with pain, and then flashing an even brighter white when the knee, and spike, was removed. Immediately, Tobias bent over in pain, and then was quickly met with a heavy force to his spine, probably a fist, and he hit the floor face first, too, head spinning and unable to do anything but feel pain.

If Marix had been there, she’d have screamed at him for being stupid like Jyren. She’d also have jumped right in and protected him. But she wasn’t. It became disturbingly apparent to Tobias how far away she was as the pain washed over him. Now he couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. His mind couldn’t see through the pain and he couldn’t force the wound to remorph.

So Tobias lay there, curled up and face first on the floor of a dying Yuuzhan Vong starship in the middle of the largest battle of the entire war, doing nothing but slowly bleeding to death.

And through it all, Tobias found that he just wanted to go back home and feel safe again.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 494: Orbital Defense*

“Oh, Loki...” Marix said softly as she ran a hand along the nose of her ship. She shook her head and sighed, “You didn’t have to do this...”

[Of course I did.] there was a slight tension in Loki’s normally jovial voice. [If the Empress’ ship will not step forward, why should anyone else? And it is not the first time.]

Marix turned to look down Loki’s body, towards the swept back ‘wings’. Or rather, ‘wing’, as she was on his port side and couldn’t see around him. But there, attached beneath the ‘wing’ was a Jendari laser cannon. There was another one on his other side. They were strong weapons, roughly the strength of a turbolaser cannon.

“Finally got your eye on a mate, then?” she managed to force a grin onto her face as she patted his nose and started to walk over to the open hatch.

[Um...what?] he was so cute when he was confused and terrified by things like that.

The grin became devious as she stepped into the hatch and it closed behind her. As Marix headed to the cockpit, she idly let a hand trail across the bulkhead along the way, “Can’t think of any other reason why you’d be first unless you were trying to impress a girl. Course, even then, you’d probably be last to the show. Always were slow...”

[Hey!!!] the bulkhead actually had a slight tremor run through it.

Marix allowed herself another laugh before she arrived in the cockpit and had a seat. Time to get to work. Her voice changed completely when she asked, “How long do we have?”

[About five minutes if the Jendari are right.] even Loki’s voice shifted from wounded to business-mode. He was a lot like her when it came to getting things done. Besides, this was going to be different. Something that hadn’t happened ever before. There wasn’t going to be much time to be anything but serious.

She only nodded to acknowledge his comment, and was already taking the controls and moving Loki out of the Jendari ship’s hangar. When Loki was out in Alraxia’s orbit, Marix could see other ships, Kanyaks, moving in a large formation not far from the Jendari ship. Those would be the Knights and the other ships outfitted with weapons. The Jendari had done the best they could in the limited time there was. They would have to hold off the Mrrakesh for only a short time before more Jendari ships arrived. Once that happened, Alraxia would be safe enough...but it was going to be a tough fight until then.

So Marix had a plan. It was rather simple, but effective enough. Most of the Kanyaks would simply do their best to help the Jendari hold the Mrrakesh from getting to Alraxia’s surface, which they would undoubtedly be attempting. But Marix, and a few others both former Tam’Day’U and well trained Knights, would board the Mrrakesh ships and try to disable them from the inside. She’d done similar before. It was doable...but would be more dangerous than ever. The Mrrakesh would be ready for that kind of attack, and the ships would have very large troop compliments.

But that wouldn’t stop her. It never did. And now Alraxia was in the crosshairs and her children were right there, too. Failure wasn’t even a possibility. The Mrrakesh had to be held back at all costs. It would be nice to have an actual fleet there, but this wasn’t like fighting the Vong at the Gateway. The Jendari would help, but they were definitely a different kind of fighting force. It would have to be enough, though.

Marix closed her eyes a moment to calm her breathing. When she opened them, she looked out towards the outer reaches of the Alraxian system. Beyond Alraxia, herself, there were only three other planets in the system. One close in towards the system’s star, and two others in deep er orbits. None of them were habitable, and only Alraxian had any moons. But all Marix could see was deep space...exactly where the Mrrakesh would come from.

[Did you ever consider comming the New Republic?] Loki was bad with silences, especially when waiting on something like this.

“No, I didn’t,” Marix shook her head, sitting back a bit and trying to keep as relaxed as was possible, “They wouldn’t come anyway. They have their own war to fight. This is ours...and only ours.”

[But the Vong...]

“Are not directly attacking us,” Marix finished for him, “Even then, they wouldn’t come if we asked. It’s a big galaxy, Loki, and they have a great many more systems to defend than our corner of space when we really don’t even want them here.”

As best as a starship could, Loki sighed. He didn’t like what was coming. Marix didn’t, either, but she knew it was necessary. And she knew they would survive. Ket had been worse than these Mrrakesh. He knew the Alraxians weaknesses much more intimately. The Mrrakesh would be working with their thousand years of prejudice, and Marix could use that against them.

One Alraxian couldn’t take an entire Mrrakesh ship.

The Mrrakesh were warriors. Powerful warriors twice the strength of even the greatest of the Alraxians. They even had weapons specifically designed to kill Alraxians now: swords that left pieces of metal within the victim to make sure they died when attempting to remorph. Not to mention that the Alraxians just weren’t trained to fight at all. It would be a quick, decisive battle for the Mrrakesh.

The Alraxian Empress wouldn’t risk her own life to fight on the front lines, just as the Mrrakesh leader wouldn’t.

Or at least, that was all how it was supposed to be.

But Marix was the front line, despite the objections of the Jendari and any Alraxian, including the Knights that were her guards, that saw her before she reached Loki. But her mind was made up. She could fight Mrrakesh. She could kill Mrrakesh. She the best trained warrior in all of the Empire and the most experience; the only Tam’Day’U to actually survive as one for as long as she did without being killed on a mission. And not only that, but she was the only Alraxian in the entire Empire that didn’t have a thing to worry about from metal. It was ironic, of course, but that was one of her greatest strengths, and it came from another Empire...that horrible Galactic Empire that had captured her and cloned her with some extra modifications here and there.

Too bad for the Mrrakesh. Those scouts wouldn’t have been able to report that little anomaly back before they were killed, which meant she still had that element of surprise.

[Marix...] Loki’s voice was soft, as if he was doing his best not to bother her.

She looked up to the viewport and saw it. Or rather, them. The distinct, geometrical shape of the Mrrakesh Battle Cruisers that she’d learned very well while defending the Gateway. Good. They didn’t bring anything else...or not right away, at least.

Through the Alraxian Network, she sent a nudge of encouragement to all of the Knights that were there aboard their Kanyaks. This was it. This would be a fight like Alraxia had never seen. And Marix knew that many of those Kanyaks who had volunteered to have weapons grafted to their bodies would die. Those peaceful ships that were such wonderful companions were going against their deepest beliefs to protect Alraxia, a planet that wasn’t their own.

It was a testament to the bravery and loyalty of the Kanyaks. It was also something that Marix was not going to let happen in vain.

“Loki,” her voice was hard and cold now, as she gripped the controls tightly and started angling Loki towards the Mrrakesh ships, “Figure out which one’s their lead ship and lets get aboard before they know what’s hit them.”

[Already on it...] Loki sounded distracted, which was a good sign. As they led the charge in towards the distant ships, he added a vital piece of information that she’d neglected to ask, or even check for herself, on. [There are seven Mrrakesh Cruisers, Marix. I believe I’ve found the lead, though.]

Seven.

They were thirty seven lightly armed Kanyaks, a single Jendari warship, and two more Jendari ships to arrive soon, whenever that was, against seven well armed Mrrakesh Cruisers and probably smaller support fighters. Vastly outnumbered, but that was expected.

Marix put that all aside and leaned forward in her seat, putting all of her focus into keeping herself and Loki alive, and keeping the Network strong. Panic was the last thing they all needed, “Plot the fastest course you can to that ship and let me know if anything changes.”

[Of course.] Loki, while still sounded distracted, had that oddly happy tone to it that he got sometimes. Then, just to confirm that he was insane, added. [Haven’t had fun like this in years!]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 495: Change of Plans*

Remorph the wound.

Gods it hurt. It hurt so much. The pain was making it hard to think straight and he was panicking and that was just making it all worse and worse.

Remorph. The. Wound.

Somewhere deep in his mind, the words cut through the chaos. It wasn’t really a voice. They weren’t even really words. They just were. Instinct was the closest to it but much more demanding than instinct, if that was possible.

Remoph. Now.

He was avoiding it. Avoiding it because...because it hurt! Wait. Stop. Somehow, he found the focus and centered it around the pain, willing his body to pull together around the gaping wound that was still allowing blood to leave his body. He was dying. He was dying but it was stopping and he would live...

No.

But he wasn’t bleeding anymore! He was safe now! Alive!

Get up.

The wound was still weak! Remorphed or not, he could still tear open strengthening tendons with fast movement like that!

Get. Up. Now.

The words did it again. They made his body move while his mind argued with...with...itself, apparently.

Tobias stood up, falling back against the not-so-solid wall behind him as his eyes opened and gave him a view of the scene in front of him. His eyes came into focus just in time to see a large Yuuzhan Vong drop to the ground right where he’d been.

“Get your lightsaber, Tobias,” Master Ral sounded out of breath, and looked terrible. His robes were cut and sliced in multiple places, revealing painful looking wounds. Yet the Jedi Master stood up straight, the two Vong at his feet and no longer moving.

Get the lightsaber. Quickly. Stop standing there.

The ‘voice’ hadn’t gone away. And it was still succeeding in keeping Tobias alive, as he turned around to see the metal cylinder of his lightsaber hilt a couple of meters away. With the Force, he called the weapon back to his hand then looked to Master Ral, “Are you okay?”

“Never do anything like that again,” Master Ral’s voice actually held a hint of venom in it and he sounded so much like Marix it made Tobias’ blood go cold, “Do not simply put yourself in the path of an attack. If you are going to survive a fight you have to see everything.”

“But you were...”

But you were face down and they were following up with killing blows. You were going to die.

Master Ral shook his head, “I was moving. You must calm your emotions, Tobias. They cloud your judgement and they will get you killed. The only reason those two warriors didn’t finish you was because I was forced to press an attack to distract them.”

Tobias hung his head, and then mumbled softly, “You won...”

“I did,” Master Ral turned and started to the now-closed door where the two Vong had first exited from, along with the now-dead human, “And because of that more fighting is going to be even more dangerous. We’re both injured now, Tobias. And we’re still on the enemy ship.”

He hadn’t considered that. Of course, why would he have? Tobias had no real combat experience in his life. He’d seen fighting. He’d heard about it. But he’d never been the one actually there, in the middle of it all. And Master Ral was not going to be able to protect him the whole time. Tobias had to look after himself.

Somehow...

Master Ral reached the ‘door’ and checked the walls for a few moments before finding a membrane-like indentation. Pressing his hand on it caused it to deflate, and the door opened with that strange sound to reveal the room from before. It wasn’t Vong in there! Well, yes, but only a few...three, four more warriors were turning to the door with looks of surprise and anger forming on their faces.

In the center of the room was a huge pit, and in it, hundreds of humanoids. They looked to be half-dumped into some kind of liquid and many of them had the coral-like protrusions from their faces that the man from before had. And then there was the creature in the middle of the pool. It was like a floating squid, with a bulbous body, two tiny little eyes that were turning to see these newcomers, hundreds of long, thin tentacles, and a very large, sharp tooth.

And it was in Tobias’ mind. He could feel it there, searching...searching...digging...

“A Yammosk,” Master Ral spoke the word but it meant nothing to Tobias.

Tobias shut his eyes tightly and shook his head, “Its not using the Force but I can...feel it!”

When Tobias opened his eyes again, the warriors were closing in and Master Ral had his lightsaber up and ready, “This is what we felt. It is using those people. Feeding off of them and nearly touching the Force. And...”

Master Ral didn’t trail off so much as just stop mid sentence. By now, Tobias had reignited his lightsaber and the blue-green blade was up in front of him as the warriors made a slow approach for some reason.  They seemed to be trying to get a good look at their two opponents before attacking.

“Master...” Tobias was suddenly much more worried than he was a moment earlier.

Suddenly, the Omwati Jedi turned to the nearest of the Vong, who was now charging, and hurtled his lightsaber. The blade flipped once, then dug straight into the Yuuzhan Vong warrior’s chest. The force of the throw sent the body flying back and into the warrior that had been behind him. Immediately, the blade was returning, too, as Master Ral used the Force to pull it back.

But the two other Vong were going to get to them before the lightsaber. Tobias had to act. He had to. But...the last time.

No. Focus.

The voice again. Whatever that was, Tobias couldn’t help but like it. Hearing that, alone, focused him and his eyes made a split-second survey of the two Vong. And he decided what to do.

Ducking low, Tobias ran straight for the first of the warriors, sweeping his lightsaber at the Vong’s legs. The speed with which he moved was enough that the warrior didn’t have time to counter, and the armour at his legs was light enough that, somehow, the lightsaber removed both of his lower legs from the rest of his body.

Remembering what Marix had taught him, Tobias was already looking to the second warrior. The amphistaff was swinging down at him already, and all that Tobias could do was to plant as feet as best he could in his crouched position and swing his blade around to parry the weapon. When amphistaff met lightsaber, the Vong didn’t simply push against the other weapon. Instead, he whipped his staff away, twisting it around and then slashing towards Tobias’ exposed left side.

But the amphistaff met another lightsaber, and Master Ral’s deflection of the attack gave Tobias the time he needed to get up to his feet completely, swinging his lightsaber high towards the warrior’s head as he did so. Again, there was a unique sound as the energy of the lightsaber was caught by the amphistaff, but it was followed by a growl of pain from the Vong as Master Ral cut off the warrior’s other arm, then sliced his blade back down to finish the warrior off completely.

“Time to go, Tobias,” the words were the last thing he’d expected to hear from Master Ral, especially when the last of the four warrior was getting up and charging for them, amphistaff in a whip-like form rather than that of a bladed staff.

“But what about—“

Master Ral grabbed Tobias arm and ran for the way they’d come in.  As he dragged Tobias with him, the Jedi Master spoke quickly, “We found what we were looking for. We need to leave now.”

“What about the people?” the door closed behind them and Master Ral was kind enough to relinquish his grip and allow Tobias to keep up on his own.

But they only went a few steps into the corridor before Master Ral stopped and pointed his still-active lightsaber to the human that Tobias had cut down, “They are all like him. There is nothing we can do right now.”

“Why are you in such a rush?!”

The words were spoken just as the remaining Vong warrior got through the door and came up behind them. With only a little room to maneuver, Tobias was between his Jedi Master and the Vong. Thankfully, he saw this right away and didn’t try anything stupid. Or, at least, anything that, to him, was stupid. What he did do was turn, raise his lightsaber, and plant his feet.

The Vong warrior whipped the amphistaff around, the snake-head of the weapon spitting poison at Tobias as he tried to swing his lightsaber at it. Some of the poison landed on Tobias’ shoulder, and it felt more like acid as it ate through his clothes and then down to his skin in a matter of seconds. The searing pain caused Tobias to cringe, but he pushed it aside somehow, knowing that this kind of distraction was what got him a knee to the stomach last time.

He spun his lightsaber around, this time successfully batting away the head of the amphistaff, then twisted left to avoid a fist aimed at his face. Having learned well from Marix not to let an advantage go, he spun the lightsaber around again, and took off the Vong’s arm at the elbow, though this seemed to have no actual affect on the warrior, who sent a flick through the amphistaff and it immediately went rigid.

When the weapon came down at Tobias’ injured shoulder, he managed to insert is blade in the way and catch the staff. Two hands pushing against one should have meant Tobias could push away the Vong, create an opening, and end it...but this warrior was extremely strong, and pushing both weapons down to Tobias.

And then he had an idea.

Tobias deactivated his lightsaber, and then felt a violent pain as the amphistaff suddenly cut into his shoulder wound. His vision went red, but he didn’t lose focus, and thumbed the activation switch of the lightsaber again.

The snap-hiss was sudden and muffled as the blade ignited directly through the warrior’s neck. The Vong dropped, his amphistaff leaving Tobias’ shoulder in the process. Immediately, he went to remorphing the wound. It was slow, and he didn’t even completely get it due to being so rushed and inexperienced, but it would be enough until normal methods of healing could take over. His arm wouldn’t fall off, at least.

There was a moment where he looked to Master Ral and actually saw what might have been pride in the Omwati’s eyes. Tobias was sure that Marix would be proud. That was an unorthodox tactic, but a perfect tactic for an Alraxian. She would be proud of him for that, even if she screamed at him for being recklessly stupid.

But then he felt something in the Force. It wasn’t the...Yammosk or whatever that was. It was something else. It reminded him of the feeling he got when danger was eminent, but at the same time was completely different.

Master Ral obviously saw this in Tobias face, and nodded, “That is why we must leave.”

“What is it?” Tobias asked as Master Ral led the way, swiftly, back to the hangar to their ship. So much for a long exploration of the Vong ship...

“Something is happening,” it was vague, but it was obvious that Master Ral was explaining the best he could, “And we have to leave this ship right now.”

“People are going to die...”

Tobias had no idea how he knew that, but he did. People were about to die. Hundreds. They weren’t even dead yet and he could feel it coming. It was a terrifying sensation and it took all of his focus to continue after his Master.

“I believe so,” Master Ral agreeing to that was in no way comforting.

It was coming fast, rocketed from light years away. There were other Jedi involved in the battle for Fondor. Many of them much stronger in the Force than either Tobias or Master Ral. But they were all busy with their own little battles within the greater fight. None of them were currently detached like Tobias and Master Ral were. And so, despite some of the greatest Jedi of their time being there, no one knew what was coming. Even the two Jedi that did know didn’t know what, exactly, it was. They simply felt its approach. And it made them both much more urgent in getting to the shuttle.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 496: Turning Point*

Rulae’s X-Wing shook violently again and his astromech screamed in panic and anger. Despite the fact that a quick check showed Rulae that his X-Wing now only had three S-Foils, more of a Y-shape, that hit had only taken out his top, port S-Foil and not engulfed the main engines or other vital systems. Not that X-Wings were designed to fly that way...there were thrusters on those wings along with the laser cannon.

Through his comm, he could hear both Rea and Adria trying to ask him if he was alright and saying they were also trying to get to the Coralskipper on his tail, but he didn’t really pay attention to them. Instead, Rulae had done something he hadn’t in years...he switched from computer controls to the stick due to losing one of the S-Foils. He hadn’t piloted like this in years, but he could compensate better and still avoid being taken out.

So now, Rulae had one hand on the control stick, pulling the X-Wing into a tight loop and then twisting off to the side, skimming just over one of the Vong cruisers that was firing as it went for the shipyards beyond, and another trying to divert power to his shields to make sure he didn’t take another hit.

His sensors showed a new blip close by, coming in from above. He had no time to actually identify it, as there was another skip coming in from ahead of him now. Immediately, he pushed the stick forward, sending the X-Wing into a dive while he cut the thrust down on the drives to try and cause the two skips to overshoot him. It also happened to coincide with the edge of the cruiser, meaning he was now using it for cover for a short few seconds.

Red-orange globs of magma-like fire from behind showed that one of the skips was still behind, but the cruiser wasn’t firing on him for some reason. Maybe it didn’t have any guns to bear...

“Hold still, Zephyr One!” it was the voice of the Hapan from the Teril squadron.

Rulae didn’t have time for chatter. He was focused. Very, very focused. He needed that for his current situation.

“Three more coralskippers breaking off from the main formation!” that was Rea, who, according to the sensors, was formed up on Adria’s wing in their own pair, which Rulae had broken off from after taking a hit to try and shake his pursuer.

Pulling on the stick, Rulae’s X-Wing twisted slightly thanks to losing one of its main thrusters, and then started away from the cover of the cruiser. He glanced up to try to see the skip, and caught a short glimpse of the nimble starfighter coming in behind him, firing all the while...but he also saw the crescent-shaped Miy’til fighter from the Hapan’s Taril squardon behind the skip, firing rapidly. Farther off, he could see the rest of the fight...all of the capital ships and the rest of the fighters fighting in what looked like absolute chaos. That was a death trap in there...

“Got him!” that was the Hapan, with a very thick accent. Rulae also noted that the voice was male, which seemed interesting to him. Though maybe the women all took command positions...he didn’t really understand the nuances of Hapan society beyond a vague idea.

Rulae glanced behind him again to see only the Miy’til and allowed himself a sigh before clicking on his comm, “Thanks, Taril One. Good shooting.”

As he spoke, the Duros brought his X-Wing back around to Adria and Rea, who looked, and sounded, to be engaged in a rather fierce dogfight of their own. There was a cheer, and he knew it was Adria. Fighting against the uneven thrust from his three engines, Rulae pulled them into view to see two skips in front of the two X-Wings, both being fired on.

In a pair of flashes, both skips detonated in a shower of rocky coral. It was a wonderful sight.

“Sir,” Rea didn’t sound enthusiastic through the crackling comm like Adria did.

Rulae pulled his X-Wing into formation with them as they moved away from the cruiser that was firing on the shipyards now to come to bear on a group of skips that was coming their way again. A check of the sensor board showed two Miy’til fighters joining their formation, too. Clicking the comm again, Rulae managed a calm tone despite his current situation...which he noted they hadn’t said anything else about, “What is it?”

He was close enough to see Rea in her cockpit glance down at the something on the console in front of her. She then turned to look at him and he could see a frown on her blue-skinned face, “Switch your sensors to a broad scan range...I’m picking up an energy buildup just outside of the system.”

That was...odd.

Rulae looked down at his sensor to do as she’d said, but Adria’s voice cut in, “Sithspit! Eyes to starboard now!!”

Both Rulae and Rea immediately turned their heads.

Starboard was, on the galactic scale, Coreward currently. It was also the direction leading out of the system where they had jumped in from to meet the Vong attack. And there should haven’t been a light like a star there, because the Fondor system’s star was on their port side, beyond Fondor, itself.

But there was a light. It was dim at first, then grew in intensity rapidly before Rulae realized that it wasn’t actually growing, but getting closer. In a moment of horror, he knew exactly what was happening, but couldn’t find his voice to yell it over the comm to alert the fleet which likely wasn’t going to see it in time since they were all focused in front of them, not behind.

It all happened in a flash. The light formed into a beam of energy. Its angled seemed to change from Rulae’s vantage point, and it continued past them across his X-Wing’s starboard side. First, it hit the Hapans. Their fleet was positioned almost dead center with the beam, their Battle Dragons and Nova Cruisers incinerated in the blink of an eye. And then it hit the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, tearing through their ships just like it had the Hapan’s, destroying all of the ships that hadn’t either broken off to attack the shipyards or moved straight into the New Republic’s formation.

And then the beam of energy simply faded away, leaving the debris and barely anything else.

For the first time in all of his career, in the middle of a battle, Rulae heard a silent comm. No one knew what to say. Very few had ever seen such destruction.

“What...what was that...?” Adria’s voice was barely a whisper over the squadron’s frequency.

Rulae checked his instinct, doing a quick calculation on the trajectory of the energy beam. As he did this, he couldn’t help but notice that the Vong ships were actually starting to retreat. In a few moments, he had the information he’s suspected. That blast had crossed light years...and come from the Corellian system.

Shaking his head, Rulae said quietly to the two other pilots, “That was Centerpoint Station.”

“But...but the Hapans...” Rea was understandably overwhelmed, “It took out as many Hapan ships as it did Vong...”

Rulae just nodded, though she likely didn’t see it. Glancing to his port side, across the still-smoking section that had once been an S-Foil, Rulae switched to a local comm and said to the two Hapan fighters with them, “Teril One, this is Zehpyr One...we’ll escort you back to the New Republic fleet.”

“Under...understood, Zephyr One,” the man’s voice was shaking, a rare thing from a pilot, “We’d like to...to fly by...by ours...to see if our ship is...still...”

If the Hapan finished the sentence, Rulae didn’t hear it. Quickly adjusting coarse and glad the skips were actually pulling away with what was left of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, he looked to the empty, wreckage filled space in front of him that had once been the Hapan Battle Fleet. Now, he could count the number of ships without any trouble, “We’ll stay with you, Teril One. We’ll stay right on your wing.”

The battle was over.

The vicious fight that was actually tipping in favour of the New Republic thanks to the Hapan fleet was ended by a superweapon from lightyears away. And now thousands were dead...many of them allies. It hadn’t even been a year since the war had begun...barely a few months since the fall of Ithor. Now it was something different. Somehow, despite the fact that the Yuuzhan Vong were, for the first time that Rulae could clearly remember, retreating from a major attack on the front lines, it didn’t feel like a victory.

Flying through the remains of the Hapan fleet and seeing how much was gone as they received the order to return, Rulae started to wonder about the people running the war. Things were bad, but they were never bad enough to unleash something like Centerpoint, which was barely understood in the first place. And to destroy an ally to take out an enemy? It left a terrible feeling in Rulae that made him sick. This wasn’t how they fought. 

How could they possibly move on from this? Where was it going to go next? And, almost more importantly, once the Vong had recovered, how would they react?


----------



## AnonymousOne

I have just finished reading through all 17 pages.  Damn.

You have a flair for writing that is just fantastic ... 

BTW .. favorite character in the entire story ... Loki.

Keep up the good work AMG!


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

AnonymousOne said:
			
		

> I have just finished reading through all 17 pages.  Damn.
> 
> You have a flair for writing that is just fantastic ...
> 
> BTW .. favorite character in the entire story ... Loki.
> 
> Keep up the good work AMG!



 Glad you like it!

...and great pick for love of a character, by the way. Loki is the man. Well, metaphorically.

On a slightly different note, if you guys haven't already voted for the ENnies, make sure to. There's a link at the top of the page. Doesn't take long to do and there's some amazing things entered this year.

...similarly, I've put my hat into the ring to be an ENnies Judge for NEXT year. Voting starts for that soon(next week, I believe, but don't quote me on that). You don't have to vote for me(though I'd appreciate it, of course ), but definitely check out the judges and vote for next year's!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 497: Coincidence?*

When Venda’s transport exited hyperspace, she was surprised to find more than just the usual traffic that came and went from the busy planet of Fondor. Instead, she found a battle...and a vicious one, at that. It took a few moments after glancing at the sensor panel on the side of the cockpit to actually determine what was going on, though. There were hundreds of ships, a great many of which were displaying New Republic IFF signals, another large amount displaying Hapan signals, and with the others just...blank. That meant Vong, probably.

Venda shifted her chair to look out the viewport to see it with her own eyes. To the right, only half-visible was Fondor and its various, distant shipyards. Everywhere else, off a ways from her ship a safe distance, were various grey sections of space that were ships, and flashes of red, green, and orange. Laser fire.

Her ship sat there, in the outer reaches of the system for a long five minutes as she just stared at it all, her mind working. The Jendari gave her the coordinates to Fondor. They sent her to Fondor. She’d never, in all of her life, heard of a Jendari in the galaxy before...and now, apparently, they knew about Fondor. And they’d given Venda a simple set of coordinates as she was leaving to go there. Did they know there was a battle?

At this point, Venda found she couldn’t put that out of her mind. Everything about it was odd and...

She felt a ripple in the Force that caught her attention and caused her to turn to look at the sensor board. Nothing. She looked back out at the viewport and then saw something. It was the same beam of energy that Rulae had seen, but Venda was able to watch the destruction from farther out as the beam cut through a huge swath of ships.

In that moment, a racking scream echoed through her head, causing Venda to double over and almost curl up in an odd pain on the control consoles in front of her. Thousands of people, in one instant, had just died. Thousands...and they weren’t Yuuzhan Vong. She wouldn’t have felt that.

As Venda recovered her breathing, she looked up to see no more flashes of light. Reeling from the pain in the Force and trying to figure out what was going on, she turned again to look at the sensor board. There were a handful of Hapan signals and the what was left of the un-marked ships were moving off...retreating.

The Yuuzhan Vong were falling back.

But...

What had that been? It had killed so many! From the looks of the sensor board, mostly all Hapans, too! Was that how they were going to have to defeat the Vong?! If that was the point the war had reached...should they even continue fighting?!

The feeling of pain through the Force had faded, though it was hard to shake the echo of it out of her mind. But despite this, she felt something else. It was distant, like a tiny candle burning far away, but it was there and...and calling out.

A Jedi?

Grasping onto something she could understand, Venda focused on the feeling. It was faint. Faint and...fading. Injured? Maybe. Calling for help. But it faded in and out. No, it wasn’t fading it just wasn’t consistent! And it felt vaguely familiar...

Considering what she just saw, there were many, many other things Venda could be doing. In fact, the comm board was beeping. Likely a New Republic ship noticed her and was trying to figure out who she was. But that could wait. Everything could wait. There was a Jedi alive somewhere in there and he needed help...and for all Venda knew, she was the only one who heard it.

Venda clicked off the comm message, too busy focusing on the faint feeling through the Force to bother with anything else, but did make sure to transmit an...Old Republic IFF signal. At least it wasn’t Vong. Then, taking the ship’s controls, Venda followed the Force and took the ship in towards the system.

It wasn’t long before Venda was passing wreckage of Hapan starships. Large, circular panels from their mighty Battle Dragons were everywhere. It had been a huge fleet...and one shot from something had reduced it to nothing. Venda made sure not to look too close, for fear of seeing bodies. Here and there, she could see movement, but it always, thankfully, turned out to be New Republic starfighters heading back to the main fleet, which was still a good ways off to her port side. There hadn’t been any other efforts to contact her, and no one had fired on her, so Venda figured she was safe for the moment. The Navy likely had their own problems to deal with.

In another few moments, she was maneuvering through what looked like a small asteroid field. But Venda knew better. This was what was left of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet that hadn’t retreated. Here, she couldn’t identify what was what. It all looked alien and oddly disturbing to her. After being able to speak with a starship, it was hard to fly through the debris of other living ships, despite not knowing their sentience, without seeing them as gutted life forms with their insides strewn across space for everyone to see.

Someone...please...anyone...

Words.

There were no images, but she felt the words. Venda cut the thrust to the engines and looked around, both with her eyes and through the Force. She was close. The feeling wasn’t much stronger but it was clearer now that she was close. Or now that she thought she was...there!

Quickly, Venda adjusted her heading and directed the ship towards a point not far from where she was. It looked to be on the edge of the Vong debris, and it took some very careful maneuvering to not run into anything. She soon wasn’t following just the Force, either. There was a glint of metal that caught the light of Fondor’s star, and she knew exactly where she was headed now.

When Venda got the ship a little closer, she saw a small escape pod. Small was an understatement. It was only a few meters long, if that. She got in close enough to use her ship’s meager tractor beam and carefully pulled the small escape pod in close. The ship she was given by the Jendari was just large enough to pull it into a cargo bay, and so Venda, after quickly checking that the bay could be sealed safely, opened it, carefully pulled the pod in, and then closed and re-pressurized the cargo section.

And then, immediately, she got up and headed there. It was a short walk to the cargo bay, and the ship was old enough to have a small green light next to the door to indicate it was pressurized. She’d never actually seen one of those before. Where did the Jendari get this thing?!

The door swished open easily when Venda hit the switch, and there, sitting rather unceremoniously in the small cargo bay, was the escape pod that suddenly looked a great deal smaller now that she was right next to it. It took a bit of searching, but Venda found the hatch, noted there were no viewports of any kind, then just opened the thing, hoping that the sudden silence in the Force wasn’t due to a death.

Opening the hatch was easier thought about than done. When she twisted the lever around then pulled on it, the thing didn’t move. Venda grumbled something under her breath that even she wasn’t sure of, and then just pulled harder. There was a hiss, a crack, and then the hatch snapped open to reveal two occupants crammed into the tiny escape pod that barely had room for one.

Staring up at her with wide eyes was Tobias, the last person she’d have ever expected to find...and he looked like as surprised. He was also covered in blood and other liquids that she decided were best left unidentified, and looked, generally, terrible. Crammed next to him was the Omwati Jedi Master who she barely knew, and Venda quickly realized that Master Ral wasn’t moving...though she could feel him through the Force. Unconscious, then.

But she just stood there staring, and Venda had a very good reason for it.

The Jendari had sent her here.

They had sent Venda to this battle all the way across the galaxy from the Alraxian Empire without an explanation, just a smile and a set of coordinates that she for some reason decided to follow. And there, at those exact coordinates, she’d just found the son of the Empress floating in an escape pod, and looking like he’d just barely survive the fight of his life.

There was no such thing as coincidence. The Force had a way of making things happen as they should, when they should. But this was different. This wasn’t the Force.

The Jendari had sent her.

They knew. Somehow, they knew.


----------



## Angcuru

Take THAT Nostradamus!


----------



## AnonymousOne

I'm still trying to figure out why the Jendari don't have a God complex.  I know the story about trying to force a certain humanoid race to grow up the way they wanted failed ... but normally (at least in the realm of political economy, which I study rather intently)  Those in power seem to see a failure only as a minor setback to their over-arching plans of creating a better world.

Just an observation.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

AnonymousOne said:
			
		

> I'm still trying to figure out why the Jendari don't have a God complex.  I know the story about trying to force a certain humanoid race to grow up the way they wanted failed ... but normally (at least in the realm of political economy, which I study rather intently)  Those in power seem to see a failure only as a minor setback to their over-arching plans of creating a better world.
> 
> Just an observation.



 It was only touched upon in that one post(back a page, I believe), and it wasn't exactly specific.

Basically, they did have a God complex of sorts at one point with that first race. Its comparable to parenting, really, as that's how the Jendari saw it then and now. Except then, they took a very forceful route and pushed the species to make the same decisions that the Jendari had made, even if they weren't right for THAT species. Basically, they tried to make them more like the Jendari, and that, in a sense, drove the species to killing itself for various reasons.

The important part is what the Jendari TOOK from that. To the Jendari, they saw that imposing their own development as a species on another caused a sort of implosion for some reason, which they attributed to the Force. Basically, their influence went AGAINST what the Force was pushing that species, and so it backfired completely.

The whole time, the Jendari were the same benevolent species, just with a more heavy-handed attitude. That incident changed things. They moved to a much more distant, guiding hand of a parent. It was basically deciding that a species needed to make its own mistakes, and its OWN choices. The Jendari have no real desire to rule. They are very much the pinnacle of a peaceful race despite the fact that they CAN defend themselves. They also saw great potential in the Alraxians, and like a parent, are gently helping the Alraxians exceed them. 

Admittedly, this flies in the face of how we're used to seeing things, but technically we're all humans. The Alraxians are very alien to humans as it is culture-wise, and the Jendari even more so. They're a species that baffle even the Alraxians, and everytime it seems like they've been figure out...well, they give someone a set of coordinates that takes them to the right place at exactly the right time.


----------



## AnonymousOne

Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> and everytime it seems like they've been figure out...well, they give someone a set of coordinates that takes them to the right place at exactly the right time.




Maxed out ranks in Clairvoyance eh?   

I honestly really like this story ... shame to see Jyren go, and Voort kinda grew on me ... 

I just hope Toby shapes up.  He seems more like comic relief than a serious player, and I know that sounds harsh (yes I know he's suffering from a level gap) but I mean come on .... he's going toe to toe with the Vong and he doesn't take his true form which would greatly increase his lethality. *sigh*  

I'm also waiting for the Jendari to dish it to the Vong.  

You've inspired me to take notes on my campaign next semester and try to synthesize them into a small story hour.  As if I need any more work next semester!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

AnonymousOne said:
			
		

> Maxed out ranks in Clairvoyance eh?




Something like that. 



> I honestly really like this story ... shame to see Jyren go, and Voort kinda grew on me ...




I miss Voort. I really miss him. While technically Jyren was mine and, in a lot of ways, an extension of myself(hence why I can explain his stupid decisions so easily), Voort was just such a great character. I always liked that he was really a good, honourable man who was stuck in some terrible situations and made a few bad choices in life. Something I think I painted him in a bit too negative of a light, but when I read comments earlier about Jyren/Akan/pickaname coming off as a jerk, I think I might have gotten things right enough.



> I just hope Toby shapes up.  He seems more like comic relief than a serious player, and I know that sounds harsh (yes I know he's suffering from a level gap) but I mean come on .... he's going toe to toe with the Vong and he doesn't take his true form which would greatly increase his lethality. *sigh*




Technically, he's a kid. By Alraxian standards, Toby's only about 15 or 16 years old. Though he IS more than twice that age, he's got a much younger mindset. Kids do a lot of dumb things. Constantly. All of the time.

Toby happens to be a kid filled with stories of over-exaggerated Jedi stories, a strong connection to the Force, and a desire to be his hero. Cept, unlike most kids, he CAN be that person...he gets that wonderful realization of how different things are from stories, though, so still has a great deal to learn about that. He'll learn. 

...hopefully...



> I'm also waiting for the Jendari to dish it to the Vong.




The Vong have to make it to Alraxian space first!



> You've inspired me to take notes on my campaign next semester and try to synthesize them into a small story hour.  As if I need any more work next semester!




Do it! Sure, its a ton of work, but its fun! One of the best parts is finding out other people enjoy it, too.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 498: Recovery*

Tobias sat quietly in the small room that Venda had turned into a medical ward. Next to him, on a small bed, was Master Ral, unconscious still but stable. Venda had tried to get Tobias to rest, also, but he wouldn’t and she’d given up after pestering him for only a few minutes. When she left, he remorphed the wounds he hadn’t had time to fix, cuts across his forehead, back, and left arm. The blonde-haired Jedi woman had left to send a message to the New Republic fleet so they wouldn’t be shot at, but that was a good five minutes ago and Tobias was staring at the closed door trying to collect his thoughts.

There was a great deal to collect, too.

He heard the swish of the door opening and looked up to see Venda quietly enter the room, giving him a smile before moving over to check on Master Ral. After a moment, she said softly, “I wish I were more of a healer, but I believe he will be alright.”

Tobias just nodded.

Venda raised an eyebrow at this, then stepped around the bed and pulled one of the free chairs over to sit in front of the young man, “Are you going to be alright?”

He shook his head.

Trying to get a feel on him through the Force was difficult. Tobias was doing a fairly good job of keeping himself internal and well shielded, and it was fairly obvious to Venda that he was doing it on purpose. She had dealt with people attempting to conceal information most of her life, and she was good at getting what she wanted to find out, but this was different. She wasn’t tracking anyone down or trying to find anything specific out...Venda was actually worried about the kid. He didn’t look hurt anymore, but he still looked a mess.

“What happened?” Venda decided to just go with the direct approach.

Tobias let out a sigh and looked down at the deck. Staring at the top of his head wasn’t exactly wonderful, but he did start talking at least, “I killed a man...and...and I didn’t mean to...” he shook his head, then looked up at her, obviously realizing that wouldn’t make any sense, “We went to one of the Yuuzhan Vong ships. Master Ral...we both felt something there. But when we got there a human came up to me. He...he had something sticking out of his face, like a rock, and he was talking fast and and...and then more Vong showed up and he screamed something and came after me and I...I just...reacted...”

It was a vague description, but Venda was putting pieces together and drawing conclusions from it. That reaction probably had saved his life. She’d heard about what he had described. Yuuzhan Vong implants they placed in captives to control them. But the fact that he’d killed a man that wasn’t, technically, an enemy was definitely eating away at Tobias, and asking about it wasn’t helping.

So, she pushed in another direction and asked, “How did you end up in that escape pod?”

“Master Ral felt something else as we moved in more,” Tobias glanced over at the Omwati and was silent for a few moments before going on, “We’d barely gotten anywhere and he insisted we get out. Something was happening. We ran back, but more Vong got to us before we got back to our ship. S-six of them...or seven maybe...they overwhelmed Master Ral and...I killed them but...but he was hurt so badly and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t feel anything like he did! We’d left so many people behind and they were being tortured and I wanted to go back and save them but...but when I ran back I ran into more Vong. I don’t think they were warriors but they still fought hard and I killed them, too. And then I heard Master Ral yelling at me and he sounded like he was dying so I ran back again and...and got us into the ship.”

Tobias had to take a breath, as he wasn’t really taking a break between sentences, just speaking in one long, confused and terrified sounding explanation. After he took the time to breath a bit, his voice evened out at least slightly but his face showed he was still just as distressed, “I don’t know how to fly a ship! I don’t...I didn’t...I tried. I tried and all I could do was power it up and when I finally did alarms started going off. All the noise just made it worse. I managed to get the ship up but there wasn’t anyway out and then the whole hangar just turned to fire. I...I grabbed Master Ral and got into the escape pod. I don’t know how we didn’t burn and I don’t know what happened...but I felt all the people die,” at this point, Tobias was clinching his teeth and failing to fight back tear, “I felt them all screaming out for help and I was right there and I couldn’t do anything. They all died...and I was right there...they’re all dead...”

He was working himself up more and more, and Venda could hear in his voice that he was starting to panic. Through the Force, she could feel he was far beyond panic. Her first thing to do was to do her best to calm him through the Force, which was something she was good at. As she did this, Venda reached forward and put a hand on his shoulder to try and help him calm down more, “There was nothing you could have done.”

“There should have been!” Tobias growled through gritted teeth.

Venda paused to put more effort into presenting a soothing presence in the Force. She was skilled at this technique, but that didn’t mean it was easy or had immediate results. He’d been right in the middle of that blast she’d seen from a distance, on a Vong ship even. The fact that he was alive was amazing, but the ripple in the Force from all of the deaths had been a heavy blow to her. It was hard for her to imagine what it felt like to Tobias, who still had a great deal to learn about the Force.

“Tobias,” she said the name with as much force as she could manage. It wasn’t like when Marix was angry with him, but it got his attention. When Venda saw this, she softened the tone, “Calm yourself. If you cannot control yourself you will only make things worse.”

Tobias bit his lip and hung his head, “...its so hard...”

Even though he could see her facing the floor like that, Venda nodded, “Yes, it is. But you cannot use that as an excuse to not do it.”

Slowly, his breathing was starting to calm down. It was working finally. Again, he looked up at her, “Jyr...my father made it sound so easy.”

“I don’t think he did,” Venda shook her head. She was going down a path she knew little about, but after a bit more information about Jyren she’d learned while at Alraxia, Venda felt like she could make a few educated guesses, “I think you did what all little boys do when their father tells them a story. You heard what you wanted to, and left out the rest.”

Tobias opened his mouth, started to say a word, then stopped himself. She was right, of course. He couldn’t argue that anymore. Not after what he’d done and seen and now what he was feeling. His body was human, yes, but Tobias was still an Alraxian at heart. Emotions were strong for him, and very hard to control. Of course, he was also currently in the body of a human teenager so that didn’t help, but that wasn’t something Tobias really even considered.

“Good...that’s good,” Venda sounded like a Redstar to him all of a sudden. It was surprisingly helpful to think that. This Jedi woman had a way with using her words in just the right way in just the right voice, “I felt them die, too. I still feel it and I think you do, too. But it isn’t your fault. What happened here was beyond your control and beyond mine. You did the best you could and you saved your Master.”

“What’s one person compared to hundreds?” Tobias mumbled it, shaking his head.

“Two people,” Venda quickly corrected him, “And what is none compared to two?”

Tobias still couldn’t accept that, and gave her a very pointed glare, “Two lives don’t outweigh or even balance out hundreds more.”

So that was it. It was a common feeling, and actually very logical. She wished it was Master Ral that could help Tobias right now, but that wasn’t the case. Venda would simply have to do her best and remember how her Master had been, “Its not about balance, Toby. Every life is valuable and we do what we can to protect as many lives as we can...but you can never save everyone. You can’t protect everyone. You have to listen to the Force and let it guide your actions. When you were on that ship, why did you not go to save all of those people?”

“I...” he had to stop to think, which was a good sign, “I was scared. I just wanted to leave and go back home so I...ran...I ran away...and tried to just hide in that escape pod.”

Gently, Venda squeezed his shoulder. This war was no place for someone his age. There were many Jedi apprentices younger than him fighting, but Venda still didn’t believe they should be. It was hard enough to be a Jedi as it was, but to still follow the right path during a time of war? And then to be so young to barely understand everything that was really going on?

It wasn’t right.

This was definitely not the place for her to push any farther. Hopefully Master Ral could help when he was able to. So, instead, Venda went back to simply trying to make sure he as calm and alright, “I just returned from Alraxia, Toby.”

That got his attention.

Tobias’ eyes widened and he looked up at her expectantly, “Is everything okay there?”

It was time to lie to him a bit, “It is tense, but your family is all okay,” she managed to put a smile on her face, “Your mother’s worried about you. She told me to keep you out of trouble.”

Finally, Venda got through. Tobias grinned, it was slight at first, then grew and he almost laughed, “So are you going to tell her about all of this then?”

Venda did allowed herself to laugh, finally standing up again and deciding that it was time to properly communicate with the New Republic and get some actual information. As she got up, Venda pulled Tobias up to his feet, too, and started to lead him to the cockpit. He didn’t need to sit by Master Ral like this. Gently leading him out of the small room and down the short corridor to the cockpit, Venda smiled and said, “I don’t know your mother very well, but I know enough to not tell her that I found you in the middle of a battle.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 499: From Skirmish to War*

Despite the fact that Kanyaks were not warships, they were excellent when confronted with a dangerous situation. Mixing the natural speed and agility of the Kanyaks that served the Knights with the reaction time and senses of their Alraxian pilots meant that even in the rare firefights they were involved in, the ships and their pilots worked together perfectly. Their natural connection developed over years of companionship was something that was impossible to reach for pilots of other ships throughout the galaxy.

Of course, none of this meant that any of them actually had any combat experience.

“Stay together!” Marix angrily yelled at the consoles in front of her as she helped Loki maneuver through the green energy blasts spewing from the Mrrakesh ships. Light blue streaks were theirs, coming from all different directions and not really hitting much, save for the larger blasts from the Jendari cruiser that was closer to Alraxia.

The problem was that the Mrrakesh had starfighters. They were about the size of an old Z-95 Headhunter and only seemed to be armed with a single nose-cannon, but they were faster than most of the Kanyaks and much, much more maneuverable. Their appearance from the hangars of the Mrrakesh cruisers had caused most of the Knights to react as they normally would...but most of the Knights normally worked alone. There were so few in comparison to the size of the Empire that, while trained to work together on the ground, space combat had never been something to worry about...and so they reacted as they were used to. Meaning that it was currently a mess with Kanyaks everywhere just trying to get clear shots on the fighters while just sneaking in a few shots on the advancing cruisers.

In hindsight, so much of what they did seemed foolish. But that was only because Marix had seen the rest of the galaxy. She’d seen what, for everyone else, was reality. Constant, unending conflict. Wars fought in space and on the ground. Huge warships that could level planets from obit. The Alraxians always simply thought of that as far away, ignoring the fact that they knew the Mrrakesh had developed the same way.

For the billions of beings that lived in the Alraxian Empire, none of this was the case. They were a safe, peaceful little bubble in the insanity of what the rest of the galaxy contained. The only conflicts they ever saw were tiny skirmishes with very rare pirates near the Mrrakesh border or small, local uprisings from unhinged individuals much like Ket Halpak, but far less capable. To the citizens of the Empire, peace was how the galaxy was. There was no reason at all to imagine war.

And yet...

[The lead Mrrakesh cruiser is firing on us.] Loki was surprisingly calm. Though he did seem to either be extremely calm like her in situations of stress, or just laughed it off in the middle of things...like a mental patient. Even though he normally was the former, Marix never forgot the latter situations and never let forget them, either.

Marix quickly helped bank Loki to his starboard side as two of the Mrrakesh fighters behind them began to fire after finally getting in range. Then, suddenly, Loki banked to port without her control. Before she could yell at him, Loki yelled at her. [You shoot. I’ll fly.]

“I can fly better than you!” Marix commented as she shifted her hands to the makeshift firing controls, immediately targeting the cruiser in front of them and letting loose a barrage of blue-white energy. Most of the shots impacted on the ship’s shields, but at least a few found holes and sent up short-lived plumes of fire and metal. Superficial damage, mostly, but satisfying.

[You don’t have wings!] Loki’s mental voice had changed the second she started firing the weapons. He sounded strained, as if gritting his teeth. They really did hurt him...

Marix did her best to ignore this, “I don’t need wings to out fly you! Why haven’t you gotten those fighters off of your backside?”

At about that moment, she felt Loki decelerating and then pulling straight up. He was looping, and twisting from the spinning of the stars and flashes of light, to get behind the fighters now. [Isn’t it considered rude to force someone to stare at your backside? What’s the point of all of this if I can’t have a little fun?]

“Oh gods, Loki...” she wanted to hit him. A friendly, sighing, strong punch that would knock him off of his feet for complete ignorance but causing her to grin at the same time. Not that it would work with Loki, but she still wanted to, “When are you going to give up on that failed wit of yours?”

Before Loki could respond, the two small, dagger-like starfighters slowly began to sink into the viewport. Marix quickly adjusted her targeting, then fired again. The burst of fire first went low, but then, thanks to Loki’s skilled maneuvering, the shots hit the right fighter perfectly. Either they were unshielded, or very lightly shielded, as the pair of laser bolts were enough to tear the fighter to pieces, with Marix immediately switching to the second target and Loki bringing it directly into sight.

[At least four more fighters incoming...] Loki was back to business again, which was probably a good thing. [Three of the cruisers are continuing on their current course.]

“And the other four?” Marix didn’t have time to check the sensors for herself. She took the opportunity to fire on the lead ship again as Loki passed over its top side, and though shots were coming back up at them, the Mrrakesh cruisers definitely weren’t equipped to shoot down fast moving targets.

Loki suddenly dropped into a snap roll, pulling away from the cruiser and, probably, the other fighters coming for them. [Moving towards the north pole of Alraxia...I can’t tell why----]

That was about the time an extremely violent shock rocked through the entirety of Loki. Marix was glad to have been strapped in, as otherwise the force of it would have probably sent her straight out into space. Instead, she got a good case of whiplash and a spinning head. Loki felt worse, though.

“What...what the hell was that?” Marix’s vision took a moment to reassert itself. They hadn’t been hit by anything...no explosion....

[I...] Loki sounded injured, but Marix couldn’t find any actual reason for it. [We’re caught in a...a tractor beam.]

“No,” she said it immediately, because that was common sense, “Mrrakesh don’t have tractor beams!”

This was ignoring the fact that they were reversing direction despite Loki’s best efforts. [Fine...they don’t have tractor beams...] Loki was sounding worse and worse with each word. He was fighting hard. [But they have something close enough.]

She could feel his pain through the Force. It was tearing at him as he tried to pull away. Marix’s neck still hurt, but it was nothing compared to the strain on Loki, “Stop fighting...” she didn’t like saying that, but, “I was hoping to find some way to get on board anyway.”

[You could have told me...] at this point, Loki was obviously annoyed. [We could have blown a hole in their hull for me to throw you into rather than going through this.]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 500: New Orders*

It was Centerpoint Station that had fired the shot and obliterated both the Hapan and the Yuuzhan Vong fleets at Fondor. It had, apparently, also taken out a good chunk of one of Fondor’s moons and grazed the planet’s atmosphere. That had never been a part of the original plan, but then again, the Vong were supposed to have attacked Corellia, then Centerpoint would have been use to create a massive gravity well and trap them in the system. It meant there was a large team of technicians and soldiers aboard the station, waiting for the right moment to spring the trap.

But the moment never came, and they soon got the report that the Vong attacked Fondor, instead. There were, apparently, a pair of Jedi aboard the station who were meant to do the controlling of it all. But someone, who was left unnamed, probably due to a lack of intel, aimed the station towards Fondor and fired it.

Rulae placed the datapad with the report on his desk and sat back in his chair. Some idiot didn’t take the time to at least aim. Now the Hapan were out of the war after just having committed to it. They didn’t seem to be placing blame, at least, but there was nothing they could do now with the majority of their fleet completely destroyed. The only good news in all of the reports for the day was that Fondor was still in the hands of the New Republic. Apparently the Vong were impressed that the New Republic would fire through their own forces and retreated to reevaluate their tactics.

“Sir...” Rea, who was standing on the other side of his office next to Adria, spoke up softly. They were both still in their flight suits, though they looked to have removed most of the life support parts before reporting to him.

He had asked them both to come to his office for a reason, and it wasn’t one he liked. Rulae let out a sigh then raised his head to bring his two large, red eyes to look over the other pilots, “The recovery ships have brought in all of the pilots they could find. Loro was...was not among them.”

“But I saw him eject!” Adria’s temper matched her hair, fiery. If it was any other situation on any other day, Rulae would have reprimanded her for the outburst. But not today...

“And he probably did,” Rulae simply nodded before raising a hand up to rub his blue skull, “There were reports from some of the other squadrons of medium sized Vong ships picking up EV pilots.”

Rea’s head-tails twitched noticeably at that, “You think he was captured?”

Rulae nodded, “It would not be the first time they have done this. It seems that the Vong have been doing this more and more recently. I couldn’t tell you why, though.”

Neither of the other two pilots could find any words to respond to that. There were only three of them left. A forth of a squadron. There weren’t enough free pilots in Starfighter Command to fill that much of a squadron and they all knew it. The question of what would happen next was in all of their minds, including Rulae’s, but there wasn’t any answer and none of them bothered to speak it.

“So now what?” Adria asked with a hint of annoyance in her strongly accented voice. Her arms were crossed and she was giving Rulae a critical look, but he knew by now that this was simply how she reacted and he couldn’t blame her. Rulae really wanted to find someone to punch about right now, too.

At least he had an answer to the question, “Well, believe it or not but we’ve actually got orders. Its not exactly what I would have expected but apparently Command has decided we’re good for more than just flying,” he paused a moment to grab a second datapad off of his desk and give it another glance so he didn’t get anything wrong, “During the battle there was an internal attack here on the Gemstone. Admiral thought it was Vong and sent the Marines. They found five dead bodies in one of the medical wards, all killed by blasters. The computers had been searched and sensitive information had been removed. Not long after a ship left the hangar...there was nothing to stop it in the middle of the battle, and one of the sensor operators reported it jumped to hyperspace not long after.”

“So we’re supposed to be a police force now?” surprisingly, it was Rea displaying her displeasure at this assignment. Adria was looking annoyed, though, so they were obviously both feeling the same about it.

“It would seem that way,” Rulae could do nothing but nod, “The report doesn’t say what information was taken, but that probably means its classified and dangerous. We’ve got a name to go on, too, and a ship. The second the battle was over the Admiral was intelligent enough to check all personnel aboard and figured out who was missing. We’ll be tracking a Miraluka named Tokarr Anansin. He was attached to Hawkbat Squadron as a crew chief and the ship he took was their support ship, a small transport called the Rustbucket.”

Adria rolled her eyes, “Rustbucket? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Rulae shook his head and was tempted to hand her the datapad, “I wish I was, but that’s what the report says. We need to get moving now. We have a vector he left on and the only system that direction is Thyferra. So go get those flightsuits back on. We’re back in the air in ten minutes.”

The saluted, then left.

Rulae looked at the datapad in his hands again. He didn’t like this at all. It wasn’t the fact that they were being used to track down someone. That, he understood. For a squadron so low on pilots but with good experience, not to mention their commander now having a good bit of experience on the ground, this made sense despite feeling like a waste of their skill. It was what they were going after that bothered him. 

A member of Starfighter Command stealing something from classified medical records and then going to Thyferra? That couldn’t be a coincidence. The planet was the hub of medicine in the galaxy, it was where bacta itself was produced. The fact that this Tokarr had shot five people to get it wasn’t exactly positive, either...and this was ignoring the question of how a member of Starfighter Command, especially a low ranking tech chief, got access to highly classified medical files.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Rulae muttered to himself as he got out of his chair and went to get his flightsuit back on.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 501: Between Life and Death*

Master Ral didn’t regain consciousness until they’d gotten him to the Gemstone, and by then he was in one of the many medical wards that pocketed the Mon Calamari Cruiser. The medics only spent a short time with him, as he was relatively uninjured compared to some of the other patients, many of which were missing limbs or worse. Tobias did his best to just look forward and stay with his Master. Something about all the red coloured blood made him uneasy. Any blood, really, as Alraxians rarely bled at all anyway...but that red colour just made him feel sick.

The Omwati Jedi Master had bandages across his forehead and a bacta patch on his face where a amphistaff had cut him, not to mention a few others here and there, though the medics had said he was healing surprisingly fast and they couldn’t figure out why. Tobias knew why. Ral was a Jedi Master, and probably very good at healing, even if he was unconscious. He would, apparently, be fine and at most only have a few new scars.

“We’ll head back to Yavin IV as soon as they let me go,” the Jedi Master’s voice was strained and a bit raspy, but that was understandable.

Tobias, sitting next to the bed and tuning out the other noises all around them, couldn’t help but be surprised by what he did hear, “What...? Just like that? What about Tokarr? Or...or...”

The words just wouldn’t come out.

He couldn’t say anything about what had happened on the ship.

Master Ral leveled a calm look on Tobias, despite the bandages, “I believe it was...wrong of me to bring you here,” quickly, he raised a blue-skinned hand to stop the protest that was already escaping Tobias, “You can fight, you can defend yourself, and you can protect others...you proved all of that. I may disagree with some of your decisions, but you did what you thought was right in the short time you had, did you not?”

All that Tobias could do was nod.

“What you lack is experience. It is not your fault that you lack this, and some would say it is a good thing,” the Jedi Master let out a deep breath and shook his head, “I brought you into a situation you were not ready for. The choices we have to make when confronted with combat and saving lives are far more difficult, and far more important, than the simple tasks like floating rocks and reading thoughts. Much of the time, there is no right choice.”

That brought up something in Tobias’ mind. A question that had been floating around for the last few minutes but had finally materialized into something that he could understand. Before Master Ral could go on, Tobias cut in, “Master...I killed that human. He was about to kill me but he was still...still...he wasn’t Vong. I reacted and he was dead before I knew it. And...I...” Tobias sighed, the images coming back into his head and causing him to lose his voice for a moment, “How can I...how can anyone...kill people. How can you kill and call yourself a Jedi?”

Slowly, the Jedi Master began to smile. This worried Tobias for some reason, as did Master Ral’s quiet voice when he responded, “Toby, that is something that many Jedi never ask. Those that do are usually much older than you. It’s a good question.. We are protectors, guardians of peace, yet we always carry a weapon and are trained to use it. It is a contradiction that is a vital part of being a Jedi and something you have to learn to understand on your own. Lethal force, or any force for that matter, should be the last resort of a Jedi Knight, but that is a lofty goal that is unrealistic in the galaxy we live in.”

When Master Ral stopped speaking, Tobias just stared at him. He opened his mouth, then stopped, and his face started to shift to show a sudden annoyance, “That’s...that’s not an answer!”

The fact that Master Ral actually laughed quietly at that didn’t help, “No, it isn’t. Tobias, you must understand that the galaxy is not black and white. The Force is either light or dark, yes, but the rest of the galaxy is not. For that question, I do not have answer for you. However, maybe I was wrong,” he paused a moment to sit up straight and look Tobias in the eye, “I’m going to ask you something, Toby, and I want you to answer truthfully.”

That sounded worrying. But there was something else in that voice and in the Force that he couldn’t quite identify. There wasn’t much he could do but nod.

Seeing this, Master Ral asked, “Do you believe that you are ready to make choices about life and death?”

There was an answer already on the tip of his tongue, but Tobias didn’t speak it. He did as Master Ral had asked. Tobias closed his eyes and looked deep inside of himself for the answer. Pushing through the self-doubt and the egotistical thoughts that everyone had to find the truth. He took a long minute to do this, and when he opened his eyes, the answer he spoke was the same as the one he’d had before looking for it, “I’m not.”

“Do you believe you can learn how to make those choices?”

Again, Tobias took a moment to look for the answer, “Yes.”

“Do you believe you are ready to learn that?”

This took the longest. Tobias was silent for a good five minutes. In his mind, he was going back and forth. Stories of Jedi mixed with the reality he’d seen. Killing was necessary but it shouldn’t be. But shouldn’t didn’t matter. But there was always a choice. Always. And if he could make the right choices...maybe he wouldn’t have to react by killing someone again.

“I don’t know,” Tobias said finally, then quickly added, “But I want to try.”

Master Ral’s face took on a more stern look, “When life and death are in your hands trying isn’t good enough.”

Tobias was surprised by the sudden change in tone. As quickly as he could, he did his best to correct his previous words, “Then yes...yes, I believe I’m ready.”

This time, Master Ral’s face softened and he nodded, “Go to the bridge and check with the Admiral. Find out where Tokarr is in all of this and we’ll finish that piece of business before we head back to Yavin.”


----------



## Krafus

Glad to see Ral is going to be all right, as he's come to be my favorite character. And do I detect shades of Yoda's "Do, or do not; there is no try" in Ral's words to Tobias?


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 502: Jedi to Jedi*

They were kids...just kids. Two damned little kids with a name that made them famous. Not even Knights yet, they were on Centerpoint as the Jedi that were supposed to assist in the operation. It wasn’t their fault, directly, at least they both ended up deciding not to act and fire the weapon, but they could have stopped the one who did. Not by killing him, either, a Jedi Knight would have had that kind of experience.

But no.

No, the Solo kids were special. Despite the fact that the oldest of them was Tobias’ age and couldn’t have had the kind of experience necessary in such a situation. And now, their relative, who had fired the weapon, was being hailed a hero in the Corellian system. Sal-Solo was a monster and everyone should have known that by now but apparently that didn’t get through to people.

Venda sighed and stared at the blank holoprojector. After sending a report back to Master Skywalker on Coruscant, she’d been updated on what had happened. None of those thoughts were actually spoken out loud, that wouldn’t be polite. The kids were his nephews, anyway. It wasn’t the only thing she neglected to speak, as everything about Alraxia was carefully left out, too.

That, alone, had been an amazing work that Venda felt she deserved a medal for. While she didn’t actually lie to Skywalker, slipping any untruth past the Grand Master of the Jedi Order wasn’t exactly easy, or something Venda liked to do. But she was keeping her word about staying silent about Alraxia.

The hardest part about it was that she truly wanted to tell him about the Jendari. While Venda had only interacted with Master Skywalker in delivering reports and receiving missions, he had given her some very helpful advice through the years. On the Jendari, she really felt the need for it. It was bothering her more and more as Vend ahad time to think about it. 

The problem of it that was eating at her wasn’t that they knew where to send her, or the fact that she’d need to be there to find Tobias and Corentan...it was that the entirety of that relied on her looking at the message in time to change course and get to Fondor quickly. And that was the crux of it, she had. Venda had looked at the cryptic message and figured it out at just the first time to drop out of hyperspace and change course. Any later, and she likely couldn’t have even safely dropped out of hyperspace. Sooner...and she’d have been caught in the battle or, worse, Centerpoint’s attack.

It meant that the Jendari knew exactly when Venda would look at it, and exactly how she would react. Venda was not very good at looking into the future, herself. She could see a few moments off, maybe slightly farther, but it was always hard to make sense of and never at all specific. From what she knew, there were some Jedi that were skilled enough to look days, or more, into the future...but it was never definite or, from what she was told, extremely accurate. But the Jendari had to have known the exact moment and exactly what she was going to do. For them to know that, despite the difficulties of the future always changing and shifting, almost worried Venda.

It would have helped if Master Skywalker had needed her to do something, but he hadn’t which meant Venda was on her own again. She liked having a specific task to accomplish, especially when her mind was latching onto thoughts that were distracting her.

Thankfully, her thoughts were ended by a ripple in the Force. It was familiar, and strong enough that she could identify it without too much trouble. Corentan was conscious again. Deciding she needed to figure out what she was going to do next, Venda got to her feet and left the small galley she had been wasting time in to head for the medical ward where the Jedi Master had been taken.

Venda found the Omwati sitting up and meditating, the Force flowing off of him strongly. He was healing himself. But when she took a few steps into the room, the feeling ended and he opened his eyes. Slowly, the Force withdrew from around him and he nodded to her, speaking in a voice that was weaker than she was used to hearing from him, “Tobias told me what happened. You have my thanks.”

Thank the Jendari.

“How are you feeling?” Venda kept her thoughts to herself.

Corentan took a deep breath and shook his head, “Its been a long time since I’ve had to use my lightsaber. This has taught me the lesson to stay in practice.”

Even though his voice remained rather flat, Venda could sense it was a subtle joke, and so she smiled, “A few scars are nothing to worry about. Besides, it seems to me that you’ve done a good job with Tobias.”

“He is learning,” Corentan nodded, “But he still has a great deal more to learn.”

“We all do,” Venda said with a shrug, then decided to cut the small talk and ask a question, “Where are you headed to next?”

For a few moments, the Jedi Master remained silent. After some of the New Republic medics passed by, he spoke up again, “Did you ever meet my first apprentice?”

Venda quickly reached through her memories, latched onto one, then asked, “The Miraluka? Once, yes.”

“Tobias and I came here looking for him,” Corentan was keeping his voice somewhat lower now, obviously not wanting everyone around them to hear, “Tokarr was...he is skirting a dangerous line. Speaking with him before the battle only proved this and he got into a fight with Tobias when I wasn’t there. And now...well, I can no longer feel him here on the ship where he should be. I would know if he was killed, instead he simply not here.”

It wasn’t hard for Venda to connect the dots that were being placed in front of her, “You think he slipped away during the battle.”

“I’m sure of it,” the Omwati nodded, “He is close to crossing the line, if he hasn’t already. He can’t just run free with the galaxy as it is...or something like what happened here will happen again.”

Corentan couldn’t know that the Solo kids were involved with Centerpoint. He was unconscious. But Venda wasn’t about to think that this Jedi Master didn’t feel that some Jedi was involved. She couldn’t sense it, but then again, Venda still found herself overwhelmed with the shadow of the deaths.

That was when the Jedi Master added, “It is going to be days before I am in any shape to chase after Tokarr. With that kind of time, he could easily disappear.”

“You want me to go after him instead,” Venda had always been good at reading people, and having the Force to assist made her instincts even more reliable.

“And take Tobias with you.”

Okay, so sometimes her instincts were completely off or missed something important, “Buh...I’m just a Knight.”

“And I am just a diplomat,” the Jedi Master smiled, “Tobias can learn a great deal from you...besides, if I remember correctly, you are very good at finding people.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Krafus said:
			
		

> Glad to see Ral is going to be all right, as he's come to be my favorite character. And do I detect shades of Yoda's "Do, or do not; there is no try" in Ral's words to Tobias?



 Me? Hint at things that have happened in the movies?

Now, sir, you must be crazy.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 503: Breaking and Entering*

“Why are they still shooting at us?!” Marix growled as she was thrown into the bulkhead near Loki’s hatch.

[You told me to stop fighting!] Loki sounded furious. [Apparently they took that as an invitation to take free shots!]

“Well...” Marix trailed off angrily, sighed and looked to the hatch. It seemed like she was always boarding ships one way or another. But that was where her skill was. Marix could only do so much piloting, and right now she needed to find a way to stop these Mrrakesh, or at least delay them for long enough to give the Jendari time to arrive. So, Marix attempted a different question, “How close are we?”

[There’s no hangar that I can see. But...I think there’s a docking tube or something similar extending.] Loki paused, made an odd mental sound as they rocked from another hit. [A few more minutes, probably.]

Despite the beating they were taking that was making it hard to stand, Marix forced herself upright and looked to the hatch in front of her. Out of annoyance, she grabbed the neckline of the armour she was wearing and had to tug it to the side and back into place. The old Tam’Day’U armour she used to wear didn’t fit anymore, so she had this new...thing. It was what the Knights had, but a black colour that she preferred and lighter so she could move. Really, it was just padding over the skintight morphsuit, and she didn’t need it that badly, but not having to remorph wounds wasn’t a bad thing.

While she was ready with claws, her left arm had a knife sheath on it. It wasn’t the vibroblade, that was back on Alraxia in a dead Mrrakesh still. Instead, it was one of the weapons that had been in her room in the Palace for years. Finely crafted metal, it was sized for an Alraxian and more a short sword than a knife. She’d never actually gotten a chance to use the thing. And then there was the weapon on her right arm, just underneath and causing her to actually have to pay attention to it. It didn’t weigh much, but it was enough to be a change. It was a very small, but also very effective wrist blaster. This, she’d used before, a lifetime ago.

[Marix.]

Her thoughts returned to the moment, and Marix realized that Loki’s voice was suddenly different than before. For some reason, it worried her, “What is it, Loki?”

[You were...you were right, actually...] he sounded nervous!

Curious, now, Marix decided a careful approach was needed, “I believe I am right on most things. But enlighten me...what, exactly, was I correct on this time?”

[There was...this...female...] the ship trailed off pathetically.

Slowly, Marix began to grin. It soon became a wide smile the likes of which very rarely crossed her face. But then she realized something and it suddenly caused her moods to completely reverse. Despite this, Marix managed to keep her voice even, “Loki...are you hurt?”

There was no silence in the pause. Instead, there was a loud mechanical sound that echoed through the entire hull of Loki, originating from the hatch in front of Marix. They were coming in...

[What if we don’t come back this time?] Loki’s voice was almost a whisper in her mind as she could hear the sounds of cutting at the hatch. Through the Force, she could feel the shocks of pain from Loki.

“We always come back, Loki,” Marix said as reassuringly as she could, adopting a simple readied stance and hating this. She could open it herself and spare Loki the pain, but she needed that short moment she’d have when it opened to attack. It wouldn’t be much, but it was something.

And then, Loki had to say the one thing she didn’t want to hear. [Not always...I...I thought we always did but...Jryen didn’t come back...]

The worst part is she had no time to say anything in response. There was an odd, orange spark from the hatch, a liquid that wasn’t exactly blood seeped out before solidifying. A metal blade came through, and then the hatch collapsed in on itself.

Marix didn’t wait to see anything. Extending her right arm, she tensed a single muscle in her wrist and fired the blaster. The small, blue bolt of energy shot into the suddenly-visible docking tube and caught the first Mrrakesh in the face, sending him back into two more and blocking the path. She was right behind the shot, drawing the blade from her other arm and charging in.

Pouncing on the first Mrrakesh, she finished the job by driving the blade deep into the Mrrakesh’s neck. But then the weight shifted as the two Mrrakesh under their now-dead companion forced the body aside. But Marix was already moving, pushing up off of the body and slashing with the blade. The force of the swing took off the wrist of another Mrrakesh who was trying to grab her with a free hand, and she immediately twisted back to avoid a swing of a large sword from the other.

Still bent back, Marix tensed the same muscle as before, and another blue blaster bolt shot out, hitting one of the two Mrrakesh in the upper chest and burning straight through the armour he wore. There was no time to finish that one, though, as she returned to an upright position, the currently one-armed Mrrakesh was swinging its own sword to take her head off.

Marix shifted as best she could to plant her feet and parried the strike with her own blade just over her right shoulder. There was a loud pang of metal clashing with metal, and then an ear piercing screech as the stronger Mrrakesh slid his blade down more and more to the point where it would go right below the tip of her’s and into her neck.

But Marix wasn’t going to let that happen. Her left hand now had claws extended and she wasted no time in slashing them across the Mrrakesh’s face. It wasn’t fatal, but it served the purpose of causing the Mrrakesh to lose his grip on the sword in his only hand. With that, Marix did finish him off, twisting her blade around and then simply driving it straight into his throat as with the other. It was best way to make sure they stayed down, and was also the only part of their bodies that was completely unarmoured.

When he dropped with a thud, Marix looked up to see...no one else.

Only three.

They obviously didn’t know what they’d grabbed.

Good.

Very quickly, she looked at Loki’s very badly damaged hatch. She’d never seen him hurt that badly before. Firmly, Marix spoke up, “Loki, seal of whatever you can and get out of here as soon as you’re free.”

[I’m not leaving without you.] he spoke just as firmly and sounded as stubborn as a little child.

“Yes, you are,” that was stated in the distinct tones of the Empress, not Marix, “You get out there and shoot as many of them down as you can. Keep them off of our home.”

[I won’t leave.] Loki obviously didn’t care who was giving the order, he was going to remain stubborn.

Marix looked over her shoulder to the other end of the docking tube. It was still closed. That likely wouldn’t last much longer. There wasn’t time for this...so time to say something important that she’d put off for a long time.

[Loki...] she shifted to a different form of ‘speaking’ mainly because she was already heading over to the rest of the Mrraskesh ship and preparing to find a way to open their hatch. [You won’t live long if you sit here stuck to a Mrrakesh cruiser. You get off of this thing the second you feel the tractor beam is gone and you do whatever you have to out there. But you stay alive and you don’t do anything stupid like I know you want to. If I don’t survive this, you have to...] she paused a moment, mainly due to finding a switch to open the hatch and then finding it was locked. [You’re the only one I trust to pair each of the twins with a Kanyak as loyal and as strong as you.]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 504: Coming and Going*

Before he could get to the hangar and to his X-Wing, Rulae had been ordered to report to the bridge of the Gemstar. Technically, they were supposed to leave for another five minutes, but it bothered him. But even if Rulae had reservations about it, there was a hierarchy to follow. So even though he had to finish getting into his flightsuit on the way, Rulae made his way to the bridge as quickly as he could.

It was, as always, a chaotic place. Mon Calamari crewmen moved here and there, checking sensor panels and probably working out damage reports and repairs. Rulae navigated through them, finding it rather easy as he was a good head taller than most of them, though he probably stuck out...an orange and blue figure moving amongst the bright white and dulled, rusty reds of most of the Mon Calamari.

In the center of the oval shaped bridge was a chair where the Captain sat. The Mon Calamari captain got to his feet and simply nodded his head to Rulae as the Duros saluted, then said in a gravely voice as he offered a datapad, “I know you’re on a tight schedule, Commodore, but the Marines dug up a bit more information for you.”

“Sir?” Rulae took the datapad and glanced at it, though he didn’t really look to the information on it.

A finned hand motioned at the datapad, “It seems that our killer had some medical knowledge of his own. That datapad contains information found in his quarters. Apparently, he was very interested in bacta.”

This time, Rulae looked down at the datapad and gave it an actual look. There were various files listed, all of which had something to do with bacta, but Rulae quickly noticed that many of them were more slanted towards some kind of odd research. Looking back up to the Captain, he asked, “What does this all mean, sir?”

“No one is sure,” the Captain let out an audible, though slightly watery, sigh, “I would recommend you look over as much of it as you can while on your way to Thyferra. The medical technicians that had a chance to look at this became immediately, worried, however. They seem to think this man was interested in changing the chemicals within bacta to use it as a weapon.”

Rulae’s small mouth opened slightly, but he could find no words. Even though it still didn’t really make sense and there were definitely pieces missing, that was terrifying. Bacta was used everywhere in the galaxy. It was probably the most important medical resource in the galaxy, and without it millions would die, especially during a war.

But turning it into a weapon?

The logical thought was that it would be used against the Vong, but that just didn’t make sense. The Vong didn’t give a damn about bacta! Was this man insane? Doing this to bacta would likely harm innocent civilians!

“Commodore...I expect you should get to your ship.”

No longer distracted, Rulae nodded, managed a weak salute, and said, “Yes, sir...thank you, sir.”

He then turned to leave, his mind cluttered with hundreds of worries about this. One of the more important ones being the fact that they were fighter pilots, not security. But then again, Rulae had seen some action on the ground on Gyndine and they were technically all trained for various situations. And really, three pilots did not a squadron make.

And then, as he was walking through the main corridor to the turbolift, Rulae passed a young looking human that caught his attention. He had scruffy looking, unkempt black hair that concealed features that Rulae could identify as young for a human. The young man wasn’t in uniform, and instead wore a dark coloured tunic that was torn and had blood stains on it, which trousers in about as bad a shape. And there was no blaster on his belt like most everyone else, but instead a long, cylindrical metal object.

They walked past one another without a word, but Rulae was kicking himself inside. He’d seen that human before and it was...important! No, not just a human...a...kid...

“Tobias?” the word wasn’t a question directed at the human, but more Rulae outwardly trying to remember the name.

Rulae looked over his shoulder to see the young human stop, turn around, and look confused. Yes, that was it! Tobias was just standing there, staring at the Duros in confusion, but Rulae had it now, “That was right, yes? You’re Tobias?”

“Um...” the human bit his lip, and managed to look confused in a way that looked just like Jyren, “...yes?”

“You’re Jyren’s son,” Rulae hoped that would help, but the kid was just looking more confused, so he quickly added, “I flew with your father. Rulae Nok...remember?”

Tobias leaned forward as if to look closer, then his eyes widened just slightly and he nodded, “You were...were there at the Gateway.”

The words sounded shaky.

“I apologize,” Rulae attempted to end that memory right away. The poor kid didn’t need to be reminded of that. But it did bring up an important thought, “What are you doing out here? And what happened to you?”

“I...” Tobias mumbled nothing then looked down at the state of his clothes and managed a weak shrug, “I was...was on a Vong ship. We tried to save people but...but then everything just died.”

On a Vong ship?!

Jyren was dead, and his son was out here at Fondor and he had been on a Vong ship?!

Wait. He’d said ‘we’.

Rulae latched onto that, “Who the hell brought you out here? I thought you were going back with your mother.”

Tobias looked down at the deck, mumbled another something that Rulae couldn’t hear, then looked back up and said more clearly, “I’m...I was...I’m training to be a Jedi. We went to the ship to get people off but we couldn’t.”

A Jedi? That explained the weapon at his hip. But it really ate at Rulae. Jyren...Akan...Raan...whatever his real name was, the man had been Rulae’s good friend. They shared a connection through the first incarnation of Zephyr Squadron that was unlike anything else. Seeing his friend alive after a decade where Rulae was sure he was dead was amazing...but now he was dead. Jyren was dead and he left a family behind...and Rulae felt strangely protective of that family.

Having Jyren’s son out on the front lines of a dangerous war went completely against that. And yet, Rulae couldn’t bring himself to tell that to Tobias. He just looked at the kid and saw Jyren in him. It was in the way he stood there, slightly lost but oblivious to any injuries of his own. Even in the way he’d spoke, nervous and confused, yes, but Tobias hadn’t said a word about himself, just about the other people.

And so, Rulae found himself speaking words completely against his original thoughts, “Tobias, I apologize for this being so brief but I have to leave. I know you barely know me, and I only know you through the stories your father told me...but I want you to be careful. The last thing he would want is for you to get yourself hurt, too...” the words hung in the empty corridor for a moment, then Rulae slowly said, “But if I knew him as well as I’m sure I did...I know if he could see you like this, he would be very proud of you.”

“T-thank you...” Tobias trailed off, then, as Rulae was turning to head to the turbolift, spoke up again suddenly, “Wait, Rulae! Anything Jy....anything my father told you about me was greatly exaggerated and probably a lie meant to embarrass me at a later time, you know that, right?”

Rulae grinned, though it wasn’t very big considering his mouth was rather small, “You come track me down sometime and tell me the other side of those stories.”

With a polite nod, Rulae then turned and headed as quickly as he could manage to the turbolift. Tobias was a good kid, and Rulae wished he had more time to figure more out about him...but it would have to wait. But he was glad to know that he’d at least left the kid with a smile on his face rather than the beat up look that was there when they’d first run past one another. The last thing Tobias needed was to have his father’s ability to mope.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 505: Of Philosphy*

One day, Tobias expected that things would actually start making sense.

This was, however, something that Jyren had sworn every day of his life, and that Marix had just given up on years before Jyren would have even been born. But Toby didn’t know that, and even if he did, it might not have changed his desire for some kind of sense in the galaxy.

“He killed some medical crews and ran off towards Thyferra,” Tobias’ words were spoken in a stiff voice meant solely for reporting facts. It was hard to hold it like that, though. Not with what he’d found out about Tokarr...

“Thyferra?” Venda raised an eyebrow but only spared Tobias a glance. Her attention was on the viewport as she guided the shuttle that the Jendari had given her out of the Gemstone’s hangar. She began to plot a jump to Thyferra as a thought crossed her mind, “How did you find this out?”

Tobias sat back in the old, somewhat uncomfortable co-pilot’s chair and shrugged, “Master Ral told me to ask so I uh...went to the bridge and asked the Mon Calamari who looked to be in charge. I think I caught him off guard or something. He didn’t say much, but did mention Thyferra. Guess he was fine with telling me something when I mentioned Master Ral...”

It really had been that easy, though Tobias expected that he’d managed to catch things at the right time. Repairs were underway, as were a hundred other things he knew nothing about. When Tobias had gotten back to the medical bay, Master Ral had told him that Venda was in the hangar and he was supposed to go with her to Thyferra to bring Tokarr back. The Omwati Jedi Master ignored all questions about how he was doing, which was worrying to Tobias, and in a few short moments the young apprentice found himself being escorted to the hangar after getting lost in the huge Mon Calamari Cruiser.

And now they were in hyperspace.

“If I was a better fighter, this wouldn’t have happened,” Tobias said softly as he watched the swirling blue that was hyperspace.

Venda, who had her blonde hair down and was now sitting back trying to get comfortable, gave him a sideways look. She didn’t like the way that sounded, “What do you mean?”

Tobias turned and idly started examining the consoles next to him. Very little of them were identifiable, but it felt good to give his brain something else to think about, “I confronted Tokarr before the battle. He...he came at me swinging. I just...well...he got away, then the attack started and...and he killed those people afterwards.”

“That doesn’t make it your fault.”

Tobias then said something that surprised them both, “I know.”

When he said it, he stopped and looked forward again. Had he just...? Tobias shook his head, mind working through things. After a few long minutes of odd silence, he manage to mumble, “Guess that settles that.”

With a glance to Venda, he could see she was grinning. Eventually, the Jedi woman just said, “Seems it does.”

And then silence returned again. But it was a different kind of silence.

Very slowly, Tobias started to grin, too. He tried to fight it back for some reason, feeling like after the deaths of so many it was inappropriate to be like this but...but...

“I’ve never done that before,” he managed to say, his voice almost breaking into a laugh. Maybe he was just losing his mind.

Venda’s chair turned slightly so she could face him. The smile was still on her face, and she was in the process of pulling her hair back and out of her face again, “Better than just dragging your feet, isn’t it?”

“Huh?” there was only so much that Tobias could understand now.

She shrugged, “Saying it out loud like that. Not fighting it back in your head or trying to bury it with self pity or anything like that.”

“...huh?” Tobias was now sure he’d lost his mind. Not in the way that meant he was mad, but in the way that meant he couldn’t think and nothing made any sense to him.

“I feel it, too,” Venda waved a hand towards the viewport, “The echo of all of that death. Jedi all over the galaxy can feel that. Even for the strongest of us, it can be overpowering to the point where we question everything else that might be related. That kind of emotion can destroy us.”

Finally, Tobias managed to put a coherent thought together, “Wait...I’m lost. What are you talking about?”

Venda smiled broadly, “Not everything bad that happens is our fault, Tobias.”

“Well, of course, but...”

“No but,” she cut him off rather softly, though there was a slight edge in her voice that seemed to come from the Force, “Before we were on this ship you were blaming yourself for the deaths aboard that Vong ship, when you could have done nothing about it. And just a moment ago, whether you realize it or not, some part of you understood that and applied it to what Tokarr did.”

His mind began to put things back together, albeit slowly. No. No it wasn’t his fault. Tobias was responsible for his own actions, but the actions of others were not something he could take the blame for. Being a better fighter wouldn’t have stopped the Vong from attacking, and Tokarr may very well have still killed those medics. The important thing was that he had confronted Tokarr...he’d tried to stop him from crossing a line. It wasn’t Tobias’ fault the line was crossed. In fact, fault didn’t matter...

Sitting around just blaming himself, or anyone else, for something didn’t stop other terrible things from happening. In fact, they could just make things worse. Jyren had told him that once, though Marix had come in after and mentioned that Jyren never really followed that line of thinking. Something about him getting it but being too damned stubborn to actually apply it.

But Tobias began to understand his mother more. Action was needed. Action to stop anything else from happening. Direct action, even if it wasn’t combat, but some kind of action beyond sitting around and throwing blame that wouldn’t change a thing. He had to do something. He had to get out there and find Tokarr and do the same thing he’d done before...talk him down. If that didn’t work, he wouldn’t bring it to a fight...but Tokarr likely would.

And in that case, he would fight. He would fight because every second Tokarr was fighting him, he wasn’t harming anyone else. Tobias didn’t know it, but the pieces weren’t falling together just like he thought they were. There was a great deal of Marix’s philosophy in it, but she didn’t fight as a distraction. She moved to action as both as an offensive kind of defense, but she had no qualms with starting the fight, herself.

Somewhere, below the conscious level of Tobias’ thoughts, his brain was piecing things together very carefully. He was a Jedi...or at least, learning that path. He would not simply attack. He would not charge in first. He would stand and try everything he could before it came to a fight...then, if a fight did break out, Tobias would blend together what he’d learned from both of his parents. He would act, as Marix had always told him to do. But he would also do what she told him not to do, but was something that Tobias had always admired about his father...Tobias would not just kill Tokarr or maim him or anything to simply end the fight. He would stay on the defensive because he felt that there had to be another way to end it.

Marix’s practicality and realism blended not-so-perfectly with Jyren’s idealism and sometimes foolish hopes...and a touch of his Jedi teachings in there, too.

“Venda,” Tobias finally spoke up again, his voice much more steady again though he felt surprisingly calm, “Could you help me with...with my lightsaber technique?”

“I am no expert,” she admitted, though Tobias noted she was already getting out of her seat to leave the cockpit, “But I’ll see what I can do. C’mon.”

Of course, despite his sudden change in thinking, Tobias still had a great deal to learn.

Now, however, he knew it.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 506: Coming Back*

The controls for the docking tube that was still connected to Loki were easy to find...they were on the other side of the airlock. Marix had run into no other Mrrakesh on that short trek, and quickly did her best to figure out how to work the thing. It was similar enough to the consoles and computer terminals the rest of the galaxy used, but that didn’t mean she could read Mrrakesh. So it took a few moments, but she found the right switches, hit them, and heard the mechanical sounds that indicated success.

When she looked out the viewport attached to the airlock, which was really a small slit at Mrrakesh eye-level (meaning she was on her toes to see through it), Marix could see Loki carefully drifting away. Good. He didn’t say anything but at least he’d listened. Loki wouldn’t have been stupid enough to just sit there, though, and if he was at least half as smart as she figured, he’d get into the fight and keep himself alive...while keeping close to the Mrrakesh ship she was on.

But Marix couldn’t blame him. He’d said something that had obviously been bothering him for a while and now it was starting to eat at her.

Jyren didn’t come back.

It was a reality that had far reaching consequences with both Marix and Loki. They’d always come back. Through the worst of the worst, if one of them was separated, they came back...somehow. Every single time something had gone wrong, they came back. Maybe it was luck, but Marix had never thought of it that way. It was just the way things were. They were good enough to survive.

But Jyren didn’t die because wasn’t strong or fast enough. While meant everything they had always counted on might not mean a thing anymore. For all the taunting and fun she had with Jyren about his skill, he was the only one who could keep up with her. Even the other Tam’Day’U couldn’t. And it wasn’t their link. He was just that good...despite all the idiocy, he really had been.

The thoughts were not as easily pushed away as they should have been. Marix couldn’t help but wish that her and Shadow weren’t so...the same anymore. Then, at least, she could stay focused on the job while a completely different part of her worried about everything else. But Marix was years beyond that now. Shadow was...not really gone, but at the same time, not really even there anymore. It was an odd experience, but it was inevitable. Shadow would always have been a child, and she was, essentially, Marix so it wasn’t that much of a...

Footsteps snapped her out of it.

They weren’t close, but the metal of the corridor around her made them easy for her to hear, softly echoing. Soft? That wasn’t Mrrakesh...no, no it was, but still a good ways away. Marix’s senses focused and she quickly took in the area around her. A Mrrakesh-sized corridor, wider and higher up than she was used to, it was the same boring looking metal design that the other ship she’d been on was like. The corridor also only went one direction: behind her.

So, in the interest of not remaining trapped, Marix swiftly headed out of the section she was in and began to formulate a plan as she moved. Get to the bridge. Kill the command crew. Then...then...then there shouldn’t have to be any more then. Just get to the bridge, which was, if her previous experience was correct for this ship, too, about ten decks up. A long way...

The footsteps were getting closer. In fact...

Marix looked up and found something useful. The ceiling of the corridor was actually thinner than the deck, as the bulkheads started to hit a slight inward angle just above Mrrakesh head height. Identifying a pair of protrusions that looked to house lights, she quickly jumped up, one hand grabbing onto the light’s housing. Marix didn’t need to dig claws in to take hold, and was able to pull herself up to get her other hand on the other side of the ceiling. With a few swings, she managed to pull her legs up, using the angled walls to pin herself to the ceiling as best as was possible. In her mind, Marix cursed having hair that hung down just enough to be annoying.

It had only taken a minute to reach the spot and hold herself there, but the footsteps were closer...and she could smell him. It wasn’t that it was a powerfully bad smell or something foul, but it was distinctly Mrrakesh. And that presented a problem that she had purposely put out of her mind because there was no avoiding it. Mrrakesh had much stronger senses of smell than Alraxians. If she could smell him, he could smell her.

The sounds of the footsteps had stopped, and now Marix could hear heavy breathing. Through the Force, she could feel a presence close to her, though directly pinpointing it wasn’t possible in her current situation. A very slight tremor moved through the bulkheads she was clinging to...that wasn’t damage to the ship. It was too soft, and she’d barely felt it.

Marix carefully tilted her head down to look down the corridor more. She felt the tremor in the bulkheads again and this time saw a foot and part of a leg come into view at the same time. The Mrrakesh was being careful. His steps were silent to her, and her only indication other than her eyes that he’d moved at all was that gentle tremor up the bulkheads that anyone else probably wouldn’t have even noticed.

He knew she was there. It would only take a few moments for him to pinpoint her. Mrrakesh sense of smell was stronger than their vision, and she’d heard of instances where Mrrakesh soldiers could exactly pinpoint Tam’Day’U in pitch black where they wouldn’t be able to see. She would be caught soon...

Another tremor, but this time she heard the step, too. Marix only heard it because she was listening more carefully for it. Now she could see him completely, though. In a moment he’d look up...

Marix acted.

Relaxing her leg muscles was enough to detach Marix from her hiding place. Her legs swung down, away from the Mrrakesh and putting her back to him. After barely a half second, her hands released the lights’ housing and she threw herself back towards the airlock.

By now, the Mrrakesh soldier had a weapon out...not a sword, but a large, black-plated rifle that was as big as his forearm. Marix landed, twisted her right arm around, and tensed her wrist muscle again.

Both weapons fired at roughly the same moment, their sounds mixing in the otherwise-quiet corridor. Both shots, the green blast from the Mrrakesh’ rifle and the blue from Marix’s small wrist-blaster, missed their target and left scorch marks on the bulkheads instead.

The screech of another shot from the Mrrakesh’s rifle was not met with the simple, quiet pulsing noise of Marix’s weapon, but instead of two quick steps that made gently clanging noises on the metal deckplates as Marix spun around to face the Mrrakesh completely. The green bolt of energy went straight over her left shoulder as Marix continued her motion, ducking low because Mrrakesh always aimed high due to their height. Marix also aimed high before squeezing off another shot of her own, which hit the Mrrakesh in his snout-like face and sent him to the deck with a loud crash.

Immediately, Marix ran to the body, checked to make sure he was dead, then dragged him out of the junction he had fallen into where the airlock’s corridor met with another pair of corridors going off in opposite directions. She pulled the body out of sight, checked it for anything useful, and when nothing was found, Marix moved to the junction.

Stealth was going to be impossible here. The Mrrakesh aboard would smell her before Marix could see them, most likely. That meant she had to rely on her speed. Ten decks to get to the bridge and she’d have to run the whole way...

Marix once again drew the blade sheathed on her left forearm, then shifted it to her left hand in a reverse grip. There would be no time to stop and fight. She’d have to just plow through...which was easier said than done with the Mrrakesh. Speed and size would mean everything. Being small did have its advantages, though she’d never, ever admit that thought to anyone at all.

After a quick glance down both directions showing nothing unique either way, Marix did what she did well and just made a decision. Marix went right, and she immediately broke into a run. Speed...speed and she would make it out of this.

Speed, and she would come back.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 507: Thyferra*

“What kind of name is Xozhixi?” Adria grumbled as she stepped around one of the jungle trees outside of Thyferra’s capital city.

Rulae looked over his shoulder to her, glad that they had all changed out of their orange flight suits, which would have made them easy to see in the greens of the Thyferra, and now into more appropriate fatigues. Behind the red-haired human was Xozhixi, the city they had set their X-Wings down on and only spent a short amount of time in gathering information before heading out to the jungle.

“I believe it is from the native Vratix’s language,” he said eventually, having found a spot to look over the terrain ahead of them and, sadly, seeing nothing beyond the trees. He then looked over his other shoulder to Rea, who looked somewhat odd in the green fatigues with her blue skin...though he likely had the same strange mix of colours, “Anything?”

The Twi’lek was looking down at a large scanning package she had taken from her X-Wing, “A couple metal signatures not far off, but probably just bacta storage units.”

“What possessed these people to just store bacta out in the middle of the jungle and hills?” Adria asked, still sounding annoyed and obviously not liking the humid air. She took a few steps over next to Rulae and tilted her head to the side as she waited for an answer that she wasn’t going to get.

Well, not from him. Rea, on the other hand, said with a shrug, “I believe there are defenses around all of them so we should be careful,” she lowered the scanning package and looked over the half-jungle, half-grassland that extended out in front of them, “Sir, not to be difficult, but are you sure they said a ship came down near here?”

Rulae allowed himself a slow nod of his head before saying, “The local authorities said they lost a ship matching our target not long before we jumped in system. Apparently he dropped the ship low enough to duck below their scanners before he set down...somewhere.”

Adria crossed her arms over her chest, “So he could be anywhere out here. That’s a lot of ground to cover.”

“At least they said there’s nothing out here but a few Vratix settlements,” Rulae found himself being a bit more casual than usual lately. That was going to have to be corrected soon, but he couldn’t bring himself to just yet. These two were still just kids and now that Loro was gone...

“Sir,” Rea spoke up again, and he was glad she was keeping the formal tone, “About five kilometers north of us...its too small to be a bacta storage facility.”

Rulae got his bearings and turned to his left to look north. That direction was less jungle and more tall grass, though there were patches of trees here and there from what he could see, “Alright, it’s the best we’ve got so lets head that way.”

It would have been easier to take the X-Wings. But, then again, they would have been much more easily spotted. Apparently, Tokarr had not responded to the local defense fleet’s hails, avoided a starfighter compliment sent to intercept him, then managed to outmaneuver them and lose them completely. He was a better pilot than had been expected. So they were doing this much more low-tech and keeping to the ground.

Rulae had a feeling that Tokarr was off finding whatever it was he had come looking for the second he’d landed, but that wasn’t a problem. Time to search the ship and, maybe, set up an ambush for when the Miraluka returned. There was the technicality of him not returning to the ship, but that would have to be dealt with when, and if, they found the thing.

So the three of them walked through the rough terrain, keeping an eye out for anything that might mean they didn’t have to go the entire five kilometers. But all they passed was a single bacta storage unit, which was a circular building, roughly four stories high. Not far from it was a smaller building that looked like a bunker of sorts. They didn’t go close, just to be safe. It was unlikely that the people guarding the storage units were very welcoming to visitors.

“There’s our ship...” Rulae said quietly.

It had been well over an hour. Thyferra’s sun was setting on the horizon, with two of its moons already high up in the sky. It wasn’t much more comfortable, though. The direct heat of the sun was fading, but the humidity in the air remained the same, making the walk rather hard for all of them, as if they were walking through a thin wall of air the entire time. But none complained, and though there was light conversation, they mostly remained silent, focused ahead.

They had come to a section of hills with a thick jungle growing off to the east, and while many animals could be heard, they never saw any. The native wildlife seemed to be very willing to keep to themselves. The surprisingly natural area outside the planet’s capital city made it easy to spot their target.

At first, they saw simply a light, which was enough to catch attention. But, looking closer, they could see the light was reflecting off of a metal service. And once Rulae produced a pair of electrobinoculars, he got a very clear look. It was a modified Lambda-class, Imperial shuttle, except that it didn’t have three wings. The center, stationary wing was missing, but the two lower wings were folded up as they always did in the landed position, with its beak-like cockpit extending out towards the ground. The light was coming from the two floodlights on either side of the cockpit, meaning that someone was still there needing the light...or they’d left them on.

Adria lowered her own pair of electrobinoculars, “The boarding ramp looks to be down. You think he’s stupid or just careless?”

“Or overconfident,” Rea suggested helpfully.

Rulae confirmed this himself, then lowered his own electrobinoculars and stowing them back in the pack he carried with him, “Whatever the case, we need to be careful. I’ll head around and come in from the north...Adria, you move in from the west. Rea, stay here and cover us then move in from here once we’re all in position.”

“You two be careful moving around out there,” Rea said very quietly, her lekku twitching a bit. She seemed nervous, and Rulae couldn’t blame her. This didn’t feel very good. Something was off here.

“Lets move,” his voice remained stern and as it should coming from a commanding officer. He didn’t hesitate and got to his feet, glad to see Adria showing no hesitation, either. So the two of them began heading around, towards the west first so as to stay a good distance from the shuttle. By the time they were all in position, it would be completely dark.

Hopefully that would help, but Rulae had a feeling this was going to be difficult no matter what. Everything about this mission felt wrong to him. And now the shuttle found like this...easily, and with lights on. Not well hidden. It felt like a trap. It probably was a trap. Too bad the only thing they could do was walk right into it.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 508: Also Thyferra*

Thyferra was even more like Alraxian than Yavin IV. From the air, Tobias could see thick jungles, a myriad of wildlife, and pockets of settlements all over the place. In fact, the entire time Venda was bringing them in to set down outside one of the larger cities, the name of which he’d not heard, Tobias had been glued to the viewport, staring down at everything like a child seeing something for the first time.

And then, after they’d landed near one the edge of one of the jungles, Tobias stepped off of the ship and was hit by the heavy wave of humidity and heat. And he smiled.

Sure, as a human, it was impossibly uncomfortable. It felt like his clothes were suddenly sticking to him, and every step was like walking through an invisible screen of water, but it was like home. If he’d had any less self control, Tobias would have gone back to his Alraxian body that second and found himself right at home. Instead, he simply turned around, headed back up the boarding ramp into the little transport, removing his jacket as he went. Tobias tossed the thing onto the co-pilot’s chair, then ran back out to see Venda rolling up her sleeves and adjusting her boots slightly.

She looked over her shoulder to see he’d discarded the heavy jacket and smiled, “Not a bad idea.”

He just shrugged and then took a moment to look around. All he could see was green. Grass, trees, planets...green everywhere. Without realizing it, he was smiling.

“Do you feel it still?” Venda asked, also giving the area a good inspecting, though not with the same happiness that had consumed Tobias.

Tobias stopped and made himself focus. Closing his eyes to drown out the wonderful view around him, Tobias clumsily began to reach out with the Force, stretching an invisible arm out and searching...

“I feel it...” he said softly, “He’s here.”

When he opened his eyes, Tobias turned and pointed towards the south, though he didn’t know it was south. It was along the edge of the forest, and so they began to follow it, with Tobias basically leading the way. There was a reason for that.

While Venda was very good at tracking people, Tobias had first hand experience with Tokarr. He knew what the Miraluka felt like in the Force...he knew what to look for. It made it so much easier to find someone if you had even a slight idea what they felt like in the Force. Otherwise, it was simply a see of life that all seemed exactly the same. So Tobias led the way, with Venda feeling it out in her own way. Truthfully, she could likely have done it on her own, but it seemed to just make sense to push Tobias to the front. Not to mention the fact that he was doing a good job of it.

“You’ve been smiling since we landed,” Venda said, eventually, “Not that it’s a bad thing, Toby, but considering the person we’re after...it does seem a bit strange.”

Tobias, at first, just shrugged. His natural inclination was to not bring up anything involving where he was from to anyone in this part of the galaxy. Marix would have been proud of that, at least. But, Tobias quickly remember it was Venda who had spoken, someone who had, apparently, recently been to Alraxia. His mind catching up to this, Tobias finally said, “This place reminds me of home.”

Venda reached up to brush a loose strand of hair out of her eyes before nodding, “It does feel a bit like Alraxia here. Make you homesick?”

Shaking his head, Tobias said simply, “I wasn’t born there.”

He wouldn’t have elaborated anymore if she’d asked, but thankfully, she didn’t. Venda had sensed something in his words and, intelligently, not pushed any further. The reason she was usually tasked to deal with people was because she could read them, and Tobias wasn’t exactly hard to. It was like he’d never learned, or thought about, hiding things. Not that Venda would pry into his thoughts...it was the feelings that were enough to tell her.

Conversation was hard with him. She’d tried it while they were sparring on board the transport, but Venda found that Tobias just didn’t seem to do very well with it. Which was odd to her. He seemed uncomfortable with most all subjects she tried to bring up. Venda couldn’t help but wonder about how he’d grown up, as he just didn’t seem to have much in the way of social skills. If she’d known Marix better, it might not have surprised Venda. But, instead, Venda simply found it a bit worrying, as Tobias was...well...she didn’t know how old he was, but he looked about sixteen, and at that age he shouldn’t just stand around staring at his feet when people talked to him.

And yet...

“Hold up a second, Toby,” she could see something now. Not far ahead, near the tree line, was a metal object. From the sky, they’d both seen multiple bacta storage units. They were large, cylindrical, and more black than silver. This looked like a starship...

Tobias had stopped to look at her and ask what she’d told him to wait for. But when he saw her looking ahead, he tried to follow her gaze...and saw the same thing. Without being prompted to, he fell back into the Force again, feeling it out and...

“He’s there,” Tobias said as he opened his eyes again. Then, he bit his lip and said quietly, “And I think he know’s we’re here.”

Venda nodded and then took the lead, moving closer to the trees to their left, “Draw yourself inward as best as you can.”

Nodding, Tobias fell into step behind her. As they moved closer, they could see the two lower wings of the ship folded up into the landed position, with one lower floodlight on, despite the fact that Thyferra’s sun was high in the air above. More importantly, the boarding ramp was down.

The closer they got, the more nervous Tobias began to feel. The last time he’d had a run in with Tokarr hadn’t been the most pleasant, and the feeling in the Force he was getting was worse than before. It was strong, focused, and very angry. But the anger was more like a laser point than an explosion. Tokarr had a plan.

“I don’t think we can talk him down,” now Tobias was whispering, despite the fact that they were still a good distance from the landed shuttle. The original plan was to talk, as Tobias knew it should be for a Jedi. Combat was never the first option. Only dive in with a lightsaber when it was the last choice left.

Venda gave him a quick glance over her shoulder, “We will still try.”

That was the sticking point for Tobias, and the part he knew Marix hated. A futile act to attempt talking down when they were bent on fighting, but that was the Jedi way...because there was always a chance. Always. A true Jedi would not make an exception to that. But still, Tobias found himself saying, “He is not likely to give us the chance to.”

The problem with Tokarr was that he had become needlessly violent. The fight that he’d gotten into with Tobias back on the ship before the battle was proof of that. He’d just irrationally attacked Tobias, and it seemed to just be going downhill from there. During the battle, he’d murdered New Republic medics and then stolen this ship. After actions like that, it was extremely doubtful he would say a word.

“They tried to stop me, too,” a voice called out. Tobias knew the voice, and knew it was Tokarr...but noted he sounded a bit...off.

Both he and Venda followed the sound to the shuttle’s boarding ramp, where Tokarr had just finished stepping down. He was wearing a grey technician’s uniform with a blaster at his belt and an object in his hand that Tobias knew had to be a lightsaber hilt. The cloth covering his empty eye sockets was still there, and it made it even more difficult to read Tokarr...ignoring the twenty meters between them.

Tokarr took a few more steps to bring him out from under the shuttle and motioned to the two Jedi, who had both stopped coming closer just in case it provoked him, “You’ve come to try the same, I assume. But you’re just like them...you don’t even understand how many lives we could save.”

“By doing what?” Venda asked. The problem both Venda and Tobias had was a lack of knowledge. They knew Tokarr had killed the medics, but not why. They knew he’d come to Thyferra, but not why...though Venda couldn’t help but wonder if bacta figured into it somehow.

“It could be our greatest weapon!” Tokarr did sound off. In fact, he felt off. Tobias was quite sure that something in the Miraluka had just switched off and caused the young man to simply snap, “The Vong wouldn’t know what was happening!”

Venda put the pieces together. What could be the greatest weapon? He was motioning around them...he had come to Thyferra...killed medics...it had to be bacta. But a weapon? Was it even possible to use bacta as a weapon? No, that didn’t matter! What did matter was...

“But the Yuuzhan Vong don’t use bacta,” she said in a calm, non-combative voice, “They see, obsessed with their wounds.”

A snarl formed on Tokarr’s face and he shook his head violently while swinging a hand in front of him, “No! You’re just like them! You don’t think! You want to just sit around and watch them kill more! I won’t let you kill more people due to inaction!”

Snap-hiss.

A blue blade sprung to life from Tokarr’s lightsaber hilt, and suddenly, the delusional young man was charging right for them. There was no time to make a witty remark about sparring on the way. Maybe Jyren would have squeezed one in, but Venda wasn’t that kind of person and Tobias was too baffled by just how...crazy Tokarr sounded. They had tried to talk, though. They had tried. And now that part was over.

Two more distinct sounds of lightsabers activating cut through the natural sounds of Thyferra’s wilderness.


----------



## AKM

First of... I apologize for butting in like this. I hate doing this. But let me explain. A friend of mine, going by the family name Lawson in many RPGs, found this and told me about it. The first thing I saw were two certain names, "Titus Voort" and "Jen Zaarin". Now, to be honest, my first reaction was "WTF!" And I thought that some halfwitted dumbass from a certain family in the Star Wars Combine (the family name starts with "T") was doing this.

But, as I read on, I saw more familiar thing. Marix. Alraxians. Hmmm... Then I had a look at Ankh-Morpork Guard's location. Florida.

I only know one person from Florida who would know about Voort, about Jen, about Marix and the Alraxians... I met him in a certain gaming clan that roamed the MS Gaming Zone many years ago. This clan used to play XvT at first, but eventually expanded into other games. Now, this clan... was named... EWOK Clan. Yep, Ewoks in X-Wings. And the guy's name was JediGoku.

Now I wonder... Does he remember old EWOK_Weasel, who later changed his name to... DarthVoort? Does he remember the short idea of a Jedi-Shadow-Sith clan?

Oh my god... the Topsiders are also still in use? I never told you, but I stole them from the German Perry Rhodan series *cough*

Anyway... if Ankh-Morpork Guard is really who I suspect him to be... Then let me just say... Holy leaping bassets! Where the hell have you been?! (more importantly, where am I) How are you?!

Well, honestly, since I just saw Landau and Hansen on the cast images... I must be right.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Holy crap, you're still alive! Its been a looooong time, hasn't it?

And yeah, its who you think it is. I've been all over, and I'm not exactly doing great. That's a big part of the reason this all happened, to get thoughts and things driving me crazy out.

But...more important...holy crap, you're alive! Please repeat that about...oh...a hundred or so times. Or more. Lots more. Gods, its been...what? 4? 5? Maybe even 6 years now? You dropped off the Earth! Then I did! And I stayed off! But...you disappeared first!

Holy crap!

Damn, man...send me a freaking message! Pick a way! AIM is JyrenB! Damn!


----------



## Angcuru

*cue warm fuzzy reunion*


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 509: The Blink of an Eye*

Once, all she had known was death. Causing it, seeing it around her, and feeling like the very essence of it centered on her. First it was family, then strangers whose names she knew only for the purposes of tracking them down, then friends, something she was never supposed to have, followed by more family, and then...and then even closer family. So close that, even more than those friends, should never have been possible for her. And ever since then, it was strangers again. A cycle...a horrible cycle that wouldn’t end...

Marix ducked under the fist of a Mrrakesh twice her size, then used the Force to propel her body upward. She jumped up into his chest, dagger driving under his ribs first, and the Force helped her to push both herself and the Mrrakesh up to the ceiling of the corridor before she removed the dagger and dropped down first.

The second she landed, Marix his the ground rolling forward, and a thud behind her indicated the fallen Mrrakesh. Rolling up to her feet, Marix turned and fired a quick shot from her wrist blaster to finish off the warrior, then took off running down the corridor again.

Two more were behind her, unarmed as this one had been. She was likely passing by crew quarters from the way these Mrrakesh were unarmed and unarmoured. They’d simply caught her smell and looked outside to see if they were dreaming. The now-dead Mrrakesh had been the first to do so, and he’d managed to get in her way before she could dash past.

The other two, however, were farther behind down the section she’d already come from, and were now running to catch up. They were fast, with powerful leg muscles, but Marix was doing something that someone she knew very well had always called cheating. She was using the Force to push her faster.

One night, over a decade ago, she’d said something completely by accident. There had been a smile on her face, and she grabbed him suddenly, wrapping her arms around him in a tight, and terrifying for the sudden way it had happened, embrace. A light in her eyes that was as alien as a bath to a Hutt shined brightly as she told him she was free. She told him that everything could be different. And then, without thinking, she told him they could start a family.

Coming to a stop at a pair of large, rectangular shaped doors, Marix knew she’d found the lifts.  Her eyes darted around, and then, at eye level, found a single console between the two. Thankfully, the switches and buttons looked straightforward enough, and Marix found the right switch right away, opening the left to reveal a rather boring looking lift.

She ran into the thing, hitting the nearest button just to get moving, as the two Mrrakesh were almost there. The doors slid shut, and she felt it moving. Good.

Marix then took the time to look at the console and try to figure it out. Find the bridge. Kill the commander and disable the ship from the inside. She’d done it before, and she could do it again. But by the time this lift got to its destination, they’d know, for certain, that someone was aboard that shouldn’t be. Those two Mrrakesh were the only two that had crossed her path and lived, and they would report the encounter right away most likely.

Start a family. She’d never figured out why that had been the first thing to escape. Maybe because it was normal. That had to be it. She had been freed, and that meant she could be like everyone else. And everyone started a family at some point or another...at least, that was what she figured people were supposed to do. Her experience with that was limited, to say the least.

A normal life. Looking back, she should have known that was impossible. All of the contradictions within her made it so hard to even bring her close to normal, and then putting her along with someone like Jyren? There was just no way. But back then...back then it felt possible. She could just settle down somewhere away from all of it with him right there the whole time, and they could start a family and just live quietly for the rest of their lives.

That was what people were supposed to do.

The lift came to a sudden, but not unexpected, halt. Marix steadied herself as best she could from the somewhat violent stop, and immediately noted that the door hadn’t opened. Of course that was going to happen. Marix looked up to see no hatch or any clear way to open the top of the lift. Then, just to make sure, she looked down. No...still nothing. Hm.

And that was when the lift started moving again.

Marix’s brain put the pieces together right away and she knew what was coming. Stop the lift in an empty area for long enough to decide on a good place to send it to, and then have the troops there to blast whatever was there when the door opened. Looking up again, she figured it wouldn’t be too hard to get up there and avoid the initial volley of fire, but it wouldn’t last long. With no where to go or hide in beyond clinging to the ceiling, which only a being of her small size could do, the Mrrakesh would know exactly where to look.

Not that she wasn’t going to do it. In fact, she was pulling herself up as her mind worked out the rest of the situation. It always came down to one important question though. How many Mrrakesh would there be?

The two she had escaped would have reported the death of one of their comrades. That meant it would be at least four. Three hadn’t been enough to stop her and the Mrrakesh would simply overstep the already proven minimum, even if the circumstances hadn’t amounted to a straight fight. So at least four...but what was the upper end? Only about two average sized Mrrakesh could stand side by side in their corridors. Four would mean they’d have to shoot over one another...two could charge in, two could stand back. Six meant two to charge in, two for the middle ground, and two more as a just-in-case measure. Considering how far she’d gotten, they’d likely be working on the upper end.

So six made sense. Plan for that and work from there. But that did present an important question. How many could she fight at once and survive? Two, definitely. Four, probably. Six...six would be pushing it. But if she was fast, if she was at her best, Marix knew she could do it. Despite how far she’d gotten, to the Mrrakesh, she was still just an Alraxian. She wasn’t the Empress, and she certainly wasn’t any good at fighting...just at running. That gave her at least a few seconds worth of an advantage. Long enough to drop two of them, maybe three.

Normal. That was normal. Life and death...weighing how much she could survive.  It wasn’t odds, it was just...reality. That was supposed to have changed. Mothers weren’t supposed to be so focused on killing other beings. They were supposed to...to help the father raise the children. To enjoy the connection with the children in a way their father never could understand. To raise her daughter to be a strong Empress without forcing her to fight.

Eleven standard years. It had been like that for eleven standard years. But to an Alraxian, that was nothing. A species that lived centuries saw a decade pass in a blink. And when she’d opened her eyes to see the world again, Marix saw the Vong come into the galaxy and push the Mrrakesh across the border. They would have come eventually, but likely not that soon. And then it was back to what she and Jyren considered normal...fighting. Fighting and killing.

But it was different. It was one thing to be young and a fighter, back to back and making short quips about the other’s relative sanity. It was something else entirely, though, to be young, face to face, and with children to protect. At the same time it was so much easier and yet so much harder to fight. Maybe normal had found a way to hang onto her for once...

When she’d blinked again, Marix opened her eyes and there was no one in front of her anymore. Normal had lost its grip again, and Jyren had gone with it. And ever since then...

The lift stopped, and Marix had to dig her claws into the metal to keep from falling. The sound of the door opened was drowned out by a flurry of green laser fire, which completely covered the section of the lift below her. Thank the Force the lift was a half meter larger than the door. The weapons fire stopped as they attackers realized they had no target, and Marix heard metal sounds that indicated blades being drawn.

She let go and dropped to her feet, morphing as she fell. In a flash, a metal Alraxian was face to face with two large Mrrakesh soldiers coming at her with blades the size of her arm. But more important, the droid-like-Alraxian’s empty eyes looked past the two nearest attackers...

And they saw seven other Mrrakesh.


----------



## AKM

Yes, it is I! Behold mortals... I come to you to tell you about the light of truth, the light of the penguins!

Anyway...

If my conn ever stops crapping out on me for no real good reason (except for some idiotic tech from Telekom Austria, who damaged one of the cables in the wall on Tuesday while checking them) I shall pop up in AIM and stuff... But, as it is, AIM, atm, is crapping out every 5 minutes, thanks to having a 6 mbit connection that currently only gives me not even 1 mbit... thanks to our Telekom... (can't even update my anti-virus, servers in Germany, without timing out) The urge to kill is rising...

BTW... I do agree with one thing... Voort would have had an English accent. Definitely. Yes, I know, all the Imps have English accents in SW, but still. Can't see him with an American accent. That just wouldn't work.

Ah... memories... 

EDIT: Funny to see all this old stuff again. And yes, there have been changes (we did drop on Arrakis (yes, Dune) for example instead of Arranis, we did find out that Coruscant used to be Earth (yes, our earth) at one point, stuff like that). But I actually like the changes. It fits. Heck, some of this stuff is 6 or even 7 years old. I'm old...   

Voort later, in other games, used a white double-bladed saber. These days, ever since KOTOR, my Jedi and Sith (if they are my main character) use purple sabers. I wonder... how Yae would handle the conflicts in this one. Or worse... Nori... oiiiiiiii... that's a scary thought.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 510: Investigation*

It took ten minutes for both Adria and Rulae to get to their respective positions, the entire time Rea was carefully watching the landed shuttle through her electrobinoculars and keeping them both updated via comlink. There had been no movement at all at the shuttle, and by the time the other two were in position, it was very dark out. The moon’s of Thyferra reflected very little of the sun’s light. In fact, about the only real light beyond the stars and the faint amount reflected from the moons was from the floodlights on the shuttle ahead.

“Time to move,” Commodore Nok’s voice was concealed by static and the general horrible signal their weak comlinks were using.

Rea responded as she had become accustomed to while piloting, but simply clicking her comlink on and off twice. She then got to her feet, stowed the electrobinoculars in the small pack she carried and drew the blaster pistol from its holster at her side. Rea checked the weapon, held it low, and began the careful approach towards the shuttle. She carried no lights on her, and nothing that would give away her position. The other two were in the same position, with glowrods kept off and stowed, so she couldn’t see them though Rea knew where they were coming from.

The ground was soft under her boots, and Rea did her best to not be distracted by it. She was so used to either solid deckplates or the rocky, cave terrain of Ryloth that soft dirt was...something she just wasn’t used to. It was just one of those little things that most people simply put out of their minds but Rea found herself unable to ignore completely.

“Hold it,” immediately upon hearing Commodore Nok’s voice again, Rea froze in position. She waited, then he went on through the static, “A few meters out of the floodlights...towards Harken. Movement.”

Two clicks came over the comm. Adria understood.

Rea turned to her left, looking over the lekku resting on her shoulder and into the blackness where Adria would be. Twi’leks could see well in the dark, but she still couldn’t make the human out at this distance. Normally, Rea could just use her sensors to fix any visual trouble, but normally she was in a starfighter.

Then the comm channel opened, coming through only as light static before Adria’s voice could be heard, “Just a small animal.”

“Copy,” Rulae’s voice returned, then added, “Lets keep moving.”

And so Rea started to move again, assuming the other two were, too. In about five minutes of this slow, careful stalking towards the shuttle, they encountered no other animals...or at least none to cause them to pause. And then they were all together, within the bright lights of the two floodlights and underneath the shuttle. If anyone had been in the cockpit, they would have seen all of them approaching, but still, the boarding ramp was down under the beak-shaped cockpit and nothing had come out of it.

They were also no longer using their comlinks to communicate.

Rulae, raised a long-fingered blue hand up to motion to the underside of the shuttle, then pointed to the boarding ramp. Rea nodded, then looked to Adria who was directly under the nose and had a clear view up into the main cargo compartment. The red-haired human woman looked to Commodore Nok and shook her head, her blaster pistol raised and aiming right up the ramp.

Nodding, Rulae then looked to Rea, and motioned to his left with his blaster pistol. Time to move in. Rea nodded and took a few careful steps forward, kneeling down to get a view inside before she moved around to the ramp itself. She could see the seats on the side of the ramp, and the small section of the deck that allowed for access to the cockpit while the ramp, built into the neck-section of the transport, was down. The seats were empty.

After she looked to Rulae and nodded again, he did the same from his end, moving close and getting a view into the interior side that was currently above her. He nodded to Rea, then very carefully climbed up onto the boarding ramp. He didn’t actually walk around to move up it, but instead climbed directly onto the section of it in front of him, immediately coming up to a kneeling position in such a way that his head would still be out of view for anyone inside. Adria would still have a clear shot to anyone...

Rulae then looked to Rea again and raised a single finger. Wait. Just a moment. He then pointed up the ramp. Wait...then follow. She nodded.

Very, very slowly, Rulae rose from a complete kneeling position to a crouch where he could walk, and disappeared up the ramp. Rea was soon behind him, following suit and staying to the right side of the boarding ramp to still give Adria a clear shot down the center. 

Once she was up, Rea saw the large cargo area was completely empty, save for a couple of open crates that weren’t even labeled. Directly across from her, Rulae was pointing his weapon into the cockpit. She looked over her shoulder to see that it was empty, with only a couple of the command consoles lit up. Rulae turned and motioned to the main hold. There would be various cargo sections on either side of the main hold.

So they’d check them.

Together, they both swiftly moved into the main hold, blasters sweeping across and finding nothing at all. Then, one by one, they each checked the small compartments lining the bulkheads. Though Rea did find a bed in one, it was empty and there was no sign of recent use. The other three compartments were all empty save for what looked to be various random parts and supplies.

“Its clear,” Rulae finally said, his voice echoing in the cargo hold. He’d spoken into the comm, and so a moment later, Adria came strolling casually up into the hold, her blaster lowered and a somewhat annoyed look on her face.

Rea felt the same way. It didn’t make sense.

“What is this?” Adria asked, and both Rulae and Rea turned to see that the human woman was gently touching a section of the bulkhead with a long black scorch mark on it. 

His own weapon down, Rulae stepped over to look at it more closely, “Almost looks like blaster scoring.”

“Blasters don’t leave long marks unless they barely graze a target...”Adria observed, then motioned at the one they were looking at, “And this one’s vertical up the bulkhead. What the hell would they be shooting straight up against the bulkhead for?”

“There are more,” Rea was back in the section of the ship farthest to the rear, where the ‘fresher and small cooking station was located, plus a single, open, gunnery station for the rear cannon. Near that area, there were at least five more similar looks marks along the bulkheads, some vertical, but most diagonal. There wasn’t even a pattern to it. One of them was also over the panel that would normally close and lock the door to the gunnery station, but the panel was completely destroyed and a mark simply went right over it.

Adria had moved over to look at the marks where Rea was. Shaking her head, the Coruscanti woman said quietly, “I do not like this.”

“This was the support ship for a starfighter squadron,” Commodore Nok said, looking around and now only loosely holding his blaster pistol in one hand, “There should be more supplies here. More equipment. And whatever the origin of these marks, it looks like there was a fight that caused them.”

Rea then had a very odd idea. She leaned in close to one of the marks and then sniffed it. Unlike blaster fire, there was no distinct odor of ozone there. Instead, it smelled like...like charred metal. Sure, blaster scoring would do that to metal but it would also have that ozone smell to it, too.  She then looked at the marks more carefully.

“Sir,” she spoke up, standing back from the wall and knowing that Adria was looking at her as if she’d lost her mind...or one of her lekku, “It just smells like the bulkheads were burnt. And...and they look like cuts. These are indentations in the bulkheads. Some of them go pretty deep.”

Stepping closer, Adria looked along the bulkhead for herself, “Blasters wouldn’t leave a deep mark in the wall like this.”

Rulae reached up and placed a hand on one of the marks, feeling the slight difference. He then nodded, “A lightsaber might do something like this.”

“Jedi?” Rea’s lekku twitched slightly as she looked to the Commodore.

There was a noticeable sigh from Adria, though, “Bloody Jedi are everywhere these days. Wouldn’t surprise me in the least.”


On a slightly different note. Yes, my friends, AKM is Voort. Its been around 5 or so years since I've seen the bastard around anywhere and he seems to have found us by pure chance. How's that for crazy?

Oh, and as you can clearly see, he is crazy. Hasn't changed a bit in all these years.


----------



## AKM

Finally through all 17 pages.

Yes, I'm crazy. I found it because Bob Lawson (not sure if you remember him from the Combine) was googling old character names (found some really odd stuff). Though, I actually have changed. I've gotten... crazier!

Now Jyren and Voort can bap each other in afterlife 

I'd like to note one or two things:

I'd say that the "I have a son" from Jyren in the fight with Jen was quite enough to make her at least hesitate. Jen's family was killed on Alderaan and, if my memory serves me right, she had a younger sister, who (again if I'm not mistaken, though, it's possible I'm mixing this up with the Combine character of Jen, it's been a while since then) could have been around the age of Jyren, if she would have lived. Additionally, the four of them went through a lot of strange adventures, so they grew together. There was a bond between them, especially between Jyren and Jen, just like the "animal-imperial" thing between Shadow and Voort (in fact, I think I remember that we pulled that line more often). 

The Hapan fleet pretty much annihilated? Whoa... That would so cause problems inside the Consortium. Oh I can see the family I created for use in Hapes eventually moving against the outsider abomination on the throne (if Hapes followed canon developments). Civil war in the Consortium, woohoo, though, I think it would be more of a coup d'etat.

I can also see my favorite Sith character pop up with a fleet she'd gathered, not because of the shared threat by the Vong. No, certainly not. Her motivation would be simple. This galaxy is her playground, her sandbox and this little Sith never belonged to the people who appreciated outsiders messing up her sandbox.

I really like that one Hutt, who negotiated a deal with the Vong. Nori 1.0 would so be sent by Nerba (who's one of Zorba's) to deal with him... I wonder what Marix would do with someone who preferably uses disruptors and slugthrowers, not to mention rather nasty explosives (and who is also FS, but not really giving a crap about either philosophy, Jedi or Sith, a load of BS in Nori's opinion). Nori 2.0, not sure how she'd get into this, after all I began building her for one specific board (actually, I don't think she'd fit into it).


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

AKM said:
			
		

> Finally through all 17 pages.




Dear god, you read fast. 



> I'd say that the "I have a son" from Jyren in the fight with Jen was quite enough to make her at least hesitate. Jen's family was killed on Alderaan and, if my memory serves me right, she had a younger sister, who (again if I'm not mistaken, though, it's possible I'm mixing this up with the Combine character of Jen, it's been a while since then) could have been around the age of Jyren, if she would have lived. Additionally, the four of them went through a lot of strange adventures, so they grew together. There was a bond between them, especially between Jyren and Jen, just like the "animal-imperial" thing between Shadow and Voort (in fact, I think I remember that we pulled that line more often).




All the stuff I've still got says your info on Jen is right. Younger sister and all that fun stuff that didn't really come into play here. And she did always seem to treat Jyren like a younger brother, of sorts.

If I remember right, and it has been a few years, all you two ever SAID were "Animal!" and "Imperial!". Makes me wonder if either of you had any other words in your respective vocabularies. 



> The Hapan fleet pretty much annihilated? Whoa... That would so cause problems inside the Consortium. Oh I can see the family I created for use in Hapes eventually moving against the outsider abomination on the throne (if Hapes followed canon developments). Civil war in the Consortium, woohoo, though, I think it would be more of a coup d'etat.




With the Vong stuff I've done my damndest to get the timeline right and wedge it into the events within the New Jedi Order books well enough. Though its gotten fudged here and there (such as the leadup to the Battle of Fondor. It went just SLIGHTLY differently with the whole attempted trap at Corellia), the battle itself was in _Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse_.

The details of the battle, too, were a bit twisted to fit with the action. Its also why you have the Zephyrs off on their own, so they can avoid the mass of the battle that's described within the book itself. Also, that Vong ship that Toby and Master Ral went aboard was the _Creche_, which just before the battle, Kyp Durron(famous Jedi guy) was aboard with his squadron trying to rescue those slaves.

More info on the actual battle here: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/First_Battle_of_Fondor_(Yuuzhan_Vong_War)



> I really like that one Hutt, who negotiated a deal with the Vong.




That was another thing slightly altered, as it was the entire Hutt Council that decided to attempt to stay neutral in the war. Course, there's also a few little tidbits about Fondor that didn't rub too well with them, and those'll pop up here soon enough.

Can probably track them down on Wookiepedia if you're curious.


----------



## AKM

Indeed. And, for defense, I've read a total of 6 SW books in my life (three were the Thrawn trilogy, the others weren't). 

17 pages aren't much when there's nothing to do at work.

Oh and... I think we also had "bastard" in our vocabulary


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 511: One Way Out*

Tobias got to his feet and spun around, barely remembering to bring his lightsaber up in front of him. But, thankfully, Tokarr was having to deal with Venda, who was much better at this lightsaber thing. Her green blade easily parried a strike from Tokarr’s blue weapon, and Tobias couldn’t help but be impressed. Of course, there was the fact that Venda was a fully trained Jedi Knight and Tokarr had barely more training that Tobias...but that wasn’t something crossing his mind.

A leg sweep from Tokarr dropped Venda to the ground hard, but she rolled to the side to avoid the downward strike of the Miraluka’s lightsaber. Having hesitated long enough, Tobias charged in again, not at all feeling ready to fight but also not wanting to just stand around watching. But before he could reach Tokarr, the Miraluka spun around, swinging his blue blade in a long, horizontal arc that was exactly the kind of thing Tobias remembered Jyren calling an amateur mistake. 

Doing exactly what he remembered Jyren teaching him, as it was something Toby had done when he’d first picked up a lightsaber, Tobias spun inverted his blade and gritted his teeth as he used all his strength to parry the swing. And then Tokarr pulled his weapon back to attempt an attack from another angle. Tobias then did what Jyren had done to him years ago, and when Tokarr left himself open, Tobias reached his free hand out towards the Miraluka and did one of the few things he was good at with the Force...he hit Tokarr hard with it, sending the surprised former-Jedi flying a few meters before landing on the ground on his back.

“Well done,” Venda said, as she was now back on her feet and right next to Toby. As Tokarr was getting up, she motioned towards the boarding ramp, “Get in there and find whatever you can. I will hold him out here.”

“But-“ Tobias didn’t have a chance to argue, as she had stepped in front of him and the loud clashing of lightsabers was overwhelming anything else he would have said.

For a short few seconds, Tobias watched the blur, and even to his untrained eye, he could see that Venda had an easy advantage. She could definitely hold Tokarr off better than he could. So, blue-green lightsaber lowered to his side, Tobias turned and ran to the ramp and up into the shuttle.

The sounds of the lightsabers below, Tobias did his best to focus. The shuttle’s interior was...sparse. He walked up into a large, open cargo area with large dark spots near the center that might have once been the location of seats. There were various doors on either side that likely housed small compartments, and one directly at the back of the shuttle for...well, Tobias assumed it was access for maintenance on the engines. He turned to see the cockpit, and ran around the ramp and into the small, four-seat-holding section of the ship.

He deactivated his lightsaber but kept it in hand, as he looked across all of the various consoles that covered all of the cockpit. What was he looking for? Nav...no...communication...no...flight logs...no...wait. There was a datapad sitting in the co-pilot’s chair.

Navigating through the other chairs to reach it, Tobias grabbed the small object and, after a moment to find how to activate it, did his best to figure out what was on it. There were diagrams, information written in an alphabet he’d seen all over but couldn’t read, and a few images that he recognized as some kind of chemical structure. It seemed like what they were looking for, though everything on one little datapad seemed a little too convenient. Inheriting a little extra suspicion from Marix hadn’t been a bad thing.

So Tobias pocketed the datapad and looked around the cockpit for something more...there had to be more...

A series of loud clanking sounds drew his attention, and Tobias turned to see Tokarr coming up the boarding ramp. A quick glance outside the viewport showed that Venda was...on the ground near the trees. Oh Gods...

“Get away from there!” Tokarr’s voice was filled with rage, so much so that it felt like the air around Tobias was tightening.

He turned and reactivated his lightsaber, blue-green blade coming to life in the confines of the small cockpit. Tokarr’s blue blade was still active, and the Miraluka was charging straight in, weapon raised and not looking like he noticed at all that there was barely enough room within the cockpit to move, let alone swing a lightsaber.

Sparks flew as the blade cut through consoles and durasteel bulkheads and Tobias barely managed to raise his weapon in time to catch Tokarr’s wild swing. The two blades held against one another as both pushed hard to gain an advantage, a bright white spot where the two lightsabers held together. And through the crossing of blue and blue-green, Tobias could see Tokarr...his face a portrait of rage and the cloth that covered empty eye sockets half burnt in more than one place.

It was then that Tobias knew there was only one way this was going to end.

But Tobias wasn’t sure he could kill again.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 512: Still Running*

Most people in the galaxy took metal for granted. It was so commonplace that its inherit advantages and disadvantages were lost on even the brightest of individuals. The galaxy was a place where hand to hand combat, true hand to hand combat, was something people learned for sport and entertainment. Most so-called real fights involves metal of one form or another...a blaster or a vibroweapon. It was so normal to them all that thinking about it being metal was completely out of the question.

But for Marix it was different. She was well trained in unarmed combat, the best in the Empire. At the same time, she had a multitude of weapon’s training. She could exchange fist for claw for dagger and fight just as well with each. And yet, Marix understood the advantages each held. From killing power to extra reach to something as simple as feeling the enemy with your own bare hand, she understood it perfectly.

And that understanding transcended simple knowledge and even the experience of most. Because Marix could be metal. A skill that was, truthfully, a genetic anomaly bred into her clone Delta Three, Shadow, by the Galactic Empire and something she had gained in the merging with this young clone. To be the one thing that was the most dangerous item in the galaxy to an Alraxian. To make their greatest weakness her greatest strength. In a way, it made Marix invincible.

But despite the metal, she still could feel pain.

Marix could also feel her metal arm drive straight through armour, then flesh, then bone, then armour again as she impaled the nearest of the Mrrakesh with her fist alone. She was all metal now, a silvery blur that had dropped from the ceiling of the lift directly in front of two of the approaching Mrrakesh. As she removed her hand from one, which dropped to the ground in agony as it slowly died, the other swung its sword to take off Marix’s head.

That’s when she felt the pain.

A loud clang of metal striking metal echoed through the corridor, and her head went dizzy for some reason that didn’t make sense. She was metal. She was, essentially, a droid...droid’s shouldn’t get dizzy! Her head tilted down slightly to see the injury, but couldn’t tell beyond feeling that there was likely at least a dent in her neck. That hadn’t been the Mrrakesh’s full strength. But the next strike would be and it could likely cut through...

Marix brought her right arm up and slammed against the Mrrakesh’s forearm as it swung the sword in again. Stopping the strike before it got to her, Marix followed up the parry with a strike from her other arm, which still held a Mrrakesh blade. Her left arm shot beneath the right, driving the blade straight into the Mrrakesh’s lower torso. It easily cut through the thin layer of armour and Marix cut down before removing the weapon and charging straight into the other five.

She didn’t have time for this. From the fact that the ship wasn’t shaking, Marix knew they weren’t taking many hits...which likely meant the Jendari reinforcements hadn’t arrived yet. And the longer that took, the more Alraxians died. She had to stop this ship right now...get to the bridge immediately. Mrrakesh be damned.

Perhaps it was the outright insanity of her actions that made it so successful. No Alraxian, even an insane one, would charge five well armed Mrrakesh soldiers. No Alraxian would survive that. Hell, a Mrrakesh would be hard pressed to live through that kind of attack, especially when the five others were ready to attack and prepared. Of course, no other Alraxian was metal...or Marix.

She literally pounced onto one of the two Mrrakesh who were kneeling with rifles aimed. The force of her jump brought him onto her back, and Marix made sure to dig the blade she carried into his neck as she landed, but didn’t bother to make sure he was dead. There wasn’t time. The other four were firing now, one just next to her and the three others not a meter away, blocking the corridor completely.

Marix leapt off of the Mrrakesh she’d pounced and went straight for the next, a metallic missile flying straight for a surprised Mrrakesh trying to aim his rifle while holding down the trigger and squeezing a constant stream of green laser fire out. But he didn’t even have a chance to raise the weapon to her, as Marix came at him at eye level. But despite the fact that he could not bring his rifle up, the Mrrakesh soldier did swing his free arm up to strike her.

The Mrrakesh’s fist caught Marix’s metal skull the same moment that she slammed into him. Her entire vision went dark for at least two seconds, but she could still feel through the Force very clearly...well, it was chaos, but she could feel it all. And though Marix knew the Mrrakesh she’d charged hit the deck on his back, a good concussion resulting from the two impacts, she didn’t follow him.

The force of his swing sent her to the side, and Marix’s back slammed into another Mrrakesh, who was then forced into the third who slammed into the wall. It was all a very good mess, with only one Mrrakesh still not bruised, at least. But he was the other kneeling, and was just not spinning around and drawing a sword to strike at her.

And then Marix’s vision returned. First in a blur, and then more clearly. But when the blur came, and she saw the other Mrrakesh around her recovering, Marix started to move. She drove an elbow back into the gut of the Mrrakesh she’d been thrown into, dropping him down again, then jumped up to her feet and ran, morphing her body back to her natural, Alraxian form to take advantage of its speed...and pushing the Force into her legs to drive her even faster down the corridor.

“Korta Che! Korta Sak!”

Follow it. Follow her.

She’d only killed two of the seven, and the other five would likely already be following that...

A violent, fiery sensation suddenly erupted from Marix’s lower back and she knew that one of the Mrrakesh had finally taken the time to aim. The pain was blinding, and she stumbled due to the shock of it, cursing herself for losing focus so much that she was not alerted to the incoming attack from the Force. She was getting distracted!

Marix went into the deck face first, her momentum still carrying her forward and causing her to slide painfully across the metal. But pain was just pain. And pain meant she was still alive...and that wouldn’t last much longer if she stayed face first on the deck plates like this. Kicking the ground, Marix flipped up and was on her feet in a second as more green blasts of lasers shot past her. As she ran, she began to zig zag to throw off their aim, then, when she reached a junction, cut to the left so fast that she nearly slammed into the corner of the bulkhead.

Behind her, Marix heard angry cries of Mrrakesh, and more footsteps. At least three more Mrrakesh behind her, but she wasn’t going to take the time to look. Ahead of her was a door. A shut door. Likely a locked door. Still running at full speed, her eyes darted all direction to get out of this dead end. Doors on all sides. More crew quarters probably...or something similar. Still not to the bridge. That was another few decks up...

A ventilation shaft.

Marix jumped up the full two meters and grabbed onto the grating without the use of the Force. Her weight was pulling on the metal, but it wasn’t enough. She yanked on it hard, and still it didn’t give. Marix cursed, but the sound of it was drowned out by a volley of laser fire, most of which was so close that she knew the next volley would hit...especially with her just hanging like she was.

So Marix let go and dropped to the bulkhead, landing in a crouching position and with the second volley flying over her head. She spun around and took in the situation as quickly as she could. Marix could see seven Mrrakesh again, all aiming rifles. They weren’t taking any chances and were firing another volley...

Without really taking aim, Marix threw the blade she was still carrying with all the strength she could manage. Whether it hit one of the Mrrakesh or not, she would never know. Because just as it left her hand, she jumped up again, the Force propelling her faster than the laser fire coming her direction, and Marix was morphing her body to metal again mid-jump.

She went straight through the grate, simply breaking it with the force of her jump and then immediately digging in with her metal claws to latch herself into the very cramped ventilation shaft. To allow herself more mobility, Marix was already morphing back to her organic body, shifting to allow the pieces of the grate to fall down. And then she climbed up as fast as she could, knowing she had to reach a junction before the Mrrakesh got under her...they’d just have to fire straight up. But no, she could see one. She could reach it fast enough. And then it was just a tight, claustrophobic crawl up another few decks to the bridge.

Sometimes it was good to be small.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Sorry about the lack of updates the last few days...wanted to pop my head in and say I'm still alive.

Just finished an ever-so-fun move and my semester starts tomorrow. Should be back into a regular schedule now, though, and hopefully updates will be back and moving tomorrow, too.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 513: Just Late...*

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous to fight in a place like this?” Adria asked anyone that was willing to answer as she looked around the scorch-marked cargo bay of the Lambda shuttle. She sighed when she noticed that Commodore Nok was looking in one of the smaller compartments against the wall and Rea was moving towards the cockpit.

“Its worse in here,” Rea called back, her voice as quiet as it usually was. Standing in the doorway to the cockpit of the shuttle, the Twi’lek pilot turned around to face Adria and shrugged, her arms raising and her head tails both twitching slightly, “There’s no way this thing’s going to fly anymore.”

Deciding to have a look for herself, the Coruscanti pilot walked over to Rea and the cockpit to see just how bad it was. As she went past, the sound of Commodore Nok stepping out of the compartment was easy to hear, and his calm, cool, but slightly accented voice followed her, “There is still a distinct smell in the air reminiscent of blaster fire...that wouldn’t linger long.”

Adria stopped just as she was beginning to walk around the boarding ramp to head to the cockpit. She then turned around to see the Duros Commodore standing behind her, his two large, red eyes looking at her curiously. Reminding herself that they were military and had a job to do, Adria nodded to him instead of pointing and started it off formally, “Sir...may I ask you something?”

“Of course,” Commodore Nok nodded his large, blue, and bald head.

First, she bit her lip, unsure of how to say it without offending him. Then, deciding that offending people was something she was good at anyway, Adria just let out a breath and pointed to his face, “You don’t have a nose, sir. How the hell do you smell things?”

There was an odd silence after she spoke, with only the soft humming that told them all the ship still had power. Then, from behind Adria, Rea started to laugh. She was obviously fighting it, but a moment later Rulae’s small mouth formed into a smile and he simply shrugged, “I do it very carefully, Cadet Harken.”

And then he stepped around her, heading over to the cockpit and past the giggling Twi’lek who was finally composing herself. Of course, that answer had done Adria no good. She couldn’t smell anything out of the ordinary in the air...anymore than things could be out of the ordinary with the boarding ramp open and letting the natural air of Thyferra flow in to mix with the filtered air of the shuttle. Why was it that, of the three of them, it was the one without a nose that noticed a damned smell?!

But she was doing her thinking while walking to come up to the other two and look into the cockpit. The four chairs were there...mostly. Two of the back ones were on the deck, sliced into multiple pieces, while the co-pilot’s chair was missing a large portion of its side. Most all of the consoles and controls were destroyed, some still smoking slightly. Long cut marks arced up from control panel to the ceiling plating in multiple spots. The few sections of the cockpit that had functioning consoles didn’t look like they’d be functioning for long...sparks and even tiny little fires pocketed most all of it.

“Is it inappropriate to ask, again, why someone would fight in a place like this?” Adria asked quickly, looking between the two others.

Both of them glanced back at her, but it was Rulae who said, after he’d stepped into the cockpit to get a closer look, “I doubt it was planned.”

“More of the same,” Rea said quietly as she moved in, looking at what once would have been the sensor station...but now was a series of cuts, burns, and destroyed hunks of durasteel, “What did we miss?”

“One hell of a fight,” Adria mumbled. She slipped in behind Rea, stepping over one of the destroyed chairs to look at the flight controls. Most of them were intact...as was most of the center consoles and controls. Though there was a dark red...looking over her shoulder to Commodore Nok, Adria spoke up again, “Sir...blood.”

That got both of the other pilots’ attentions. In a moment the two were on either side of her, looking at the deep, red splatter across the hyperdrive levers, nav computer, and comm system. They all looked at it for a moment, and then Commodore Nok did what neither of the other two wished to. He reached to one of the larger spots and placed a long finger on it very gently...

“It is not dry,” he said, quickly pulling back his hand and cleaning the small amount of blood from his black glove. The Duros then turned and looked over the rest of the ship from the view of the cockpit and added, “The smell is in the air, the consoles are still smoking, the blood isn’t even dry, and there’s no one here...”

Rea stood up straight, turning to look out the viewport and into the darkness of the Thyferran night outside, “We must have just missed them.”

“Them?” Adria asked, her eyes still on the blood for some reason.

“Well,” Rea started, then stopped a moment. When Adria looked up, she saw one of the Twi’lek’s head tails twitch and shift slightly as the woman thought, “I doubt this was someone destroying the place for fun.”

At that, Adria could only nod, a clump of her red hair getting in her eyes in the process, “Good point.”

“They could not have gone far,” Commodore Nok spoke in a firm voice that he always used when being...well, when being a good officer. Blaster still in hand, he motioned for them to follow as he headed out of the cockpit and to the boarding ramp, “Glowrods out. We need to search this entire area. Whatever happened here didn’t end here.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 514: Insane*

Tobias tumbled backwards over one of the chairs in the shuttle’s cockpit, pushed over it with a hard fist of the Force. His flight was stopped by the pilot’s chair, which was harder than it looked and nearly knocked the wind out of him. If not for the blue lightsaber blade that chopped through the chair in front of him, Tobias might have simply stayed there on the deck with his back to the pilot’s seat. Of course, seeing a lightsaber take two swift strikes to peal through the other chair was enough to keep his head in the moment.

Seeing the blue lightsaber coming down again, Tobias put aside getting up and instead dove to the side, making sure to keep his own lightsaber up so he didn’t cut himself. Instead, he cut some of the lower consoles as he got to his feet, and a loud crackling behind him signaled that Tokarr’s lightsaber had also dealt a rather fatal blow to the shuttle’s controls.

A growl of frustration escaped the obviously-insane Miraluka and he spoke some odd word that was likely in his native language before swinging his lightsaber in a long, horizontal arc. The lightsaber took out another series of consoles as it swung for Tobias’ head, and the shower of sparks nearly caused him to drop his guard, but Tobias somehow kept his own blade up and caught the wild strike.

When Tokarr pulled his blade back to strike again, Tobias made a quick decision.

He turned and ran out of the cockpit, nearly fell down the boarding ramp, and turned around in time to duck under another swing from Tokarr. The strikes were so wild and...well, Tobias didn’t have another word for it, but it was like the Miraluka didn’t really know what he was doing. There was none of the finesse, style, or precision Tobias had come to expect from someone wielding a lightsaber. He was, however, quite fast.

“Stand still!” Tokarr finally yelled something that made sense as he exited the cockpit and swung down at Tobias. But Toby easily sidestepped the swing, edging around the lowered boarding ramp and to a place where he had more ground to stand on.

Before he knew it, he was in the open cargo hold, Tokarr a second behind him and still swinging wildly. There was more room here, at least, but that didn’t make any of it easier. Tobias ducked, rolled, parried, and even jumped over Tokarr’s attacks that came at him one after another after another. Soon the bulkheads and the deck was covered in smoking scorch marks from Tokarr’s wild attacks, and still, Tobias had yet to attack on his own. The entire time, he’d stayed on the defensive...partially because of how fast Tokarr’s attacks were coming at him, and partially because Tobias just didn’t want to attack.

Then, suddenly, Tobias saw an opening. Tokarr swung high for the neck again, and Tobias ducked under it easily, his eyes staying on his opponent the entire time...and Tokarr’s torso was wide open. Seeing his chance, Tobias shifted his weight and charged under the Miraluka’s guard, shoulder first. A grunt of surprise and pain escaped Tokarr before he was sent back a couple of meters and hit the rear bulkhead.

Tobias stood up straight, trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder...that shouldn’t have hurt so much...and raised his blue-green blade up in front of him again. Seeing the short moment of pause, he said firmly, “We didn’t come here to kill you.”

Before he responded, Tokarr also got up completely and off of the bulkhead. He took a few deep breaths and brought up his own weapon. The cloth that covered his non-existent eye sockets had been lost now, and so an odd, eyeless face was snarling Tobias, “If you want to stop me from destroying the Vong and protecting this galaxy then you’re going to have to kill me, Jedi.”

And then Tokarr charged again.

Not skilled enough with the blade to parry the thrust coming at him, Tobias simply spun to his right and out of the way, Tokarr moving past and sending his blade only into empty air. And there was another opening...but Tobias didn’t do what he could have. He could have taken off Tokarr’s head with a simple back swing of his lightsaber. It would have ended it right there. But instead, Tobias removed his right hand from his lightsaber and swung that back instead, catching Tokarr hard in the side of the skull and slamming him into the bulkhead with a loud thud.

By the time Tokarr hit the deck under him again, his head spinning from the force of the blow, Tobias had run down the boarding ramp. Something else had crossed his mind suddenly.

Venda.

Where in the Force was she?!

Knowing he didn’t have long and suddenly thinking this more important than fighting with some crazed Miraluka, Tobias ran back outside of the shuttle, his eyes scanning everything. No sign of her...

“Tobias!” the voice came from the treeline, behind him, and Toby turned to see her coming out from the forest, bright green lightsaber in hand. She looked to be in fairly bad shape, with cuts and bruises along her legs and face, and he couldn’t help but wonder what had happened and why she was coming out of the trees.

But instead of asking any of that, Tobias simply yelled back, “You’re alive!”

He was a kid, he was allowed to say stupid, cliched things.

Three loud clanks, one after another, signaled Tokarr descending the boarding ramp. Tobias ‘s head spun yet again, and he saw the Miraluka coming at him at full speed. Tobias raised his lightsaber up in front of him, seeing where the attack was coming and preparing to hold it back...

But then nothing came.

Tobias watched the Miraluka descend the boarding ramp then sharply turn away from him, charging off towards the south at a speed that had to be enhanced by the Force. Staring in shock, Toby didn’t know what to say.

Footsteps nearby caused him to turn again, nearly swinging his lightsaber to block an attack out of reflex, but he saw Venda and stopped himself. She was breathing hard, but gave him a quick look over to make sure he was okay before looking south towards where Tokarr had gone, “We need to go after him.”

“He’s lost it,” Tobias said flatly, stating the obvious but feeling someone needed to say it.

Venda nodded, deactivating her lightsaber blade with a loud fizzling sound, “It makes him even more dangerous,” her voice then assumed a stronger tone that seemed to wash away the previous exhaustion, “Draw on the Force...let it flow through your legs. We’re going after him.”

Tobias had never used the Force like that before. But there was a first time for everything, and Venda was already running...


----------



## AKM

Ah, more Toby-ness, good, good.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 515: Out of Orbit*

[Loki tells me you’re inside that thing.]

Marix twitched at the voice in her head, still stuck in the tight ventilation shaft and, thankfully, still not found by the Mrrakesh. Well, they might know where she was, but they weren’t doing anything about it for the moment. She had gone up at least one deck now, and the climb was tiring on her arms as they were doing all the work...but Marix knew she’d be fine. The hard part would be once she got out of the tight shaft...which was still small for an Alraxian. Not to mention certain difficulties brought upon due to being female. There were truly times when she hated it.

Still climbing up, one clawed hand at a time, Marix shifted her mental focus to the voice. It wasn’t Loki. It had a similar...sound in her mind, if sound was the word for it, and it probably wasn’t. But while Loki’s ‘voice’ had a more playful, joking quality to it even when he was serious, this voice was much more sarcastic and almost exactly how Marix imagined Jyren would sound had he been a Kanyak.

The irony of this was not lost on her.

[Hermes...] she could feel the little ship out there not far from her, which meant he was coming in for some very dangerously close passes. That was Hermes, alright. [Aren’t you supposed to be with Alyx?!]

The feeling of the Kanyak in the Force faded slightly as he flew farther away, then grew again. [No offense, but your brother’s boring.]

He had a point. Hermes was a thrill seeker. He was about the same age as Loki, and had been serving with the Knights from the moment he was old enough. His first pilot had been Marix’s only friend, Kyren Ka’BlueIce...but Kyren had been dead for over a decade and Hermes was left in a rather bad state in losing his pilot. But then, soon after Marix and Jyren had returned from dealing with Jen, Marix had an idea.

It took a bit of manipulating on both sides, but she managed to pair up Jyren and Hermes and get them working together. They had, as she’d expected, immediately formed a close bond. They had such similar personalities that it was either that or they’d have killed each other. Marix had planned for both, and was still a bit disappointed in not getting to see the latter. But then the Vong came and Jyren ran off, with Hermes taking Alyx back and forth to where he needed to be to protect him. And then Jyren died...

[You could have picked a better time.] Marix sent in the Kanyak’s direction.

Marix reached the next deck, finding a horizontal shaft that she gladly took, allowing her to retract her claws and simply crawl normally without all the strain on her arms. If she remembered the blueprints of these ships correctly, this should be the right level. So, as she crawled along, she began to look for a way to get out of the damned shaft and at least stretch some.

The entire ship shook roughly, though the tight quarters she was in meant only her head moved, hitting the wall of the ventilation shaft hard enough to make Marix’s vision blur. To make matters worse, Hermes chimed in. [Oooh, found a weak spot in their shields!]

[Dammit, Hermes!] she yelled at him out of instinct while her vision returned to normal and, not far ahead, she spotted a grate on the left side. That meant she was at the floor level than on the ceiling. [Where is Loki anyway?!]

In her mind, Marix heard an amused laugh of sorts that faded into a humming sound. [He’s flying around as slooooow as usual. Some Jendari ships showed up and he said something about leading them here while I uh...well, lets not go into what he said to me.]

He probably told you to go get yourself shot.

Marix grinned slightly at the thought. Probably? No, that was exactly what Loki would have said, especially to Hermes when he was in one of his showing off moods. The good news was the Jendari ships had arrived. That meant the battle shouldn’t last much longer...but it brought up an important question.

[Hermes, where exactly are the Mrrakesh ships now?] she sent the ‘words’ at the ship while reaching the great, making sure the corridor was clear through the Force, her ears, her eyes, her nose, and even her sense of touch, feeling for a slight shaking that Mrrakesh feet would cause on the deck plates. Nothing. So, as quickly and quietly as she could, Marix attempted to remove the grate. It wouldn’t take long for them to find her, if they hadn’t already set a trap.

The lack of immediate response from Hermes was worrying, but Marix didn’t have time to worry. Soon, the grate was on the deck and she was crawling out into the corridor, which looked exactly like the one she had left. Metal, slightly slanted at the ceiling, and almost painfully missing in anything beyond the colours grey and black. On her feet immediately, Marix looked both directions. Doors spread out at rather random intervals both directions on both sides of the corridor, but no sign of any Mrrakesh. That bothered her.

[The ships are descending into Alraxia’s orbit.] Hermes’ ‘voice’ actually sounded worried, and a bit distracted. It was for good reason. There would be four, maybe five Jendari cruisers now, along with the various lightly-armed but very maneuverable Kanyaks against only three Mrrakesh ships and maybe a dozen of their small fighters. They wouldn’t be able to fight that many Jendari ships head on, so it was either run or pick a new battlefield if they were determined to win.

Dropping into Alraxia’s atmosphere was possible for both Mrrakesh ships and the Jendari, but the larger Jendari cruisers would have more difficulty in the atmosphere and the Mrrakesh knew how much the Alraxians valued their world. Heading to the planet would risk it and was essentially a shield for them. Hopefully the Jendari could get in the way, but it was unlikely. So, if these predictions were right, and Marix knew they were, she was the only one in a position to turn the battle around. She needed to get to the bridge now.

[Send word to the Jendari that I’m working on this ship. Get them to hold the Mrrakesh back long enough for me to deal with this and hopefully things will become more manageable after.] Marix picked a direction when she got her bearings, and headed left. The bridge should be nearby...

[What, exactly, are you planning?] Hermes cut in, his voice distant again, as she quickly ran to the corridor towards a pair of large, double doors she knew held the bridge behind. Last time she’d been there it hadn’t exactly been a wonderful situation. In fact, it was an almost exactly similar situation. So what was one more time? She’d stormed a bridge before, she could do it again.

Realizing Hermes had said something, Marix answered truthfully. [I am working on that part.]

Only a few meters from the door, of course the thing opened. When she heard it opening, Marix was already dropping into a crouch as she ran forward, preparing for the...two Mrrakesh they came out, one training a rifle on her and immediately opening fire while the other fumbled for a small blaster pistol-like weapon.

Marix strafed to the nearby wall, took a few short steps vertically before launched herself straight into the Mrrakesh with the rifle. Her arms grabbed the weapon and wrenched it from his grip as they both hit the deck plates hard. The shock of the impact gave Marix the advantage, and she spun the weapon around then pulled the trigger, putting a good hole in the Mrrakesh’s skull.

Immediately, she rolled off of the corpse as a powerful foot stomped down. Marix’s head came up to see the second Mrrakesh aiming his pistol down and pulling the trigger. Time froze as she took in the situation behind the Mrrakesh.

There was the bridge. All on one level, with a few computer consoles on the walls but most of them set up in two rows facing the forward viewport. There was a command console right there at the front, and Marix could see the full compliment of roughly a dozen Mrrakesh there, most working at stations but some turning to see what the commotion was. She couldn’t see the ship’s commander, but what really caught Marix’s vision in that singular moment was the view beyond...she could see Alraxia. The entirety of the viewport was dominated by green and blue of the planet below, and it was getting larger. Still in orbit but they were descending quickly.

Then time unfroze, and the Mrrakesh fired.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 516: Battle Prowess*

There was a violent, nearly blinding pain as the Mrrakesh’s energy bolt cut through Marix’s right shoulder. The force of the bolt twisted her body around, causing her to go from a crouched position to spinning and then hitting the deck plates on her back. Being trained against pain was one thing, but that didn’t remove the physical effects of it, only the mental reactions. Marix’s mind was still focused clearly on what she had to do, get up, remorph the wound, and drop that Mrrakesh before he could fire again.

Her body, however, was doing what bodies normally did when they were shot. It was panicking. While Marix’s mind could control the pain and force herself through it, she didn’t have the ability to stop the energy bolt from sending her onto her back like it did. She also couldn’t force away the sharp pain that numbed her right arm and caused her to hit the deck awkwardly from attempting to brace herself on the numb arm. The good thing about her body compared to most other beings’ in the galaxy was that Marix’s was trained to naturally remorph its wounds.

And so, in less than a second, the gaping wound left by the surprisingly powerful energy pistol was gone, leaving only the injured patch of morphsuit that was slowly growing back to cover the area of exposed skin. But the Mrrakesh was firing again, his weapon now trained squarely for Marix’s forehead in what would very likely be a fatal shot. Luckily for Marix, her mind was forcing her body to move and she rolled to the side again, her left leg lashing out and sweeping the Mrrakesh off of his feet just as he fired the weapon with another loud, echoing noise that sounded like a roaring pulse of pure, screaming energy.

Marix heard the Mrrakesh hit the deck plates harder than she had, and immediately flipped herself up onto her feet in one quick motion. The Force was screaming, and her eyes moved left to see three more green energy blasts coming her way from other Mrrakesh inside the bridge. Thanks to the warning of the Force, she had time to dive forward, landing claws-first on the downed Mrrakesh and driving her claws deep into his upper torso, though his thick armour, then flipping completely over him after using him like a spring board.

She reached her feet again just in time for the entire corridor to shake violently. Marix didn’t even time to regain her balance before being thrown into the bulkhead to her left. Managing to catch herself with her arm, she spun around to see that the Mrrakesh which had been on the deck had actually been thrown into the cockpit from the violent turbulence that was, hopefully, due to Jendari weapons fire...or even Hermes. She’d just make a note not to ever mention to Hermes that he could cause that much damage to such a large ship.

The moment of instability provided a much needed opening. One thing Marix prided herself on was using openings like that, as so few others ever seemed to. Her footing still a bit unsteady, Marix turned and charged for the still-open door of the bridge. By the time she reached it, her entire body was metal again. It definitely had its advantages.

The Mrrakesh from before was up and coming around the corner when Marix reached the doorway. Had she been completely Alraxian, barreling into a Mrrakesh would have meant Marix was on her back again a second later. But she was metal now, with the solid qualities that went along with it, and she charged straight through the shocked Mrrakesh like a landspeeder. Her eyes were reexamining the situation within the bridge again, and finding her next target...

Said target was firing his energy pistol already, the green bolt going just over her head as she dropped low and charged straight for his gut. Marix dove into the Mrrakesh and forced him straight into a console behind him, getting a satisfying snap out of the Mrrakesh’s spine and a loud cracking of metal that was not from Marix, but from the console.

“Stand down!”

The very fact that the words were in Trade were enough to cause Marix to pause. Her sleek, silver metal body stopped and stood up straight, head snapping around to identify the source of the sound. It was a very large Mrrakesh, wearing the same body armour as all of the others but it was green instead of red. He was the commander of the ship. And he spoke perfect Trade.

And all eleven other Mrrakesh, including the commander, were leveling weapons on her. As far as she knew, her metal form was just as susceptible to those weapons as the bulkheads were. She could remorph it and survive, but the strength of those energy bolts would send her back and stumbling long enough for more to hit...and then more...Jyren would have suggested she was in over her ears.

He would have been right.

“Ko su elantor nah!” the Mrrakesh commander bellowed the words in a powerful military voice that hinted at one reason he was probably in charge. Marix understood the words, too: ‘Leave the bridge now’.

And they did.

Without question or comment, every single Mrrakesh left the bridge. The only reason Marix stood there was her knowledge that something here was wrong. Something was going on that she hadn’t grasped yet, and it was important she did before acting further. This commander was more than he seemed.

The doors to the bridge closed with a loud thud rather than the hiss of most automatic doors. When the closed, the tall Mrrakesh commander stepped around a pair of consoles to stand exactly opposite her, only a few meters away, lupine eyes watching her like the predator he was, “You are the Alraxian Empress. I would assume all of the damage done has been you and you alone.”

Marix didn’t respond to that. In fact, she didn’t move at all. Her droid-like body stood like a metal statue, entire face even more unreadable than it was in the flesh. Even Jyren, who could read her neutral face like an expert, could never see anything from Marix’s metal face. It was why he hated it so much. It was why he always asked her not to use the body. But that didn’t exactly matter anymore...

“I see you are not one for conversation,” a sneer formed on the Mrrakesh’s muzzle, “No matter, you are not here to talk. Neither am I. I have waited a great many years to see if the stories of your prowess in combat were just stories. Halpak spoke as if you were mightier than the greatest Mrrakesh warriors...but he fell so easily, I wonder if he was a good judge.”

One thing Marix hated was talkative idiots. This commander was one of them. There was a surefire way to end this kind of stupid, boasting monologue.

Marix shifted her weight just slightly, then charged straight for him.


----------



## Angcuru

Time for a good old fashioned stand-up one-on-one fight.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 517: Tracks*

“Tracks, sir,” Rea called out over her shoulder, kneeling down just off to the left of the shuttle’s boarding ramp with her small glowrod held over the ground with her left hand, and blaster pistol still comfortably held in her right.

The Duros commander turned around, as he’d been wandering towards the treeline because he had said he had seen something odd about the trees. But he’d only gotten about halfway there and was now turning around, with his glowrod still facing the trees. Commodore Nok spared one more glance towards the treeline, then looked over to where Adria was kneeling, “Check the trees, Harken.”

With a nod, Adria slipped up to her feet and headed over to where Rulae had been going, while he walked over to Rea and knelt down next to her, inspecting the ground her glowright was held over. He reached out a gloved hand carefully and traced a line that was easy to see from the shadows of the light being held, “Not very big.”

“But heavy,” Rea added as she shifted her weight slightly, trying to ignore the slight chill in the air as it grew into night on Thyferra. When the Commodore sent a curious look in her direction, which was subtle on a Duros’ limited features, but one she’d learned to identify in the short months. Her hand was ungloved, and so the light blue of her skin was a rather sharp contrast to the darkness and the bright light on the green grass. Ignoring this, she motioned to the boot print, “We haven’t left any tracks, ourselves. Even kneeling here, nothing,” she shifted her weight to show move her boot and show the grass straightening there slowly.

Commodore Nok’s thin lips seemed to form a flat line as he thought about something, then he looked outwards to the south, “They keep going.”

Looking up to follow his gaze, Rea could see a faint series of boot prints leading down the tree line. However, immediately, she noticed something odd about them, “There’s at least a meter and a half between each print.”

His eyes narrowing, Rulae got to his feet and began to follow them for a bit. He got a good six meters from Rea before turning and saying over his shoulder, “Two meters between each.”

Slowly, Rea stood up and let her eyes follow the tracks for as far as she could. She couldn’t even see them as far away as Commodore Nok was standing just meters away. The tracks were there, and easy to see in the light, but night on Thyferra was surprisingly dark out away from the cities.

“Commodore,” Adria’s Coruscanti accented voice called out to them and was a sharp contrast to the gentle hum of the shuttle’s floodlights behind them.

His attention divided, Rulae looked to Rea again and motioned to the ground near him, “See if these keep going due south, but don’t get too far. Keep you comlink on.”

“Yes, sir,” Rea nodded, then made sure to check her comm before she started to carefully follow the tracks. All this grass was rather odd to her. Having grown up in the stark caves of Ryloth meant that rocks were her foray, and while she found grass to be rather fascinating, like many Twi’leks that grew up on their homeworld, it was still very, very alien.

In a few short moments, Rulae reached Adria, who was standing almost exactly where he’d been originally moving towards. Her glowrod was facing the trees, and he could clearly see an opening that couldn’t have been natural. It was slightly oval shaped and...

“Looks like the marks that were inside the shuttle,” the human woman waved her glowrod slightly at the opening, allowing Rulae to see a few severed limbs of trees and entire branches that had been cloven in two very cleanly. The ends of the branches and limbs were scattered on the ground at the edge of the forest in a rather random pattern, but they were so cleanly cut that he could see no shards or small splinters...simply the large, cut pieces.

After taking some time to take all of it in, he motioned with a long-fingered hand towards the opening and what little the glowrods revealed of the forest within, “Doesn’t look like it goes very deep.”

“Do you want to...”

“No,” Rulae cut her off, knowing where that was going, “Even with a glowrod and a blaster the forest could be dangerous,” he paused, then glanced over his shoulder to the somewhat distant light of Rea’s glowrod, “And we are separated enough as it is. Come on.”

Though slightly annoyed that she didn’t get to check the forest herself, Adria relented and fell into step behind the taller Duros. They may have been pilots, but this ground work was a somewhat refreshing change from the general starkness of a starfighter cockpit. Of course, it was more exciting in the cockpit...and just following tracks was not Adria’s definition of exciting.

Though both Adria and Rulae were walking at a brisk pace to keep up with Rea’s glowrod, and, hopefully, the Twi’lek that was holding it. But she must have been moving quickly, or gotten far enough ahead that she was well out of actual sight beyond a point of light. How she could follow tracks at such a speed was beyond Rulae and was at least a bit worrying.

And then, in his ear, which Duros did indeed have, though they were small and not like humans, Rulae heard Rea’s voice come in through a bit of static. All their technology and they still couldn’t get rid of the damned static, “Sir...sir you need to get here right now!”

Those words would have two affects on most people. Either they would stop and talk, or run and talk. Military training had instilled in Rulae the latter, and so he gave Adria a quick look to make sure she, too, had heard that. When the red-haired human nodded just slightly, he started to run, hand coming up to the comlink’s ear piece to make sure he could hear her. Hitting a small switch to activate it, he spoke as fast as he could while keeping up a swift run, “Are you alright, Lor?!”

Static filled his ear for a long half a minute, which felt even longer when one was running at a very brisk pace and worried about what might be happening at the small light that was, finally, growing in the distance. Then, almost suddenly, Rea’s voice cut through the static of the open comm channel, “I’m fine, sir...but I found a body and I think she’s dead.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 518: Lessons of Experience*

Drawing on the Force was something that could be described as a strain, but it wasn’t physical. It was a mental strain from the constant concentration that was required, but it could develop into a physical strain and eventually cause the user to black out...or worse. One of the most important things that Jedi were taught was learning to manage this strain and deal with the effects to the point that it was negligible.

Of course, Tobias had in trained for barely over a standard month. Despite previous experience with the Force thanks to his parents, he still had many, many years of learning ahead of him. While he was able to draw the Force to him and let it push his legs faster to keep up with the amazing speed Venda was moving at, Tobias couldn’t maintain it for long.

Feeling the strain in his legs and his head, Tobias called out what was supposed to have been Venda’s name, but instead it just came out as an odd, somewhat scratchy groan that she may or may not have heard. And, just a few seconds later, he stopped running, though having not taken into account the speed he was running at, momentum continued to move him forward...and Tobias went to the ground face first before rolling painfully for a good twenty meters.

When he came to a stop in the dirt and grass, Thyferra’s sun had set. Tobias lifted his face out of the ground and, ignoring the scratches, bruises, and scrapes that now covered his arms, legs, torso, and face, looked forward into the darkness to see a distant figure that was likely Venda.

Tobias sighed...and dirt escaped his mouth along with the air of the sigh, itself. Thank the Force no one had seen that...

Feeling the adrenaline fading and exhaustion taking over, Tobias’ mind wandered from the task at hand. He didn’t have the experience to focus on his job yet, either. And so, he just let his head drop down onto the surprisingly hard ground, closing his eyes and allowing himself a series of long, deep breaths.

“Toby!” Venda’s voice jolted Tobias back into the moment and caused him to jump up from his odd, face-down position in the dirt to see the human woman was only a meter from him, briskly jogging to him and kneeling to help him to his feet, “Are you alright?”

As Venda took his arm and helped him up, Tobias managed a shrug that caused his shoulder to ache for some reason. Trying to dust himself off, he mumbled, “Been worse...”

At that, the first response Venda used was to roll her eyes. She didn’t let go of his arm, either, as Tobias was swaying slightly and she was sure he’d fall over without the support. This, however, she didn’t mention. Instead, Venda decided to address the problem, “It is important to slow down before stopping.”

It took a very long circle for Tobias’ head to look up and meet her somewhat critical gaze being leveled on him, but he did his best to keep a neutral look on his face, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

There was no sarcasm in his voice. If Tobias had more experience in another area of life, say...anything involving the social aspects of life, he would have inserted sarcasm there. But he was too much like Marix in that aspect, and while he damn well knew what sarcasm was, actually applying it to a situation was easier said than done. At least he tried, though...and there was no one to tell him that trying wasn’t good enough.

There was, however, no time for Venda to respond to that. The first thing Tobias noticed was her eyes go noticeably wider. Then, barely a second later, his did, too...because, he assumed at least, Tobias felt the same thing in the Force. A sharp, almost painful screaming of a non-voice in his head to tell him to _move right now!_

Venda didn’t just let go of his arm, but she pushed Tobias hard to the ground, diving the opposite direction at the same time. Twisting as he fell, Tobias watched a red blaster bolt fly right through the air they had occupied...and then he hit the ground hard enough for the wind to be knocked out of him.

While Venda was jumping up to her feet and identifying the direction of the attack, Tobias was on his back gasping for air and calming himself as best he could. Deeper instincts were helping him remorph the scrapes and bruises, and by the time they were gone, he could breathe again...though Tobias felt a bit light headed still.

_Snap-hiss!_

Tobias’ vision came back into focus to see Venda’s green lightsaber jolt back to life, turning their once-black surroundings into a dimly, green-lit area. Scrambling up to his feet, Tobias saw a blue light moving towards them.

Tokarr.

Of course it was Tokarr.

“The hell is he coming back for?!” Tobias grumbled as he pulled himself up to his feet and fumbled on his belt to remove the lightsaber yet again, “Wasn’t he running from us?”

Venda spared a glance to the younger Tobias and tried to not stare at the splotches of dirt stuck to his cheek and clumped all through his already-messy mass of black hair, “He has changed his mind, it would seem. Feel the Force...he is...unstable. We have to end this before he gets any further.”

Though he didn’t particularly like the sound of that, Tobias nodded. Then the Force was screaming again, and Tokarr’s form could be seen just meters away, blue lightsaber ablaze and up as he charged in.

Quickly, Venda took a step in front of Tobias, sweeping her green blade upwards and literally batting Tokarr’s downward strike back upwards. But that didn’t stop Tokarr’s forward momentum, and much like Tobias had done earlier, Tokarr kept moving...straight into Venda.

The Miraluka plowed into her shoulder first, and suddenly her back slammed into Tobias’ torso. He had a very short moment to be glad that he had yet to activate his own lightsaber, as it would cut Venda in two, before being dropped to the ground on his back...again.

While Venda fell to the side, she was up in a flash, as was Tokarr, who had dropped to the ground right at Tobias’ feet. Tokarr, too, was up quickly, and when Tobias looked up he could see a bright white flash as the two lightsabers collided again.

Thinking, for once, Tobias didn’t just jump to his feet and get in the middle of the two very deadly weapons. Instead, he crawled away just a couple of meters before pulling himself up. This gave Venda room to actually use her skills without worrying about cutting Tobias to pieces...and Tokarr...well...Tokarr didn’t seem to care who he cut.

Now on his feet, though, Tobias activated his own lightsaber. A blue-green blade shot to life as a perfect mix for the blue and the green that were already spinning, swinging, arcing, and colliding in front of him. It was an amazing light show in the dark, but a show it was not.

This had to end.

To protect others...it had to end.

The igniting of Tobias’ blade was enough to get Tokarr’s attention. The Miraluka had no eyes, but Tobias felt a slight focusing of the Force as he was ‘looked’ at. It faded slightly as Venda pressed an attack, and then Tobias made a decision.

With Tokarr being pushed to Tobias’ right, losing ground from his defensive position thanks to Venda’s superior lightsaber technique, the Miraluka had his hands full. So, Tobias took two steps to his right, then one large step forward as he brought his lightsaber across in a long, horizontal arc that would slash Tokarr straight across the back.

There was a flash of intense pressure in the Force that seemed to originate from Tokarr, and then, somehow, he ducked under a similar strike from Venda while at the same time shifting his blade to his flank and inverting it. The blue blade amazingly caught Tobias’ strike, despite the fact that Tokarr was, literally, holding the weapon over his shoulder. This surprise for Tobias was enough that Tokarr flipped his own blade upwards, throwing Tobias’ up and away and causing the young man to lose his footing.

But Tokarr’s swing wasn’t just a defensive strike.

He continued it, turning it into a long, vertical slash that was fast enough and close enough, thanks to Tobias’ sudden stopping of Tokarr’s retreat, to Venda that she had no way to pull her lightsaber back in to defend herself.

In a horrifying moment, Tobias’ eyes watched the blue lightsaber cut deep into Venda’s right shoulder, slice straight down her chest diagonally, then leave her body at the left hip. He could see a long, black scorch mark where the lightsaber had gone, but it was the cry of anguish and violent wracking of the Force from Venda that nearly caused Tobias to get sick.

Venda dropped to the ground without any more than that cry, her lightsaber falling off to the side and deactivating automatically thanks to its safety mechanism. Tokarr’s head spun around to look, eyelessly, straight at Tobias. A haunting sneer formed on the almost-human’s face, and then he started to run again. He ran south...farther south...like a coward...

And Tobias just stood there in shock. He could see, to his left, Venda on the ground, a slight smoke rising from the lightsaber wound and a disturbing feeling of emptiness in the Force from her. To his right, towards the south, he could see the blue lightsaber disappearing into the black of the Thyferran night.

She was dead.

He’d killed her.

And it was Tobias’ fault.

It was Tobias’ fault.

Part of him wanted to collapse to the ground there and just cry. He was still a child, so much younger than the years would say he was. Tobias did not understand why he people seemed to be so happy at death...and was left in shock at what had just happened in front of him because of it.

But there was another part of him that was taking control.

It told him that Tokarr was running away.

It told him that there was a city to the south.

And it forced him to make a decision.

A long, quivering breath escaped Tobias as the thrumming of his lightsaber continued at his side, and he managed to allow himself one more look at Venda. That was his fault. He’d tried to stop something with so little experience that he’d not thought about actually letting her handle it. And now she was dead. Now she was dead...

Tobias looked south, no longer able to see the blue lightsaber but able to feel the almost-tangible darkness that was most definitely Tokarr. And then, with a deep breath, Tobias drew the Force to himself...

And he ran south.


----------



## AKM

Awww crap... why Venda?


----------



## Angcuru

*WHAM* Critical hit.  That's the Vitality/Wounds system for you.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 519: Weakness*

The thing about most Mrrakesh, especially the commanders in their military, was that they were arrogant. They knew they were strong, fast, and powerful. They knew that there were few in the galaxy that were even close to a match for them. And they knew, with great assurance, that their neighbors the Alraxians were the weakest of the races around them, only containing strength in numbers that was easy to simply beat through.

Of course, most of this knowledge came from thousands of years of isolation. There hadn’t been a real war since the second Darkwing War, nearly four thousand years prior. So much could change in such a long period of time, even with a species as long lived as the Alraxians, that previous knowledge that was so old was not nearly as reliable the Mrrakesh simply assumed it was. It was a sort of racial pride. Obviously, the only reason the Mrrakesh lost the war was due to the Alraxians cowardly bringing in allies to save their tails...

That wasn’t true, either. In fact, even the Alraxian history of the wars was distorted by bias. The only true archive that recorded the events from a more neutral standpoint was on the Jendari homeworld, and it wasn’t exactly something they shared with anyone who walked up and asked for.

Put all this together, and now there was a new war. And everything was different...thanks to the new Alraxian Empress. While she had her own preconceived notions of the Mrrakesh, unlike most of them, Marix had, in fact, fought Mrrakesh in the recent days. She knew, truly knew, what she was up against. This Mrrakesh commander...he thought he knew. He likely convinced himself he knew...but he didn’t...

And Marix’s metal fist connecting with his jaw was the first hint that he was in over his head. The hard punch from the very solid fist spun the much larger Mrrakesh to his left and then him almost collapsing onto a nearby command console. While he was attempting to recover from the shock of such a strong blow, he got another. This time, though, it was a kick to the gut, causing him to completely double over and then hit the deck plates face first.

Deciding this needed to be ended immediately, Marix dropped down to simply snap the Mrrakesh’s neck. But, finally, the much larger creature acted. When her metal arm came around his neck to end the fight, the Mrrakesh grabbed it, then yanked her down onto the deck before she could brace herself.

The loud clang of her metal body slamming into the metal deck was deafening, and though Marix’s vision completely went away for a few seconds she could feel that the Mrrakesh hadn’t let go of her arm. In fact, while she had gone straight down, her arm had been twisted around behind her back as the Mrrakesh got to his feet. And then, not so surprisingly, the Mrrakesh used this to lift her off the ground and throw her across the bridge of the ship.

Marix’s vision returned mid-flight, just in time to see the rapidly approaching bulkhead.

There was another violently loud clang, and when it was over, only the sound of deep laughter could be heard. It took Marix’s rattled brain a few short moments to identify the voice and realize that it was the Mrrakesh. Of course it would be. He probably hadn’t even moved...just standing there like an idiot.

She shook her head in a futile attempt to get rid of the ringing that seemed to be coursing through all of her metal body, then dragged herself up onto her feet. And yes, right where she’d left him, was the Mrrakesh, laughing.

When the laughter stopped, a broad, toothy grin formed on the Mrrakesh’s lupine features, “Its been so long! This is exactly what I needed!”

Still gloating.

Alright, fine. This was not the time to be fancy or show off. It was what this Mrrakesh wanted. He wanted a so-called ‘good fight’. But Marix decided not to give him that. In fact, she was going to give him exactly what he didn’t want. A short, decisive end.

Again, Marix charged.

But this time, the Mrrakesh was ready, already in a rather elaborate looking defensive stance. When she got close, his foot shot out in a sudden kick, but Marix was alerted to it both from his stance and the somewhat annoying screaming of the Force. Just as his leg fired out at her, Marix dropped to the deck on one knee, head coming down low to avoid the strike that went well over thanks to her shortness and the fact that the Mrrakesh was nothing near short. 

Her momentum sent her a meter forward along with a loud, screeching of metal sliding on metal, and then Marix pushed herself upwards, arms raised. Her arms grabbed the outstretched leg of the Mrrakesh, and as they locked the leg into a vice-like grip, twisted the limb around in a way it was never designed to twist. The crack of the bone was gut-wrenching, but unfortunately for the Mrrakesh, Marix was still moving upwards and taking his leg with her.

In a flash, the huge Mrrakesh was on his back, right leg twisted almost completely around so that his foot was nearly facing behind him. Despite the very serious injury, the Mrrakesh was a fighter, and started to jump up. But Marix was faster than he was, and anticipating such a move. Finally letting go of his leg to let it fall to the side in an awkward position, she twisted her body to the side then stamped her leg down onto his rising chest with the force of a speeder.

Not only was the wind knocked out of the Mrrakesh, but at least a few of his ribs were broken, too. The kick also got a very satisfying half-cry, half-howl out of the Mrrakesh. And, of course, Marix wasn’t finished yet. Not playing at all anymore, deadly serious, she was not one to allow a window of opportunity to slide past. With her foe on his back, leg broken and breathing difficultly, Marix dropped down and once again took his large skull between her hands.

But then she did something almost out of character for her. There was a shimmering of form and instead of metal, flesh and blood held the skull of the Mrrakesh. Black strands of hair now fell in front of her face with white down her shoulders, as Marix’s silvery-violet eyes narrowed into a glare that could not be formed on metal.

Then she did something else unusual for her.

“You were right, Mrrakesh,” she spoke the words with a venom that could have poisoned a planet, “This is exactly what you needed.”

And then, half a minute later than she should have, Marix snapped his neck with all of her strength. The Mrrakesh’s eyes remained open even in death, wide open in shock. He’d died so quickly that he likely never had the chance to understand how wrong he’d been about the Alraxians. It was a lesson Marix didn’t care if he didn’t learn. The Mrrakesh had finally crossed the line. They had threatened her homeworld, her family, and her people...and there was not going to be any mercy anymore.

If Jyren were still alive, she would have considered it. He could have talked her down from such a dangerous position. But he wasn’t. Even the voice in her head that was distinctly his could do nothing. Jyren had died and left her alone. To make matters worse, now the Mrrakesh were trying to kill the rest of her family. Helpless children. Defenseless little children. And she wasn’t going to tolerate it anymore. Not only that, but Marix was going to make sure no one did.

[Hermes.] she could feel the ship near and so thought ‘at’ him as the feeling grew closer. [Send word to the Jendari I have the bridge of this ship.]

[On it.] the ship sounded distracted, as he likely was, but he did add quickly. [The other Mrrakesh ships are still descending towards Alraxia.]

Through the viewport ahead of her, Marix could see them. The two long, bulky ships not far ahead of the one she was aboard. Her eyes quickly scanned the empty bridge as she looked at the various consoles. [Tell the Jendari to focus this fire on the ship closest to the surface. Bring it down before it can cause any damage. I’ll deal with the other one.]

And she would. The Mrrakesh wouldn’t expect their own ship to fire on them, and it was unlikely that a sudden barrage from behind could be defended against quickly enough. And if Marix had to, she’d board every damned Mrrakesh ship and kill them all. They’d gone too far, and it was time to show them that the Alraxians were not the weak little felines that the Mrrakesh thought they were.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 520: Snapped*

Descending into Alraxia’s atmosphere was a tactic that could very well have been a sound one. The Mrrakesh were banking on the fact that it was the Alraxian homeworld and they wouldn’t dare shoot down ships so close to the surface, for fear of damaging their beloved homeworld. There was a reason Alraxia had been kept so very secret for thousands of years. So, logically, it was the perfect shield.

And, to a point, it was a very sound plan. Even despite the anger clouding at least some of her judgement, Marix wasn’t about to risk Alraxia. Of course, they weren’t over the surface yet...and there was at least a few more minutes to take the two other Mrrakesh cruisers out without damaging the planet’s surface. Marix didn’t want to consider what she would do if they did get far enough down that the debris would damage the surface, as she would likely still have to destroy them and then deal with the consequences of that later. Compared to two fully loaded Mrrakesh cruisers on the ground in tact, it was a preferable to have them in pieces...but still...

Immediately after speaking with Hermes, she had gone about the task of figuring out the command consoles. The first thing she searched for was a way to seal off the bridge. The Mrrakesh wouldn’t expect their commander to have fallen, but if there wasn’t an appearance by him soon, they’d have a look. Thankfully, though, the door seals were right where most sensible people installed them...next to the door.

It had taken only a short time for her to decipher the various symbols on the panel that was twice the size of her hand. Shortly after, there was a loud clunk to her side and the door was sealed from the inside. She truly did love using those kind of security measures against the exact people they were supposed to protect.

The next task was accompanied by muffled growls and banging on the door as the Mrrakesh tried to break in, realizing something was wrong. But that was easily ignored, as the bulkhead would have been designed against Mrrakesh strength. It wasn’t as if there weren’t internal struggles amongst the Mrrakesh Combine. Marix wouldn’t have to think about that door for a while, at least, and by the time that came around...she’d be done.

It was also relatively easy to find the sensor display, which was Marix’s next task. It showed her exactly what she wanted to see: the Jendari ships were in firing range, coming around in a move to literally cut off the two advancing Mrrakesh cruisers. Looking out the viewport, Marix could see the thrusters of both of the other ships in ahead.

In another moment, blue bolts of energy could be seen streaking past the ships. The Jendari were firing already. Even better. Marix quickly went about finding the cruiser’s weapon systems, and after a short search, found the correct console. It took some time to actually aim the forward batteries, but when she’d gotten the feel of them, Marix simply targeted the nearest of the two other Mrrakesh ships and let loose a volley of green fire.

The rear shields of that ship must have already been weakened, as there was a sudden, blinding, white flash before the entire cruiser broke apart. Punching through the shields then detonating the engines which took the rest of the ship with it. Perfect. 

But as she was aiming for the second Mrrakesh cruiser, Marix ran into a slightly problem. The commander of that vessel seemed to be aware enough to have figured out what had just happened, and was beginning to pull his ship around to port and bring most of its batteries to bear on Marix’s commandeered ship. The movement of the ship, despite making it a very large target, threw Marix off and made it that much more difficult to aim the single battery that Marix had under her control.

She fired anyway, almost blindly, hoping something would hit. At least one blast did get through the cruiser’s shields, but did very little damage to its thick hull. And it was returning fire now, a huge barrage of green shooting at Marix’s cruiser. Most missed, thanks to the smaller target, but enough hit to cause the entire ship to jolt violently and for alarms to start screaming. Unsure of how to turn them off, she just ignored them and continued firing while her ship continued its forward course, moving it to just ram th thing if she had to.

And then a volley of blue energy blasts impacted the topside of the Mrrakesh cruiser, pelting the shields and causing minor damage...but also presenting a second target. Turrets began to shift to aim towards the Jendari ship and return fire, but unlike the Mrrakesh cruisers, the Jendari ships were fast. It was diving down from above, cutting like a knife in between the cruiser and Alraxia below, firing all the while.

Then, suddenly, flames erupted from the far side of the Mrrakesh ship, and in a matter of seconds the entire ship broke apart in flames. The debris and dying flames made it difficult to see, but Marix watched two of the Jendari ships cross paths in opposite directions. They were good...

Her focus shifting again, Marix turned to her right to the pilot’s console, immediately cutting the thrusters and trying to bring the ship into a stable orbit rather than the somewhat steep descent into Alraxia’ atmosphere. That, alone, took more time than she’d have liked, as the door was starting to make some odd sounds behind her...they were getting through.

But, reminding herself why she wasn’t a pilot, Marix still managed to right the ship and slow it down. With that done, she turned to the sealed door, which was glowing a very slight red near its center. Cutting tools. There definitely wasn’t much more time. Loki should be coming in to dock again, and knowing him, he’d complain the entire time.

So she’d have to get through the Mrrakesh and get all the way back down again. Of course, there was a way beyond simply fighting through it. She could sabotage the environmental controls and simply send all the Mrrakesh out into space...or at least leave them to die. But then getting to the docking tube would be...interesting. Marix could do it, though. Certain species could live in a vacuum for short periods of time.

“Marix.”

It was a voice behind her. It was a voice she knew immediately...and it wasn’t the Mrrakesh.

Her blood ran cold at that sound, not from fear, but from shock. She’d never forget that voice. But she hadn’t heard it in...over a decade. And it was one that Marix had never, ever expected to hear again.

Suddenly, the Mrrakesh breaking through the bulkhead didn’t matter anymore. She was going crazy. Finally, she’d lost it. Marix was sure of that now. Completely sure of it. There was no other explanation. She’d cracked...that was it...

“Marix,” the voice was calm, friendly, and had a slight hint of a Coruscanti accent to it, “Marix, look at me.”

She didn’t turn around. Instead, Marix’s eyes continued to stare intently forward. Despite this, she spoke loudly enough that anyone, or anything, behind her could hear clearly, “There is nothing for me to look at. You are not there.”

“Marix...” always saying her name, “You are close to crossing a line, Marix. I don’t want to see you do that. None of us do.”

It was more than the voice. There was a feeling in the Force itself that was getting under her skin worse than the all-too-familiar voice that should not have been behind her or anywhere near her! Gritting her teeth, Marix stared intently forward at the pieces of the door that were beginning to crumble. That was where she had to focus.

The Mrrakesh.

They would come in already prepared to fight...and not one at a time. She would be overwhelmed. She would have to fight all of them at once...the entire bridge crew. And Marix would do it and she would win. She would kill every single one of them. Every one of those damned Mrrakesh were going to die for what they’d done and were trying to do again.

No one...no one threatened her children.

“You cannot do this, Marix,” the voice was still there, echoing off the walls as if it were real despite the fact that Marix knew it couldn’t be. Knew it wasn’t... “Look at me, Marix. Look at me and tell me you have no choice. Turn around and say that to me and I will go away.”

Something in that voice, in the tones it was using, in the way the Force flowed with the words...something in that finally caused Marix to do something very rare for her: she snapped.

“You are dead!” Marix screamed at the top of her lungs, spinning around and extending a finger to point accusingly at the source of the voice, “You have been dead and you will remain dead! You are not there! Whoever you are...whatever you are, get out of my head!!”

The stoic human showed no change in posture as Marix assumed a combative posture. But no, it wasn’t a human. Humans weren’t see-through and slightly blue in colour. Marix didn’t need to see him to know who it was. The voice was enough...but something in the way stood, that damned military stance of pure calm despite the fact that she could tear him limb from limb! Something about that made it even worse!

And then, still perfectly calm, the ‘human’ said, “We don’t want to see you do this. We know you are better than this, Marix...stronger than this. We’ve seen it with our own eyes.”

“You are dead!” she yelled at the figure again, as if repeating the words might have some affect. It didn’t, and that made Marix even more furious. Her voice began to shake as words escaped her that barely even made sense to her, “Where were you years ago?! Where were you when Jen died?! When Jyren died! Where were you?!”

For a very long moment, all that could be heard was Marix’s heavy breathing and the grinding against the door behind her. Then, very slowly but in his perfectly calm, reasoned voice, Titus Voort said, “Tell me you don’t have a choice but to slaughter them all.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 521: Jedi*

Both Rulae and Adria were running as fast as they could to catch up to Rea, especially at hearing the last communication from her. There was a dim light ahead that pointed to her location, the single glowrod she had in her possession. Neither of them said anything, and the comm was silent. Finding a body was the first clue to what they were looking for...and not exactly one they wanted to find, either.

It wasn’t long before they reached the Twi’lek. She was kneeling in the short, slightly damp grass almost directly in front of them. As soon as they got close, a distinct smell could be detected in the air. It hinted at burnt flesh, and when both Adria and Rulae saw the body in front of Rea, they knew why.

Lying there, face up and slightly twisted from what looked to be a painful fall, was a human woman. She had likely been about thirty or so standard years old, and had dirtied blond hair that was pulled back out of her face. Across her body, from shoulder to hip, was a long, black scorch mark. It didn’t look to go deep, but it was definitely a burn.

“Its just like what we saw in the shuttle, sir,” Rea said quietly, dutifully not touching the body. From the way she was kneeling, it was likely she’d done her best not to disturb the area at all.

Rulae nodded as he looked down at the wound, “Lightsaber again.”

“Sir,” Adria started to move towards her left, then knelt down not far from the body and picked up a small, metal object, “I think there’s more than one Jedi here.”

She was holding a lightsaber hilt.

Immediately, Rea was turning to look to him for an answer. Sadly, Rulae didn’t really have one. This was all starting to become far more complicated than he liked. Getting the Jedi involved was one thing, but now there was a dead Jedi. That wasn’t going to help the situation at all. Tensions were high enough already with the Jedi thanks to them taking much of the blame for the failures in the war.

Quickly, Rulae made a decision, “On your feet, Officer Lor. We’re going to keep following this path,” he motioned to the fact that the grass still very easily revealed boot prints, “Harken. Take her back to the shuttle and see if you can find a medkit.”

“Commodore, I’m fairly sure she’s dead...” Adria trailed off.

The sentence was enough to cause him to stop and think. As a pilot, when someone was dead, they were dead. The ship exploded and they were gone. There was no body. They were just...gone. Here, though. Here, there was a body, and Rulae wasn’t exactly sure what could be done.

“Just find out whatever you can,” he repeated, then motioned for Rea to get moving, “I expect the Jedi will want to identify her as it is.”

* * * *​ 
Run.

Catch him.

Get to him now.

Faster!

Run!

All of Tobias ached. His entire body from the short combat, his legs from the constant running, his face from the sudden stop he’d made earlier, and all of his mind as it watched Tokarr’s blue lightsaber blade cut through Venda over and over and over again. But Tobias fought through the ache. He fought through it thanks to the blue glow up ahead, never growing larger but not getting away, either.

But there were other lights, too.

It was dark, now, very dark. And off to the south, beyond the tiny blue glow that was Tokarr’s active lightsaber, was a faint collection of yellow and orange. It was a city. A city in the distance...a city with people. Thousands of thousands of people.

By now, nothing mattered but stopping Tokarr. He had completely lost his mind, that much was obvious. Driven mad by the Dark Side, by his own ambition, or simply the kind of person that was always right on the edge, it didn’t matter. What did matter was that Tokarr was prepared to kill anyone that got in his way...and, from what Tobias could tell, anyone Tokarr could see with his Force-based vision seemed to be considered an enemy. There was no rational thought anymore, only a hate-fueled determination.

And Tobias had to stop him.

Gods, this was insane!

He was just a kid! Most Alraxians his age were in school, still growing up and not even thinking about matters of life and death! They wouldn’t even be able to comprehend most of the things he was dealing with! Most Alraxians...

Tobias’ mind trailed off a moment, then violently latched onto a sudden, but extremely important thought.

Alraxian.

Working that together with a few other stray ideas, Tobias nearly screamed in laughter. But, thankfully for his own sanity, he didn’t. Instead, he began to morph, mid-run. It was an awkward process as one gained extra muscles that humans didn’t have, but he had gotten good enough now that something as simple as running could be combined with something as complicated as morphing his entire physical body without falling on his face.

And then he was running faster. Of course he was running faster! Alraxians were naturally faster than humans. They were built for speed and versatility! With the help of the Force, Tobias was sprinting even faster, and the light in front of him began to grow. Miraluka were definitely near human. It seemed that the only real difference was in the lack of eyes. Good. That meant Tobias would be able to catch up to him in just a few moments...

Now, Tobias’ sharper vision could see that the blue light was moving up and down as Tokarr ran. But then, almost suddenly, the movement stopped and the blade spun around. Tokarr knew he was coming..

Fine.

His own lightsaber in hand, Tobias raised the thrumming blue-green blade in front of him as he ran at full speed to the rapidly glowing light ahead. Soon, he could see Tokarr standing there, feet planted firmly and blade up and ready. There was even a smirk on his face.

But the smirk soon faded into a surprised expression. It took only seconds for Tobias to reach the suddenly, confused Miraluka, lightsaber already swinging in towards Tokarr’s left side. Instead of parrying the blade, however, Tokarr ducked completely under the strike and spun to his left, allowing Tobias to charge right past.

Stopping himself, this time without hitting the ground face first, Tobias spun around and kept his lightsaber up and ready. But Tokarr didn’t charge in and attack. In fact, the Miraluka was just standing there, eyeless face staring in shock in Tobias’ direction, with an intense focus of the Force around him radiating confusion.

And Tobias knew why.

“Not what you expected?” one thing Tobias had been told all his life was not to gloat, especially not in a fight. Marix had pounded that into him. Of course, Jyren had always quietly told him it was okay to have a little fun...and of the two, Tobias had a habit of listening to Jyren more than Marix. It wasn’t the smartest of things, but Tobias didn’t really learn.

“What are you?!” Tokarr sounded as shocked as the Force around him was radiating.

Tobias shrugged and his tail behind him flicked just slightly as it helped him to find his balance thanks to a slightly different center of gravity, “Not what. Who. And the answer to that is very simple. I’m the one who’s going to stop you from hurting anyone else.”

Despite the confusion surrounding Tokarr, those last words found a way of focusing him. Soon, Tokarr was unreadable, both on his face and through the Force. He adopted a much more experience combat stance that protect his entire body rather than just his front, and looked up at Tobias with only the Force, “We’ll see about that.”

Then Tokarr charged.


----------



## AnonymousOne

Yay!  Tobias finally grows some balls!  Let's hope he doesn't go Dark... :\

It seems foolish not to use every available advantage one has against an opponent.  I understand his desire to be human, or to be at least be able to proficient when operating as a human, but his actions up until now have been damn near moronic.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 522: Rational Thoughts*

“If I don’t deal with them right this moment they’ll kill me!” Marix snarled at the vaguely transparent image of the long-dead Titus Voort. Why she was explaining this to a dead man, she didn’t know, but the rational part of Marix’s mind was currently a small voice that wasn’t being listened to.

But Voort simply tilted his head slightly and continued to stare blankly at her, “There is no turning back from pointless slaughter, Marix. Killing is one thing, but you very well know these Mrrakesh are out of the fight.”

A loud thud from behind caused Marix to look over her shoulder. Thankfully, the bulkhead had only buckled inwards slightly, and not completely broken open. The Mrrakesh would be through it soon, though. She didn’t have time for this...

“No, you don’t have time for this at all,” Voort said in that infuriatingly calm voice.

“Stop! Stop...doing that!” Marix yelled at him, spinning back to deliver a glare that, quite literally, went right through him.

In a move that was odd for someone that was dead, not real, and definitely a sign that Marix was losing her mind, Voort shifted his weight and crossed his arms across his chest, “This is your choice to make, Marix, I cannot stop you from making it. But I can ask you to consider what you’re deciding. For the sake of yourself and for Jyren...can you truly begin on a path of genocide?”

Marix stared at him. At least four different answers formed in her mouth while another thousand were being worked out in her mind. But then, almost suddenly like a targeting computer locking on, her mind focused to a single word, “Jyren?! How the hells do you know that was his name? You were dead already!”

Somehow, it made matters worse that Voort simply shrugged and said, “You trust the Force, Marix. Trust what its trying to tell you, and please listen to me. This is not a path you want to follow, nor is it a path we can watch you go down...not after all you have been through already. But, Marix, I cannot make you act on anything. I can only try to help you realize the severity of this moment. And remind you that there are people that still need you.”

[Marix!] Loki’s voice cut into her mind at such a high pitch that she was forced to grit her teeth.

Through the Force, she could feel her old friend flying in close. Immediately the importance of the fact that she was stuck on the bridge with the only exit blocked by a great deal of Mrrakesh in a very small area came to mind. That would be pushing her luck to go through it. And they would be in soon...but she had to get off the ship. Simply cutting off the life support to the rest of the ship wouldn’t solve that problem. It was unlikely she could survive long enough to get to the docking tube, and besides there were likely backup systems in place to prevent just such an action.

Rational thought was working at lightning speed now, but while it did, her focus shifted in front of her again. And Marix saw nothing. 

Well, no, Marix saw two consoles and the viewport, with space and a corner of Alraxia beyond. She did not see, however, the image of Titus Voort. She didn’t feel it either. Typical. Damn him! Damn...whatever that actually was!

But then, in staring out of the viewport, an idea came to mind.

It was crazy.

No, it was absolutely and utterly insane.

It was so completely insane that it was the kind of idea that would work, too. At least, that’s what Jyren would have told her.

[Loki!] Marix finally responded, though she quickly realized that it had only been a few short seconds since the ship had found her again. [Can you see the bridge of this ship?]

[Uhh...yes. Why?] for good reason, Loki was confused. But despite the confusion, in a matter of moments, Marix saw his distinct form out of the viewport a few kilometers out.

For some reason, she pointed at him. He couldn’t see it, but she did it anyway. [Just stay right there. Get a good lock on me and don’t lose that.]

There wasn’t so much a pause as a long, uneasy sound from Loki that echoed in her mind. After it had settled as a sort of white noise, Loki decided to actually use words. [Should I be worried?]

[Not if you do exactly what I just told you.] Marix sent back to him, turning to look at the bulkhead again. It was still holding, but buckled inwards at such an angle that the Mrrakesh had to have been hitting it with something extremely forcefully. If it didn’t hold now, it wasn’t her fault.

A short dash across the bridge took her to the fallen Mrrakesh commander. Marix dropped to one knee beside him, ignore the hair that got in her face, and rummaged through his armour as quickly as she could. Almost immediately she found what she was looking for, or at least something that was close enough to work.

Retrieving five of the small, square explosive charges from a section of his bandoleer, which seemed to have an unnecessary amount of ammunition and other weapons attached to it, Marix got to her feet again and darted to the viewport. The large, rectangular viewport was about five meters wide, and maybe six or seven high. Technically it was small, but that was because most of the flying and shooting was done completely be computers and direct visuals weren’t really needed.

As quickly as she could, knowing that the Mrrakesh would break through soon and make this a whole lot more difficult, Marix attached the charges as evenly across the viewport as she could. If the material the Mrrakesh used was anything like the glassteel that the rest of the galaxy used, it would take all five charges just to weaken the thing. But that was fine. All she needed to do was weaken it. Marix knew that she could do the rest herself.

The last charge set in place, Marix found the operating mechanism and, after reminding herself how to read the Mrrakesh numerical system, set it to a ten second timer. The explosion would hopefully be enough to detonate all four others...without being so huge as to kill Marix in the process. Ten seconds was enough.

Then, with a very gentle touch for some reason, Marix hit the button to arm the weapon and start the timer. Her finger was yanked away from the charge by her body sprinting the other direction. Mid-sprint, her body also began to change its form. By the time she’d reached the opposite bulkhead at the other end of the bridge, Marix’s entire body was metal again.

And then the charge detonated.

Intelligently, she had turned away. Shrapnel likely wouldn’t kill her, if there was any, but it was always a good idea to be ready...metal or not. Marix’s hearing was drowned out by the four other charges going off at nearly the same time, causing the entire bridge to shake with enough violence to drop her to her knees.

When the sounds of the explosions faded, she heard two others. One was a constant, high-pitched scream of the alarms the explosion had set off. That was expected, but not what she wanted. It was the second sound, the loud, hard clamping of metal slamming into metal, that would have made Marix smile had she not been metal.

Looking up to the bridge’s entrance just to her side, Marix could see emergency blast doors had closed over it. Perfect! She turned to look at the viewport, and could see it was cracked, dented, and darkened from the explosions. It was definitely weak. And...and there was a sound. It was soft, almost inaudible, but just enough to be heard under the alarms: hissing of air. Oxygen was leaking out of the bridge.

Perfect!

It had worked. By the Force, it had worked!

Again, the rational, still-sane part of Marix took control and reminder her that she was now in a bridge, completely sealed in with the oxygen leaking out. The rest of her looked at the rational side, nodded politely, and told it to please get the hell out because things were fine and it was worrying too much.

At about that moment, Marix stood up completely, looked to the damaged viewport, and charged at it full speed.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 523: Of Flash*

To most of the galaxy, thinking of a lightsaber brought about images of Jedi Knights and similar, related things. The Force, the ideals of the Order, and the fluid, elegant, and definitely flashy style of combat the weapons always seemed to be involved in. It was the last of which that was likely the most common. When someone thought of a lightsaber, when they thought of the Jedi wielding it in combat, it was a graceful and a very unique sight.

Of course, most of these people were also thinking about fully trained Jedi Knights fighting against other, similarly trained, opponents. In those cases, yes, a lightsaber duel was a flashy, amazing, and graceful dance of sorts. It was exactly what little children dreaming to be Jedi one day would see in their minds eye. And it was reality for a great many Jedi.

For a month-long-trained apprentice and a barely-trained dropout from the Academy, this was in no way, shape, or form, the case. Well, except for the flashiness, but it was a different kind of flashy. Where a duel with trained combatants was flashy, this was due to the use of the Force to perform amazing acrobatic feats and last-second parries to turn a fight around.

But for Tobias and Tokarr, flashy could only be used because it was night, they were outside, and the lightsaber blades were the only sources of light beyond the few stars above them. It was not a word relating to style, but to the light, itself. This was because neither Tobias nor Tokarr had any real training in lightsaber technique. It was one thing to hold a weapon and swing it, it was another to actually know what to do with the weapon when confronted with an opponent.

A flash of blue across his face was enough of a warning for Tobias that he didn’t need the Force yelling at him to move, even though it was. He twisted his body awkwardly to the side, letting the reckless, poorly aimed downward swing simply cut straight through air he very-nearly occupied, then tried to do what Jyren had taught him in the few lessons Tobias had received: use a missed attack to force the opponent onto the defensive.

It was a sound theory, but putting it to work ran into a complication he had no expected. Namely, his sidestep to get out of the way caused his legs to cross so that when Tobias began to pull his arms around to swing his own lightsaber, he completely lost his footing thanks to an odd stance, and momentum took him down onto the grass below him.

A sharp, almost blinding pain arced up through his body as he landed on his tail, and Tobias found himself cursing being Alraxian. A second later, though, when his ears caught a sound and the Force began screaming, Tobias was thanking his fast reflexes and strong senses when he rolled out of the way of another swing and was able to bound up onto his feet in one quickly motion. The fact that he landed on unsteady feet was a minor difficulty he chose to ignore for the moment.

Sadly, the importance of strong footwork was not exactly something most young apprentices even considered when lightsabers came to mind.

The Miraluka shifted his weight slightly, as the strike at the ground had nearly thrown him down face first, then charged at Tobias again, a determined expression on his eyeless face. Tobias’ eyes watched his opponent’s blade, seeing the blue weapon coming in low and towards his left side. Trying his best, Tobias swung his own blue-green lightsaber in a downward arc and, to his surprise and happiness, actually batted the attack away.

The joy ended, though, when Tokarr slammed into him head on. For once, however, Tobias didn’t find himself landing on his backside...or tail. Despite still being quite young, he was still stronger and a bit large of build than his attacker, and was able to stay upright, if a bit unstable, rather than fall to the ground. Tokarr, however, was essentially a human with an altered physiology, and so was a great deal less...solid than Tobias.

There was a loud thud, a pair of grunts, and then a third grunt as Tokarr hit the ground...and then the fizzling of a lightsaber. Despite the impact, Tobias had managed to follow his opponents lightsaber; not through sight, as his vision had gone slightly blurry, but through sound. It had gone far more to the left than it would have if Tokarr was still holding it...and the sound was definitely from the weapon deactivating due to its safety mechanism. Which meant...

Tobias’ vision came back into focus in time to see Tokarr still on the ground, preparing to scramble for the lightsaber hilt that could be seen, just slightly, a couple of meters away. Quickly, Tobias brought his own lightsaber down so that the point of it was very, very close to Tokarr’s face.

“Don’t,” Tobias said, almost pleading. There was no way to read the look in Tokarr’s eyes, as he had none, but he wasn’t exactly hiding his feelings through the Force. All of the Miraluka resonated with fierce anger and determination.

But despite having no eyes, Tokarr had a way of focusing his Force-vision so that it really felt like he was looking at...no, right into Tobias. The intensity caused Tobias to feel uneasy again, the cold determination that Marix had always told him was necessary fading away into a more normal reaction for someone his age...fear.

And Tokarr felt it.

“Do it.”

Two words, but Tokarr spoke them in just the right way. He wasn’t begging, he wasn’t pleading, he was ordering. Maybe the Force was laced through the words, but that was doubtful. Tokarr wasn’t skilled enough for that...or shouldn’t have been. But somehow, the tone was just the right way to cause Tobias to act before his brain could get a word in.

He pulled the weapon back, then reversed the motion to take Tokarr’s head off.

At that exact moment, Tobias’ brain caught up, screaming and waving at the rest of him to get the attention it swore it deserved.

The jerk of Tobias’ hands could very well have been enough to continue the weapon through its intended target, but it didn’t. Somehow, some part of Tobias managed to hold his arms just steady enough when they were forced to a sudden stop just centimeters from Tokarr’s neck.

For a long few seconds, Tobias stared down at the scene below him, eyes wide with shock.

He’d nearly just killed this Miraluka.

He was still so very close to finishing it.

But...

“No.”

...but no matter what Marix taught him, tried to grind into him, Tobias was too much like Jyren.

Tobias shook his head, the blue stripe in his jet-black hair getting lost and becoming more a mess than a stripe, then pulled his weapon away and let it simply hang with his arm at his left side. In a voice that was gaining a bit more confidence, he said, “I won’t kill you. Its not the right thing to do.”

Jyren would have been proud of him.

Marix would have been strangling him.

But Tobias had done what, in the end, both of his parents, and Master Ral, had taught him to do: trust his feelings. And they told him that no matter what this Miraluka had done, it wasn’t right to kill him. No matter the lives Tokarr Anansin took, Tobias was not his executioner. To make that choice would make Tobias no better than Tokarr.

Sadly, this kind of idealism was something that rarely worked out as planned. And while Jyren had lived with it for years, even coming to expect things to go wrong despite his choice, this was all still very new to Tobias. He really only had stories and his own personal feelings to work from. By those logics, it was over, and Tokarr would agree to what had been said and surrender.

Tobias’ first real, true wake up call to the way the galaxy worked hit in that moment, when Tokarr’s leg swiped both of Tobias’ out from under him. The young Alraxian hit the ground on his side, surprise at the sudden attack gripping him and causing his body to freeze for a half second. When he got control again and turned to the sound of rapid footsteps, Tobias saw the Miraluka sprinting through the darkness straight for his lightsaber.

And then, just as suddenly as Tokarr’s attack, three bright red blaster bolts cut through the air. The first went right over Tokarr’s head, but the second hit him in his left shoulder, spinning him around so that the third bolt struck him square in the chest and dropped him to the dirt one final time.

Before Tobias could figure out what was really going on, his ears detected two sets of rapid footsteps growing closer, and so he shifted around again to see two figures quickly approaching, both with blasters raised and obviously ready to fire. Even with his Alraxian eyes that worked quite well in the dark, he couldn’t seem to make them out...then...

“Tobias?!”

The voice he knew. The voice was one of the last ones he’d expected to have heard. When the Twi’lek pilot, Rea, came into view, Tobias was still on the ground, just staring in shock and not at all sure what was going on anymore. When he saw the Duros, Rulae something or other, a moment later, that didn’t help. Tobias opened his mouth multiple times as the two blue-skinned humanoids moved towards him at a much slower pace, but could never really find words to speak.

Adrenaline was fading, and slowly things began to catch up to him. As the two starfighter pilots asked him questions he didn’t really hear while helping him to his feet, Tobias finally formed a coherent sentence, “Venda...did you find her? Did you find her body? Is she really...she really...is she...dead...?”



Apologies for the lack of updates at all for the past week or so. Its been crazy. Here's hoping I can work into a schedule of sorts again. Ugh to studio work.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 524: Word Choice*

[That was extremely stupid.]

Marix, who was currently standing in one of the many courtyards that littered the flower-like Palace on Alraxia, glanced over her shoulder to where Loki had set down. It was, technically, a landing pad, but most of the galaxy would have just seen a patch of grass. Of course, it was a patch of grass. In fact, all of the courtyard was. There was no duracrete or even stone, just a healthy looking layer of dark green, Alraxian grass.

Even though Loki had no eyes or ears or a mouth or anything similar, she stared at him as if he did, holding a gaze for a moment that wasn’t really even there. After it faded, Marix turned to look down across the other sections of the Palace below and the many Alraxians that were moving about all over.

[I know.]

Her response was a bit off, her distraction not too hard to read in her voice. Of course, there was also a great deal of annoyance. Marix damn well knew how stupid that had been. It was exactly like something Jyren would have done...and then, when she found him after, she’d strangle him. Except there wasn’t anyone to strangle her or even really yell at her. Loki wouldn’t do anything more than he had already.

Truthfully, most of what had happened had become a blur of movement. Charging the already damaged viewport had the desired effect, opening up the entire bridge to the vacuum of space and literally sending her flying out. Apparently, Loki caught her, as he was getting good at catching floating people now, but Marix didn’t really remember it. She hadn’t lost consciousness, but even in her metal body, the vacuum of space was dampening and dangerous...not to mention the fact that she was spinning and twirling and flying in such a random way that she couldn’t have seen anything anyway.

But it had worked.

Marix knew it would. It was just a short, survivable amount of time exposed to the dangerous nothing of space, with her unique body able to keep the vacuum out for just long enough.

But still...

Loki did what he was best at and quickly cut back into her thoughts. [Why did you do that, anyway?]

She’d spouted orders at him to relay to the Jendari the second she was able to speak again, but there hadn’t been time for questions like the ones he was asking now. Marix had been too busy trying to figure out what to do, while receiving information about the other battles from Mrrakesh that had pushed through the border.

Thankfully, the Jendari ships had proved to be the deterrent that was needed. All of the Mrrakesh ships were either destroyed or pushed back. Even the humans near the border put up a strong fight until the Jendari arrived to help turn the tide. It was what Marix expected would happen, of course, but it wasn’t the immediate success that was the real concern. The concern was what would happen next, especially now that the Jendari had shown at least a part of their hand.

“I really don’t know,” Marix said quietly, finally answering Loki’s question. A few more moments passed, then she realized he hadn’t heard her because he was twenty meters behind her and not at all within hearing range.

So, she tried again, this time using a way that he would be able to hear, and Marix explained to him as clearly as she could. Saying it all made her feel even more crazy.

Voort had been dead for well over a decade, why appear now? Why say things like he did? And how in the name of the Force did he know Jyren’s real name?! He’d been dead before that had happened! At least...two months dead!

[Marix...] Loki had obviously noticed her drifting off after she’d explained what had happened. [Are you absolutely sure Voort said ‘we’?]

That stopped her. Immediately, she ran the events that had barely occurred an hour ago through her head. Yes. He had said ‘we’. Actually, why was that important? If he was dead, of course he’d say ‘we’. It wasn’t like Voort was the only one ever to die. So, for the sake of argument, if one person could exist in an afterlife, whatever form it took, of course others would.

But...

“For the sake of yourself and for Jyren...” Marix repeated the words very slowly and quietly, trying not to look crazy to the Knights around her or the various other Alraxians trying to clean things up. Something about that sentence felt odd. Maybe it was because of the ‘we’ using constantly before. But if...

There was a flash of something through the Force, a familiar feeling of someone nearby. Hope crept into Marix’s mind and she spun around, half-expecting to see Jyren smiling like an idiot at her. Instead, though, she saw the Redstar, Neasa Blackflame, approaching. As always, the Alraxian woman had a calm air about her, belying any worries that might be hidden beneath. 

Upon reaching Marix, the Redstar bowed respectfully. But as she stood up, instead of saying whatever it is she was going to say, Marix lashed out and grabbed the woman by the right arm very forcefully. It surprised the smaller Alraxian woman, but worry then took over when Marix looked her in the eyes and asked forcefully, “Did we ever search the Gateway after the battle there?!”

One thing that Marix had always like about this woman from Jyren’s clan was that she was able to keep a cool exterior under pressure. It was impossible to tell when she was shaken up. True to her usual form, Neasa managed to keep a calm look on her face while she tried to work out just where that question had come from. Once the dots were put together, although vaguely, the Redstar ventured a careful attempt at a response, “I believe so, my lady.”

“Don’t start with the formal titles,” Marix grumbled, releasing the other woman’s arm as suddenly as she’d grabbed it and turning around to look out over the horizon again. Over her shoulder, she mumbled, “How well did we check it?”

“I am unsure,” she was careful not to use any formalities now, though a pause in the Redstar’s speech pattern hinted at where one would have gone, “At the time I was with your brother on the Jendari homeworld.”

More to herself than anyone around her, Marix nodded. Yes, but...who would know? Who would know the search? They did one! They found nothing in the wreckage. No sign of anything. Just lots of nothing. The New Republic had, too. They’d found some pilots still alive, some other survivors from that doomed ship, but not Jyren. No one had found anything. And yet...

“Why didn’t he just say me?” still talking to herself, trying to figure it all out, Marix didn’t seem to notice that she was being carefully watch by, of all people, a well trained doctor. This realization began to dawn and quickly, Marix put on her old neutral exterior, forcing the questions away as there was obviously something important.

Turning around to face Neasa again, Marix was suddenly a completely different woman, even her voice sounding more formal and stronger than it had just moments earlier, “You needed something?”

“Ah...yes, my lady,” ever the intelligent woman, Neasa had changed her own tone again to adapt to this change before her, “The Jendari send word that the system is clear and we are safe. They would like to speak with you. All they would tell me is that they have important information to share.”

They always had important information. It was the sharing part that was hard to get going. The Jendari would only do something like that if there was a problem, or was soon going to be one.

With an inner sigh that was not even hinted at by her exterior self, Marix nodded and then headed for Loki without another word. Business now. There were important things to deal with. She would have to worry about...about other things later. Later when there was time. Later if there was time.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 525: One Last Goodbye*

Marix stood there, in the large, open chamber that was technically a sort of throne room within the Palace, but a place she’d only entered once or twice since becoming Empress. In fact, while she may have walked through it here and there to get someplace quick. The last time she was really in the room, for anything official like it was meant to be used for, was back when her parents were still alive. It was the day that she and, at the time, Akan had been called there by her mother with something important. That something important had been Jyren’s father, standing to the side of the throne, almost exactly where Marix stood now.

She couldn’t bring herself to sit in that chair.

Standing just a few meters away were five Jendari, two of them captains of the ships that had arrived during the battle, with three others who looked to be other officer types from the similar uniforms they wore. Of the five, one stood up front, speaking for them all as the Jendari usually did in groups. This Jendari was female, with a slight build like most of her kind, and very interesting looking almost-feathers that trailed down from the top of her head down her spine before being covered by the uniform she wore. A pair of bright green eyes watched Marix, with a surprisingly sad look in them for a usually neutral species.

But Marix knew why all of them Jendari held the same look.

When she had called them down to meet with them, they’d suggested this very room. Now, they’d stood in relative silence after greetings and a short report of the situation in orbit. It was obvious the Jendari were waiting for something. The very fact that they might have known what was on the tip of her tongue bothered Marix a great deal, because it was something she didn’t want to ask them. At the same time, the more she thought about it, the more it seemed to be absolutely necessary.

“The Empire is safe, my lady,” suddenly, the wispy voice of the female Jendari, Liratt, cut through the silence like a cool knife, “The ship you disabled is being taken back to Mrrakesh space, just as you ordered. Others were not so lucky to survive, but we are all safe again.”

It was the way Liratt spoke those last words. They were almost formed like a question. At that point, Marix was sure they knew what she was close to asking. They were trying to draw it out of her. They wanted her to ask it...but could she live with herself if she did?

That was a stupid question.

Of course she could. But it wasn’t herself that Marix was concerned about. No, no it was about more than just her. That was the problem with being the Empress, and she was getting a sinking feeling that was why the Jendari suggested this room. It was impossible to forget she was the Empress in here, with the huge rows of columns leading to the single throne and barely anything else beyond large windows on the left wall and some very fine rugs spread out across the floor. This wasn’t a decision about Marix. She would be fine.

But would the Empire?

If she asked the Jendari to do what she was beginning to feel had to be done, it could easily be seen as turning her back on her own people. For thousands of years, the Alraxian Empire had existed without war. They were a defensive race, protecting themselves if necessary, but never expanding outwards in attack. The important thing to was to keep the people of the Empire safe, be they Alraxian, Jendari, Human, or any other of the dozen or so races that lived within the large pocket of space at the edge of the galaxy.

Her silvery-violet eyes flashing a slightly stronger silver colour for a moment, Marix looked to Liratt, “Would you do it?”

For a short moment, the Jendari woman studied Marix even more closely. Then, a few of her ‘feathers’ ruffled very slightly and she inclined her head, “You are the Empress, my lady.”

“Should we?”

The second question was still an attempt to avoid it, Marix knowing full well that the Jendari knew what she was talking about. The very idea of stating it directly bothered her so very much that she didn’t want to have to do it. It was one of those times where she wished her mother was alive still, because Marix knew that she would have made the right decision. She always seemed to.

“We have enough information to support that it would be...successful,” Liratt chose the last word very carefully. She then tilted her head to the left, eyes shifting to look at the other captain with her.

Marix didn’t know his name, but he was just a hair shorter than Liratt, with a matching uniform but darker skin and ‘feathers’ that were almost a greyish colour. Upon seeing that Liratt was looking to him, the other Jendari captain looked straight to Marix and spoke in a more solid voice that seemed normal for any military commander, “It would, of course depend on the accuracy of our other reports, my lady. If those are correct, however, then Sa’Liratt is also correct. They would be divided enough that our smaller numbers would mean success.”

Those two didn’t answer the question Marix had asked. They’d answered the other one she could have asked, but it was information she already knew. Of course it would succeed. Marix wouldn’t have continued considering it for more than a minute if it wasn’t doable. Doable wasn’t the problem. Success wasn’t the problem.

Right and wrong were.

Success didn’t matter if it took the Empire, her people, down a road to destruction of their way of life. A way of life that had served them for thousands of years and really didn’t need to be changed. It was different, yes, but that was what made them Alraxians. It was what made them better than the Mrrakesh. Even if they succeeded, would it make them like their enemies?

“Why won’t you answer my question?” Marix asked, finally, her mind still working it all out, weighing options and coming to the same conclusion every single time. Two options left. Only two. One of them would be an extreme change from everything that had come before, but could guarantee the safety of the Empire.

Liratt, again, inclined her head very slightly, a sign of respect when speaking to the Empress, “This is your decision to make, Marix, not mine. Not my people’s. We cannot help you make this choice without imposing our own will on you and the rest of the Empire. You are the Empress. You rule everything within this Empire, whether you want to or not.”

The tone with which the words were spoken caused Marix to say something out loud that she regretted a second later, “But if I make the wrong choice...”

“You know very well that it is not always about right and wrong,” Liratt replied softly, a three-fingered hand waving through the air very gently, “Trust your judgement as you always have trusted it. Do not let doubts instilled in you by anyone, no matter how close they are to you, affect that.”

Disbelief easy to see on her face, Marix stared at the group of Jendari. Her doubts, her sudden thinking right and wrong, were, in fact, instilled in her by someone else. Not only that, but it was by someone extremely close to her. Someone that, no matter how hard she tried, kept jumping right up to the forefront and making things so damned difficult...like always.

Jyren.

The idiot who always thought in right and wrong. The very poster boy for idealistic thought in the galaxy. The one man who could boil any grey situation into black and white just by easily squinting his eyes. And, truthfully, it wasn’t a completely terrible quality. Combined with Marix’s own rather grey sense of the galaxy, between the two of them, any situation could be dealt with. But he’d always hated that so much. Always come away from it feeling like he’d done something wrong.

And, for some reason beyond her, Marix had begun to feel the same way suddenly. Maybe it was because the definitely-dead image of Voort had mentioned him. Now she thought about what Jyren would say. And that was it, he would see it in right and wrong. He was answer it like that and it would sound so perfect and so easy to understand but it wouldn’t make it true...no matter how hard he wanted it to be.

“Protect the border,” suddenly, Marix’s voice was strong, firm, and almost icy in its tone, “Make sure that Mrrakesh cruiser gets back to their space then seal the border as tight as you can. Don’t let anything get through, no matter what.”

Almost as one, all of the Jendari bowed formally, with only Liratt speaking three, simple words: “Yes, my lady.”

Without anything else, not even a smile to acknowledge her making a choice they’d wanted, they left.

Marix watched them go, then, when she heard the door close shut, she leaned onto the back of the large chair she stood next to and let out a long sigh. Closing her eyes, she said softly to no one in particular, “You’d probably be proud of me. Gods, I’m talking to a dead man.”

“You did the right thing, Marix.”

The voice caused Marix to jerk upright and look across the long, empty chamber to see the blue-shrouded figure that was, yet again, Titus Voort. He stood there like he had on the Mrrakesh ship, stoic, with his arms behind his back and a surprisingly warm expression on his face.

Doing her best to put on her more sane face again, she took a few careful steps down from the throne to give this transparent figure a closer look, “Is it crazier to talk to a dead man you can’t see or one you can?”

“This is not as easy as it looks,” Voort said simply, “This is likely the last time I will be able to do this.”

Taking another step forward, Marix carefully inspected the figure from just a few meters away. It was him. It was exactly what Titus Voort had looked like before he died. He even wore a simple, plain tunic that was almost an Imperial uniform, but not quite. Folding her own arms across her chest, Marix said, “Why now?”

Voort shrugged, “You know why.”

She did know, though she wasn’t going to speak that, either. Instead, Marix just nodded, looking to the floor at her feet for a moment and then asking, “I’ve heard...stories about Jedi doing this, Voort. How did you do it?”

“I just did,” again, he shrugged and then motioned towards her with a simple wave of his hand, “I am sorry things worked out the way they did. I wish I could say the same to Jyren.”

And, again, Marix nodded. But then she latched onto the same name as before, “How do you know his real name?”

A hint of a smile formed on Voort’s transparent face, “I have been around for some time. It took so much to just exist in no form at all, this is...not something I can hold any longer. It is time for me to go forever. But you did the right thing. Don’t ever tell yourself otherwise.”

A feeling through the Force that Marix couldn’t describe emanated from Voort’s transparent figure. She gave up on working it out right away, then said quickly, knowing he was telling the truth, “We missed you, Voort. We needed you. You were a better man than you gave yourself credit for. Thank you for everything you did. And thank you...for being here now.”

“Thank you for making my life a little more interesting,” he raised a hand, smiled warmly, and then the image went away. When Titus Voort had died, Marix hadn’t really been there. She had been in a state of shock and it had just happened. So now, in an odd and very sudden turn of events that didn’t completely make sense to her, Marix was able to watch him go. And something about it was strangely comforting.

Closing her eyes again, Marix tilted her head up to the ceiling and just stared at the inside of her eyelids. There was so much she had to do. It would have been nice if Voort had stayed, even in that form. It was a reminder of a better time, back when everything was chaotic and insane but...fun. A word she so rarely associated with. A word she didn’t expect to use for a very long time, with the way things were going.

And then, Marix opened her eyes.

When she did that, all of the concerns and worries and nagging problems were forced away. She had to focus on the moment. Focus on the Empire. Settle it down after the attacks. Calm the people. Calm her people. Then...then Marix could worry about what was going to happen next.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 526: Getting a Grip*

It was a rather awkward return to the shuttle that Tokarr had stolen. A quick comm message from Adria told Rulae that she had arrived at the shuttle and taken the Jedi woman’s body inside the mostly-wrecked shuttle. How she’d dragged it so fast was beyond him, as she never struck him as very strong but...apparently she had. And now, after running into a very surprising young Jedi apprentice that seemed to pop up all over the place, Rulae found himself carrying a body over his shoulder.

If it had been up to him, he would have left the body.

In fact, it should have been up to him. Rulae was still not completely sure why he had a corpse over his shoulder as they walked to the distant light in the darkness that was the shuttle. But Tobias had...begged. Begged and nearly cried. He was so damned insistent that the body be taken back to the Jedi, despite the fact that Tokarr had left the Academy when the war started.

After Rulae had relented and just picked the body up, Tobias had gone quiet. One thing Rulae did notice and thought to bring up was the fact that this young man was not human at all. In fact, he looked like his mother had when they’d fought at that Gateway. Taller, still a bit of a wiry build to him, but with a feline appearance to him and a dark blue stripe through impossibly messy black hair that made him stand out even in the dark, Thyferran night. Knowing what he did about the fact that Tobias could change his shape, Rulae was able to write this off without too much trouble.

Rea on the other hand...

To put it simply, she hadn’t stopped badgering the poor kid about it. But after the intense demanding that they take Tokarr’s body, Tobias had gone silent. He’d just fallen into step behind Rulae and walked with his head staring down at the grass at his feet. But the silence seemed to take Rea from a stance of curiosity as to how this could be the Tobias she knew to concern...the questions starting to direct to the “Are you alright?” end o f the spectrum.

But, finally, as the form of the shuttle began to become more than just a dim light on the horizon, Rea had given up and starting walking quietly, too. In the silence, though, something came to Rulae’s mind. He had been putting pieces together, trying to figure something out, but it still didn’t completely make sense.

Though he figured it was probably a futile act, Rulae stopped a moment and turned around to ask, “Tobias, what are you doing out here?”

The young man let out an overly dramatic sigh, then shrugged and made a weak motion to Rulae’s shoulder, “My...my Master...he and I were sent to bring him back.”

The same reason.

Well, no, not exactly the same. It was close, though. This Miraluka had stolen a shuttle and killed people aboard the ship, but the Jedi wouldn’t be after him for that. Obviously, Tokarr had a past with them, though it was brief. Still, what did the Jedi want with him?

“Master Ral said he was dangerous,” the words from Tobias were soft and barely audible, as if he was talking to himself.

But that didn’t make sense. The boy had just answered a question Rulae had thought...

“I’m...I’m sorry,” Tobias mumbled again, his face, and most of the skin that could be seen, going slightly red, “I can’t...can’t really...turn it off.”

His words were stuttered, but not in the nervous way that Rulae had heard from the young man before. He sounded afraid or worried or...something else. But at least he gave a good explanation, even if it wasn’t all that comforting. Tobias was, in fact, a Jedi apprentice and reading surface thoughts was supposed to be something they could do. But not turn it off? That seemed an odd way to put it.

One of Rea’s small, gloved hands came to rest on Tobias’ shoulder gently, “Toby, please answer me...what’s wrong?”

For the first time, the young Alraxian boy turned to look at her. Rulae had to shift his weight slightly, suddenly regretting just standing there with the corpse on his shoulder weighing him down. He was, however, intelligent enough not to bring up the annoyance of it when Tobias had finally responded to a question that was important and, up until that point, very strongly ignored.

There was one of those odd, uncomfortable silences that seemed to be just filling this walk back before Tobias shook his head and looked back down at his feet, “I almost killed him. Twice. The first time I made a mistake and he killed Venda...and...and I still wouldn’t kill him and I don’t know why. He would have killed me if...if you didn’t...” again, the young man shook his head, “I always wanted to be a hero like Jyren but I keep coming right to the brink and nearly getting myself killed.”

Now this Rulae could understand. This was something he could handle. It was like putting him in the cockpit again, it wash is natural environment. The Force, all these Jedi things, even the whole species thing with this kid were beyond Rulae, but this...this he could do. He’d dealt with so many kids coming into Starfighter Command just like that, then suddenly facing the reality of combat was really like. Most all of them froze up, didn’t react, and nearly got themselves killed. Actually, for most, it was not ‘nearly’. Very few new pilots survived because of that.

“No...no that’s not it,” Tobias was looking at Rulae again, shaking his head. The whole mind reading thing was starting to bother Rulae, and Rea didn’t look too happy with it, but Tobias didn’t even seem to notice it at all. In fact, he just kept going on, “I can fight. I...I’m not the best, but I can defend myself. I know how. Jyren...my mother, they taught me to fight for my own good. Its not that I freeze up. I just...I looked down at him, I had my lightsaber there at his neck and I was swinging to do it and...and I didn’t.”

Tobias continued shaking his head, as if that, in itself, was becoming a sort of nervous twitch, “And I don’t know why I keep stopping myself when I know if I don’t do it they’ll kill me.”

And just like that, it was right out of Rulae’s league again. It seemed that no matter what, no matter how close it seemed to get to being something he could deal with, one little thing had to jump right in and make it completely impossible again. This poor kid was on the edge of driving himself crazy from the way he was speaking and Rulae couldn’t do anything about it before he had no real insight into the whole Jedi thing...and if he said that thing, it could very well do more damage than good.

That thought, though, brought it into perspective. Then, almost without realizing it, Rulae said simply, “Tobias, look at me.”

It wasn’t the strong voice he used to give orders, but it was firm enough to get Tobias’ attention again. When a pair of silvery-green eyes looked directly at Rulae, the Duros officer went on, “I need you to focus right now. Its over. It may not have happened like you thought, but its over. You have to pull yourself together here and stay with me. Okay?”

“But two people are dead now because...”

“Not because of you,” that time, Rulae did speak in the same voice he used for giving orders, loud, strong, and very forceful. Part of it was deliberate, but part of it was also out of pure annoyance at the way Tobias was speaking. He sounded so much like his father, taking the blame just because he was there like he had some foolish desire to be the very reason for every single wrong that ever occurred. It was so damned infuriating because it never did anyone any good.

Quickly, though, Rulae pulled his voice back and made sure to keep his cool, “We’re going to regroup back at the shuttle, contact the authorities here on Thyferra, then head back to the fleet. But we cannot do any of that if you don’t calm down. You have to pull yourself together right now or I will leave you here. Do you understand?”

It was then that Tobias did something that Rulae had never seen Jyren do. The young man stared straight into Rulae’s pair of large, teardrop shaped red eyes and, as his face went from panic to a disturbing kind of nothing. Tobias’ breathing slowed to a more normal calm, and then, after one deep breath, he nodded and said softly, “I understand.”

Maybe Rulae should have said something more. Maybe he should have spoken his concerns of how Tobias had just so suddenly shifted. But to bring that up would mean continuing a line of discussion that had, thankfully, just ended. It did not need to be brought back...at least, not until they were off of Thyferra and back at the fleet, where all of it could be settled and everyone had a time for some rest. It had only taken a day to find the fugitive, but Rulae could see in both Rea and Tobias’ face that, for them at least, it had been more like a month.

Of course, the Duros couldn’t see the same feeling on his own face.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 527: Family*

There were a fairly large number of species in the galaxy that had some kind of hive mind like activity. Sometimes it was very strong and literal like in most insectoid races, and other times it was much more implied and more like a collective conscious. For the Alraxians, it was somewhere in between, and even then was hard to really nail down when compared with other species.

The natural link that all Alraxians shared in the form of the so-called Network, wasn’t as much an independent thing like would be normally expected. It was there in a natural form, but not very strong and hard to really grasp by the average Alraxian. It took a very strong mind, almost always an Alraxian gifted in the Force, to pull it all together into one single Network that most of the species took for granted. Truthfully, this duty was the most important thing that the Alraxian Empress performed, essentially being the focus of the entire Alraxian Network and bringing all of the individuals together.

But this tendency for the Alraxian species to be more group oriented than individualistic was usually much stronger, naturally, in siblings. For twins and the like, it was the strongest. Because of this, twins were usually extremely close and very rarely went far from one another. It wasn’t so strong that direct thoughts and words could be felt from one mind to the other, but at least when they were in close proximity to one another, feelings and emotions were rather easy to pick up on.

But as Alyx BlueIce sat across from his twin sister, he found himself wondering, once again, if there were more differences between the two of them than similarities. He knew he should be able to read her better, especially while being just a few meters away, but her mind was just...blank to him. This wasn’t new to him. Marix had always been like that, especially in the last few weeks.

Part of him wondered if it was because he seemed to have no real connection with the Force. Of course, she’d always told him if he’d just stop and try, he’d find he was more skilled with the Force than he wanted to believe...but Alyx just never seemed to ‘feel’ it like he was supposed to. His mother had tried to teach him years before, but he just never could grasp it.

Marix was standing on the other side of the rather large, open room that was a sort of living area near the top of one of the Palace’s spires, staring blankly at the opposite wall so that all Alyx could see was her back. Just a days earlier, there had been Mrrakesh in this very room. The smell was still in the air, distinct but, thankfully, fading. At least the tension of the last few days was finally beginning to fade, though Jyren’s father was still safely offworld with Alyx’s niece and nephew.

“We could be at war right now, Alyx,” she said almost suddenly, having barely said a word to him when he’d arrived an hour earlier. Marix was standing with her arms crossed behind her back and had that worrying intensity to her entire presence that always bothered Alyx.

“You did the right thing,” the way he put the words together made it sound more like a question than a statement. While Alyx had gotten better about being so quiet over the years, even to the point of working as a sort of emissary between the various peoples in the Empire, his sister just had a way of throwing all of that away and making him act like the scared little child who didn’t know what to make of his twin.

He watched Marix shake her head, the black stripe getting slightly lost in the mess of white that had obviously not been touched in a few days...which meant that she had managed to keep the attendants that drove her insane away, at least. Tilting her head slightly, Marix looked over her shoulder to him, “The Jendari would have done it, Alyx. If I’d asked them to cross the border and go into Mrrakesh space, they would have done it. We would have won. They would have to fight on two fronts and they would lose. We could have been safe but I...” she turned her head again so Alyx couldn’t see anything but her hair, “...I told them to just hold the border.”

Alyx just stared at her. Like most of the people in the Empire, Alraxian or not, war was a very foreign concept for him. He knew about it, academically at least, but had never really, truly understood it. The whole idea of killing another being was unsettling to him. Of course, he knew that Marix was just the opposite and considered these things quite normal, but even she knew that she wasn’t the norm for the Empire. But because war was such an odd idea, Alyx just wasn’t sure what to say.

 Of course she’d made the right decision! Alraxians didn’t go to war! The Empire wouldn’t! That was what set them apart from the Mrrakesh! But...

“But the chance was there,” Marix finished his thought, though Alyx had a distinct feeling he wasn’t going to end the thought exactly like that. Finally, she turned to face him completely, leaning forward on the chair she stood behind, “The Mrrakesh made a desperate move to survive, thinking I was gone and attempted to kill my children. Then, still following likely the same philosophy, outright attacked our worlds in a way that has no happened for thousands of years. But they barely had any ships. They thought we had nothing but unarmed Kanyaks. And every single ship they sent across the border to attack us was either destroyed or put out of commission. They failed completely. But not only that, they’ve failed and they’ve shown us their hand. If they could only spare that many ships for such a widespread attack, then they likely have very little to on this side of their territory...which means we could send a small force and do to them what they tried to do to us. But we’d succeed. We could end the Mrrakesh threat to our people right now. We would never, ever have to worry about them again. All of the empire would be safe.”

Marix sighed heavily and looked down at the chair she was leaning on, “It’s the kind of situation any commander would dream of. The very people that have terrorized us for so many thousands of years and we have the chance to stop it, end it now. And the Jendari would have done it. They would have gone across the border and destroyed them. Now the Mrrakesh will think we’re weak, and come back again like they always do.”

“I didn’t even know the Jendari had a fleet,” Alyx mumbled. He’d been dealing with the Jendari for the last six or so years and something that was suddenly very important had somehow managed to stay under the scanners so easily, “I don’t think they even hid it! I just...I don’t know how I didn’t know.”

He was supposed to know those kinds of things. That was what he did. But for Alyx to miss something so important, something that literally saved the Empire...well...it made him feel so damned useless. Here he was, sitting across from his sister who was probably the most accomplished Alraxian alive, and he couldn’t even manage to figure out something so major as to the fact that the Jendari had a very large, very powerful fleet of warships. Next to Marix, Alyx just felt so useless. She was just so...

“I’m sorry, Alyx,” the words sounded so alien coming from her. They were two words he’d actually her say before. When he looked up in surprise at what he’d just heard, Marix was walking around the chair and moved to sit next to him a bit awkwardly, “I’m really not any good at this sister thing...”

Alyx stared at her, eyes still wide in shock, “What are you talking about?! Marix you’re...gods, did you hit your head or something?”

There was a long moment where she just stared back at him, but Alyx could see something behind her eyes working. Then, almost suddenly, that cold mask of a nothing on her face cracked and she grinned, even laughed very softly before shaking her head, “You really know how to word things just right.”

And then, the tension was gone. Alyx wasn’t the type to take credit for it, as he’d really done nothing, but he had a much greater affect on his sister than even he knew. And seeing her smile like that again did nothing but make him happy. Maybe the Mrrakesh would come back, Marix was rarely wrong about those kinds of things. But what she hadn’t done was to drag their people into a war. She’d done the right thing, even if she didn’t really like it. 

For all the worry that many in the Empire had about their Empress being overly exposed by the rest of the galaxy, Marix still make decisions like the Alraxian she was. Even thought Alyx knew she could see the situation from a tactical mind, she still could put that aside and do what was right for her people.

That was why Alyx was always so much in awe of her. She was everything that their mother had wanted her to be, even if Marix didn’t realize it.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 528: One Crazy Kid*

Tobias felt like he was losing his mind.

Well, no, that wasn’t the right word. It wasn’t really losing his mind as much as it feeling crowded. Very, very crowded. It was so hard to tell one thought from the next and who’s it was and it had just started all of a sudden and he couldn’t make sense of anything and it wouldn’t stop!

He didn’t look very well, either.

Good thing she’d shot that Miraluka first, Toby really looked like he was in bad shape.

It would be nice to get back to the fleet though.

This whole ground thing was just so unnerving...artificial gravity really did have a different feel, and it wasn’t so...so open.

And why the hells did I get stuck with the body?!

“Shut up!” Tobias suddenly cried out, hands going to his head out of reflex as he tried to stop all of the voices. 

Both Rulae and Rea had turned to look at him in surprise, and the second they looked at him, he could hear their concerns.

Shut up?

Is he okay?

What the hell is going on out there?

They were speaking, too, but Tobias couldn’t actually hear the words. Not the real words. Trying again, he focused inward, trying to do something, anything, to block out the voices. If he could just block them out maybe he could think straight, or at least hear his own thoughts and not be so...so panicked! He didn’t even know why this had suddenly started happening!

“What’s wrong with him?” the voice was heavily accented, and for a moment, Tobias wasn’t sure if he’d really heard it or not. But then he realized that there had been an accent, and it had been a very distinct voice, and so he opened his eyes and looked up to see he was once again beneath the floodlights of the shuttle.

The ramp was still down, and the entire area looked just as he’d left it however long ago it had been. Standing there, halfway down the ramp and in the same fatigues that the other two were wearing, was a red-haired human woman...pointing a blaster pistol at him.

“Put the blaster down, Harken,” Rulae said firmly, then turned to look at Tobias again, though he didn’t say anything. Tobias, though, stared at the Duros’ two large, red eyes and tried to make something of the look he was getting...but couldn’t. He was just impossible to read! And yet...

I don’t know how I’m going to deal with this all the way back. Where’s a Jedi to deal with this when you need one?

“She’s dead,” Tobias mumbled under his breath, then shook his head and closed his eyes tightly. He could still hear them all so clearly and it wouldn’t go away. Stop. Stop and focus. Calm down. Focus. Calm.

I drag one body all the way here then they bring another corpse and a crazy cat-thing. Typical.

No! Stop! Focus!

Calm down.

You have to be calm. Breathing first. Slow it down. Focus on it and slow it down...calm...

And then they were gone. Tobias opened his eyes again, then looked to the human, the Duros, and the Twi’lek all staring at him. And he couldn’t hear a thing. Nothing. The voices were gone. Well, except for his, but that was normal. Tobias could handle one voice.

Realizing they were still staring at him, he managed to say quietly, “I’m okay...I’m...”

Focus on the burn. Heal it. Keep breathing. Heartbeat going. Focus. Draw on the Force. Repair the damage...

Tobias blinked. That wasn’t him. And he was sure it was none of them...

“Where’s Venda?!” suddenly, his voice was much louder and back to sounding slightly crazed.

Tobias’ eyes had locked onto the red headed human woman, and the look he was giving her caused her to take a step back on the boarding ramp. But then, probably out of reflex, she answered the question, “The woman’s body? In the cargo hold...”

She trailed off because as she finished the sentence, Tobias started running to the ramp, then straight up it and right past her. In a matter of seconds, he got to the cargo hold that was in terrible shape after the fight with Tokarr, and saw Venda’s body laying there off to the side. Quickly, he ran over to the body and knelt down next to her, first trying to find a pulse.

Nothing.

At that point, he really saw the lightsaber wound. It had burned all the way across her torso from shoulder to hip, but wasn’t actually that deep, save for at the shoulder...where Tobias could across see a bit of bone. That unnerving sight he quickly put aside, though, as he could feel...something. Not that he was sure what it was, but it was something. Something he shouldn’t have felt. Something like...

It was the Force.

Not that he wasn’t supposed to feel the Force, but like this it was just odd. It was focused, concentrated, and very strong right around Venda’s body. Almost as if...

No. No, she had no pulse! And she wasn’t breathing! But...

“I’m sorry, Toby,” Rea’s voice surprised him, as Tobias hadn’t even heard her come up the ramp. He glanced over his shoulder to see the blue-skinned Twi’lek giving him an apologetic look.

For a few seconds, he stared at her. Had he been better at reading people, Tobias would have seen how much that unnerved her. But then, in the same sudden changes that were becoming normal for him in the last few minutes, Tobias’ head jerked back around to look at Venda’s body, “I don’t think she’s dead.”

“Usually not breathing is a sign of death,” it was the accented voice of the red haired woman again, who had just come back up the ramp and was standing behind Rea.

“I know!” Tobias yelled down at the floor in front of him, not bothering to turn around and sounding a bit more crazy than he’d meant to. He shook his head again, tail behind him flicking back and forth on its own, “But she’s...I heard her. She’s alive. I don’t know how but she’s alive!”

“Whoever this guy you picked up is, I think he’s crazy, sir,” the human woman said more quietly, obviously not meant to be heard by Tobias. Of course, Alraxians’ larger ears did work as would have been expected for their size and he heard her very clearly.

More boots could be heard coming up the ramp, then Tobias heard the voice of Rulae Nok, “His name is Tobias BlueIce. The late-Captain’s son.”

There was silence then, but it didn’t last too long.

“Oh,” the human made the noise more than said a word, then added in the same trying-to-be-quiet voice, “That doesn’t really change the fact that he doesn’t seem to be all there.”

“He’s just a kid,” Rea cut in now, her voice lowered as she, too, seemed to be trying not to be heard, “A kid that just saw two people killed right in front of his eyes.”

“One person,” Tobias corrected, speaking over his shoulder.

Again, silence. This time, Tobias figured the three others were taking in the fact that he’d heard them. When the silence hung in the air for an uncomfortable amount of time, he decided to say, “She’s not dead. I can’t...explain it but she’s not. She should be. And she almost is but...I can feel her drawing on the Force and trying to heal. I don’t know how to help, though...and its so weak and if she doesn’t get help I think she is going to die...”

Tobias’ head spun around again to look to the three others, then said something he didn’t mean to say, “...I want to go home...”

It was the honest truth. It seemed like no matter what he did, Tobias wasn’t ready for any of this. The galaxy abroad, the war, the killing...he just couldn’t handle it all. And now he’d seen his Master nearly killed, another Jedi who was supposed to guide him on the brink of death, and the person he’d been sent to bring back dead. It was the second thing that was eating at him the most, though.

Venda should have been dead. That kind of strike should have killed her. But she was alive, holding on by a thread. And everything in him told Tobias that she needed help, that she wouldn’t be able to heal the wound on her own...and he had no idea what to do. What bothered him the most, though, was the even if he knew what to do, Tobias didn’t think he could.

Nothing made sense anymore. All of the other voices were gone, but he still couldn’t think straight. Now, he really did feel like he was losing his mind...and Tobias couldn’t even make out a why for that.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 529: Lingering Doubts*

As the chaos of the last few days began to settle, a sense of normality returned to the Alraxian Empire. The first sign of it was when the people began to return to the Palace, making it a living, breathing entity both inside and out once again.

The surprising thing, though, was that the Alraxians that returned were actually quite happy. Very few had died, but there were casualties. Of course, true to their nature, the dead were not mourned, but celebrated for their returning to the Force. Still, though, there should have at least been an air of tension throughout all of the various territories of the planet, itself...

Perhaps it was because it had been so long since the Alraxians had seen war. Perhaps they just didn’t know what to expect. With the situation with Halpak, it was over in such a short time, a matter of two to three days, depending on which planet in the Empire time was being judged by, and it was over. So why shouldn’t the people be content now that the Mrrakesh were pushed back and the Jendari protecting the borders with their ships?

Marix glanced to her right and looked to the open door, taking only a short moment to inspect the empty room.

Not everyone had returned.

Navik Keros had both Saaran and Andrea and they were safely off of Alraxia. Marix hadn’t actually received direct information on where they were, but that was due to the fact that the more normal lines of communication were being kept silent, especially of information like that. But, if she had to guess, and that was Marix wasn’t all that bad at doing, she’d put a strong bet on the three of them being on the Jendari’s homeworld, or a similarly well protected planet.

The past few days had been filled with boring bureaucratic nonsense...the kind which Marix had become very skilled at breezing through by giving non-answers that sounded decisive but didn’t cause any actual harm. Alyx had left the day before, making it all the more difficult to deal with. 

It was odd, really, how much of an anchor Marix’s family was for her. Her immediate family, at least. Alyx, her children, Navik and Jyren. It wasn’t much, but it was family. Sure, there were all her other younger siblings that were around the Palace all the time, but they were almost more alien to her than the Yuuzhan Vong. Where Marix could understand the so-called ‘normal’ Alraxian, her younger siblings were all very odd and never seemed to like her that much. And yet, despite that, it was the six closest members of her family that held her down and managed to keep her sane through all of the insanity.

Without them around, Marix felt stranded in the vast Palace with people that were so difficult to deal with for so many different reasons, most of which weren’t even their fault. The few moments of peace she got, Marix spent in the quiet emptiness of her quarters: the large, multi-room ‘wing’ of one of the large spires of the Palace that was so much bigger than her old single-room quarters that, a decade later, it still felt wrong. Well, no, it wasn’t the size that currently bothered her...it was the quiet.

When they’d first been forced into the room, and it had definitely been forced, it was just Marix, Jyren, and Toby, who got his own separate little room that was now the twins’. But even with his own room, the age of Tobias at the time meant that there were rarely moments of actual quiet. He had even seemed to sleep loudly, which Jyren had always taken great amusement from...Marix assumed this was because Jyren didn’t know he talked in his sleep. But by the time Tobias got his own quarters, the twins were born and providing even more noise.

And now...

Now it was silent.

Perfectly silent.

Almost just to make noise, Marix let out a sigh, her eyes turning to look out one of the large windows to see the expansive Palace and the horizon beyond. At least the Mrrakesh hadn’t tried anything. She may not be happy with deciding not to retaliate, but the rest of the Empire was content with it and the Mrrakesh seemed too caught up in their own problems to take advantage of what they would surely see as a sign of weakness.

But they would come. Of that, Marix had no doubt.

Now, though, she wasn’t waiting on them to return. It would occur when it did, and likely not for at least a few days. Instead, Marix’s focus was on Loki and Hermes, who she had asked to go to the Gateway and search once more. Not just with their natural senses, which weren’t technically eyes, but through the Force, which most Kanyaks had a least a small connection to.

She had felt something before. And Voort had said something. That brief image of Voort that was still infuriating to think about...Marix just wished she could have gone to see for herself, but things had to be settled down at the Palace. Of course, she trusted both Loki and Hermes, and if there was anything out of the ordinary, they would find it. This was discounting the fact that the previous four sweeps of the area had shown nothing.

If he was alive, though, Marix would know. Gods, she would have to know. But if he really was gone, as the past month or so would seem to say was true, then she should know...because she should have been.

Marix growled under her breath.

Over and over and over, she’d come back to it. Everything in her told her that Jyren should be alive because she was alive. But, at the same time, all evidence proved that he was dead and gone. But why had Voort spoken like Jyren was alive? Voort had called him Jyren, too...but, no, Loki had to have been right. If there was a way around the link, and there was a way around everything in the galaxy, no matter how hard and firm the rule, Jyren would find it. He was the kind of stubborn bastard that would break even the laws of nature just to protect her.

Maybe Marix gave him too much credit...but, then again, maybe she’d never given him enough. It was so infuriating that he would do something like that, but it would be exactly him. And that very contradiction was still driving Marix insane. She needed real, hard proof one way or the other. A body, living or not, would make it so much easier than having nothing at all.

Not that she ever expected to find one...that would make things too easy. And if there was one thing she’d learned over the years, whoever, or whatever, was in charge of the galaxy didn’t like to make things easy for Marix BlueIce. That was definitely something that didn’t seem likely to change in the foreseeable future. She just hoped that was something that stayed with her and didn’t extend to her children.

...if only Marix knew the things Tobias had been through in such a short time.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 530: Return*

Somehow, it was surprisingly reassuring to see the New Republic fleet still in orbit around what was left of Fondor. Sure, the New Republic had won, but the cost was terrible. Fondor’s shipyards were so horribly damaged that they likely would be out of commission for long enough to cause even more problems. Of course, getting off of Thyferra had been rather interesting.

It seemed like a foolish thing to try, but Commodore Nok still attempted to get the shuttle Tokarr had taken working. For lightsaber-related reasons, it didn’t work. But instead of bothering to walk all the way back to the spaceport, he sent a quick message to the local authorities, who begrudgingly flew a transport out to get the survivors...and the bodies.

The entire trip back, Tobias refused to leave Venda’s side. He continually swore that she was still alive, despite the fact that there were no real life signs. If she was breathing, it was barely happening at all, and if her heart was beating...it was so slow that none of the others waited long enough to hear it. But even if Tobias was wrong and she was dead, none of them could say anything.

The young Alraxian, who didn’t bother to morph back to a human body, seemed to be in a rather dangerous position. He seemed at least partially crazy, and the whole mind-reading wasn’t helping anyone at all. There was a silent hope amongst the three pilots that Tobias wouldn’t just snap during the flight like Tokarr apparently had. But Tobias didn’t really talk sense anymore, the few times he bothered to speak to anyone.

So, arriving back at the fleet and being greeted by both medics and marines was a nice change for everyone. Where the three pilots had quickly headed to their quarters aboard the ship to change out of the fatigues they wore, Tobias, Venda, and Tokarr’s body were taken to the medical ward. There wasn’t any comment on the fact that Tobias didn’t look the same as how he’d looked upon leaving, but it was likely due to the fact that barely anyone knew him. Besides, having the marines as escorts turned away any suspicious looks from the busy members of the crew still working damage control from the battle.

He looks terrible. What happened?!

Tobias turned carefully to identify the origin of the stray thoughts he was still inadvertently picking up. It wasn’t much of a surprise to see Master Ral sitting up in one of the medical beds, his white, feathery hair blending into the cream coloured walls around. The pale blue of his face, though, showed a concerned expression to go with the thoughts.

But then, suddenly, Tobias heard nothing. At least, nothing from Master Ral. Not even a feeling...

“What just happened?” he asked, walking over to the Jedi Master without even bothering to ask how he was doing.

“It is not polite to pry into another’s mind, Tobias,” Master Ral said in that familiar soft, yet pointed voice. But it shifted again, a hint of concern slipping in, “You do not look well, Tobias.”

Toby shook his head a few too many times and had a seat next to the Omwati Jedi Master, “I can’t...I can’t stop it. I just keep...” he looked over his shoulder to another patient, then back to Master Ral, “She wants to get out of here. But she’s the only one. The others are so distant...barely alive. But they still won’t go away...just quieter. And you just...I can’t...what did you do?”

“Stop,” Master Ral raised a blue hand, “Calm yourself, then think, then speak. Do not try all at once. Once you can do that, try again.”

Why that worked was beyond Tobias, but it did. There was no hint of the Force in the Jedi Master’s voice, but the calm way he spoke just managed to cut through all of the insanity of the voices Tobias could hear. Right away, Tobias began to slow his breathing, focusing on that and trying to ignore everything else around him. It took a few minutes, but slowly, Tobias started to calm down. His tail stopped flicking around, his breathing slowed, and his heart stopped beating at the speed of light.

When he opened his eyes, Tobias saw a slight hint of a smile on Master Ral’s face. But when nothing was said, Tobias knew he was still being waited on.

I can work! Why do they have to stick me in this damned bed?!

“They won’t go away!” Tobias nearly yelled, resisting the urge to pound something. He then realized Master Ral was giving him another critical look, and then tried to explain it again...but more coherently, “I’m not doing anything, Master. I just...ever since...when Tokarr died...it just started. I keep hearing it all. So many voices and I can’t make it stop.”

“Calm down.”

Two words, and yet, again, they caused him to stop. Tobias didn’t seem to realize how much he was working himself up until after they were spoken. A few more deep breaths later, and then Master Ral said, “Close your eyes. Continue to focus on your breathing. When you are ready, reach out with the Force. Feel the room around you. Feel everything you can here, see it all through the Force. Then pull inwards, remember what the walls looked like and build them around your mind.”

It was the most direct explanation of what to do, regarding the Force, that Tobias had ever received. Though it was still slightly abstract, it made perfect sense. Knowing, despite everything that was literally driving him mad, that this was a direct kind of approach he would likely never find again, Tobias latched on and did exactly as he was told.

Eyes closed, he focused on his breathing for at leat ten minutes. Then he found the Force and began to slowly reach out around him, feeling the outlines of the living beings the first, almost like bright lights in a dark room. But then, the bright lights formed outlines of sorts and the rest of the room began to fill out, though very dimly and hard to see...but it was there. Next, still trying to hold onto the Force-vision of the room, Tobias tried to pull the image inwards.

And then he heard nothing at all.

Tobias opened his eyes a few moments later, then looked to see a calm expression on his Master’s face. Seeing this, Tobias decided to very carefully ask a question, “What would...cause that, Master?”

“I cannot say, Toby,” shaking his head, Master Ral then looked over Tobias’ shoulder, “Keep your mind sharp and focused right now. And when you are ready, tell me everything that happened.”


As a heads up...going to be gone this weekend. Should be able to pick up on the updates again starting Sunday, though.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 531: Potential*

Considering the fact that Tobias had only been gone for a matter of hours, it took a while to actually explain everything that had happened on Thyferra. This was partly due to the fact that he made sure to include every single little detail he could remember, partly due to long pauses as he remembered the events, but mostly due to the slow, stuttering and still slightly panicked voice that Tobias was speaking in.

When it had become obvious that at least some of his discomfort was due to the handful of others within the medical ward who were paying the currently-Alraxian Tobias a little too much attention, Master Ral shocked him by casually getting to his feet and suggesting they find a place with less people...such as his ship, to discuss the rest of the events. And then, finally, Tobias was able to deliver at least some good news. Namely, that while Master Ral obviously didn’t remember that his ship had been destroyed in the escape from the Vong ship during the battle, Venda’s ship was still in tact and, amazingly enough, had actually been returned from Thyferra along with the X-Wings that the Zephyr pilots had.

So, after a short trip to the hangar and settling into the cockpit of Venda’s rather boring looking shuttle, Tobias tried to continue with less stuttering and more actual sentences. It was easier said than done, but an hour after he’d started explaining the events, Tobias finally finished.

It didn’t help that Master Ral sat in the pilot’s chair in silence for at least five minutes. This forced Tobias to just sit there awkwardly staring at the consoles around him, which just made him feel worse...

How the hell did they fit an X-Wing into that shuttle?

Can’t believe that damned squid-head got promoted before me...

I wonder if the chief would kill me if ducked out early tonight.

“It only occurs when you are not focused on something else, yes?” Master Ral’s cool voice cut away the others, causing Tobias’ eyes to jump open as he looked up in surprise.

Quickly nodding, Tobias waved a hand out the viewport to what they could see of the Mon Calamari cruiser’s hangar, “Comes and goes and comes back again.”

For a few moments, the Omwati Jedi Master’s white eyebrows seemed to angle downwards over his small eyes, but then they went to a more neutral shape, “When, exactly, did it start?”

“I...” Tobias trailed off, glanced out the viewport again to see an X-Wing being pulled to the opposite end of the hangar, then looked back to his Master, “After Tokarr was killed and Rea and the others came over to see what had happened.”

When he said that, something dawned on Tobias. Before Master Ral could say anything, Tobias quickly asked, “Could it be some kind of...of reaction to that? I’ve been kind of...kind of...off since then and...could that mean something?”

It was at that point that Master Ral’s face formed into a more serious expression again, which concerned Tobias. Of course, his concern grew when Master Ral spoke, “You are still very young, Tobias, and you still have much to learn. I do have an idea that may answer why this has happened, but it may not be very comforting to hear. It can, however, be solved without understand the why, which is rare.”

Already knowing what his Master was about to ask, Tobias immediately jumped in, “I want to know why.”

Through the Force, Tobias felt a slight fluctuation from the Jedi Master that could very well have been a sign that the Omwati was going to smile. However, there was nothing on Master Ral’s blue-skinned face to show anything similar to a smile, and the voice that spoke was the same cool, almost hauntingly calm voice that Master Ral always spoke in, “You are very strong in the Force, Tobias. You have the potential to be as great a Jedi as Master Skywalker. But your emotions control you. You have a noble drive, but your emotions are so strong that they dictate your actions completely. You do not seem to have any desire to take hold of them, either.”

For the first time, there was a visible change in Master Ral. He let out a low sigh and closed his eyes for a moment. The Force concentrated again, and Tobias realized that his Master was healing himself still. The strain passed, but Master Ral was still looking downwards when he spoke again, “Like every young apprentice, you expected it to be easy. But you are not adapting like most do. You are so latched onto your emotions that they will harm you in ways you cannot imagine if it continues,” Master Ral looked up to look Tobias straight in the eyes again, “I made a mistake to bring you to the front lines of this war. It is not your fault that you have never seen what happens in a place like this. But you were not ready. Ever since that man on the Vong ship, you have been close to a dangerous edge. By your own admission, you were not going to kill Tokarr. You stopped yourself more than once and were looking for a way to bring him back alive.

“But then he was shot and killed by no fault of your own. Tokarr died, the very thing you were trying to prevent. And ever since that moment, you have been hearing the thoughts of those around you.”

Again, Master Ral paused. It was unnerving, and Tobias wanted to say something, anything, but he couldn’t. His mouth wouldn’t even open to attempt to make a noise. He just sat there staring at his Master, feeling terrible at having to hear what he knew was true. He’d thought he had pushed through the problems after facing Halpak. But that was naive. Tobias should have known that all his problems wouldn’t be solved in one moment, no matter how difficult it was. There was a reason Jedi trained for years.

“Unconsciously, you are trying to prevent such a thing from happening again,” hearing Master Ral’s voice again was so sudden that Tobias nearly jumped out of his seat, “By hearing the thoughts of those around you, even just those on the surface, theoretically you can prevent them from harming one another. At your core, that is what you want to do...protect. But it is triggered by a strong emotion. Fear. And fear is dangerous. Fear can turn your wish to protect into something else entirely. Control your fear. Do not let it control you. When you can do that, you will stop hearing the thoughts of others.”

“But...”

“No,” the usually cool voice of Master Ral became sharp and extremely hard all of a sudden, “There is no but. There is no if. There is no try. There is when. If you cannot do this, I cannot train you for your own safety. If you are going to argue about it being hard, I will not train you. If you lie to me and tell me that you can do it, I will know that and I will not train you. If you do anything this moment other than tell me the truth, that you can control your fear and your emotions, that you can be a Jedi, a real Jedi, then I will not train you any longer.”

The cockpit of Venda’s small shuttle went silent.

In the cold, empty air, Tobias stared with wide eyes at Master Corentan Ral, shocked at what he had just heard. But some part of him, some sane part that was left, began to dig deep. It did exactly what needed to be done, and found the answer. And then, taking hold of his body, Tobias’ mind answered a question that hadn’t really been a question.

“I can.”

And then Master Ral smiled.

With some obvious strain in the movement, the Jedi Master reached out and put a hand on Tobias’ shoulder, “It isn’t going to get any easier, but I am glad to see that you know you can do it.”

It was hard not to smile when the entire air around Tobias was suddenly so...calming and warm. So, without even really fighting it, Tobias grinned. But now, when confronted with a moment when his future wasn’t really on the line, he couldn’t find anything to say.

This became obvious to Master Ral, who patted Tobias on the shoulder before sitting back in the pilot’s chair again, “I want you to meditate right now. Clear your mind of all those voices until you no longer have to focus on it. I’m going to check on Venda and get us ready to head back to the Academy.”

Tobias still said nothing, not really sure what he could say about Venda after what had happened on Thyferra. And besides, Master Ral had given him a task to do...something that Tobias knew he needed to start right away.

What he didn’t know, however, was the significance of something that Master Ral had told him. Tobias had the potential to be as strong as Master Skywalker. It wasn’t an exaggeration or something told just to get Tobias’ attention, it was the truth. The fact that Tobias could so easily pick up the thoughts of those around him was an absolutely amazing feat, something that even Master Ral knew he could not achieve. His natural ability was beyond anything Master Ral had ever seen.

There was a reason for that. Of course, that was something Master Ral didn’t know. Tobias was the first child in the history of the Alraxians born from two Tam’Day’U parents. One of them may have been a clone, and the other absolutely insane, but they were still Tam’Day’U. Raw talent with the Force was expected from such a child, and considering the fact that Master Ral knew none of this, he had at least identified that Tobias had a great amount of innate talent.

There was no so thing as coincidence according to both the Jedi and Marix BlueIce. And so, it couldn’t have been a coincidence that the Jedi Master that had taken on Tobias as an apprentice was both intelligent and attentive enough to recognize the boy’s strength in the Force...which could very easily turn into something extremely dangerous. Perhaps, despite all the worry about what would happen if Tobias was allowed to be trained, the Force really was looking out for him.


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## AnonymousOne

Oooh Shadows of The Anakin -> Vader transformation??


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 532: The Galaxy*

The Battle of Fondor had gone down in the books as a victory for the New Republic thanks to the retreat of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet after the firing of Centerpoint Station a sector away. Beyond the physical losses to both the New Republic and Hapan fleets, there were the aftereffects of the battle. Namely that, despite the retreat of the Vong, Fondor’s shipyards were still severely damaged and put out of commission for the near future. This loss catapulted a series of problems throughout the galaxy. There was the obvious fact that ship production, which was desperately needed, would go down thanks to the damage, but there was more to Fondor than just ship production. It was a massive economic hub for the entire galaxy...and now it was in shambles, its primary source of income, the shipyards, mostly destroyed.

This loss prompted something that the rest of the galaxy should have expected. The Hutts turned their backs on their neutrality pact with the Vong. Seeing Fondor so damaged was enough to cause this upheaval in Hutt politics, with a new clan taking over and attempting to push the Vong out of their space. Reports were slim, but the New Republic had received word that Nal Hutta had already been invaded by the Yuuzhan Vong, with the Hutts being immediately put on the run.

While it was comforting for most to see the Hutts were no longer attempting to tread a line of neutrality in the war, the chance of them joining the fight against the Vong in a real effort looked slim. The Hutts would be too busy fighting for their survival to really provide any assistance to the war effort.

And, sadly, the battle seemed to have no real effect on the Vong forces. Their fleets continued a Coreward push, cutting off hyperspace routes and making travel anywhere outside the Core haphazard and very dangerous. Rumours of old hyperspace routes being mined were becoming more and more common.

Refugees were still being moved into the Core, though most of the planets were so heavily populated that entire planets worth of refugees weren’t easy to place. Added to the fleet that was stretched thin and it seemed like Fondor was nothing but another loss in a long line of them since the Vong had first appeared months earlier.

Of course, on the other side of the galaxy, far behind the Yuuzhan Vong invasion path, was the Alraxian Empire and the Mrrakesh Combine. While little was known of the actual situation between the Mrrakesh and the Vong, it seemed likely they were still bitterly fighting over the planet’s on the other side of Mrrakesh space near the edge of the galactic rim near where the Vong had first arrived. Apparently, the Mrrakesh were fairing better than the New Republic...considering that the Alraxian border with the Mrrakesh hadn’t been overrun with Vong already. There also had been no further attacks on the only other entrance to Alraxian space, the Gateway. All of the other borders were naturally defended by various space anomalies, black holes, and nebula that made travel impossible.

There were other important areas behind the main invasion path. There was no word from the Corporate Sector, though that was normal and it was likely that, in the Vong’s push to the Core, they were ignored. The Imperial Remnant had been brushed past and seemingly ignored, also. But then there was the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV, far behind the lines of battle and, apparently, hidden still. If the Vong had known its location, it was likely they would have attacked the small moon already. But despite the relative safety the Academy was enjoying, travel there was dangerous thanks to being so far beyond the Mid Rim, where most of the fighting was occuring.

All in all, the war simply continued after the major engagement at Fondor...and it seemed to be unchanged with the so-called victory not providing any offensive effort for the New Republic. Still on the defensive, still stretched too thin, and still mired by political squabbles, the New Republic was almost as much its own enemy as the Yuuzhan Vong were.

Marix sighed and placed the small piece of filament paper on the night stand next to her bed. The report was compiled from the various Knights that had recently returned to Alraxian space. It was as expected, but that didn’t mean it was at all comforting. The good news was that, for the moment, the Alraxian Empire was safe. The bad news, however, was everything else. Including the fact that the sweep of the Gateway she’d ordered had, yet again, turned up nothing at all.

She shifted slightly to lay back on the annoyingly-large bed and looked around the room. It was mostly empty. There was a chair that hadn’t been sat on in months right across from the bed on the opposite wall, the night stand next to her, and a pair of dressers holding clothes next to another doorway that led to the small washroom where the bath was.

And it was so clean. There was nothing anywhere, everything was closed, and it looked completely devoid of life. That was how Marix kept things, and years of being around someone like Jyren, who quite literally left everything on the floor, still had no effect on her. But it was...unnerving. She’d gotten so used to seeing his clothes strewn around. It was normal to see junk he’d picked up all over the place, with the only thing that was really kept safe being his lightsaber, sitting on the night stand...and now that was gone, too. There weren’t even any toys anywhere, usual evidence of Jyren having brought the twins in. All the toys were back in their small room off to the side.

It was just so...wrong. It was wrong, and the worst part about it was that Marix had no idea what to do to fix it. There was nothing she could do. But that didn’t change her desire to do something. And that was the real problem. The Empire needed her. She couldn’t just up and leave while they were still recovering from the Mrrakesh attacks. And yet, something was tugging at Marix. She wanted to blame it on the childish part of her, the tiny little part that was still Shadow and couldn’t stand any of this Empress duty.

But the real truth was worse than that. The real reason for the pulling at her was the fact that, for some reason, Marix couldn’t seem to accept that Jyren was gone. It wasn’t like when her brother had died, or Voort, or Jen. Not only had their been bodies in all three cases, but none of them had been so close to her. None of them had been such a strong influence on her. And Marix hated the fact that, now that he had disappeared, she felt weak and useless due to the fact that her thoughts continually went back to the ‘what ifs’ and other pointless hopes.

And yet...

[Loki.] Marix knew he was out there, probably down below at the courtyard closest to her large quarters.

Just a few moments later, this was proven by his unique non-voice slipping into her mind. [Something up?]

He sounded worried. Truthfully, she couldn’t blame him. There was a lot to be worried about these days. But no, he didn’t need to worry. Marix wasn’t going to tell him some horrible news she’d received, as there wasn’t anything any more horrible than the last few days. She did, however, have a question for him. [I can feel all of the Empire through the Network...but I need to ask you something since you directly interact with more people than I. Can our people, at this moment, survive without me?]

It was the kind of question that made Loki worry more. But he was smart enough to answer quickly so that, hopefully, his worries would be put aside. [The Empire is...safe again. If that’s what you mean.]

It wasn’t, not literally, but Marix didn’t care. And so, she didn’t say anything else for a long time. It was at least ten minutes of uneasy silence that, finally, caused Loki to break and ‘speak’ again. [Why? Marix, what’s wrong?]

All that Marix had left was safe now. The twins, her younger siblings that lived in the Palace, Loki...except...except Tobias. He was out there, in the midst of a war that the New Republic was losing, far behind enemy lines on an undefended world with a bunch of mystical, idealistic wackos who were arguably more idiotic than Jyren when gathered in groups. And she had let him go. Jyren would have killed her.

He loved that kid so damn much and she still didn’t know why. Yes, when one got truly technical with the biology involved, both Marix and Jyren were his parents...but only because Tobias’ mother had been a clone. And yes, Marix did feel very protective of him after a decade of raising him along with her own children. But Jyren...sometimes it was worrying to her how much he cared about Tobias, the son of the most dangerous Alraxian, save Marix herself, to have ever lived. The kid had been a weapon, could still have conditioning to just snap one day...and yet Jyren never seemed to consider it.

And Marix had just let Tobias go.

[We need to keep an eye on Toby.] Marix said, finally, to Loki. [Get yourself ready to head out. Supplies, foods, whatever you think we might need. I’ll let people know what’s going on and they’ll understand. With all that has been happening lately, I have a feeling he will need our help.]


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 533: Of Action*

In a way, it was refreshing to be back in the humid, sticky, unpleasant-to-a-human weather of Yavin IV. Of course, it would have been better had Tobias been Alraxian again, but deciding not to cause more questions and confusions amongst the few students still there. The relative emptiness was due to the fact that many students were off fighting the war, either with Kyp Durron, a Jedi leading a group of aggressive Jedi to take the fight to the Vong despite Master Skywalker’s disapproval, with their Masters protecting planets or doing something similar to what Master Ral and Tobias had done...Jedi business that happened to come together with the war. 

They had arrived back on the jungle moon a few hours earlier, and Yavin’s star was setting over the trees on the other side of the Great Temple. Venda had also come with them, and was now in the Academy’s medical ward recovering still. She was, however, conscious now. Or, according to Master Ral she was.

Tobias had been out in the large clearing in front of the Great Temple since their arrival, just sitting idly on a rather large rock near the trees. He should have been meditating or something like that, but he just sat there watching the distant star setting. Tobias felt so tired, but not the kind that he could actually sleep. It was more just a complete exhaustion, the constant adrenaline rush from everything that had happened finally fading completely away and leaving him...just so damned tired.

“You look beat,” a somewhat familiar voice said from behind Tobias.

Turning around, he saw none other than the youngest of the Solo children, Anakin, standing there with a slightly off grin on his face and his arms casually crossed over his chest. There was something about him, though, that looked different. But Tobias didn’t have the kind of experience with people to even guess at what it was.

“Its been a long few days,” Tobias said softly, watching the young human wander over before plopping down next to where Toby sat.

Tilting his head up to look through a mop of dirty brown hair, Anakin said, “I know exactly how you feel.”

Only having a small idea of what Anakin had been involved in a few systems away, Tobias didn’t feel like jumping into that and making a fool of himself. So, instead, he mumbled, “I killed someone...and another indirectly. And I...I was at Fondor. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

That seemed to have a strong affect on Anakin, who didn’t seem to bother controlling the ripple of surprise that extended out from him through the Force. But his voice didn’t reveal any of that surprise, maintaining the same casual tone it had before, “You’re lucky to be alive,” but then, Anakin paused and let out a long, heavy sigh, “I was on Centerpoint. I was ready to fire it and...my brother somehow talked me out of it. But then my cousin stepped in and fired it and...and he couldn’t aim it like I could have. If I’d just done it myself so many lives would have been saved...”

Tobias shifted his head to look down at where Anakin sat, now seeing only the top of the young man’s head. Suddenly, all of the things that were bothering him didn’t matter anymore. This...this kid, who was probably half Tobias’ age despite looking like they were both the same age, had seen so much more in his short years than Tobias had. Anakin had fought in battles, saved lives, and was a good Jedi. And now, Anakin had been on the other end of the same battle as Tobias. Not only that, but he’d been ready to fire the very weapon that had caused such an immense destruction...and he’d stopped, only to see someone else fire it and take thousands of lives.

“Its hard,” Anakin suddenly cut in, speaking softly again and seemingly thinking out loud, “The first time you see people die in front of you. When they really die and you look down and they’re gone. But think about this, Toby...how many lives did you save? How many people did you protect?”

A lot.

Immediately, that was what Tobias said to himself. He had protected people. Stopping Tokarr, one way or another, had saved countless lives. The Miraluka had been so far gone that he was ready to kill without any provocation and was headed right for a major population zone. And Tobias had been there to help stop him..and Venda. He was the one who had caught the very quiet thoughts in her nearly-lost state. She was recovery now because of him.

“Never thought of it that way,” Toby mumbled.

Anakin nodded a bit, still looking off towards the jungle at, as far as Tobias could tell, nothing in particular, “You took action. You did the right thing. Its our duty to step up and fight, not sit around trying to figure out the meaning of existence. Not when we can do something to help.”

It was surprisingly hard for Tobias not to laugh. Instead, though, he managed to just smile to himself. It wasn’t that what Anakin had said was really amusing, but it just sounded so much like Jyren. Those were exactly the kinds of things Tobias could hear his father saying, albeit quietly and while yelling at Marix. And, somehow, it was comforting to know that others thought that way.

Because they were right.

Jedi Knights were the defenders of the galaxy. They were supposed to protect the people that could not protect themselves. It was one thing for th students to be kept away at a safe place to train, as that made perfect sense, but the Knights themselves needed to be doing what they were supposed to be doing. Protecting. Fighting the Vong. By the Force, they all carried lightsabers! Those were weapons and belied the pacifistic nature that some seemed to try to put upon the Order.

“Thank you,” Tobias finally said, “That means a lot from you.”

“It shouldn’t.”

Surprised, Tobias sat up completely to look down to where Anakin was a bit better, “Of course it does! I barely know anything that’s going on but I’ve still heard the things you’ve done. You’re a hero, Anakin. Gods, you’re just like the Jedi my father would tell me stories about when I was little. All the students here look up to you, too!”

By now, Yavin’s star had set and it was mostly dark. Lights from the Great Temple illuminated the area, and there was a slight glow from the large, orange gas giant above, but it was harder for human eyes to see now...even at close distances. The few other students that had been outside had moved into the hangar and the Temple, leaving the Tobias and Anakin alone in a rather awkward silence.

But then, almost suddenly, Anakin hopped up to his feet and said, “Its not like I’m the only one in the galaxy who tries to help people. Besides, you seem to want to do the same. Give it some time and all the kids here will be talking about you.”

“If they notice me,” Toby grumbled, more to himself than to Anakin, as he stood up and looked over to the glow of the lights within the Temple’s hangar. Of course, Tobias did keep to himself and try to remain as unnoticed as possible, but that wasn’t really the point.

“I suggest not bathing,” Anakin said, grinning widely, “That’ll get you noticed pretty quickly.”

For a long moment, Tobias stared at him. Then, finally, he laughed. Anakin soon followed suit and whatever tension had been in the air before was gone. Soon after, they both headed into the Temple and went their separate ways again, with Tobias finally deciding to head to the medical ward to check on Venda. As he headed there, Tobias couldn’t help but feel good knowing that he had a friend in one of the most famous Jedi in the galaxy.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 534: Two Months Gone*

“Sir.”

Commodore Rulae Nok lifted his rather large, blue head up from the report he was buried in to see the red-haired human woman, Adria Harken, had just entered his office aboard the Araddon with surprising stealth. He hadn’t even heard the door open. Rulae also noticed that she was wearing her flight suit, or at least, the orange jumpsuit without the rest of the life support systems or anything like that. For some reason, Harken seemed to wear it all the time. It was probably a good sign of dedication, but he was used to pilots craving their downtime.

“What do you need, Lieutenant?” Rulae managed to keep his usual calm voice despite the report he’d been reading.

“I was going to ask about the recruits, sir,” Harken took a few steps forward before stopping behind the only other chair in his office that barely anyone ever sat in, “But you look like hell. Are you alright?”

Raising the datapad in his hand, Rulae said simply, “Duro has been taken by the Vong.”

“What?!” the shock in Lt. Harken’s voice was not because it had been her commander’s homeworld. Truth be told, Rulae had been born aboard a freighter in the Outer Rim and had only been to Duro twice in his lifetime. It was a riuned world, with most of the population living in sealed domes.

But it in the galactic core. Duro was a Core World, the first taken by the Vong. Suddenly, all of the worlds that had thought the war so far away were beginning to worry even more. The Vong had made it to the Core.

“The defense fleet put up a good fight, but it wasn’t good enough,” Rulae finally placed the datapad down and out of his reach so he couldn’t look at it again, then turned his two large, teardrop shaped eyes on the human woman staring at him, “We don’t even have orders yet, Lieutenant. High Command is going crazy and the Senate is in chaos. They’re all too busy trying to save their own hides to actually fight this war. And now...”

And now, the Jedi were to blame.

At least, according to Chief of State Borsk Fey’lya, who was placing the blame for the loss of Duro squarely on the shoulders of the Jedi. According to the report, a great many Jedi had gone to the planet to do everything they could, and there was even mention of one of the Solo children fighting the Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster and surviving. But it wasn’t enough, obviously, and now the planet was in the hands of the enemy. And now the Yuuzhan Vong had a foothold in the Core.

It had been a little over two months since the Battle of Fondor. In that time, the only good news was that they had managed to secure enough recruits to completely reform Zephyr Squadron and that the Araddon and the rest of her battlegroup were ready to be deployed again. Everything else, though, was bad news after more bad news.

And now, Duro was gone.

“And now  what, sir?” Lt. Harken was not the kind of woman to let anyone trail off, even her commanding officer. It helped that Rulae admired this trait, but it still could be seen as pushing her luck a little too hard.

Rulae’s hand reached for the datapad again, but just stopped over it. He didn’t need to read it again. He knew it by heart now. So, instead, he kept his focus on the newly promoted pilot standing in front of him looking worried, “The Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster made a proclamation and sent it all over the galaxy: if we do not turn over all of the Jedi to him, he will unleash the entirety of his people’s might on the rest of the galaxy.”

There was a short, uncomfortable silence before Lt. Harken asked, “You don’t think people would actually believe...”

“Of course they will,” Rulae cut her off before she had a chance to finish that, “They’ll betray every single Jedi in the galaxy just for the slight hope that the invasion will stop.”

By now, Adria was leaning on the chair in front of her with a sullen look on her face. She seemed at a loss for words, which was very much a rare thing for her. Seeing this, but noticing she also didn’t go anywhere, Rulae attempted to change the subject, at least, “Lor is with the recruits right now. They’re in the simulators and seem to be holding their own well enough.”

“Simulator missions so soon? They just arrived two days ago,” there was a definite change in Harken’s voice now, and it was obvious that the subject of the report was best avoided for the moment.

Rulae got to his feet, glancing down at the few other things cluttered across his desk, “The fleet’s been deployed. We’re a smaller battle group than most of the other fleets so High Command has decided to keep us off the defense forces for now. We’re heading into Hutt Space.”

That got a reaction out of Adria that was similar to the one after hearing of the loss of Duro. Ever since Fondor, the Hutts had been targeted by the Vong. Their so-called peace treaty crumbled the second the Hutts realized the war was damaging important markets, and it seemed the Yuuzhan Vong didn’t take such a turnaround lightly. Nal Hutta was completely invaded, as were most major planets within Hutt Space, with most of the Hutts retreating to various other planets all across the galaxy for their own safety.

The was wasn’t going well, but Rulae had a feeling all of the fleet would feel the same way he did. Hutt Space might be extremely dangerous right now, but it was better to be on the attack then waiting for another massive fleet to jump a Core World...or worse, to watch some kid tortured by the populous of a planet just because he was a Jedi doing his best to help the people who suddenly didn’t give a damn anymore and just wanted someone to blame.

Maybe when the fleet got back from Hutt Space, if it got back, things would be better.

Rulae knew it was a fool’s hope, but they needed something at this point.

There wasn’t really anything left.


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## Dire Lemming

Um, hey, if you've decided that you don't want to GM your game anymore could you come into the OOC thread and say so?  We're all kinda hanging here.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Sorry for the lack of updates guys...been sick this past week and I'm going to be out of town starting Thursday.

Will try to get in a couple tomorrow but not sure I can.


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## tmaaas

Hope you're feeling better.

Thanks for the FYI.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 535: The Twi'lek*

Hutt Space was, indeed, a mess.

The first thing the Vong had done was to completely annihilate Nar Shaada and then invade, and begin to terraform, Nal Hutta. The slugs had scattered from their homeworld immediately, most heading to Outer Rim worlds out of the way of the invasion. Some, though, had dug in and were attempting to fight back or, at the very least, survive.

But fighting for the Hutts was not an easy task. In the form of slaves, they had armies, but they were only armies in the sense that there were so very many. The Rodians, Aqualish, Nikto, and other species within Hutt space were never truly trained soldiers as much as trained to at least pull the trigger of a blaster. Against a fighting force such as the Yuuzhan Vong, it just did no good at all.

And there would be no help from the New Republic. Not only was Hutt Space now behind the front lines, which had extended to the Core Worlds in just under a standard year since the Vong had begun their invasion, but the Hutts had never been a member of the New Republic. The New Republic barely had enough of a Navy to protect its own stretched borders, let alone the sections of the galaxy that were supposed to be independent of them. So the Vong controlled the skies, as it were, with the slugs and what was left of their henchmen that remained in the sector down on just a handful of planets below.

Kartne was one such world, located galactic north of Nal Hutta. In fact, it was on the edge of Hutt Space, very close to the Wookie homeworld of Kashyyyk. While it was generally a habitable planet, mostly consisting of large stretches of mountains, valleys, and a few forests of very unique looking trees, there was no life native to the world. It had, for years, simply been left alone with only a small settlement consisting mostly of traders and smugglers. Now, however, a Hutt called Torno had moved into the old settlement with a few members of his family and a fairly large number of underlings. All in all, it meant that Kartne’s single settlement, which didn’t even have a name because no one had felt the place needed one, was a surprisingly well defended collection of geometric, modern buildings crafted into a mountainside not far from a very large canyon.

Beyond a small scouting party of sixteen warriors, the Yuuzhan Vong had not yet attacked, and Torno’s meager fleet, more a handful of ships really, was in orbit as a sort of first alert system, waiting for the Vong to arrive. And they would. It was foolish to think otherwise, especially now that the Vong within Hutt Space seemed to have made it their mission to wipe the slugs off the face of the galaxy.

This, of course, didn’t bother everyone.

Walking through the streets of Kartne was a somewhat short, young looking, blue-skinned Twi’lek woman who was one of the few within the city that didn’t care if all the Hutts were killed. She was not a slave like most Twi’lek females were, and also made sure to wear very normal clothes that covered most all of her, even a pair of black gloves, to make that point well known to everyone around her. The blaster at her hip, which was a good sized, new model carbine and not just some stupid little pistol, and the vibroblade sheathed on her left arm also helped to emphasize this point.

She had arrived on Kartne with Torno and his men just a week prior, the so-called fleet having, at the time, been at Rodia preparing to move to Tatooine, where many of the ruling Hutt families were beginning to use as a new base of operations. But with Rodia’s sudden attack by the Vong, Torno made a rash decision. Where the other Hutts made the relatively short hyperspace jump to Tatooine, Torno decided to go the opposite direction, back towards Nal Hutta and, supposedly, hiding ‘right under their noses’.

This was just further proof to her that Torno was an idiot, as Yuuzhan Vong didn’t really have noses, just skeleton-like slits instead. There was, in fact, nothing to be under. But despite this, she stayed with Torno’s ‘fleet’ and headed to Kartne.

And, currently, she was being followed.

This wasn’t a very rare occurrence, sadly. The Hutts created a culture in which it was dangerous to be female, and being Twi’lek didn’t help. The henchman and other idiots that followed the Hutts from planet to planet, like the two wrinkle-faced Weequay and the three leather-skinned Nikto following her now, seemed to assume that Twi’lek women, especially, were not only weak creatures but only existed to please them.

So, rather casually as if it was where she was going the entire time, she turned and stepped into a smaller side street that might have originally been designed to be used for drainage. The water, gods she hoped it was water, under her feet as she stepped into the narrow alley hinted that it was still used for that.

Light splashes behind her indicated that she was being followed. She was stupid enough to turn around and check. Instead, she simply got a good way down the alley, to the point where she could see the wall of another building at the opposite end, then turned around and drew the carbine from its holster.

Despite the weight of the weapon, the frail-looking Twi’lek raised the blaster carbine easily in her right hand and aimed it at the approaching group that was beginning to slow down upon seeing the situation. How they had missed the weapon at her hip was beyond her, but it was probably assumed it was just for show and she couldn’t use it.

Just to make sure they understood the situation they had walked into, she spoke in a soft voice in Huttese, “This is the point where you boys do the smart thing and go the other way.”

Two of the Nikto glanced at one another, but they all continued to come towards her. After they all took a few more steps in the small alley, she could see vibrodaggers drawn and even a blaster or two. One of the Weequay said something in a harsh, grating voice but it was in his native language and she didn’t understand it.

But she knew two languages they would understand, without a doubt. One of them, she’d already tried. With Huttese failing to get the point across, the Twi’lek woman used the other: she pulled the trigger of her carbine.

The red blaster bolt lit up the darkened alley before slamming into the lead Nikto and sending him into the two others behind him. But the shot did not have the intended effect of deterrence. Instead, the other four let out loud cries of anger and came after her.

Blaster pistols fired and scrapings of metal against metal, too. There were cries, more blaster shots, and splashes and thuds that echoed within the tight alley, but they only lasted a little more than a minute. When there was silence again, the Twi’lek was the only one standing, and she was holstering the carbine while wiping off the now-inactive vibroblade before returning it to its sheath.

A few moments later, and she let out a very loud, annoyed sigh. [Loki, we have a problem.]

He was on the side of the settlement, beneath cover with the rest of the transport vehicles that didn’t have any weapons...well, that Torno knew about. [How many this time?]

Marix glanced over her shoulder, but found herself staring at a blue lekku and then shook her head in annoyance. [Five.]

[Can’t hide that many.] he spoke her thoughts, as usual.

Despite him being kilometers away, Marix nodded and fell into her casual walk again. It wasn’t comfortable, but her center of balance was odd in this body and it just seemed to work for how she was currently built even though she had never walked like this except as a Twi’lek. [Get yourself ready to leave as discreetly as possible. I’m going to get moving here. No more time to do this carefully.]

There was a short pause as Marix made her way down the not-at-all crowded street towards where Torno had set up a main residence of sorts, then Loki’s ‘voice’ returned. [Keep your ears up, Marix. You know the Vong are going to finally attack the second we have to leave.]

He was right.

That was how it would work. Just like back on Rodia, when she’d gotten close to getting the information she was looking for, the Vong would attack. But then, she’d decided to play it safe and not get caught up in a two-way fight, instead falling in with Torno’s fleet and retreating with him to Kartne. Now, though, Marix had to get the job done.

The Peace Brigade was picking up its actions ever since the Vong Warmaster had called for all Jedi to be turned over to him. And even though the Hutts were on the run from the Vong and the Peace Brigade were technically allied with the Yuuzhan Vong, there was still an old connection between the two organizations. There were undoubtedly many spies amongst Torno’s people, too. One way or another, something would be able to trace to the Peace Brigade.

The call for the Jedi meant that Yavin IV was going to be attacked. Of that, Marix had no doubt. Someone would try to profit from that or save their world or something else utterly selfish. If she could get inside the Peace Brigade, figure out who was really in charge and getting things moving one direction or another, Marix might be able to take it down from the inside. Originally, she had planned to go straight to Yavin to find Tobias, but when she’d learned of the situation in the galaxy, something told Marix that dealing with the Peace Brigade was the way to solve the problem.

Besides, the last thing the kid needed was his mother appearing to save the day yet again. She would do what she could from a distance, but Marix knew that a time would come when he’d have to learn to take care of himself. And so she’d stay out of view and deal with the Peace Brigade...tactically, it was rather foolish, but something about it just felt like it was something she needed to do.

Turning a corner, Marix casually slipped around a pair of humans, both of whom gave her a good look over as she went by, and started towards the large building up ahead. It was guarded, of course, but everyone in the settlement was there because they were part of Torno’s group so she would be able to walk right in. Once she was inside, however, was when it was going to get interesting. Marix was going to have to keep herself well hidden and be very careful so she didn’t have to explain why none of the guards recognized her, or why she was snooping around areas she was definitely not meant to be.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 536: Sight Training*

“We’re not leaving with the others?” Tobias asked, confusion quite apparent in his voice, as he followed Master Ral through the corridors of the lower level of the Great Temple on Yavin IV.

A few steps ahead, the Omwati Jedi Master nodded, “For the time being, we will remain here on Yavin.”

Master Ral then turned a corner, just as Tobias had opened his mouth to speak. Not wanting to speak at the wall, he was forced to wait a few seconds and round the corner himself before asking, “But isn’t it dangerous? I mean...the Vong are basically calling for ours heads and everyone knows the Academy is here on Yavin...”

“The Yuuzhan Vong do not seem to know that,” a slender blue hand was raised as the point was made. A moment later, the Jedi Master stopped and a door in front of him silently slid open. Before stepping into the room, Master Ral spoke over his shoulder, “It is only the older students and a few other Masters that are leaving for Coruscant. Masters Tionne and Solusar are remaining here along with many other students.”

Tobias followed Master Ral into the relatively empty, stone-walled room, “So three Jedi Masters and a handful of young students who can barely fight are staying behind...”

“Master Skywalker is attempting to have a fleet sent here to protect the planet,” Master Ral turned around and motioned for Tobias to step next to him, “Close your eyes and draw the Force to you. When you’re ready, keep your eyes closed but stretch out your senses and use the Force to let you see this room.”

Many times before, Tobias had questioned instructions like that. It had never helped, however, usually only getting him a flash of annoyance through the Force. Having actually learned something, Tobias simply did as he was told, curious as to where, exactly, this was going.

Once in the center of the room, he closed his eyes and began to pull the Force around him. It was an odd feeling, all of the energy condensing around him, and in a few moments it felt like he had another few layers of skin...very heavy skin. It took some effort to keep his eyes closed, but Tobias very slowly attempted to push the Force outward, around him, letting it be his eyes instead.

This was, of course, much easier said than done.

While he could feel the Force around him expanding, then contracting, then expanding outwards a little more each time, he still couldn’t actually see. Tobias could feel it all, though...the weight of the air just in front of him, the slight shifting of the stones that made up the room around him, Master Ral’s calm mind, yet bright presence just a meter away...

Bright.

Bright wasn’t a word of feeling. It was a word to describe something that could be seen. It wasn’t an emotion at all.

His mind starting to put the pieces together, Tobias shifted his focus to the bright spot in the Force that was his Jedi Master. Instead of trying to bring the whole room into focus, which obviously wasn’t working, Tobias instead concentrated on the one thing that he was close to seeing without really seeing...that bright spot of Master Ral. And the more he focused, the more it began to take shape. It was slow, but soon, eyes still closed, Tobias could see a vaguely humanoid outline in a way that the eyes could never see anything.

It was like looking directly at the Force, seeing it flowing through everything that was alive about Master Ral, and being so bright that if Tobias looked to hard his ‘vision’ was blurred for a few moments from everything else...

That was when Tobias realized he was seeing more than just Master Ral. He could see the floor, the walls, the door...

It took every bit of his concentration to maintain it, however, and all of his self control not to burst out laughing and open his eyes. Tobias did, however, grin from ear to ear without meaning to, or realizing it.

“Good,” Master Ral’s voice was soft and seemed to gently slip through the air in front of him, “Now, instead of focusing on me, try one of the youngest students in another room.”

There were so few students left in the Academy that the nearest wasn’t likely to even be on the same level of the building, but Tobias didn’t say that. Master Ral knew it. That was likely the point. So, keeping his breathing calm and steady, a part of him anchoring his focus on the bright section of the Force that was Master Ral, and another doing its best to keep from him from opening his eyes, Tobias attempted to push outwards a little farther and find another student...

Very slowly, and very oddly, the hallway beyond Master Ral came into ‘view’. It flowed and shifted with Tobias’ odd form of sight, going black and then suddenly coming to life brightly as his focus wavered, and then began to expand again. Doors could be seen, then ceilings, then light fixtures that were darker than the walls, themselves and then...

And then Master Ral was there, clear as day.

It took a moment for Tobias to realize that it was so clear because he’d opened his eyes by accident. The real clue was colour, which the Force didn’t really have in the same way, if at all. It just was. But seeing the blue-face of his Master watching him was enough to make Tobias sigh heavily, “I almost had it.”

“You are doing quite well,” the Omwati Master nodded, his feathery hair shifting oddly with the motion, “I want you to do it again, but you must stop worrying about succeeding immediately. These things take time to learn, especially when our other senses will do their best to distract us.”

Nodding, then shifting his position slightly and even stretching a bit, Tobias closed his eyes again. He began to try again, but before he could really ‘see’ anything, a thought came to mind and then escaped through his mouth, “Am I the only one that is so worried about a Vong attack here?”

There was silence for a few moments, but Master Ral seemed to understand that it was doing nothing to help Tobias’ lack of focus. A few steps on the stone floor could be heard, then Master Ral’s voice from off to Tobias’ right side, “We cannot hide forever. Master Skywalker will attain extra protection for us soon enough.”

“What if the Vong find us before then?” it was an obvious question, and Tobias had opened his eyes and looked straight to Master Ral when he asked it.

Making a smooth motion with a hand in front of him, Master Ral’s head tilted to the side slightly in an odd gesture, “We will deal with that situation if it comes,” he then nodded again, “Until then, you must concentrate on your exercises. Part of being a Jedi is learning to focus on the moment, not what might happen in the future.”


----------



## AKM

Interesting, Voort the force ghost.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 537: Lax Security*

One thing that Marix had never cared for were blasters. Sure, they were efficient and well designed weapons, but they just so...so...easy. It almost felt like cheating. Anyone could point a blaster and squeeze the trigger. Not everyone, however, was trained in hand-to-hand combat, which was very much like a form of art. When she trained, sparring with Jyren, usually, Marix saw it very much like that. Yes, the end result was the kill, but there was a certain style and skill that needed to be applied...that is, unless she wanted to just be a nameless thug.

And, currently, that was her aim.

Hutts had a habit of surrounding themselves with nameless thugs of various disreputable peoples. Part of her was still questioning her judgement, choosing a Twi’lek body to do this job, as it required every extra bit of work to prove that she was not some slave but one of the other thugs that just happened to gravitate towards this particular Hutt. And this meant, to her annoyance, that a blaster was an important part of the image. So Marix had gotten a hold of a nice, old model carbine while slipping into the so-called fleet. And if she had a weapon, it wasn’t as if she wasn’t going to use it. She might not like it, but Marix was in no way a bad shot.

Truthfully, there was very little in the way of combat that Marix wasn’t skilled at. That was really the whole point, and between the Tam’Day’U training that Marix had received from a very young age to the to the intense, and, for the rest of the galaxy, more conventional training that ‘Shadow’ had received from the Galactic Empire, there was very little Marix couldn’t do when it came to a fight.

So, when confronted with a situation that she wasn’t skilled with, Marix had one of two responses: coldly glaring at the problem with no emotion at all despite the fact that it felt like her eyes were shooting turbolaser blasts, or growling, cursing, and then just hitting the damned whatever it was causing the problem. The latter was a new response, developed over the years thanks to bad influences like Jyren...well, the lashing out was. Marix knew far more curses in far more languages than he could have ever dreamed of, and she knew how to say them just right, too.

Currently, having been confronted with such a situation, the wall in front of her had a series of very deep claw marks that could not have come from the small, rather frail looking Twi’lek woman standing in front of the surprisingly-undamaged computer terminal. Marix’s eyes narrowed as she read what the terminal was telling her, yet again that the information was locked out, and that if she did not input the correct passcode in thirty seven seconds, the alarm would sound and she would, according to the small diagram next to the warning, be shot at by crudely-drawn stick figures.

Getting into the building Torno was using for his headquarters had been simple enough. Marix had only needed to walk up, nod simply to the two very large, Trandoshan guards at the door, and then step into the door once it had been opened. The fact that she’d been around long enough to be recognized meant they didn’t even search her. Of course, she’d handed over her weapons, the vibroblade and blaster carbine, in the entranceway which had been turned into a defensible guard-post.

That, of course, didn’t bother Marix at all, though she was intelligent enough to at least feign annoyance and act reluctant to hand over the weapons. For some reason, guards always liked to see that. It was, apparently, normal. Marix was then led by a wrinkle-faced Nikto guard to Torno’s main chamber, where the fat, slug of a Hutt lazily wasted his time, speaking with captains of the ships in orbit and working out Vong fleet movements to decide on how long he could stay. There was the usual collection of creatures within the chamber, all of whom seemed to be more interested in their own business than Torno or the Hutt’s scantily dressed slaves.

Marix had actually faked a conversation with a middle-aged human who’s name she never bothered to ask before very gently slipping out of the chamber and out of sight. It had taken some interesting moving, but Marix was able to get away without a single being noticing her, even after quite literally sliding between a guard and a wall just at his back.

Twelve seconds left...

When it came to slicing, Marix wasn’t completely inept. But, then again, most of her ability in slicing was geared towards opening locks, shutting off security systems, and other tasks that usually rested along the same lines. Those skills could, to a point, help with slicing into data systems, but Marix really didn’t know the technical end of what, exactly, she was looking for. And now she’d tripped up and was looking at a timer without any real idea of how to proceed.

And she had five seconds...

Keeping her calm, Marix decided to make one more very quick attempt and then just deal with the guards if she had to. They’d likely already been alerted to the system intrusion already, and the warning she saw probably not as much a warning as a distraction while the guards did approach. Quickly, though, she input a quick series of commands directly into the terminal, then shifted to the panel she’d ripped open and reattached a pair of wires she’d very neatly cut in two.

It was at about that time that Marix’s internal chrono told her that it had, in fact, been far more than five seconds and she hadn’t been shot at by anything at all. Twi’lek hearing wasn’t terrible, and she didn’t hear a thing, either. Once she’d reattached the wires, Marix spared a quick glance toward the other end of the blank looking room she had holed herself up in.

The door was still open a couple of centimeters, not enough to see through but just enough that she would be able to hear the echo of boots coming down the corridor outside.

Satisfied, Marix turned to the terminal again. The alert screen was gone, but Marix didn’t trust that. Deciding she needed to work even faster, Marix started to just pull up whatever she could find. A very slight tremor in the Force alerted her to guards approaching...but since she couldn’t hear anything, Marix concluded she had just enough time to check what she’d brought up.

“Report on Captive in Cell 21A.

Last four guards to attempt interrogation killed. Captive produced small, dagger-like weapon from clothes. Weapon retrieved, but no further contact with the captive is permitted. Still no progress in interrogation and the captive does not seem to understand Basic.”​ 
It went on, but that was all Marix had time to read before she started to hear the footsteps very softly echoing into the room. Immediately, Marix drove her vibroblade into the terminal, causing much more noise than she’d have liked but wiping any evidence of what she’d been looking at. It wasn’t Peace Brigade or at all what she had been looking for, but suddenly Marix decided she had something else to do before getting away.

Sheathing the blade on her shoulder again, Marix bolted for the door.

When the guards arrived, barely thirty seconds later, they found only the destroyed terminal. One of them, a Rodian that none of the others had liked anyway, had sworn he’d heard something and ran off down the corridor despite the fact that the others, all of which had better eyesight in the darkness of the hallway, had neither heard anything nor followed.

Once the room was found to be empty, the four others had reluctantly gone after the Rodian, out of knowledge that Torno would have their heads if the damned Rodian caught the prey and they’d done nothing but stand around. They found his body sprawled out across the hallway just ten or so meters away from the room, a pool of blood under him and a pair of slashes across his face.

The problem about alerting the rest of the guards within the building was that they didn’t use comm systems. It was mainly due to the fact that Torno didn’t trust them at all, doing his best to quell any conspiracy against him. Of course it crippled his guards, but Torno really didn’t care about them, either. But, in this case, it meant that Marix had a great deal of time to find where Cell 21A was located.

Marix had a feeling that the cell contained something much more useful to her than whatever scant records Torno might have had about the Peace Brigade.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 538: The Force Never Makes Sense*

Tobias’ eyes were closed as he sat on a small patch of grass a good kilometer away from the Great Temple. The jungle around him had thinned slightly, and so he’d decided it was a good place to meditate. He would have liked to stay near the Temple, but the tension in the air was tangible and extremely distracting. It was hard enough to sleep, let alone focus through distractions and meditate.

Of course, this was completely discounting the fact that Tobias had never been any good at the whole meditation thing. The root of the problem was that he didn’t understand the point, but it also ended up extending to the fact that his mind had a habit of just wandering. Over the last few months, Master Ral had taught him a great deal to take control of his thoughts, but it was something that usually took years to truly accomplish.

For the moment, Tobias was simply relying on a technique that Marix had taught him. He closed his eyes, then began to focus on his breathing.

In.

Out.

In.

Was that a bird...?

In.

No, out.

Out.

In.

Every so often, stray thoughts would seep in, but eventually he reached a point where the repetition simply took over. It was a very tenuous kind of focus, with Tobias basically drifting into something very close to sleep and any simple thought that might make its way in completely snapping him out of it. But, for the moment, he had reached that perfect point. Tobias’ mind was as blank as it could ever be, his only actual thoughts focusing completely on breathing in and out.

And then...

“Are you alright?”

It was a voice Tobias didn’t hear with his ears. It was also a voice that sounded odd because it was...

Tobias could see. His eyes were closed still, he was sure of it, and he could even hear himself silently focusing on his breathing, but he could see. And he didn’t see trees, either. Instead, there was a rather large, cream coloured wall behind a figure that, oddly enough, Tobias realized was himself. Leaning against the wall of an archway a few meters away from ‘him’ was another figure that was unmistakable.

Having heard the question, which had come from ‘Tobias’, the other figure turned over his shoulder and nodded, “Of course, little guy.”

‘Tobias’ walked along the clean cut grass to stand next to Jyren, “You don’t look it.”

At this point, despite hearing himself counting his own breaths and feeling his eyes closed, Tobias had lost track of where he was. Part of him was even confused over who, if that was even possible.

Jyren gave him a rather curious look, which even could have held a hint of annoyance there, too, “Aren’t you supposed to be taking your lessons right now?”

Tobias at least had the decency to look panicked, despite knowing that Jyren wouldn’t do a thing about it. As he was involved in this terrible acting, Tobias wandered over to the other side of the archway and mimicked the way Jyren was standing against the other side. Turning his head, Tobias glanced out towards the wilderness beyond. There was a soft, blue shimmer to the grass and the trees just beyond, as they were at the very bottom level of the Palace on Alraxia. The odd thing, though, was that there were always Knights guarding these open entrances to the Palace grounds. Tobias couldn’t help but wonder where they were, and he never even considered the fact that it might have been because Jyren told them to get lost.

“I didn’t sleep last night, either,” Tobias said quietly. It was a rather cryptic statement, but Jyren knew what that meant.

Arms folded across his chest in a very defensive pose, Jyren carefully eyed the younger Alraxian, “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

It was an old habit for Jyren, and Tobias had only picked up on it indirectly. When he couldn’t sleep, Jyren would wander into Tobias’ room to make sure the kid was alright. He had done it for years, sometimes falling asleep in a chair but always waking up before Tobias and slipping out unnoticed. Well, he thought it had been unnoticed. That had never been exactly true.

Tobias wasn’t exactly a genius when it came to conversation, but he could tell when someone was trying to steer away from a subject, “Mother only ever glares at me when I’ve done something wrong or when you’re acting like this. And I’m almost sure I haven’t done anything this time.”

A heavy sigh escaped Jyren and he looked down at the ground at his feet. After a few moments, he looked up and Tobias noted that Jyren’s voice had become much harder, “Tobias, sometimes things do not heal.”

Despite having pried straight for such an answer, it left Toby at a complete loss. His thoughts were easy to vocalize, “...what?”

A hint of a smile tugged at Jyren’s face, but it definitely wasn’t a happy one. In fact, it looked rather haunting for some reason, “Toby, this isn’t exactly the best conversation to have right now. In fact, its probably best to wait another twenty years or so.”

The last sentence had been said under his breath, as if it was an afterthought, but Tobias had latched onto that immediately. Pushing himself up off of the wall, Toby looked up at Jyren though his mess of blue-black hair and asked, “No...what do you mean?”

It really worried Tobias to see Jyren like this. This was his hero, his father, and despite putting on a rather hard exterior, the way he was suddenly avoiding people was the first tip off that something was extremely wrong. Add to that the fact that Jyren’s voice had none of the usual qualities to it, and then finally the rather oppressive feeling in the Force that surrounded him, and Tobias could tell without a doubt that something was wrong. Jyren had helped him so many times that Tobias wanted to return the favour...not really having any idea what he was getting himself into.

Jyren studied Tobias’ face very carefully. Eventually, he looked away and off towards the wilderness outside the shield protecting the Palace, “Remember when Eilat died?”

Eilat had been Tobias’ pet dragon. But it when both he and Eilat were still young, the dragon had gotten very sick and, sadly, there was nothing the Redstars were able to do for him.

Nodding, Tobias spoke the thought that came to mind which seemed relevant to the vague words spoken already, “You said that, eventually, with time, it would stop hurting.”

“And it did,” Jyren said with a nod, still talking off towards the trees in the distance, “But some things...sometimes, we encounter a situation that time doesn’t heal. A hurt so deep that it actually only gets stronger with time and we just have to find a way to live with it. Even if you learn to live with it, some days...some days are harder than others.”

Tobias didn’t even say ‘oh’ or anything like that. He just stared, unsure of what he’d gotten himself into and lost as to what to do now. But then Jyren did something surprising, he stood up, put on a smile, and said...

The comlink on Tobias’ belt beeped, snapping him out of the rhythm of focusing on his breathing and right back into the jungle of Yavin IV. Eyes opening, Tobias’s hand naturally went to the comlink on his belt. His mind, however, was elsewhere, trying to figure out why he’d just relived that event. It didn’t seem connected to anything at all and just seemed very...odd.

“I’m here,” Tobias mumbled at the comlink when he pressed the activation switch.

When he released it, Master Ral’s voice came through the other end, “Need you back to the Temple right away.”

Still slightly lost in the past, it was hard for Tobias to completely pull all of his awareness right into the present. But hearing Master Ral’s voice with an edge to it, a very hard one, was enough to tell Toby that something was wrong, “On my way. What’s going on?”

“A fleet of ships has shown up in system and they’re setting up a blockade. They don’t look to be Yuuzhan Vong, and they’re trying to stay unnoticed from the distance they’re keeping to us. We’re going to try to get everyone off planet before they try anything, though.”

Tobias didn’t say anything to that. It said enough. What he did do, however, was start running back to the Temple. It wasn’t surprising that something like this had happened, but Tobias couldn’t help but feel like it was the worst possible time. He was still busy trying to figure out what he’d just seen, and now the damned Academy was practically under attack!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 539: Levels of Light*

The lighting in the small corridor was barely lighting at all. In fact, had she a terrible sense of humour, Marix would have called it more of a darking than lighting. It was, however, to her advantage. In such lighting, it was fairly easy for a not-so-tall human woman, dressed in black and grey clothes and with raven coloured hair, herself, to press against a slight indentation in the wall and be very difficult to see.

The Twi’lek disguise had been useful enough, but it wouldn’t take Torno and his guards long to figure out that ‘she’ was gone. And then they’d connect the dots. Well, that wasn’t true. What they’d do was go after that Twi’lek solely due to the fact that she was missing and they would target anyone that wasn’t around, especially when they started to realize she hadn’t been around for that long in the first place.

So now Marix was human again, pressed against the wall in the darkness, watching guards pass by here and there without so much as a glance to where she was. Humans weren’t exactly the most common species among Torno’s lackeys, and they definitely wouldn’t recognize her, which would be dangerous, but right now, being blue skinned and having two long head-tails wasn’t going to do Marix any good at all. It also helped that, next to her normal, Alraxian body, she was most used to the human one. Sure it was weaker, felt odd, and had a strange center of gravity, but Marix had spent enough time in it over the years to get past those problems and not fall on her face when she tried to walk.

She had made it to Torno’s makeshift cell block with little difficulty, and could even see a couple of the doors that were labeled with small datacards crudely stuck on them. The words were in Huttese, unsurprisingly, but Marix could read enough to figure out which door was which. The one she was looking for, 21A, should have been on the same wall she was currently up against. That was only if there was any reason to the numbering scheme of the doors she could see, but Marix couldn’t really see enough at the moment. One true downside to a human body was weak eyesight.

It also didn’t help that there was really no break in the guards, and killing more of them wasn’t going to do her any good.  If she took anyone else down, for the moment at least, there would have to be a place to hide the body safely. Currently, Marix didn’t see any place suitable for that. Stepping out of her very small hiding spot for long enough to find the door she needed wasn’t really an option, which meant Marix had to use the only sense she had that was just as strong in any body she happened to currently occupy.

Eyes staying very open to make sure she wasn’t noticed, and a great deal of focus on keeping her breaths slow, soft, and very quiet, Marix reached out with the Force. In a moment, the darkness of the corridor didn’t matter, because she could feel everything. Four guards from the directly she’d come in from, which had been interesting getting around, and another two at the opposite end. There was also at least three patrolling the area, though she could see two of them with her own eyes easily enough. Across the corridor from her, she could feel three other beings, though she was sure there were at least seven doors that led to ‘cells’. On her side of the wall, this was confirmed, as she could feel...six?

Now, that was right. Two to her left, four to the right, and then an empty cell about five meters to her right. If the cells were numbered correctly, or at least had some semblance of organization beyond random numbering, then that so-called empty cell was the one she wanted. This, however, also relied on the fact that there were only seven doors between her and the end of the corridor.

Well...that, and luck.

She needed a break in the guards, though. They were patrolling rather regularly, and she needed a break in that...

Marix shifted her focus back towards the four guards at the ‘entrance’ to the block of cells. Despite being a good distance from her, she could see it well enough. A pig-like Gamorrean, a Trandoshan, and two Nikto were there. Focusing on one of the Nikto, and knowing that both the Trandoshan and Gamorrean were the kind to lash out unnecessarily, she did some that was, thanks to many years of practice and training, quite simple.

With the Force, she shoved the Nikto as hard as she could into the wall nearest to him.

She didn’t need the Force to tell her what happened next. In fact, she didn’t need her eyes, either. There was a series of loud, surprised cries that echoed down the corridor, and that was enough to get the attention of the patrolling guards, which soon ran right past her, one after another, to the continued shouts and even a few blaster shots.

Immediately, Marix turned to her right and moved swiftly, knowing that there was a chance the two guards at the opposite end would come running right into her. But she couldn’t wait forever, and there was just as much a chance they wouldn’t go anywhere. That same trick wouldn’t work twice, so she just had to move and deal with whatever came at her, literally.

Her eyes then did their job, picking up “21A” crudely scrawled on a datacard barely stuck to a door exactly where she had hoped it would be. For once, things were managing to work out just as they needed to. Of course, now came the problem of opening the door. Marix didn’t even bother to just try opening it, knowing there was no way it would be that easy.

There was a small keypad on the door, obviously the lock that she needed to deal with as fast as she could. This, she could handle when it came to slicing...but Marix doubted she had enough time. Once again, she removed the vibroblade from its sheath on her left shoulder and decided to push her luck even more. Marix did not, however, think of it as pushing her luck. Rather, it was testing her knowledge.

If she was right, and this corridor wasn’t originally designed to be a cell block, then there was the chance the doors weren’t equipped with alarms. It was a long shot, but she didn’t have time to deal with anything else and everything about the contents of the cell screamed to be extremely important.

Marix could deal with whatever problems came up if there was an alarm.

As quietly as was possible, Marix drove her blade right into the keypad. The sound of the shattered metal and the crackling of the destroyed electronics was muffled slightly thanks to her very close proximity to the door...and no alarm sounded.

The next problem that she was confronted with was the fact that the keypad was also the door’s opening mechanism. But Marix had expected this, and decided to continue her low tech solutions.

With all the strength she could manage, Marix kicked the door hard. It was the kind of metal that didn’t so much echo as break one’s toes, and so Marix cursed under her breath as she quickly remorphed the wound.

The door, however, opened.

Inside the small, closet-sized room was just what she was looking for: the scarred and tattooed body of a Yuuzhan Vong. He was glaring daggers at her through two deep set eyes on a mutilated face, pointed teeth forming into a snarl, and though he struggled to get up, Marix could see shackles were holding him down quite well.

And then, just a few seconds late, an alarm began to scream.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 540: Invasion*

Through the canopy of the jungle above him, Tobias could see the ships. The looks like transports, of various shapes and design, none of which he recognized, but all of which he knew had one distinct quality: they weren’t Yuuzhan Vong.

Sometime in the few minutes between Master Ral reaching him on his comlink and where Tobias was now, still a good few minutes off from the Great Temple, the ships that had, according to Master Ral, been holding back and trying to remain ‘unseen’, had moved in. And now they were landing. There was no reason for them to be that low  otherwise.

“Tobias!” the comlink crackled with Master Ral’s voice, though there was a thick layer of static that was very hard to hear through. Someone was trying to jam the frequency, and almost had it, but wasn’t quite there yet, “Where are you?”

Lifting the small device up to speak into it, Tobias continued his sprint through the thick, but well traveled, jungle surrounding the Great Temple, “Be there in a couple minutes, Master!”

“No!” the words came through the static surprisingly clearly and almost immediately, “Several ships are setting down in the clearing. Stay where are you are!”

“But Master...” Tobias trailed off when he realized he hadn’t hit the ‘send’ button on the comlink, nearly slammed into a tree when he looked down to right this problem, then, after having stopped to catch his breath, spoke into a now-activated comlink, “Master, what’s going on? If we’re under attack then you need me! Its only you, the Masters Solusar, and me here besides the other children!”

“And you are one of those children, Tobias,” Master Ral continued that, but the words were lost in the static, “...Solo has just landed and is...assist. In conta...alon Kaarde in orbit...other Masters have the children in hiding until...an land safely. Stay where you are and out of....ight until we can get off the planet.”

Tobias’ first protest was an annoyed sigh, but then he looked ahead of him. Distantly, through the thick trees, he could see the clearing in front of the Great Temple. He couldn’t make anything out, really, but Tobias could damn well imagine what was over there. Again, he said into the comlink, “Who’s attacking us?!”

For a long few seconds, only static came through the channel. Then, “...eace Brigade accordi...Solo.”

Sighing again, Tobias put the comlink back into his belt pocket. He could hear it there, but the jamming was starting to hit the right frequency and he couldn’t really make things out that well anyway. He did, however, have a general idea of things now.

Peace Brigade. That made sense, as they had quickly become just as dangerous to the Jedi as the Vong were. It was only a matter of time before someone attacked them at Yavin IV, and it made a great deal of sense that it was the Peace Brigade doing so. The problem, however, was that the current population of Yavin IV, beyond the native animals and plants, consisted of three Jedi Masters, Tobias, and a handful of children. Well, no, apparently one of the Solo’s had landed and was there to help. Tobias assumed it was Anakin, feeling like he was the type to appear just at the right time to get things done.

But Tobias had seen at least five separate transports fly overhead, all of which would contain far more than their current numbers. Being outnumbered was normal for Jedi, but then again, there were only three true Jedi on the entire planet, two of which were protecting the young children.

There seemed to be, however, a plan to escape. Tobias had no idea who, or what, ‘Kaarde’ was, but the impression he got was that this thing, or, most likely, person, was there to help them get offworld.

It was, at that point, with all of the facts he currently had possession of, that Tobias came to a decision.

A little too dramatically, considering the only things watching him were the native bugs of the jungle, Tobias removed his lightsaber from his belt and started towards the Great Temple. If both Masters Solusar were doing what they usually did, they would be back with the children, keeping them in a safe place until it was time to move. That left just Master Ral, Anakin, and Tobias to really fight.

And this was one fight he wasn’t going to sit out. Not when the lives of children were on the line like this.

Suddenly, a blaster bolt cut through a tree a little too close to his head. Pieces of wood shattered in all directions and Tobias instinctively dropped to the ground. Distantly, he could hear shouts now, indistinguishable words that were in the tone of orders. Two more blaster bolts went over him, both from his left rather than directly in front.

Courage fading into panic, Tobias rolled over onto his back and fumbled for the comlink, “Master! I uh...they’re shooting at me!”

Instead of simply waiting for an answer, Tobias’ eyes looked around him. Underbrush, dirt, small rocks...and a ditch about two meters to his right. As fast as he could, he turned and started crawling for it, heading for cover to try and figure out what to do next. Being a brave hero and fighting when your enemies could see him but having no idea where they were was more difficult than it should have been.

“...ee them...” the crackled, broken words came through the comlink as Tobias slid down into the very small ditch that didn’t drop him down nearly as far as he’d have liked, “...ing...or you. Hold on...”

Though Tobias could hear more blaster fire, and it was quite constant now, it was distant. Peeking up over his small piece of cover, he identified the direction of the sounds as coming from the Temple. Roars of sublight drives overhead sounded again, but this time when he looked up, Tobias could see nothing but leaves and branches...and a small, lizard like creature about the size of his arm eyeing him curiously.

Suddenly, a sense of alarm gripped him and Tobias realized it was the Force yelling at him to get his head down right this second!

Not one to discount the Force, Tobias immediately ducked under his cover again, the sound of a blaster shot much closer erupting nearby and then impacting the dirt just a half meter from his eyes. So much for cover...they knew where he was! But he didn’t know where...they...were...

Wait!

The Force!

It was hard to calm down when blaster bolts had, on three occasions in the last couple of minutes, nearly caught Tobias in the face. He didn’t close his eyes, for fear he wouldn’t have a chance to open them again, but did manage to get a metaphorical hold on the Force, pulling it into him and then reaching out very slowly...

There!

Two...three...at least three, maybe more, just a few meters in front of him, moving closer...he could hear them now, soft footsteps in the underbrush coming very carefully as they approached with caution.

Even the damned Jedi kids are something to watch out for.

The ‘words’ snapped Tobias into the realization that he was doing it again. It was like Thyferra. A voice. Hard, gruff, somewhat annoying in the way that the words were pronounced, as if the speaker didn’t understand Basic. But not words. They were all in Tobias head...

Tobias then made another decision, some rational part of his brain alerting him to the fact that at least three attackers were nearly on him and he still had the element of surprise of he did things quickly. Any concern over hearing that thought from one of the Peace Brigaders faded right away as a survival instinct took hold.

After taking a quiet, but deep, breath, and gripping his lightsaber in both hands, Tobias acted. In one awkward looking motion, the currently-human Tobias jumped up to his feet, activated the lightsaber with a snap-hiss, and just ran straight forward.

Eyes picked up five humanoids. Four humans, two of whom were almost jumping back in shock at the sudden action he’d taken, and a male Twi’lek near the back who was already beginning to squeeze the trigger of his blaster rifle.

Tobias swung his lightsaber in a long, horizontal arc as he continued to move forward, the blue-green blade cutting through three tree branches before managing to slice off the nearest human’s wrist. The scream of shock and pain that elicited from the middle-aged man nearly caused a similar reaction in Tobias, but the sound of blasters firing very close to him sharpened his thoughts to a point.

Two shots went high, sending down a branch with leaves crashing down just a meter behind him, another caught the dirt at his feet, and then a fourth, from the other human that was within arms reach of him, caught Tobias in his left side. The burning pain of the impact wracked his body, causing Tobias’ vision to go completely blurred. But those survival instincts were working full blast, and though he could still feel the pain, the wound was healing much more quickly than a human should have been able to heal.

This fact was apparent to the Peace Brigaders, and it likely saved Tobias’ life in another way...they hesitated. He hadn’t fallen, he hadn’t even screamed. In fact, Tobias had taken the shot, gritted his teeth and grunted painfully, but held his footing, his lightsaber, and his ground. When his vision returned, a second later, the faces of his assailants were the same as their one-handed companion...shock. Because on top of all they had just seen in that short second, the only sign of the blaster shot left on Tobias was the black mark on his tunic...

But shock could only last so long, especially in men that had come to kill people like Tobias. It was likely their first time seeing anything like this, and so the reaction was natural...but short lived. Despite Tobias’ resilience and ability to take a blaster bolt, he hadn’t attacked again. He was still standing there, blue-green lightsaber blade thrumming in front of him. So the Peace Brigaders made a decision of their own, deciding to test just how much this Jedi brat in front of them could heal for.

Before they could fire their blasters, however, a nearby tree came crashing down on the Twi’lek and two of the humans. The cried out more in surprise than pain as it dropped them and pinned them all to the dirt. The last of the standing Peace Brigaders, the nearest human to Toby, turned to see what had just happened, momentarily letting his guard down.

This time, Tobias did move. Some deeper training in him, probably beat into him by Marix or maybe even before that, took hold and he swung the lightsaber again, cutting a clean slice across the human’s torso and dropping him to the ground before he could do anything else.

“Tobias!” Master Ral’s voice was clear, and Tobias looked to see the frail-built Omwati Jedi Master leap over the tree that had fallen, give a quick glance to the bodies at Tobias’ feet, then look right into his eyes with that piercing look, “Turn around. We’re heading back the way you came.”

“But Anakin and the others...”

A volley of blaster fire followed Master Ral’s path through the trees, causing both Tobias and his Master to duck and glance that direction, seeing a group of Peace Brigaders heading their way. Master Ral forcibly turned Tobias around and pushed him forward, “Kaarde is on the ground and has the children. We, however, are in the same situation as young Solo, cut off. We’ll have to find our own way off Yavin and it is not through those men. Now run!”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 541: Prisoner Transfer*

There were hundreds of thousands of different alarms in the galaxy. The one currently echoing far too loudly around Marix was high pitched, screeching, and, if she was an Alraxian, would have had her on the ground clutching her ears at the pain of it. Her currently-human ears, though, were weak enough to pick up only enough of the sound to get her to grit her teeth and cringe at the sound.

A meter from her, within the small closet that was being used as a cell, the bound Yuuzhan Vong growled something in his native language in a very angry voice. Marix wondered if that was the only voice the Vong had, as she’d never heard anything else from them...

A pang in the Force caught her attention, and she turned to look back the direction she’d come from to see guards coming her way. Before she could draw her own blaster, the guards were firing their’s. Three blaster bolts arced towards her, and if not for the warning of the Force, Marix likely would have been hit. But thanks to it, she was able to quickly twist into the open cell, pressing against the inside wall.

The Vong struggled against its chains, trying to get to her but still unable to. It spoke again, words that were completely unintelligible to Marix...though she had a feeling none of it was friendly.

“Shut up,” she snapped at him, knowing he’d likely not understand her anymore than she understood him.

She then drew the vibroblade from its sheath on her shoulder again, holding it tightly in a reverse grip as she waited. Footsteps could be heard coming towards the door, though no other blaster bolts went past. Soon, she heard nothing, and Marix readied herself.

Out of no where, a wrist holding a blaster pistol appeared from around the corner, reaching in enough and prepared to just let off a series of random shots. Marix’s arm was just centimeters from the barrel...but her reaction was so natural that she had no trouble acting before the trigger was pulled.

Immediately upon seeing the weapon, her left arm extended out, then swatted at the weapon. The wielder didn’t lose his grip, and still fired off a quick series of loud shots, but they all hit the opposite end of the small room. Before the arm could be righted or the weapon’s owner could react at all, Marix grabbed his wrist, twisted it back the other direction until she heard a cry of pain from behind the door, then let go. The blaster pistol hit the ground just in time for a Rodian to appear in the doorway, blaster in hand and large, black eyes looking for its target.

Marix tackled the Rodian before he could even see her, driving her vibroblade into his neck as he fell on top of a human that had been coming up behind. Hearing the Force still yelling at her, she rolled off the Rodian’s corpse and swept at another figure’s legs in the same motion. A moment later, another human was on his back in the small corridor, head hitting the wall behind him on the way down with a very disconcerting thud.

Hopping to her feet just in time to hear a blaster fire behind her, Marix let the Force take hold and she attempted to sidestep the shot. Blaster bolts, however, were much faster than most humans were able to move. Because of this, Marix was unable to completely avoid the bolt. But, instead of taking the shot squarely in the small of her back, Marix felt a sharp, burning pain in her side as the red bolt of energy grazed her torso.

An inadvertent grunt escaped her, but by then Marix was already remorphing the wound. She’d had much, much worse in her life to let something like that slow her down at all.

Turning around, Marix saw that the Nikto holding the blaster rifle was, in fact, still firing. Marix dropped low, avoiding a volley over her head, and charged straight for the wrinkle-faced humanoid. In seconds, she was driving towards him, the sudden attack having shocked the Nikto into trying to swing his rifle. But Marix easily ducked under the clumsy strike and sliced upwards with her blade, opening the Nikto up from stomach to shoulder.

Hearing movment behind her, she turned to see a young, dark-haired human pushing a dead Rodian off of him and trying to get to his feet. Not wanting to deal with that, Marix drew her carbine from its holster with her free left hand.

Unlike many of the Hutt’s henchmen, she had the intelligence to actually aim. Lining up the shot, Marix squeezed off two quick shots that caught the human in the chest just as he’d finally got to his feet. The crumbling sound of his body dropping onto three other’s was the last she heard before Marix realized that only her heavy breathing and the blaring alarm was left.

The alarm was still going.

She needed to get out quickly.

[Loki.] Marix was running back to the open cell as she tried to get the attention of her old friend.

A feeling of curiosity seeped through before she heard his voice in her head. [Hmm...?]

[Forget the whole not being noticed idea.] she stopped in front of the door then looked in to see the Vong, mind working out how to do this as the Vong’s two eyes glared daggers at her. [Get outside Torno’s building as soon as you can.]

[I had a feeling you were the reason so many were headed that way...] Loki feigned a sigh. [Alright. But if I get shot on the way I’m leaving your tail behind. Blasters do hurt, you know.]

“Idiot,” Marix grumbled under her breath while stepping into the cell again and over to the Vong. Neither she nor the Vong bothered to say anything. He simply glared through his scars and tattoos at her, and she just went about the best plan she could come up with.

The best plan she could come up with ended up being quite simple.

Marix returned her vibroblade to its sheath, then turned her blaster carbine around. After a moment in which the Vong figured out what was about to happen, Marix slammed the butt of the gun hard into the back of his head. After the loud crack of blaster stock hitting skull echoed in the small room, the Vong just hung by his chains, very much unconscious.

Then, as quickly as she could, Marix went about removing the chains. Part of her was tempted to just cut off the Vong’s arms to do it, but some piece of Marix’s mind decided that was going just a bit too far. Even if that way, if he woke up, there would be no fighting back beyond very awkward, unbalanced kicks. Instead, though, Marix went the route of just shooting the damned things. It was quite simple, really, and all it took was one good, clean shot to break the chains.

Returning the blaster to her holster, Marix then took one last deep breath as a human. When she let out the breath, she was a good bit taller, had a tail, and was very definitely Alraxian again. No use hiding anymore. Besides, there was no way in any layer of any hell she would have been able to carry a two meter tall Vong, with muscles on his muscles, as a short, not-so-strong human woman. Not that lifting the Vong was that easy as an Alraxian, it wasn’t, but she could manage the weight better and not struggle to stand up...which was definitely a plus.

So now with a Yuuzhan Vong over her shoulder, Marix began the run back towards the way she’d come in, hoping to the Force that Loki had been lying about people headed to the building. Running while carrying a Vong was one thing, but fighting would be damned near impossible.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 542: Rodia*

For the first time in far too many months, Zephyr Squadron was flying with a full twelve. Six of the new pilots were as green as the fields of Naboo, but the three others had been transferred in from the Coruscant Defense Squadron. Apparently, they hadn’t seen any action, but they were at least expected to know what they were doing. While it was hard to be comforted by any of it, the very fact that there were twelve instead of three was enough to keep both Adria and Rea quiet.

“Isn’t this a bit quiet for a besieged planet?” Adria’s voice crackled through Rulae’s comm in his helmet.

Well, quiet about there only being three of them...but not so quiet in general.

Turning his head slightly, Rulae looked out the canopy of his new, XJ-X-Wing to Flight Two, with Adria’s X-Wing at the forefront. She had a point. Taking a hand off the controls of his starfighter, Rulae checked his sensors again. Nothing.

There should at least be something...

“Keep your eyes open, Zephyrs,” he said through the comm to the rest of the squadron, his own two large, crimson eyes moving ahead of him again to inspect the planet that nearly encompassed all of his view.

It was the green and blue mess of Rodia, a full sector away from where their fleet was supposed to be...Hutt Space. Despite the Rodians very often collaborating with the Hutts, they were in no way a part of the Hutt’s territory, and in fact were much closer to where many of the Hutts were reportedly running for refuge: Tatooine.

But Rodian had been attacked and swiftly invaded shortly before the Yuuzhan Vong had taken Hutt Space under their control. From the mission briefing Rulae had received, many of the fleet’s squadrons would be scouting outlying planets as the rest of the fleet made its way to their scouting mission in Hutt Space. The trip required a series of many, many short hyperspace jumps due to recent Vong mining of populated hyperspace routes. But the tactic of continually reverting to realspace to adjust course also made it much easier for a squadron to rendevous and another to be sent out on the way to their destination.

A slight crackle on his comm alerted Rulae to a voice about to speak, and so his attention shifted to that, “Sir, this is Six...I think I’ve got something.”

Zephyr Six was one of the transfers, Flight Officer Denan Rast, an older, for a pilot at least, human male that had been flying for as long as Rulae had, though he lacked a great deal of combat experience. What Rast did have, however, was a good amount of recon experience. And now, on their first flight as a full squadron again, that seemed to be paying off already.

Of course, the awkward silence presented one reason why he might not have advanced very far in the years. Ignoring that, though, Rulae asked, “What do you have, Six?”

Thankfully, Rast just seemed to need a little push to actually present the information. His slightly raspy voice sounded again in Rulae’s headset, “Sensors aren’t picking up anything, sir...but I believe I saw something moving near the surface of the nearest moon.”

Okay, so that could have been better.

Then again, it was better than nothing.

“Copy, Six,” Rulae glanced over to his starboard side where Six and the rest of Flight Two were, “Five, take Two Flight and do a quick pass over the moon.”

“On our way, sir,” Rea said quietly into her comm as her X-Wing peeled away from their large formation of fighters. A moment later, the three other X-Wings of Two Flight broke off with her and headed towards the nearest of Rodia’s two moons.

At that point, Rulae wished that he had another squadron with him. Twelve X-Wings, especially with so many recruits flying them, was in no way the best way to scout a supposedly-besieged and invaded planet. The current lack of anything, Vong or otherwise, in sight only made it worse. And if Rast had seen something and it was a trap...

“Twelve, take Three Flight and head for the moon, too,” Rulae said the words before the thought actually registered, but to him that just meant it was good instincts. 

There was a very feint beep on the comm to tell him that someone had switched to a secure channel directly to him, and then Rulae heard Adria’s voice, “This feel wrong to you, too, then?”

“Just keep your eyes open and stay alert,” was all Rulae replied with.

To her credit, Adria followed orders well enough. But she reminded Rulae a great deal of Jyren, always questioning the orders the entire time. He wanted to blame it on humans as a whole, but so many didn’t complain at him the entire time that it seemed insulting...so Rulae just passed it off as certain personality types.

After Adria and Three Flight had broken away and began following Two Flight towards the moon, Rulae switched his comm channel back to the squadron’s frequency, “One Flight, form up on me. We’re going to drop towards Rodia and give it a quick pass.”

Instead of vocal responses, a series of double clicks sounded on his comm. All acknowledging the order like good recruits were taught to do. But Rulae hadn’t waited for that, having already banked towards Rodia for a rapid descent. The three other members of One Flight, all fresh recruits, stayed close like they were taught, though his maneuver, despite being simple, had surprised them enough that they now lagged behind him just a bit more.

It was a long, silent descent to Rodia’s upper atmosphere. The only sound Rulae could hear was the constant droning of his X-Wing’s engines and the low hum of the computers that surrounded him. But then, as blobs of green began to form into marshy-looking continents on the planet below, he heard something else. At first, he dismissed it as nothing, not even sure there had been anything at all to hear. But then, as his X-Wing descended a bit lower, Rulae could clearly hear a series of slight fizzling sounds as something was clearly hitting the shields.

“Sir...” Rulae didn’t recognize the voice, other than the fact that it was one of the new pilots and he was part of One Flight.

Before he was going to respond, though, Rulae needed to figure out what it was. His eyes deduced the source before the sensors, but they weren’t far behind. Against the slight haze created by Rodia’s atmosphere, Rulae could see small, shining objects that were definitely metal. Then it started to make sense.

“Pull up a bit, One Flight,” he said in a calm voice, considering what could have been very dangerous, “Its debris. There’s a few large pieces out here, but they’re too small for the sensors to pick up until you’re very close. We’ll have to do a sweep from higher up to be safe.”

The three others responded with the same comm clicks as before. Something about the silence was a bit unnerving, though. Rulae had gotten so used to telling kids like Adria and idiots like Jyren to shut up that it seemed odd to not have to do that. But, then again, the entire atmosphere, metaphorically at least, of the Rodian system was so tense due to the emptiness that Rulae couldn’t blame the kids. And now, to make them feel ever better, they were flying over wreckage from the battle to take the planet. There was no denying something was wrong, now. And it felt even more like a trap.

“One, this is Four,” the voice sounded odd, and was from one of the new pilots, a young Kel Dor by the name of Tar Ko. Like all of his species, Tar Ko could not breathe an Oxygen atmosphere and so war a breathing mask and goggles over his eyes...the former of which helped to alter his voice even more than the comm could do on its own.

“Go ahead, Four,” Rulae responded right away, noticing a tendency for all of the pilots to ask permission to speak without posing their statements as questions.

The doubly mechanized voice replied quickly enough, though, “I’m not picking up anything on the surface. I know our sensors aren’t the best but...shouldn’t we be able to at least see cities from here?”

Now, finally, Rulae had been backed into a corner. Since they’d all been brought to the squadron, Rulae had tried to keep them as protected from the reality of the war as he could. But, sadly, that couldn’t last. So it was time to finally be honest with them.

“Not if the Vong leveled them all, Four,” Rulae said softly. The worst part was, it was probably true. Reports weren’t exactly the best from this region, but the few they received told of a massive invasion simply coming down on Rodia like a giant fist. Rulae knew what they really needed was a closer look, because there had to be something down there...but one squadron couldn’t afford to do something like that. They needed to all be in a position to get out of the system as soon as possible.

No response came to his statement, and Rulae wasn’t surprised at all.

And then, what Rulae knew had to be coming happened.

The sensors went crazy all of a sudden, and a second later, so did the comm frequency.  The amount of yelling, mostly out of sheer surprise, meant that none of it could be distinguished at all, but what Rulae did know was that none of it was from One Flight.

Immediately, his head snapped up, looking straight up through his canopy to the moon. With his naked eye, Rulae couldn’t see the other two flights, but he could see that something had definitely changed. The rocky, brown surface of the moon was suddenly moving, like a swarm of bugs changing direction.

The yells and cries through the comm continued to the point where Rulae couldn’t hear anything else, but a second later, finally, the strong, heavy voice of Adria managed to get through, “Sir! We’ve got skips launching from the surface of the moon! Hundreds of them! It looks like they were...and at least another five cruiser analogs!”

Part of it was cut out by more yelling, but Rulae got the idea.

His voice hard and firm, Rulae snapped into the comm, “Zephyrs, stow it and get your tails out of the their! You know the orders, we’re not here for a fight! Stay with your Flight and head for the nearest jump vector...”

He had been about to say something else, but more alarms went off from the sensors. Rulae’s eyes went down to check them, but didn’t need to see it. Rising up from the planet below, he could see more ships. Large, cruisers definitely, some even bigger, all looking like oddly shaped asteroids of various sizes rising off of the surface of the planet. Not to mention the countless smaller ships that were undoubtedly Coralskippers.

“Incoming from Rodia’s surface!” Rulae called out, more to alert the two other Flights than his own, who would easily see what he could coming up after them, “ETA of about one minute!”

If that.

Opening his X-Wing’s S-Foils in preparation for the fight that was coming right for him from both directions, Rulae pulled his fighter up and away from the planet. The other pilots of his Flight stayed close as they followed suit, heading after him as fast as they could manage while still remaining prepared for the Skips that would overtake their slower fighters before they could make the jump to hyperspace.

In the back of his mind, while the rest of Rulae was acting on the sudden rush of adrenaline, Rulae couldn’t help but wonder if the other recon squadrons had to deal with this kind of insanity.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 543: Secondary Force*

It was not something that the Jedi were known for. It was not something many in the galaxy were ever proud of. But, at some point in time, everyone was forced to do it.

Master Corentan Ral and his currently-human apprentice, Tobias BlueIce, ran. They ran from the Peace Brigade invaders that had attacked the Great Temple that served as the main complex for the Jedi Academy. They ran away from the Temple, where two Jedi Masters had remained with the young children that had been remained. But, according to Master Ral, some man named Kaarde was getting them offworld safely...though that didn’t include either Mater Ral or Tobias, who had run so far, so fast, that they had even surpassed the lake temples kilometers out from the Great Temple.

Tobias’ legs ached. While some part of him wanted to blame that on being human, he knew full well that the distance they’d moved in such a short time would have him in the same shape if he’d been Alraxian. Not surprisingly, Master Ral showed no sign of fatigue at all, despite the fact that he, like all Omwati, were thin and quite literally hollow-boned due to their avian ancestry. He sure as hell didn’t look like he could run as far as he had so easily...but Tobias was getting used to things like that from his Master.

They had lost the group of Peace Brigade pursuers at least ten minutes prior, but had continued moving without a word being said. Tobias knew what they had to do. It was actually a rather basic strategy. All of their focus was put to escape, first and foremost, and then, once they had reached a safe hiding place, then they could stop and figure out how to get off the completely undefended world.

Undefended.

These were Jedi Knights, protectors of the galaxy! And the New Republic wouldn’t even bother to have a small fleet to—

“GAH!” Tobias’ thoughts diverted his attention from the ground below, which was filled with underbrush, small rocks and, of course, tree roots specifically designed to catch feet because obviously trees ate small boys that were foolish enough not to watch their footing.

...well, that was what Marix always told him.

At least when he hit the ground, Tobias didn’t hit a rock. He even managed to get his hands up in front of his face, flipping over twice before finally sliding to a halt in the dirt. When he’d stopped moving and discovered that now all of him ached, rather than just his legs, Tobias had the good sense to groan.

Though his vision was currently blurred, and what he could see consisted of leaves and dirt and underbrush, Tobias could at least hear clearly enough. Beyond the normal noises of distant animals and other such things within the jungles of Yavin IV, Tobias heard Master Ral’s swift footsteps come to a sudden halt before growing louder.

A thin, but strong hand got a hold of Tobias by his left shoulder and began to pull him back up, “Are you alright?”

“Tree hasn’t eaten me...” mumbled Tobias as Master Ral helped him to his feet again. Seeing a look of concern suddenly form on his Master’s blue features, Toby managed a half smile, “I’m still standing...so my legs haven’t fallen off. Guess I’m alright, then.”

Master Ral’s head shifted slightly, as if he was looking past Tobias without actually looking. There was a short pause, but then Master Ral’s voice returned to its usual calm, almost airy tone, “They will continue searching for us. We will get off of this planet, but we must keep moving for now.”

Tobias was already nodding his head before Master Ral had finished, “I know...I know...where are we going, though?”

Turning to look over his shoulder, towards the direction they’d been heading, Master Ral said, “About four more kilometers south of here there is another group of smaller temples. They were bombed and leveled during the Galactic Civil War, decades ago, but the ruins are a good place to catch our breath and regroup.”

From the start, Tobias knew that being a Jedi wasn’t going to be easy. He knew that it was going to be the hardest thing he’d ever done, but he also knew that he could do it. Tobias knew that despite his own doubts about himself and worries, he could find a way to do it.

...he just wished someone had told him he was going to be stuck running everywhere as fast as he could.

One thing Tobias hadn’t learned much of just yet was the art of healing, and what little he had learned hadn’t ever proved to be that useful. Well, no...the truth was that Tobias just wasn’t confident with it and couldn’t focus well enough to get it done. It was definitely one of the more complicated Force techniques that would take much more time and practice to grasp at all. So, instead, Tobias prepared himself for the continued run by taking the short break to catch his breath and run through a few breathing exercises that Marix had taught him.

“Tobias...”

Eyes still closed, he just nodded again, knowing what Master Ral was saying, “Sorry, Master. I’m ready to move again.”

“No,” that word surprised him enough to open his eyes and see Master Ral was looking up trhough the canopy of the jungle, “Do you hear that?”

He didn’t. Or maybe Tobias did hear it, but just didn’t know what ‘that’ happened to be. To hell with it...

Half a minute later, Tobias was a bit taller and though he still ached, had a few new muscles in his legs to help with the run that he had been expecting. More important, though, being Alraxian again meant he had sharper hearing and...

That was odd.

It didn’t sound like anything Tobias had ever heard before. A constant, very low-pitched drone in the air above them. It was close, he could tell that, but...

“What is that, Master?!”

Tobias’ voice changed a bit, too, when he shifted back to his Alraxian body. His voice lost the awkward pitch that most human teenagers had, but instead it gained a quality that most humans would consider just right for a child. The last bit always annoyed him, because he was far older than any human children, but for some damned reason everyone always looked at him like he was less than half his age...

Master Ral still seemed to be getting used to Tobias’ ability to morph, but it only caused him to pause for a fraction of a second. His two eyes were still directed upwards, looking for something...which was odd, because Master Ral rarely used his eyes to find things. A few short moments passed and the sound grew slightly louder before Master Ral pointed upwards, “There.”

Though it took a moment for Tobias to follow the direction of Master Ral’s finger, Tobias saw it. It was a black spot against the orange gas giant, Yavin. No...no it wasn’t black. It was more of a greyish brown with an odd, crab-like shape and it was growing larger because it was coming closer...and around it, Tobias could see smaller dots, raindrop-shaped objects moving like darts across the sky.

Oh gods no...

“Is that...are those...?” Tobias couldn’t bring himself to say it. While it made perfect sense, the very thought made his stomach turn even more and any hope of getting off the planet fade from his vision.

“Yuuzhan Vong Coralskippers and some kind of transport,” Master Ral looked down from the sky to Tobias, “Most likely a landing craft and I doubt it is the only one.”

Shaking his head, Tobias turned to face his Master with a face that showed that any hope Tobias had felt about their escape was now gone, “What do we do now, Master?”

Reaching over and putting a surprisingly strong hand on Tobias’ shoulder, Master Ral gave him a serious look in the eye. It wasn’t at all the kind of reassuring face Tobias was used to getting, but somehow, it had a similar effect.

“We head for the ruins, just like I said. The only thing we do different is we keep our eyes and ears good and open the whole time and we move faster.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 544: Barricade*

Marix groaned as quietly as she could after getting a look out a small slit in the wall had probably been designed more for blasters to point through than eyes. Apparently, Loki hadn’t been joking. She could see at least a dozen figures moving through the makeshift streets right towards the main entrance...which Marix had been planning to use as an exit. That was going to make things difficult, but that wasn’t at all why she groaned.

“Gods,” she had to stand up straight again after leaning down to see outside, which meant shifting the weight of the unconscious Yuuzhan Vong she carried over her shoulder yet again, “How you can be half Jyren’s size and weigh twice as much as him I really don’t know.”

She had been about to get moving again, but immediately stopped herself. It was dangerous, stupid, and something she wouldn’t have done had it been many years earlier, but Marix closed her eyes and forced herself to take a slow, deep breath. She was still thinking of Jyren as being fine and just not there with her. And it bothered her on far too many levels. So much that it was distracting her and that was the last thing she needed, especially in her current situation.

Very much aware of the danger that closing her eyes would do, despite her other senses, Marix very quickly did something she was good at. Almost forcefully, she pushed the emotions aside. The moment later when she could feel nothing but the focus needed to keep moving combined with the weight of the damned Vong over her shouler, her eyes opened again, suddenly more silver than violet, and Marix was moving.

The distinct lack of guards for the last few minutes since the beginning of her escape was beginning to concern Marix. If everyone was moving towards the entrance and simply setting up a fortified area there, no amount of experience and skill would keep her alive. There was a point when the number of weapons being fired was just not possible to be avoided, just as there was a point where so many wounds were being inflicted that morphing simply couldn’t keep up. That was how many Tam’Day’U had died through the years: simple attrition.

[I should leave you.] Loki’s voice chimed into Marix’s mind as the main entranceway began to come into view.

Marix’s eyes stayed focused on the end of the corridor ahead of her, but she extended her senses outward with the Force, towards the main entrance that wouldn’t be very far away from that point. If her memory was correct, and it usually was for layouts of buildings, once she exited the corridor into the main hallway, the main entrance would be a good thirty meters to her left...but the there was also a guard station just five or six meters from where she was going to come out, and Torno’s main chamber was quite literally just around the corner in the opposite direction.

It would have been easier if Marix wasn’t carrying a Yuuzhan Vong with her, but this was a chance she wasn’t about to pass up, so she’d just have to deal with the problems it brought...and that meant no sneaking, just the direct approach.

She waited to respond to Loki after she could see where the corridor ended, noting that there were no beings aiming rifles at her, nor did she feel anything nearby through the Force. That was an even worse sign. [Loki, how bad does it look out there?]

[They just closed the main door again...] the distant ship didn’t miss a beat. [I didn’t get a count but you’re going to have your hands full and...well, at least one of them was carrying something big.]

Marix decided to worry about that last part later. [How’s the sky?]

[Empty.] the response from Loki was a bit slower this time, and he sounded somewhat worried, too. [Got clearance to take off and I just did a flyby on an exit vector. I don’t think they’ve made the connection.]

[Good.] reaching the junction, Marix stopped and waited for a long few seconds. She heard nothing out of the ordinary, and still couldn’t feel anything in the immediate area...carefully, she stuck a head out, looking back towards Torno’s chamber first.

Two small crates stacked against the far wall just before the corner that lead into the chamber, an open door that had been open when she’d passed by before, and a temporary light fixture standing in exactly the same position it had been before. Clear.

Her head went the other direction, where she could see the large door that served as the main entrance. It was big enough to allow the entrance of medium sized speeders if needed, maybe even a small ship. But the door took forever to open. There was, however, another, smaller door within it, off to the right side that saw the most use. And Marix could see them.

The second she got a quick count and assessment of the situation, Marix pulled her head back, hoping that she hadn’t been spotted.

Crates had been moved to form a barricade in front of the entirety of the entranceway, with a particularly large collection in front of the smaller door. She had counted at least twenty five heads, and suspected more due to the height some of the crates had been stacked to. Marix had also spotted what Loki had seen...and identified it as a large, anti-personnel artillery cannon that was aimed down the corridor.

Torno was taking this very, very seriously.

Considering the way the Vong had taken many of the Hutt’s worlds, however, Marix couldn’t blame him. He likely suspected either Peace Brigade agents or outright Vong spies attempting to escape and make contact with a full army for an attack. There was so much wrong with that, but Torno was no tactician...he was, at best, a mercenary type who was just a survivor. Some Hutts had a good military mind, but those were the ones that had retreated Hutt Space entirely. Stubborn fools like Torno stayed behind in a futile attempt to take back what they swore to be their’s.

That, at least, was one thing working in Marix’s favour. Well, that, and the fact that the unconscious Vong on her shoulder was being good and remaining unconscious.

It was obvious, now, that her usual plan of charge in, move fast, and go right through wasn’t going to do Marix any good at all. Even without that anti-personnel cannon, the corridor wasn’t wide enough for her to dodge all the shots that would be coming her way, and every bit of cover Marix might have used was currently a part of the barricade. Torno might not have been a tactician, but at least one of his guard’s had some basic ideas that were intelligent enough.

Or maybe Marix could charge them...

[Loki, I don’t have time to debate this with you so just answer me one question.] she had an idea, and it was a crazy one. But like most crazy ideas, it would work. That, Marix had learned from Jyren. [How fast can you get here?]

Knowing that tone and particularly noticing Marix’s choice of words, Loki answered directly. [About seventy five seconds.]

[Prove to me you’re as fast as you always brag and make it in forty.] Marix could heard movement. Shouts. Yells. They echoed right to her, though the words were lost in the echo, the point was obvious: they’d seen her.

[On my way.] Loki’s voice had that worried hint in it, as he knew she was up to something that he probably wasn’t going to like. [Why the rush?]

Marix told him.

She also told him her idea.

To Loki’s credit, he only complained in the form of a loud groan that echoed in Marix’s skull. Then, a slightly cocky edge taking over enough that Marix knew he’d be grinning if he could, Loki said. [Be there in twenty.]


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 545: Rash Decisions*

Real combat was something that could never be taught. Simulators could teach skill in flying, basic aiming, and even simple techniques, but training could only go so far. Being shot at changed how a person thought and reacted, even with training to fight against that instinct. Firing any weapon systems while piloting took multitasking to another extreme entirely, as it required a kind of awareness that only developed when one’s life was very much on the line. And techniques...well, maneuvers only mattered in relation to your enemy.

But it was that initial panic upon experience combat for the first time that was the most dangerous thing for a new soldier, of any kind. Because of this, and knowing how he had panicked during his first engagement, Rulae had a habit of expecting the worst from fresh recruits. Thankfully, he’d never seen a recruit completely freeze up and do nothing at all...of course, that was the extreme. Rulae had watched young pilots fly off in a panic, simply trying to avoid the mass of laser fire in their direction and ending up colliding with another ship.

It was these kind of memories that made Rulae extremely proud of the new members of Zephyr Squadron. Rodia’s moon had just erupted into a mass of Yuuzhan Vong coralskippers, coming out of literally no where to ambush the eight XJ X-Wing fighters that were making a quick pass over its surface. The yells of surprise and shock over the comm lasted only for a matter of seconds...not because the pilots were killed in the volley of heated weapons fire from the coralskippers, but because they all silenced themselves and focused on getting out alive.

It was a good sign.

“Plate, calculate our escape jump immediately and transfer the information to the rest of the squadron as soon as you have it,” Rulae ordered his astromech, R7-P8. Sure, ‘Plate’ was a rather pathetic moniker, but sometimes Rulae enjoyed the simple things like that. The little droid mounted behind him chirped an affirmative and got to work.

Looking out his viewport to beyond his port S-Foils, Rulae could see the planet of Rodia below. The surface had changed from what it was supposed to look like, a drab brown and red now, but that wasn’t what attracted his attention...the rising objects that were slowly growing did.

“One Flight, stay tight,” without waiting for the acknowledgments of the other three pilots, Rulae pulled his X-Wing into a sudden loop before banking away from Rodia. As he did, he made sure to direct a bit more power to his engines, knowing that fighting wasn’t going to be a viable option.

“One, this is Twelve,” Adria’s voice cut into the comm channel, sounding annoyed and just a bit distracted, “Could use a little help if you can get to us! I’ve never seen so many skips before!”

Rulae’s eyes darted to his scanners, noting that the three others in his Flight were still close to him...and that there was a large mass of ships coming in from behind them and they were gaining. That was expected: X-Wings just didn’t have the speed to outrun coralskippers. But they’d be safe for at least another thirty seconds, so he then turned his attention to the other two Flights.

His eyes told him nothing when he looked towards the moon, seeing only a mass of black seeming to peel away from the surface like a swarm of insects, but the sensors were at least able to distinguish friend from enemy. Both Flights were already surrounded and the mass hadn’t even reached them yet.

It was a deathtrap.

There was also only one choice to make, “Jump coordinates are being transmitted to your astromechs now, Zephyrs. Put all your power to engines and shields and just get out of Rodia’s gravity well.”

Suddenly, a voice began to cut into the comm signal, but it only got as far as half a syllable before dropping into static and then the comm channel cutting out completely. Rulae knew what that meant, though he couldn’t identify who it was that had been shot down.

The previous quiet of the comm channel then completely faded.

“—just flew right through him!”

“Two on your tail, Eight!”

“I see ‘em, I see ‘em!”

“Another three coming in from above!”

“Hells, they aren’t even firing their weap—“

”Break now! Now!”

“I can’t see anything! There’s something on the canopy!”

“I’ll try to shoot it off, hang on.”

“Sithspit, its eating through the metal!”

A series of whistles from Rulae’s astromech caused him to turn his focus away from the chaos engulfing the other two Flights of the squadron. Checking the small screen in front of him, he read the words: JUMP PREPARATIONS COMPLETE.

In Rulae’s gut, he could feel that the pilots of the three X-Wings formed up on him were all getting the same message and about to ask the same question. It wasn’t the Force, it was the very fact that he was asking himself the same thing. So, before it could be asked, Rulae spoke the words that were required of him as the commanding officer of the squadron, “One Flight, make the jump and alert the fleet immediately. I’m going to head back and get the other’s out of here.”

Those were not the words Rulae had planned to say. In fact, his brain tried to make him say that the four of them were going to do that. But something...something else took hold of Rulae’s thin mouth and added something else to the end, while at the same time taking control of his body and bringing the X-Wing around to head straight for the rest of the squadron.

“Sir, we can’t—“

”That’s an order, Three!” Rulae snapped, not fighting the fact that the X-Wing’s S-Foils were now opened and his weapons were powered up as he headed in the exact opposite direction.

“Sir, go!” it was not Zephyr Three, or any other members of One Flight. It was Rea, her voice strained due to concentration.

That, Rulae did not respond to. He could have just said ‘no’, but that would have required explaining why. At this point, even Rulae was unsure of why he’d done something so...rash. It was the kind of action that he hadn’t taken since he was a young pilot, not understand how stupid it was to take on an entire fleet by himself. But no, no that wasn’t his motivation now.

Rulae was tired of seeing Zephyr Squadron die. Again and again, it was rebuilt, and then they were thrown right into the front lines to die again. Yes, some pilots were die. That was unavoidable. He was no, however, going to continue to find himself building up a bunch of new recruits just to watch them die again. Not this time. Not anymore.

A chirp from Plate reported that the three other members of One Flight had followed orders and jumped away to safety. Rulae then opened the comm channel again, “Zephyrs, I’ve got a fix on your position, stay together and head straight towards me. You cut your way out and I’ll head straight in. One way or another we’re making a damned hole in that mass of skips!”


Heads up everyone, but updates may continue to be a bit spotty for a few weeks. Busy time with finals and all that fun, plus trying to make sure my portfolio is actually decent.

Oh, and Mass Effect. Damn that Mass Effect.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 546: Reach Out With Your Feelings*

Tobias looked up beyond the canopy above to the sky dominated by the orange gas giant, Yavin. There were no signs of any ships now. They had all passed minutes before, descending through the atmosphere towards the Great Temple and the main Academy complex. Of course, by now, it would be empty of all but the Peace Brigade and the Vong.

The Jedi Academy...gone. Another casualty of the invasion.

“We could steal a ship,” Tobias suggested, talking over his shoulder to where Master Ral sat, within a small cave of sorts beneath the ancient rubble of an ancient Massassi Temple. The bombings that had crumbled the stone building a decade earlier had also created a sort of cave-like structure beneath, where some of the old corridors used to be. Though they didn’t go very deep into what was left of the structure, it was enough to provide shelter and safety.

Without even seeing his Omwati Jedi Master, Tobias could feel the man shaking his head. It was in the way he spoke, “It is too dangerous. The amount of ships we saw was enough to house an army. You and I are no match for an army of Yuuzhan Vong on their own...not counting the Peace Brigaders also on the surface.”

It was hard to resist the urge to point out that, just a month or so previous, he and Master Ral had landed on a Vong ship at Fondor. It had to have housed more than were on the surface here on Yavin IV...but what was the point in arguing? It did seem more dangerous, somehow.

As Tobias turned to walk back down the small hill that led into their shelter, Master Ral continued to speak in his usual airy voice, “We may have to remain hidden for a long time, Tobias. At least until the majority of our enemy leaves...if not for the Peace Brigade here, we could send a comm signal out and hope someone picked it up.”

Stepping into the dark, cave-like corridor, Tobias slid down the stone wall until he was seated in the dirt. They didn’t turn on either of their glowrods for fear of it being noticed. So he just looked towards the black silhouette of Master Ral, “The Peace Brigade will monitor comm channels, I guess...”

The figure of Master Ral nodded, “It is likely. Even if they do not, we cannot take that risk. Sadly, all I have is a short range transmitter that would easily be picked up if we attempted to contact anyone offworld.”

Tobias nodded, looking down at arms that rested on his knees. Hiding from the Vong on Yavin IV, in a hole in the ground for who knew how long and with no way to get off or even contact anyone. Sure, that smuggler Kaarde and the other Jedi Masters would know they were on the surface, but Yavin IV had a lot of surface and even the Force wouldn’t be able to pinpoint two people.

There was nothing they could do but wait, sadly.

Master Ral’s shape shifted in the darkness, “Continue with your exercises, Tobias. Stay alert and aware, though.”

“What?” Tobias mumbled the question as Master Ral walked out of their shelter and out into the jungle, “Where are you going?”

Master Ral stopped, now fully visible in the fading sunlight as Yavin’s sun set over the horizon. Looking over his shoulder, blue features as hard as Tobias had ever seen them, Master Ral said simply, “I am going to check the area one more time. I will not be long. If I am...do not try to find me. Stay here and stay safe.”

“Yes, Master,” he nodded, got a slight glare from Master Ral, then tried again in a more sincere, less dismissing voice, “I won’t go anywhere at all, even if you don’t come back.”

“Good.”

And then Master Ral was gone.

Now left alone in a dark hole in the ground with ancient, molding stones above him, Tobias slumped over and sighed heavily. When the air left him, though, he sat up straight and began to take slow, deep breaths. Eyes did not close, but if they could have been seen by anyone Tobias would have looked distant. Staring off into the middle distance in the dark in front of him, Tobias did as he was told, reaching out with the Force.

In the brightness of the world around him revealed by the Force, Tobias easily could seen the shining light of Master Ral, moving very slowly through the very lively jungle. But Tobias didn’t stop at that. He could go farther. He could go much farther...maybe even find a way to let someone know he was there.

It was hard to concentrate when a sound would cause Tobias to nearly jump, but somehow the focus didn’t leave him. His senses stretched out, slowly, but soon he could ‘see’ more and more of the jungle...to the point where Master Ral was a dim light in the overarching brightness. It was...beautiful really. All of that life, some animals, most of it plants, but all of it very much alive and very strong in that fact. The feeling seemed to strengthen Tobias in a way he didn’t understand, but that didn’t matter for long as he reached out even more.

There was Yavin, the orange gas giant above, glowing dimly far above...and another of its moons, as bright with life as Yavin IV was...and another, and another...and then...

Something familiar.

A sense of surprise jolted through the Force right to him, but Tobias still held firm onto his concentration, lost in the feeling of all this life so many thousands of kilometers away from him..not realizing just how far he was stretching himself. And it was that familiar feeling, well beyond the Yavin System, that kept Tobias concentrated...because he was curious, and suddenly, so was it.

[Sye us e’che!]

Words.

Actual words through the Force from that thing so very far away. Hearing them caused Tobias’ focus to waver, just enough that he lost it completely, had to calm down, and took another ten long minutes to find it again. And there it was, a soft light due to the distance...a soft light that had spoken to him through the Force in Alraxian.

It was so far...but Tobias had to try. The voice had said ‘Identify yourself immediately!’ in Alraxian. If words could reach him from so far, then he could do the same...

[Dui Enai’ar. Blesta arnaa chisnerra. Soorate]

‘I am the Empress’ Son. Please send help.’

The last word was something that only Marix, Jyren, Tobias, the twins, and the Knights knew. It didn’t actually mean anything in Alraxian. In fact, as far as he knew, it wasn’t anything in any language. To the Knights, though, it was a word of confirmation that he was who he said he was.

[Kanyak us lac ked. Ian asha na tornil.]

‘My Kanyak has identified your location. We are on our way.’

And then Tobias finally pulled back to himself.

A gasp escaped him and he nearly collapsed onto the ground, sweating and suddenly exhausted. His head hurt so much. And yet...he grinned. There was a smile on his face that made Tobias look as if he’d gone mad, but he couldn’t help it. There were Knights all over the galaxy, quietly watching the events and reporting back to the Empire every so often, of course there would be one near Yavin IV while Tobias was there. And he’d found him. Tobias had managed to reach out and find help...and it was coming. They were going to be alright, and Tobias had done it.

What Tobias didn’t realize, though, was that the Knight he had managed to contact was nearly eighty lightyears away.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 547: The Greatest Show Off of Them All*

Managing a very careful glance around the corner, Marix managed to get an updated look at her situation before she had to duck back behind the wall due to a volley of blaster fire coming straight for her. Pieces of rock exploded from the corner of the wall as blaster bolts slammed into it. Causing her to shift slightly and nearly drop the unconscious Yuuzhan Vong she still carried. This would only have been a bad thing due to the fact that it might somehow shake him back into consciousness, and that was the last thing she needed right now.

More yelling echoed her way, but Marix still couldn’t make out any actual words. That didn’t matter, it told her something else. The voices were closer, and the pitch was odd...they were running straight for her, or close enough to get a clearer shot if she popped out again. Where the hell was Loki?!

A rumbling echoed through the building suddenly, shaking the walls just enough to send a layer of dust down from the carved ceiling a meter above her. There was a shout from Torno’s men, and then another rumbling that was much louder and much deeper.

And then came half-second long, roar that was nearly deafening, which also violently shook everything, nearly throwing Marix to the ground. She managed to stay put against the wall, free hand digging claws in just to be safe, but still not moving. Vaguely, she could hear more shouts and yells before another, much louder roar exploded through the main entranceway to the mountain stronghold, this time joined by the distinct sound of metal buckling.

There.

Her head was spinning due to the sound, her legs barely able to keep her up thanks to the structure losing a great deal of its strength, and her shoulder was aching thanks to the damned Vong, but Marix knew exactly what that sound was. It was time to move.

Marix didn’t use the Force to keep her steady and to compensate for the heavy-headed feeling and ringing in her ears. She could have, but instead she just did what she was best at: gritted her sharp teeth, stood up straight, said a simple curse to gravity, and then ran.

Despite having a heavy, unconscious humanoid to carry, Marix bolted around her cover at an amazing speed. Her eyes took in the sight as she was moving. Far ahead, her destination, the huge main doors to Torno’s little stronghold had been completely smashed, the corners still red-hot. Dust and ash and smoke blanketed all of the entrance, with bodies littered everywhere. A few stood, but only the ones that had been coming towards her, and even then they were hunched over, clinging skulls or wearily and unsteadily getting to their feet.

Marix leapt easily over a downed Rodian as she sprinted for the opening, seeing a slight dark colour growing in the distance through the light that came through the doorway’s new opening. The sound of a blaster bolt behind her caught Marix’s attention, but thankfully the shot went well over her head. Marix gripped the Vong with claws now, her free hand pushing her off one of the crates that had been used as cover by Torno’s men not seconds earlier.

Through the light and the dust, the large object in the sky continued to grow at an amazing speed. Loki was diving at a speed that was very dangerous in an atmosphere, and Marix could see red streaks coming up towards him from the ground. That was why he was having to move so fast.

Reaching the remains of what had once been a barricade, Marix was greeted by burning crates, bodies, and an absolute mess of molten durasteel. Behind her, one of Torno’s men was still firing a weapon, but he was so bad a shot she didn’t bother paying him any attention, instead focusing on climbing through the mess to get outside right away.

She was halfway through the remains of the barricade when the not-so-distant shape of Loki made a very dramatic and sudden shift. He spun around ninety-degrees, cutting thrust so that his momentum now carried him right for where she was...sideways.

[Oh, you show off!] Marix growled.

[Don’t yell at me until after we’re not dead!]

Marix rolled her eyes as she got to the ground again, realizing that standing right in front of the doorway with the speed Loki was going at was not the best of ideas. She looked to the side and made her way as quickly as she could for the side entrance just to use it as cover. [That wasn’t even a coherent sentence!]

And then the one constant stream of blaster bolts towards her became much, much more. Marix was alerted to the danger through the Force, turning her head to see through the ruined crates and boxes and bodies to see at least twenty of Torno’s guards charged right for her, blasters blazing. Apparently some of Torno’s men only came to play after the rest were dead and dying.

Finally, Marix relieved her shoulder of its pain and dropped the Vong to the ground beneath her, getting a grunt of out him but nothing else. She dove down at the same time, landing face first against hard, duracrete at such force that she managed to get shocks of pain through everything from her knees to her chest to her face. But at least the blaster bolts all went over her and hit what was left of the huge, durasteel door.

A few seconds of constant blaster fire continued, but then it suddenly stopped. When that happened, Marix knew what it meant, so her hands quickly went to the back of her head, protecting herself as best she could physically while she readied herself to draw on the Force for some extra protection.

Loki hit the duracrete stairs outside the main building first, with a violent shake to the entire building’s foundation and a loud crashing sound. The entire ground under Marix continued to rumble under her as Loki slid against the duracrete, throwing chunks of it into the air which slammed into the durasteel door in loud, worrying pangs. It wasn’t long at all, barely a second, before more pieces of the door began to collapse inwards, and much of the ceiling began to come with it as the foundations lost much of their strength.

But before anything could hit the ground, Loki hit the door.

Whatever pieces of it had been left standing lost their strength, coming crashing down as Loki’s starboard ‘wing’ cut into the remaining frame, with the bulk of his body following. But the momentum was gone, and the impact after impact was enough to slow him down to the point where, finally, the ship came to a stop with a loud groan.

Of course, the ceiling and the door was collapsing inwards still. The first sounds of impacts were heavy thuds on Loki’s starboard side, denting and cutting into his thick hull before bouncing off and slamming into the other rubble caused by his shooting at the door before charging straight in. Marix had managed to shift to her side, seeing Loki’s main body stopped a good seven meters from her, but the shield of his wing well away from her. Eyes shifted up to see much of the ceiling and door coming for her, and the prepared and very natural reaction in the Force was not that much of a strain for her.

Reaching out with her arms and then the Force, Marix managed to stop many of the pieces that were right above her a good three meters above her. Around both her and the Vong, the rest of the debris hit, bouncing away and some nearly slamming into her but somehow managing to miss. Still holding a handful of large pieces of debris above her, Marix could see that much of the rest of the ceiling was coming down, too, but the initial wave had just hit...

A free hand lashed out and grabbed the nearest arm of the Yuuzhan Vong as Marix darted to her feet, letting go of the debris above her finally. She ran, literally dragging the Vong across the rubble behind her but fast enough that the debris above hit just behind him instead of crushing him and making everything a waste of effort. Her eyes had a new goal: the suddenly open main hatch on Loki’s underside.

A few smaller pieces of ceiling hit her as she ran for it, but they were easily ignored and in matter of seconds, Marix was inside screaming at Loki to go right now before people realized he was still in condition to fly and started shooting again and oh are you actually okay enough to be able to keep flying because if not I’m leaving you!

When the hatch closed behind Marix, the one in front to the main corridor irised open and Marix charged in, Vong still dragging right behind. She opened up a nearby room, threw him in, sealed the door, and ran as fast as she could to the cockpit, getting thrown from one bulkhead to the next as Loki shifted suddenly and definitely was being shot at again.

“Go go go go go!” she was yelling the words without realizing it just as she entered the cockpit and literally jumped into the pilot’s chair.

[Going as...as fast as I can...as fast as I can...] Loki’s ‘voice’ sounded pained, which was not that surprising. [Kind of...a bit...numb right now.]

That wasn’t good.

Marix reached forward and took hold of the controls herself, “I told you not to show off!”

[Not until we’re...until we’re not...we’re not dead, remember?]

Through the viewport in front of her, Marix could barely see anything but red and green bolts of energy. Obviously, Torno was a bit angry and had managed to get some ships into the air because they were nearly already into low orbit. Marix’s eyes darted to the sensors. At least four ships were after them, and gaining...or, no, Loki was losing speed.

“C’mon, Loki, hang on!” she tried to encourage the ship, not liking what she was seeing on the monitors that showed his vital signs, “You can do this. We just need to get to hyperspace.”

The control yoke wasn’t responding well to her, which meant that Loki was hurting pretty badly. She could barely maneuver him enough to dodge the turbolaser fire from behind them, and it was getting more and more sluggish.  A violent jolt rocked the ship and nearly sent her head first into the controls. Marix glanced to the vital signs again to see the damage done and couldn’t help but cringe. But they were in orbit now, and despite the risks she put even more power to what was left of Loki’s engines.

Loki rocketed away from the small planet at a speed that was very dangerous for his current state, with three similarly sized transports firing turbolaser batteries at them, and an even larger freighter doing the same, but with more guns. Marix’s limited control thanks to Loki’s injuries meant that the best she could do was just push forward faster, shifting the Kanyak slightly from one side to the next and in soft rolls to avoid the clumsy shots...

A light came on just in front of her, a soft blue-green colour to indicate they were free of any nearby gravity wells. Marix nearly pounced on the hyperspace controls, and in a sudden, wonderful moment, the stars began to twist and stretch...then Loki shot off into hyperspace.

But Marix didn’t let out a sigh of relief and collapse into the chair.

Instead, she twisted the seat around and then bolted out of it, scrambling down the corridor towards Loki’s aft section where all of his organs and vital systems were. He was bleeding internally according to the vital signs in the cockpit, with the entirety of his underside nearly gone and much of his hull so damaged that it was amazing he hadn’t come apart in the atmosphere.

Their escape wasn’t going to matter if he died now, and Marix wasn’t going to let that happen.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Just a quick heads up for everyone...

I am, in fact, still alive! Mostly...

Still on a sort of vacation right now, mostly sans computer. But, if all goes well, I'll be back home in about another week or so and updates shall resume as per normal...finally! Until then, I'm off to chase after a girl I should have chased after years ago!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 548: Herding*

After over two decades of service, the X-Wing Starfighter was still one of the best ships flying in the galaxy. After so many years, it still was one of the only starships in the service anywhere in the galaxy with a perfect mix of armament, speed, maneuverability, shield power, and, of course, a strong enough hyperdrive to take it anywhere in it needed to be without the need for a carrier...well, the pilot not be comfortable, but the ship could do it. Attempts to replace the ship with newer designs always failed, partly due to the X-Wing’s actual merits but also largely due to the legendary status the starfighter had achieved over the years. And so, eventually, the X-Wing itself was redesigned, keeping the frame and most everything that made the X-Wing an X-Wing, but adding in newer technology to make the ship, once again, state of the art.

But none of that mattered anymore.

What good were four laser cannons against the dovin basal singularities that simply ate the energy up? What use was a larger capactity for proton torpedoes if they couldn’t detonate? What were speed and maneuverability when the enemy could simply swarm with unimaginable numbers? What was the point of even having shields if those same dovin basals could be used offensively to simply rip the shield away if the X-Wing got too close? And what good was a hyperdrive when the starfighter was stuck in a gravity well surrounded by enemies and with no real support from carrier?

And that was just compared to the Vong’s Coralskippers, those tiny, teardrop shaped, asteroid-like ships that were causing many in the New Republic to scramble for new ways to fight now that all of their advantages seemed to be completely gone. But there were so many more problems now. The Vong cruisers and capital ships presented similar difficulties, but simply multiplied them. So many other weapons that the Vong used presented even more problems, but there was one thing that truly made the X-Wing completely useless against the Vong: it was the Yuuzhan Vong warriors’ complete disregard for their own lives.

There was no real way to defend against an opponent who had no problem with death and would send his ship right through another. And yet someone had to try...thousands had to. If they didn’t try, if they just threw their hands into the air and gave up, then...well, Rulae wasn’t sure how that thought ended, because he’d never taken it that far. It just wasn’t an option.

Maybe that was why he had was now taking his X-Wing back into a hopeless fight, where two thirds of his squadron were currently surrounded by a literal swarm of Vong skips. His sensor board could see the 6 remaining starfighters clearly, but when he looked through the canopy in front of him, all that Rulae’s large, red eyes could see was a mass of moving black and grey against the backdrop of one of Rodia’s dark green moons. Here and there, red lances darted around but always disappeared. What was terrifying to Rulae was that he didn’t see the distinct, red-orange glow that would signal the Vong firing back

Why weren’t they shooting?

One of Rulae’s long fingered, black gloved hands hit his comm switch, “Zephyrs, form up together and punch your way out of that formation now! I can’t do you any good if you keep flying in circles!”

On his sensor screen, Rulae couldn’t see much change...well, not beyond a few of the skips beginning to come his way as he approached the swarm. So he wasn’t very surprised to hear the Coruscanti accent of Adria Harken reply through the comm, “Its not that blasted simple, sir!”

“They’re herding us!” that was a different voice, somewhat gravely even through the usual static of the comm channel. It was Zephyr Eleven, an older human from the Core who’s name currently escaped Rulae as he tried to figure out what exactly that sentence meant.

A shrill noise cut in on his personal channel as Rulae’s astromech screamed at him. There was no need to look at the translation for that in front of him, as Rulae knew exactly what the alarm was. Immediately, he pulled his X-Wing into a tight snap-roll firing off a barrage of laser fire as the wave of at least twenty Coralskippers flew right through his previous path. He didn’t actually hit any of them, but it felt good to shoot.

Glancing over his shoulder, Rulae caught a glimpse of the skips whipping around in a maneuver that would have torn his ship to pieces. They spread out in mid-turn, forming a sort of net of Coralskippers behind his X-Wing and approaching quickly.

So that was what Eleven meant by ‘herding’. This was something new, and somehow extremely worrying. This didn’t fit into the Vong’s profile...

Rulae’s mind was working overtime now. He had to figure out a new plan and very quickly or they were all going to end up in a very bad situation...worse than it currently was. Looking around him, at the speed the skips were approaching, he was going to be good and surrounded by them in a matter of seconds. Obviously, they didn’t want him leaving the system. Three of the Zephyrs had escaped, at least, but they rest were being prevented escape.

So where were they being herded to?

“Plate,” Rulae practically yelled at his astromech despite the volume of his voice being completely unnecessary for it to hear him, “Have the Vong been moving the rest of the squadron anywhere?”

This time, as the astromech answered in its beeps and whistles, Rulae did read the translation: THE CURRENT LOCATION OF FLIGHTS TWO AND THREE IS FOUR HUNDRED KILOMETERS CLOSER TO RODIA THAN THEY WERE IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO THE AMBUSH.

Rodia.

They were moving them towards Rodia.

The skips were around him now, not firing but flying so close that to avoid a collision Rulae had to change his course just slightly. Then again. Then again. They were turning him, obviously not afraid of an impact themselves but relying on his own fear of that very thing. The Vong were manipulating them all perfectly. But why? And why towards Rodia? And why had they all come from the moon?

Two sudden thoughts jumped into Rulae’s mind at the same moment. The first was that there was one very simple way out of this trap, which it definitely was. And the second was that they hadn’t detected anything of worth on the surface of Rodia during a brief scan. Then maybe they weren’t being taken to Rodia, but rather, away from something important on that moon. It didn’t explain why they weren’t simply dead, but it did tell him something at least. That, and caused him to make a decision after a quick glance at his sensors again.

“Zephyrs, change of plans,” he spoke into the comm quickly, not knowing how much time they really had and so delivering the orders at lightning speed, “On my mark, make a break for the moon. Don’t let them get in the way either, just ram right through them if you have to. There’s something down there the Vong don’t want us near.”

“Sir, we can’t—“

”This is not the time, Twelve,” Rulae snapped angrily, shutting up the rest of Harken’s complaint, “We’ll regroup on the surface of the moon but right now we need to get there alive. Does everyone understand?”

A series of double clicking sounds through the comm confirmed it.

Rulae’s eyes darted around him, identifying a spot in the formation around him that only contained two skips. A section he might be able to break through. Then, one last time, he checked his sensors. It was still a good distance to the moon for him, but the rest of the squadron was still closer...it was crazy, but it could work. It was the only thing he could think of, though...surprise. It would, hopefully, surprise the Vong. For once, they’d turn the tables and have it to use against the Vong, only to run down to an alien moon in the enemy’s hands...

Oh well. His gut told him there was something on that moon the important to the Yuuzhan Vong. Getting close to something like that was a rare opportunity, and not something that could be passed up with how badly the war was going. Besides, Rulae didn’t like the idea of what might be on Rodia waiting for them.

“Mark!”

Before he’d finished the word, Rulae diverted as much power as he could from his weapons to the shields, then yanked his X-Wing hard to starboard. Immediately, both starboard S-Foils collided with the nearest of the skips, causing a bright explosion and sending his starfighter into a violent spin...which sent the nose into another skip. With that impact, the nose cone of the X-Wing with its sensor equipment ruptured, causing another explosion much closer to the cockpit. Despite the crash webbing holding most of him into his seat, the pair of violent impacts caused Rulae’s head to slam into the canopy, then snap back into the headrest behind him.

His X-Wing burning and in an uncontrollable spin, moving towards Rodia’s moon only due to momentum and its gravitational pull, Rulae lost consciousness.


Aaaaand, I'm back again and mostly alive.


----------



## tmaaas

So... did you catch her?


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

tmaaas said:
			
		

> So... did you catch her?



 Haha.

Not really yes but not no, either. Going to take some time and effort and all that fun stuff but I'm game for it. Should be an interesting few months on that end.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 549: When I Grow Up*

A tall, well dressed Alraxian stood idly by a tree in the courtyard of the Palace, looking off towards the faint shimmering of the shield and not seeming to pay much attention to anything else around him. He was an easy figure to spot. Ignoring the fact that there was no one else out in the courtyard, he wore a black suit of sorts, with a high collared jacket. While the black alone was enough to make him stand out against the green grass and the whites of the Palace, the suit itself was lined in a silver material that caught the light from Alraxia’s setting sun and made it seem like his outline was glowing slightly. Of course, even without that, he was one of the most recognizable Alraxians in the Empire. That metallic blue stripe through white hair really wasn’t like anyone else.

“Aren’t you supposed to be upstairs?” Jyren spoke over his shoulder quietly, but he was easy to hear in the general quiet of the courtyard.

Tobias, dressed in a similar outfit but without the silver lining, took a few casual steps towards his father though still kept a couple of meters back, “Aren’t you?”

Jyren’s shoulders rose and fell in a small shrug, and he turned his head slightly to give Toby a sideways glance, “I’ve already done my time at a gathering like that. This one’s in your honour, apparently...” he paused a moment, and a grin tugged at the corner of Jyren’s mouth, “Besides, your mother is more likely to notice if both of us aren’t in there. And if we escape without her...well...might have to kick you out of your room to take that bed for a few decades.”

A short chuckle escaped Tobias, but it ended when he realized that Jyren wasn’t actually being sarcastic. He paused a moment, then gave up on that line of thought to ask, “What are you doing out here?”

“Aren’t you old enough that you shouldn’t be running to find me every second of the day?” Jyren asked idly while he turned back to look off towards the jungle outside the Palace.

That bothered Tobias. He bit his lip and looked down at his feet, which were currently covered by a pair of grey boots. Eventually, he said towards the ground, “I just...you seemed...I was...”

“You were worried?” Jyren’s voice immediately lost the slightly biting tone that it had contained a moment before. His head tilted upwards, and then just shrugged again, “I’m just not a fan of crowds.”

“But mother...”

“Is able to completely separate herself from the moment and just go on autopilot,” Tobias was cut off by Jyren finishing the sentence with an answer to the question that hadn’t been completely asked. After a moment of a somewhat awkward silence, Jyren turned around completely to face the younger Alraxian, shifting so that he could lean one shoulder against the tree next to him, “You know, little guy, you really should be up there. Apparently this whole thing is supposed to be about you coming of age. Not that I really understand it, but it seems important.”

Tobias nodded, looking back down to his feet. While Jyren might not have grasped the whole thing, Tobias did. It had been explained to him in great detail by Jyren’s father, who had been the one to suggest it in the first place. It was a rather ancient ritual of sorts, a celebration of the oldest child of the Empress reaching an age that had them eligible to join the Knights. Not many ever did, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that the child was not supposed to be a child anymore...well, not mentally. Physically, of course they were, but they were supposed to have reached a point in their life where they had a direction.

Maybe that was what bothered Tobias about it...he didn’t have one. He just...wanted to be like Jyren.

“You know what I wanted to be when I was a kid?” Jyren interrupted the thoughts with the perfect question.

Looking up, Tobias shook his head, “What?”

A broad smile formed on Jyren’s face, “I wanted to be Luke Skywalker. I wanted to be the hero that saved the galaxy with a single proton torpedo. I wanted everyone in the galaxy to know who I was because I was the one who had saved it all,” he laughed softly to himself, “Course, I was probably twelve or so at the time and didn’t really understand how anything worked but that was what I was going to be.”

Tobias stared at his father. This was the man that had, on many occasions, told Tobias that the reason he couldn’t train to be a Jedi Knight was because Luke Skywalker had no idea what he was doing and was a narrowminded idiot. Well, no, that was the polite version. Usually Jyren used the kind of language that would have the Redstars glaring at him for using around children. In fact, never in his life had Tobias heard Jyren say one kind word about Skywalker.

“Stop staring at me like that, little guy,” Jyren’s smile was still just as wide as before, and he pointed back towards the entrance to the Palace, “You got a surprising story out of me so now you have to turn that tail around and get back up there before someone notices you escaped.”

Still somewhat shocked, Tobias managed to ask one more question before he headed back to the huge crowd of people he didn’t know, “You coming, too?”

“I’ll be up in a few minutes,” Jyren motioned again towards the entrance, “Now quit worrying about me and think about yourself for once in your life, little guy. Go have some fun.”

* * * *​ 
It was raining.

This was not unusual on Yavin IV, but it was depressing for some reason. Tobias stared out of the small cave beneath ancient ruins into the jungle around him. It was hard to see anything through the thick, torrential downpour. The rain was so hard that the world was mostly a haze of blurred colours and the dirt under his feet, which was a good distance away from the entrance to the cave and well sheltered, was turning beginning to soften into mud.

“Still can’t take that advice,” Tobias mumbled to himself.

Maybe that was it. The rain reminded him of Alraxia...and Alraxia reminded him of Jyren. Tobias was supposed to become a Jedi. He wasn’t supposed to dwell on death so much. It was dangerous. And yet...and yet he did. Every time he turned around, it seemed like another memory would pop up and reopen the wound that had never even been given a chance to heal.

But now was not the time to dwell on the past.

It had been two hours since Master Ral had left and since Tobias had made contact with an Alraxian Knight. He’d sat there alone, staring blankly in front of him trying to regain his strength. Stretching out with the Force like he that had trained Tobias considerably, and he was still feeling exhausted. He couldn’t even find the strength to reach out with the Force to find Master Ral nearby. In fact, all he could do was keep his ears good and open for anything out of the ordinary. Tobias was still very worried about being discovered by the Yuuzhan Vong, despite how far he and Master Ral had escaped from the Great Temple.

Sure, help was coming, but how long would it be? What if the Vong found him before then? Had they already found Master Ral? He wouldn’t have been gone for this long...would he? No. No, he had said it wouldn’t be long.

Gods, what if they had found him?! What would the Vong do to Master Ral? Would they just kill him...or...or...

If they’d found Master Ral, it would only be a matter of time before they found Tobias, too. It wasn’t as if he had the best hiding spot, either. The shelter was beneath very obvious ruins in a very obvious cave opening and he was in plain view even with the darkness. And even if he had the strength to reach out with the Force and check his surroundings, Tobias wouldn’t even be able to feel the Vong...

Where was Master Ral?!

Tobias stood up and looked outside through the torrential rain. Which was had Master Ral gone? Right? Yes...but where after that? Did it matter? If the Vong had found him...

If the Yuuzhan Vong had found Master Ral, then he was probably dead. But if he was dead, Tobias would have felt it. Or, he should have felt it. No, no he would have. Which meant Master Ral was still alive. And two hours gone...the Vong must have found him.

Tobias had to do something. He could just sit here! It wasn’t right. And besides, it was dangerous! If the Vong were nearby they’d find him sitting in one place...but if he was moving around, it would be harder, especially in this weather. And maybe he could find Master Ral. Then...then they could get off Yavin IV because the Knight he’d contacted would arrive at just the right moment like they always did.

Taking his lightsaber off his belt, but not activating the weapon, Tobias ran out into the rain and went to find his Master.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 550: Desperation*

Marix flopped back into the bulkhead behind her with a loud sigh before slowly sinking down to the deck plates. Technically, they weren’t deck plates. Deck plates implied metal connected in sheets on the floor of a starship. Loki’s interior was in no way metal, nor were there any lines to indicate separate sheets of material. But the terminology held well enough.

Everything around her was no longer the usual muted colours of Loki’s interior, but instead covered in a mess of deep blue splotches. It had the consistency that would normally be classified as ‘goo’, but it wasn’t. It was, in fact, the equivalent of blood for Kanyaks. Currently, it covered everything within the small access way that Marix was now sitting in next to most of Loki’s vital organs. The everything it covered also included her.

Finally able to give herself a moment to breathe again, Marix tried not to dwell on the fact that she was absolutely drenched in Kanyak blood and that Loki would, hopefully, be okay. Lifting her arms up, Marix looked at them, sighed, then flicked them at the floor a few times so that she could at least see a little bit of the grey of her morphsuit. Part of her was glad she couldn’t currently see her face...or her hair for that matter. She was going to need a good long washing.

But Loki wasn’t bleeding anymore.

The first thing Marix had done when she’d reached this small, usually sealed-off section of Loki was to literally rip out the section of tissue that was connected to his hyperdrive system. It had pulled them out of hyperspace violently, but they were safely out of Hutt Space by then and being in hyperspace was much more dangerous for Loki in his current condition. That had also been the largest source of the mess around her, but now it, along with the injuries that were already there when she’d arrived, was patched up cleanly.

While Marix was neither a medic or a technician, she could do what was needed to repair and treat these kind of injuries. In fact, it was something that all Kanyak pilots were taught from the beginning. Rarely did such training become necessary, but then times like this came up and it was invaluable. The only real problem was that, currently, Marix couldn’t get outside to check the extent of Loki’s other injuries. Not that she could really do much about those, but she was worried about him now.

Tilting her head back to rest it against the bulkhead behind her, Marix idly looked at the series of objects lodged into the ceiling above her and the opposite wall of the small corridor that were all Loki’s vital systems and internal organs. Gently patting the floor under her, and then trying to ignore the slight squish sound her hand made in the process, Marix said softly, “Next time you want to show off, just do a flyby of the Palace and scare the Knights.”

[Not...not as much...as much fun...] Loki’s ‘voice’ nearly caused Marix to jump. He still sounded terrible, but it was the very fact that he was conscious again that surprised her. He had been completely unresponsive since just after they’d made the jump to hyperspace. Sure, Marix had been talking most of the time since then, but it was more to herself or screaming curses at things for not doing what they were supposed to.

“We need to find a place to set down so you can get some rest,” Marix eventually said towards the ceiling above her.

[Nothing nearby...in...in...empty space...]

Again, Marix sighed. Right now, the last thing she was going to do was put Loki through the stress of another jump to hyperspace. At least there wasn’t anything around. For the moment, at least, drifting seemed the safest option. It wouldn’t be something they could rely on for long, however. They were out of Hutt Space, yes, but the jump hadn’t lasted long enough to bring them out of Yuuzhan Vong occupied space. It would only be a matter of time before someone found them...space was big, but not that big.

The silence that now occupied the small corridor was surprisingly calming. Marix could feel the adrenaline fading and pains in her limbs and chest beginning to become noticeable. She had taken a bit of a beating, too. It wasn’t anything worth remorphing, just a bruise or two that would heal on its own quickly enough. Still, she hadn’t noticed them at all until now.

Eventually, though, Marix had to remind herself that they weren’t out of this just yet. Loki wasn’t bleeding internally anymore. He would begin to heal now, too. But the external wounds were extensive according to the reading she’d seen before charging back to repair the internal damage. He was likely bleeding externally, too, but there wasn’t nothing she could do about that for the moment. In fact, even if she morphed human and used one of Jyren’s old flightsuits to head outside, she didn’t have the equipment to repair any of the damage.  Not to mention that she was worried about his ability to re-enter an atmosphere to even set down.

Slowly, Marix pulled herself up to her feet and tried to ignore the slight stickiness. With one last look at everything in front of her to make sure it was, in fact, good and patched up, Marix then turned and headed out of the cramped corridor. She made sure to seal off the access hatch once she was out, then made her way to the cockpit. Ignoring the trail of blue left behind her and the not-so-pleasant smell surrounding her, she quickly dropped into the pilot’s chair and reached for the comm system.

She didn’t like it, but there wasn’t much choice left but to send a message back to the Gateway.

But then a new problem arose.

Hitting the comm switch, nothing happened. Immediately fearing what that meant, Marix turned to her other side and looked at the readouts for the Loki’s main systems on one of the small, green-glowing screens to the right of the pilot’s chair. It told her that the communication system was badly damaged, just like she had expected.

With another sigh, Marix rested her head in her hands, suddenly regretted this due to the wonderful stuff still covering her, and sat back up straight again. So she couldn’t call home.

There was another option. It was one she liked even less, but with Loki’s life still hanging in the balance, Marix wasn’t about to turn down what was, at this point, the only option she had left save for drifting in space and hoping someone that wasn’t the Vong or the Peace Brigade just happened upon them.

Once again getting to her feet, Marix headed for her quarters. Buried away in the small closet that held just a few changes of clothes for both her and Jyren was something he’d stashed in there years ago. It was one of those things that Marix had begrudgingly accepted, deciding that it didn’t hurt to just leave it there, just in case. The how relating to his acquiring of the comm package was something that Jyren had never answered, instead always grinning at her and shrugging. Not that it mattered how he’d gotten a hold of it or if the Jedi even knew about it.

The simple truth was that there weren’t many comm packages in the galaxy that had the Jedi emergency encryption frequency locked into it. That was something the Jedi would respond to immediately. Sure, it would be a surprise when there wasn’t a Jedi on the other end, but they were supposed to be naive, helpful idiots. They’d let Marix at least explain why she was contacting them, she’d dance around how she got the frequency, then they’d do the noble, but stupid, thing and fly all the way out into enemy territory to save her.

The last part bothered her the most.

To the day he died, Marix despised Jyren’s need to always save her. She could take care of herself, thankyouverymuch.

But now it wasn’t herself that was Marix’s concern. She wasn’t the one who needed saving.

And she wasn’t going to let something so trivial stop her from saving Loki.

Of course, it all banked on the hope that the damn comm package worked...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 551: Battered but Alive*

“Sir...?”

A voice.

Why was there a voice?

There hadn’t been anything before. Wait...had there?

“It looks bad. Will you give me a hand?”

There was that voice again.

It wasn’t really distant, but somehow it didn’t seem all that close. Wait wait...that didn’t make any sense. Maybe if he just opened his eyes and...

He.

Okay. Maybe a voice did make sense now. If he was a he then he was thinking and he was alive. Why wouldn’t he be alive? All that black...that nothing...no, no none of this made sense. It was all a headache. Or was the headache already there?

Light slowly crept into the previous darkness as one of the eyes opened very slightly. Had he done that? Maybe...try...

Slowly and unsteadily, Rulae Nok opened both of his eyes to take in what was around him. Most of his currently-blurry view of the world was colours. The edges of his vision showed dense, dark greens and then lighter yellows mixed in. Moving inwards, greys and silvers overlapped with the greens and yellows, and then there was a very large shape that was a light blue colour.

“Sir...?” the blue shape shifted slightly. Or, rather, a small opening towards the bottom of the shape that was probably a mouth did.

Sadly, the only response Rulae was able to manage wasn’t really a word, “Nnnghh...”

“Stop it,” the voice became a bit firmer and Rulae began to take notice of his surroundings more clearly. He was...on the ground. Or, at least on his back looking up at the sky. And there was a pressure on his chest that was strangely heavy.

“Nnn...” Rulae attempted again to speak but, again failed. Instead of trying a third time, though, he allowed himself to begin to recover. After a few moments, the blue blur formed into the face of the Twi’lek Rea’tin Lor, which shouldn’t have surprised him. She looked concerned, but wasn’t actually looking back at him. No, she was looking down...well, down to him, at least, towards the pressure on his chest.

Resisting the urge to move as he knew nothing of what had happened and couldn’t quite grasp any memories that would lead him to where he was. But Rulae’s thoughts were beginning to become more coherent and less...less...well, less confusing and fuzzy. As he began to think in more complete sentences again, Rulae opened his mouth and attempted, once again, to speak...but very slowly, “Si...sitrep...?”

At first, Rea looked surprised that he had said anything, her head suddenly turning with wide eyes to look at him. It did not take long, however, before her military training kicked in and the young Twi’lek understood that she had been asked an important question by her superior officer. Immediately adopting a formal tone of speech, Rea said, “We landed on Rodia’s moon...well, some of us did. Most of us crashed and hit pretty hard. We’re uh...we’ve only found five so far. Adria...” she paused, realized familiar tone, then changed it quickly, “Cadet Harken is treating Rast and Sansont. They’ll be alright...nothing but minor injuries. Same for Harken and myself...”

Not a fool, Rulae knew exactly why she had trailed off after that. Still not moving, Rulae took hold of his voice again, “And...me?”

Rea bit her lower lip a moment then sighed, “You’re lucky to be alive, sir. Your...your X-Wing didn’t make it. It got through the atmosphere of the moon in pieces and we saw you eject, but it was a rough fall. When Adria found you she had to pull you out from under a tree that had come down and your ejection seat. The crash webbing had you good and stuck and...well, neither of us are medics or at all trained in Duros biology but you’ve definitely broken your right leg and badly hurt the left. And your chest...we think you broke a few ribs and from the...from the blood you’ve been coughing up since before now I think you’ve got a punctured lung. I...I really don’t know, though. We don’t have anything beyond a basic medkit so we’ve done the best we can and...”

“Calm down,” Rulae strained the words out, now understanding the pressure on his chest and why it was difficult to talk. It hurt, “What about...the Vong?”

At the last word, Rea turned to look over her shoulder a moment, then quickly looked back, one of her two head tails sliding over her shoulder in the process, “No sign for now, sir. But...well, we saw a few ships set down not too long ago. It was dangerous but we’ve moved a good ways from any of the wreckage so we won’t be that easy to find in this mess of a moon. But I’m...I’m worried about the others and how we’re going to get off this planet now that pretty much all our ships are useless...”

“Right now...right now we lay low...” Rulae trailed off slightly, closed his eyes a moment, then went on, “There’s something here...something the Vong don’t want us to find.”

Though his eyes were closed again, Rulae could tell Rea’s expression from the way her voice sounded. She didn’t like what he’d just said, and she obviously thought he had hit his head harder on impact than originally expected, “Sir, we’re in no shape to search an entire moon for some Vong thing based on a...based on a hunch.”

The small mouth on Rulae’s mostly featureless face formed the best smile it could considering how he currently felt, “That’s why...that’s why we lay low first. Which means if we have to move again...then we move again.”

A sigh escaped Rea. She looked ready to argue with him, but was intelligent enough to hold it back. Apparently, she hadn’t been Jyren’s wingmate long enough to pick up his defiant nature when it came to orders. That was good, as Rulae had worried about that and, especially at a time like this, defiance was the last thing they needed. 

There was something on this moon that was important. Rulae was sure of it. He didn’t have the Force or anything mystical like that, but Rulae did have years of experience that gave him strong instincts. Tactically, it made sense for what he saw happening, especially when compared with the usual battle tactics of the Vong. Of course, there was one problem with his theory: the fact that there was also something on Rodia that the Vong had been driving them towards.

One thing at a time. They’d made it to the moon, mostly intact, so that was the focus. Well, after staying alive.

“Rea!” that was Harken’s voice, not very far away at all but out of Rulae’s line of sight. He still wasn’t moving, and wasn’t going to risk it if he didn’t have to. Without a full knowledge of his injuries, Rulae wasn’t about to make things worse. It damn well hurt enough as it was...

Quickly, the Twi’lek in front of him disappeared from his vision, getting to her feet and quickly running over towards Harken’s voice. Rulae could hear them speaking in quiet voices, but couldn’t make out the words. Barely a minute later, Rea returned and had a mask of concern on her face, “We’re going to have to move again, sir. This is the uh...hard part.”

“What is it?”

Glancing upwards slightly and reaching for the corner of a thin object that Rulae identified as a stretcher that he was lying on, Rea spoke swiftly, “Adria’s astromech has detected lifesigns a few kilometers north of us. That’s...that’s about where my X-Wing went down so its not another of our’s. We need to move before any Vong find us here.”

Then, Rulae felt an odd sensation. With a gentle whirring sound, he felt, and saw, the world change slightly as he lifted nearly a meter into the air. This made sense quickly enough, as Rulae remembered that the small, extendable stretchers packed into most medkits for X-Wings also had small repulsorlift generators. That, at least, explained how Rea and Adria were able to move three other pilots by themselves without simply dragging them along the dirt.

“Give me...give me my blaster,” Rulae said as Rea started to move him through the not-so-dense forest they seemed to have crashed into. When the Twi’lek looked at him and was about to say what he could tell was going to be a ‘not right now’, Rulae forced himself to raise his arm and open his hand, “I can still shoot if they find us.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, finally, then reached down to the holster on his belt and removed the weapon before placing it in his outstretched, gloved hand. By that time, Harken had moved over to them and Rulae turned his head very slightly to see she was pushing two stretchers in front of her.

Noticing he was conscious, the red-haired human woman nodded slightly to the two other pilots, both of whom were humans of roughly the same age, “Rast has been in and out and Sansont hasn’t done anything but breathe since we pulled him out of his X-Wing, sir. That means your our only gun if they find us right now.”

Tilting his head to look up to Rea, Rulae mumbled, “Then I’ll try to aim around you two if I have to shoot.”

Managing a half smile, obviously forced but helpful nonetheless, Rea nodded and both of the bruised-but-standing pilots began to move again, “How about we just avoid the Vong and none of us have to worry about being shot...or worse?”

“I like that plan,” Adria said in the same kind of forced, joking tone, “But on that note...” she glanced down towards Rulae for a short moment to ask, “Would it be too much to ditch these bright orange flightsuits at the first chance we get so we don’t stick out so much here?”

“Consider it...” Rulae cringed suddenly as he felt something dig into his chest, paused a moment to regain his composure, then forced the rest of it out, “...consider it an order.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 552: In the Rain*

Tobias knelt behind one of the larger trees about a half kilometer from the destroyed temple that was meant to be shelter from two things that were currently a little too close to him: the rain and the Yuuzhan Vong. The former was all around him, still falling from the clouded sky above so hard that it was hard to see very far in any one direction. Tobias was, of course, drenched because of this, his ears flattened to his blue-black hair by the weight of all the water and the fact that it wasn’t letting up one bit. He was still in his Alraxian body, knowing that since he was unable to detect the Yuuzhan Vong through the Force, he would have to rely on his other senses. Logically, that meant he needed to be Alraxian, with a much better sense of smell, more acute hearing, and better eyesight in the dark as it currently was thanks to the clouds and the jungle trees. Of course, the rain meant his sense of smell was no good, but his ears worked...

...and that was why he was down on one knee by the largest tree he could find. Tobias had heard movement not far from him, and considering the circumstances, he wasn’t about to assume that it was any native life, which usually steered well clear of him, or Master Ral. So he’d found a spot to hide, identified the rough direction of the sounds, and reached out with the Force again. It was harder than before...Tobias was still strained, but he felt nothing. Maybe he didn’t reach far enough, but maybe...

There.

About seven meters away from him, Tobias could see the movement. Sadly, through the thick trees and underbrush of this part of Yavin IV’s planet-stretching jungle mixed with such a torrent of rain, it was hard to make out any details at that distance. All Tobias could make out were tall, maybe humanoid figures carefully moving through the jungle.

Multiple figures meant it wasn’t Master Ral. So it was either Vong or Peace Brigade and Tobias just wasn’t strong enough to sense them. The former was the most likely, but Tobias wasn’t about to rule out the latter. Unconsciously, he ducked down a bit lower towards the ground, sinking his boots a bit deeper into the mud that the ground had become.

What was he supposed to do now?

Tobias hadn’t been gone from the small shelter for long at all, and there was no sign of Master Ral. He’d seen a few small animals scamper for cover, but most of the intelligent creatures were out of the rain and away from the Vong. He’d run out here to...to do what, exactly?

Suddenly, Tobias began to consider the option of retreat. He’d gone against what common sense and Master Ral had told him to do because he was still a child that just wanted to be like his father: the impulsive hero that charged in and saved the day despite all the odds.

But...but that wasn’t Tobias. He was still a child. Sure, he could protect himself well enough, but he sure wasn’t a hero. He was Tobias. And...though, for some reason, he didn’t like to admit it, he did the one thing that Jyren didn’t really do: Tobias listened to that voice in his head that said “Wait...”

So he knelt there, waiting for...something. No, no he was waiting for those Yuuzhan Vong warriors to move very far away. And he was sure they were Vong now. Through the haze of rain and the trees, he could make out more details now thanks to the fact that the figures, while not moving straight at him, were coming closer to him while still moving off in the other direction. They had that very distinct, spiky, crab-like armour and black tattoos on pale skin that easily identified them as Yuuzhan Vong. And to think, Tobias had always been terrified of the Mrrakesh. They may have been larger than Vong, but at least they made sense! The Yuuzhan Vong were just...completely alien monsters that he just couldn’t understand. Seeing them up close had made it worse, those scars and tattoos all over their bodies...why in the name of the Force would any sentient being scar themselves like that?!

And then something happened that caused Tobias’ blood to freeze. The Vong stopped.

“Bos sus si?” through the roar of the rain, Tobias could hear one of the Vong speaking in their native tongue, a harsh voice cutting through the air like a weapon.

He saw one of the other figures shift its position slightly, looking back the direction they had come from, “Remaga?”

“Guvvuk!” a third voice cut in harshly, and its source motioned with an object that had to be an amphistaff. 

The three Yuuzhan Vong began to move again, but they had changed direction.

“Oh, gods...” he whispered the words without realizing it, seeing the three warriors walking straight towards him.

And then, a second time, they stopped.

Had they heard him?!

He should run. Right now, he could bolt up and run away, use the Force and just go! But...but he couldn’t move! Fear gripped Tobias so strongly that he could do nothing but kneel there behind a tree and stare in horror at the three Yuuzhan Vong warriors, the closest of whom was only a few meters away from him.

The lead warrior of the three was looking forward, right over Tobias. He hoped to the Force and any Gods that might exist that the warrior continue to look straight over him and decide there was nothing there. Tobias had no idea how good Yuuzhan Vong eyesight was, but he also was desperately hoping the heavy rainfall impaired it even more...

That was when the warrior in the front leaned in slightly, then snapped back, raising his amphistaff and called out straight to Tobias, “Qe’u!”

The other two Yuuzhan Vong then locked onto Tobias’ location.

Time froze in that moment for Tobias as he stared down three Yuuzhan Vong warriors. What could he do? He sure as hell couldn’t fight them! But he couldn’t run! What kind of Jedi would Tobias be if he ran?

A live one.

Suddenly, time was moving again. So were the three Vong, charging straight for him with weapons drawn and a battle cry in their throats.

Tobias was on his feet in a second, spinning around and running as fast as he could the other way. To hell with being the hero! What good was any of that if it got him killed?!

“Yuuso ba toras!” one of the warriors cried from behind him as Tobias darted around a tree, nearly tripped over a branch, but kept going without even looking back. He could hear their heavy footsteps behind him, almost like the rain hitting the leaves but so much heavier and much more terrifying.

And then Tobias heard an odd buzzing sound. It was growing quickly. Instinct took over and he glanced over his shoulder to see the source. Before he could see anything, however, a palm sized...beetle of sorts flew right at him, catching Tobias across his left side and slicing in with sharp fangs before flying past and slamming into a tree.

The jolt of pain nearly forced Tobias to double over. Other instincts, though, those beat into him by Marix, took over and quickly remorphed the wound as he continued to run. It still hurt, though, and that was the worst part. But he couldn’t stop. They were still after him and he could hear more of those buzzing sounds behind him.

Reaching out his left hand, Tobias grabbed onto a nearby tree and pulled himself around it, hearing two heavy thuds as he went past. But he kept running, jumping over a large section of roots and then landing awkwardly in thick mud that made running that much more difficult. Behind him, Tobias could still hear them yelling. He was getting tired quickly, and the mud was making it so much worse and he could barely see through the rain and somehow the damned Vong were keeping up with him...

“Don’t ever be afraid to retreat, Toby,” Marix had told him firmly. It was after one of the many training sessions she’d forced him through, and then after yelling at Jyren for telling Tobias to stand his ground.

Jyren, of course, hadn’t backed down and ignored the sharp glare he was getting from Marix to repeat himself to Tobias, “Sometimes you can’t run, Toby. Sometime you have to stand your ground.”

Marix actually had growled very slightly at that, “And is that how you want him to get killed? Trying to be some damned headstrong idiot like you and then getting his throat clawed out because he didn’t know what he was getting into?!”

“I didn’t say he should never retreat,” Jyren growled right back at her, then looked back to a suddenly terrified Tobias and spoke sharply, “But sometimes you can’t run. Sometimes running will just tire you out and whatever you’re running from will have you the second you slow down. Instead of killing yourself you stand and you fight.”

Sometimes you have to stand your ground.

Tobias wasn’t going to outrun these Vong.

He didn’t stand a chance in a fight with them either...but if he ran, if he tired himself out just running with them keeping up the entire time, they’d have him anyway. So Tobias was going to at least give them a fight.

It was sudden, but Tobias stopped himself, spinning around in the current mud pile he was running through while pulling Jyren’s old lightsaber off of his belt. The snap-hiss of the blue-green blade coming to life cut through the sound of the rain just as the blade itself dissolved the water that fell onto it.

And the Vong came straight at him.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 553: Static*

Marix stared at the large box that was the comm package. It was definitely old, but that had one major advantage: there was no holo screen; it was only audio. Not that she expected the Jedi to be that happy to hear from her either way, but not having to see her meant she didn’t have to actually say who she was right away. Of course, there was the fact that she’d been sitting on the floor in her quarters with this damned thing for ten standard minutes and all she’d managed to get was static.

The Holonet was obviously in bad shape. Upon thinking about it, it made perfect sense. The Yuuzhan Vong weren’t fools. They would surely do their best to disrupt galactic communication and take out every single Holonet Relay they ran across. That, alone, would make hundreds of worlds easier to take simply due to the fact that they wouldn’t be able to call for help.

She wanted to put her fist through the damned thing. Hearing static was starting to really give Marix a headache and she still hadn’t taken the time to clean up after dealing with Loki’s internal wounds. The entire room was going to stink for days thanks to that, and Marix had a feeling she was going to have a hell of a time cleaning herself now that all of the...goo had stopped being goo. At this point, Marix simply had an extra layer of bad-smelling, slightly sticky, clear blue...stuff covering all of her. And on top of all of that, Loki was, as far as she could tell, unconscious again.

So how many longer was she going to sit here on the damned floor staring at a damned machine that was only producing more damned static?

Well, what else could Marix do?

If it came down to it, Marix could morph human, get the old EV suit that Jyren kept around, and go outside to have a look at the external damage Loki had taken. The problem was she had neither the tools nor the time to repair any of it. It really was only a matter of time until the Vong stumbled upon her...or even Torno the Hutt’s lackeys if she’d really angered him. 

She could risk forcing Loki through another hyperspace jump to some nearby habitable planet, hope to the Force the Vong weren’t there, set down and then make the repairs. But even if Loki survived the jump to hyperspace, which she doubted he would at this point, Marix knew his underside was severely damaged and if it was as bad as she expected, there was no way he’d survive an atmosphere. That left the possibility of an uninhabitable moon or asteroid or planet, but that also was essentially the same problem with just drifting in space. Life signs would be easy to spot on a dead rock.

What had happened?

Something had changed somewhere, but no one had the decency to tell her about it.

Marix could clearly remember the days when things like this just wouldn’t happen. Loki always got them out of a tight spot without a scratch, just a bit of a scorch mark on his tail end and laugh. Gods, the things they’d been through together! It had all been perfectly fine through the countless missions she’d been sent on into Mrrakesh territory as a Tam’Day’U, they escaped Rebel and Imperial alike for so many years after leaving Alraxia, and then she and Jyren had pulled Loki off of Corellia and they’d done the dumbest things she’d ever done in her entire life. Loki had loved every second of it, Jyren was so much like the ship...impulsive, ready for a thrill, and to hell with consequences! And they’d made it through every single thing.

But it was all different now. Alraxia was her’s to protect now, with her mother dead. She wasn’t able to just completely forget about that like she had so many years ago. It was a constant weight. And Jyren was gone. He wasn’t coming back, Marix knew that much now. He would have appeared by now otherwise, a smile on his face and the first thing he would asked her is why she looked so surprised to see him. But that wasn’t going to happen anymore. That should have been Marix’s first indication that something had changed.

Now, though, Toby was gone, too. She had let him go, but it was still so...quiet. For so long he had been the child that she could protect and even teach when he wasn’t being an annoying little brat. Sure, Toby had always latched onto Jyren strongly, but Marix could at least admit now that she liked the kid. But now it was just her and Loki again...and now this. Now something that had never happened before.

By Alraxian and Kanyak standards, they were both still young and in their prime. Marix, though, was starting to feel old. At her age, most Alraxians were just getting their lives started, but Marix had been running along as an adult since...well, since she could run. And Loki had been right there every step of the way. And now...now...

...now Marix was forced to confront the possibility that Loki wasn’t going to survive.

With a heavy sigh, Marix closed her eyes. Her mind was working overtime, running through everything she could think of to find a way out. To find...something, anything.

But she found beyond the static. That damned static.

And then there was a click in the static.

At first, Marix didn’t catch it. But then it happened again, and she opened her eyes to look down at the thing. Two more clicks in the static, then a long, solid...nothing. Not even static, just silence. Then...

“...the hell is using this frequency out here?!”

Marix stared at the comm package. The voice was male and had a bit of a Corellian accent to it. Those weren’t all that unusual, but she definitely hadn’t expected that kind of tone.

Putting that surprise out of her mind, she quickly hit the comm switch, “I could ask you the same bloody thing. Who is this?”

Even in a desperate situation, Marix wasn’t about to just give out vital information that could damn her without knowing who she was speaking to. Of course, Marix doubted a name would mean much to her. There were so many Jedi these days and she didn’t bother to even try.

The voice that came through sounded almost insulted, “Not exactly the tone I would use if I was the one broadcasting a distress call on a Jedi frequency out in Hutt Space...” a pause, and a bit of static came through, then, “This is Corran Horn, who is currently done answering your questions and until you tell him who you are and why he shouldn’t expect a trap.”

That was a name Marix did know.

He was not just any Jedi, he was a Jedi Master. He’d been a pilot, too, if the stories she’d heard were true. Marix remembered stories about a Horn in CorSec years ago, all told from her smuggler friends who always swore when they spoke the name. And now he was the so-called “Man Who Killed Ithor”, the Jedi that had been challenged to a duel by a Vong for the fate of the planet. Horn had won, but the Vong attacked anyway...and Marix hadn’t heard a word about him sense. If he was smart, Horn had gone into hiding. Course, if he’d gone into hiding, what was he doing out in Hutt Space?

“My name is Alrax Tavos,” she wasn’t going to tell the complete truth, even if she did recognize the name, “And if I was after you, Horn, I wouldn’t be broadcasting that distress signal on the Jedi’s encrypted frequency.”

A slight pause, then, “You’d be amazed the things I’ve seen, Tavos. And since you definitely aren’t a Jedi and you’re using, as you said, the Jedi’s encrypted frequency, I have ever reason to be suspicious.”

Marix sighed. She didn’t have time for this kind of idiotic back and forth game.

Time to just get to the damned point, “This wasn’t exactly Plan A, Horn, so you’ll have to forgive me for getting sick of this game. My ship is badly damaged and we’re drifting out here in the middle of no where just waiting for the Vong, or worse, to find us. This is dangerous enough as the only evidence I have that you are you is that you said you’re you. But I don’t have a choice right now. We need help, Horn, and if you’re not going to provide it then tell me now so I can figure out what to do next.”

This pause was much longer. Finally, after a long, static-filled minute, Horn’s voice returned, “You say your name is Alrax?”

That was an odd question...why the hell would he...? How could he attach any significance to that name? She’d never in her life had a run-in with him, and Max had done his best to keep them both good and out of CorSec’s way...

“I did, but that’s not telling me what I need to know.”

Another pause. When Horn spoke again, he sounded different somehow, but Marix wasn’t able to place it, “We’ve got a fix on your location already, Tavos. You better thank my Father-in-Law when we get there, though. He says the only reason we’re coming to get you at all is because Max was a good man. Whatever the hell that means.”

And then the comm channel cut out, returning to static.

This time, though, Marix didn’t notice the static. She was too busy blankly staring at the comm package.

What had just happened?


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 554: Now What?*

“Apparently the entire moon isn’t forested,” Adria mumbled to herself.

Rea looked to the human woman then back to the remaining patches of trees behind them, “I am not sure a collection of trees counts as a forest.”

The moon they’d arrived on had, from orbit at least, looked to be covered in large swaths of forests, perfect cover. All of their X-Wings had gone down in the same general area, now about five kilometers behind them, and Rea had naively assumed the rest of the moon was that way. She wasn’t an expert on these kinds of things, so that was her excuse. That, and the fact that in her attempt to not die while reaching the moon’s surface, Rea didn’t exactly have a chance to look much of anywhere but directly in front of and below her.

What was left in front of them now were a few spotty trees and larger, grey rocks with odd yellow fungus on top of them scattered across grass-covered plains. How they hadn’t noticed this before was beyond Rea, as the grass was actually a reddish colour rather than the green of the trees. Sure, she’d seen sections of red colour from orbit, but Rea hadn’t even thought about it.

“Well, we can’t just stand here,” Adria said quickly.

She was right. So far, the Vong hadn’t found them, but there had been multiple ships fly right over them. Neither Rea nor Adria had any idea of what kinds of ships they were, as they mostly just looked like asteroids of sorts, with hints of some kind of hand crafting them into something able to fly. But out here in the open, they’d be spotted in a moment, and they couldn’t turn around now. Still, they needed some kind of cover...

Commodore Nok had slipped into unconsciousness a few minutes earlier. It had, at first, worried Rea, but there wasn’t really time to stop and he was still breathing. Rast and Sansont, the other two Zephyrs with them, were also still unconscious, leaving just she and Adria to figure out what to do. It was in no way comforting, as they were only on the moon because of the Commodore’s very surprising order and now a fair number of the squadron were dead or missing.

With one last glance behind them just in case, Adria started moving again. Rea was right with her, as they were both pushing Rast’s stretcher between them. Because of the fact that they were having to push three of their unconscious squad mates, the two of them couldn’t move too quickly. The last thing they needed was to accidently drop one of their injured comrades onto the dirt.

They headed for the nearest possible chance at some kind of shelter, one of the large rocks. It turned out that there were actually about five boulders sitting against one another or coming out of the ground in rather odd formations. From what they could see, there were other spots just like it throughout the grassy plain. Still, it seemed oddly convenient to find a collection of large rocks that provided cover from above.

While deactivating the repulsor on Rast’s stretcher and gently helping it down to the ground within the small, natural shelter, Adria grumbled, “This is too bloody convenient.”

“I don’t particularly like it either,” with a sigh, Rea couldn’t help but agree, “But you know we can’t just run around out there with three stretchers looking for something better.”

At this point, Adria was finally getting rid of the life support packages and other parts of her flightsuit that were currently nothing but extra weight. She, like Rea, had been intelligent enough to grab a pack before escaping the location where her X-Wing had gone down. It meant she had a place to stuff the extra pieces of the flightsuit, plus the orange jumpsuit that she was now quite happily removing. It also meant that they had enough rations and other vital supplies that they’d be okay for a good long while on their own.

Deciding that Adria had the right idea, and ready to get rid of the extra weight, herself, Rea followed suit. In a few minutes, they were both down to the simple black jumpsuit that was worn under the orange. It was far more comfortable than all of the extra equipment, which was odd, because Rea had never noticed any discomfort on other planets. Maybe the gravity was a bit stronger...

Leaning back against one of the rocks in the small section that could be considered an interior of an very ancient stone building, Adria sighed and ran a hand through her dark red hair, “So now what?”

Rea, her legs aching a bit, decided to have a seat on the ground. There wasn’t much room with the three occupied stretchers, but Rea wasn’t exactly a large Twi’lek. In fact, she had a fair bit of room in her X-Wing’s cockpit to move around a bit and get comfortable. Resting her head back against the cold rock, she looked over towards Adria, “I don’t think we can do much of anything until the Commodore is conscious again.”

Folding her arms across her chest, Adria shook her head, “I don’t like the idea of just sitting here with the Vong running around searching for us.”

Rea stared at the other woman, “We’re on a moon that basically erupted with Coralskippers, Adria. What else would you expect us to be doing?”

There was a short silence as Adria glared rather than acknowledge the sarcasm. Eventually, instead of bother with any kind of retort, Adria simply knelt down next to her pack and started digging through it. As she was sifting through the contents, she explained out of the corner of her mouth, “The Commodore had to have had a good reason for crashing us on this rock. Might as well see if I can figure out why. Better than just waiting for the Vong to find us.”

Finally, she retrieved a palm sized object that Rea recognized as a portable scanner. After extending the twin antennae and turning it on, Adria was back to leaning against the rock wall and staring down at the scanner’s display. Thankfully, it was one of the newer scanners that didn’t make damned beeping sound every few seconds that would have both driven them crazy and given their location away to anything within a kilometer.

“Any sign of the others?” Rea asked after a few quiet minutes. There were still potentially three other Zephyrs out on the moon somewhere that they’d not come across yet.

Adria shook her head, “Not nearby...”

“What?”

Tilting her head to look over the device and to Rea, the human shot a confused glance towards the Twi’lek, “What what?”

“Your face just changed,” Rea reached up a hand to point, not that it helped, “Did you find something?”

“My face didn’t...” rolling her eyes, Adria looked back to the scanner, but still continued to talk, “Its just...its some kind of distress signal, I think.”

That got Rea to sit up straight, “One of the others?”

“No,” Adria shook her head, “No its...this isn’t a New Republic encryption code. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

By now, the Twi’lek had pulled herself up to her feet and was slowly moving over to have a look at the scanner’s display for herself, “Well, it can’t be the Vong...where’s it coming from?”

With Rea now standing next to her, Adria was polite enough to tilt the device so Rea could see the readout. Not that the lines and symbols meant anything to her, but it was the thought that mattered. Noting the silence from her fellow pilot, Adria pointed to one of the lines higher up on the display, “Its not coming from anywhere specific. Its...I think its coming from everywhere, actually.”

“What does that mean?” Rea turned to look for an answer on Adria’s face, but she found nothing but a shrug and similar confusion.

With a sigh, Adria shook her head, “There are a lot of people that need help? No...no, I really don’t have any idea.”

Taking a step back so as not to force herself to stare at the gibberish on the display anymore, Rea waved a hand idly, “Could this be what the Commodore was after?”

“Maybe but...” Adria shrugged again, “I don’t know how he’d have noticed this. It may be everywhere but its weak. And its not on any frequency the new Republic has ever used...”

As she trailed off, an idea began to form. At the same time, Rea was coming to that exact conclusion. The pieces fell into place. It was Rea who finished the thought, “Someone is here. Someone is on this moon hiding from the Vong.”

“They’re not using any signals the Vong would expect,” Adria went on, her face twisting a bit as she thought, “Do you think the Vong found them? It could just as easily be a trap.”

“But on an old signal we don’t even use?” the Twi’lek shook her head, “No one would pick it up. And if its as weak as you say, then you’d have to be here to find it in the first place...”

Both pilots looked up at the same time, then to each other. There was a silent moment as both of their minds worked even faster. But then, their thoughts diverged from one another. Adria stood up straight and shut down the scanner, “I think I can track this to its source.”

“Wait,” Rea immediately caught up and saw where this was going, “You just said the signal is coming from everywhere.”

“I did,” Adria nodded as she hefted her pack and then removed her blaster pistol from its holster, “But it is stronger to the north of here.”

Without saying anything, Adria then began to step past Rea and towards the ‘exit’ to their makeshift shelter. The Twi’lek, however, did her best to stand in the way, “Wait a second, you can’t leave! We need to stay together here. If the Vong find us...or you while you’re out on your own...”

“The sooner we find whatever the Commodore was after here, the sooner we can get off this rock...somehow,” Adria pushed the smaller Rea to the side and managed a polite smile, “I’ve got my comlink on me and I’ll keep you updated. I won’t go far, either. But this is definitely something and if...well, we may have to wait a long time for the Commodore to wake up.”

And then she left.

Rea stood there staring at the small entrance to their shelter and then let out a long, tired sigh. Every time things seemed like they couldn’t get any more difficult...no, no this wasn’t the time for thinking like that. Let the human run off like a child. There were three injured comrades right here. They needed Rea to be alert in case the Vong found them, and they needed her to use what little medical skill she had to help them.

For the first time, however, Rea didn’t want the Commodore to wake up again. She really didn’t want to get yelled at even if she should have done something to stop Adria.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 555: Natural Reactions*

There were times when Tobias wished he would listen to what he was told to do more. When he had turned around and ignited his lightsaber to face the three Yuuzhan Vong warriors rather than continue running from them, Tobias had not even considered how much quieter it would have been if he’d stayed in the hole in the ground. But as the Vong got closer, amphistaves up and preparing to strike at him, Tobias attempted to plant his feet and hold his ground...

And he slipped.

In his decision to fight, Tobias had somehow forgotten the fact that it was still raining and that the ground beneath him was not at all solid, but rather a thick layer of mud and gunk. It was not exactly the best situation to attempt to plant one’s feet in, as what really happened was Tobias’ boot slid much farther than he’d meant and then when he tried to catch himself, he overcompensated and instead of hitting on his back, Tobias went into the mud face first.

Immediately twisting so he was facing up, Tobias could see, through a mask of mud on his face, one of the amphistaves coming right down to take his head off. His lightsaber still active, Tobias managed to swing it around and bat the incoming attack away, using the Vong warrior’s momentum against him. It was hard to not try to rely on the Force to tell him what was about to happen next, but thankfully Marix had taught him at least enough to pay attention when people were trying to kill him.

It was why Tobias noticed the sound of a heavy footstep right next to him, a sign of shifting weight for another attack. And instead of defending himself this time, Tobias rolled away, ignoring the fact that he was now completely covered in mud. When he was a good meter away, he pushed himself up to his feet and faced the three Vong, raising his lightsaber just in time to parry a strike meant to slice open his stomach.

Pushing the Vong’s weapon away just in time to duck from a strike from another of the warriors. Out of the corner of his eye, Tobias could see more movement and was able to identify it as the third warrior attempting to block him in. Which meant there would be a tree behind him...

Another strike from an amphistaff came at his chest and again, it was easy for Tobias to invert his blade and parry. But unlike before, the warrior did not yank his weapon back, but instead slid it down, the length of the energy blade. Tobias realized what was about to happen, then managed to jump back before the tip of the amphistaff cut into his exposed leg.

And then his back hit the tree.

But for some reason, Tobias didn’t panic. In fact, some part of him seemed to know exactly what it was doing, as he found himself reaching up at nothing and trying his best to reach even farther with the Force. When he felt something in the hand of the Force above him, Tobias knew what to do...he yanked hard.

Suddenly, two large branches came crashing down in front of him. Two of the Vong that had been about to cut him to pieces were dropped under the weight of the heavy branches, while the third glanced up for just long enough to give Tobias an opening.

With as much strength as he could managed, Tobias thrust his blue-green blade straight for the standing Vong’s torso. The blade hit, but instead of cutting straight through and skewering the warrior, Tobias found out that the armour the warriors wore was very effective...as his blade cut deep into it, but simply followed the contour of its shape until the Vong twisted his weapon to hit Tobias’ lightsaber out of the way.

Finding his own opening, the warrior followed up his defense by taking a large step right inside Tobias’ defenses. An elbow suddenly dug into his stomach, along with the spiked armour covering it. Tobias couldn’t help a gasp of pain and surprise, but the second the Vong pulled back for another strike, he was remorphing the wound. But dealing with the injury meant he didn’t have any time to back away or defend from the backhanded punch that caught him hard across the face.

Tobias felt his jaw crack from the force of the blow, but that feeling faded into numbness when his head hit the nearby tree and then everything went completely blurry. But he didn’t black out, and his vision refocused in time for Tobias to duck and roll out of the way from the sharp end of an amphistaff meant to skewer his face. He may have been up and still alive, but things were still spinning from the blow to the head and it wasn’t really a surprise when Tobias tripped over one of the fallen tree branches and hit the ground again.

But Tobias hit the ground on his hands and knees, not on his face. Immediately, he pushed himself back up and regained his footing, glad for the fallen tree branches to slow the Vong for just long enough so that Tobias was up and mostly ready for him. But just to keep the warrior back, Tobias swung his lightsaber downwards in a long, diagonal arc that wouldn’t have hit anyone, and wasn’t even meant to.

The Vong stopped in his tracks to reach up and catch the blade with the center of his amphistaff, then attempted to do what he’d done before. But when the warrior pushed Tobias’ weapon away and tried to step in close again, Tobias spun around and used that momentum to easily take a good step back just before his blade came in towards the Vong’s torso.

Shifting to a one-handed grip of his deadly amphistaff, the Vong warrior had no trouble catching Tobias’ strike. But as Tobias pulled back to attempt another attack simply to keep the Vong back while he looked for an opening, he saw something happening.

With his free hand, the Vong warrior was reaching for something. Tobias didn’t see what it was until the warrior swung his staff around with enough strength to not only bat Tobias’ lightsaber to the side, but nearly twist him around in the process. On the slick ground, it threw off his footing easily and that was when Tobias saw the Vong’s other hand moving so fast it was just a blur...a blur with something on the end of it...

A sudden sharp pain shot up through Tobias’ body from his lower torso, and he looked down to see a small, dagger-sized amphistaff being removed from his gut. His body naturally reacted to the wound by causing Tobias to cry out in pain and double over, bringing him right down into a raised knee...face first.

Tobias’ nose broke on impact, and he stumbled back trying everything he could to fight back unconsciousness. But the pain was overwhelming him and it had all come so suddenly that he couldn’t do anything at all...it hurt too much to remorph! But if he lost consciousness...if he continued to stumble backwards for another step, he was going to hit the ground, black out, and then end up dead.

No!

No, he couldn’t end up like that!

He had to—

The line of thought was cut off by the ground, which Tobias hit hard before he realized what had happened. His eyes shot open, and through a haze of mud and a bit of red, he saw a blur come straight down for him. A half second later, another sharp pain erupted from his chest as the Vong warrior drove his amphistaff straight through one of Tobias’ two hearts.

But there was a reason Alraxians had two. If one was damaged, the second could operate alone for long enough that the Alraxian could remorph the other and be fine. This, of course, applied to a small subset of Alraxians, but it was a proven fact. And though the pain nearly overwhelmed him, Tobias fought it all to stay conscious...so much so that he didn’t even feel the amphistaff being removed, only seeing the blur of movement to indicate it.

An instinct beat into him from a young age took hold, and Tobias lashed out with his leg, sweeping the surprised Vong’s feet out from under him and dropped the warrior onto his back. Now, the wounds were healing. The injuries were gone in moments, and though the pain lingered and the shock of them still wracked his brain, Tobias dragged himself up to his feet at the same time as his Vong foe.

Rather than let his enemy get the upper hand again, though, Tobias kicked the Vong hard in the skull, dropping him back down to the ground before he could even get up. And then Tobias took one simple step forward, inverted his lightsaber, and drove it down through the only vital part of the Vong that wasn’t covered by armour...his head.

It was when he removed the energy blade from the now-dead Vong warrior that the previous few seconds caught up with Tobias. For a short moment, he stared down at what he’d just done...knowing it hadn’t been out of anger at all. Terrified of the fact that he hadn’t tapped into the Dark Side...he hadn’t been controlled...he’d just reacted with instincts beat into him by his birth parents and then by Marix and Jyren.

Tobias heard something move, and quickly looked over to see, through the still-heavy rain, one of the Vong that had been taken down by the tree branch pushing it off and slowly getting to his feet.

Deactivating his lightsaber, Tobias turned and ran again. He could get away now. He could escape the other two Vong...

But what about that emotionless killing? Could he escape that? Those were natural reactions to the...no, no the fact that he’d killed the Vong was not the problem. It had been a life or death situation. There had been no choice. The problem was something else.

Never in his life, had Tobias done what he’d done just then. He hadn’t even thought about it at the time, just reacted. He had sustained the kinds of wounds that could have killed most other humanoids in the galaxy twice over. Yet, somehow, not only had he remained conscious, he’d fought through it, survived through it, remorphed it...and kept going as if it was nothing.

It was exactly what Marix had always told him he needed to be able to do...so why did it feel so wrong? Why was it so terrifying?

...and where the hell was Master Ral?!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 556: A Favour*

Technically, anything was possible in the universe. By that logic, almost anything was possible within the galaxy. This was something that everyone knew at a base level, though few beyond the philosophers bothered to put any thought to. But every so often, something popped up that had a way of making everyone that saw it rethink everything they knew about the galaxy.

Just moments ago, Marix had encountered one of those moments.

A ship had exited hyperspace not far from Loki’s position. She had been sitting in the cockpit, checking the ship’s vital systems and glad to see that, for the moment, he was stable...though still unconscious. Due to the fact that Loki was unconscious, there had been no warning from his sensors that a ship had arrived, but Marix saw something against the black through the viewport.

Something red.

Something very red and very large.

Something that was supposed to be very large, but never, ever meant to be a shade of crimson like it was.

It was an old, Imperial-class Star Destroyer. And it was not white or grey or silver or even black...it was red. Who in the hell would paint a Star Destroyer red? Who the hell was Corran Horn’s father-in-law?!

Her surprise was forced away when the comm channel opened to confirm the earlier conversation. It didn’t take long, and soon the giant red beast was pulling Loki in via its tractor beam. Marix had made sure to check the landing bay before moving to the hatch, and saw a collection of so many kinds of ships that it looked more like a dump than a hangar...and then there was the large group of figures formed up right in front of where Loki eventually set down.

They looked armed, too.

No surprise...

Marix headed to the hatch, pulling on a pair of simple trousers on the way and then throwing a jacket on, too. Knowing humans the Star Destroyer was going to be cold. She also made sure not to carry a single weapon with her. The last thing she needed to do was get shot at, have to kill someone, and then get thrown off the ship for Loki to drift in space until he died.

When the hatch opened and she stepped out into the Star Destroyer’s hangar, no blasters were aimed at her, though they were obviously at the ready. The security detail had no uniforms, but simply wore normal looking clothes. They were smugglers and mercenaries. All of them. But Marix had figured that by the mention of Max...no one else would know, or care, about that name. Especially in relation to ‘Alrax.’

And there, just a couple of meters away from her, were two men. One was just slightly shorter than the other, and he had brown hair and a simple goatee. He wore clothes very reminiscent of Jedi robes, though much more practical...that man would be Corran Horn, though Marix couldn’t help but wonder why there was no lightsaber at his belt. Even if he felt like a disgraced Jedi, it seemed stupid to abandon the weapon.

But it was the other man that surprised her, because she realized who he was immediately. Heavyset, dark hair, and a critical look on his older features only amplified by the way he folded his arms across a large chest. He was Booster Terrik, and that explained everything. She’d met him once, shortly, doing a job with Max. It was a passing meeting, but apparently Terrik remembered. To get as far as he did in the underworld of the galaxy, he had to be able to remember seemingly small things. Hell, the man had a Star Destroyer...a red one.

“Bit taller than I remember,” Booster’s voice was gruff but there was the hint of a smile somewhere in there.

Marix tilted her head slightly so she wasn’t looking completely down at him and instead at more of an angle that almost had them seeing eye-to-eye, “You haven’t changed a bit.”

She had a good memory, too.

And then, in one silent moment, the tension faded. Booster took a few steps closer then looked past Marix to Loki. He looked over the ship from where he stood, then said out of the corner of his mouth, “Don’t you boys have work to do?”

At that point, the so-called ‘armed guards’ headed their own ways, holstering blasters as they left. So that had just been a precaution. Booster was smart...

“Never seen a ship like this, Alrax,” he was speaking at Loki, walking towards the Kanyak’s aft section which was significantly damaged. The hull was exposed...in Loki’s case, it was like having his external layer of skin missing and just letting his insides open up to the air...or vacuum. And that was just what could be seen. Marix wasn’t ready to turn her back on Horn or Terrik and check the ship’s underside.

Marix turned her head to watch Booster carefully, but didn’t move from where she stood, “Does that mean I can’t have help getting Loki fixed up?”

Booster stopped right next to one of Loki’s two sublight drives, reaching over and putting a hand on the Kanyak’s hull, “You’ll get what you need if you can tell me what it is. But that’s your one, and its only because of Max. I owed him a favour and he was killed before he could call it in. But seeing as I know you didn’t kill him and you were the only partner he ran with that he ever trusted, you get the favour and this is it.”

The man sure had a sense of honour about him.

But what did Marix need?

She needed tools she didn’t have...tools that Booster probably didn’t have, either. But what else could be used? They could improvise with some basic hull plating. It wouldn’t be pretty, but Loki had guns grafted to him at this point...Marix had no problem using more metal to keep her friend alive, especially when it would be temporary. But still, what could really help?

Turning around, Marix looked straight to Corran, who was watching her carefully, and asked, “Can you heal?”

Understanding that question, Corran’s response was not one she wanted to hear, “I’m not a healer, if that’s what you mean.”

“Neither am I, but that’s not what I asked,” she pointed to Loki, “If I needed you to use the Force and heal a living being, could you do it?”

That got some attention.

“This thing’s alive?” from behind her, Booster made a grunt of surprise. From the sound of it, he also took a couple of steps back.

Marix knew the worry, so she quickly went to remedying it, “He’s not Vong or anything you know. Don’t ask, either, because you won’t get an answer. The important thing is that he would help you if you needed it, and right now he needs your help,” she turned around to look back to Booster, “This favour, its not for me. Its for Loki.”

Raising his hands in defense, as Marix’s voice had become very deadly in that moment, Booster said casually, “It was a question, I didn’t say I’d toss ya out. You do what you need and take that son-in-law of mine to help you so he stops sittin’ over my shoulder every second like a damned parasite.”

The larger man then turned around and headed for a turbolift, grumbling something about his daughter’s taste in men while he left. Marix turned back to Corran again, one eyebrow up but instead of commenting on what Booster had said, went a completely different direction, “You don’t trust me.”

“I don’t know you,” Corran answered immediately.

“We have met before,” Marix commented, trying to find a way to ease the tension so they could get to helping Loki, “I was on Ithor.”

“I didn’t see you,” the same tone as before. This man was definitely still a CorSec officer at heart. He wasn’t letting anything out.

Marix let out a sigh to show she was getting tired of this, “I was in the back trying to keep my mate from screaming at you all and my son from joining you. Not that I succeeded on the latter, it seems...”

The last sentence had just been a rather random thought spoken out loud. But it had an impression. Finally, Corran’s face changed slightly, and she could see a concern there, as well as feel it through the Force, “Your son is a Jedi?”

“Not yet,” she shook her head, trying to keep patient as it looked like Corran was finally going to believe her and then would actually help, “Last I checked, he’s still in training and if he knows what’s good for him he’s on Yavin IV.”

Corran shook his head, “I truly hope he is not. Just after we received your message Master Skywalker sent his own request. Apparently the Vong have attacked Yavin and some of students are still trapped there...my son is one of them, also.”

The words were a shock to her, but Marix did not show it at all. Well, there was one slight change, but Corran likely didn’t notice it. Her muscles all tensed, though she didn’t move at all beyond that. Keeping her face emotionless, Marix spoke slowly and carefully, “I expect that Yavin IV is our next destination.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Booster’s not the kind of man to turn down helping family,” Corran nodded back towards the turoblift, despite the fact that the other man was gone, “And these days, he includes the Jedi in that definition. You can bet we’ll be there as fast as this beast can go.”

Then they didn’t have much time. Loki needed to be ready by the time they got to Yavin.

“So are we going to stand here or did you want my help with your friend here?” Corran pointed over Marix’s shoulder to Loki. But when she opened her mouth to respond, he cut her off by motioning for her to lead the way over to the ship, “And should I change into clothes that I don’t mind being covered in...in...whatever it is you’re covered in?”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 557: Monsters*

The tall, red grass of Rodia’s moon seemed to stretch forever. Adria had been tracking the odd signal for the last twenty standard minutes according to her chrono. Every time a coralskipper or other Vong ship went overhead, she’d ducked low and just waited, not moving for minutes just to be safe. It was why she hadn’t actually moved too terribly far in twenty minutes.

Glancing over her shoulder, she couldn’t see the natural shelter anymore. There were others like it all over, which made Adria wonder just how natural they were. It didn’t seem impossible for the collections of large rocks to actually have been built by Rodians as makeshift shelters for...for...whatever reason. She knew next to nothing about their culture beyond the fact that it was clan based and put a strong emphasis on ‘the hunt’.

Knelt down to make herself harder to see, Adria looked at the scanning device again. About a half kilometer north was where the signal was strongest. In fact, it was close enough she could probably get a visual on it if she tried...

Adria was impulsive, but she wasn’t stupid. She would check out the area, then immediately head back to where Rea was holed up. She wasn’t about to get herself killed, but at the same time, sitting around waiting to do something like this seemed foolish. It was likely that Commodore Nok would have them doing this when he was conscious again, anyway, so might as well get a step ahead.

After sliding the scanner back into her pack and sealing it again, Adria looked overhead again before beginning to move again. She stayed low, weary of Vong ships that may pass overhead. Earlier that day, she’d watched the entire moon erupt in Coralskippers. But now...since they’d ‘landed’ on the surface, they hadn’t actually seen any Vong. Sure, they’d been followed and managed to escape, and there were ships passing overhead here and there but no direct contact. No direct contact on a moon that was obviously heavily occupied.

Where were the Vong?

A few minutes passed before Adria saw something that was definitely not rocks. In fact, from the way the light was catching it, it looked to be metal...

Moving carefully and staying low, Adria made sure to keep her blaster in hand and ready. There was no cover nearby and so it was just a long stretch of red grass between her and what looked like a circular building with a flat roof. And it was definitely a metal structure, which meant it wasn’t Vong in origin...which raised more questions...which...

All thoughts were suddenly cut off by a sound that Adria had never heard before. It was like the roar of a great beast, but twisted and alien and with an odd shriek in the bestial sound that sent a shiver up her spine. And it was behind her.

Her head spun around to find the source of the noise and Adria saw a creature...no, two creatures. Both of them were a good three and a half meters high, walking on four spined, crab-like legs, with a builky, but more humanoid-shaped torso curving up above the lower section of the body. Between two human-sized scythe-shaped arms was something recognizable. The head of the creature was that of a Rodian, with a distinctive snout, large black eyes, and even the two stalked ears...but on the back of its head, instead the usual ‘spines’ that dotted a Rodian’s skull were huge, very dangerous looking quills.

One of the two creatures roared again, its snout-shaped mouth opening wide to let out the spine-chilling sound, and then began to move quickly for her. How Adria hadn’t seen them behind her before was beyond her, but that didn’t matter.

Instinct kicked in just as the second Rodian-thing began to come after her, and Adria raised her blaster to fire a barrage of shots while starting to run the other direction at a speed that would not be fast enough to keep her away from the two monsters for long. Though most of her shots went wide, one did strike the creatures at the front right in its massive chest, but had no effect on it other than to leave a black mark on its armoured torso.

Seeing how ineffective her blaster pistol was against the hulking beasts charging straight for her, Adria decided not to waste her time staring over her shoulder. Instead, she turned completely forward and ran as fast as she could, hoping to hell that she could get on the roof of that building and that the creatures wouldn’t be able to get up to her before she figured out what to do.

In a matter of seconds, she could feel the ground shaking behind her as the two creatures gained rapidly. It was almost enough to cause Adria to lose her footing, and she couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder. What she saw was one of the creatures within arm’s reach of her, barreling forward with one of its massive, bone-bladed arms already coming down to cleave her in two.

In that moment of near panic, Adria made a decision, and dove to the side. She hit the ground hard, rolling in time to see the first creature pull itself to a stop before spinning around awkwardly on its four legs to come at her again, while the second creature was now about to hit her dead on.

Before she could even come with the faintest of ideas on how to survive the encounter with the two beasts, a new sound took over. Or rather, a series of them. A barrage of blaster bolts arced across Adria’s field of vision before catching both of the monstrous creatures all over their torso. The amount of shots stalled the both of them until finally they dropped hard to the ground, the one still charging for Adria hitting hard and sliding through the dirt before it came to a stop.

It took Adria a few moments of sitting on her backside, staring at the two downed, slightly-moving monsters, before she finally turned towards the source of the blaster fire. A part of her expected to see the other members of Zephyr squadron that they hadn’t run into yet, but that wasn’t what Adria’s eyes found. She saw two humans, about five Rodians, and a Mon Calamari, all armed with blaster rifles of various make and moving towards her with them lowered.

One of the humans, a young man with short, blonde hair, extended a hand to help her to her feet, “Smart move running this way. Wouldn’t have seen you otherwise.”

Adria did not take his hand, getting to her feet on her own and keeping her blaster in hand, just in case. She had been about to say something in response when she noticed something else. Or rather, someone.

“...Loro?!”

The Mon Calamari in the group pushed his way through a couple of the Rodians before his already-large eyes somehow managed to go wider, “Harken!”

“Loro, I thought you were dead!” she laughed without meaning to and then, also without meaning to, hugged her former wingmate.

Somewhat surprised and a bit uncomfortable, Loro managed to return the gesture and said in that gravely voice that was very much his, “They do equip starfighters with ejection seats.”

Realizing she’d hugged him, Adria nearly jumped back. She looked over the group, noticing they all looked as shocked at her as she was to find them. Which brought up a few important questions, “Hang on...I think you’re going to have to tell me how the hell you got here, what’s going on, and uh,” she motioned behind her with her blaster pistol, “What those are. Were.”

The other human, an older looking man with thinning hair but a strong build, nodded, “I believe we have a few questions for you, too, Miss. But lets talk inside where we have at least some shelter from those beasts.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 558: Of Tree Branches*

As Tobias watched the two Yuuzhan Vong warriors walk past him, he couldn’t help but wonder if he was being cowardly by hiding in a tree. He had managed to use his considerable lead to take time and look for Master Ral, but found no sign of his Master. In fact, Tobias had realized that he was lost. And before he could figure out what to do next, through the heavy sound of the constant rain, Tobias’ ears detected something else...foosteps. Heavy footsteps.

And so Tobias had made a quick decision: he scaled the nearest tree, finding a branch high enough up to be out of plain sight. The two Vong were being careful, so much so that they actually stopped right under him. Tobias’ mind was filled with panic. They were tracking him. He had no idea how to hide his tracks, and hadn’t even thought about it until now...staring down at the Vong.

As carefully and quietly as he could, Tobias shifted his position from kneeling oddly to lying flat on the branch. It was in hopes that he could conceal himself better in case they looked upwards, and also so he could watch them more carefully himself. That, and it was nice to have the rain on his back rather than directly on his face. But while the two Vong did carefully walk around the tree, they didn’t seem to take notice of the claw marks that Tobias had left in his swift ascent. If they saw them at all, they likely assumed they were simply the marks of some local animal. It wasn’t as if claw marks on trees were that uncommon on a world as untamed as Yavin IV was.

[Dwel so oran e’sai, Enarin. Lan nomayi suc.]

The voice in his head nearly caused Tobias to fall out of the tree and right onto one of the Vong. Thankfully, he just twitched slightly and managed to dig his claws in to hold himself in place. When he recovered, Tobias realized what had just been said: the Knight he’d contacted earlier was in the system. The problem, however, was that the Yavin system was significantly blockaded.

Trying to lock onto the distant presence through a tiny thread of the Alraxian Network that he could feel, Tobias replied in Alraxian. [Can you safely run the blockade?]

[Most of the ships on the outer reaches of the system are large and likely slow.] the Knight responded immediately, still ‘speaking’ in Alraxian. [If I am to break through we will have to move quickly. My Kanyak, Horus, informs me that the difficult part will be stopping long enough to get you on board. The rest, he assures me, he can handle.]

Tobias immediately recognized a handful of problems and decided most all of them boiled down to one important thing. [How long will it take you to reach me?]

A short pause, then. [It is hard to say. It lis likely there are many smaller ships aboard the larger ones that could make the approach more dangerous. Horus believes that even with extra resistance, we can get to you within fifteen minutes. Are you currently in danger?]

[Not currently...] Tobias wanted to make some sarcastic comment about being above the danger, but it just didn’t seem like the time. He sure as hell didn’t have Jyren’s terrible sense of when to make a joke. For some reason, that was depressing. But that wasn’t important. What was important, however, was... [But I have been separated from my Master and we cannot leave without him.]

Another pause, this one a bit longer. Tobias could imagine the Knight and his Kanyak arguing over what to do. [We have been spotted, it seems. If we do not come for you now, I do not believe we will be able to reach you at all.]

That was a question. It wasn’t stated like a question, but the Knights were always like that with him for some reason. They must not have been sure of him in some form. He was young still, could he really give them orders that weren’t tainted by inexperience? It wasn’t as much their own safety they likely worried about, but his. If his mother was anyone but the Empress, they likely wouldn’t even listen at all. But coupling that with the fact that she was Marix and the Knights seemed to always end up accepting that she’d likely taught him a great deal about taking care of himself...which she had.

And so, remembering some of those things he’d been taught, Tobias answered the unspoken question. [Make your approach and keep me updated.]

No response came beyond a strong feeling of determination. That was how the Knights always accepted their orders. What were the point of words when no language ever had words that could truly represent some ideas? Especially for beings like Alraxians that were very strongly rooted in their emotions and feelings. Better to show the feeling than to try and fumble for a word that wouldn’t even truly grasp it.

Thankfully, by that point, the two Vong had moved on. Tobias was looking down at grass, dirt, mud, and tree roots. But they wouldn’t be far. It was going to be dangerous to come down but he didn’t have much of a choice. Tobias had actually secured them a way off of Yavin IV, but Master Ral had no idea.

Attempting to reach out with the Force proved useless as the abundant natural life of the moon blotted out the specific details he had felt earlier. Tobias just couldn’t manage the focus to reach that level of clarity again...not yet. He was too caught up in the fact that he had roughly fifteen minutes to find Master Ral and then figure out how to reach a Kanyak that couldn’t possibly land in this part of the thick jungle.

Okay. Focus. There was a limited amount of time now and Tobias couldn’t waste any of that being childish. If he didn’t find Master Ral in fifteen minutes...well...that Knight wasn’t going to leave without Tobias. Not after he’d come as far as he was going to have to. Which meant Tobias needed to move fast and figure out how to find Master Ral.

First things first. He needed to get back to the shelter. The problem was, he was still a bit turned around.

What would Jyren have done?

He’d likely drop to the ground, activate his lightsaber, and run into a group of Vong head first before magically finding Master Ral while running away.

No, Tobias couldn’t rely on luck like that. He just wasn’t that impulsive.

Alright. Fine.

What would Marix have done?

Backtrack. Run through her memories, figure out exactly where she had stepped and follow that backwards until she reached the exact point she’d started. There wouldn’t be visual reference, just her own very careful identification of her surroundings at all times.

Tobias wasn’t nearly that aware of his surroundings all of the time, but it was a place to start. He’d have to be quick, which meant he wouldn’t give himself time to rethink things. Maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t second guess himself and Tobias would just go with his instincts. Both Marix and Jyren had always agreed on that one thing...trusting his instincts, because they were rarely wrong.

As quietly as he could manage considering the length of the drop, Tobias shifted his position and swung down from the tree branch. He hit the ground in a wonderful pool of mud which splashed around him, then immediately started at a sprint back the way he’d come.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 559: Escape*

It took roughly eight minutes, but Tobias somehow managed to find his way back to the ruined temple he’d not-so-intelligently left. The trek back wasn’t nearly as hard as he’d expected, as Tobias quickly realized he had mostly been running in straight lines, only turning to avoid trees. It also helped that there was still a dead Yuuzhan Vong near the one point where Tobias did change direction. Never in his life did he think a corpse would make a landmark...

Eyes scanning the area from the cover of tree, Tobias waited another few moments to make sure he hadn’t been followed and that there weren’t any Vong near the shelter. When he was sure, he slipped back down to the ground again and made a quick, slightly dangerous due to the rain, dash for the ‘cave’ and was soon once again within its dark, damp, recesses.

And there was no sign of Master Ral.

In a way, that was good. It meant that Tobias couldn’t be yelled at for doing something extremely stupid. But, more importantly, it was very bad. Tobias had not heard a thing from the Knight, which likely meant the ride off of Yavin IV was very close. Gods, where was Master Ral?!

Okay. Stop. Calm down. This was the worst possible time to be panicky and irrational. Tobias couldn’t afford to let his worry and other emotions cloud his reason and judgement. He was supposed to be a Jedi, dammit! Jedi were calm in the most dangerous of situations. They were calm, and that calm allowed them to both make the right decisions at the right moments, and to keep the necessary focus so as to effectively use the Force when the time called for it. Ever since he’d run off from this hole in the ground, Tobias had done none of that.

It was time to stop being a child, and start being the Jedi he was supposed to be.

After a series of deep, calming breaths, Tobias closed his eyes. Standing there in the middle of the small cave beneath the ruins of an ancient Massassi Temple, hands at his sides and, against all that Marix had taught him, his back to the entrance, Tobias began to reach out for the Force, just feeling it and finding it around him. Both of those were easy to do on Yavin IV, a planet so rich with life it glowed brighter than a star in the Force. The difficult part, the one that Tobias knew he could do if he remained calm and focused, was to look through the brightness, to differentiate the individual sparks of life all across the moon: animals, planets, Peace Brigadiers, what few Jedi remained, and...

“Tobias!”

He saw Master Ral in the Force just a heartbeat before Tobias heard the voice behind him. Eyes snapping open, Tobias spun around to see his Omwati Jedi Master quickly moving into the shelter, his white, feathery hair matted to his head by the rain. Before Tobias could say anything, however, Master Ral continued speaking in a voice filled with more urgency that was normal from the calm Jedi Master, “We must leave here immediately.”

“Vong after you?”  Tobias asked the question as Master Ral began to turn to lead the way out.

“More than would be intelligent to fight against,” but then, realized that Tobias hadn’t moved, Master Ral stopped just a few steps away and turned around, “What is it?”

Tobias could have just told him that they had a way off the planet. He could have only relayed that one piece of vital information and been in the clear. But no, that wasn’t what a Jedi was supposed to do.

“I went looking for you, Master,” like a good Jedi, Tobias told the truth, “I ran into some Vong and managed to lose them. But listen, before you yell at me because I know I deserve it. There’s a ship on the way, it’ll be here in just a few minutes. If we can find some clearing in the trees large enough for a small sized freighter we can get off this planet.”

There was no anger through the Force or on Master Ral’s face. In fact, he didn’t even miss a beat with this new information and simply replied immediately, “There should be an area just to the south of here. Are you sure we can trust the pilot of this ship?”

The interesting thing to Tobias was that, as the question was asked, Master Ral was leaving the shelter again. This time, however, Tobias followed, “The pilot is one of the Knights sworn to protect myself and my family. If we cannot trust him, then there is no one left in the galaxy we can trust.”

When Tobias caught up to his Master, they both took on a very swift pace. After dashing around a rather large tree, Master Ral’s head tilted just slightly to glance to Tobias. He didn’t say anything, but the question didn’t need to be spoken. How had he gotten in contact with a species that, as far as Master Ral had been told, were no where near Yavin IV. Truthfully, Tobias didn’t really know, either, so it was good the question wasn’t asked. In fact, he also a bit relieved Master Ral hadn’t commented on the fact that Tobias was still in his Alraxian body.

Distantly through the sounds of their running and rain, something could be heard in the sky above. Looking up did no good, as the jungle was too thick. But looking up wasn’t necessary for Tobias.

[We have your position. Moving to an area just south of your location.]

[We are both on our way now.] Tobias replied, then realized he might need to add. [We’re being followed by Vong, though.]

[As are we. Horus believes we can only set down for a matter of moments to get you on board before those fighters are on us.]

[We’ll be quick.] Tobias tried to sound sure, but then spoke up to Master Ral, “He’s almost down and will be to the clearing any moment now, Master. But uh...there are Coralskippers on them.”

The Jedi Master was intelligent enough to save certain questions for later. Namely, how Tobias was getting this information. But Master Ral understood that some things were best saved for later, when there weren’t Vong after them and...

They reached the clearly in the jungle, which actually looked like an area that a ship had gone down in decades earlier. Trees were down, metal scraps here and there, but nothing had regrown from the looks of it. Above, and circling down quickly, a tan-coloured, odd-shaped object could be seen. But that wasn’t what had their attention. What was truly important for the moment was that there were a dozen Yuuzhan Vong standing in the clearing, aphistaves at the ready and snarl-like grins on their scarred and tattooed faces.

They had been waiting.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 560: Pride*

The snap-hiss of Master Ral’s lightsaber suddenly igniting cut through the silence created in the moment of discovery of the Vong trap.

“Master?!” Tobias started to turn to look in surprise at the immediate drawing of his Master’s weapon, but one of his ears caught a sound that was far more important. A fast moving buzzing sound and it was getting louder...

Reacting as best he could since the Force did him no good, Tobias twisted away, tilting his head just enough that the razor bug didn’t take his face off, instead cutting a long gash across his left cheek. Though he was trying to become a natural at simply remorphing a small wound like that without a thought, Tobias sure wasn’t there yet, and the buzzing of more razor bugs coming at them definitely didn’t help him.

As Tobias quickly drew his own weapon from its place at his belt, Master Ral moved to stand in front of the young Alraxian. Just like all Vong and their ‘technology’, the razor and thud bugs being thrown at them could not be felt in the Force. There was no screaming alert of danger to tell a Jedi were his lightsaber should be to deflect an attack and where to move to simply one. Instead, it was required that the Jedi use their eyes and ears. This was, of course, very difficult. Many Jedi were killed due to their reliance on the Force, which simply became a crutch and an outright weakness with the Yuuzhan Vong.

But Master Ral was a Jedi Master for a reason.

No, he could not feel the incoming razor bugs in the Force, but he had not neglected his other senses as some younger Jedi did. Aware of Tobias’ exact location behind him, thanks to the Force, Master Ral swung his lightsaber in an expertly timed arc that cut down three incoming razor bugs, then shifted to the side in time for another to fly straight between his body and Tobias’.

“Stay close until that ship sets down!” Master Ral called sharply over his shoulder to Tobias, who had just activated his own lightsaber and turned to see the at least six of the Yuuzhan Vong charging for them. 

Before Tobias could say anything, his ears picked up on a buzzing sound again. This time, however, coming from behind them...or rather, in front of Tobias since he still had his back to his Master and the approaching Vong. The rain hadn’t eased up at all, meaning that trying to spot the tiny, semi-intelligent bug coming back around at them was extremely difficult. Focus on the sound.

Louder...

Louder...

Getting closer...

...LEFT!

Tobias didn’t see it, but just swung his blue-green blade in an upwards arc to defend his entire body, hoping his ears weren’t lying. There was a fizzling sound as the blade went up that was much louder than the odd sound created by the rain hitting the blade, and he knew he’d got the thing.

“Forward, Tobias!” the sharp voice of his Master caused Tobias’ body to move before he’d even registered the words.

Spinning around, Tobias saw only two of the Vong warriors approaching. One coming straight for Master Ral, and the other for Tobias, both with their large amphistaves at the ready. They were actually being what might be considered ‘honourable’, which was almost worrying as Tobias had never heard of this before. A dozen Vong and only one came at each of them. Was that a sign of respect or overconfidence?

There was no time to answer that question. Master Ral took a single step forward, ducking low under a swing meant to remove his head from his body, then swung his own lightsaber to take the Vong’s feet out from under him. The powerfully built warrior was not fast enough to dodge this attack, and soon both of his legs ended at the knee. When he hit the ground with a heavy grunt, the blue-skinned Jedi Master inverted his blade and drove it straight down into the warrior’s neck...ending the ‘fight’ before it had started, then bringing his lightsaber up at the ready position just as a new warrior charged for him, spewing words in the Vong language that could only have been curses.

Tobias, however, did not make such quick work of his warrior. While he did manage to step back to dodge a quick horizontal slash at his torso, Tobias’ counterattack was simple and predictable. He took a firm step forward to close the gap between himself and the Vong and thrust his lightsaber straight for his opponent’s chest. But the warrior seemed to be ready for it, his amphistaff spinning back around and easily batting Tobias’ bright blade off to the right.

Suddenly wide open, Tobias was barely able to duck under a horizontal slash aimed straight at his neck. Instead, it only took a few of his hairs with it. But now Tobias saw an opening, and used all his strength to jab his left elbow right into his opponent’s gut.

This did not, however, have the desired effect. Instead of the Vong reeling back from the strike, Tobias’ elbow screamed in pain from the impact against the very durable armour all of the Yuuzhan Vong warrior wore. And before he could even make an exclamation of pain, Tobias’ legs were swept out from underneath him.

The world spun and before Tobias realized what was happening, his back hit the muddy ground. For the briefest of moments, Tobias’ eyes went blurry. The moment his vision returned to normal, he saw the sharp tip of an amphistaff coming straight down towards his face. Reacting as fast as his body would allow, Tobias rolled in towards the warrior’s feet, feeling the tip of the staff graze his shoulder rather than his eye.

And then Tobias saw an interesting opening directly above him.

In that moment of surprise for the Vong warrior where his amphistaff was forced into thick mud rather than flesh, Tobias swung his still-active lightsaber at an unarmoured section of his opponent. There was a sudden cry of anger and pain from the Vong as Tobias’ lightsaber took off the warrior’s right hand The amphistaff stuck in the ground still, Tobias was able to jump up to his feet as the Vong stumbled back just a few steps.

But when Tobias got to his feet, he was not greeted by an unarmed opponent. Just as he was bringing his lightsaber up into a defensive position in front of him, Tobias saw the Vong warrior remove a small, dagger-sized amphistaff from what might have been a belt. 

“K’lthrek Jeedai!” the Vong’s tattooed and viciously scarred face matched his voice perfectly. And just as he finished speaking, he dove forward to take Tobias by surprise.

Tobias saw another opening, as it was obvious the warrior was now reacting out of anger and not choosing his attacks wisely. In one simply motion, Tobias twisted to his right, avoiding the dagger strike easily, and then brought his lightsaber down to take the warrior’s head off.

The cut was clean and met with no resistance.

But knowing that there were countless other warriors ready for him, as Master Ral was still a blur of movement off to the side, Tobias had no time to celebrate his victory. Quickly bringing up the blue-green blade in front of him again and trying to ignore the hair matted to his forehead by the rain, Tobias looked up to the group of Vong a few meters away, ready for his next opponent.

[Take cover immediately!]

The Knight’s voice in Tobias’ head suddenly changed everything, and it took only a slight glance upwards to see why.

“Master! DOWN!” Tobias relayed the warning and then took the only cover they had, dropped right into the mud.

Before he hit the ground, Tobias caught sight of his Master, a blur of motion stopping only to drive his lightsaber straight through his opponent’s upper torso. The second he removed the blade, without a single question as to what Tobias had just yelled, Master Ral also dropped to the mud.

Just as Master Ral hit, there was a series of loud, pulsing sounds that weren’t like anything either of them had ever heard before. But those were suddenly drowned out by violent eruptions of trees, mud, metal debris, and Vong as the shots hit their targets with amazing accuracy. This sound, too, was drowned out by another. But this one Tobias knew very, very well.

It was the unique, almost humming sound that Kanyaks made in an atmosphere when they were about to take off. Pushing himself up to his feet, Tobias ran over to his Master and, with his free hand, grabbed the Omwati’s robes. Helping to pull Master Ral up, they both ran straight for the Kanyak that was hovering just a half meter above what was left of the Yuuzhan Vong warriors. Though the circular hatch was open, showing the cream-coloured interior, there was no one standing there to wave them in. In fact, the Knight didn’t even urge Tobias to move quickly. He said nothing at all.

Not that anything needed to be said.

In a matter of seconds, Master Ral and Tobias were inside the ship, their lightsaber deactivated and the hatch irising closed right behind them. Due to the inertial dampers, they were not thrown against the wall as the Kanyak quickly took to the sky again, but Tobias did hear the thrumming sound in the hull around him that indicated the engines were working as hard as they could.

Through heavy breathing, Master Ral eventually said, “You did well, Tobias.”

Suddenly feeling odd that there was no water hitting him from above anymore, Tobias couldn’t help but glance up slightly, “We should...should get to the cockpit.”

His mind was still focused on the fact that they weren’t out of this just yet.

Marix would have been proud of him.


Sorry for taking so much time to update. Bit of a hectic time right now and its probably going to continue for a while. Going to do my best to really stick to this better than I have been, though.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 561: All Patched Up*

For the moment, Marix had no time to be proud of anyone or anything.

After patching up Loki’s serious internal wounds on her own, it was surprisingly helpful to have someone else to assist with the external damage. Sure, Corran Horn had no idea about anything when it came to Kanyaks, but that didn’t seem to make him useless. In just under a standard hour, they had managed to attach a series of durasteel plates to Loki’s underside and a few portions of his damaged aft section above the main drives. The metal looked like horrible abominations on his skin, but they were affixed to Loki for a reason. Until he could be properly repaired, the plates would keep his hull sealed and prevent any further damage from the vacuum to the exposed sections of his body.

Sadly, Loki was still unconscious.

But despite this, Marix found herself gently running a hand along his underside, saying softly to her old friend, “You’re going to be alright.”

“What was that?” Horn looked over his shoulder to her, looking slightly confused. He was now covered in the same blue substance that Marix was, which was at least slightly humourous considering his beard was now flaked with blue.

“Nothing,” she replied simply enough, patting Loki’s hull one more time then turning to see the former Jedi Master cleaning himself as best he could with an old looking towel, “Thank you.”

The fact that Horn smiled behind the towel was only apparent to Marix after a few moments when he moved to wiping off his arms, “Happy to help. Booster seems to trust you and considering how much of a bastard he is, that says a lot.”

Booster didn’t trust her. Booster trusted Max and had taken her and Loki in out of respect for the old smuggler. Of course, Marix didn’t say that. It just didn’t seem appropriate considering the help. Now Loki was flight-worthy again, to the point where Marix even felt he could handle hyperspace. There would still be more strain on him than usual, but there shouldn’t be any risk of death after the makeshift repairs.

“Its an amazing design,” now it was Horn’s turn to run a hand along Loki’s hull, this time the underside of his ‘wing’ while taking a few steps over to where Marix stood, “It would be too much to ask to see the inside, though, wouldn’t it?”

Marix tilted her head in the slightest of nods. Her tail also flicked, but Horn either didn’t notice that sign of annoyance or didn’t understand what it meant. But he did seem to understand the nod, so Marix didn’t feel the need to say anything else. It was nice to find a Jedi that seemed to understand what the galaxy was actually like beyond their ideals.

Horn looked as if he was about to say something else, but stopped when he felt the same gentle shudder of the deck plates that Marix detected at her feet. It was the kind of effect that might go unnoticed by anyone that hadn’t spent a great deal of their lives aboard starships. The shudder only occurred on larger ships, but it was a clear sign of entry to or exit from hyperspace.

But while that may have been what got Horn’s attention, something else grabbed Marix. A formerly silent part of her mind flared up with activity. It was, to her sudden and odd disappointment, not her link with Jyren, though there was the smallest of moments of hope that it was. But it was similar. It wasn’t nearly as strong, but the Alraxian Network never was as strong as a link.

There was an Alraxian on Yavin.

No.

There was a Knight on Yavin.

“Are you alright?” though the other sounds of the hangar were generally quiet, Marix didn’t hear Horn’s question. Her eyes closed and she focused her thoughts. First, she reached out through the Force, finding Yavin IV not far away through pockets of life, then easily identifying the bright planet. It took only a few short moments to pick up on the familiar presence in the Force that was Tobias. And near him she could feel two other strong presences in the Force. One had to be the Knight. The other must have been Tobias’ Jedi Master, a thought that caused a slight sensation of annoyance.

[What is the situation, Knight?] Marix sent the message in Alraxian and rather forcefully. There was no need to identify herself. Every Knight knew what she felt like in the Network and in the Force.

There was a short moment of surprise from the Knight, then his ‘voice’ took over in the formal tone Marix hated so much. [I have just retrieved your son and another from the surface of the fourth moon, my lady. We should reach an escape vector in under five standard minutes but the enemy forces are moving to intercept.]

The way he spoke combined with his general feeling in the Force caused Marix to actually remember him. He was not one of the former Tam’Day’U that had become part of the Knights, which made it even more odd that she could recognize him from just a voice and a feeling. But she did. His name was Varis, and the reason Marix knew him was because he was one of the longest-serving, and highest-ranking of the Knights. He had been loyal to her mother, and was one of the first to step up and volunteer for the reconnaissance missions outside the Empire.

Marix’s eyes opened to see Horn talking into a comlink. Realizing she had stepped out of the moment and let her other senses fade, Marix cursed herself and actually went back to listening.

The first thing she heard was Booster’s booming voice coming out of that tiny comlink, “...an entire kriffing fleet and Skywalker wants us to fight it alone? I’m going to have a long talk with that kid the second my grandkids are safe. Speaking of which, get your backside up here!”

“On my way, Booster,” it was amazing that Horn could be so casual after the tirade that had escaped the comlink. Sliding the small device back into his pocket, Horn caught the look on Marix’s face and smiled, “Put a man in jail once and he never seems to forget about it. Especially when you marry his daughter.”

As the Jedi turned to leave the hangar, Marix spoke up, “Corran.”

She hadn’t actually used his first name in the entire time he’d been helping her. That chance caught his attention, and he turned around to regard her with a raised eyebrow but no words. Marix unfolded her arms from across her chest and said, “My son is out there on a ship like mine. They’re leaving Yavin’s atmosphere right now and they’re going to need cover.”

Corran understood what she wasn’t saying, and so nodded, “I’ll tell Booster the second I get up to the bridge. But if they’re in a ship like yours, its going to be hard to tell it apart from the Vong. Yours wasn’t broadcasting any IFF signals when we found you.”

Ah, yes. Loki had one, but it was something that was only active while he kept it that way. Being unconscious meant there was no IFF being broadcast, so a Kanyak like that could easily look like a Von ship. Of course, every Kanyak in this part of the galaxy would have the right transmitter installed to avoid that kind of difficulty. That, however, was not something Marix felt needed to be relayed. Besides, the help she needed was given and there was no further use to staying where she was aboard the Errant Venture.

“Tell him I appreciate the help,” Marix was talking while her mind was working out a plan, “If he ever needs anything...if you need anything, Corran, use that comlink in your left jacket pocket.”

With another small nod, she then turned and walked to Loki’s access hatch. After manually opening it, she headed in and made her way to the cockpit. [Loki is damaged, Varis, but I am on my way to you. I’ll provide cover for you to get yourself and my son out of the system alive.]

[Yes, my lady.] Varis was intelligent enough not to argue with his superior, especially when it was his Empress speaking the orders. [I am plotting a course for the Gateway as we speak and should be able to make the jump as soon as Horus is out of the system’s gravity well.]

Dropping down into the pilot’s chair and starting up the Loki’s systems as carefully as she could, Marix shook her head. [No. The other you picked up should be a Jedi Master. Let him provide your destination.]

As Loki began to gently lift off of the hangar deck and spin around to exit the Star Destroyer, Marix realized that in only a few minutes she’d done two things very out of character for herself. Not only had she given Corran Horn a comlink specifically connected to Loki’s unique comm frequency, but she’d also just told a Knight to listen to a Jedi Master. 

If Jyren could see her now...gods, he probably wouldn’t even recognize her covered in all this blue gunk! Marix made a note to take a good long shower the second she had a free moment. But a free moment wasn’t likely to come soon. She was about to fly her unconscious ship right into a Yuuzhan Vong fleet. After she managed to survive that and got Loki to hyperspace, there was a Vong to question locked in one of the small rooms towards the rear of the ship. And then...well...something would probably come up after that.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 562: Survivors*

“The Vong call them Vagh Rodiek,” Obrack Loro explained, his gravely voice an amazingly comforting sound for Adria. Just seeing him alive was wonderful enough, but to hear him talk and actually prove that it wasn’t a hallucination was even better. Of course, the situation didn’t exactly match that happy sentiment.

They were within the small building that Adria had seen from a distance. It was an old farm home, apparently. Two small, barely furnished rooms and strong walls. The latter was the important part, as it was a good, safe place to hide from the Vong and those Vagh Rodiek monsters. Though it was out in the open in the fields of red grass, an easy target. That was bothering Adria, but the others all seemed to be confident in their safety.

The others were the same group that had killed the two Vagh Rodiek that had nearly ended Adria’s life. An older human who claimed to be from Alderaan, a younger human with a Corellian accent, five different Rodians, all armed to the snout, and Loro, the lone Mon Calamari of the group.

One of the Rodians tilted his head and then waved a long-fingered hand in the air as he spoke in the distinct nasally voice that all of his species seemed to have, “The Vong shape our people. Alter the genetic code and combine it with their own beasts. They make these Vagh Rodiek from our clan mates, human. The monsters once like us.”

That was a terrifying thought, but it made sense. Beyond the crab legs and huge scythe-like arms was the upper body of a Rodian, though it was armoured and the usually soft spines on the back of their skulls were altered into vicious looking spikes. By this point in the war, it was well known that the Yuuzhan Vong were experts in genetics. It was how they bred and created all of their technology. But the very idea of them ‘shaping’ an existing species into a monster like those things outside...? That was something new.

But there was something else bothering her, and Adria brushed a strand of her red hair out of her eye before looking across the table to Loro, “I still don’t understand all of this. How did you survive? How did you end up here? All of you! Blast it, why do the Vong just let you live out here in this little house right out in the open? It doesn’t make sense!”

“We are prey for their monsters,” it was the Rodian, leaning against the far wall, who answered one of the questions. He then motioned to the four other Rodians standing next to him, “We were on hunt together. My brother, nephew, and two sons. It was the first hunt for my youngest, but Vong found us. We wake in field not far from here, see Rodia in the sky above and know we were moved up here but not why. Then monsters come. Had no weapons anymore, so we ran. Found this building and two humans. They help us and use blasters to bring down beasts.”

The older human, sitting at the head of the table to Adria’s left, nodded, “Same for us. My nephew and I were transporting medical supplies and our ship was caught in an ambush. But the Vong didn’t kill us for some reason. Found ourselves here and when we saw ‘skips flying overhead we went for cover. Found this place and it was pretty damn well filled with blasters and rations. Even rigged me up an old comm device to send a distress signal on an Old Republic frequency.”

A hint of a smile tugged at Adria’s features, “My commander picked that signal up while we were scouting the system.”

“What happened?” it was Loro that asked, and there was an obvious concern in his voice, “We saw a few trails of fire in the sky an hour or so back but figured it was just the Vong.”

The smile on Adria’s face was gone after that sentence and she couldn’t help a sigh, “We were ambushed. This moon was housing more Coralskippers than I’ve ever seen. A few of the squadron got out of system but when it was clear the rest of us were just going to die if we kept flying in circles up there, the Commodore ordered us down here. Said he picked up your signal, too. It was a rough landing...Rea’s back a couple kilometers with him and another two of our rooks. He’s lucky to be alive...barely survived the ride down.”

Loro’s mouth opened and then closed a few times. He wasn’t at a loss for words, rather taking in the moisture in the air as best he could. After a few moments, he spoke up again, “Seems rash for the Commodore.”

Adria nodded, but then realized something, “It was that or die. At least down here we had a chance to survive. That and he said he had a feeling like there was something important down here.”

“Your commander smart,” the Rodian cut in again, “This more than test moon for Vagh Rodiek. Vong Shapers create their monsters on this moon. Shapers set up camp north of here.”

Shaking his large, red-orange head, Loro looked over his shoulder to the green-skinned Rodian, “Eettair, there are nine of us right now. If we can get to my old commander that adds only three more since he’s injured and likely not up for a fight.”

“One more,” Adria corrected, “The two rooks are in pretty bad shape, too.”

“Right,” Loro nodded, then turned back to Eettair, “That’s still nine against all of those Shapers, at least three dozen warriors, and who knows how many more of those Vagh Rodiek. We don’t stand a chance.”

Eettair shook his head, “Ten.”

“Nine,” this time, Loro’s voice carried a weight to it, “We aren’t leaving three injured people without protection.”

“Rather find a way to hit those damned Vong than keep hiding in this place while they have time to make more of those things to throw at us,” finally, the young human spoke. He was standing behind Adria, cleaning an older model blaster rifle.

The older human shook his head, looking past Adria to the young man, “Just ‘cause you can shook a blaster doesn’t mean you can fight a horde of Vong warriors, Val. I ain’t seeing you dead, either. Your mother would kill me if I came back without ya.”

The young man was about to speak up when Loro put an end to the dissent by standing up loudly and saying, “Its not important right now. We have people not far from here that are injured and need to get here for safety. Lets get them to safety and we can worry about what we do next after.”

There was an annoyed sound from behind Adria, but it was obvious that Val wasn’t arguing. The older man was getting to his feet, too. Even the Rodians were retrieving blasters, though as Adria got to her feet, she noticed that Eettair hadn’t moved.

When Loro noticed this too, the Rodai started to speak before he could get yelled at, “We go north to Vong. Four enough to bring back injured. It been more than a week since we last see Vong base.”

“So now its five against an army?” obviously annoying, Loro pointed a finger, as best as a Mon Calamari could considering his hands were fins, at the Rodian, “Getting yourselves killed isn’t going to do any of us any good at all.”

Eettair shook his head, “We no fight. First part of hunt is scouting. Fish no understand hunt, but I forgive. We check perimeter, get numbers on Vong defense, then return to plan attack.”

Letting out a heavy, slightly gurgled sigh, Loro threw his hands in the air, “We aren’t attacking that base, dammit! But fine! Go! But you’re on your own, all of you. If we actually find a way off this rock, we aren’t waiting for your green backsides.”

The snort that Eettair made was more like a low pitched screech, “We no wait for you either, fish.”

With that, the Rodians left.

Adria looked to the two other humans and then shot a raised eyebrow to Loro, “We’re all friendly, aren’t we?”

“They’re irrational,” Loro explained as he picked up a blaster rifle off of the table and checked its power pack, “Every time they see those Vagh Rodiek beasts they just want to take it straight to the Vong.”

With a shrug, Adria decided to check her own blaster, which was the standard-issue, mostly useless pistol all the pilots had, “Can’t say I blame them.”

Holding his blaster in two hands, Loro motioned towards the door, “Lead the way, Harken. But keep your eyes and ears open. Those monsters are quiet as a damned stealth ship until they’re nearly on you.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 563: Orbital Escape*

Considering that Master Ral was being led around by his apprentice without much explanation, he was taking this quite well. It did fit what Tobias had learned of the Omwati, though. He could be quiet, contemplative, and all the things one expected from a Jedi Master. But at the same time, he could be the amazing warrior that Tobias remembered from his childhood stories. The truly amazing thing was how quickly he could shift between the two. 

Moments earlier Master Ral and Tobias had been fighting one Vong warrior after another. Despite everything, those scarred and hideous Yuuzhan Vong seemed to have some kind of code of honour.

Honour.

Honour from a species that was tearing its way through the galaxy, exterminating anything that stood in their way, and even going so far as to ruin the planets they conquered. It was a sign to Tobias that he was, in the end, definitely Alraxian. Yes, lives were lost, but it was the horrific destruction of the planets and twisting of natural life that bothered him the most. For a species that were so similar to Alraxian in their use of biological technology, the Vong took an approach of domination over this rather than the coexistence that the Alraxians lived by.

That sudden series of thoughts came and went in the short span of time that it took Tobias to run from the Kanyak’s hatch to the cockpit, with Master Ral just behind him. They arrived to find it set up almost exactly like Loki’s, though it looked like the control scheme was slightly different. That and the Knight, an Alraxian with short, slightly-greyed black hair and a strong build despite the few lines of age on his face, was not sitting on the right. Apparently, he preferred to pilot from the left chair, which just seemed...odd to Tobias. 

“You should sit down,” the Knight’s actual voice wasn’t exactly the same as the one Tobias had gotten used to in his head. It was a bit rougher and sounded strained, which made sense when Tobias looked out the viewport.

The blue tint of Yavin IV’s atmosphere was just fading, giving way to the black of space. Or at least, trying to. The problem was that the black with the orange gas giant, Yavin, and a multitude of ships, some Vong and some very obviously not. And most of them looked to be approaching at blinding speeds.

Master Ral motioned for Tobias to take the seat, and then moved to stand behind his apprentice. With a casual glance over to the Knight, he said in a voice that was far too calm for the situation, “You have my gratitude.”

“No thanks is required,” at that point, Tobias realized that the Knight was speaking Basic. He had a slight accent, though, stressing some syllables that weren’t meant to be stressed in Basic, “My name is Varis. I am Knight in the service of the Empress. It is my duty to protect her and her family.”

“Corentan Ral,” the Omwati Jedi Master replied just as things began to get interesting. Had he been about to ask a question or say something else, Master Ral quickly stopped that.

Everything in the viewport suddenly went sideways as Varis rolled the Kanyak up onto his side. In the same moment, something happened that Tobias should have expected, considering that he’d seen the outside of the Kanyak, but still was a shock. A series of blue beams shot out in short, rapid pulses from both sides of the viewport, hitting a nearby starfighter and destroying it before the pilot could react.

Of course Horus would be armed with Jendari weapons.

Two large, bulky Cloakshape fighters shot past the Kanyak after their wingmate was shot down, but following them was a large flight of Coralskippers, spewing red-orange fire from their nose-mounted cannons. Just before the entire viewport went blurry, Tobias was able to see larger ships converging on their location.

But then they were spinning and weaving and rolling and, apparently, shooting so fast that Tobias couldn’t make sense of it all. He just sat there, claws dug into the chair’s armrests and trying not to bite into his lip as he watched everything spinning in front of him. A few times, the Kanyak jolted, but nothing stopping the insane maneuvering. Well, nothing but Varis and his Kanyak.

Tobias didn’t see Varis adjust the controls to right them, which meant that it was likely the Kanyak doing that. Ship and pilot working together and dividing the work load. With a connection honed over years, it was the closest thing to Alraxian and Kanyak being one creature rather than two.

When the view stopped spinning, they were flying between two metal freighters that were firing across Horus’ nose. Horus dropped under a shot, then twisted to port to avoid another, and just as he spun back to starboard, Varis fired off another series of shots that took out the aft turbolaser cannon on the nearest of the two freighters. With the opening now obvious, Horus spun and dove right through the debris and flame and dropped underneath the damaged ship to use it as cover.

That was about the time that Varis uttered a curse in Alraxian. There was no reason to ask why, as Tobias could clearly see that Horus had turned straight into the sights of at least a half dozen Coralskippers. It was also obvious that there was no real way to outmaneuver them, just either fly through and hope, or turn and present a larger target. Either way, even Tobias could tell that they were about to take some very serious hits.

And then two Coralskippers erupted in flames from a series of blue laser fire. The remaining four skips immediately banked away as if they were one ship. A moment later, a Kanyak that was oddly pocketed with silver sections on its hull, dove straight through where the formation of Vong had been. And Tobias knew exactly who it was. It was hard to recognize Loki, but he could feel Marix in the Force. He was, however, intelligent enough to not bother her. Especially since he saw Varis nod to nothing at all, which likely meant she was already talking with the one person that she needed to.

As Horus banked to starboard and fell into formation right behind Loki in a haphazard course through the various ships firing at them from all directions, Varis spoke over his shoulder, “I have been instructed to plot a course out of here wherever you wish, Master Ral.”

There was no spoken question, but a request still obvious in that sentence. Somehow, the way Varis spoke the word ‘Master’ was all that was needed to ask the question without asking it.

And Master Ral didn’t miss a beat, despite the fact that they had just dropped below a huge, oval-shaped Vong ship that was for some reason not firing down at them, “Will you take us as far as Coruscant?”

Varis still didn’t look away from the view in front of him, obviously seeing that none of the capital ships were firing on them anymore, and only a few starfighters were trailing them, “Ask Horus.”

Before Master Ral could ask what that meant, a grinning voice sounded in their heads. [Towards the Core, eh? Sounds fun...well, if you count not getting shot at fun.]

Knowing the confusion that hearing Horus like that would cause, Tobias turned away from something he should have been asking about to explain, “That’s Horus...the ship.”

The Jedi Master nodded, but he turned his attention to something that was much more important, “Why aren’t they shooting at us anymore?”

Though Varis didn’t turn his head, Tobias saw the Knight’s eyes shift just slightly, “The Empress says that she brought a friend...”

Now that it was obvious that the two Kanyaks were safe, both ships banked away from Yavin and began a quick dash out of system. But in the turn to do so, something else could be seen in the viewport. In the distance was a large, red wedge that was spewing a constant stream of green turbolaser fire. Bursts of fire could be seen as ships were taken down by the Star Destoyer’s blasts, and it looked as if the entire Vong and Peace Brigade fleets were converging on the ship. But that didn’t look like it was going to matter. None of the ships, even the Vong ships, looked to be much larger than heavy freighters, and though they were a danger to a small ship like a Kanyak, a true warship like Marix’s ‘friend’ would be just fine.

And then it was gone from view, and all Tobias could see was Loki’s engines, one of them slightly dimmed for some reason. They had made it. They were safe. And it looked like anyone left back on the moon would soon be safe, too.

[Take care of yourself, little guy.] Marix’s voice in his head was a shock. Not just because of how soft it felt to him, but because of what she’d called him.

For a moment, he just sat there, staring blankly out at Loki’s aft and trying to figure out what had happened. Then, deciding that it was, in fact, Marix, he sent a careful message back. [Thanks...] he stopped himself, thought about it, then decided he didn’t care and tried again. [Thanks, mom.]

At first, Tobias didn’t think she was going to say anything back. She usually scowled at him when he called her that, not really because she disliked him, but something about that word always made her uneasy. Tobias wasn’t an idiot, he could see that. But then he heard Marix’s voice on more time. [You know you don’t have to thank me.]

And right on cue, Loki disappeared, making the jump to hyperspace.

Horus then banked to port slightly and slowed a bit before Varies reached over to his side and hit a series of small buttons. When he was finished, the stars began to elongate before Horus jolted forward into hyperspace.

There was a short minute in which all three of them simply let the adrenaline fade, and then it was Master Ral who broke the silence, “I think its time you start explaining this, Tobias.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 564: Language Barriers*

Once she was sure that Loki was going to handle hyperspace alright, Marix pulled herself out of the pilot’s chair and headed back to her quarters. She’d set a course for the Gateway, and with Loki’s hyperdrive not functioning at full power, the trip was going to take at least a standard day despite the relatively short distance. But that was alright. Importantly, Loki was stable, though still unconscious. His body was recovering slowly, though, according to the readouts she’d checked just after making the jump to hyperspace.

Not only that, but Tobias was okay. No, he was more than okay. According to Varis, the kid had actually contacted him for help. This would not normally have been a feat, as Tobias did have the means to communicate with the Gateway, but Varis had not been at the Gateway. According to his swift report during the short few moments they were in contact, Varis had been doing work on an interesting side project that Jyren had cooked up years earlier.

Jyren had taken an interest in Alraxia’s connection to the ancient Jedi Order of the Old Republic, using the archives in the temples scattered across Alraxia and even a few other planets in the Empire to track down other artifacts of the old order. He was, of course, looking for a connection to his mother beyond that holocron he never let go of, but it wasn’t something Marix would argue with him about. It was a good cause. And, according to Varis, many of the Knights and former Tam’Day’U had taken a great interest in it, too. He had been tracking down an ancient planet that was not on any charts at all, Alraxian, Jendari, or Republic, but was mentioned several times in some of the temple records. It was called Rhen Var, and apparently had been a place that a fallen Jedi Knight thousands of years earlier had exiled himself to.

But Varis never found the planet. On a stop in deep space to check his coordinates and attempt another dangerous, blind jump into uncharted space, he had felt the presence of Tobias. Then the boy had actually communicated with him over a distance of light years. Tobias had done that with no training. While it was a skill that some Tam’Day’U had been taught years ago, it was one few could manage. Even Marix hadn’t been able to.

And Tobias had done it. He’d called for help, then, according to Varis, been the one leading the way in front of his own Jedi Master to the ship after the two of them had battling with a group of Yuuzhan Vong warriors. From her short conversation with Tobias, which was more a series of words than an actual conversation, she could tell he was already different than when he’d left. It wasn’t the words that told her, but the emotions that escaped with them. Tobias was much more grounded in reality than he had been, and though he was definitely still learning, seemed to be understanding much more about the way things worked. Marix’s only worry about that kid was that his constant idolizing of Jyren would mean Tobias would grow up to be just as reckless, impulsive, and every bit as unable to use his brain as Jyren had been. No, that wasn’t fair. It was more that Jyren’s place of judgement and decision making was in his heart and his emotions, not his mind. It was a noble thing, yes, but both dangerous and, in the end, something that Tobias didn’t need to default to.

Now Marix had seen him shifting away from that.

That was the one piece of good news in what seemed like an eternity, and it was extremely welcome.

Entering her quarters, Marix moved to the small washroom. As quickly as she could, Marix got a hold of some cleangel and wiped Loki’s blood off of her face and hands. The rest of her could wait. With that done, she exited the washroom, and walked over to the opposite side of the quarters to a small pile of clothes at the side of the bed. They had been lying there for a long time, but thinking about that Vong she was about to have a talk with brought up an interesting thought about the pile. Digging through it a moment, Marix retrieved a jacket. It was Jyren’s, that damned brown piece of junk that was impossibly comfortable despite how it looked. The last time she had worn it, Marix had come across an interesting item, which she hoped was still in the inside pocket.

When she put her hand into the pocket, she found it. That small, worm-thing that had been in a Rodian’s ear for some reason. Marix inspected it, noticed it was still moving, and wondered how it was actually alive. It had to eat, didn’t it? Even Loki got nutrition, though it was a complicated process that Marix didn’t even completely understand. Maybe it could just survive for long periods of time without food? More to the point, what was it? It had been in that Rodian’s ear, but it hadn’t caused any actual damage. It wasn’t a weapon, then. It didn’t seem to be any kind of controlling device as she had seen other humanoids with pieces of...coral or something similar implanted in them that looked to serve that purpose. There had to be a use for it.

Keeping it in her hand, Marix got to her feet and left her quarters. It only took a few steps to reach the sealed door to the room where she’d thrown that Vong into. She stood in front of the door for a short time, thinking. The Vong hadn’t been tied up and the room, while generally empty, might have provided him with makeshift weapons if he was smart enough. After moving the small worm-thing into her off hand, Marix hit the switch to open the door and prepared for an immediate attack.

When the door irised opened, she was not met with a weapon or a fist or a leg or anything else meant to kill her. Immediately taking in the room, Marix noted the Yuuzhan Vong sitting against the back wall next to a small table that was actually part of Loki’s interior. To her surprise, the Vong did not bolt up to kill her, but simply snarled a curse in his native language. Or at least, she figured it was a curse. But beyond that, he didn’t move.

“No more fight in you, I see,” Marix spoke aloud while she stepped into the room and then made sure the door was good and closed behind her.

The Vong replied with a sharp series of guttural words.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she kept in mind many of those old interrogation techniques taught to her years ago. Marix made sure to look down at him, stand tall, and show through the way she stood that if he tried anything she wouldn’t be afraid to snap his neck. Not that the last of those would scare a Vong, from what Marix understood. Still, it was important. It was time for that time honoured and arduous task of learning the enemy’s language. In previous instances, Marix had the Force to assist with that...but since the Force was telling her there was no on else in the room with her, that was definitely not an option.

“What is your name, Vong?”

The deep-set eyes that were beneath a large, single scar across the Vong’s forehead, regarded her carefully. Eventually, he spoke again, “Nikk pryozz Qroal Fath.”

That caused a slight pause in Marix’s thoughts. It was clearly a response. She had no idea what he’d said, but the way he’d responded was just too perfect, especially when he just stopped and then stared at her, as if waiting for her to ask something else.

Marix’s eyes narrowed, not liking this, “You understand Basic.”

The Vong tilted his head in what very well could have been a nod, “Dwi.”

Yes...?

Unless a nod meant something else to the Vong, which was entirely possible. Marix had encountered at least one species that found such an action to be extremely offensive. Something about showing the top of one’s head...

But no, he had stopped again. Waited for her to speak again. He did understand Basic. But he didn’t speak it. That wasn’t all too uncommon, but it bothered her. It bothered her enough to ask another simple question, “How?”

Or rather, a simple question if she could understand the Vong language. But before saying anything, he tilted his head and reached into his ear with a long-fingered hand that was also covered in an odd, jagged green tattoo. Marix was already beginning to connect dots in her mind, and so wasn’t surprised when he removed a small worm just like the one she was holding, then said, “Tizowyrm.”

There was no surefire way to know this wasn’t some trick. However, Marix had not heard of many Vong being anything but straightforward. Still, something was wrong here. Something was bothering her. He was being too forthcoming, even if she didn’t understand him. Why the hell wasn’t he trying to get free?!

Working on the hunch that she was starting to understand how he understood her, though, Marix waited for the Vong to put the worm back into his ear before asking, “That thing translates languages?”

“Dwi,” the same word with the same nod.

Marix raised her hand and opened her palm to look at the one she held. It was dangerous. It was stupid. But...she could morph. If it was an attack or a deception, she could morph around the thing and get it out of her body before it did any damage. Hopefully. Maybe.

After a deep breath and readying herself for a horrible feeling, Marix carefully reached up to put the worm thing into her own ear. There were a few horrible moments where she felt the thing shifting and moving before it finally stopped.

When it stopped, the Vong spoke again, “I am Qroal of Domain Fath.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 565: Voices*

Rea sat in the small, natural shelter carefully watching the three injured members of Zephyr Squadron. There wasn’t really anything she could do, which was impossibly frustrating. They were all stable, but unconscious. In Commodore Nok’s case, drifting in and out of consciousness every so often to look around confused, groan, then drift off again. That was more worrying to her.

It sure as hell didn’t help that Adria had run off. How a woman like that was able to pass any entrance examinations into a military organization was completely beyond Rea. Sure, Adria was a good pilot, but she wasn’t so amazingly talented that it would make up for her attitude towards those ever important things called ‘orders’. Questioning orders, out loud at least, was bad enough in critical moments...but outright disobeying them?

Okay, so technically Adria hadn’t disobeyed a single order by wandering off to check on that signal. She had, however, abandoned her commanding officer and two other injured squad mates and left a single guard with them in what was very definitely hostile territory. And Adria had gone alone. That, right there, was the real sticking point for Rea.

With a quiet sigh, her lekku twitched slightly. Rea was tired, annoyed, exhausted, tired, and annoyed. It had been nearly an hour since Adria had gone, and the Twi’lek had heard various sounds overhead that were in no way comforting. She didn’t have to look outside to see the Vong ships flying overhead, though it did seem strange. For the longest time, they hadn’t seen a single ship over this grassy field...but in the last twenty-odd minutes, Rea was hearing them fairly consistently. That and...

Were those voices?

Eyes darting to the opening in the makeshift shelter, Rea saw nothing beyond the meter high, red grass. Yet, she could still hear voices out there, even if they were quiet. Had the Vong found her? Or was it Adria? But why would she be talking? And wouldn’t she be smart enough to keep her mouth shut, or at least her voice low, on a moon like this?!

Tightening her grip on her blaster pistol, Rea quickly ran through what she could do. Should she have a look? It wasn’t as if she was too terribly tall. Ducking down, Rea could stay hidden in the grass. Well, slightly hidden. She was still in that black tunic that was normally worn beneath the orange jumpsuit that she had removed after they’d found this shelter. Not only that, but Rea still had on her black gloves and boots, which meant that in the grass, she would be a black and blue object within the red grass. Not exactly stealth. But still, if Rea stayed within the cramped shelter and it wasn’t Adria, she’d be dead in a second. There was no room to fight in this thing...

After a short look over the three other Zephyrs, Rea knelt down and exited the shelter. Keeping her head down below the top of the grass as best she could, her eyes scanned the area. A few steps away from the rock-shelter and she could hear the voices more clearly. They were harsh, hissing, and definitely not human. But at the same time, they didn’t sound like they were Yuuzhan Vong.

There!

In the grass, a few meters away, Rea could see movement. Amongst the red was an odd, brownish-grey. And that was where the voices were coming from. Figures in the grass...moving towards her but not directly. Which meant that probably didn’t see her...

“Zhurae sos,” she could make out the words now, though Rea had no idea what was being said. It wasn’t like any language she’d ever heard. Admittedly, however, that didn’t mean much in a galaxy with so many languages.

But then the movement stopped and the voices went silent.

Rea froze, worried that she had been spotted.

Silence.

“Qol e’a si!” the words were yelled, and then Rea heard it repeated at least five times, though probably more. And then the movement started again, but this time directly towards her. And they were coming fast, running without a doubt.

Without even thinking, Rea raised her blaster and squeezed off a quick shot. The red of energy cut through the grass and then hit the nearest of the moving figures, getting a grunt out of it before a thud as it hit the ground. But there were still more coming, and looking forward just seemed to show a wall of brown-greys coming through the red right for her!

Run.

Just run!

But Rea fought that instinct, immediately understanding that she had to lead these whatever-they-weres away from her three injured squad mates. She needed to lose these things and then sneak back so that the Commodore and the others weren’t left unprotected for too long!

Firing off a series of shots blindly, the Twi’lek spun around and started to run straight past the shelter. Blaster still aimed behind her, Rea made sure to look over her shoulder and continue firing. But with every one of the things she managed to drop, there seemed to still be more coming for her...and fast. She could make out leathery looking skin hidden under some kind of armour now.

Realizing just how fast they were gaining on her, Rea decided to stop distracting herself by firing behind her and just run as fast as she could. She had to lose these damned things! They sure as hell weren’t Vong, either! Vong were larger, bigger, and would have killed her by now. Of course, the second that thought came to mind, Rea heard a loud growl behind her.

Instinctively, she looked over her shoulder and it was just in time to see a reptilian creature that looked a bit like a smaller, somewhat stockier Trandoshan holding a small dagger dive right at her. The creature landed on her back, driving her face first into the ground. A sharp, dizzying pain shot through one of her lekku as claws dug into the sensitive appendage. Panicked suddenly, Rea rolled to her side in an attempt to throw the creature off of her before it drove that knife right into her back.

Amazing, it worked and the thing was flung to the side. Rea immediately kicked at it, causing a satisfying cry of pain from the creature as her boot connected with its lower abdomen. Then, as she frantically got back to her feet, knowing that there were more than just this one creature after her, Rea fired a pair of shots right at point blank range into it.

But she didn’t run again, for some reason. Instead, Rea spun around to see another of the reptilian creatures charging at her, odd-shaped knife at the ready. Just before she fired a blaster bolt into its skull, she noticed something else odd about them. Their reptilian skulls each had two large, protruding dome-like things towards the back that looked more like rock than anything natural. They weren’t even the right colour when compared with the grey-brown flesh. But there wasn’t time to think about it, as she’d already pulled the trigger and the shot had easily connected with the creature’s face, sending it down to the ground with a smoking black scorch mark on its skull.

Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, she turned to her left, blaster at the ready again. But when the next of the reptilian creatures pounced at her through the grass, it was actually intelligent enough to anticipate her attack. When she fired, it was already bounding to its side, then using powerful legs to pounce at her. Rea ducked and rolled away, coming up to her feet again just as the thing started to come at her again.

And then Rea felt a sharp pain across her back. She stumbled forward and cried out, slamming right into the reptilian in front of her. It seemed just as surprised by this as Rea was, which was likely why she didn’t fall into the blade it was holding. When Rea landed on top of the creature, she reacted by driving her knee hard into its stomach then rolling away to see her second attacker.

The problem with that was that her back came into contact with the ground, getting another jolt of pain to run through her body. But adrenaline was pumping now, and the other reptilian, the one that had snuck up behind her, was about to pounce and drive its blade right into her. Rea’s leg came up and she caught the creature in its chest. For a short moment, she just held it above her, scrambling to aim her blaster and just shoot it. But then she saw the creature about to slice her ankle.

Before the blade could connect, however, Rea kicked the creature back. It fell back and hit the ground on its back, leaving Rea a moment’s breath. Or at least, it would have given her a moment to breath if there wasn’t another right next to her still. The other reptilian was holding its dagger in a reverse grip and, rather than getting up off the ground, simply swinging it down to drive into her face. Rea rolled away again, ignoring the pain in her back and firing a volley of blaster bolts into the thing the second her blaster was out from under her again.

An angry snarl escaped from the last of the creatures that had gotten back to its feet and was coming back to pounce at her again. Rea doubted the same strategy would work, despite the fact that these things didn’t seem to be terribly intelligent. Beside, it was easier to just fill it will blaster bolts before it reached her.

When the sound of her blaster firing disappeared and the last of them hit the ground, all the was left around her was the smell of ozone. Slowly, Rea sat up. She couldn’t help a groan at the pain in her back. The cut hadn’t gone deep enough to paralyze her, at least. But she needed to get that patched up quickly so she’d didn’t bleed to death...

She could hear voices again. Quickly getting her bearings, Rea realized the sounds were coming from the direction of the shelter, which she currently couldn’t see through the thick grass. Dammit all, this day wouldn’t ever end!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 566: Suspicion*

Horus was only slightly smaller than Loki. It was mainly due to the fact that he was rarely involved in the transport of anyone at all beyond his constant companion and pilot, Varis. Beyond the cockpit, there was a single quarters for Varis, a small mess area that doubled as a living quarters, and a cargo hold that wasn’t much bigger than Varis’ quarters. Everything else was left to internal organs and other vital systems, sealed off and safely protected.

Varis had provided some simple foods for Tobias and Master Ral as they sat at the small table in the mess. Of course, the food wasn’t the most wonderful tasting stuff, but it was better than starving. And it wasn’t rations, either. Just stored meats and vegetables that weren’t so much cooked as re-heated. The upside, though, was that they were all from Alraxia, and Tobias felt like he was back at home. Well, sort of. Home wasn’t so cramped.

Sitting across from Tobias was Master Ral, eating the food without commenting on it at all. Besides, Tobias was the one currently being interrogated, “I’m not sure what happened. I just...kind of...well, I don’t know. I reached out with the Force and kept reaching until I found something familiar.”

The Jedi Master nodded, accepting this without showing any question at all. Varis, though, glanced between the two of them before settling his gaze on Tobias, “That is all you did?”

Tobias’ face twisted into confusion as he turned to look at the other Alraxian. It was surprisingly easy to see a look of concern in Varis’ eyes, though the rest of his angular face showed none of it. Even the Force was calm around him. Very slowly, Tobias nodded and said quietly, “Um...yes.”

“Is something wrong?” Master Ral was able to somehow detect the same that Tobias did just by the tone of voice. Or maybe he sensed something. It sure as hell couldn’t have been from his eyes, as Master Ral was currently given a clear view of the back of Varis’ head.

Sitting back again and glancing to the Omwati at his other side, Varis said simply, “I was nearly three sectors away from here. The only reason I was able to arrive so quickly was due to a well-charter hyperspace route that led here.”

While Tobias was suddenly left with his mouth open, realizing what had just been said, Master Ral was not so openly surprised. His eyes shifted to his apprentice for a moment before looking back to Varis, “Where, exactly, were you?”

Then something odd happened.

The Knight did not immediately respond. Instead, he turned to Tobias. [Years ago, your father asked some of the Knights to assist him with his research into the ancient Jedi. I was searching for a planet mentioned in the archives that is on no charts but is mentioned several times in the records of the temples on Alraxia.]

The shock from before had suddenly faded at the serious tone that Tobias was presented with. As usual, he wasn’t actually asked a question. Rather, a situation was put before him, with a short background that would give just enough understanding, and then Tobias was stared at. He was expected to respond. But, like many similar situations he found himself in, this was something new. Tobias had known about Jyren’s interest in the Jedi Temples on Alraxia, but had no idea that there were actual Knights helping him. Knights actually going out into the rest of the galaxy following up leads to track down..something. Or nothing, maybe. That was another thing Tobias didn’t really understand. But that didn’t matter.

[You can trust him.] Tobias hoped he answered the right question.

With that, Varis gave the slightest of nods before turning back to Master Ral, “Horus and I were in orbit around Ossus.”

Though not unnerved by the silence that had been presented to him when Varis spoke with Tobias through the Network, Master Ral react to that. His eyes widened a moment and the Force around him nearly flared up with surprise. Both were quickly pushed away, though the Jedi Master’s voice retained his surprise at this new information, “Ossus is more than three sectors from Yavin. The fact that Tobias could find you so many lightyears away is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. In fact, that is something that I need to know to continue training this young man. Why, then, would you not tell me this immediately?”

This time, Varis bowed his head in a motion of apology, “You must forgive the deception. From what little I have seen, you are the perfect teacher for Tobias. His father would have been very proud of that. I would never do anything to hinder his training, but there are precautions I must take to protect myself and my people.”

Tobias couldn’t help but find himself slightly worried by the look that Master Ral turned his direction. But the Jedi Master continued to speak to the Knight, despite his attention on Tobias, “Forgive my suspicion, but you are doing nothing to alleviate it. You are part of a species of shapeshifters I have known nothing of before I met my apprentice. I know very well that you are very protective of your identities, and I have found no information at all with regard to where your people even come from. In fact, it seems to me that hiding that is of the upmost importance to your people. Now, I owe my life and the life of my apprentice to another of this mysterious species, but it comes with something else to arouse concern,” now, the blue-skinned Omwati turned to face Varis again, “Ossus is a dead world. It has been that way for thousands of years. There is nothing there but ruins and pain. I have seen it myself. In fact, the only people I have ever known that even know of that planet are other Jedi. And even then, they are Jedi that have spent a great deal of time learning about history. So do you understand why all of this information together would concern me?”

“While you do not understand why anyone else would have interest in that world, you connect pieces of information together and fear another invasion,” it was shocking how plainly Varis said that. But a moment later, he shook his head, “Our people value our secrecy because it is our only defense. If we were planning to act against your Republic, you and I would not be having this conversation and you would not be training the son of the Empress.”

It didn’t seem like Master Ral to have such an extreme concern, nor did it fit what Tobias knew for the Jedi Master to be so suspicious. But, taking a moment to think about it, it was hard to blame him. Tobias had said some things, yes, but he just naturally remained silent on as much as possible. It had just been ingrained in him to not talk about Alraxia while he was in the larger part of the galaxy.

But it seemed that Master Ral had returned to his normal self. His face was as calm as his voice, which returned to that sing-song-like quality that didn’t really mesh with how somber he always sounded, “I understand the desire for isolation. My own people still rarely leave Omwat for fear of how we will be treated. No, I do not believe your people wish any harm on the rest of the galaxy. In fact, I have only seen evidence to the contrary. I am still concerned, however, as to why you would be at Ossus.”

Again, Varis did not miss a beat and responded immediately, as if speaking to a superior officer, “There is a planet that should be near Ossus that has disappeared from every chart I have seen. This planet has been mentioned in several archives that were of importance to Tobias’ father. Horus and I were attempting to find this lost planet. Our interest in that world is nothing more than the desire for information.”

“You still hold back and keep the planet’s name to yourself,” a smile actually formed on Master Ral’s face, though, and he raised a hand to silence any response to that, “I do not wish it to appear I am not grateful for your assistance. You have said enough, and I thank you for it...but after all that we have been through, I believe it is time for some well-earned rest.”

“Of course,” Varis stood up to lead the way to the single quarters that was actually his, though he wasn’t about to sleep. Besides, he was more comfortable in the cockpit. As the other two stood up with him, both finally beginning to allow themselves to feel just how exhausted they were, Varis added with a glance to Tobias, “Despite what you may think, your father would be very proud of you. I am certain that he always wanted to see you follow this path and be a Jedi, even if he would never say it. You wear that weapon well.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 567: One Word*

Marix stared down at the Yuuzhan Vong calling himself Qroal, her mind trying to process far too much at once. Caution kept a good two meters between where she stood and where he still sat against the wall, having not made any attempt to even get to his feet. That concerned her, as it was unlike anything she’d seen from the Vong before, but it was impossible to miss the fact that both of his hands were in her view the entire time. It was as if he was trying to prove to her that he was not a threat. But that caused Marix’s senses to be on even higher alert...just in case.

While this need to be alert too up most of her attention, what was left did its best to quickly catch herself up with how the situation was changing. This Vong was different, there was no doubt about that. So how, exactly, was that? He spoke to her, for one. That was initially the most important of the differences, along with the fact that Qroal had gone to at least some length to bridge an understanding, linguistically, between them. Which meant he wanted to talk. Not fight. Or at least talk until he could fight, which was much more likely to Marix.

But then her eyes looked him over with much more care than before. Instead of seeing just another Yuuzhan Vong, Marix really looked at him. Even though Qroal was sitting, she could tell he wasn’t as tall as most of the Vong she’d encountered. He also didn’t look to be as strongly built, though he still looked to be able to put up a fight. The lack of armour he wore was something Marix attributed to his previous captivity, and so disregarded that. But that did mean he was in clothes that looked almost like rags that showed much of his almost-grey skin, which said something else. There were tattoos and scars on him like with every other Vong she had seen, but not as many. In fact, even the scars weren’t as disfiguring. His face only had one, horizontally across his brow that was linked by an odd, pointed tattoo on the left side of his face before thin, black hair covered the rest of Qroal’s skull. Overall, he looked remarkably...average. Not average Vong, from what Marix knew, but just average. Nothing special, nothing amazing, just a person.

That was almost as worrying to Marix as the fact that he’d made no move to kill her.

At a loss for how to proceed, her natural proclivity to simply be direct took over, “Is there are a particular reason you haven’t tried to kill me yet?”

The scar over Qroal’s eyes formed an odd v-shape as his eyes narrowed slightly. Marix couldn’t figure out if he was looking closely, thinking, or about to pounce. But when he replied, the Vong’s voice displayed no malice at all, though it might have been due to the thing in her ear, “Is there a reason you have not killed me?”

He had a very good point. Why hadn’t she...wait! Wait wait wait. What had he just said? It was almost as if he had expectations of her, which didn’t make sense at all.

Marix’s eyes narrowed and scanned him for any kind of tensing of the muscles that might indicate he was preparing for something. But she saw no change at all beyond that scar on his head. Nonetheless, she readied continue to keep her distance and adopted a stance that showed she was very ready for anything, “Why would I kill you?”

The Vong inclined his head slightly, a move that almost made Marix pounce at him claws first, “Why would you not? What am I but dead weight that you must worry about stabbing you in the back every moment I still live?”

“You...” a thought started, but Marix’s mind didn’t finish it. She had to pause a moment and really consider that question. Why was he still alive? What use was he? An answer, thankfully, quickly came to mind. The reason she’d dragged him out of that cell in the first place, “You are the first chance I’ve had at information about your people. If I kill you, I leave myself in the dark. But I leave you alive, and I learn everything I need to know about how to protect my people from yours.”

Qroal actually laughed at that, though it almost sounded more like some dying creature coughing than a laugh. But then again, what response had Marix expected to that? The response she’d expected actually came after he finished laughing, “And why do you think I’d tell you anything?”

Why did she think he’d tell him anything?

Another good question. Again, she took time to quickly run through that. Marix was not one to second guess herself, but it had been such a snap decision to take this Vong with her that there hadn’t really been time to go over all of it. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Marix had worked it out. Now she was finally bringing those to the forefront, “You are the only Vong I have seen captured. I may not know much about your people just yet, but you’re small and the only time you tried to fight was a weak attempt at escape when I dragged you out of that cell you were in. The fact that you aren’t dead right now means that, for whatever reason, you won’t take your own life. So perhaps you want to live. You obviously don’t want that known, but it is not hard to see that you value your life more than any Vong I have ever seen.”

An angry sneer crossed Qroal’s face, proof that Marix was reading the situation correctly. When he did not respond beyond that, she added, “And that right there is proof to me that you are no warrior. You just sit and scowl at me because I’ve figured out more than you think I should be able to. But I’m not stupid. I may not know much about your people, but I do know that I’ve never seen one willing to talk. You won’t even threaten me! Are you actually afraid of me, Vong? Cowering against a wall on the other side of the room, pressed against it like an animal, and you barely manage a growl back at me.”

“We are more than just brutish warriors!” Qroal finally did manage to growl back, though it was weak. Tobias sounded angrier when he was younger and was told ‘no’. But Qroal was damn well trying, that much was obvious on his face, “The only reason you get nothing out of them is they are insane! They would tread into death when it is not even necessary! But I can endure torture as much as any of those fools! If you think I would tell you any more than I told that slug, you are as stupid as the warriors!”

In her head, Marix smiled. He’d just told her information without meaning to. This was going to be too easy. Of course, she kept the smile off of her face. Marix was not about to show a single hint of emotion to this Vong, lest he find a way to turn it against her as she was doing to him. What she did do, however, was relax her tensed muscles. It was time to show Qroal that her words were not just words. She wasn’t even worried anymore.

Just in case, though, she decided to make an important point understood to him, “Your warriors might be mindless brutes, but not among my people. If you think you can talk your way into an escape, go right ahead and waste your time. If you want to get on those feet of your and try to fight your way out, again, you may waste your time. Either way, you will fail and still be right here. You don’t fear pain? Somehow I don’t believe that. I think you want me to believe you’re as strong as your warriors, but your actions speak differently. So, Qroal, how about you stop playing these games and trying to be something you’re obviously not, and start answering some very important questions.”

Just as she finished speaking, Marix got a surprise. In a surprisingly swift motion, Qroal was suddenly on his feet and charging right at her. Something was in his right hand, but the movement was too fast and she couldn’t see what. Not that it mattered. Though Marix had relaxed, it was not hard for her to take one step to her right, grab Qroal’s wrist in both her hands, and then break the bone with a strong pull in just the right way. The snap was drowned out by the Vong’s cry of pain, which reminded Marix of the roar of a small dragon back on Alraxia.

Her eyes saw a small object drop to the floor. Seeing that, Marix threw Qroal back to the wall he’d charged off of. The Vong stumbled back clutching his injured hand, hit the wall, and then finally slid back down to where he’d been before. Marix then noted an interesting trail of black blood that followed the exact path that Qroal had taken to and then away from her. Still standing there, her eyes darted down to the object on the floor. It was long, slender, and covered in the same black blood.

A weapon hidden beneath the skin.

“Thank you for proving my point,” Marix spoke calmly as if nothing had happened, her eyes finally turning back to the Vong who was not acting like any Vong she’d ever seen, “Now that we are past that...are you ready to answer my questions?”

“That Hutt locked me away because I killed seven of his men that tried to interrogate me,” Qroal’s voice sounded pained, but at least he seemed to be trying to hold that back, “Do not think I will not kill you, too, Alraxian.”

One word had a way of changing everything.

This Vong might not have been a warrior, but he damn well wasn’t an interrogator, either. He talked too much and gave into his emotion too easily. Not that Marix was complaining, though that single word completely changed what she wanted to know from Qroal. It was suddenly very obvious he knew important things...or at least, things that were of the upmost importance to her.

For the first time struggling to keep her voice level and the emotion off of her face, Marix spoke very slowly, “How do you know what I am?”

Qroal just sneered at her.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 568: No One Stays Dead*

Rea approached the shelter where she had left her three injured squad mates as quietly as she could manage. The cut across her back still ached, but for the moment she ignored it. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but worry about the wound getting infected, though. There was, however, a much more pressing concern beyond her bruises and small injuries that she’d received at the hands of a few reptilian creatures.

Barely a minute after she had started to catch her breath after the fight, Rea had heard sounds back towards the very place she was trying to lead the enemy away from. It had been voices, she was sure of it. Now, however, she heard nothing at all.

Staying low beneath the meter-high red grass, the Twi’lek’s eyes very carefully looked ahead, trying to find any source of movement. She was down on her haunches, blaster pistol in hand and at the ready, and very cautious about moving any closer. Looking up, she could see the tops of the stones that formed the shelter where the Commodore and two other unconscious members of Zephyr Squadron had been left. If she stepped any closer, the grass would grow shorter and thinner, and she could be spotted.

But she didn’t hear anything anymore...and certainly didn’t...

Wait.

There.

As slowly as she could, so that her lekku didn’t make too much noise brushing against the tall blades of grass around her, Rea turned her head slightly to her left to the flash of colour she’d seen. Rea couldn’t determine how far away it was, but she could distinctly see a tint of brown within the red. And it was moving...slowly, but definitely moving towards the shelter. And there, near it...black. And then grey. Wait...another...not right with the others and actually very close to her. It wasn’t moving, and looked to be black with reddish...it was figure. Humanoid, but that was all Rea could tell.

Well, that and they were all starting to move towards the shelter.

Knowing she couldn’t just sit there while more of those creatures, or worse, actual Yuuzhan Vong, Rea decided to act while she had the element of surprise. As silently as she could, Rea took in a long, deep breath and then let it out. She was ready for this. Sure, she was pilot, but she could do this...

In one quick movement, Rea was on her feet, pushing herself up to a standing position and raising her blaster at the same time. It only took two small steps before she planted her feet and aimed the weapon right at the head of the first of the enemies, which ended up being just a half meter away from the end of her weapon’s barrel and...

“L...Loro...?” Rea had nearly squeeze the trigger and fired a shot off by the time her eyes relayed the information of what they were seeing to her brain.

Standing there, pointing a blaster rifle at her torso, was a Mon Calamari that she had no trouble identifying at all. Some would say that, beyond skin colour, all Mon Calamari looked alike. But Rea knew Obrack Loro, though she couldn’t say exactly how. She just knew that despite what she had previously thought, the two large, circular eyes looking right back at her were those of her friend she’d thought dead.

When he lowered his blaster rifle and then spoke, it only confirmed that, “Its good to see you, too.”

Rea was too busy staring in shock to notice Adria and two other humans step in from the grass. She just stood there, finger still on the blaster’s trigger for some reason, her hands shaking very slightly as her mind tried to grasp the reality it was being presented with. A reality that shouldn’t have been possible. Opening her mouth, Rea attempted to reconcile this problem, “But you...I thought you were dead.”

Loro’s eyes turned down slightly to look at the blaster still being aimed at his head, “I managed to eject. The Vong picked me up and then I wound up here. I can give you the detailed version later, but we probably shouldn’t stay here for much longer.”

“Its really him, Rea,” Adria spoke slowly and carefully. She then decided to add an important request, “Come on, put the blaster down.”

Hearing that seemed to trigger a realization in Rea’s mind. She jumped very slightly then looked at the blaster in her hands as if she hadn’t noticed it. Suddenly understanding, she lowered the weapon and let out a loud, sigh of relief before saying quietly, “I’m sorry for that. Just...some things got the jump on me and I thought you were more of them. Or worse.”

“That is why we are here,” Loro nodded his head and finally put on a smile, which was always an interesting sight on a Mon Calamari, but comforting nonetheless, “We have an actual house not far from here that’s much safer than this ancient rock formation.”

That was good news, for once. After a casual glance to the two humans that she didn’t recognize, Rea moved to the shelter and began to figure out how to move the three pilots. Over her shoulder, she said, “The Commodore’s unconscious again. Haven’t heard a word out of the others since you left, Adria. We really need an actual medic for them.”

“You need one, too,” Adria’s voice was close, and after she spoke the human woman was next to Rea, helping her move the stretchers out to the others. It seemed that the less questions were asked about who people were, the sooner they could get to an apparent safety. Rea wasn’t one to complain.

In that same vein of thought, as she activated the repulsors on the Commodore’s stretcher to move him out, Rea said simply, “I’ll be fine. Its not deep.”

“But its bleeding still,” the red-haired human countered easily as she helped to move the stretcher out to the others, who were both helping them move the stretchers and, from the looks of it, watching the perimeter. But Adria didn’t really pay that much attention, “At least let me get you a bandage.”

But Rea shook her head, “I doubt we have the time to waste. With one group of creatures finding this place, I’d be willing to be there are more nearby.”

“There are more,” that was not a voice Rea recognized. She had to look up to see that it was the older of the other two humans that had spoken. He was facing the other direction, though, and so she couldn’t get a read on his face at all, just the back of his head. But before she could tense up and ready for another attack, he quickly added, “A Vong ship just took off about a half click south of us. Looks like a transport type, too. We should have friends coming soon.”

“Big friends?” Loro’s cryptic statement didn’t make any sense to Rea, though she could detect worry in his gravely voice.

The older human looked over his shoulder to the rest of them, a weary look on his aged features, “At least one knowing our luck. But probably a handful of Chazrach along with them. We need to get moving.”

In a matter of moments, Rea, the older human who’s name she still didn’t bother asking, and Adria were all holding onto a separate stretcher. The younger human, who had remained silent but continued to give Rea sideways looks that were unnerving her, followed behind them, with Loro taking the front and leading the way.

As they began to move at a brisk pace, Rea decided to ask an important question, “Chazrach?”

Though she’d been looked at the older human next to her, it was Loro who spoke back at her, “Like small Trandoshan. Not much for fighting but the Vong like to just throw them at us every so often. Some kind of slave race.”

Ah. So that’s what they were called. Now, at least, Rea knew what those things were that had attacked her. Well, truthfully, she knew before. They were small, badly trained, reptilian, things. Now she could just think ‘Chazrach’ instead, which definitely made things a bit simpler.

That was the moment an alien sounding roar reached them. All of them stopped a moment to look behind. Thankfully, they saw nothing. Or maybe that made it worse.

Putting two and two together, Rea broke the terrifying silence that resulted in the aftermath of the sound by saying, “I believe that would be the big friend you mentioned?”

“It would,” the older man nodded, “And it sounds close.”

How he could tell, Rea had no idea. But Loro cut in before she could ask, “Can you three run with those stretchers safely?”

That was dangerous. There was the obvious problem of possibly dropping the person on the stretcher. The repulsors that held up the stretchers were not, by any means, strong. They basically just held the thing up at a comfortable level for most humanoids to push. Beyond that, however, it was rather easy to tip them over with too much weight on one end. If they were running too fast and not paying attention, it would be easy to tip the thing one way or another. And then there was the problem of not knowing the exact details of many of the injuries the three pilots had sustained. They had definitely all taken some internal damage, but how much and where was up for grabs. And that meant that there was a danger of bumping them around too much and ending up causing more damage.

A second, slightly deeper roar echoed to them.

All five of them looked between one another. It was Adria that spoke a very true statement in her matter-of-fact way, “I don’t believe those things are going to give us much of a choice.”

A part of Rea wanted to add some sarcastic remark to that, if only to lighten the mood. But there were times for that, and this definitely did not feel like one of them. In fact, it seemed that no one felt anything else needed to be said. Almost as one, they started to move again, the previous brisk pace immediately becoming as fast of a run as they could manage without dropping the three injured pilots.

Though Rea had no idea what the so-called ‘big friends’ were, she did learn one thing from the faces around her not long after they settled into a fast run. It was written on the older man’s sullen features, the way Loro constantly was looking over his shoulder every few seconds, and that same actions from Adria.

They weren’t fast enough.


----------



## Krafus

Hello, AMG, just wanted to let you know I'm still reading and still enjoying your story  (and I really don't understand why you get so few such messages). Of the ongoing storylines, my favourite is Tobias's. Oh, and I hope Loki will pull through. He's one of the oldest characters in the story, it would be sad to permanently lose him.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Krafus said:
			
		

> Hello, AMG, just wanted to let you know I'm still reading and still enjoying your story  (and I really don't understand why you get so few such messages). Of the ongoing storylines, my favourite is Tobias's. Oh, and I hope Loki will pull through. He's one of the oldest characters in the story, it would be sad to permanently lose him.



 Always nice to hear people are still enjoying this. 

As for other comments, as I've said before, methinks it has to do with Star Wars not being this board's primary interest. I seem to attract the silent types, which is fine by me. I know people are reading, because every update gets at least 30 views. Though my erratic updating of late probably doesn't help...so hard to settle into a schedule right now, as I'm just swamped with other work. In my last year or so of an art degree and man are they working me.

And, to address another point, Toby's fun will only grow. There's a LOT of war left. Timeline wise, this is still within the first year of the Yuuzhan Vong war, though towards the end. To put things in perspective, the battle at the Alraxian Gateway where Jyren died occurred 10 months after the start of the war in 25 ABY, right around the time of the NJO book, Balance Point. The attack on Yavin IV, where we are now, is around 13 months after the start of the war in 26 ABY, and the actual details of that are in Edge of Victory I: Conquest. The actual end of the Yuuzhan Vong War doesn't come until 29 ABY, five-ish years after it started. We're still veeeeery early into the war, and as it goes on the Jedi get more and more involved...so Toby gets some interesting times coming his way.

Any holy crap I just wrote a lot more than I'd thought. Could have gone into more detail timeline wise, but figure I'd just hit the major events we've seen and not spoil other events...even if you can read about them in the novels. Who knows what Toby will get stuck in the middle of?


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## Prometheius

Too bad they don't list how many people are subscribed to the stories (such as myself).

I guess I will start visiting the story when there is an update.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 569: The Center of the Galaxy*

Technically, Tobias had been to Coruscant before. The problem with that was it had been many, many years ago and he had likely been an infant at the time. Most of his early memories were blocked away for his own sanity’s sake, and so if he had been to the planet, definitely, then the circumstances were not apparent to him. That was probably a good thing, considering what he’d been though as a child before Jyren and Marix had found him. And since then, despite all their adventures across the galaxy, he’d never been to the galactic capital with them.

From orbit, it almost looked as if the planet was on fire. Horus had entered the system on the night side of the planet, weaving through a countless amount of ships and various orbital stations.  The planet beneath all of the space traffic and general orbital clutter was a dark circle lined by whites, oranges, and reds. There were circles, huge lines going vertically and horizontally across the entire surface, and then other, small shapes created throughout. When Tobias asked about that, Master Ral had said that they were lights, both from heavy airspeeder traffic and the huge amount of buildings that covered every single inch of the planet’s surface.

The flight in was just as fascinating as the view. Amongst so many different kinds of ships of so many sizes, Horus didn’t actually seem that out of place. In fact, a few of cargo freighters they passed looked more alien than anything Tobias had seen, except for maybe Yuuzhan Vong ships. The huge, orbital defense platforms were unlike anything he’d ever thought of. Massive, rectangular spires in the sky, surrounded by Mon Calamari star cruisers and Star Destroyers, they dominated Coruscant’s orbit. 

It was as they entered the atmosphere of the planet in an approach to the Jedi Headquarters that Tobias began to truly grasp how unique Coruscant was. Humans always called the things of non-humans ‘alien’, despite the fact that, at the same time, most of them touted a galactic culture. Tobias had just always seen things as ‘different’, with the word ‘alien’ just bringing up xenophobic ideas. Maybe that just came with the ability to be other species, but now Tobias found himself seeing something that, for the first time in his life, truly felt alien to him.

In all directions around Horus, Tobias could see nothing but buildings. Some of them towered into the lower atmosphere, and even the ones that were down at lower altitudes were divided by literal canyons of speeder lanes. If there was an actual ground level to the world, Tobias sure as hell couldn’t find it, and he was looking hard. The buildings just seemed to go down and down and down and. Compared to that canyons Tobias was used to seeing, compared to everything Tobias was used to seeing, Coruscant and its features were like like a droid version of a planet. Where Tobias was looking for grasslands, forests, deserts, oceans, anything that was actually natural, he was simply presented with lifeless facsimiles of all of them. It was...somehow terrifying and awe inspiring at the same time. down. That didn’t even change as their altitude dropped to bring them to the dome-shaped Jedi Headquarters. 

According to Master Ral, the building was nothing at all like the Jedi Temple of the Old Republic. To Tobias’ surprise, Varis nodded and added his agreement, mentioning something about the Temples on Alraxia having  information on the ancient Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Of course, Varis’ information would have been thousands of years older than Master Ral’s, but that seemed only to improve their mutual point on the magnificence of the ancient building that had been destroyed and lost decades earlier. However, the dome of the Jedi Headquarters was in no way mundane. It was a beautiful building, with a pristine white roof and dotted with circular landing pads that actually looked more like oddly-shaped arms all around it. Most of them were actually empty, however, which seemed odd to Tobias until it was pointed out to him that there was an internal hangar and that the platforms were mostly for temporary use.

That remained true as Master Ral and Tobias disembarked. Varis had not even left the cockpit, simply saying a goodbye to the two of them before they left. There was no need to mention the fact that, if Tobias needed, Varis would be somewhere nearby, in galactic terms, if he was needed again. However, just as they exited into the odd-tasting Coruscant air, Horus had cut in and said that exact thing, obviously feeling it did, in fact, need to be mentioned. The ship then added something about Varis being boring and wanting more excitement before they left, and that brought a smile to Tobias’ face. Not all Kanyaks were arrogant, excitement-craving, speed-loving lunatics, but the most fun of them definitely seemed to be.

It had taken only a few more minutes of navigating the stark-white corridors of the building to arrive at their destination. The room was, apparently, a library of sorts, but Tobias saw no books nor any evidence of books. Sure, a table at the center of the room seemed to be scattered with various pieces of flimsi, but that didn’t count. There were a couple of holoimages on the wall that looked to depict some great landscapes on one wall, while the others were covered in shelves that held datapads. Or at least. Something like that. 

Master Ral did not seem to concern himself with any of that, instead moving straight to the table and activating the holoprojector in the center. The image shifted from the crest of the Jedi Order to a mix of images as Master Ral looked for something specific. They had been relatively silent the entire time in the building, and so Tobias wasn’t really sure what his Master was looking for. Considering their current surroundings, he expected it might actually have something to do with Tobias’ almost impossible reach with his Force senses. He was, however, surprised to see the image finally settle on the face of a man.

Though Tobias had only met Luke Skywalker once, he recognized the face immediately. It was his calm voice that didn’t seem to match the visage of the man, which was a bit lined with age but somehow managed to convey his humble origins. The voice was filled with exactly the kind of wisdom that Tobias expected of the man who had brought the Jedi back into the galaxy. In fact, Tobias found himself so lost in admiring this man that he had to catch up on what was actually being said.

When he returned to the moment, Tobias found that this was not a personal message to Master Ral, but a report on the state of the galaxy. It was meant for all of the Jedi Order, though with the state of the Holonet thanks to the war, was having trouble makings its way around. The details of the war were mostly glossed over, however, as Master Skywalker focused on the Jedi problems. Specifically, the split in the order that was growing more and more as a Jedi named Kyp Durron was leading his own faction to direct action in the war, where the rest of the order was still wrestling with just how involved they should all be without becoming a tool of the government. It was a complex situation that Tobias truly didn’t understand every facet of, mainly due to the fact that he was fairly disconnected to the order as whole. Because of this, it was when Master Skywalker’s report shifted directions that Tobias found himself much more interested.

Not only was the Jedi Order having its own internal troubles, but the situation with the New Republic was growing more and more tense. There was, apparently, a lack of trust from the New Republic towards the Jedi, and as the Yuuzhan Vong made it more and more clear that they saw the Jedi as a separate entity, the thought of simply stringing up the Jedi for the Vong was becoming more pervasive. Perhaps that was why the Jedi Headquarters was so empty...

When the report finally finished, Master Ral shut down the holoprojector and did something that surprised his apprentice. The Omwati Jedi Master let out a sigh, at the same time showing his tiredness and sadness through the Force. This faded a few moments later and Master Ral finally said, “What do you think of this, Tobias?”

Though he had half-expected that kind of question to be asked, it didn’t change the fact that Tobias really wasn’t sure what to say. He thought about it for a few minutes, having finally started to understand what it meant to think before acting or speaking, but found himself coming to the same conclusion. His ears flattened against his head in annoyance at himself and Tobias just shook his head, “Its just a mess. I barely understand politics back home but here...I just don’t know. Seems to me like nothing is really going right at all.”

“Do you agree with Master Durron?”

There was so much more in that question than were obvious at first glance. But while Tobias did make sure to truly think about that question, it didn’t take long at all, “What he’s advocating for the Jedi seems to be exactly the kind of thing you’ve been teaching me not to do.”

And then, as he always did, Master Ral shook up Tobias’ answer by asking, “Are you sure? Master Durron is trying to protect the lives of innocent people. Is it wrong to do that? Are you telling me that you believe we should sit on the sidelines and watch the Yuuzhan Vong kill billions of people?”

“No!” Tobias gave up thinking and finally devolved back into just reacting, “No, its...just...its...one of the first things you taught me, something I’ve only started to understand since I confronted that vision of my real father, was that a Jedi does not use the Force for attack. We aren’t aggressive. We are protectors and defenders. Taking the fight to the Vong is defending people, yes but...its twisting that idea. Its treading a line close to vengeance, but more like vengeance for lives not yet taken. And...and if you start fighting with your head lost in the future possibilities, you’ll start killing people based on what they might one day do, even if they never do.”

A rare smile formed on Master Ral’s long features, “And to think, sometimes I believe you’re too busy lost in your own thoughts to listen to a word I say...let alone actually understand them.”

Between seeing that and feeling the approval in the Force, Tobias couldn’t help a smile of his own. But that was wiped away a moment later when he started to think again, “What are we going to do, Master? There’s barely anyone here. I think I saw three other people in this entire building and I can’t sense many more beyond that.”

“You’ve known how dangerous our situation has been since you became my apprentice,” the Jedi Master walked around the table to rest a hand on Tobias’ shoulder, “It seems that events are growing worse much more rapidly since the attack on the Academy. I had hoped that we could take time to rest here in the safety of Coruscant for some time but...but it seems that we may not be safe here for very long. I’m going to contact some of the other Masters and see what else I can learn before deciding on a course of action. Consider this a day off from your training. Get some more rest, relax, or explore the area. If you do the latter, don’t go far and be very careful. Keep your comlink open so I can contact you if something comes up.”

Then, with a simple nod of his head, Master Ral left Tobias in that room on his own. A day off. 

A day off on Coruscant, the planet that he’d been told so many stories about. He’d dreamed of coming to this world and having his own adventures there, but now that Tobias found himself on the planet at the center of the galaxy, literally and metaphorically, he couldn’t help but wish he was anywhere else. It just didn’t feel safe. He wondered if anything would, after Yavin.

...not that it was going to stop Tobias from exploring, of course.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 570: Crazy*

“So that’s that, then. I’ve finally gone off the deep end...” Marix shook her head and closer her eyes to stop herself from seeing what was in front of her. Or at least, what her ‘eyes’ were saying was in front of her. It wasn’t in front of her, and those weren’t eyes telling her that. She was asleep. She’d fallen asleep about an hour previous after finally getting fed up with getting no where in interrogating Qroal. That meant that everything currently being presented to her was a dream.

Dreams were rare for Marix, as she normally had a firm grip on nearly every aspect of her mind. That was why she could tell it was a dream. Such a rare occurrence meant it was easily identified. Well, there was that, and then...

“I believe I was the first crazy one in this family, thank you.”

After an annoyed sigh, Marix gave in and opened her eyes again. Her so-called eyes told her that she was in a small room, not much larger than her quarters on Loki. There was, however, no furniture or even a door. In fact, the only other thing in the room with her was the source of that every familiar voice.

Jyren sat against the wall across from her, arms folded on top of his knees as he casually peered over them at her. Though what he’d just said was one of those sarcastic comments he seemed to love spouting at every inappropriate moment, the words were stated in a matter-of-fact kind of way that almost made him seemed bored.

“You do not have the monopoly on psychoses, Jyren,” Marix grumbled at him, not at all liking this kind of dream after the day she’d had. Series of days, really. In case her words weren’t enough, she folded her arms and narrowed her eyes, as if this was all the fault of some of this creation of her mind.

Jyren just shrugged slightly. The fact that he didn’t argue proved to her that even her mind couldn’t bend to the insanity that was necessary to create an accurate representation of Jyren. His eyes closed a moment later and he spoke up in that same bored voice, “So are you just going to stand there and glare at me or did you actually want to be helpful for once in your life?”

She should have felt insulted by that. In fact, the only reason she wasn’t was due to her rational mind telling her this wasn’t Jyren yelling at her, but more likely that part of her own mind that had been the link for so very long. It was practically him, anyway. Practically, however, wasn’t completely. She wasn’t about to start yelling at herself...not yet, at least.

Instead, Marix decided to keep her guarded approach and find a way to get herself to wake up and out of this self-created hell, “Is it too much to ask that I just get a few hours of quiet, restful sleep for once?”

“Apparently,” Jyren might have been nodding, but it really just looked like he tilted his head slightly. His eyes seemed to stare off into nothing for a moment before turning back up to look straight into hers. It was a sight she sorely missed, “Don’t blame me for you showing up here, though. I just live here.”

That was an odd statement. Well, at first. But then again, he did ‘live’ there. This part of Jyren would always be there, carefully buried away in her mind so that she didn’t get distracted like...like this. When Marix woke up, she was going to be back on a very badly injured, unconscious Kanyak with a Yuuzhan Vong locked two rooms away. And, if she slept long enough, finally at the Gateway and some semblance of sanity. Now she was going to have to deal with this, too. It seemed that this wouldn’t ever go away. Then again, she shouldn’t have been as surprised as she was. A link was a very powerful thing...quite literally, half of her was dead. Of course it wasn’t going to just be forgotten completely.

“Fine,” she said the word quietly to herself before walking over next to Jyren and having a seat against the wall at his side. Turning to give him a sideways glance, Marix decided to just give in to whatever this was supposed to be, “Obviously this is for a reason, so get to it. What am I supposed to get out of this?”

Jyren shifted then, letting his arms slide off of his knees to his side. Then, very inelegantly, he allowed himself to fall just enough so that his head dropped onto Marix’s shoulder. He took a couple of moments to find a comfortable spot there before saying softly, “Can’t you just be happy for once?”

For some reason, the idea to just ignore the insanity of her dream and be happy with it had yet to occur to Marix. It wasn’t a half bad idea, actually. Idly, Marix leaned to rest her head on his. It may have been a dream, but that was real enough for her. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing...maybe it wasn’t insanity. Maybe her mind was finding a way to defend against going crazy by presenting her with exactly what she needed, if only for a few hours while she slept.

“You know I’m going to have to wake up relatively soon...” eventually, Marix found herself saying that. There was a great deal of sadness in the way she said it, too. Of course, that wasn’t terrible surprising.

Jyren, as always, provided an obvious, but impractical, solution, “You could stay this time.”

That got a smile on Marix’s face. A real one. Maybe her mind really could create an accurate version of Jyren. Or, rather, perhaps there really was much more of him in her than she’d ever really understood. Either way, it didn’t matter too much, “If I stay, Loki’s not going to drop out of hyperspace and then I’m going to end up dead, too. That...and, well, you know the rest.”

Turning things around yet again, Jyren did something very much unlike him. He was silent and obviously thinking about how to respond to that. He didn’t just blurt out something stupid. Instead, he pulled himself up again and managed to look her in the eyes with a smile, even if it looked a bit forced, “Take care of yourself out there, Marix.”

The smile on her face didn’t fade. Marix nodded and rested her forehead against his, suddenly forgetting none of it was real, “I will...and I’ll make sure to tell the twins you love them, too.”

“Definitely getting soft on me,” finally, Jyren’s smile looked genuine, “Come back when you can.”

She didn’t tell him she would. It was technically talking to herself, so it wasn’t necessary. But even if it had been a real conversation between them, she wouldn’t have said it. While Jyren may have always found words to be so important, he did still understand that some things didn’t need to be said. Some things were just understood.

Maybe Marix was crazy.

Maybe she’d finally just snapped and that was it.

But that didn’t seem to matter anymore.

When Marix woke up not long after, there was an actual smile still on her face. Despite everything that was going wrong, despite the galaxy falling apart around her, Marix was smiling. It was, of course, taken into account quickly and disappeared as she made her way to the cockpit to bring Loki out of hyperspace and finally get him some real medical attention.

But, inside at least, she was still smiling.

Maybe crazy wasn’t so bad...


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## Cerulean_Wings

Hey, new reader here 

Ankh-Morpork Guard (yes, I did copy-paste, I admit it!), your story is very interesting and addicting, the characters realistic, and the sci-fi battles well described. I love it. I've only ready five chapters so far, but I can't wait to read the rest


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

As usual, when I miss a few days in a row I like to give a reason for it so you guys know I am, in fact, still alive and this isn't suddenly going to be abandoned.

Sadly, I found out Friday that a very good friend of mine took his own life. It hit me pretty hard, and I've spent a lot of the last couple of days letting other people know and things like that. I have one more thing I have to do on that tomorrow, but after that it should be back to life as normal. Hopefully updates will continue again starting either Monday night or Tuesday, depending on things.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 571: When I Grow Up...*

The Jedi Headquarters reminded Tobias of the Palace on Alraxia. It was big, white, and boring. Of course, the Palace could talk, but Tobias wasn’t really sure if that was a point for or against it. Despite the fact that the building was mostly devoid of Jedi, he’d done at least some exploring just to see what he could see. Mostly, it seemed that the building was filled with mostly-empty rooms of various shapes and sizes that probably served as meditation chambers. There were, of course, more ‘normal’ things such as a comm center, a large mess area, one full level that consisted entirely of living quarters, a hangar with only a few ships inside, and then a large atrium that eventually led out to the rest of the planet.

Before leaving the Headquarters, however, Tobias decided that it might not be the best of ideas to present himself as a Jedi to the rest of Coruscant. The general sentiment in the galaxy was not exactly positive towards Jedi, and the last thing he needed was to get into trouble with the very people he was supposed to be protecting. Though it was unlikely anything bad would really happen, Tobias wasn’t about to tempt fate. If there was one thing he’d learned in the past few months, it was to prepare for the worst, hope for something terrible, and then be glad when everything ended up just mildly annoying.

With that in mind, Tobias dug though his small pack of very few belongings for a change of clothes. Not that he ever dressed in the typical Jedi robes, or anything that would actually identify him as a Jedi. He did, however, wear clothes that, while loose fitting, did nothing to conceal the lightsaber at his belt. Tobias knew that he could just go without the lightsaber, but something about that didn’t feel right. Instead, he simply grabbed a jacket that was about a size too big and morphed human. With that done, and after adjusting his belt to slide the lightsaber clip farther to his right side, Tobias was glad to discover that it was impossible to see the weapon with a casual glance.

After a short glance in a mirror to make sure it was definitely hidden, Tobias smiled to himself and headed back to explore Coruscant, herself. Even though all he’d done was to put on a bigger jacket and morph human, he felt like he was actually in disguise. Of course, to the rest of the galaxy, he probably was. Most species couldn’t be other species. Tobias still didn’t really think about that as if it was something amazing.

So he left the Jedi Headquarters to the walkways of Coruscant, amazed that such an overpopulated, technologically insane planet actually had walkways between the buildings in addition to the countless number of skylanes where airspeeders flew past above, below, and next to. There were countless numbers of beings everywhere, and even more speeders and ships in the sky above. More than half of the species he saw, Tobias couldn’t identify. Sure, there were Humans, Bothans, Twi’lek, Duros, Mon Calamari, Quarren, Ithorians, and others that he recognized, but then there were...others. Some of them barely even making an attempt at being humanoid. Being a good, intelligent person, however, Tobias didn’t stare at any of them, simply made a note of the interesting creatures and continued on.

The main walkway that left the Jedi Headquarters looked to eventually make its way to a building so massive in comparison to everything else that it could have easily been mistaken as a mountain. But it wasn’t a mountain. It was the one landmark Tobias knew of thanks to Jyren. It was the Imperial Palace, the former seat of the Galactic Empire and, currently, home to the New Republic government and various apartments for the senators and dignitaries. Where all the buildings around it were huge spires in the sky, they all paled in comparison to that mountain of durasteel.

That, however amazing it was, was not at all the kind of place Tobias wanted to end up. Something about another Palace just unnerved him. So, instead of continuing along the walkway, Tobias eyed a section of it that went down to a level below. Stairs. Actual stairs on Coruscant. Something about that just made him smile.

A level down, the world somehow changed. Where above was mostly empty of anything but high end apartments, business officers, and other boring places that he would have been impossibly out of place in, Tobias found that just one level below took him to a place that was much more...real. It wasn’t seedy or dangerous or anything like that, but Tobias did notice that most of the people seemed to be wearing clothes that didn’t look like were just bought minutes earlier. To one side of the walkway was the same skylanes as before, but on the other were much different buildings than above. Though they were technically the same exact buildings, the interiors did not house offices, but nightclubs, stores that looked to sell anything they could get their hands on, various restaurants specializing in every kind of food Tobias could think of, and then, to top it all off, a few signs pointing to back alleys that looked to house the requisite seedy taverns. With all of that so far up on Coruscant, Tobias was almost afraid to think about what the lower levels might house.

Though he was interested in pretty much everything he saw, Tobias ended up just standing by the railing watching the speeders go by. He might have actually gone into some of the places, but the problem of a lack of credits was forefront in Tobias’ mind. For so many years, he’d never even thought about money and now, here he was actually finding that it would be useful.

Oh well.

A smile on his face, Tobias found he didn’t really care that much. Here he was, standing on Coruscant, the heart of the galaxy, a lightsaber at his belt and actually training to be a Jedi Knight. This was his dream. Tobias had spent nearly all of his childhood hoping for this day. The road to this point wasn’t exactly what he’d hoped for, but that didn’t change the fact that he was there. He was there, watching airspeeders fly by and seeing things most Alraxians couldn’t even dream of. And he was going to be a Jedi. The only thing that was missing was Jyren, but oddly enough, Tobias for the first time found himself accepting that it was okay. It was okay because Jyren was there, as he was the one who’d given Tobias that inspiration in the first place.

After a few minutes of just standing there, leaning on the railing and looking off into the valleys between the monolithic buildings, Tobias noticed something odd. All around him, he could feel the various beings in the Force. There were so many that, through the Force, the entire world around Tobias felt like a bright candle. It was like Yavin IV, except that there were no trees and he was surrounded by towers of unliving metal...yet there were so many living things that he could barely tell the difference. But there, not far from him and in the midst of it all, Tobias could feel something else. It was vaguely familiar, but that wasn’t what was odd about it. In the sea of bright, glowing lives in the Force, this one was somehow outshining all of the rest.

Identifying the direction of this bright feeling in the Force, Tobias looked off to his left and into the crowd of people. Even with the Force helping him to pick through the vast number of beings, it was impossible for Tobias to actually find what he was looking for. With a bit more concentration, he probably could find the source of it, but that wasn’t necessary.

A few short moments after he’d started looking for its source, Tobias saw a familiar face break through the crowd. Upon seeing Anakin Solo, Tobias realized he should have been able to identify that feeling right away. He resonated in the Force unlike anyone Tobias had ever seen, even Master Ral. The last time Tobias had seen him, they’d been at the Academy a long time before anyone even considered the fact that the Vong would attack there. It seemed like a lifetime ago, as Tobias had just started his training back them. Maybe it was a lifetime ago...

“Glad to see you made it,” Anakin said as he reached Tobias, stopping next to him and idly leaning on the same railing.

“You, too,” Tobias knew what that was reference to, so he didn’t bother adding anymore detail beyond that. Of course, there was an obvious question, “Were you following me?”

The dark-haired young man shook his head, “Not exactly. Not here for long, either. But thought I felt someone familiar and figured I’d give it a look.”

For some reason, that got a smile onto Tobias’ face, “So you just got back from that hell on Yavin and you’re off again?”

Anakin shrugged and idly waved his hand, “Can’t sit around long with this war.”

That was true. It also made Tobias wonder how long he and Master Ral were going to stay on Coruscant. But putting that out of his mind for the moment, he decided to pose a different question to the young human, “Just before the attack, I remember hearing you actually flew through that blockade and came down to help the rest of the students out.”

After nodding, Anakin told Tobias what had happened. Apparently, he’d actually ‘borrowed’ the X-Wing from Coruscant because no one else was going to do anything about it. The New Republic was staying out, and Anakin sure as hell wasn’t going to just sit around while the Academy was invaded. So he’d run the blockade, done his best to protect the younger students, and then found himself stuck on the planet. In the time while Tobias and Master Ral were carefully hiding away, Anakin was actually working with a Shamed Yuuzhan Vong warrior to find his friend who they had captured. That, alone, was amazing to Tobias. A Vong helping Anakin. A Vong that had died helping Anakin. And as Tobias and Master Ral made their escape thanks to Horus and Varis, Anakin and his friend escaped on the Star Destroyer, Errant Venture.

While Tobias was hiding in a hole, Anakin was being a hero.

Sensing something wrong, Anakin asked Tobias what had happened to him. Explaining those events just felt pathetic. Nothing he’d done was heroic, just survival. But Anakin, apparently, didn’t agree.

“You couldn’t take on the whole landing party yourself,” Anakin said simply, now looking off to the skylanes next to them.

Tobias, though, directed a rather critical gaze at the human, “You did.”

Pale blue eyes glanced over to Tobias for a moment before turning back to look at the passing airspeeders, “I wasn’t about to leave a friend behind.”

Somehow, that was enough. It was the strength in Anakin’s voice that really got the message across. This young man was a hero. He couldn’t have been twenty standard years old and he was a hero. Not only that, but somehow, it didn’t seem to phase him one bit. Tobias stood next to a human that was the embodiment of everything he wanted to be. Everything that was right about being a Jedi.

That was when Anakin did something else that surprised Tobias. He turned away from the skylane and put on a unique looking smile before nodding at Tobias and saying, “You look like you’ve had your share of adventures, too.”

Was it that obvious?

Maybe it was. So much had happened between the last time he’d seen Anakin and standing there on Coruscant next to him that Tobias probably did look completely different. Just like Tobias could see something new in Anakin, Anakin probably saw something else in Tobias. Something that was still just growing, but was definitely starting to slowly. He was, after all, standing on Coruscant, a Jedi student, and speaking with a fellow Jedi Knight that was everything Tobias wanted to be. Everything that, for the first time in his life, Tobias realized might be within his grasp.

This feeling only grew as Tobias found himself talking with Anakin about both of their exploits since they had last met. For every amazing moment that Tobias experienced, Anakin has five more. And yet there was somehow not a divide between them. Almost everything they had done put them on opposite ends of the galaxy...except for one event. They had both experienced Fondor. Where Tobias had been in the thick of the battle on an actual Yuuzhan Vong ship, Anakin had been on Centerpoint Station at Corellia...he had nearly fired the weapon, only to stop and watch his uncle fire it blindly and kill so many of their own allies in the process. Seeing this hero standing next to him, feeling regret that it wasn’t him that had fired the weapon, Tobias started to also understand the weight of everything on Anakin’s shoulders. 

Could Tobias really be like Anakin?

Could he step up to the front lines of this horrible war again and again and again?

Jyren had. Marix had, too. Tobias wanted to be able to do that, and though he was starting to accept the possibility that he really could be something more than just another Jedi, he actually unsure if he could put himself in the line of fire over and over. His heart wanted to, but Tobias knew that he couldn’t...not yet. Anakin Solo was more than half his age, but Tobias had only a fraction of his training, experience, and strength. Anakin was a hero in every sense of the word, while Tobias was just barely beginning to understand what that actually meant.

But it was one step closer.

It was one small advance towards Tobias truly becoming what he wanted and knew he was capable of.

And it was good to know that if he ever needed help along the way, there were Jedi out there like Anakin Solo to show Tobias what he was really aiming for.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

So, apparently, about a page back I made a typo in one of the Chapter numbers and then ran with that wrong number(30 behind) until...well, now. Just went back and fixed them. Hopefully I haven't messed the numbers up somewhere else.


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## AnonymousOne

You know I've been reading this for a while now ...

The most amazing thing of all of this?  The Alraxians, pure genius in their concept and creation.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

AnonymousOne said:
			
		

> You know I've been reading this for a while now ...
> 
> The most amazing thing of all of this?  The Alraxians, pure genius in their concept and creation.




Well, that I can't take credit for. But glad you're liking it. 

...And now some bad news. Power supply on my computer has crapped out and I'm not sure yet on how long that will take to get replaced. Hopefully it won't take too long...but if it does I'll figure out an alternative way to update. Posting from my iPhone right now and don't think I could do full updates this way


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Wanted to let you guys know I'm still alives, but sadly taking a while to work out the computer issue. Still hoping to have it fixed soon, but I'm starting to consider alternate ways to post. Problem with all of them is the text file is on the computer...

If it ends up taking more than another week, I'll just get on with things and update from a computer on campus.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Good news, finally!

I'm back on my computer with a now-working power supply. Lots to catch up on, but should be able to get this moving again tonight.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 572: Distracting the Mind*

Arms folded across her chest and an unreadable mask across her features, Marix carefully looked through the panel of glasteel at the Yuuzhan Vong prisoner on the other side. Here was an odd collection of worlds in one small room. The more time she spent on the Gateway that guarded the hyperspace route into Alraxian space, the more she couldn’t help but wonder if Alraxians even designed it. Yes, the consoles and such were obviously of Alraxian design, but the structure was metal. Glasteel was not Alraxian, but something very common in the rest of the galaxy. And here, just beyond that sheet of material, was Qroal, something even more alien.

Qroal had not resisted when the two Knights dragged him from Loki and into this cell, and somehow that had been of no surprise to Marix. There was something about this Vong that bothered her at a very deep level. The warriors were so simple to deal with. They fought, she fought back, only one of them survived. But Qroal fought with words. This was a new side of the Vong, and a terrifying side as it made them so much more diverse than simply brutal, fanatical warriors.

Keeping Qroal alive was vital, as Marix knew this part of the Vong needed to be understood to really know what was going on behind the invasion. It was no longer going to be so easy as to just win the war in battle. But Qroal seemed to recognize his value to her, also, as he had attempted to take his own life four separate times since being placed in the cell. The first time he’d nearly succeeded, removing an odd spine from a growth on his shoulder that had no been there before. Thankfully, one of the Knights monitoring the cell noticed this and quickly dashed in to stop Qroal. From that point on, two Knights remained in the cell with him at all times, though this didn’t seem to stop his attempts to end his life. Thankfully, he seemed quite inept at such actions.

Marix was keeping as much of her conscious thought on Qroal as she could. It was necessary for her to at least keep up her air of calm that was expected of her from the Knights after all the years they’d been around her. They would know, through subtle feelings in the Network and even the Force, that she was deeply worried about Loki. They did not, however, need to see this on her face, in her actions, or in her voice. This Empress was a fighter and had seen thousands of lives end. She could not show fear around any of them, no matter who she was fearing for. There were only three people in the galaxy that ever saw her like that, and neither Jyren, his father, nor Alyx were anywhere near.

The healers, who would have been called technicians by most of the galaxy, had reassured Marix more than once that Loki would be fine and the temporary measures she’d taken by grafting durasteel to his damaged hull had likely saved his life. Saying it once was fine, but repeating it was what concerned Marix. They also refused to answer any of her questions, which likely meant they didn’t have any answers as to why he had been unconscious for so long. Or if his neural systems would be okay after that kind of trauma. Or...well, or a thousand other things.

‘I am unsure’ was not a comforting response, but at least they had been honest.

The sound of footsteps approaching from behind caught Marix’s attention, though she did not turn to look over her shoulder to see the source. The sounds weren’t very loud, but were also very deliberate. That meant it was not just a Knight, but one of the former Tam’Day’U approaching, as they had a habit of making their presence known when they approached Marix from behind. When the footsteps stopped, there was a moment’s pause before Marix heard a calm voice behind her say in Alraxian, “The Jendari report that they will be unable to arrive for at least another day, Commander.’

Commander.

Some things were just too deeply ingrained to go away.

Marix turned to face the Tam’Day’U and was presented with a face that she couldn’t actually place. The Knight standing at attention a half meter away from was about a half-head taller than Marix, with a very similar build that showed she was always ready for an attack at any time, and angular features that hinted at a very predatory look to the woman. It was in the eyes. A pair of pale green eyes with a silvery sheen to them that Marix knew she recognized.

And then, suddenly, Marix knew this woman.

The last time Marix had seen her was when she had freed the Tam’Day’U. Being the oldest of them, Marix was the only adult. The rest were children of various ages, but all definitely Alraxian children. Tam’Day’U never survived long enough to grow to adulthood, and if they did somehow survive that long, their lives were quickly ended. That was why Marix hadn’t recognized this Knight. She had been a child then, much smaller and not at all built like she currently was. Marix could see her still, standing off to the side, a young girl with short, neat auburn hair kept well out of those eyes that hadn’t changed one bit.

Somehow, seeing her here, all grown up and, of course, taller than Marix, was strange. It made Marix feel so much older than she knew she was. By Alraxian standards, Marix was still young, but something about this this woman made Marix reconsider that. Here, standing facing one another, were two Alraxians that were not ever expected to live long enough to be adults...and yet...

Marix tilted her head in a simple nod, “Thank you, Rhinna.”

Rhinna.

The girl hadn’t even known her name all those years before. Marix had helped many of them to dig up records of their families and parents. Names were important to the Tam’Day’U these days. It meant they were real, not just the shadows and Cursed Ones they were told they were for so many years. They had names. Names given by parents that likely never knew what became of their infant children when they disappeared in the night. And Marix always made it a point to not use rank with the former Tam’Day’U, but their names. They needed it.

Not only that, but the way Rhinna’s angular features managed to soften a moment later showed another effect the names had. They made the former slaves feel good. Happy. Such a simple thing to most in the Empire, but a precious feeling to the former Tam’Day’U.

“Will we interrogate him more thoroughly without the Jendari, Commander?” of course, they still called Marix by her rank. Never her name. But that was okay. Marix had always had that name, unlike the rest. She didn’t need the kind of help the rest of them needed. And they knew all knew that, so to show that, they used something that had never left them after being freed: respect for her.

Thinking on it, Marix made a decision, “I would like you to interrogate him yourself, Rhinna. The tizowyrm necessary for translation with our prisoner is in the guard room adjacent to the cell. Do what you must to learn everything you can of what he knows about our people. If you find anything else of interest, pursue it.”

Marix didn’t warn Rhinna to be careful of Qroal’s tricks, his words, or even an attack. That wasn’t necessary. She would know, and she would be ready. That was why Marix asked her to do it. Here was a young woman that reminded Marix of herself in many ways, and seeing that, Marix knew she could trust Rhinna to get the right kind of questions answered.

Part of Marix actually wanted to do it herself, but she had more pressing concerns. Concerns that she could no longer put off. So, after Rhinna bowed and moved off to do as ordered, Marix went the other way. It had been well over two hours since she had been to the hangar and checked on Loki. For some reason, Marix just felt the need to see him. She desperately needed to see that the healers were making progress.

If she lost Loki...

No.

No, Marix would not even allow her mind to go into that line of thought.

It wasn’t an option.

He would be alright.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 573: An Alien World*

Coruscant had a way of continually amazing Tobias. Every part of the planet, despite the fact that it was one huge city, seemed completely different. After speaking with Anakin Solo at length about their various exploits, Tobias had followed the young man from where they had been to a much less crowded area of the planet that seemed completely dominated by starship hangars. There were countless guarded areas with the symbol of the New Republic Starfighter Command on them, and even a few with a symbol that was similar, but not one that Tobias recognized. Anakin had told him it was the New Republic Navy, and that was confirmed as they continued on to the civilian hangars and, from a walkway looking down at the long stretches of flat nothing, various warships could be seen being loaded with troops, supplies, and in the case of one carrier, E-Wing starfighters.

But then they had reached the various civilian areas, with so many different kinds of ships that Tobias didn’t even bother attempting to identify any of them. Public berths for transports eventually gave way to closed off hangars that were likely privately owned before the pathway they were following, which was large enough to accommodate most speeders, began to split off on one side into various round platforms. Some were pulled in against the walkway, while others, usually empty, were extended out and beyond the overhang above. Eventually, they came to a stop next to one of the extended platforms which had a newer model X-Wing resting on it.

Anakin then turned to face Tobias, bowed and said with a smile, “Take care of yourself, Toby. And if you ever need anything...I’m not that hard to track down.”

Returning the bow, Tobias nodded, “You, too, Anakin. Its not much, but if for some reason I can ever help you out...well, yeah.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” was the last thing that Anakin said before turning and walking out to his X-Wing. Tobias stood there and found himself watching the other Jedi leave. He even waited a few minutes after the X-Wing was gone, just staring off into the vast city beyond. This collection of hangars was up much higher than most of the other areas Tobias had been on Coruscant, providing a view down before tops of many buildings could dominated again. In fact, it almost looked like, hundreds of meters below, there was a ground of metal, with great rivers and canyons carved out in geometrical patterns that didn’t seem to make any sense at all.

Eventually, though, after realizing people were staring at him, Tobias headed back the way he’d come. He walked slowly, hands in his jacket pockets, and continued to take in the alien world as he wandered through the hangar district. There were speeders passing him now, most transporting crates or even larger groups of people in rather expensive looking clothes. It wasn’t just the sights that was so odd about Coruscant...it was the feeling of it all.

Tobias had spent the majority of his life, or at least, the majority of it that he could remember, on Alraxia. It was a planet so full of life that, much like Yavin IV, it glowed brightly in the Force. But the Force wasn’t necessary to know how full of life the planet was; one needed only to open their eyes, their ears, their noses, and take in the very essence of life around them. But Coruscant...it looked dead, smelled dead, and sounded dead. All of Tobias’ senses told him this was a planet without life...except for the Force, where he could feel so many living beings that somehow, this dead world shone brightly.

Everything about that seemed wrong to him.

And yet...

The thought trailed off as Tobias noticed something odd. Truthfully, most things were odd to him on Coruscant, but that didn’t dampen his senses in the Force. He felt something. It was almost the same as the feeling he got when something that wasn’t a Yuuzhan Vong attacked him, but not as intense or direct. Still, Tobias found himself stopping and looking around.

He had left the hangars just moments before. The large, half-dome structure was behind him and nothing seemed to catch his eye as to the source of the odd feeling. It didn’t look like anyone behind him was trying to shoot him or stab him or worse. Instead, he just saw the same collection of various beings that seemed to be all over Coruscant.

Okay...but no, the feeling was still there in the back of his head, gently pushing in an oddly uncomfortable way. Looking to his left and right, Tobias knew saw the two sides of the walkway he was on. There were large buildings, of course, to both sides, but they were likely at least a kilometer away on both sides. In fact, the nearest collection of people beyond the hangar behind him, the levels of he city above and below him, and the distant areas to both of his sides, was back in the direction Tobias had already been going.

So, he continued forward, but now with a focus on that feeling in the Force. Something was wrong. He could feel that much for sure, but what? Where? And was it just because he was surrounded by so many billions of beings? Of course there was bound to be something wrong with so many people around!

But no...no it wasn’t that simple. The feeling had grown into an odd pressure, almost creating a headache but not yet reaching that point. Instead, it was more like an annoyance, something pushing on Tobias’ mind that he just couldn’t do anything about. Which was why he was trying to find it. Something told him that would make it go away...no, no that wasn’t important.

That was selfish. This was more important than just trying to relieve an odd pressure. Something was wrong. Somewhere relatively nearby and it was his duty as a Jedi to find out what it was and fix it. The more he walked back towards the areas that Anakin had found him in hours earlier, the more Tobias was sure that it was more than just a simple feeling. Something was truly wrong. It was danger. Danger for someone nearby...

Again, Tobias stopped.

Now, he was surrounded on all sides by countless beings, droids, and they were all tightly packed between the nightclubs, restaurants, and stores that dominated the huge spires on either side of the walkways. A speeder lane was below, adding to the constant noise and meaning that Tobias didn’t even bother trying to listen for something.

But he was close now. He could feel that.

As people moved around him like he wasn’t even there, Tobias’ eyes darted around. It was nearly impossible to identify anything or anyone specifically. All his eyes could tell him was that he was surrounded by more species than he’d ever seen in one place in his entire life. And that, while amazing, was also amazing unhelpful. So he turned to the Force again, feeling the same mess of life around him but trying to identify that pressure that had grown considerably and was becoming more intense as every moment passed. He couldn’t just stand around like this forever. He had to...

Suddenly, the feeling erupted into an outright scream in the Force and Tobias knew exactly where he had to go. Pushing through the crowd, he broke into the fastest sprint that he could manage and made his way towards the buildings on his right side. Eyes darted into open doorways as a new feeling appeared...a lack of that distress. It had gone. It had been right here and it was gone!

There!

A few meters in front of him was another building. This one was not a shop or place to eat or anything like that. In fact, the main entrance was a closed door and there weren’t any windows looking in. A simple sign stated it was an apartment complex, but that didn’t matter to Tobias. He could feel a lingering pain in the Force from right there.

As he headed for the doorway, Tobias ignored the fact that being a Jedi wasn’t a very popular thing and removed his lightsaber hilt from his belt. Due to the amount of people around him, he didn’t activate the weapon, but if he had been thinking a bit more clearly rather than with a mind clouded in worry and confusion, he would have known at least some people would have identified it as a lightsaber. But nothing happened to him when he reached the door and hit the switch to open it.

In fact, Tobias dashed into the circular entrance room around him without thinking to really look around first. When the door slid shut behind him, eyes took in the scene. A turbolift access directly in front of him, a few chairs to his left and a corridor going off on a gentle curve that direction and to his right...

“Put the weapon down, Jedi.”

The source of the gruff voice was a human male, taller than Tobias and dressed in simple clothes. The man had dark hard, deep set eyes, and a thick beared covering his face. But, most importantly, he was aiming a blaster pistol directly at Tobias’ fact. And he wasn’t alone, either. Two other men were aiming blasters at Tobias, looks of surprise on their faces and clearly emanating from them in the Force. And then, at their feet behind them, was a body. All that Tobias could see was that it had been humanoid and looked to be bleeding. He also couldn’t see any movement from it. Or feel anything in the Force...

“Put the weapon down,” the same man said again, slowly and much more dangerously.

This kid’s wandered into the wrong place.

Jedi or not, we outnumber him. Not a thing he can do.

Jedi?! The hell is a Jedi doing down here? Did they follow us? Warrn was supposed to be watching out backs better...this can’t be good.

Through the stress, Tobias was losing his control and realized he was hearing thoughts of others again. But he heard more than that. He felt other things from these three men. One of them had been right, too...for the moment, without knowing what was going on and having stupidly wandered into this without thinking, Tobias couldn’t do a thing.

Without a word, Tobias let his lightsaber fall to the carpeted floor beneath him.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 574: Rescue*

“Don’t turn around, just run!” it was amazing that the usual gravely voice of the Mon Calamari, Obrack Loro, could transform into such a deep bellow when he was yelling.

Not that anyone was really going to argue with that.

Besides, before anyone had a chance to verbally respond, the young human bringing up the rear of their formation started to fire his blaster rifle. Next to Rea and helping with one of the three stretchers as they dashed for a small building that was just coming into sight, the older human did not listen to what Loro had said. At the sound of the blaster rifle, he looked over his shoulder and growled, “Val, quit standing there shooting at nothing! Come on!”

It was impossible for Rea not to risk a glance, and when she turned over her shoulder to see the young human male standing there, facing the other direction and holding his blaster rifle like a kid that had no idea how to aim. He turned, looking back to them and started to open his mouth to say something before the inevitable happened. In a flash of movement, a small black object cut through the meter and a half high, red grass before slicing across the young man’s neck.

There was a burst of a deeper red and no sound at all when he collapsed to the ground.

“No!” the old man stopped.

For the first time in her life, Rea found herself considering leaving someone behind to die. But no. No, he had to keep moving because one of the injured Zephyr pilots was on that stretcher just standing there with him!

“Take the Commander!” she snapped to Adria, who reacted before understanding and grabbed the other stretcher with a free hand while continuing on. The fiery haired woman was about to say something, but Rea turned around and sprinted back to the old man, who she could barely make out through the tall grass. And heading for him, she could see more movement in the sea of red. Grey forms moving quickly towards him, just like she’d encountered not long before. And then there was that thundering sound approaching rapidly...

Suddenly, the old man cried out in pain and Rea’s eyes caught a glimpse of a Chazrach pouncing onto him and driving a blade into his throat. She could also see the stretcher tip over and another Chazrach pounce the body that fell off. Another Zephyr dead...

Reason got the better of her all of a sudden, and Rea spun back around, lekku whipping through the grass around her at the sudden change in direction. As she charged after Loro and Adria, Rea was also intelligent enough to draw her blaster pistol. Glancing over her shoulder, she fired off a few quicky shots not aimed at any of the moving shapes in particular. She needed to keep her ears open for that buzzing sound just in case they had more razor bugs, too.

As she ran, Rea became more and more aware of that distant thundering. It wasn’t so distant anymore...in fact, the ground itself was shaking and...

When she glanced behind her again, Rea was shocked at the sight of a monstrous Vagh Rodiek bearing down on her, scythe like arm already swinging in a horizontal arc. As it was the first time she’d seen one of those monsters, her surprise was warranted, and luckily it didn’t impair her judgement. Immediately upon seeing what was happening, the Twi’lek dropped to the ground and rolled to the side, the huge crab-like legs of the monster charging past and continuing after Loro and Adria.

Why leave her behind? That seemed foolish...

Well, only for a moment.

When Rea managed to get back to her feet, she saw another of the creatures coming at her, easily visible through the red grass. Firing her blaster seemed useless against such a huge monster, but Rea squeezed off a series of shots anyway as she started to sprint away again, aware of the Chazrach coming after her, too. With about twenty meters between her and what she could see of the other Vagh Rodiek and how fast the thing seemed capable of moving, Rea knew she could only outrun it for another minute, at most.

Then, at just the right time, Rea heard the sound of a weapon firing that was not just a blaster rifle. The way the sound echoed more deeply indicated that it was a much heavier weapon, a blaster cannon, capable of taking down most speeders with a few shots.

Looking ahead of her again, she could see a tripod-mounted blaster cannon sitting on top of the not-so-distant building firing again and again. The Vagh Rodiek that had charged her first was dropped with a heavy thud after only three shots from the cannon, and immediately after Rea realized she wasn’t in the best position as its operators spun it to fire on the other monster...which was directly behind her and put her in the line of fire if they didn’t aim well, whoever they were.

But there were Chazrach flanking her now, moving in to cut her off so that the Vagh Rodiek behind would trample her in just a matter of seconds.

When the blaster cannon fired again, it went so close over her head that Rea swore she could feel the heat of the blaster bolt. There was a loud bellow from the monster behind her, but she didn’t bother to turn behind her to see where the thing had been hit. Another shot went much higher over her head, but was still terrifying, and when she heard the growl from the monster, Rea knew it could have only been meters behind her. But then there was a thud and she couldn’t feel the ground shaking behind her anymore.

There were shrieks from both sides as the Chazrach began to scatter, though when one came towards her, Rea had the foresight to put a blaster bolt into it before it could pounce. Just as she took the reptilian creature down, the grass dropped to a more reasonable heigh of knee level, and suddenly she could see Adria pushing the two stretchers into the building while Loro fired into the tall grass at Chazrach that were emerging with small amphistaves. On the building’s roof were five Rodians, one of them firing that blaster cannon almost blindly into the grass beyond while the other four were taking careful aim to pick off the Chazrach that were coming in from all sides.

“Move!” Loro was screaming at her as he put a blaster bolt into a Chazrach coming at Rea from the side. There were so damn many of them!

Hearing a buzzing sound suddenly, Rea dove to the ground again, but not before a sharp pain went up across her shoulder as the razor bug flew past. Somehow, though, she pulled herself up and kept moving, the Rodian’s above and Loro picking off any Chazrach that got close to her as she ran as fast as she could to the open doorway of the building.

It took only a few more seconds and she was in, tumbling into a table that was badly placed and then hitting the hard floor on her non-injured shoulder. Rea let out a groan of pain and turned to start firing out the door, but instead saw Loro slip inside and close the door before hitting a switch that would have sealed it. Yet, above, the Rodian’s weapons could still be heard firing.

Adria’s red-haired head suddenly came into view, “Are you alright?”

Sitting up as best she could and trying to wave off any help, Rea nodded. For some reason, however, she couldn’t find her voice. But despite her answer, Adria had grabbed a medkit from the floor, it had likely been on the table beforehand, and immediately went to patching up the open wound on Rea’s shoulder and back.

As she was working, Loro moved past and headed for a set of stairs. He stopped before going up and said, “When you’re done get up here and help us out. I’ve never seen this many Chazrach before and they’re still coming.”

“Looks like they finally got tired of you,” Adria mumbled as she kept working. Her eyes glanced up to Rea, “Stay down here and keep an eye on the door. Something tells me that won’t hold long.”

Rea shook her head, motioning upwards with her blaster pistol, “If there’s as many out there as it looked like, going to need every blaster you can up there.”

But Adria didn’t budge, as always, “If that door gets breached they’re not only in behind us but there’s also two unconscious pilots down here next to you.”

With a sigh, Rea gave in, “Fine. I’ll keep an eye on them.”

A smile formed on Adria’s face as she finished up with the small bacta-laced patches and then got to her feet to head to the roof, “I’ll make sure to tell the Commander how you felt about having to protect him.”

Before Rea could respond, the human woman headed up the stairs and out to the roof. Rea let out an annoyed sigh and sat back against the wall behind her, blaster in her lap and waiting. For the moment, she could sit safely and catch her breath. It would be obvious when she needed to be ready to defend the door.

After only a few moments of sitting there listening to the muffled sounds of blaster fire above, the Twi’lek noticed something else. There was a quiet beeping to her side. Curious, suddenly, Rea tilted her head to find the source of the sound. Her eyes immediately locked onto a blinking green light in time with the sounds on Commodore Nok’s jumpsuit.

And then she knew what it was.

Immediately, Rea’s hand shot out for the object and grabbed the Commodore’s comlink. Pulling it to her, she hit the activation switch and said, “Zephyr Five here.”

“Five, this is Four. We just arrived in system with the fleet and should be to your location in a few minutes. What the situation down there?”

The voice that came through was that of her wingmate’s, the Kel Dor Tar Ko, and probably one of the most wonderful things Rea had ever heard. Of course they’d come back. Of course the fleet had come for them. The Admiral wouldn’t leave them. He was too good a man for that. And the green Zephyr pilots that the Commodore had ordered to retreat had done exactly what they’d needed to: they brought back help.

In front of her, the door shook violently from a powerful hit.

The joy of the moment before was suddenly gone and Rea pulled herself to her feet, saying into the comlink, “We’re on the surface of the moon, Four, and we’re under heavy attack. The Commodore’s badly wounded and nly a few of us are here. We’re surrounded by a horde of Vong from the sound of it. Won’t be able to hold out long.”

“Copy, Five,” Four’s voice was doubly modulated through the comm system and his own breath mask on the other side, but she could still hear the worry in the voice, “That moon just erupted with skips again but we’re coming in. Just hang on and we’ll push through right to you.”

When there was another thud at the door, and Rea saw the thing buckle just slightly, she hoped they actually had time.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 575: Diagnosis*

For a long, silent few moments, Marix simply let her hand rest gently on Loki’s familiar feeling hull. Hours earlier there had been metal plating in the exact spot her hand was resting. But now all of the metal, save for the two Jendari cannons under each wing, was gone. The hull looked better than it had when she and the Jedi, Corran Horn, had installed the metal plating as a makeshift patch on Loki, but it was obviously still raw. The colour of it where he had taken the strongest hits was a few shades lighter than the rest of him, making Loki look slightly patched rather than his usual single colour. And under her hand, it felt different, slightly softer than the rest.

“It will take him some time to heal, my lady,” one of the Redstars said.

Hand still idly resting on Loki, Marix turned to look over her shoulder. Six of the two dozen Redstars tending to Loki were gathered there, all the picture of serenity that the Redstars exemplified. Or rather, they were outwardly serene. Through the Force, Marix could feel their concern and even worry, though it seemed to be directed more towards her than their actual patient.

With a slight nod in response to what had been said, Marix looked back to Loki and where her hand rested on his hull, asking softly, “How long is ‘some time’?”

Her question, though simple, caused a slight reverberation in the Force in what Marix assumed was an indirect response by one of the Redstars. It was the one who’d spoken before, an Alraxian woman that looked to be about her own age, though was of slighter build and reminded Marix of some of her younger sisters. She also seemed to be the one voted on to do all the talking, as it was her calm voice that spoke up again, “I apologize, my lady, but I cannot say for sure. The injuries he sustained were quite severe, as you know, and, to be honest, it is truly amazing that he is alive at all. It would be best for Loki to remain here for as long as possible, until we can be absolutely sure that spaceflight will no longer be detrimental to his health.”

Again, Marix allowed herself a nod. She didn’t like to hear it, but it made sense. The important thing was that Loki was going to live, just as she’d known all along. But his recovery sounded like it would take months, maybe longer. If there was one thing Marix needed, it was Loki right there with her. That was not, however, possible. He needed rest. Real rest, too, not what they usually counted as rest which usually involved jumping to hyperspace. But he was alive.

Still...

“Has he been unconscious since we arrived?” Marix asked, finally turning around to face the group of Redstars completely and letting her hand fall to her side.

The young Redstar shook her head and then explained, “He was drifting in and out not long after you left. Before we did anything, we had to put him under again. It is likely that he will stay unconscious for at least another day while his own natural healing takes over. We will, of course, alert you the moment he regains consciousness. I expect he would like to know you are doing well just as you have worried about him.”

But when the Redstar stopped speaking, Marix could feel there was something else in the air. Though not all Alraxians had any training, or even ability, in the Force, many Redstars at least had some basic potential. It seemed that this young woman did, in fact, have at least some slight strength in the Force, probably with a bent towards empathy like many healers. Since she’d returned to check on Loki, Marix had detected the very slightest probing in the Force directed at her, and now she could identify where it had been coming from. Still, there was an obvious question and, for some reason, it bothered her that she could not immediately identify the answer on her own.

“What is it?” she finally asked, going for the direct approach as usual.

A moment of tension passed through the Force but then immediately was gone. Instead, it was replaced with a question in response to Marix’s own question, “My lady, may I ask you if you plan to return to Alraxia or...?”

Though the sentence trailed off, Marix knew what the other option was. Thinking about it for a moment, Marix answered truthfully, “That will depend on what we learn from the Yuuzhan Vong.”

“Ah, yes...” the answer seemed to make all of the Redstars uncomfortable. And for good reason, they weren’t the kind to think about interrogation techniques that might be necessary, as it was there job to heal, not harm. Quickly, though, the Redstar added, “Word of your arrival reached your brother, my lady. When he learned of what happened to Loki, he sent Hermes to assist you in Loki’s stead. Obviously, it is not the same, but...”

But Hermes had been Kyren’s closest compatriot through the years. But Hermes had served Jyren with the same dedication. But Hermes now did everything his power to protect Alyx. If there was one Kanyak, other than Loki, that could be said to be a part of the family, of course it was Hermes. He was, after all, Loki’s brother and would likely be just as worried for his safety as Marix was.

“I’ll make sure to thank Alyx,” Marix said quietly as she began to make her way out of the hangar and back to Rhinna and the Vong, “Do you have any idea when Hermes will arrive?”

The Redstar did not follow, simply speaking to her as Marix walked by, “Within the hour, my lady. In fact, the Jendari envoy should arrive at about the same time. We will let you know as soon as they arrive.”

“Thank you,” Marix said over her shoulder, took a few more steps then added, “Take care of Loki.”

Without waiting for a response, she continued on. Rhinna would hopefully have made at least some progress with Qroal, and the Redstar had brought up a valid point. Marix needed to decide what was going to be done next. She desperately wanted to see the twins again, but refused to even send a message to wherever Navik had taken them for fear that she would be drawn away too soon again. Marix couldn’t bear to keep coming and going with barely seeing them at all. Better to keep them in her thoughts and not torture herself, or them, with fleeting moments every few weeks.

It would all depend on the Vong. He obviously knew about the Alraxians already. There were a thousand possibilities as to what would have to be done next. The Vong threat to her people needed to be dealt with swiftly. If it was entirely internal, as she knew there were at least some Vong agents still somewhere hidden in the Empire, then Marix would have the help of the entire Empire to deal with it. But if there was another attack being readied, Marix would be on her own. The Mrrakesh border was, currently, well protected by the Jendari. There were not, however, enough ships to protect that border and fight off another Vong incursion at the Gateway, meaning Marix needed to learn of any such attack ahead of time and deal with it before it even arrived.

And yet it was all just speculation. There was even the chance that Qroal would not break and they would gain no information at all. If that happened...well, Marix wasn’t sure what she would do if that were the case, but she seriously doubted that. Qroal definitely knew something and he’d already shown himself to be brave in short, stupid moments.

Qroal would break.

He would talk.

Once he talked, once he broke, then Marix could decide on further action. Until then, she was left in a state that was horrible for her. Marix was left helpless.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 576: Standoff*

Tobias stood staring into the barrel of a blaster, his peripheral vision showing two more aimed at him, and wondered if this was the kind of thing he was going to have to get used to as a Jedi...or maybe it was just what he got for being a BlueIce. Or maybe it was both. Either way, his lightsaber was on the ground at his feet and the three men didn’t seem to consider the fact that, in a second, he could call it to his hand again with very little effort. That was, of course, why Tobias had not been too worried to release the weapon.

“The hell are we going to do now, Rem?” the man on the left asked the one in the center.

“Will you shut up?” the one on the right snapped.

Left rolled his eyes and then motioned at Tobias with his blaster, “What’s it matter what he hears? Blasted Jedi are mind readers anyway so we might as well talk. Not like we’re going to be able to leave him alive anyway.”

“Stow it, both of you,” the beared man in the center, Rem, growled in his gruff voice. His deep-set eyes then shifted back to Tobias, looking down the barrel of the gun at the younger man very carefully, “I don’t like killing children, but you’ve put me in a very difficult situation.”

Not hearing a question in that, but taking in the situation as he had been taught by both Marix and Master Ral, Tobias decided he had enough of a grasp on the current predicament he had quite literally walked into to attempt speaking. Slowly, he suggested, “Then you could just put down the blaster and not kill me.”

That got a short laugh from Rem, but the one on the left, his voice a rather grating sound that made Tobias wonder how anyone could stand to be around him, said quickly, “Don’t you try any of those Jedi tricks!”

Though the man on the right glanced to the loud one, Rem seemed to ignore him. Instead, Rem went on, “You are correct, young man. I could just put the blaster down and not kill you. However, you are either a Jedi or a foolish child trying to pretend to be one by carrying that weapon. I have seen many of the latter, but you carry yourself like the former. And you Jedi being as you are, there is no way I can simply leave you here without your morality forcing you to do something about this.”

For a man that was quite obviously a killer, Rem was surprisingly formal and intelligent. And he was also right. Tobias had walked in not moment after what was clearly a murder, and he was a Jedi. It was his duty to do something about it. He couldn’t simply let these men go. Yet, at the same time, Tobias was not about to simply jump into action and kill them. He needed to wait, understand the situation a little bit better, perhaps figure out exactly what had happened, and then he could act.

So, still speaking carefully and trying to talk in such a way that showed he was not trying any mind tricks, Tobias asked, “Did you really think you could kill someone in the lobby of an apartment building on Coruscant, of all places, and someone wouldn’t notice?”

The problem, however, was that Tobias was not exactly experienced at handling delicate situations.

But instead of getting angry, Rem shrugged in a way that didn’t move his blaster from Tobias’ face, “If I could have killed him in his home, I would have. It isn’t our fault we walked in when he was leaving.”

“Yeah!” left was speaking again, “He even pulled a weapon first! Nicked me with his vibroblade!”

Apparently, the man on the left was not very intelligent. He seemed to think that Rem was feigning innocence, when he was actually just telling the truth. But Tobias did note the tension was rising. The man on the right was still quiet, a hard look on his weathered features as his blaster did not waver at all. On the left, the annoying-voiced man was obviously jittery and ready to fire his blaster at any second. Rem’s looked of seriousness remained, but his feeling in the Force was growing more tense by the second. It was obvious he had made the decision to kill Tobias and was just trying to give himself a reason to make it Tobias’ fault rather than his own.

Calmly, Tobias said, “Please put the blaster down, Rem. It’s the only way now.”

In his mind, Tobias had expected some kind of remark in response to what he’d said. It didn’t have to be witty, and could have even been as much as just an apology. But there was no verbal response. Instead, Tobias’ eyes caught the slightest of movements from Rem’s extended right arm. Marix had taught him to watch for that kind of thing if he ever ended up in such a situation, and there it was. A slight tensing of the muscles in the arm, barely visible beneath the loose clothing but still very much there. Rem was about to pull the trigger.

But thanks to senses drilled into him by Marix and Force-enhanced reaction, there was no way the blaster bolt would hit him in such a situation.

Tobias’ left arm shot up in an arc, hitting Rem’s right arm at the wrist. There was a slap as the arms hit, and the Force of Tobias’ strike sent Rem’s aim off. Tobas’ left ear suddenly was dominated by the loud scream of a blaster bolt firing right past, but he ignored it and, in almost the same motion, swept both of Rem’s feet out from under him with his right leg.

It was happening too fast for the others to clearly see what was going on.

The next thing either of the other two attackers saw, Rem was falling to the ground, blaster dropping on the other side of Tobias, who had just spun to his left and twisted in just the right way so that both blaster shots from the other two men went right across either side of him. But Tobias’ didn’t stop moving, his left arm reaching around behind him and then calling his lightsaber to it. Tobias caught the hilt and brought the blue-green blade to life in the same moment the man on his left fired again. But all it took was for Tobias to continue his spin and bring his lightsaber up to deflect the blaster bolt and send it into a far wall.

At the same time as the shot reflected off his blade in a flash of white-hot light, the right man also fired, forcing Tobias’ to twist around even more and then invert his blade to send that shot right into the duracrete floor just meters away from him. But the Force was yelling more warnings at him, and Tobias was no longer reacting as much as just letting it guide him. And with that, it took little effort to extend his right hand towards the man on the left and send a heavy blow at him with the Force.

The man yelped at flew back just a few meters before slamming into the wall behind him and dropping painfully onto a piece of rather unique looking furniture beneath him. But it still wasn’t over, and the only one of the trio standing was squeezing the trigger of his blaster pistol again, this time with it aimed at Tobias’ head. So, in a flash of light, Tobias swung his lightsaber around and back up, slicing off half of the man’s blaster pistol and creating a shower of sparks and flame that caused him to jump back and release the destroyed weapon. Before he could even attempt anything else, Tobias’ right hand was reaching out and sending a wave of the Force at him, sending him against the wall not far from his flung companion.

Then, hearing movement behind him, Tobias spun around again and put the tip of his lightsaber just centimeters from Rem’s chest. The man had been going for his blaster pistol, which was just a half meter out of his reach. But now, with a lightsaber so very close to his body, Rem froze and looked up the length of the weapon to Tobias, who was breathing heavily but somehow showing no hint of exhaustion.

Steadying his voice and trying to return his breathing to normal, Tobias spoke firmly, “I just wanted you to put the blaster down...I was never going to kill any of you.”

Rem’s eyes darted to his side to see his two companions unconscious against the wall and overturned pieces of furniture. The man then looked back to Tobias, “And now you are.”

“They’ll live,” Tobias said in the same voice. He then did something that surprised Rem even more than the swift movements that had occurred just moments early. Tobias deactivated his lightsaber, “As will you. Now, please, come with me to the nearest security office.”

For the shortest of moments, Rem looked to his blaster just out of reach, saying in a matter of fact way, “I could shoot you when you turn your back, you know.”

“No,” Tobias shook his head and motioned for the man to stand up, “You know very well now that you couldn’t.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 577: Fall Back*

There was a rush of movement off to Rea’s side as Obrack Loro bolted down from the roof above to where she stood, blaster aimed at the failing door and injured pilots unconscious behind her. Before the Mon Calamari could say anything, she called out over her shoulder, “The fleet’s on the way. Just have to hold out until they can get to us.”

Loro’s yellow eyes shifted from Rea and then to the door, which was still taking a beating from the Vong forces outside despite the fact that the Rodians and Harken were above, firing mercilessly into the mass of Vong and Chazrach. He then knelt down to construct a crude barricade out of the remains of the table and said to her, “How far out are they?”

Though she was still hurting from the long run and the various small injuries she had taken through the day, Rea did her best to assist Loro in piecing together the table in front of the door, which took another sudden, loud hit, “They didn’t say...how bad is it out there?”

Loro’s eyes darted to her again, but before he said anything he knelt behind the barricade and aimed his blaster rifle at the failing door. Looking down the sight of the weapon, he kept his voice low, “Bad. No sign of the Vagh Rodiek but I’ve never seen that many Chazrach before. They just keep coming and...well, before I came down here, Harken spotted a group of Vong warriors headed our way from the north.”

“How long do you think we can hold them off?” it was not a comforting question to ask, but it was the reality of their situation. Rea pushed one of her head-tails back off of her shoulder to stay out of her way and raised her own blaster pistol, ready for the door to fail and the swarm that would undoubtedly follow.

Loro opened his mouth to speak, but there was another violent bang at the door. The two of them tensed, but the door somehow held against whatever had hit it so hard. From the looks of it, though, it wouldn’t survive another. Not relaxing, however, Loro finally said, “The cannon up there is going to be out of power cells soon. After that...probably a few minutes.”

What was there to say to that?

Rea couldn’t think of anything, and so just kept her mouth shut, eyes watching the door and every part of her ready. It was terrible to wait for the attack, something she’d never experienced in the cockpit. It didn’t help that the entire recon mission to Rodia had just seemed like one disaster after another. The only thing good that seemed to come out of it was the fact that they’d found Loro and he was alive...too bad that didn’t look like it was going to last.

And then, finally, it happened.

One more loud, powerful crash and the entire door buckled inwards before an odd oozing substance could be seen melting it away entirely. Before anything could come through or even be seen, Loro’s blaster rifle came to life, sending a stream of blaster fire through the opening. Rea squeezed the trigger of her pistol, following suit and also trying to keep her head low. It proved to be an intelligent move, as a moment later the distinct buzzing sound of a flying razorbug could be heard. Her eyes caught the movement go right over her head before hitting the wall behind them.

Cries, snarls, and blood-thirsty growls echoed into the small building from outside, all nearly drowned out by the loud sound of blaster fire. Two of her shots caught a single Chazrach in the face, sending the reptilian creature back and into four others that were trying to pile through, miniature-looking amphistaves in hand. Loro’s rifle took down one after another easily, as none of the Chazrach seemed to be wearing any kind of armour. They were just piling in one after another, getting shot in time for a handful more to try to climb around.

But the rather primitive tactics were working.

For every Chazrach shot, it seemed as if there were four more trying to get through.

But before they could get through, more blaster shots started flying over Loro and Rea’s heads. Risking a glance behind her, Rea saw three of the Rodians coming down the stairs, blasters helping to lay down enough suppressing fire to keep the Chazrach from getting in. As one of them reached the floor, he yelled in a nasally voice that was hard to understand over the din of blaster fire and cries, “Fall back to roof! Safer!”

“There are wounded down here!” Loro yelled over his shoulder as razorbug hit the barricade and stuck into it, its little arms flailing for a moment before it went still. After taking out two more Chazrach, Loro quickly added, “No way in hell we’re leaving them down here!”

“We know!” it was another of the Rodians. The only way Rea could tell was that this one’s voice was, somehow, higher pitched than the other’s. She didn’t bother looking behind her, though, as the Chazrach were getting closer and closer to breaking through and the power pack on her pistol was being depleted with each shot she took. She had a backup, but it would take precious seconds to reload it and that was something they definitely didn’t have.

The blaster fire from the Rodians began to change, though, as they moved to the injured pilots behind. Movement behind her confirmed that the Rodians were moving as quickly as they can to get the stretchers up the stairs and to the roof, but the second they started up the stairs they would have no cover...

Suddenly, however, that no longer mattered.

Rather than a blaster bolt, Rea’s pistol emitted a soft, but horrifying, click.

The power pack was dead.

That short moment in which only Loro’s blaster rifle was holding back the horde outside was it. Two Chazrach got through first, one taking a blaster bolt to the chest and dropping right in front of the barricade, and the other diving straight for Loro, blade-first. Somehow, Loro raised his blaster and caught the strike aimed at him on the stock of his weapon. He then whipped it around and connected a heavy strike with the butt of the weapon to the Chazrach’s small, confused face.

“Up up up!” the Rodians were yelling at them from above now, having used the distraction of the Chazrach breaking through to quickly get up to the roof.

Before Rea could get to her feet and run for the stairs, however, more Chazrach poured through in the opening caused by there being no blaster fire at all. Rea ducked for complete cover behind the barricade as a Chazrach pounced at her and went right over. Dropping her blaster pistol, Rea’s hand quickly withdrew the vibrodagger from her belt and immediately dug it into the Chazrach’s leg. She got a kick to the face in response to that, which sent her back into Loro, who had been moving to get them both up to the roof before they were overwhelmed.

Sadly, it was too late for that.

Rea’s eyes caught movement from the stairs again, though, and two of the Rodian’s came charging down again, blasters spraying red bolts at the swarmed entrance. Using this opening, Rea dove at the Chazrach in front of her, driving her blade into its neck before Loro grabbed her and pulled her onto her feet. He was yelling something but she couldn’t hear it, and instead just found herself being half-drug, half-running on her own up the stairs and past the two Rodians as razorbugs flew in behind them.

When they reached the roof, the Rodians were right behind, the last one up hitting a switch that sealed a small door and, from the loud click sound, locked it, too. It was then that Rea noticed the blaster cannon was no longer firing. Instead, Harken and the other Rodians were down behind the small, meter-high ‘wall’ that surrounded the roof and provided very minimal cover. All of them were facing different directions, firing down into the masses of creatures now piling easily into the room below.

“That seal will hold for two or three minutes,” Loro growled angrily, his eyes looking up to the sky above, which was dominated by the great sphere of Rodia.

Not turning away from where she was firing, Adria yelled back at them, “About twenty actual Vong over here! Something tells me they’re not looking for a surrender!”

“Why they take so long to kill us?!” one of the Rodians asked to no on in particular between taking shots of his own down below.

“Doesn’t matter,” Loro answered swiftly as he crawled over to find his own place to fire over the side and hopefully thin the numbers more...even though it was obviously a futile effort, “Rea tells me the fleet’s in orbit and on their way so we need to hold this position until they get here!”

There was a momentary pause in the conversation as that sunk in, but it was Adria that spoke up to make things worse, “I think I see something coming our way...but there’s no way those are our ships.”

Everyone turned to see what she was talking about. What they saw were four objects coming in across the sky, likely a many kilometers away still. They were, however, very obviously Coralskippers. They were moving fast and coming right for the building with no sign of any pursuit.

Processing this new information, Rea found only one response was left, “Well, dammit.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 578: Captives*

Marix sat alone in a small, boring looking room that served as a meeting room when necessary. There were, of course, dozens of similar rooms all across the Gateway, and they were rarely used mainly due to how sparsely populated the facility was. The chairs were a bit small for adult Alraxians, but they were somehow still quite comfortable. But Marix was not sitting there in the empty room to brood.

Rather, she was awaiting the arrival of the Jendari. They had, apparently, just arrived at the Gateway but she had been unable to meet them in the hangar they’re ship set down in. They would not be offended, and besides, there was a good reason she had not met them.

Qroal had finally broken.

Marix did not bother with the how, but had seen he was not in the best of shape, physically or, from the look on his face, mentally. Rhinna had done her job well, and relayed everything she had learned. Sadly, it had not been a great deal. It seemed that Qroal was not much more than a low-level operative. He was, apparently, a member of the Intendant class, which apparently meant he was basically an expert in politics and manipulation. It explained why he broke so easily, as he was no warrior. Eventually, it seemed, even Vong could break. Especially cowardly ones, and Rhinna made sure to emphasize that if Qroal was anything at all, he was most assuredly a coward. He seemed to care much more for his own well-being than for his people’s crusade.

That was something Marix made sure to file away in her mind for later. Not all Vong were the religious zealots that it appeared.

But beyond Qroal’s position amongst his people as an agent meant to prepare the way for further conquest by the warrior caste, Rhinna did learn something else important. Apparently, after she had removed a claw-like implant from Qroal’s right leg, he became much more willing to speak after screams of pain and rage. After ranting on about being defiled and something about the Gods never rejecting him despite what the infidels did to him, he finally gave up the information that Marix had been looking for.

The Vong were, in fact, very interested in the Alraxian people. Just as Marix had expected, their interest was solely in regard to the Alraxians’ natural ability to morph. According to Qroal, this quality was seen as one that could be shaped, as he called it, into other creatures. He then babbled on about it being the will of the Gods, spoke some names that Rhinna could not recognize and assumed to be the Vong Gods, and then began growling curses at her. Eventually he drifted into a state of semi-consciousness, likely due to blood loss, and began to talk again.

According to Qroal, the Vong had never seen anything like the Alraxians’ morphing ability. But since the failure of the attack on the Gateway months earlier, a new tactic had been adopted. It seemed that the Vong were focusing their efforts on infiltration of the Alraxian people through those skin-suit-like disguises and agents like Qroal who were building up fleets from the Peace Brigade to assault the Gateway again. The latter was proving to be a failure, though, as the war effort turned Coreward. Alraxian space was just too far behind to prove worth so many resources.

At that point, Qroal’s delirium faded and he had realized all that had been said. Rhinna said he’d gone into another tirade against her and all of the Alraxian people, but before finally falling unconscious had made a vital slip in his screams. He had said, according to Rhinna, that the Vong already had Alraxians in captivity and were working to find out how their ability to morph actually worked. It had been a boast or maybe even a threat, but for one who claimed to be a master of speech, it was a foolish mistake.

So Marix sat alone in the meeting room, awaiting the Jendari, and now beginning to realize what could have happened to some of the Knights that had not returned. At least a dozen of the Knights sent on reconnaissance missions into the rest of the galaxy had failed to return or report in. They had been assumed dead, but now a seed of doubt was put in Marix’s mind. At least two of the Knights had been former Tam’Day’U, which meant the Vong potentially had two Alraxians with very well developed morphing skills. If the Vong were able to work morphing into their own creations, it would likely make them completely unstoppable.

Marix told herself, time and time again, that her sole concern was with the Alraxian Empire. Her people. But in moments like this, that was put into doubt. Yes, it was an obvious threat to the Empire. But, beyond that, it would be one more nail in the coffin for the New Republic and the rest of the galaxy which was already overrun. The last scouts to return reported that signs pointed towards more Core Worlds falling and one of the Knights even mentioned Coruscant being more heavily protected for fear of an attack. It was already falling apart. But Coralskippers that could morph in addition to their dovin basal defenses...warriors with the morphing trait bred into them...whole Vong fleets with that ‘shaped’ into their genetic makeup...

Letting out a deep breath, Marix sat back in her chair and shook her head.

So it seemed she would not be going home, but rather back into the war-torn galaxy. Marix would have to track down where the Vong were keeping their Alraxian captives and put a stop to any research that was being done. She could send Knights, but it was something Marix knew she needed to handle herself. It was too important for her to sit back and worry about. She was the Empress, the protector of her people, and that meant she had to take an active role in that defense in times of crisis.

There were Alraxians out there, somewhere in the galaxy, in the hands of the Vong. That was bad enough. But what the Vong wanted to do made it worse, and it was something she could not allow. Never any rest, it seemed...

“Momma!”

That one word cut off every single other thought that might have followed. Marix’s eyes widened and she spun to look at the door which, somehow, she hadn’t heard open. Just as she turned, Saaran dashed from the doorway and right to her, bounding from the floor and right up into her lap in one swift motion. Before Marix could respond, however, Andrea ran in, following suit and quickly landing right next to her brother, both of them grinning up at her and exuding that intoxicating happiness through the Force...that, and the satisfaction that they’d surprised their mother.

As Marix found herself paying far too much attention to the twins, four Jendari walked into the room, their faces showing the same smile that they projected in the Force. There was no sign of Navik, which somehow didn’t surprise Marix one bit. Eventually, Marix would talk business with them and explain to the Jendari what she had learned and what she planned to do next...but Marix decided that could wait. It felt like it had been ages since she’d seen the twins, and they were both babbling on and on and on about everything they’d done on the new planets they’d seen since Marix had last seen them.

The twins’ adventures chasing small bugs, one another, and their grandfather were suddenly much more important to her than anything else.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 579: Onwards...*

It took some time, but Tobias managed to get Rem and his two companions to the nearest Security Office without incidence. With it very clear that there was nothing they could do without Tobias being forewarned and assisted by the Force, none of them tried anything. The fact that he had a lightsaber and they no longer had any weapons at all, obviously, helped that.

The interesting part, however, was turning them over to the Coruscant Security personnel. They seemed surprised, at first, that Tobias had apprehended three men much larger than himself. The men on duty became even more surprised when they learned that Tobias was a Jedi, though he made sure to correct them and mention he was only an apprentice. This, of course, heightened the sense of surprise among the security officers and the shame felt by the three men Tobias had brought in.

From what he learned while answering questions relating to what he’d found them doing, it seemed that crimes like the one Tobias had encountered were becoming more and more common throughout the planet. The security officers admitted to being understaffed, with many among them having been drafted into the military. There just weren’t enough security officers to police the streets, and where Jedi would usually help to pick up the slack, there was a void. The void was created by the fact that the Jedi were being blamed for nearly every failure of the war by the New Republic government, meaning it was dangerous to be a Jedi in public. But, beyond that, there were simply very few Jedi Knights in the galaxy and most of them were, in fact, out fighting the Vong and saving lives.

All of those things put together meant that it was easy for pointless murders to occur all over Coruscant and go completely unnoticed. But the security officers, all four of them, were extremely elated with what Tobias had done. All of them were a good ten years older than Tobias claimed to be, though he was actually older than all of them. That was, of course, one of the wonderful technicalities that Tobias did his best to not let get in the way of his conscious thought. It had a habit of giving him a headache.

After an hour in the Security Office, with a great deal of the latter ten minutes involved in Tobias convincing them that he didn’t need any reward, he was finally able to leave. Two of the officers had been dispatched to the scene of the crime to find out whatever else they could, especially the identity of the victim, but at that point it became their job, not Tobias’. And, truthfully, he didn’t mind. It was hard to tell if it was getting late, with the lights of the buildings illuminating everything, but Tobias definitely felt as if he’d been gone for hours and hours. So, quietly, he made his way back to the Jedi Headquarters.

Tobias found Master Ral standing outside the entrance to the building, simply staring off into the skylanes with his arms behind his back and silently contemplating something. The Omwati Jedi Master acknowledged Tobias with a short glance, and then Tobias told him what had happened.

Unlike the stories Jyren had told him as a child, Tobias did not exaggerate his story. In fact, he downplayed everything he had done, a part of him still not truly accepting how swiftly he’d acted. There was a very great deal of Tobias that was still clinging to the idea that he was just a child, when in fact, he had grown a great deal since beginning his training as a Jedi.

When Tobias had finished speaking, Master Ral nodded before speaking in his usual calm, somewhat airy voice, “We have spent very little time on defensive training...it would seem to me that it is barely necessary.”

“My parents...” Tobias started but stopped, knowing that Master Ral already knew. But then, Tobias just shrugged and went on, “For the first time in my life, the lightsaber actually felt like an extension of my arm rather than an actual weapon. I think that’s why I was able to control it so well.”

Master Ral nodded, “It is. There is more to this than I believe you see, however. If what you tell me is accurate, you reacted to actions before those actions occurred...yes?”

Tobias had to think about that, recalling the short few seconds of combat that were more of a blur from his point of view. Well, a blur to his eyes. Through the Force, it had been impossibly clear. It had been clearer than anything his eyes could have ever hoped to see. Realizing that, Tobias nodded, “I think so...”

Turning to face him, Master Ral reached out to put a hand on Tobias’ shoulder, “In the last few weeks, you have displayed an ability to clearly sense the thoughts of those around you. This is not unusual for a Jedi, but it seems to come much more naturally to you rather than as an active ability. Eventually, it is common practice to teach an apprentice to extend this sensing ability further, beyond the surface thoughts to the ability to sense an opponents actions before they happen. Most apprentices take years to reach that point, but I believe that is exactly what you did earlier.”

Tobias found himself staring blankly at his Master. When he thought about it, that was what had happened. Tobias had been able to react so quickly because he knew exactly what was happening. But he hadn’t even thought about it. It had just happened. His arm needed to move there to block the shot that was going to be fired, while he body needed to be here and turned just like that to dodge the shot of the other, then shift his arm just there so that his blade went right where it needed to be to deflect another shot...

He hadn’t really seen it happen, as such. Rather, Tobias just somehow knew exactly where he needed to be. He had just...reacted. Reacted to things that had not happened. It was an odd thought, but it was definitely true. The strangest part, though, was that not once did Tobias think about it. He didn’t try to do it. Instead, it just happened. He just moved exactly as he needed to as easily and simply as if he was walking.

“What does that mean...?” finally, Tobias asked the question that kept coming up in his mind.

A smile formed on Master Ral’s face, “It means that you are beginning to truly understand what it is to let go of yourself and allow the Force to guide you. The fact that you are able to do this unconsciously is important. The Force can react to a command, but what a Jedi truly must learn is to let go of that and understand that we are not in command of the Force, rather, it is there to guide us. It is a difficult distinction...and not one that I can teach you. That is something you must do on your own.”

After letting this sink in, Tobias decided another question was important, “Well...where to next?”
	The smile on the Jedi Master’s face only grew and he turned to head back into the Jedi Headquarters, motioning for Tobias to follow. Over his shoulder, Master Ral said, “There are reports coming in from various parts of the galaxy of Yuuzhan Vong creatures hunting down Jedi. It seems we have become more than just a target for blame by the New Republic govnerment. We’re going to find out what these creatures are and find a way to protect ourselves and other Jedi from them.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 580: The Cavalry*

“What the hell did you do?!” Loro was down behind the cover of the ledge on the roof of the building, no longer bothering to fire over the side as it was doing no good. They’d moved a heavy crate and the remains of the blaster cannon onto the door in such a way that, even if opened, it would be extremely difficult to break or move. He was currently yelling at the nearest of the Rodians, a younger one with slightly greenish skin pocketed with brown here and there.

The Rodian, who’s name Rea was completely unaware of, leaned over and fired a few shots with his rifle before ducking back down again. He gave Loro a sharp look with those two black eyes and then snapped back, “Didn’t even get to the base!”

“They were coming for us already!” one of the other Rodians, who was currently replacing the power pack in his small carbine, grumbled, “Vong done toying with their prey. Let us live longer than I would have...”

“I think he’s right,” Rea felt the need to yell across the very small roof to be heard, “But I don’t think it really matters right now!”

Loro nodded to that before looking up and over his shoulder. The Coralskippers were still approaching quickly. They were close enough to be distantly heard, too, and odd sound coming through the air that was far more chill-inducing than the screech of TIE Fighters. It was very obvious from the sound that the thing was alive, but it was still relatively quiet, as if the essence of everything that felt wrong about the Yuuzhan Vong could be condensed into a sound.

Next to Rea, who was currently between the crates over the roof access and the stretchers, the crates shook. It made her nearly jump, but thankfully that was all the did. She could vaguely make out the sounds of Chazrach beneath, but knew that the crate would hold long enough. The Coralskippers would kill them first, anyway, so what did it matter?

The green-skinned Rodian suddenly cried out, “Vong Warriors are killing Chazrach to get to the building! They are insane!”

It was stupid, but Rea tilted her head enough to get a look over the side. Just as the Rodian had said, a group of ten or so very large, very angry looking warriors were simply cutting down the smaller Chazrach that got in their way. One of them looked up, caught sight of Rea, and looked ready to throw something, likely a razor bug. Before he could, however, Rea ducked down again, making sure her lekku were good and below the cover, too.

“Why the hell would that send warriors in if they’re going to just blow this place up with those Skips?” Adria growled angrily, having also given up on fighting back due to her power pack dying and not having a backup. That and, well, it felt futile. The only ones still firing were two of the youngest Rodians.

Rea considered looking over again, but heard the growls of the warriors getting closer. Eyes looking up past Loro, she saw the Coralskippers would likely be in range within seconds. It was then that she decided on some last words, “Maybe they just really want us dead.”

They weren’t the best last words, but they damn well were more than most fighter pilots got.

And then four red bolts of energy slammed into the lead Coralskipper from above. Three of the shots were eaten by its miniature black hole defense, but the fourth got through and hit its nose, causing an eruption of liquid flame that must have been thanks to the atmosphere, as Rea had never seen that happen in space. A moment later, the Coralskipper flight was completely overwhelmed from above, and only one was actually able to pull away, with the others going up in flame and then hitting the ground in a plume of fire.

Two X-Wings, three of the newer E-Wings, and an A-Wing suddenly dropped into view, all pulling out of a dive and heading different directions. The E-Wings went after the Coralskipper, with the other fighters breaking off and flying directly over the building before strafing the Vong troops on the ground.

If any of the seven conscious beings on the roof cried out in surprise or joy, it couldn’t be heard. From the roar of the sublight drives passing overhead to the loud screams of the fighter’s laser cannons. And then came another sound even more deafening. It was the distinct sound of turbolaser fire, and Rea looked up to see the shape of a Star Destroyer in orbit above the moon. It was so large that its wedge shape could be clearly seen, as could the green turbolaser blasts arcing down through the moon’s atmosphere, hitting some location off over the horizon.

And there were other ships coming down. Small dots in the sky could be seen darting about, likely that horde of Coralskippers that had ambushed the squadron from before...but now they looked to have an entire fleet to deal with. Through it all, Rea made out a few of the ships growing larger. Eventually she made out the somewhat boxy shapes of Assault Transports, hopefully fully loaded with troops. And they were, from the looks of it, headed straight for the building.

Then, just to make things difficult, the crate next to Rea shook violently again.

“Quit staring up and get your blasters ready!” Loro yelled as he started to scramble for a power pack that at least had a few shots left, “No use getting ourselves killed when help finally gets here!”

There was no arguing with that. Quickly, and still staying low, Rea moved the stretchers away from the crates more and found a blaster pistol she could use. The power pack looked light, though, enough for only a five or six shots. That was, at least, more than none. She then, once again, moved to a position where she was in front of the stretchers as an extra bit of protection.

Above, the fighters were still strafing the outer perimeter around the building, but were being smart and not firing too close. Sadly, that meant the Vong Warriors would likely be either in the building or close to that soon. It seemed like every time something good happened, five things worse occurred.

This time, it was about ten Vong Warriors that were about to occur.

And, from the looks of how far away the shuttles were, the few shots they all had left to defend themselves on the roof would be all they had when, not if, the Vong got through the makeshift defense. Rea began to worry that the fleet had just arrived too late.


----------



## AKM

You know, when looking at it... I have to admit... Somehow I miss this.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

AKM said:
			
		

> You know, when looking at it... I have to admit... Somehow I miss this.



 I miss it and so very much more.

I'm glad, in an odd way, it has the same effect for you.


----------



## AKM

Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> I miss it and so very much more.
> 
> I'm glad, in an odd way, it has the same effect for you.



Sure, let's start a fight over who misses it more   

These days I RP in the Old West and Doctor Who, funny eh? And the last Star Wars character I made was in... 2005 I think, and so totally different.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

AKM said:
			
		

> Sure, let's start a fight over who misses it more




Pfft, its not worth it. We already know I'd win!



> These days I RP in the Old West and Doctor Who, funny eh? And the last Star Wars character I made was in... 2005 I think, and so totally different.




I still dabble around, myself. Even starting a new Star Wars game here on the boards tonight, hopefully. But being in art school has, sadly, taken away a lot of the time I'd like to have for other things. One of those things being updating this nightly.


----------



## AKM

Art school, fun. These days I'm totally out of Star Wars, kind of funny. But then again, I got to use my own species for The Doctor. And the Wild West, oh yeah, baby! Guns, dead people, bar fights, horses, prostitutes, indians, etc... And one of my characters is one hell of a racist... and... his name is Vander*voort*. Fear!

Tell me, why are we using this when we're both on AIM? Oi!


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 581: Chasing Ghosts*

It had taken nearly half an hour, but the overly excited twins eventually were convinced to play quietly while Marix spoke with the four Jendari, all of whom had simply sat quietly with serene looks on their avian features without saying a word. They seemed content to allow Marix to have some time with her children, and the twins didn’t even seem to notice. They were also far more talkative than she remember, especially Andrea, though she still kept to Alraxian. That was interesting in itself. Saraan would rapidly explain one of their little adventures speaking in somewhat broken Basic with Andrea cutting in and adding to it with little details in Alraxian.

But, finally, Marix had convinced them that yes, they could stay during the meeting as long as they were quiet. So now they sat on the large table just off to Marix’s left, doing their best to be quiet and still play whatever game they were playing with their handful of toys that the Jendari had brought along with them. 

With the twins occupied, Marix explained the situation. She kept a very business-like tone and simply reported to them everything that she had learned from Qroal, followed by the information provided by the interrogation. Truthfully, it felt pointless to explain, as Marix half-expected that the Jendari already all of it...and probably more, actually. But they wouldn’t tell her unless she asked even if they did know, so Marix considered her half-hour long briefing as more of a half-hour long question.

When she had finished speaking, she did, in fact, ask a question.

“What do you think?”

All four Jendari watched her carefully for a moment. They were all built about the same, short compared to an Alraxian, frail-looking but with eyes beneath their feather-like hair that could see through any and every thing. Marix could see nothing in those eyes, and they were all closed to the Force beyond a simple feeling of serenity that nearly every Jendari was surrounded by. Eventually, though, the Jendari on the far left with slightly a green colouration to her feathers, answered the question, “I believe your assumption is correct. With what little we know of the Yuuzhan Vong, it would seem that an Alraxian’s ability to morph would be ideal for integrating into their technology.”

“But it is still an assumption,” the Jendari on the right spoke up, showing an interesting disagreement that immediately grabbed Marix’s attention, “There is the possibility that what they want something we do not understand. There is still far too much unknown about them.”

“And the captive could simply be lying to cloud their motives even more,” a third Jendari added.

Then, not missing a beat, the Jendari in the center, who Marix recognized as Lir, one of the older Jendari who was a part of the Council, looked Marix directly in the eye and put out one more possibility, “It is also possible, my lady, that the Knights we have lost contact with are, quite simply, dead.”

Something about that bothered Marix and she wasn’t sure why. She only had a short few moments to think on it, though, before the third Jendari to speak up, to Lir’s right, said softly, “You didn’t even consider that, did you?”

She hadn’t.

The second there had been the possibility of those Knights being alive, even if they were captives of the Vong and being tortured or whatever the Vong did, Marix latched onto that as true. It made sense. The Knights were alive because the Vong needed something from them. They weren’t dead, thousands of light years from their home and everyone that they cared about. They were alive...waiting for Marix to find them. Surviving against all odds because they were Knights, because they had volunteered for their missions into the war zone to protect their people, and because when they got back they would have more information that could be used to protect the Empire. They wouldn’t be dead...no...

And then, right then, Marix knew exactly why she hadn’t considered the possibility of the Knights being dead. She knew, and it terrified her, and so she lied, “I don’t know why I didn’t...”

The Jendari were not stupid. They were just as aware as she was. They did not, however, call her on the obvious lie. Before any of them said anything else, however, all four Jendari glanced to the two young children playing on a table and seemingly oblivious to the conversation going on right over their heads...literally. But then they all looked back to Marix, and Lir’s voice lowered to just above a whisper, “If there are Knights out there, alive and captives of the Yuuzhan Vong, then he could be there, too.”

That was exactly the thought that had come to Marix’s mind moments earlier. It took Marix a moment to realize that Lir was stating that as why she wanted the Knights to be alive, and very definitely not as something he believed to be true. It was a dose of reality that she rarely needed, and that fact bothered her more than the thought had. It just kept coming back...

“If the Knights are alive, though, I can’t leave them out there,” Marix did her best to remain rational.

To her surprise, Lir nodded, “It is too much of a risk to ignore.”

“But...” she said the word that Lir had left off at the end. It wasn’t as if Marix didn’t know what he would say, but she was being careful, as the Jendari were, with what they said with the twins in earshot. They were young, but certain things didn’t need to be mentioned around them without careful innuendo and not-so-subtle hinting.

“Looking for lost Knights is one thing, my lady,” Lir said softly, then his feathers rippled slightly before he added, “But looking for ghosts is something else, entirely.”

He was right, of course.

Marix was finding herself doing exactly what she’d always been angry with Jyren for.

The irony of that thought did nothing but make it all worse, too.

After shaking her head, Marix looked down at Andrea, playing with a little Kanyak-toy, then said to the Jendari, “I cannot send someone else.”

“Then you must be aware of more than just the Yuuzhan Vong.”

But Marix wasn’t really paying attention to the Jendari anymore. Andrea had turned to look over her shoulder and, through that mess of hair that looked so much like Marix, was staring right back at her. There was a very serious look in those big eyes as Andrea looked up at her mother. And looking back, Marix realized a terrible thing. Her little girl understood every word of what they were saying over her head. She wasn’t playing, she was listening, trying to find out how long she would have with her mother before Marix ran off again.

It was one of those times that Marix truly needed Jyren to be around. He understood how to be around children, what to say and do...and she...Marix just stared back, wishing she could find some words to comfort her daughter but unable to do anything but gently stroke the girl’s hair. One day, she would be a strong Empress...but Marix truly hoped that Andrea would forgive her for being such a terrible mother.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 582: A New World*

While Coruscant was a truly amazing planet, Tobias was glad to be away from it. He could only handle so much of the endless city and the millions of speeders and ships and the fake trees before he just felt uncomfortable. Visiting the planet for a short time was alright, though, and as he and Master Ral left the planet, Tobias couldn’t help but wonder when he would get to see the surface of it again.

But it was gone now, lightyears behind them.

Now, Tobias stood on a world far removed from both Coruscant and Alraxia. There was no endless city and there was also no green. All around Tobias were browns and tans and other muted tones that seemed almost as alien to him as the metals of Coruscant had. There were buildings, but they were the same colours, blending into the environment as if they were simply a part of it and had always been rather than structures build to hold back the planet’s natural forces.

Before standing there, his boots in the sand that was apparently a street, Tobias had only ever known Tatooine as the place Luke Skywalker had grown up. But everyone seemed to know that, especially Jedi. Beyond that, however, Tobias knew nothing at all. In the few short minutes that Tobias had been on the planet, he had learned a surprising amount about it. The first, and most obvious beyond the colours, was the fact that it was hot. Not just any kind of heat, either...Tobias was Alraxian, and he liked heat, but this was a dry heat. Alraxia was humid and there was water in the air and even as a human Tobias felt comfortable in it. But this desert planet was just simply hot...hot, and so dry that already Tobias felt uncomfortable.

Beyond that, what Tobias learned about Tatooine came from Master Ral. With Hutt Space lost, it was the desert planet, far behind the lines of battle, that the remaining Hutts had set up a home. They were everywhere, Hutts of all sizes and ages. And with them were just as many species as Tobias had seen on Coruscant, if not more. In fact, there was no direct sign of the Vong on the planet, no feeling of the their threatening presence in the galaxy. It almost seemed like everyone walking the streets of the old Imperial captial of Bestine didn’t even know about the invasion.

But the Yuuzhan Vong was why he and Master Ral were there.

According to Master Ral, three Jedi had disappeared on Tatooine within the last two weeks. Two of them had been working together, a husband and wife actually there to talk the Hutts into helping in the war effort. They had, of course, failed as they Hutts had instead threatened to turn them over to the Vong. But then something had happened, and the two Jedi Knights had simply dropped off of the surface of the planet. That is, until another Jedi Knight was sent to investigate and found them dead. They had not been killed by the Hutts, but by something else. The report had been that it reminded the Jedi Knight of an amphistaff wound, but larger and much more gruesome.

And then he, too, disappeared.

That had been two days prior.

Now Tobias stood with Master Ral in the streets of Bestine, the very city that all three Jedi Knights had last reported back from. It was unnerving, to say the least. But there was something fighting that in Tobias. He knew that he wouldn’t be on the planet in such an obviously dangerous situation where they knew so little about what was happening if Master Ral didn’t believe he could handle it. Where before, Tobias had felt like he was simply tagging along wherever his master went, this felt different. For the first time, it truly felt like he was there because Master Ral saw him as more than just a student.

“I still do not understand why you insist on wearing that jacket,” Master Ral spoke in his usual serene tone, but there was a hint of a joke in that. It was an odd thing to hear, but Tobias had noticed more and more slight changes like that from Master Ral over the last few days.

Tobias smiled and looked to the Jedi Master. The Omwati was wearing something akin to the classic Jedi robes, though they were trimmed a bit shorter to accommodate a bit more easy of movement and also likely meant to keep him a bit cooler. Tobias also wondered if it had something to do with making him look less like a Jedi, as even Master Ral’s lightsaber was hidden from view. Glancing then to the jacket he wore, Tobias shrugged, “Its comfortable.”

And it reminds me of Jyren.

He didn’t say the last part. In fact, he didn’t really even think it. But it was there, in the back of his head. Tobias was becoming more and more his own person as every day went by, but some things didn’t change. In some way, Tobias would always want to be just like his father. That, and it was comfortable, of course.

Master Ral seemed to accept that answer and idly looked off down the street to their left. A speeder was coming by, an older model one with a closed top and that had, at one time, probably been black rather than grey and lacking in paint. After a few moments of just looking off into that direction as the planet’s twin suns sat high above in the sky, the Omwati turned back to Tobias, “Barrin’s last communication put him here in Bestine, on the south side of the city.”

“This is a city...?” Tobias couldn’t help the question, as it was bothering him. Even the Palace on Alraxia looked more like a city than these huts.

A slight smile formed at the corner of Master Ral’s long features and he nodded once, but went on, “It is possible the Hutts will help us if only to remove themselves from suspicion, though I believe we would be better served looking into this ourselves before we reach out to others.”

Tobias found himself watching some wait-high robed creatures babbling on in some odd language to one another as they walked past. Somehow, though, he kept his main attention on Master Ral’s words, “Why not take the help if we can get it?”

“Three Jedi have been killed already, Tobias. At this point, we cannot risk drawing attention to ourselves as ones looking into the deaths of those Jedi,” Master Ral finished that sentence, waited a beat, then started walking without any word at all.

Out of habit, Tobias easily fell into step next to his Master, knowing that there was a reason he decided to start walking then, “Do you really think this is connected to that new Vong creature you heard about?”

There was something surprisingly worrying in the fact that Master Ral did not immediately respond to that. He was thinking, of course, and also taking in everything around them just as Tobias was trying to do. But then, when Master Ral finally did speak, it ended up worrying Tobias even more than the silence had, “It does fit the profile of the other reports...but I suspect we shall find out for ourselves.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 583: Inevitability*

Eventually, everything died.

It was a basic fact of the universe that most living things did their best to put in the back of their minds. But it was always there, unable to be ignored just as life itself could not be ignored. For many beings, what happened after death was vitally important to coping with the inevitability of it, including the Jedi. But sometimes, in the moments when it was so clearly there and unable to be ignored at all, it was impossible to look beyond it to what, if anything, came after. And in that kind of situation, most living beings did everything in their power to avoid it.

It was fear, of course. Fear of the unknown. Fear of death itself or just of pain. Fear of almost everything, but fear. It had driven many Jedi into darkness, that fear. It was the most primal emotion most living beings were capable of, as they were meant to live. But fear could be overcome, but Jedi and by non-Jedi. And in those moments when it was overcome, that was when those terrified beings could actually find a way to put off the inevitable just a little longer.

Once again, the crates over the hatch on the roof of that single building on Rodia’s moon shook violently. The Vong warriors were strong, and it wasn’t going to hold them much longer. Rea, Adria, Loro, and the remaining Rodians watched that corner of the roof carefully, blasters at the ready. New Republic fighters were still flying overhead, dogfighting with the almost countless numbers of Coralskippers in the air. Some managed to strafe the red-grass fields here and there, clearing out the remains of the Chazrach that had been feebly attempting to reach them. Now it was just those dozen Yuuzhan Vong warriors below, ready to break through and slaughter everyone on that roof before the rescue ships above were able to land.

And staring at that makeshift barricade that would probably only hold for a few more short moments, all of them saw death. Between them, they only had enough power in their blasters for a handful of shots. Not enough to kill the Vong warriors thanks to their extremely effective vonduun crab armour. The shots had to be well placed, and there wouldn’t be time. They could kill the first, probably, a simple shot to the head as it got through the door. But after that they would all come through quickly, amphistaves at the ready to slaughter them.

It was a terrifying thing to confront, but all of them knew it. Even the youngest of the Rodians who had convinced himself he was invulnerable suddenly understood the weight of his situation. He would not survive this year. He would not complete the Hunt. He would never be a full member of what was left of his Clan. And it scared him. It terrified all of them. But every single one of them was ready to face it, eyes open and ready for it.

But then one of them moved beyond their fear into something else.

Hope.

“We could jump.”

Rea turned to look at Adria next to her, “Jump?!”

The red-haired human woman nodded at the edge of the roof behind her, “Its what? About ten, twelve meter drop? A little more? We could survive that.”

“Wounded cannot jump...” surprisingly, it was the youngest of the Rodians, the green-skinned one with splotches on his face, that spoke that in his nasally voice.

Hope was starting to catch.

Loro shifted from his kneeling position to move over to where Commodore Nok’s unconscious form was, “We carry them and jump. No way we can leave them here.”

“Have you all gone mad?” Rea looked from Loro to Adria and then to the Rodians, who were getting to their feet and finding ways to help Loro carry the couple other wounded that were left.

Adria spun around and then did something that could have been stupid. She looked over the edge of the roof. Just minutes earlier, that would have meant a razor bug through her face, but not now. The Chazrach were no longer down there. She could see the red grass and bodies...so many bodies. Some slain by blaster fire, others by the starfighter strafing runs, and the rest by the group of Yuuzhan Vong warriors that were now about to get through to the roof.

Looking back to Rea, Adria spoke quickly, “We just need a few more minutes and those shuttles will be here but we don’t have that if we stay up here!”

“But—“ Rea stopped herself, seeing Loro starting to pick up the Commodore. One of her arms shot out, grabbing the Mon Calamari’s wrist firmly, “Don’t move him like that! You can’t! He’s already in bad shape!”

Swiftly but gently, Loro removed her hand and went back to the Commodore anyway, “If we stay here he’ll be dead. We’ll all be dead. Adria is right.”

They had all gone mad. All of them were bruised, bleeding, and hurt and they were going to jump from the roof to the hard ground below, a couple of them carrying unconscious wounded over their shoulders in the process. Rea watched one of the crates over the roof access fall move from another powerful push against the door. She then looked to both of her sides to see all of the others on their feet and looking over the edge...except for Adria.

The human woman reached a hand down to help Rea to her feet, “We’ve made it this far, Rea. You and me. We’ve survived and we’ve kept the Commodore alive. But we can’t stay up here and keep that up. This is the only option we have.”

“Unless you want to die,” one of the Rodian’s quipped, unhelpfully.

And then the Rodians jumped. Rea heard thuds and groans as they landed, but they were amazingly silent for what had to be a very painful fall. Loro gave the two females one quick look before taking in a deep breath and jumping, too.

“I’m not going until you do,” Adria’s hand was right there in front of Rea’s face. She was serious. This normally arrogant woman would stand there and die if Rea didn’t go. It didn’t really make sense, but then again, humans rarely did.

Rea grabbed her fellow pilot’s arm and was pulled to her feet in one swift tug. She stood there a moment, then said flatly, “You’re mad.”

And suddenly Adria grinned. But it was only there for a moment, because she turned and jumped. Rea watched the human woman drop and roll, though it was very ungraceful and it looked from the sound of it Adria broke a bone or two...but she did live, and even started to get to her feet, beginning to hobble away just like the others were somehow managing.

Without a look back, Rea threw reason away and jumped. Freefall like that was something she should have seen as normal, being a pilot. But there was no protection, no control...just a fall. A fall that ended very abruptly and very roughly. She hadn’t thought to roll until it was forced on her, landing on one leg which immediately was wracked with pain before buckling under her and causing Rea’s side to slam into the ground next. She rolled beneath the meter high grass for a confusing few moments before stopping face down in the dirt.

Her mind was registering a pain, but somehow it was dulled and distant. Adrenaline was flowing and she could hear Adria cursing not far away. She had to get up. She had to move. The Vong would know soon and they’d come after them. Everything still a blur, Rea pushed herself to her feet. Or at least, she tried to. Her right leg couldn’t support any weight, and a quick glance it showed that it was bent at a very unhealthy angle. Her tunic was frayed, too, with a slightly numb feeling extending across most of her right side.

Suddenly a hand grabbed her left side, long fingers and thin but strong enough to yank her up and then help her to move. It was one of the Rodians, getting an arm around her to help, “Come on, Twi’lek!”

They ran as best they could. But it wasn’t running, as much as feeble hobbling through tall grass to...no where in particular. And then, barely a twenty odd meters from the building, they all heard it. It was an angry cry of rage that didn’t need to be in Basic to be understood. Rea looked over her shoulder to see the Yuuzhan Vong looked back at them from the roof. One of them pointed, and then they, too, jumped. She didn’t seem them land, but something told her that they wouldn’t have the problems that Rea and the others had. That would have lined up just right with the rest of the day...and the war, even.

From ahead of them, but out of sight due to the tall grass, Loro called back in his gravely voice, though it sounded strained at the same time, “I think they see us! Keep it up! Come on!”

And then Rea heard the distinct voice of one of the Rodians yelling, “Shuttle’s down ahead! Move!”

But behind, the Vong could be heard. They didn’t speak, but Rea could hear them moving. Heavy footsteps hitting the ground and the grass behind them rustling as the Vong warriors got closer and closer.

“Faster!” the Rodian helping her tried to speed up, but Rea couldn’t keep up. In an attempt to do so, she let her injured leg try to take some of her weight and actually run rather than hopping along. But under her weight, Rea’s leg gave out and this time she found herself unable to ignore the pain. She slipped, yelped in pain, and then fell. The Rodian reacted by letting go of her. In that terrible moment when Rea hit the ground, she was able to see the Rodian look down at her, but he didn’t stop...he kept running.

They all kept running except for one Twi’lek.

For a short few moments after jumping from that roof, Rea had stopped being afraid and felt that same hope that they’d survive. There was even a ship now, on the ground somewhere ahead of her that she hadn’t seen land...but it was there. There ready to take them off the terrible moon. All of them except her. But she wasn’t afraid anymore. The Vong were right there. There was nothing she could do anymore.

And so in that half-second of clarity, Rea’tin Lor knew that it was over. But despite that, she also knew that the Commodore and the others would make it. And that...that made it all worthwhile.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 584: Deep Orbit*

Distant orbit of a star system was an interesting form of camouflage. Usually it meant powering down most systems and dropping into an orbit typical of an asteroid in a somewhat erratic orbit. There was, of course, a great deal of care required in this, and at least a little bit of insanity needed to think that a ship could be mistaken for an asteroid...or at least ignored like one.

It rarely worked.

Rarely, of course, meant that sometimes it did. 

The trick to it had nothing to do with those attempting it...rather, it was all in the hope that someone wouldn’t notice. For a metal ship, it could work. Most ships were composites, of course, but distant scans could read a ship as just a floating metal object. If no one bothered to look closer, then all was well and it worked. But organic ships had another difficulty on top of everything else...asteroids weren’t normally composed of non-metals. It was an immediate tip off to something odd, though, again, it took someone paying a little more attention than a cursory scan.

But then again, sometimes even that might not seem odd. It was possible that the Yuuzhan Vong might just ignore organic floating objects as space debris, usually the second guess of a not-so-attentive scanning officer of a ship after an asteroid. And besides that, the Yuuzhan Vong were from another galaxy. Who were they to say what was normal and not in this one? It was worth a try, at least...

And, for four standard days, it had worked.

“So what do you think?” Marix asked as she peered through the viewport and at the small globe of a star. There were dots, too. Planets. Colour could even be seen in them, though it took some careful peering at their current distance.

[I think they’re thick. Orbit right past the fifth planet and they didn’t even bat an eye. Bet we could do it again and they’d still miss us.] somehow, even though it was just a mental voice and not a real sound, Hermes sounded different than Loki. They were brothers, and there was a definite similarity in the way they both ‘spoke’, but where Loki could shift from sarcasm to serious, it seemed that Hermes only had the ability to be sarcastic. Well, sometimes he had a good-natured humour about him but there was always the sarcasm. It was why he had been the perfect match for Kyren: a foil to such a serious personality. And then Jyren, too, actually succeeding at sarcasm and general wit where Jyren tried far too hard and usually fell short.

Marix, however, just tried her best not to be annoyed by it. Hermes seemed to at least tone it down a bit when she was around, so the last week had actually been bearable. They had not discussed Loki at all except for the first hyperspace jump, and even then it had been short. Neither of them really wanted to think about Loki’s condition, even if they had been consistently assured that, by the time they got back, he’d be on his feet again, as it were. The saying only made things more frustrating, though, since Loki didn’t actually have feet.

Shifting slightly in the single chair within Hermes’ cockpit, Marix let her head rest against the curved headrest that Jyren had talked Hermes into going with. The chair was bigger than Loki’s, too, a more comfortable size for Jyren. Apparently Alyx hadn’t bothered to ask Hermes to change any of those little details, if he’d even thought about it. Marix sure wasn’t going to say a thing about it, “Nothing new?”

[Not since that flotilla left a couple of hours back.] Hermes sounded bored. [Too far out to get a good look at the planet, though.]

Idly, Marix patted the side of the seat, “Six more hours and we’ll be right in the middle of it again. Get one more good look at that big ship and then we can decide what to do.”

[And by ‘we’, you mean ‘you’. Or ‘me’, I guess. Pick a pronoun, you know what I mean.]

“You really do babble.”

A slight laugh sounded in her mind. [What else do you expect me to do? Just out here floating like a rock and staring at some star system I’ve never heard of looking for something you’ve only vaguely described to me. Even then, it was an idea and not an object. Its amazing anyone can put up with you for more than a day.]

“I’ve heard the same said about you,” Marix forced a smile on her face, at least a slight one. He hadn’t said ‘Loki’ he’d said ‘anyone’. It was deliberate, and they’d both been doing it for days. Sadly, though, it seemed that just not speaking the name didn’t mean they couldn’t stop thinking it. Not that they stopped the practice. It had to work eventually. Marix then decided to change the subject to something more practical, “Can you give me a view of the planet again?”

[Your friendly, babbling telescope obeys, my lady.]

In front of her, just over the viewport, an image appeared. At first, it was just a zoomed in image of the system’s single, boring little star. But then it shifted to the right until a green dot came into view, then again zoomed in until the dot was a planet. There were greens and blues and the whites of clouds obscuring much of it, but that was about the extent of the detail. Currently, Hermes was at the peak of his orbit, so far out from the rest of the system that it was amazing he could bring the planet into that clear a view at all.

Myrkr was a planet ignored by the galaxy for much of history. It sat in the Inner Rim, a planet covered in forests, jungles, and very unique wildlife that all used the Force to their advantage in some way. Through most of history, it was just a haven for smugglers and such. A nice place where no one bothered to look partly due to the natural wildlife and partly due to the fact that it was just considered a rather backwater world without any real civilization of any kind. In recent years it had been a blip on the galactic scene again, but nothing more. And now the Vong had it.

As she thought about them, Marix saw the obvious presence of the Vong gently orbiting around the planet come into view. At first glance, the object looked like a galaxy orbiting Myrkr. It was a spiral shaped object with those long arms so easily associated with galactic formations, but it was not composed of stars and dust. It was ship, and it was solid. It was one of the Yuuzhan Vong’s Worldships, their namesake being enough to describe them perfectly.

On their orbit through the system itself, both Marix and Hermes had spent a great deal of time examining the ship from a distance. It was over a hundred kilometers long, with protrusions on both hemispheres of its spiral shape that looked like typical Vong weaponry. Smaller cruisers and ships docked with the long, spiral arms for short periods of time before detaching and flying off to wherever they were going. It was an amazing sight, really. A world orbiting a world.

And something else, too.

Upon leaving the Gateway to look for the lost Knights, Marix had done the logical thing and picked one to follow. She plotted a course to her last known location and then went from there based on the Force and instinct. Marix and Hermes had ended up in a rather empty part of space just outside the Mid Rim and had sat there for a day while Marix thought and felt it out. The Knight had last reported from that location, though she’d undoubtedly gone somewhere else before her disappearance. It was a matter of finding where. 

Through the wonderfully vague guidance of the Force, they had reached Myrkr. For a short moment upon entering the system, Marix felt a presence in the Force, distant but there and in pain. At that point, she knew they’d found what they were looking for. Seeing the worldship just solidified that. It also, however, presented a problem that had caused the four day orbiting and observation they were now involved in. Was the feeling from the planet below or the worldship?

Both would be difficult to reach, but the former was much more accessible than the latter. Marix wasn’t ready to barge into a Vong worldship just yet. It would take something drastic for her to go that far, and even then, likely something along the lines of the twins being on said worldship. That was about the only thing that could cause such a stupid action. Still, something about the planet was drawing her. It was hard to pinpoint, but it was important. They needed to get down there and have a look around.

“In my experience, the Vong aren’t fools,” Marix mumbled the words, but it was obvious to Hermes that she was speaking to him, “They have to have seen us and they’ve got to be watching us now. But lets ignore the whys on that for now. Lets also ignore your analysis of them as ‘thick’.”

At that, Hermes had to cut in. [That’s a tough one to ignore...]

Not about to dignify that with a response, Marix continued her slow approach to an important question, “I need the truth here, Hermes. Can you get us onto Myrkr’s surface without that thing noticing?”

For the first time, Hermes did not immediately respond. He obviously took a moment to think, then answered in a surprisingly serious way. [If I’ve calculated our orbit just right, we’ll swing around and reach a point where that worldship will be on the opposite end of Myrkr from us. We’ll be just past the fifth planet’s orbit when that happens, so we’ll have to make a run for it to get in that window in time....but yes, I think I can do it.]

“What about other ships? They aren’t stupid, Hermes, they’re not just watching one side of the planet,” Marix was covering every option. This wasn’t the kind of situation to have to improvise unless all hell broke loose, and even then, it would be improvising a way to the nearest hyperspace route.

[I’ve been watching that, actually.] Hermes was somehow keeping to business like she’d never believed. [All the Vong ships just head right for that big one and then leave. We’re pretty far behind the front line so I doubt they’re too worried. No one’s dumb enough to be this far out, anyway, right? Exactly. Course, only problem is if they are paying even the slightest bit of attention, they’ll notice when we’re not orbiting anymore...]

At that, Marix shrugged, “Can’t avoid that. You’ll just have to get us down and hidden quickly. Use that unrivaled speed you’re always bragging about along with your unmatched intelligence that Alyx said you claimed to be a holder of in the last few months.”

[Yes, well, I prefer not to brag.]

“I prefer the same,” Marix gently kicked the underside of the control consoles, “So you damn well better be able to do it. Otherwise you’re going down in history as Hermes the Slow and Thick.”

The feeling of a smile passed into Marix’s mind. [Well, we can’t have that, can we? Just remember, Hermes is spelled in all big letters that you can see from orbit. Don’t let them forget that part. And I’d like some music at my monument, too. Something fast with a good beat.]

Marix rolled her eyes, “If you keep this up for the next six hours I’ll build special little cave for you when we get back. It’ll be nice and private and sealed deep underground so no one can hear you claiming to be Hermes, Master of the Great Below.”

[That does have a ring to it...]

Marix just sighed.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 585: What to Say*

If there was one positive thing Tobias could come up with about Tatooine, it was that he was human while there. If he’d been an Alraxian, the dry heat would have driven him insane and all the sand getting everywhere would have likely pushed him to murder. Then the smell. Oh, the smells. Bestine was supposed to be the capital of the planet, but it smelled like a slum and that with a human nose, too.

It had been a half hour since he and Master Ral had gone different directions. Tobias couldn’t help but cherish the freedom he was being granted, but he also knew how much else was being placed there along with it. Master Ral trusted him now, and he wasn’t about to go screwing that up. Or at least, he didn’t plan to.

How things were planned and how they really happened seemed to always be polar opposites.

“I didn’t say anything!” Tobias raised his hands in defense, trying to back away but finding a rather large, three-eyed Gran standing in his way.

“Exactly,” the Gran spoke the word in heavily accented Basic, but with a deep, angry voice that caused Tobias to take a very large step forward now that he knew that thing was behind him.

Of course, this put him face to face with the Gamorrean and wrinkly-skinned Weequay that had been the initial problem. The Gamorrean’s tiny eyes narrowed and he bellowed something while pointed a pudgy finger at Tobias. The Weequay nodded, then translated in an appropriately angry voice, “That problem. Not like nosey strangers that poke around and disappear next moment. Too many human steal from us like that.”

There was a grunt of acknowledgment from the Gran, which made Tobias look over his shoulder for a brief moment. At least none of them were armed...that he could see. Still, though, he tried to remain calm. Try being the operative word, as even someone with a loose grip on Basic could hear how nervous he was, “I was just looking for a friend of mine! I wondered if you’d seen him!”

The Gamorrean made a few guttural sounds, then the Weequay said, “You think you take our money then? Price on your friend’s head! No help you find what’s ours.”

It didn’t help that they couldn’t seem to stick to a story. Tobias had just been asking people if they’d seen one of the Jedi that had gone missing, claiming to be a family friend and concerned about his well being. Most of the people had at least tried to be helpful, thinking about it but then shrugging and apologizing because they didn’t recognize the description. But these two...well, three apparently, had immediately taken offence. Tobias was beginning to think they just wanted to pick a fight.

“I don’t want any money!” if he was smart, Tobias would have been using the Force to calm down the three around him. A crowd was developing, though, obviously to see if anything interesting happened. That, combined with his surprise at how antagonistic the trio was made it difficult for Tobias to concentrate at all on anything but figuring out what, if anything, he’d actually done wrong. The worst part was that he had trouble accepting that he hadn’t done anything wrong, which meant Tobias just kept digging himself deeper into a whole, “I didn’t know there was a price on his head! I was just worried about him so I came looking and—“

”He Jedi, too,” the Gran spoke gruffly, then put a heavy hand down on Tobias’ right shoulder, “You know he Jedi? I hear New Republic abandon Jedi...Vong pay good money for them.”

“Good money,” the Weequay nodded slowly and then pointed a finger at Tobias, “Jedi have no friends. Only other Jedi. That mean you Jedi, too...”

This time, when the Gamorrean grunted, no translation was given. Tobias, however, didn’t really need one. He figured it was just further pushing along of that ‘Jedi bad’ line of thought. He was right, too, though the vague assumption meant he didn’t know how many curses and other insults were laced in what seemed like a simple series of sounds. Sometimes it was nice not to understand a lot of languages. Only sometimes.

But now Tobias realized that these three weren’t just looking for a fight. They’d labeled him as a Jedi, and there was, indeed, a high price placed on Jedi in many areas of the galaxy. It was usually beyond monetary, too, with entire worlds convinced that if they turned over their Jedi, the Vong would spare them. Of course that wouldn’t be true, but it was something the people believed, and in the end that was all that really mattered.

Getting into a fight, however, was not something Tobias really wanted to do. Master Ral had told him to keep his eyes open and lay low, and already he’d failed at both. So now Tobias needed to get out of this situation in such a way that he could safely hide and blend back into the dirty, sand-scorched populace of Bestine. Still, running meant they would go after him. An outright fistfight probably meant that others would get involved against him, and removing his lightsaber from his hidden place beneath his jacket was completely out of the question.

It was at that point that something in Tobias’ mind finally clicked and told him to calm down and focus. It took a moment, and he could feel the three beings around him all burning brightly with aggression. They were definitely ready for a fight, and it didn’t look like he could stop that. Talking was obviously making things worse. Or was it...?

“You really trust these two to split the bounty with you?” there was a bit of the Force laced in Tobias’ words, but only a bit. This was mainly due to not really being any good at suggesting things to their brains rather than their ears, but he had to learn somehow. To offset the not-so-skilled use of the Force, Tobias tried to sound as honest as possible. He also didn’t speak the words directly to any of them, rather in the middle so that any of them could decide who the other two he was talking about were.

And it worked, too.

“Not split bounty with them anyway!” it was the Weequay that blurted the words out. His eyes suddenly went wide, realization of what he’d just said out loud washing over him.

At that, the Gran’s hand on Tobias’ shoulder lifted and the large humanoid stepped around him to glare down at the Weequay, “What was that?”

The Gamorrean snorted a series of words that didn’t sound at all polite. It then looked like the two were about to gang up and beat the Weequay into a very small, mushy pile of something, but Tobias could feel through the Force that all three still weren’t dumb enough to completely put Tobias out of their thoughts. The Gamorrean was still looking at him through the corner of those little, beady eyes, and the Gran glanced over his shoulder more than once.

So Tobias decided to tip the situation in his favour just a bit more.

Keeping his hand at his side, but drawing the Force to him, Tobias gave the Gamorrean a not-so-gentle shove right into the Gran. This got an angry yell and a push back, then the Weequay seemed annoyed at this act of violence and swung a punch at his Gran companion. In a matter of seconds, it was three-way brawl with the crowd cheering and laughing.

Tobias took that moment to turn and bolt the other direction as fast as he could without using the Force to help him on.

“Oi!” and then he heard a voice from that crowd, “You idiots that kid’s runnin’ off while you make fools of yourselves!”

There were a series of groans from the crowd as the fight stopped, and Tobias turned around to see all three of his assailants staring at him with rage obvious in their eyes.

“So much for a low profile,” Tobias mumbled softly to himself before turning and starting to run again, with the Gran, Gamorrean, and Weequay already on their feet and coming after him.


Apologies for the lack of updates. I've been insanely swamped with paintings the last week. Its going to probably keep up for another month, but I'll do my best to keep updating. After that,though, should be smooth sailing again for a while.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 586: Battle Report*

Commodore Nok regained consciousness on the shuttle, halfway to the shuttle and out of the moon’s atmosphere. He was only conscious for long enough to hear yelling, metallic creaking, and look around to see a greyish blur. But then the shuttle was jolted violently, dropping Rulae back into darkness only moments after the blur was beginning to solidify into actual shapes and forms.

The next time he awoke, he immediately recognized that he was in a medical bay. The empty smell in the air told him that before he eyes did. All medical facilities smelled the same. Sterile to an extent that it was almost worrying. A moment later, a cold metal gently touched his shoulder. Rulae shifted his eyes to look and see a thin medical droid standing there, its emotionless face doing nothing to reassure, though its calm voice at least tried to, “You should remain still, Commodore. I have just finished treating your wounds, sir, but you must not do anything to reopen the wounds.”

“What happened...?” Rulae asked in a hoarse voice, having trouble getting his voice to work. The last thing he could remember was ejecting from his X-Wing, then a few brief flashes here and there that didn’t make any sense to him for the moment. 

“I believe that is my question for you, Commodore,” that was not the medical droid, but a stronger, gruffer voice that Rulae knew very well. Admiral Tarus stood next to Rulae’s medical bed, his uniform as crisp as always and his sharp features revealing nothing at all, “In fact, the answer to that will likely be the deciding factor on whether I strip you of your rank and take that squadron away from you.”

That should have hit Rulae much harder than it did. But his head was still hurting and a few parts of him still ached, so Rulae figured that he wasn’t really completely aware just yet. Likely because of that, Rulae felt only that it was logical that he might lose his command after his actions at Rodia. He still didn’t know how many of the Zephyrs had survived, and ordering them to land on the moon would have been enough to get him into trouble considering it was just a recon mission. But with the way they’d ‘landed’, Rulae knew he wouldn’t be in the best position to argue for keeping command of the Zephyrs.

Rulae tried to shake his head, but couldn’t get his body to comply and just said weakly, “I don’t remember much, sir...”

“You sustained multiple concussions, Commodore,” the medical droid interjected softly, “Your short term memory may not return to you.”

When Rulae’s eyes shifted back to the Admiral, he saw that the middle aged human was actually looking at him with sympathy in his eyes. But when the Admiral spoke, his voice remained stern and strong as always, “Three of your pilots returned with their fighters. They told us of the ambush and I ordered the fleet to Rodia. When we arrived, we found debris in orbit around the moon and no signs of any of you. One of your pilots stated you were going to...rescue the others that were closer to the moon. We found more debris all across the surface of the moon, but before we were able to send search teams down the Vong launched multiple wings of coralskippers.”

Rulae was still not able to completely grasp all that was said. He did, however, latch onto the most important part of that report, “My pilots...only three survived?”

For a long few moments when the Admiral did not respond, Rulae felt his blood go cold and his chest tighten. It did not help that the Admiral’s tone remained hard, “Only three returned with their starfighters. Including yourself, Commodore, six of your squadron survived. In addition to that, we retrieved two Rodian mercenaries and...” Admiral Tarus’ voice trailed off, and he showed emotion for the first time. There was concern on his face, “One of your pilots that we had presumed dead at Fondor was also recovered.”

There was only one pilot that he had lost at Fondor.

“Loro is alive?” Rulae was very obviously confused. The Mon Calamari pilot had ejected from his damaged X-Wing during the fierce battle above Fondo months prior, and when he wasn’t recovered after the battle was rightfully presumed dead. To be picked up by the Vong wasn’t entirely out of the question, Rulae had heard about such things before...but that he would be on Rodia’s moon seemed almost too much of a coincidence to believe.

“Indeed he is,” the Admiral nodded, “He and the Rodians are being held in...secure interrogation rooms for the moment. We cannot be sure that the Yuuzhan Vong did not do something to them.”

That did make sense. It was not something Rulae wanted to think about, one of his old pilots being twisted by the Vong, but it was something that had to be considered. But at least he was alive. Rulae could only hope that Loro would turn out to be no more than shaken up from whatever he went through during captivity.

“The others?” there were still other concerns on Rulae’s mind, of course.

“Harken is in the best shape. She sustained a few bruises and cuts, but is currently working on her report,” it was at that point that the Admiral moved from standing to sitting next to the bed, “Most of the other young pilots are in their quarters, recovering from minor wounds that will heal. You and Officer Lor, however, are not likely to leave the medical bay for some time.”

Rulae knew he was not in the best of shape. He hadn’t bothered to look at himself, but he could feel it very easily. He felt weak and breathing was not as easy as it should have been. Most of him ached, too, though he was concerned by the fact that he could not feel anything at all from his left arm. He was not about to look to make sure it was there, for fear of not finding it, but even numbness was worth concern.

Hearing that Lor was not doing well was not comforting at all, however, “How is she?”

“Unconscious,” the Admiral looked beyond Rulae to some other part of the medical bay, “She lost a great deal of blood and is very lucky to be alive. From what Harken reported briefly, they were attacked by a great deal of Vong forces on the moon’s surface. Officer Lor was nearly killed during their escape to the shuttle we sent down. A pair of Yuuzhan Vong warriors cut her down with their amphistaves. Harken and Loro went back for her and with the help of our marines killed the warriors and retrieved Rea’s body. But...her arm was severed. By the time she arrived here and the medical staff started to operate the injuries she had sustained required them to take...drastic measures. One of her legs was amputated. She...has been unconscious since then and the droids are concerned that she may have suffered damage to her brain as well.”

The icy feeling returned to Rulae’s veins upon hearing that. Very slowly, and with a lot of pain, Rulae turned his head to try to look in the direction that the Admiral was looking. He could see other medical beds, and not far away one of them was occupied by a blue-skinned humanoid. Sadly, Rulae could not make out anymore details, though he knew it was her. Those kinds of injuries meant she’d likely never fly again.

And then he felt the need to defend his actions. Not to the Admiral, but to himself, “We were dead in the air, there was no escape for the majority of them with so many skips in the air. I ordered everyone down to the moon because we had a chance there. That and...well, there had to a reason so many skips were down there. I hoped we could find that out and put a stop to it.”

The Admiral shifted so that he was looking back down at Rulae, “The Rodians and Loro have stated that the Vong were working on something there, so your hunch seems correct. However, dealing with that kind of objective is better suited for SpecForces, not green pilots. You should know that better than most, Commodore. You put your squadron’s lives in danger in a situation they were not trained to handle and a great deal of them died. This was a reconnaissance mission, not an assault. The second you saw trouble you should have ordered that entire squadron out of the system.”

“By the time I knew it was trouble, half the squadron was already surrounded, sir,” somehow, Rulae managed to keep his voice calm. He expected it had a great deal to do with how weak he felt, as it was in no way comforting to have to think about what had happened, “I did what I thought was best. We were dead in the air, so I ordered the pilots that could jump to do so and the others to get to the moon’s surface in an attempt to survive.”

Admiral Tarus’ eyes narrowed and, for a moment, he looked less like a human and more like a very dangerous predator, “According to your wingmate, you could have made that hyperspace jump, too. In fact, you should have. If you had done that, we could have jumped back without a rookie babbling on to convince us we had to go to Rodia. I would have listened to you and immediately made the jump to save the rest of your squadron.”

Rulae managed to hold Tarus’ critical look without any difficulty. It was obvious the Admiral was angry, and for good reason. The Admiral had always been the kind of man to care for the people under his command. And, looking at it from the perspective of a commanding officer, Rulae had made a decision that had risked more lives than he should have.

Still...

“I stand by my decision, sir,” Rulae somehow managed to match the strong tone that the Admiral had adopted, “If I had left them and they had stayed in the air, there would not have been anyone to rescue. There would have been only four survivors in that case. And I...” he stopped a moment, suddenly realizing what it was and why he’d done what he’d done, “I will not abandon my pilots anymore, sir. I have seen us run time and time again after good people die in useless fights that get us no where. I have had to jump away from losing battles, leaving young pilots behind to be slaughtered again and again. I couldn’t do it anymore, sir. It wasn’t right and they needed me.”

For a long, silent minute, the Admiral watched him carefully. Then, he got up to his feet and took a few steps away before stopping, and looking over his shoulder back to Rulae, “When you are well enough, I expect that much and more to be in your report.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 587: Natural Adaptations*

Home to smugglers and other unsavory beings in the galaxy, Myrkr had never been very well developed beyond a few small encampments claiming to be towns or cities pocketed here and there across the planet’s surface. Because of this, the planet’s thick jungles were still teeming with native life that was, on the whole, rather dangerous. It was a wild planet, left untamed but not completely forgotten at the same time. Overall, it seemed like the very last place for the Yuuzhan Vong to take any interest in. There were no abominable cities of duracrete ruining the planet’s natural life, nor anymore than a handful of droids or other pinnacles of technology the Vong abhorred. By all rights, it should have been ignored entirely. There wasn’t even any significant population to exploit.

But it wasn’t.

The Vong had a worldship in orbit, one of their absolutely massive starships that had traveled the void between galaxies. It was the first of its kind that any of the Alraxian Knights had identified, though many had sent reports of them being rumoured at specific locations. This one, in a stationary orbit above Myrkr and looking like a living spiral galaxy, had been spotted by a Knight just two standard weeks prior. A week after reporting that she would attempt to get closer and learn as much as she could, the Knight disappeared entirely along with her Kanyak. The first thing that Marix and Hermes had done upon arrival in the system hours earlier was to search for the Kanyak through various means, all of which had failed. If it had left the system, a report would have been sent...but there was none. The path ended at Myrkr and at the worldship.

Marix had spent a great deal of the hyperspace trip studying the Knight’s reports about the planet. It wasn’t that Marix didn’t know Myrkr, she actually had a great deal of first hand knowledge thanks to her old days working as a smuggler, but she was more interested in what had attracted the Knight’s attention. The detection of the worldship had been the first shock for the Knight, immediately providing access to something they had never had before. It was not something to be passed up, and so she had stayed in system at a distance, working out a way to get in close. But as that plan was being worked out, the Knight began to consider why the ship was even there. Speculation on that had filled her last report.

After reading it all through and seeing the system for herself, Marix was able to dismiss many of the possibilities.  It was not a military stronghold, as there was only a small flotilla of Vong ships guarding the massive worldship. It could have been a trade hub, but that didn’t fit with the Vong profile at all. They didn’t seem interested in trade. The next possibility was supply, which was still definitely in the running considering how many Vong ships would come and go. Still, that did not completely answer all of Marix’s questions. Myrkr was in no way in a strategic location for a supply point, especially in a push to the Core Worlds that the Vong were undertaking. It was just too far behind the line and a little too off the beaten path, as it were.

Which said, to both the Knight and Marix, that the important piece had to be Myrkr itself. While the Knight did not have much working knowledge of the planet, Marix did. There was something that made Myrkr a very unique planet in the galaxy, and that was the native life. Many species on the planet were actually Force sensitive and used that to their advantage. The pinnacle of this came in the form of two species: the vornskyr and the yslamiri. The former was a very dangerous predator which used the Force to hunt its prey. This adaptation made the species an amazing tracker of Force sensitives in the galaxy. The predator also reminded Marix a bit of the Mrrakesh, though they weren’t sentient. Of course, sometimes Marix wondered if the Mrrakesh were sentient...

The yslamiri were arguably a more interesting species, however. They were not predators and did not use the Force to find their food. Instead, for them, the Force was a defensive mechanism. Somehow, the small, lizard-like creatures naturally created a bubble in the Force, blocking it out entirely. Since their use by Grand Admiral Thrawn so many years prior, the animals had proven to be quite an effective weapon in trapping Jedi opponents.

And this was where Marix made the connection between Myrkr and the Vong.

In recent months, the Yuuzhan Vong had proven to be obsessed with eliminating the Jedi Knights from the war, so much so that there were hints that they would leave worlds alone if the citizens turned over their Jedi. The Force might not directly affect the Vong, but the had seen its so-called champions and how effective it made them in combat. The Vong wanted to remove the Jedi, and it made sense to Marix that they would attempt to use the species of Myrkr to assist in that goal. The yslamiri could strip the Jedi of their abilities if the animal was close enough, and Marix could see the Vong attempting to use that trait to their advantage.

But that wasn’t why she and Hermes had taken nearly seven hours to carefully orbit close enough to the planet and make a mad dash to the surface before the Vong noticed that an object that had been in the sky previously was no longer there. It had been worrying that there was nothing to impede their landing, as Marix had expected far worse than a quick flight through the atmosphere and then a tight landing in a not-so-sparse part of the jungle. They had not been spotted at all, as far as Hermes could tell, and hopefully the Vong weren’t paying too much attention to their previous trajectory attempting to mimic a stray asteroid.

Even if they did notice Hermes was not orbiting anymore, it might not matter. Myrkr was no small planet, and Hermes had actually done a good job of hiding himself. And after landing, Marix had shut him up and put him to work scanning the area for the other Kanyak or even the Knight. An hour and a half passed and he found nothing. Marix found herself balancing two objectives. She had come to find the lost Knight, but now upon arriving and thinking of what the Vong might be up to, found herself needing to learn more. If the Vong were trying to use Myrkr’s native life to their advantage, not only the Jedi would be in trouble. All Force sensitives would, and that included a great many Alraxians.

“Where was she last?” Marix asked as she stepped out onto the soft ground. It smelled more like a swamp than a jungle, and Marix’s eyes could see enough movement all around her to know that Hermes had not scared off any of the native life. She was keeping her presence in the Force pulled inward as much as she could, not wanting to attract undue attention from any local vornskyrs.

[The last transmission came from an area ten kilometers to the east of here.] Hermes sounded bored. [She was trying to find out what the Vong were doing here and that’s about it...]

Marix knew that much, but Hermes didn’t seem to care. As she walked under him to head towards the east, Marix idly ran a hand along his underside, “Stay awake, Hermes, and let me know if anything new shows up. I am going to see what I can do about finding our lost Knight.”

There was the feeling of a sigh through the Force from Hermes. [I can’t believe Loki puts up with you just running off and having all the fun.]

Not dignifying that with a response, Marix just started onwards, ducking under some low branches and beginning a careful navigation of a place that was not meant for creatures the size of even a small Alraxian. It was going to take her some time to get ten kilometers if the jungle remained as thick throughout, and Marix expected it was more likely to get worse than better. Tight, enclosed spaces with dangerous predators all over waiting for a snack. It was like being back on Alraxia, outside of the Palace in the native environments where the early Alraxians had somehow managed to survive with their only defense in an under-developed morphing ability.

When she thought that, Marix admitted to herself that there was a bit of romantic ideal to that. Something like that was not a common thought for her.

Of course, Myrkr was not a romantic place at all. Somewhere on this planet, a Knight had disappeared. Somewhere else on this planet, the Vong were likely studying yslamiri. Marix could only hope that they weren’t also studying a newly captured Alraxian Knight.


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## tmaaas

*Just a friendly Bump...*

Bump!


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Alrighty...so I'm still alive. Mostly.

Sorry for the month-ish long disappearance but damn has life been crazy. Between daily paintings, my usual distracted self, and a new little writing project slowly developing into something I sadly haven't had the time to keep this updated and I feel pretty bad about it.

Good news is, life is slowing down again. It'll probably pick up again in a few months, but for now...slight calm. Which means that updates should resume back on their usual daily schedule starting tomorrow, if all goes well.   

Sorry again...and especially sorry I didn't leave it on a dramatic cliffhanger just to be evil.


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## aros86

is the last we have heard of this little saga or should we expect some more updates?


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Its not the last.

When I thought I'd have more time as of the last update I uh...haven't. I'm currently trying to figure out a way to work this into my current schedule, but its gotten pretty insane lately.

I'm still working on that aforementioned separate writing project, but in addition to that have managed to snag a job doing the graphic design for a friend's website, and also am in the preliminary stages of an online comic. The latter is taking up almost all of my time, as I'm working with a writer to get all the character/setting designs just right. Sadly, with all of that I haven't even really had time for my own sketching or painting so between that and this being on an annoying hold, I'm really driving myself crazy with things.

I can't really give an ETA on things at this point, but my hope is I can find a way to balance things without too much trouble sooner rather than later.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 588: Like Father, Like Son*

Jedi Knights were taught a great many techniques in resolving conflicts. While it looked as if most of this was combat training in the form of lightsaber technique, most of the training was actually in avoiding combat all together. The majority of the training is spent on Force calming techniques, proper negotiation and diplomacy, and most importantly, restraint. It is the last of which that focuses on when not to draw one’s lightsaber, and that is also one of the hardest things for most apprentices to grasp. A Jedi had to master many conflicting ideals, and that was one of the most fundamental.

More times than he could count, Tobias BlueIce had failed to realize when he was in such a situation. But finally, working on his own in Bestine, Tobias had resisted the urge to deal with a difficult situation by drawing his lightsaber. But sadly, just doing that was not enough. Though he had almost managed to defuse an angry trio bent on violence for what seemed like no true reason, almost wasn’t good enough. 

Which meant that he was currently engaged in another technique taught by more than just the Jedi.

The strategic retreat.

Admittedly, there was nothing strategic about running as fast as he could through crowded, sand-covered streets, but Tobias liked to keep that adjective around if only because it made him feel better.

After quickly slipping through a large crowd of beings of all kinds that were browsing a market in the alley he’d run down, Tobias risked a quick glance behind him. Over the heads of the crowd, he could see movement. That meant nothing, as it was a city and people were always moving somewhere. But accompanied by annoyed growls, curses in languages that Tobias didn’t know, and cries of surprise, Tobias was fairly sure it was his three pursuers. It had been at least five minutes of running and dodging down alleys and somehow, he’d not lost them. Even the damned Gamorrean had managed to keep up.

Somehow, Tobias needed to lose them. His legs were starting to hurt, a fault of the smaller human body he currently occupied, and he had been out of breath for at least three streets. Only the help of the Force was keeping him going, and even that wouldn’t last much longer. Tobias just wasn’t good enough to keep up that kind of concentration for long. Not yet, at least.

Talking would do no good, as he could feel through the Force their anger. Fighting was not going to happen. Tobias was determined to avoid that no matter what, even if it was becoming more and more foolish as he tired himself out. Eventually they would catch up and he wouldn’t have the strength to even defend himself. Which meant he needed another option. And that meant he needed at least a few moments to stop running, catch his breath, and think.

Before he could even turn to look for another small alley between sand-coloured buildings, the Force alerted Tobias to a nearby danger in an odd screaming inside of his head. One thing Tobias had learned to do was truth that instinct, and not fight the immediate reaction his body was already taking the second it happened.

Mid-stride, Tobias dropped to the sand in a roll and a blaster bolt went directly over him. The roll ended and he was back on his feet in a quick motion that he’d pat himself on the back for later. As he had been getting back to his feet, however, he’d caught a glance behind him. The bulky, three-eyed Gran had broken through a crowd and fired an ancient-looking blaster. It looked like the Gamorrean and the Weequay were also about to fire blasters of their own, but before that could be confirmed Tobias was up and running again.

Again, he was given no chance to think. This time, however, the Force did not warn him of any danger. Instead, his head just tilted up at the right angle at the right moment so that the right thought crossed his mind. Tobias’ eyes locked onto one thing, and without questioning it, trusting entirely in the Force in a moment of amazing clarity he drew the Force to him and with that, jumped.

Tobias leapt into the sky and landed surprisingly gracefully on the rooftop of the house he’d looked at. This time, he heard blasters firing, but they were going to miss again. This was not because of the warning of the Force, but because Tobias was already using the terrain of the rooftop to his advantage. Unlike many of the other buildings, the one he’d just happened to look up at had a waist-high, solid wall, presumably to prevent one from falling over and into the street. It also made a perfect shield for Tobias to drop down below.

And he had it. The few moments of relief he needed. There was a door to the roof about five meters in front of him, with a few decorations that confirmed it was just a house with a unique design, but thankfully that door looked to be the only way up. That meant his pursuers had to get to the building, get in, and then find the way up. It wouldn’t take long, but Tobias hoped he wouldn’t need more time.

Think.

Can’t run aimlessly. Won’t fight them. Can’t talk them down.

Then run.

Already nixed that.

“No,” for some reason, it felt better to have half of the argument out loud, “Need a direction to run in.”

Where?

“I don’t know!” Tobias yelled at himself a moment before hearing the door below him break down, “Stop! Focus on this! Come on!”

Well...we do know one thing in Bestine.

“...we? But yeah...Master Ral. Find him. He can help!”

Ignoring the slightly disturbing conversation with himself, Tobias took a series of short, deep breaths just like he’d been taught to. With each inhale, his eyes closed and he let the intake of air focus his vision on ‘seeing’ the Force around him. With each exhale, Tobias opened his eyes and tried to hold that focus so it made sense when in the context of the rather large city around him.

In...dark, empty world with bright spots of the Force that weren’t really any colour that could be described. So many living things everywhere...

Out...bright light of two suns scorching the planet and wiping the Force vision from his eyes with their intensity.

In...dark, but with some of the patches of brightest growing...

Out...blinding light...

In...outlines of buildings etched inside his eyelids, dotted by the not-really-visions of beings in the Force, and one especially strong one not far off...

Out...so much light but...

There!

Somehow, beneath the blinding light of the suns above and its reflections on the tan buildings all around, Tobias could see, actually see, that bright point of not-light that he’d felt with his eyes closed. He could see it through the buildings themselves. He could see it!

Two streets down, directly in front of him.

Just as he got to his feet, the door in front of him burst open. The large, green Gamorrean practically fell through it, and his Gran companion quickly pushed through, aiming his blaster straight at Tobias.

Again, Tobias jumped. This time, though, as the Force managed to flow through him with so little effort on his part, he flipped backward, landing on his feet in the sand below right in the center of an already surprised crowd. Without missing a beat, he pushed past a confused Duros and an older Twi’lek and ran down the alley next to the building he’d just been on top of.

Blaster bolts followed him, angling down from the roof above but striking the building next to him as he darted past with a newfound strength in his legs. A series of loud thuds followed the blaster bolts, and Tobias didn’t bother to turn around. He knew what they were. The three had jumped down, which probably wasn’t smart without the aid of the Force or a jetpack to ease the landing.

But just as Tobias exited the alley into the next street over, more blaster bolts followed. They were poorly aimed, most streaking overhead and hitting nothing. But one went right past his left side and struck a passing landspeeder. The pilot panicked and swerved right into Tobias, who attempted to leap over the nose that came at him but did so a half second too late. The landspeeder caught Tobias’ right leg hard on the knee, sending him face first into the front end of the speeder before momentum sent him rolling off into the sand. Intense pain shot up his leg, so much so that Tobias couldn’t find the strength to remorph the definitely-broken bone.

By the time he’d come to a stop and was trying to deal with the pain and, at the same time, get up and keep running towards Master Ral, several of the people in the street were heading over to help him, as was the pilot of the landspeeder. The human who got out of the speeder was greeted with another blaster bolt to his vehicle, and the man panicked again but intelligently dropped to the ground instead of taking out another pedestrian.

“Ha! Look at that! He dropped his lightsaber! Was a Jedi after all!” the scratchy, annoying sounding voice of the Weequay managed to cut through the din of everything else.

Tobias rolled over onto his back, cursing his lack of skill when it came to both the Force and morphing, and immediately saw that he had, in fact, dropped his lightsaber. The impact must have dislodged it from its place hidden beneath his jacket, as the hilt of the weapon was several meters off to the side. But, more importantly, the Gran, Gamorrean, and Weequay were nearly on top of him, now casually walking with blasters aimed and devilish smiles on their faces.

In the time it took them to walk slowly over to him, obviously trying to be threatening and scare him into giving up so they could just shoot him, Tobias managed to find the strength to remorph his injured leg. But it took him until they were right on top of him, and Tobias suddenly realized he was stuck in a situation where he’d have to fight.

No.

There had to be another way.

He was supposed to be a Jedi, dammit! He could find another way!

...well, with time...time that he didn’t have...

“One Jedi lots of credits!” the Grain laughed.

The Weequay nodded his wrinkled face, “And there another somewhere!”

When the Gamorrean grunted a response, he pointed his large blaster rifle right down at Tobias’ face.

Suddenly, the rifle was ripped out of the Gamorrean’s hand, flying off to the side and slamming into a nearby building. All four of them looked around in surprise, and a robed figure dropped into view. There was a blur of movement around Tobias, with the Gamorrean flying a few meters away before hitting the ground hard. A second later, the blur stopped to form a distinctly humanoid shape within the robe and a wooden staff whipped around and took the Gran’s legs out from under him at the same time that the Weequay inexplicably was thrown into his companion. The two of their skulls hit hard and both dropped to the sand unconscious.

Tobias lay there, looking up in shock before mumbling to the back of the robed figure, “You’re not Master Ral...”

“And you’re quite perceptive,” a very feminine voice responded. The figured spun around and Tobias found he could see very little of the identity of this person who was obviously quite strong in the Force. She was about his height, if he’d been standing that is, the robe covered whatever she wore under entirely and all of her face except for her mouth, which was currently in the shape of a smirk, “You’re welcome, by the way.”

Tobias finally got onto his feet, dusting the sand off him as best as possible and started to ask the obvious question pertaining to this odd person’s identity. But he didn’t have a chance to speak. Right as Tobias opened his mouth, a series of loud sounds from the distance grew behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a large pack of Swoop bikes heading right for him.

“Introductions later,” the robed woman said simply. She removed one of her hands from the staff she carried and extended it off behind her. Tobias’ lightsaber flew right into her grip and she then tossed it to him, “Just follow me, okay?”

Though he caught the lightsaber hilt out of instinct, Tobias was still too confused to answer. The situation had changed too fast for him and he was trying to catch up. And apparently this mysterious woman was not going to wait. In a flash, she made a Force-aided jump onto a nearby building, stopped and looked down at him again. That smirk, still visible beneath her hood, she called down to Tobias, “Come on, Jedi boy! Keep up!”

Then she disappeared, turning in a flourish of the robe and darting off out of sight.

Jedi boy?!

“Hey! Wait!” was the best Tobias could come up with as he jumped up after her.



In the immortal words of Bender: "We're back, baby!"


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 589: The Will of the Force*

It seemed like at some point in every story Jyren ever told there was a rooftop chase. Usually, Jyren had used the tops of buildings as a last resort and was barely surviving whatever it was trying to kill him. And also, usually, he ended up worse for wear after the rooftops. And it always bothered Tobias, because it seemed like that strategy had never worked, yet Jyren continually attempted it as if, magically, it would.

Once already, Tobias had actually discovered the tactical use of escaping on the rooftop of a building. It put distance between him and three very dangerous beings and gave him the time he needed to think. That had made sense. The attackers had been on foot and had to use conventional means to reach him. In that case, it had been a good plan.

But now, not five minutes later, Tobias was back on the roofs of Bestine’s buildings and confronted with an entirely different situation.

“Did you forget swoop bikes are actually in the air?” he had to yell at the robed woman in front of him due to the distance between them, “You know what that means right? Not attached to the ground?”

The Force assisting her once again, the woman leapt up from one building to another that was three stories taller. After a graceful landing, she called down to Tobias, “If you don’t want my help, feel free to stand still and do this yourself!”

Tobias jumped over a small gap between two low-level homes and continued to run. Why was he even following her in the first place? For that matter, why was a swoop now after him?! Part of him wanted Master Ral to have been there to help, but the rest of him knew that the Jedi Master likely would have made Tobias fix the situation himself. At this point, Tobias figured he should probably follow this mysterious woman if only to find out who she actually was.

A few more strides and he was drawing the Force to him again. One more step and he let the Force propel him upwards, coming to a landing almost exactly where she had moments later. Upon landing on the roof now four stories into Bestine’s sky, Tobias had started to run again. But he came to a sudden stop when he saw that the woman was standing a few meters away, casually leaning on her staff with that same smirk visible beneath the hood of her robe.

She lifted the staff and motioned at him with the bottom of it, “I expect you don’t carry that around just to impress girls, yes?”

Realizing she was speaking of his lightsaber, which Tobias still carried in his left hand, he nodded, “Yeah, but I’ve been trying not to use it...”

“Noble, but a bit stupid,” oddly enough, her voice made it sound like she admired him...even if the words didn’t agree, “Swoop gangs are not so noble, Jedi boy. We have the advantage up here, as their swoop bikes can’t hold this altitude for long, but you will still need that weapon because they will be trying to kill you.”

“How do you know...” he trailed off, then decided to ask a more pertinent question, “Why are they trying to kill me?”

The robes she wore ruffled in what was probably a shrug, “They are normally very tightly nit groups. An attack on one of them is seen as an attack on all of them. And really, its quite obvious what they intend...you should be able to feel that in the Force all by yourself.”

Tobias could feel it. Anger. Very pointed anger coming right for him. He was only a few blocks away from where the three others had been left unconscious, but the swoops had been gaining the whole time and that was how he could tell. Well, that and the sound. The distinct roaring of badly-maintained repulsorlift engines slowly growing as the swoop bikes got closer and closer.

As the sounds grew louder and louder, Tobias did what he’d been taught and assessed his surroundings. The roof of whatever this building housed was quite large. In fact, where most of the roofs of the homes and businesses he’d traversed were covered in the same tan, hardened-sand-like material, this one was plated with durasteel and there were two lift tubes off to one end. The construction of the roof combined with the size, and the fact that there were no raised sections beyond the lift tubes, suggested that this was used as a private landing pad. It could likely hold a smaller transport, but nothing larger. But no cover, and the only real advantage was the height of the building, being one of the largest in Bestine, along with most of the government buildings and other official places nearby.

Then the swoops arrived. They shot up vertically, from behind Tobias before leveling off a shooting past just a few meters overhead. As Tobias dropped and rolled to avoid the lower moving ones, he counted six, all carrying very dirty and well-armed beings of various species. Coming out of the roll, Tobias was still one knee but activated his lightsaber just in time to bat away an incoming blaster bolt.

Across the roof, he could see the woman had been ready for the swoops. With a simple motion of her arm, the lead swoop went flying off course and hard to its left. Its pilot made an intelligent mood, recognizing the swoop was out of control far too high into the air, and dove off before the thing careened away from the roof and eventually began to drop wildly to the rest of the city below.

Tobias was unable to watch what happened next, as two of the swoops whipped around to charge at him, their pilots using the handlebar-shaped controls to steady blaster rifles that were already beginning to fire. Standing, Tobias deflected two more blaster bolts before jumping up and placing his boot directly into the face of the first of the pilots to reach him. Another swoop went off pilot-less and Tobias spun his lightsaber vertically just as he landed, barely in time to take off the back end of the second swoop bike. But this pilot was not able to ditch his bike in time, and the last Tobias saw of him was a screaming Twi’lek desperately trying to get control of a smoking swoop that went tumbling off the roof.

By the time Tobias turned to deal with the first of the gang members he’d taken down, he noticed that there were no more swoops in the air. But that was all he had time to see before the dirty, beared human kicked Tobias hard in the gut. Tobias stumbled back a few steps, trying to recover quickly from the blow before anything else happened. The human wasn’t bothering to get up off of his back, rather he’d drawn a small blaster pistol and was already squeezing the trigger, at least that’s what the Force was screaming at Tobias about.

Tobias raised the blue-green blade of his lightsaber up in front of his face just in time, and the blaster bolt struck the roof right next to the human...who didn’t seem at all disturbed by this. Instead, the man continued to fire, but Tobias dodged the shots to the left and then kicked the blaster pistol out of the human’s hands. Then Tobias was left with a decision: cut the man down and quickly end one of his problems, or find a way to get him unconscious without killing the man.

Obviously, the latter had to be done, but before he could figure out how to go about that, considering the man was removing a vibroblade from his belt, the human’s body was yanked away. Tobias watched as the man slid all the way across the rooftop until his slammed into the feet of a very large Rodian. As the Rodian slammed into the man, a staff came down and gave both of them a very strong hit to the skull.

And as Tobias stood there, watching the robed woman move her staff from her left hand to her right and then rest on it again, he realized that she was surrounded by two of the swoop bikes, down and smoking, and the rest of the gang members, all unmoving.

Idly, she leaned against the staff and smiled at him again, “See? Catch them off guard and they never know what to do.”

The thrumming of Tobias’ lightsaber ended as he deactivated the weapon, though he kept the hilt in hand, “Do I get to know who you are now?”

“Hmm...” she stood there a few moments before stepping over an unconscious Trandoshan and walking over to where Tobias stood, “Wouldn’t it be more fun if I smile at you mysteriously then jump off the building and disappear, only to return again exactly when you least expected it?”

“Not really, no,” Tobias shook his head.

Jyren would have been proud of him for that answer. It had been perfectly blunt and honest to the point of sarcasm. Of course, Marix probably would have given Tobias a good smack to the back of the head for it...

But the robed woman did neither, instead laughing and tilting her head in a simple nod, “Alright, fine. You win.”

Casually, she reached up and pulled the hood of her robe back off of her head. Some part of Tobias had actually expected to see a familiar face. Maybe an Alraxian he hadn’t seen in years or a Knight sent to shadow him or something appropriately dramatic. Instead, Tobias was presented with a face he did not at all recognize. The woman looked to be just a couple of years older than he looked to be as a human, with soft features and shoulder-length, auburn hair. But the thing immediately noticeable was the piece of cloth, almost the same colour as her hair, that was wrapped around her entire head, under much of her hair, and completely covered her eyes and most of her nose.

The distinct smirk he’d seen so much already returned to her face and she bowed her head politely, “Corinna Sohvi.”

“Tobias,” he paused, confused still, then realized he should add a bit more to that, “Erm...BlueIce.”

Corinna failed to hold back a laugh, “Dare I ask what brings a young Jedi to this dustball and then drives him to annoy the natives?”

Now Tobias understood what had been bothering him about her. She was Miraluka, like Tokarr had been. That wasn’t a problem at all, but since the species saw through the Force, there was a constant odd feeling around them that Tobias just wasn’t used to. She wasn’t as much looking at him as she was clearly seeing him in a way that wasn’t really easy to mask. It was uncomfortable to be so...exposed.

Especially when she did look quite nice...

Just as he thought it, Tobias saw the grin on Corinna’s face grow even more, though she said nothing. Not that she needed to. He went a deep shade of crimson and tried to remember what question she’d asked him, “Uh...I uh...”

Of course, when he did remember a problem came up that made him stutter even more than he already had begun to out of nervousness. So Tobias decided to ask a question of his own, “You’re not a Jedi, are you...?”

For the first time, Corinna’s smile faded to be replaced with a very terse look. Through the Force, Tobias could feel she was immediately concerned with the situation. 
Her voice only further proved that, “Would that be a problem for you?”

Would it?

It could. Maybe. She had helped and didn’t feel at all dangerous...not like Tokarr had. In fact, through the Force, Corinna felt almost exactly like most Jedi did. Calm, controlled, and quite strong. There was no hint of darkness at all. So was it bad if she wasn’t a Jedi?

“I...don’t know?” was the best Tobias could manage. He didn’t notice that he had phrased it as a question rather than a vague statement of uncertainty.

Corinna, however, did notice the way he raised his voice at the end of the sentence, and that smile returned, “Good answer. Care to take a few steps back and satisfy my curiosity about you?”

Though he caught none of the subtlety in that, Tobias did manage to go a bit more red before opening and closing his mouth a few times. Eventually, he realized she was asking for an answer to her earlier question, and so he attempted again, “I was uh...my Master and I...Jedi have gone missing...”

“Are you always so eloquent?” Corinna tilted her head to rest against her staff. Somehow, the eyeless, Force-only stare was more unnerving than any look Marix had ever given him before in his entire life.

“Um...no?” Tobias nearly cursed when he realized he’d said that, shook his head and tried to ignore Corinna’s laugh before he tried yet again, “I was trying to uh...find out information and find out what happened to the uh...the uh...other...guy...Jedi, that went missing and those guys came after me and then you uh...yeah.”

After recovering from the laughter and returning to a wide-mouthed grin, Corinna nodded a few times as he spoke and eventually said, “My mother used to say that the Force has a way of putting us in the right place at the right moment to do the right thing and...meet the right person,” she let that hang in the air for an uncomfortably long time before continuing, “I believe the Force is working on that lesson for you today, Jedi boy, because I just might be able to help you find what you’re looking for.”


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 590: Hunt*

As she worked her way through the thick, nearly-impossible-to-traverse jungle of Myrkr, Marix decided that she truly liked the planet. Even putting aside its similarities to Alraxia, there were other things about it that made her feel so very alive. When she reached out with the Force, there were pockets of nothing. They weren’t Vong, because they were too large. No, those were some of the local yslamiri, blocking the Force around them and making it impossible to sense anything around them. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, Marix could sense the strong, focused predators around her that used the Force to hunt...and were very carefully following her just out of sight for the right moment to strike. The way the Force was manipulated by the natural life meant that Marix was instead relying on her other senses, especially sounds and smells, to detect things around her.

It was not something that most worlds offered, and something she truly wished she could experience more often. It kept her sharp. That was likely why the predators still kept their distance. Through the Force, she was radiating the same things they were, and she was indeed hunting.

Over an hour had passed since she had left Hermes to find the lost Knight. Now, Marix was finding the forest was thinning and knew she was close to reaching the point where the Knight’s last transmission had originated from. Though she did not expect to find a single thing there to tell what had happened to the Knight, Marix did expect it to point her in the right direction next. The one kink in the entire plan was that something Marix didn’t let get far from her mind. At some point, the Knight had disappeared entirely, probably due to the Vong. That meant Marix had to be ready at all times for the Vong to be right behind the next tree, lest she suffer a similar fate.

Ducking under a low branch, Marix noticed something odd about the section of the jungle immediately around her. It wasn’t so much a tangled mess. Sure, there were a few vines here and there and some of the branches got in the way, but it looked a bit cleared...in fact, the ground wasn’t covered in underbrush like the rest of the jungle.

It was a camp. Or had been. There was no other physical hints of evidence towards that conclusion, but Marix could feel it in the Force. She knelt down near the center of the area and gently traced a few lines in the dirt. Yes, she could feel a presence in the Force that had occupied the area not long ago. It had to be the Knight. There were no signs of glowrods or any other kinds of technology that most in the galaxy would use, and always left at least some trace of behind. But here nothing but a fading feeling in the Force.

Looking up, Marix scanned the area around her. She had come from the west, which was still behind her, and it all looked exactly as the east, in front of her, and the south, to her left, looked: covered in jungle. But the north was where the clearing seemed to begin. The thick jungle gained in light as the trees separated before, probably, opening up into the foothills of the mountains that she had seen before Hermes had set down in another part of the jungle. Any path in the Force that the Knight had taken was too faint to detect, but Marix’s instincts told her to go to the north.

So, after being sure there was nothing to be found where she was, Marix headed north. In only a few minutes, the jungle was disappearing entirely, fading into rolling grasslands and, eventually, the large, rocky mountains in the distance. There was a distinct lack of settlements in the area, which bothered Marix as she knew this planet used to be home to many smugglers and other unsavoury types. Sure, the Vong had it now, but there should at least have been some evidence of the previous inhabitants. But despite the emptiness of the area, she wasn’t about to just walk out in the open.

Instead, Marix stayed just inside the treeline, walking along the edge of the jungle and carefully looking for something, anything, that pulled at her. Another hour passed as she hunted nothing at all, and she reached a section of the grasslands that dropped off sharply into a valley. The treeline stopped and did not continue on the other end of the canyon, which looked to be nearly a hundred meters wide and several kilometers in length. Carefully, she headed to the edge and looked over.

Marix’s eyes showed her what the Force could not: a Yuuzhan Vong facility.

The buildings looked like coral mixed with stretchy, odd membranes spread across most of the bottom of the canyon. It was surprisingly large, and very well positioned to stay hidden. Though why the Vong would hide something on their own world was beyond her, she rationalized it as some kind of protection just in case. Sadly, the Force still told her nothing about whether she had found the Knight’s trail or not. But where the Force failed her, Marix’s gut told her she was going the right way. So the next step was to get down there undetected, slip in and investigate as much of it as possible before she was noticed.

The part about being noticed was not an if. Marix knew how her life worked. There was no way she would get down there and not be discovered, no matter what she did. Instead, it was best to get as far as she could undetected while being absolutely ready to deal with the problems that would come up.

It meant that she needed to plan both an entrance and an exit strategy. The latter would be absolutely necessary ahead of time with a Vong base of that size. There would be too many of them to just wing it and hope. So Marix took the time to memorize the layout from above, then even more time to carefully scan all sides of the canyon for sections that would assist in both insertion and escape. After she was sure she knew the area, which was yet another hour later, Marix retreated back into the safety of the deeper parts of the jungle and sat against a tree, planning.

All the while, keeping her eyes, ears, nose, and Force-senses aware of everything around her. Most of the predators had left, getting bored as she gave them no opening to strike safely, but at least one was still there, far enough away that she could only faintly sense it in the Force, but definitely there and waiting. It was as patient as she was, and Marix was not about to let her guard down, even while planning out how to get into the Vong base.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 591: The View*

“There is something on this planet that should not be here. I can’t see it, but I know it is here somewhere. It is likely the source of your reason for coming here, and I expect you can feel it, too. Its not something you can grasp in the Force, but its there, just on the edge of your senses and it has been since you arrived, hasn’t it?”

Nodding, Tobias looked across Bestine below. It had been roughly a half hour since he and Corinna had dealt with the swoop gang, but they hadn’t yet left the roof of the large building. There had been some local security that showed up, which were essentially a bunch of Hutt lackeys, but seeing the mess, they were intelligent enough to not attempt to start a fight. Instead, they not-so-politely thanked Tobias and Corinna for dealing with the swoop gang that had been a problem lately, then dragged off the bodies.

It was a bit odd, really. Decades ago, Bestine had been the Imperial capital of the planet. There were still signs of it. The large building they currently sat on top of, legs dangling off the edge, and a couple clearly Imperial-designed administrative buildings in the immediate area. Everything else in the city were rounded buildings of that odd, sand-coloured material. Though the desert could be seen in the distance, the city itself was surprisingly large, bigger than the Palace on Alraxia. 

And somewhere down there was Master Ral.

Tobias knew he should probably go find his Master, but...

“What do you think it is?” he eventually asked Corinna, glancing to her but keeping more of his focus on not falling off the building and the rather interesting view.

“I have no idea,” she shrugged and leaned back to look up at the slightly darker sky. One of the two suns had set a few minutes earlier, “I would have left this dustball days ago if not for whatever it is, though. I did find a body a few days back, though. Or at least, what was left of one. I saw it distantly and knew it was a Force-user then I felt danger so I went after the source. But, all that was there when I arrived was an arm, a trouser leg, and a few other unidentifiable bits. The entire area was heavy with pain and violence and I couldn’t stay around for very long...but it was likely one of those Jedi you’re after.”

“Where uh...where was that?”

Leaning forward, Corinna sat there patiently a moment and Tobias could feel her already odd presence in the Force extending outwards much more deliberately. Her right arm then extended in front of Tobias and pointed, “A half kilometer down that street and then it was down a backstreet near an old landspeeder repair shop.”

Tobias blinked before turning and following where she was pointing. He just saw the tops of buildings, “Um...that’s very accurate.”

When he looked back to her, Corinna was grinning again, “Not bad for a girl with no eyes, eh?” but quickly after that the smile faded into a curious look and Tobias felt her Force senses focus onto him again, “Speaking of which, you’re reacting quite well to that. Most humans freak out and most Jedi...well, most Jedi don’t approve of non-Jedi using the Force even if we can’t help it.”

“I actually uh...you’re not the first Miraluka I’ve met,” Tobias had no idea why he was being cautious about that, “My Master and I...my Master’s first apprentice he started killing people and we had to stop him.”

“That explains the first but doesn’t explain why you don’t think I’m on the edge of darkness and pure evil.”

Tobias was surprised by how touchy the Jedi situation was with her. He hadn’t ever considered how non-Jedi Force-users were treated by the Jedi, which was ironic of course. But he decided to just answer it as best he could manage, “I’m actually the first one of my family to be a Jedi since my grandmother but even that’s...complicated. But my mother even is...well, she isn’t exactly a fan of me doing this, if that makes sense.”

The smile returned to Corinna’s face, “It explains enough. Actually, my father was never too happy I didn’t run off to become a Jedi. He used to always tell me stories of my ancestors who were apparently great Jedi Knights for the Old Republic...but those stories never ended well.”

“So what are you doing on this planet, anyway?” Tobias asked the question rather suddenly, and immediately wondered why.

Corinna shrugged, “Was just passing through originally. One transport to another. But ah, how plans change.”

An awkward silence fell upon the roof. Tobias couldn’t help but be proud of himself for his ability to completely destroy any normal conversation without having to try.

“Come on, just do it,” Corinna said quietly, nudging him with an elbow.

Raising an eyebrow, he turned to look at her to find no help at all, “Do what?”

Though a Miraluka had no eyes to roll, and even if she had them, currently they would have been hidden beneath that cloth around her face, Tobias got the distinct feeling that she was doing exactly that. It was amazing what the Force could be used to portray, especially for a species that used it so naturally, “You’re amazingly oblivious, did you know that? Its quite cute, actually.”

Tobias’ face glazed over in a mix of confusion, shock, and embarrassment. Though she couldn’t see it, Tobias knew she could do better than that and clearly feel it in the Force as well as use that to ‘see’ the way he was trying not to squirm or accidently fall off the roof.

And somehow, Corinna seemed to be enjoying the effect. But eventually she nudged him again, “Quit panicking and just ask. Its not hard. Just a few simple words and you already know the answer, you just have to ask it.”

“Ask...what?” it was the best he could manage because he sure as hell didn’t know what she was demanding he ask. Well, no, he had a few ideas, but none of them were going to escape the realm of deep, suppressed thoughts and the more rational ones never got to his conscious mind. There was just too much of a haze of confusion in his mind for the moment.

“Alright, fine. I’ll walk you through this,” Corinna sighed dramatically and shook her head, “Even though I’ve just given you the exact location of what you’re looking for and I don’t actually have much more direct information beyond theories that are based entirely outside of facts, you want me to help you. But we just met less than a standard hour ago and you barely know me so your hesitation is understandable. Not only that, but you do have to get back to your Master and you’ll have to explain this little mess. So you’re nervous...for more reasons than one and those ones you’re trying not to think about are nothing to be embarrassed about by the way. But even though you are, it shouldn’t stop you from simply asking me to come with you and help. So, what you need to do is close your eyes, breathe, that’s important, and then ask. Okay?”

With a blank expression on his face, Tobias somehow managed a nod. But as he stared at her, it became obvious that he really was going to have to ask. She was just sitting there, right next to him and staring at him with the Force, waiting. Expectant in such a way that was even more unnerving than the not-look she was giving him. Not to mention it was the first time he’d really ever been confronted with someone who looked...nice. Nice was what he was going to leave it at. But that just made it harder to focus.

What did she say?

Close your eyes...that wasn’t hard. In fact, the darkness that brought on somehow helped, even though he could still feel the gaze on him.

Next step...breathe. Well, he was already doing that. But keep it up. Definitely keep it up.

Right. Two down. Now the hard part.

“Will you uh...will...” Tobias stopped, took another breath, then tried again, “Will you come with me?”

The smile quickly returned to Corinna’s face and she nodded, “Of course. Now lets find your Master. Lead the way, Jedi boy.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 592: Connections*

By the time Tobias and Corinna had reached the street level of Bestine, Tatooine’s second sun had set. Compared to most cities in the galaxy, Bestine was quite dark at night. Sure, there were glowrods set up as lights at various intervals down the main streets, and there were a few others outside doorways and even on the corners of the larger buildings, but that seemed to be about it. The moonlight didn’t add much, either. None of it would have annoyed Tobias if he hadn’t been in a human body, but he was and that meant his senses just weren’t what they could have been.

And he wasn’t ready for Corinna to find out he wasn’t technically human. Something told him that would be a rather...odd conversation. More than it would normally have been, with the way she seemed to be. In fact, if there was one word Tobias could describe her with, he was becoming more and more sure it was ‘distracting’.

She seemed to be doing it on purpose, too. While she had been surprisingly quiet since they reached the streets, just letting Tobias idly wander to find Master Ral, she was walking behind him just a bit too close for his comfort. And she had to know that, since he could feel that her Force sense was definitely focused in his direction more than the rest of the surroundings.

It didn’t take long before Tobias had to stop. It was too unnerving and, on top of that, he had no idea where to go. Of course, there was no way he was going to tell Corinna she was driving him insane. Somehow, he figured that would just make it worse. So instead, he tried to find Master Ral the best way he knew without the help of a comlink...which would have actually been quite helpful...

Instead, Tobias attempted the same thing he had done that had found Corinna earlier. Slowly and deliberately, he took in deep breaths, calming his mind and drowning out the various beings occupying the streets even at night. With each of them, he drew in the Force around him, seeing out further and further in that odd non-colour that was probably something close to how Corinna saw the galaxy. As with his last attempt, Tobias first saw countless beings all around, most very dim in the Force, but some slightly brighter here and there.

And then Tobias found a bright, shining beacon in the Force that had to be his Master. The fact that he had thought Corinna had been his Master, upon ‘seeing’ Master Ral’s presence, was almost insulting to the Jedi Master. Where Corinna’s presence was amplified from her natural strength in the Force by her constant use of it, Master Ral was so clear once Tobias found him. But when Tobias opened his eyes, he knew why he had found Corinna instead.

It looked like Master Ral was clear on the other end of Bestine. Tobias just hadn’t searched long enough, having simply latched onto the nearest presence in the Force rather than actually searching. He would have to do better next time...

“You know,” Corinna spoke up suddenly, “For a guy with two eyes, you do that quite well.”

Tobias’ concentration broke. Thankfully, he was sure of which way to go to find Master Ral. So, he turned a questioning glance to his Miraluka companion to find her much closer than he’d thought, “What do you mean...?”

Of course, that brought the smile back to her face and she nodded off in the direction he had found Master Ral to be, “You feel like a Miraluka when you do that. It was why I came running, actually. I’ve never seen anyoen that wasn’t a Miraluka see like we do.”

“Really?” Tobias hadn’t meant to ask it, but his mouth and his brain were not really working together very well for the moment. In all honesty, he had thought it was something all Jedi could do. But as he thought about that, Tobias realized that he hadn’t actually been taught it. Sure, the pieces were all part of his training, but he’d just put it all together in a way that seemed to make sense and always expected everyone else had, too. But he put that aside and quickly put a stop to too much else on that subject, “Master Ral’s on the other end of the city from the looks of it.”

Corinna simply nodded to that, and they were walking again. And thankfully, beyond some odd smells that were best not investigated and a few landspeeders that didn’t seem to care about pedestrians, the trip across the city was uneventful. It did take time, though, and Tobias couldn’t help but feel like he should have at least tried some kind of conversation. Of course, that was as far as it went, as he could never really come up with anything to say that wasn’t incredibly foolish or blatantly pointing out the obvious.

Because of that, Tobias was thankful when they found Master Ral casually walking down the street right to them. Tobias quickly introduced his Master and Corinna and then very carefully explained how he’d run into her, trying to keep the details light so that Master Ral wouldn’t get angry...even though Tobias knew better than that. But Master Ral was surprisingly calm about it, keeping his usual serenity and thanking Corinna for assisting.

“Did you find anything, Master?” Tobias asked after all that was behind them.

The Jedi Master tilted his head slightly in an odd gesture that Tobias still wasn’t sure how to read, “The city is oddly clean of any evidence of Barrin or even the two Jedi that were originally here. I did find one man who described a Twi’lek carrying a lightsaber some time ago, but that was it. There are very few reasons for there to be so little evidence that do not point to a purpose behind the lack of information.”

At that point, Corinna explained how close she had come to finding one of the Jedi. Or rather, how she had found one of them, but only pieces after arriving likely just a few moments too late. After she finished explaining, and adding that she had failed to turn up anything more for days, Corinna asked, “Can you feel that odd presence in the Force, Master Jedi?”

“Yes...” the Omwati Jedi nodded and closed his eyes a moment, clearly focusing on it as best he could, “It has perplexed me since arriving. You believe it is related to whatever killed the Jedi?”

Tobias decided to stop being useless and try to help, “It would make sense. I mean...it sounds to me that Corinna found the aftermath of some predator. No one just takes body parts like that and this feeling in the Force...its just...it reminds me of that feeling you get when someone’s watching you but you can’t prove it. It feels like we’re being hunted.”

That hung in the air uncomfortably for some time before Master Ral turned his full attention to one thing in all of that, “It could have easily been a Yuuzhan Vong warrior. Losing a limb and pieces of clothing, along with other injuries that would leave blood and a mess behind are quite common with Vong weapons and fighting techniques. What makes you think it’s a predator?”

Tobias felt Corinna’s Force-sight focus on him. The eyes of his Master along with that made him feel like he was being tested, even though he was absolutely sure he wasn’t. Why had he said that, though? Why jump to that conclusion? Why couldn’t the feeling in the Force be entirely unrelated? Why did he connect them both and not question it before?

“I uh...” it was a bad start, as usual, but Tobias was getting better at recovering from those, “I don’t know. Well no. If its in the Force, its not Vong, right? It couldn’t be another Jedi. Lightsaber wounds don’t leave a mess like that. Vibroblades don’t either. At least not like what Corinna described. I mean, we have to assume that this distant feeling in the Force is related...right? If its not, fine, but better to be ready for that danger than not. And this feeling reminds me of a predator of some kind.”

“If there was an animal running loose in Bestine, you couldn’t keep it quiet,” Corinna shook her head, “This place isn’t exactly the height of civilization, but its not that wild, either. No one knows a thing. Trust me on that, I’ve looked around in almost every corner of this city over the last few days.”

Tobias shook his head, not ready to accept another explanation, even if he was still grasping and vague ideas and connecting things that probably weren’t actually connected, “We’ve got, what? Two Jedi murdered and one other missing and probably dead. You, yourself, found a strong Force-User killed by something that you didn’t spot. So what if the city isn’t going crazy because whatever it is doesn’t care about everyone else?”

The second he said it, Tobias knew he was right. Master Ral didn’t immediately reject the idea, but he pushed Tobias a little more, “You think we’re dealing with a creature that hunts Force Sensitive beings?”

“It fits,” Tobias shrugged, not liking the idea at all but unsure of any other explanation that made sense.

“Not entirely,” Corinna still didn’t seem convinced, “You’re still talking about a predator in a city. A rather large city, too. Even if it doesn’t hunt other beings, people would spot it. Unless its invisible, too, and at that point I think its time to just lay down and let the invisible, Force-Killer eat you then and there because there’s no winning with that.”

Sarcasm aside, she did have a point.

Tobias bit his lip and nodded a couple of times before looking back to his Master, “What do you think, Master?”

The frail-looking Omwati Jedi Master folded his arms and looked between the two of them before finally saying, “I believe the possibility that you are correct is too dangerous to ignore. I do agree that we should assume all of these occurrences are related until proven otherwise. So, with that in mind, I might just have a way to test your theory, Tobias.”

In a rather odd moment, Tobias attempted to turn a curious glance to Corinna. He had forgotten that she had no eyes with which to look back, and instead just found himself looking at the side of her face. But then, a moment later, he felt her focus in the Force shift to him and got the distinct impression that they were sharing exactly what he had attempted to find, even if one of them was using the Force to get the feeling across.

Satisfied he hadn’t made a complete fool of himself, Tobias looked back to his Master and asked, “I get the feeling this is the point where one of us gets to be bait.”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 593: Step One*

Marix watched the Yuuzhan Vong base for several hours until she could close her eyes and still see exactly where all the buildings were. The Force would do her no good, so that meant all of her other senses would have to be on full alert and she needed to be ready. But she did notice one thing that seemed off. While there were many figures moving back and forth between the buildings in the valley below, only a few seemed to be carrying weapons that she could see. It didn’t look as if there were any regular patrols or even guards of any kind. Perhaps the Vong simply did not feel the need for tight security so far beyond the front lines of the invasion, but Marix still didn’t like it.

But she did have a plan now, and one she was fairly certain would give her access to most of the facility. That is, if she understood the Vong well enough...and that was, of course, questionable. Still, Marix had to work with what she could, and that was her limited knowledge of Vong society from which she could only assume details. Hopefully they were like they appeared to be: a strongly regimented caste-based society that valued strength and glorified death about all else.

Hopefully.

Deciding that she was doing no good sitting and watching anymore, and still uncomfortable with that feeling in the back of her mind that one of Myrkr’s predators was still following her from a distance, Marix began to very carefully and slowly descend into the valley. It was like a scar on the planet, dipping in a few kilometers away and sloping down at a rather sharp angle before reaching its lowest point and then curving away and slowly rising up again. Marix followed the treeline along the valley and away from the Vong base for a few minutes until it reached a point where she could quickly drop from above to the sloping ground below.

The valley itself was scattered with moss-covered rocks, a few unhealthy looking trees, and oddly-shaped bushes. Very little of it provided cover, but Marix did the best she could and made careful use of her ability to morph to get in close. By the time she reached the Vong base, Myrkr’s star was beginning to set. She quickly found a small area near the valley’s rock wall and the outer edge of what had to be buildings. Next to them, they looked more like odd mixtures of fleshy substances and the same coral that made up the rest of the Vong technology. The fact that the structures didn’t rise and fall in some breathing action was actually amazing. Obviously, the Vong took a different view of biotechnology than the Alraxians...

The small lizard that Marix had been found a place behind one of the buildings that had ample cover and morphed back to her Alraxian form. She knelt down and carefully studied the area. In front of her was an oddly-shaped, coral structure about the size of an average home on Alraxia. To her side was a larger, dome structure that smelled awful and was the largest of the buildings she had seen from above. Though she could only see a fraction of it, above it looked to be at least four times the size of everything else around it. There didn’t seem to be any entrances, but then again Marix wasn’t too sure what an entrance would have looked like.

The important part of her current position, though, was the small gap between the two buildings. Through it, she could carefully watch another three structures and see a few Yuuzhan Vong walking from place to place. None of the Vong looked like the ones she had previously encountered. They weren’t big, armoured and well armed warriors. No, Marix saw smaller, more frail-looking Vong in elaborate robes with odd scarring and grafts even more insane than she’d seen on others of the species. At least one looked to have a six-fingered hand that didn’t have fingers so much as what could only have been tools of some kind.

Marix waited and watched, keeping as much out of sight as she could. Technically, any Vong would do for what she had planned, but Marix wanted to start with a known quantity. That meant that she had to simply watch as the various Vong passed by until she either found what she was looking for or decided it had been too long and that she would have to take a chance.

A good ten minutes later, Marix’s eyes caught sight of what she was hoping to find. One of the structures’ doors opened in an odd, almost circular motion and a Yuuzhan Vong exited. Not only was the Vong a good head taller than all of the others, but she looked to be wearing the distinct Vonduun Crab armour that Marix had seen on all of the warriors. And, to make things better, she wasn’t carrying an amphistaff.

Slowly getting to her feet, Marix made sure to pick up a small rock as she watched the warrior begin to turn and head away. Before the Vong was out of sight, Marix did something that, had Jyren done it, she would have yelled at him for hours about how stupid an idea it had been. Marix threw the rock right at the Vong’s head and then ducked out of sight.

Almost immediately, there was a loud, angry voice that uttered something guttural and likely a curse of some kind. Marix quickly pressed herself against the uneven structure behind her and waited...

Heavy footsteps alerted her to the Vong’s approach, but she had to wait until the Vong moved out of sight from anyone around. In a matter of seconds, the warrior stopped right next to Marix, where she had originally been watching the area from, and turned a scarred and tattooed face to look straight to Marix. The angry expression on the warrior’s face quickly shifted to shock and she immediately reached for something at her hip.

Marix didn’t give her a chance, however. Quickly, Marix grabbed the Vong’s arm and yanked her out of sight before slamming the warrior’s back into the building hard. It got a grunt from the warrior, but when Marix twisted the arm around suddenly and violently, the snap of broken bone was much more satisfying. Oddly enough, the warrior didn’t make any sounds of pain. Rather, her small, deep set eyes narrowed and she lashed out with what looked like a miniature amphistaff about the size of a vibroknife. Marix ducked under the bladed edge and brought her knee up into the warrior’s gut, forcing her back into the structure hard a second time.

Before the warrior could bring her weapon back around, Marix’s leg took her feet out from under her. The Vong’s head hit a protrusion from the building before her entire body crumbled to the ground below. Not sure the job was finished, Marix was immediately on top of the Vong and swiftly snapped the warrior’s neck.

She then waited a few short heartbeats...

Nothing else.

No one had seen or heard.

Good.

Picking up the small knife-like weapon, Marix slit the Vong warrior’s throat open. A disgusting smell rose up and black blood soon began to pool around the area. This was not the part she enjoyed at all, but it was necessary. And at least the blood wasn’t red. That colour just made her feel sick when it came to blood...

A few minutes later, a same Yuuzhan Vong warrior that had disappeared exited the area behind the two buildings and walked out into the open areas of the Vong base. Marix just hoped no one would see the body before she had done what she needed to.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 594: Surveillance*

“I have to admit, I’m actually surprised I’m not down there waiting to get mauled,” Tobias commented quietly.

Perched next to him, back on the rooftops of Bestine and watching the streets below, Corinna tilted her head just slightly towards him, “But the bait has to be someone that can take care of themself.”

“I can take care of myself just fine,” he grumbled back, trying to keep his senses in the Force as pulled inward as possible and instead watching the distant, cloaked form of Master Ral with his not-so-great eyes, “Besides, what does that say about you?”

The Miraluka girl shrugged, “What it says about me isn’t important. You and your Master are the Jedi here, you two are supposed to be the noble ones. So that’s why he’s out there and we’re up here. You’d be eaten alive and he’s chivalrous.”

Tobias did his best to not let his mouth sit open. While on one level, he was absolutely sure that she was just having fun with him, the way she was keeping her focus elsewhere and her matter-of-fact tone of voice actually made it seem like Corinna was serious. There was, of course, a test for that. A test that Tobias decided to try, “Well you’d be more useful down there. Can you even see me right now?”

“Likely better than you can see me.”

Though she didn’t add to that, beyond the immediate rooftop, the street below, and Tobias, Corinna was blind. The plan was simple. The Force was involved in the previous attacks on the other Jedi, so Master Ral was out there doing everything he could to be easy to notice in the Force. Tobias and Corinna were waiting up high a good distance away, keeping their own Force presences as drawn in as possible. While that was a mere annoyance for Tobias, it meant that Corinna’s since of ‘sight’ was severely limited. So it was really just Tobias watching Master Ral, with Corinna calmly waiting and being surprisingly good about the whole situation.

It was still dark, and the streets of Bestine were emptying a bit more as the night began to grow even later. That at least meant it was easy to watch Master Ral, though Tobias was uncomfortable with the area around him, just expecting to get jumped by someone. In the hour since he and Corinna had been in position, there had been long, uncomfortable silences and short bursts of sarcasm-laced conversation. For having just met one another hours before, they got along surprisingly well.

As there was little else to do, Tobias decided to push it a bit further, “Are you sure your sight is that good?”

“Of course I’m sure,” finally, a hint of a smile was there on her face, though Corinna was doing a good job at keeping it in check.

“Really sure? Because uh...” he paused a moment and looked her over as if he was inspecting her, “...you do know you look a bit ridiculous, yes?”

Slowly and deliberately, Corinna turned to stare him down in a way that was entirely unmatchable, even if he had been using the Force to do so, “What is that supposed to mean, Jedi boy?”

For a moment, his resolve stumbled. Tobias stammered before jumping back onto his previous train of thought, “It means you look like a flag. Well, a bunch of flags. Flags and belts and weird colour combinations...did I mention you look like a walking flag?”

He was only exaggerating slightly. After reaching the rooftop where they sat, Corinna had removed her large robe to have something more comfortable to sit on. What she wore beneath it was unlike anything Tobias had ever seen. While the form-fitting, black bodysuit was reminiscent of the morphsuit he had underneath his clothes, she had a bunch of...belts was the best word Tobias could come up with. They hung at an angle around her waist and things that looked exactly like flagls hung from them down to her thighs all around. They were generally muted greens in colour, but in a few places the pieces were trimmed in a bright, vibrant red. Even her boots had a red lining at the top.

Corinna did not seem to be amused, “I do not look like a flag.”

“Well, what’s with the flag-like things, then?” Tobias pointed as if she had no idea they were there.

“What’s with that jacket?” she countered before giving his shoulder a rough punch, “You expecting snow on this planet or something?”

“I like my jacket,” suddenly, Tobias was on the defensive, grumbling under his breath and wondering how things had been turned around on him so easily.

“Well,” Corinna idly lifted up one of the pieces of fabric that hung from her belt, “I like my flags.”

For some reason, Tobias decided to attempt to turn things around again rather than just giving up while he was behind, “But really, greens and reds? I could spot you from orbit.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry I don’t want to look like every dirt-covered being on the planet,” this time, Corinna took hold of his jacket collar and tugged it a few times, “Grey and black. Wow. That’s very unique, Jedi boy. Did you get the idea from your other moody friends or did you just come up with this one on your own to show how deep and brooding you are?”

“It was my father’s.”

The way Tobias spoke those four words was enough. Corinna’s teasing stopped in that instant and she let go of his jacket and said softly, “I apologize.”

She knew nothing about Jyren. In fact, she barely knew anything about him. But Tobias’ voice relayed the message quite clearly. And while the jacket Tobias wore was not the same one that Jyren had held onto for years, it was one that Marix had given him at least six years prior. Tobias had picked it up one day and found it comfortable an then Jyren had died and...well, it was something he just did his best not to think about anymore. That line of thought was never good, and pushing it away was slowly becoming a way for Tobias to learn control over his emotions that he desperately needed.

The awkward quiet had returned, and Tobias felt it was even worse than the others. So he tried to break it by stepping back and asking an honest question rather than trying to start a fight, as it were, “Do you really see colour?”

“Yes and no,” Corinna tilted her head very slightly again and thought a few moments before explaining, “I know what red and blue and green and such are. I just...” she trailed off and motioned to his jacket again, “I don’t think what I see is the same grey that you see. Its more...well, you’ve seen in the Force. Its not really about colour. But I learned early on what things are based on how others see them. So I know its grey, not because of the colour, but because that...signature, I guess, is what I see grey as.”

When Tobias thought about it, he realized that, technically, everyone was that way. He didn’t know red was called red until someone else told him it was, indeed, called red. But then again, there was a deeper bit to what Corinna was trying to get across. She didn’t have eyes. As she’d said, he knew what it looked like to see through the Force. He could do that. It wasn’t colour at all. It was...the Force. While he was not well trained enough to pick out details, it was obvious that with practice, he could...and would likely see whatever she saw. But what she saw was not the same as everyone else. The Force didn’t give information in colours, so Corinna was really working as if translating things into a separate language at all times. It was actually quite fascinating, and something Tobias hadn’t even considered back when he’d met Tokarr.

He had been about to continue that line of thought out loud, but was stopped by a sudden feeling in the Force. The fact that he was so drawn in and still jumped in surprise at the feeling was a testament to both its strength and proximity. Corinna had to have noticed it, too, as her head yanked around to face directly where Tobias had started to look. Sadly, the lights in the street did Tobias’ eyes little good. He could see where Master Ral was, distantly, but couldn’t actually make out anything beyond the shape of his Master leaning against a building. There were other things moving nearby, but nothing that seemed to be the source of the feeling in the Force...though it was nearby and right in front of them...

Corinna was on her feet a moment later, “I think that’s it.”

“You don’t want to wait?” Tobias followed suit, getting himself up while still trying to get a better view of the source of the feeling.

“I can see it, Tobias,” she used his name. That was only the second time, “I can see it and I can’t see it. That doesn’t make any sense and its terrifying. Whatever it is shouldn’t be there but is. That’s what we’re looking for and its going for your Master.”

Tobias nodded as she leapt down to the street below. To himself, he just shrugged and said quietly, “Off we go, then.”

A moment later he was right behind her, and the two of them were sprinting down the dimly-lit street for Master Ral.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 595: Step Two*

A great deal could always be learned about other species by simply inhabiting their bodies. Marix had always distantly hoped that she could get a DNA sample from a Vong, but now that she had that, there wasn’t really time to think about the details. Instead, it was the general facts that she made a note of. The body was strong, about on par with an Alraxian and definitely above human levels. Most of the senses were about the same as a human, though the hearing seemed a bit weaker. The only real difference of note was how the Force felt. It wasn’t gone, but it felt oddly distant. What that meant, Marix didn’t know and, honestly, didn’t really care. She could, and would, adapt.

It was always interesting trying to blend in with a species that one barely understood. Marix had been taught early on in ways to deal with such a situation, and so she found herself falling into very old ways of thought. She moved in a way that felt right, standing tall, powerful steps, and doing her best to look as if she didn’t give a damn about anyone around her. It seemed to work, as the smaller Vong in various odd clothing and scars didn’t even glance at her.

That seemed promising enough, so Marix continued moving down the path between the odd-shaped buildings and began to plan her next move. The Vong sense of smell was about on par with a human’s, meaning that it would do her no good in tracking down an Alraxian that may not have even been in the area...and even if the Knight had been here, she could have easily been moved days prior. Dampened sense of the Force was just as hindering, as it left Marix with no real tracking ability beyond her wits. Admittedly, that wasn’t bad, but she didn’t like having to guess.

Having watched the area for a good amount of time, Marix at least wasn’t completely blind. She was currently passing by one of the larger, more rock-like structures that had seemed to receive a large amount of traffic in and out. It could easily have been a mess of some sort, but Marix wasn’t about to venture in just yet. So far, she was able to avoid having to speak with anyone and simply acting as if she cared about none of the other Vong that were around. But that was only partially due to what made sense for a warrior-type to act like. The major reason behind it was quite simple: she didn’t know the Vong language. The second she was confronted with that difficulty, it would likely be time to make a quick exit, so Marix was going to do her best to avoid other Vong as she looked for clues to the whereabouts of the lost Knight.

One building in particular did have her interest. It was towards the cliff wall, backed up against it and shaped a bit like a giant, misshapen oval that could likely have fit a young Kanyak inside. From above, Marix had seen very few Vong enter and exit it. In fact, she had become fairly sure that there were only two and she had simply watched the same ones coming and going at various times. It had struck her as odd, seeing as every other structure was heavily used. There were at least a hundred Vong in the base, and only two going into one large building like that drew her attention.

Marix approached the building and found the entrance easily enough, as it looked like a large, circular membrane of sorts with a little switch next to it. She’d seen the switches on the other doors, and it looked as if one needed to simply depress them to activate the door. When she reached the door and tested this, Marix found that the round, palm-sized switch felt like a spongy material that might break under her hand. But it went in slightly, and not a moment later, the door slid open.

Without hesitation, Marix entered the odd looking structure, noting the light sources were something similar to glowglobes but with a more organic look to them. The walls themselves were arched and might have been a rib cage of some kind, but then again she might have just been making it seem worse that it really was. It was very unlikely the Vong used dead creatures for their structures, and the walls looked like that same coral-rock that the outside consisted of. Beyond an odd, claw-legged table, the entranceway was empty, so Marix headed across the slightly-bouncy floor material and made her way to one of the two other doors at opposite sides of the room.

It was hard for her to not try to stay in the shadows and carefully watch every corner. That didn’t seem the attitude of a Vong warrior, and Marix couldn’t risk acting out of character...even if she didn’t really know the part she was playing all that well. Instead, she had to walk with a force and sense of purpose, as if she knew exactly where she was going. That meant Marix simply headed to the right door without inspecting either of them, hoping that anyone that might see her would just figure she was going that way instead of looking suspicious...unless just being in the building was suspicious...

The door opened up to a hallway, which eventually led to what Marix could only guess was a lab of some kind. It, too, was empty, but there were a couple of chair-like objects and various...things all over the place. Much of what she saw on tables looked like limbs or muscle tissue, and there didn’t seem to be many tools at all. There were a few clear containers of various sizes, as small as her hand and a couple almost as large as a full-grown Alraxian. All of them contained other unidentifiable...things. All of it looked organic, and Marix found herself wondering what it really all was. Were they studying something, making something, or...something else worse than all of that? Deciding that it was likely at least a bit important, Marix began to search the room for anything at all that could provide a clue. Maybe they were researched Alraxians, or maybe something else entirely, but it was empty and she knew that this was a rare chance that would have been foolish to pass up.

“Eventually, you’re going to have to help me out of here.”

The voice was so sudden, and so very surprising that Marix was fairly sure her heart stopped for a second. The room had been empty! She’d already gone over it once before really looking like she was now and it had been empty. The voice was behind her, though...and in Basic? Since when did Vong speak Basic amongst themselves? And even then, the voice...

Realizing what was happening, or at least partially grasping things, Marix gritted her teeth and spoke quietly and angrily, in a voice that perfectly suited the Vong body she inhabited, “Not now. When I’m asleep, its fine. But not now. Not here. Its not funny.”

“I’m not trying to be funny. It’s a valid point.”

Marix refused to turn around. No, she would keep looking through all of these...things and not focus on the other...thing. 

But the voice wasn’t about to let up, apparently, “Why come here if you’re just going to ignore me?”

Slowly, Marix turned to look over her currently-grey shoulder. Just as she expected, Jyren sat back against the far wall, knees up and arms wresting on them. He looked terrible, even though she knew he wasn’t actually there, “Go away. Do this when I’m not surrounded by Yuuzhan Vong.”

“When are you not?” he asked, and Marix realized that while he mouth was clearly moving, her ears were not picking up the voice. No, it was just her mind deciding to be crazy at a very, very bad time. Cursing herself, Marix turned away from the image and knelt down to inspect an odd mark along the floor. It was blue. Not just any blue, either. It was a dark, deep blue that looked just about right for dried Alraxian blood.

The image of Jyren still didn’t go away, though, “You’re surprised by blood?”

That caused Marix to freeze. Technically, if he was just a projection of what was left of the link, he would be able to see what she saw. Still, not once in the previous encounters with this not-Jyren had he really made any mentions of the surroundings. Why that got her attention, Marix didn’t know...but it did. Once again, she looked over her shoulder to where he sat, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Its blood,” Jyren half-shrugged, “Its everywhere in here. Has been for a while.”

“And you know this, how?” she was trying not to admit to talking her herself, but now it was going a bit far. Questioning herself was toeing a line. She really needed to do something about this.

The image of Jyren actually rolled his eyes at her, “Sometimes I don’t understand you at all.”

Now she was being berated by this image of something that didn’t exist. Definitely beyond the line. Just ignore him, then. Marix turned back to the blood and looked around. It was everywhere. How had she missed that? Blue streaks and marks all across the floors and even the walls. It was a mess. If the Knight had been here, there was no way she alive anymore. Not with this much blood lost. Not with the condition of the room around Marix...

Sitting up, Marix turned to one of the containers, not able to identify the substance within but fairly sure it was some kind of organic goo. If that had been part of an Alraxian, she would not have been surprised. As quickly as she could, Marix began to get samples of everything. Taking one of the empty containers, she tried her best to put as much in it as she could while keeping it all separate.

“They’re probably on their way back again...” Jyren’s voice reached her mind again, “This is the part where you disappear.”

What?

Marix turned around again, but this time Jyren was gone. In fact, she couldn’t help but notice that much of the blue bloodstains were, too. Had she imagined them? No...no, there were still others. She’d even collected some to confirm the origin. But where had all the rest gone? Gods, she was losing her mind.

And then, right on cue, the door opened and a six-fingered Vong entered. The Vong, a male about Marix’s current height, froze in place upon seeing her, “Gul dor es pral’kat?”

For the shortest of moments, Marix just stood there, staring blankly at the Vong. Then, knowing her cover was already blown, she tucked the container she was carrying under one arm and charged straight for him.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 596: To be a Jedi*

On the other end of the street, Tobias saw Master Ral’s lightsaber ignite. There was no moment of solid colour, instead it was immediately a blur of motion in the darkness of Tatooine’s night. Seeing that, Tobias’ hand went straight for his own weapon, removing it from its place inside his jacket as he and Corinna ran as fast as they could to catch reach the Jedi Master.

“Can you see it?” Corinna asked, running beside him but not bothering to turn her head. She made the oddest movements and had such strange mannerisms, and Tobias figured all of them were due to not having eyes...but he just seemed to notice them so easily. Yes, he could feel her focus on him in the Force when she ‘looked’ at him, but without her head moving it didn’t seem as real.

Up ahead, Master Ral had grown into a roughly-humanoid shaped figure with a bright blue light dancing around a...a...something. Tobias couldn’t really make it out, even with the glowrods in the street. Whatever it was, it had to be at least a meter tall, but it wasn’t humanoid. Toias was fairly sure he could see at least six legs and a long tail, and it had to be over three meters in length, not counting the whip-like tail that Master Ral was ducking away from. The most noticeable thing about it, though, was not any physical features. Rather, it had completely disappeared in the Force. Where they had initially sensed it for a matter of short moments, the thing was now like the Vong...there but not. Likely why Corinna had asked the question in the first place.

“I can see it,” Tobias finally answered Corinna’s question, “But I don’t know what I’m seeing. Its big and I think its some kind of animal.”

Corinna half nodded, her staff in hand as she ran, but she didn’t slow down, instead tilted her head towards Tobias and spoke quickly, “Keep as quiet as you can. If I can hear your lightsaber I will know where you are but I need to hear that thing, too.”

“Are you sure?” Tobias didn’t like what she was suggesting. The Vong not existing according to the Force was bad enough, but he had his eyes and ears and nose to make up for that. Yes, Corinna had two of those...but could her hearing be that good? It wasn’t as if she was normally blind. The Force provided her a unique kind of vision.

“Yes,” her response was filled with a surprising amount of anger direction at Tobias, likely for asking that question. But she quickly followed it in a calmer tone, “I can fell your Master, however. He needs our help. Whatever that is, it’s the same thing that killed the other Jedi.”

Tobias just nodded. They were nearly there anyway, and what he could see of the creature told him little of it. Beyond what he had already seen, it looked to have countless fangs in its massive jaws that were snapping at Master Ral, who was barely fending the creature’s huge claws off with his lightsaber. The claws were dripping with...something, too. Some kind of gooey liquid that didn’t look at all pleasant. Not that the creature itself looked pleasant, of course.

Merely meters away, Tobias finally ignited his lightsaber. Just a few more quick steps, and he swung the weapon at the creature’s exposed right flank. But the lightsaber did not cut through its hide, instead slicing across its body and leaving a long, glowing mark while getting a deafening roar of pain from the creature’s mouth. Its hide had to be at least as strong as durasteel to take a lightsaber like that!

Before the creature could spin around to retaliate, a good sized crate slammed into its head. Tobias glanced over his shoulder to see that Corinna had not charged in, and instead was using the Force to deal with it indirectly. Considering she couldn’t see the thing, that had been an amazingly accurate shot. Maybe she would be fine...

“Tobias!” Master Ral’s voice was strained and not at all like his normal, calm self. That alone was enough to snap Tobias back into the reality of the situation. His eyes caught sight of a huge claw swinging right for his face, and Tobias immediately jumped back, instinctively swinging his lightsaber to parry the attack. His defense did little good, but at least he managed to avoid the claw.

Yellow eyes glared up at Tobias for a moment before the creature’s jaws opened and snapped at him, catching a loose bit of Tobias’ jacket as he twisted out of the way. It was so fast! How the hell was something so big so fa—

Movement out of the corner of his eye caught Tobias attention, ending his previous thought. Immediately, he ducked under the tail, which went right over him with enough speed to have taken his head off. Another large object hit the creature, causing it to recoil enough for Tobias to catch his breath and Master Ral to cut the creature across its muzzle and get its attention again.

But as the monstrous thing turned back to the Jedi Master, Ral called out sharply, “Tobias, go! Get away from here right now!”

“What?! We just got here!” he stepped in again anyway, swinging his lightsaber across the creature’s greenish-black scales and still doing no real damage to its thick hide. He dared not get close enough to really put the force into the blade that would be necessary, and its tail was whipping around again...

Diving back, the tail sliced across Tobias’ leg, grazing him but cutting like a blade. And there was something else...and extra stinging sensation that was seeping into the wound that caused Tobias to panic when he realized what it was. Poison. The tail was poisoned. By the Force, if that was poison what was that goo on its claws?! As he tried to use the Force to combat the poison working into his legs, Tobias managed to continue his protests through gritted teeth, “I won’t leave you, Master!”

“You must!” Master Ral snapped back, his blue lightsaber sweeping around to bat away a clawed arm. A second later Master Ral was diving to the side and rolling up to his feet again, avoiding a half-pounce and the powerful jaws of the monster, “You are not ready for this! I will hold its attention! Both of you, get away and warn the Jedi! This is not like anything we expected!”

“No!” Tobias was struggling to fight now, his healing ability in the Force failing him and his natural ability to remorph doing little good. Tobias had never learned how to use that to stop a poison. So he stumbled back a few steps, out of the reach of the creature, and his vision was blurring a bit. Still, he held his lightsaber up and in front of him, trying to force his body to do what he told it and help his Master, “You need my help, Master! Otherwise you’ll—“

”Either I die or all three of us die!” Master Ral cut Tobias off this time, stepped back from the beast and then used the Force to jump over it and place himself between the creature and Tobias. In the short moment in which the creature was forced to spin around and reorient itself, the Jedi Master did not attack. Instead, he looked over his shoulder to Tobias and his blue-skinned face presented the very image of calm, and suddenly, so did his voice, “The Jedi must know of this. Go. Go now!”

The creature pounced again, this time its claws raking across Master Ral’s side as he stepped out of the way. Tobias dove back out of instinct, avoiding any secondary attack to himself, but the poison was doing its work. He couldn’t make sense of things anymore, and the world was going blurry. He landed back on one foot, then lost his balance and fell, expecting to hit the sand-covered street on his back and then be killed a moment later.

Instead, something caught him.

Tobias tilted his head to see Corinna there, twisting him around so that his arm was over her shoulder and she could help him walk, “Turn that damned thing off before you kill us both and lets move.”

“We can’t leave—“

But Corinna was starting to drag him away, forcing Tobias to half-walk to keep up and try to ignore the sharp pain in his leg as he did so, “He is your Master! And that...thing is not what I expected. Now help walk, dammit. I will not leave you here to die, too!”

Yet again, Tobias was dragged away from someone he looked up to as they were about to die. Yet again, he knew nothing about the situation. Yet again, he wished he could do something, anything, to stop it. But this time, Tobias knew that his Master was right. Retreat was the only option. That creature was unlike anything they had ever seen...and while Master Ral had been struggling to fight it from the beginning, he could hold it long enough.

He would hold it. Because he was a Jedi Master. He knew what he was doing, and the consequences of those actions.

And as Tobias and Corinna managed to get away, Tobias understood for the first time what a true Jedi was like. He finally began to realize the foresight, wisdom, and intelligence necessary to truly be a Jedi Master. There was so much more to it than just the Force. That was what Master Ral had been teaching him all along. How to be a Jedi...not how to use the Force. How to be strong, courageous, and noble when no one else could. To do it not for attention or glory or money, but because it was right. Because it had to be done.

Tobias still didn’t understand all of Master Ral’s lessons. He still struggled with many important aspects of the Force and being a Jedi. But as he and Corinna got away from that monster and they both felt the shockwave in the Force of the Jedi Master’s death, Tobias understood immediately. Right then, he knew what it meant to be a Jedi, to serve the Force and to protect the galaxy. Right then, Tobias knew he could no longer turn around.

Because Master Ral had died for him.

And now Tobias had to get off of Tatooine and warn the Jedi of this new creature that the Vong had unleashed.

For the first time in his life, Tobias no longer thought of himself as a child or a student. He was a Jedi now.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 597: Emptiness*

In a short time, Corinna and Tobias reached a small, mostly-empty warehouse a good distance away from where the creature had been. The only other occupants of the warehouse were some crates that looked to be filled with spare parts, a couple of barely-working glowrods that flickered annoyingly, and some small bugs that kept away from the two of them. The only assurance that they had not been followed was that they weren’t dead, as Corinna had not seen the creature follow them and Tobias hadn’t...well, he wouldn’t have seen it with eyes or the Force. By the time they reached the warehouse and Corinna had gotten them inside, he was nearly unconscious. The poison had worked slowly at first, but had soon left him delirious and unable to walk due to the ever-increasing pain. Because of that, Corinna had practically carried him the last few blocks, which had been an interesting endeavor in its own right. The fact that they hadn’t been killed while she struggled with that was indication enough for her that they’d not been followed.

“I’m not...really a healer,” she mumbled, more to herself than anything, as she knelt next to Tobias. He was up against one of the crates, staring off into nothing and struggling to keep his head up. 

“...neither ‘m I...” he did managed to reply, though the words were slurred and hard to hear beneath his breathing. Tobias was doing everything he could to try, though. He couldn’t feel his leg anymore. The pain had grown so much that it had reached a point where he had completely lost feeling in it, and breaking that barrier was his greatest problem. How could he fix anything if he couldn’t feel it? But focusing enough on the Force was just as difficult, and that was ignoring the fact that he barely knew where to start when it came to healing. Sure, he’d done it before, but usually it had occurred in moments of panic and instinct had taken over. He’d never really done it intentionally before.

Carefully, Corinna twisted his leg around a bit to get a better view of the long slash that the creator’s tail had left. It was barely bleeding, and the wound didn’t look to have been very deep. The real problem was whatever poison had been in that tail. Tobias had barely been grazed by it, and yet he was on the edge of unconsciousness and likely worse...

“...gonna try something...” Tobias’ strained voice caused Corinna’s Force sense to tilt upwards from his leg to his face, though her head didn’t move at all with it, “Jus...jus don’t freak out or anything. ‘Kay...?”

She studied him carefully for a few short moments, very unsure of what he meant by that, but finally nodded, “Okay.”

Though he couldn’t concentrate enough to do much with the Force, Tobias did have another option. It required much less effort to morph back to his Alraxian body than it did to morph from it. Returning to his natural state was just something his body could do without much prompting. The problem, as Tobias could see it, was that he doubted that would get rid of the poison. But maybe it would...and if not...well...well...uh...he’d figure something else out, hopefully.

In a matter of seconds, a young human no longer sat there against the crate. In its place was an Alraxian with jet-black hair and a dark blue stripe, with a tail to making itself known by flicking slightly. Though Tobias’ eyes were closed, he could feel Corinna’s surprise through the Force. But it quickly faded, and the surprise turned into something else entirely. Tobias would have been able to identify it much more easily had his eyes been open to see the grin form on her face, “You’re not human.”

“Not...exactly...” Tobias answered as best he could, his voice very slightly different in a way that she couldn’t help but notice and he likely never had. Just a bit lower and with the hint of an accent she couldn’t identify there that had not been in his voice before. She also noticed something else. The wound on his leg was gone. The only hint of it left was the tear in his trouser leg.

Tobias felt the pain dim, too. In fact, he could feel his leg again. There was still a shadow of the pain, an odd stinging sensation that he knew wasn’t there without being able to explain it. Had the poison gone? Had it worked? Maybe...he didn’t really know the technical details, as it were, of morphing. Marix would have known. He’d have to ask her about that next time he had the chance. It suddenly struck him as very important information.

Finally, he opened his eyes again to take in the warehouse. The better eyes of an Alraxian did him little good, though. It was still dark, filled with crates, and otherwise empty. Of course, now he noticed a very horrid smell that had been much more tolerable before...

“Did it work...?” Corinna asked, watching him curiously and still with a grin on her face. She actually seemed happy with the discovery he wasn’t human rather than shocked or terrified. That was a new reaction.

Nodding, Tobias reached a hand down to feel his leg, not trusting himself enough to just know it was fine, “I..I think so.”

There was a short silence, and it was obvious that Corinna wanted to know more about him. Specifically, what he was. But she didn’t ask, and seemed oddly hesitant about it. But something else was on Tobias’ mind now that he was sure he was mostly alright, “Do you have a ship?”

At first, she was taken off guard by the quick shift, but then shook her head slightly and then shrugged apologetically, “Hitched a ride here and was planning to do the same getting out. I uh...think I know a way to get us off planet tonight, though. Do you have any spare credits?”

Tobias had to think about that. Did he? Well, actually...Marix had given him some when he’d first left to go to Yavin IV. He hadn’t used much of it, not really needing to beyond some food here and there while he and Master Ral had been traveling...Master Ral was gone now...

Quickly, he shook that thought off and just answered the question, “A little bit...why?”

“Well...” Corinna’s Force sense shifted away, as if she was sheepishly looking at the ground and trying to hide something she’d done, “We could uh...buy a ship.”

“I don’t have nearly enough for that!” in fact, he was fairly sure he barely had enough for a cheap, broken down landspeeder if push came to shove. In fact, buying anything of that caliber, not to mention a starship, likely would have required much more violent actions than just pushing and shoving.

Still not ‘facing’ him, Corinna spoke very quietly and directly at the floor, “I uh. I might...”

Eyes widening slightly, Tobias nearly yelled at her, “Why the hell did you ask me if I had any money then?!”

“I was hoping you’d pitch in!” she snapped back, pointing a finger at him and her Force sight quickly shifting right back to him, “I don’t particularly want to use all the credits I have if I don’t have to! I have to eat, you know!”

“I barely have enough money for that!” suddenly, it was a competition for Tobias...even if it made no sense.

“Then what good are you?” Corinna sighed heavily and tilted her head back some, “If we try to hire a ship right now and sound urgent, it’ll cost more than just buying one. And we have to get moving. The longer we stay here the more of a chance that thing’ll find us and...well, the less chance we have to warn anyone about it.”

Tobias nodded. It made sense. Hopefully Corinna actually knew what she was talking about, though. He sure as hell didn’t know the first thing about buying a starship, “I guess we get moving then.”

“No,” the word was spoken swiftly and Corinna added to her point by putting her hand on his chest to prevent him from getting up, “You stay here. Lay low and be patient. I’ll get us a ship and be back as soon as I can.”

“But if that thing finds you...”

“Then it will have only found me,” she got to her feet and picked up her staff, which had been lying on the floor next to him, “Just stay here. I won’t be long.”

“You can’t go alone,” Tobias shook his head, starting to get up but finding his body was still weak. Maybe the morphing hadn’t solved the problem of the poison entirely, “I’m not going to see someone else die today. I’m coming with you.”

The Force suddenly pressed against him, holding him down in a very uncomfortable way, “No. I have to do something else. Something you do not need to be around for. Not right now, at least. So you stay here, you stay alert, and you wait. If I’m not back within the hour...find a ship to stow away on.”

Though he couldn’t really move, Tobias struggled against Corinna’s hold on him with the Force. Quickly, he gave up, realizing she wasn’t going to relent. Instead, he turned his annoyance to what she’d said, “What are you going to do?!”

Slowly, Tobias felt the pressure of the Force around him lessening until it disappeared. Corinna was facing the other direction by then, but her sight was on him, “If we are going to report this creature to the Jedi to warn them...they need to know what its capable of. Bestine is the largest city on this ball of dust, and we were out in the open instead of in a back alley. There are security devices recording most of the main streets. I’m going to find where they’re kept and get a copy of...of what happened...”

“And buy a ship in less than an hour?!” he tried his best to focus on that rather than her other task. Yes, it was necessary. It made perfect sense. Too much. But...Tobias truly did not want to watch his Master die. Feeling it in the Force was still hurting him in a way that made no sense. To see the Jedi Master’s fight...to see the details that were lost when they ran...no, he couldn’t do that. Not now. Maybe not ever.

“If I’m not back, Toby...get off the planet,” was all she said before turning and heading out of the warehouse. The joy and sense of mischief that had surrounded her sense Tobias had met her only hours before was, for the first time, entirely gone.

And then Tobias was alone in the dark...without his parents, without any friends, and now without his Master. It was not like when Jyren had died. Then, Tobias had been filled with everything from rage and sorrow. Now, though, he felt only emptiness. There was no other word for it. And he knew the danger of that. Master Ral had taught him about it well. In that emptiness, the Dark Side could very easily come if he let it...and that would only take a single thought.

Tobias was not left alone in that warehouse on Bestine to hide silently from a monster of the Yuuzhan Vong.

He had a battle of his own to fight.

One that he had to win...for Jyren and for Master Ral.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 598: New Plans*

Marix’s fist caught the surprised Yuuzhan Vong in the jaw, driving the much smaller man into the wall. The Vong wore short, bright coloured robes and was definitely not a warrior. He was about half Marix’s current size, and though it looked like he had a weapon at his side, he was too busy recoiling from the shock of her strike to grab it. She also noticed that he had a six fingered hand, and each finger looked more like some oddly designed, somewhat disturbing tool. The more she learned about the Vong, the more she didn’t understand.

For the moment, though, understanding was unnecessary. Before the other Vong could do a thing, she hit him again, this time in the gut, which caused him to double over so that she could bring her knee up into his face and knock him unconscious. The Vong crumpled to the floor and Marix looked out the open doorway to see another staring with wide eyes at her.

But the shock didn’t last for long, and this second Vong quickly reached for a weapon at his hip. Marix dashed for him, considering morphing back to her Alraxian body but thinking the better of it for the moment. This Vong did not simply let her attack him, though. He sidestepped her first swing with relative ease and brought a knife down to the back of her neck, growling some guttural words that likely were as rude as they sounded to be.

Marix twisted her body away, but didn’t avoid the blade entirely. Instead of driving into her neck, she got a good, long slice down her right arm. It cut deep, and she had to grit her teeth to hold back any sound. As soon as the blade was gone, she remorphed the wound, which closed before any of the black blood could even escape.

That was immediately noticed by the Vong, who’s eyes widened as he stepped back a moment. Then, he said a word that Marix did understand.

“Alraxian.”

He knew.

With just that little sight, he knew. Which means he’d seen an Alraxian before. No, more than that. Much more. To know the species name, to so quickly identify it. But how much did he know? Suddenly, Marix had a knew objective beyond just getting the samples she’d stolen back. She was going to have to interrogate another Vong.

Immediately, Marix took advantage of his surprise. She stepped inside his guard and swung her arm around, driving her elbow into his cheekbone with enough force to send him spinning until he hit the wall and then slammed into the floor. At which point he fell unconscious, Marix didn’t know. But it didn’t matter.

As quickly as she could, Marix morphed back to her Alraxian body and then knelt down in front of the unconscious Vong. She ripped a large piece of the fabric he wore off, noting that it was quite strong despite being very thin and having a very odd, almost leathery texture while looking much softer than that. Marix then fashioned a crude sash and slipped it over her shoulder then rested the small container in it and against her hip. Hopefully that would hold it so she could have a hand free.

Then, in one swift motion, she lifted the Vong up over her shoulder and got to her feet. It was not a very elegant or inconspicuous way to travel, but she could find little other alternative. She wasn’t about to risk trying to carry this Vong even in the body of the stronger warrior. She had to be sure that she could carry him and fight if it came down to it, which meant being Alraxian and ditching any attempts at subtlety. Time to move fast and get back to Hermes as quickly as possible.

It was truly amazing how things had a way of getting more and more difficult as they went on. One day, Marix was going to speak to someone about that and put a stop to it. Just once she wanted things to go exactly as planned without a single problem. Just once.

* * * *​ 
An hour passed.

In that hour, Tobias was not mauled by an unknown monster.

He couldn’t help but consider that a plus.

Of course, there was a negative, too. Corinna had yet to show up. He didn’t dare reach out with the Force for her, afraid that the creature would find him. It definitely hunted Force-users, so he was keeping himself very much drawn in. He hoped it hadn’t got her, but she needed the Force to see. She couldn’t just shut it off...

But he’d been too busy to really worry that much about her up until the point where his internal clock told him it had to have been an hour since she’d left. Until then, Tobias had sat in the same place in the warehouse, not bothering with the lights, and trying to keep himself calm and focused rather than dwelling on what had happened. Not that it was easy to do. Just the thought of Master Ral would cause his concentration to waver. The problem with that was the very techniques he was using were taught to him by Master Ral, so just a slip of a thought to that and things began to become difficult.

Tobias knew what was truly bothering him about Master Ral’s death.

They had set a trap to find the thing killing Jedi. It had been simple. Master Ral would be out in the open, projecting himself in the Force to get attention from anything hutning Force-users, as their target seemed to be. Tobias and Corinna would wait a few blocks away, keeping themselves as withdrawn in the Force as possible, and wait. It should have worked fine. And it did. But they hadn’t realized what they were trying to find.

From the moment the creature found Master Ral, he had to have known how dangerous a situation they had gotten in to. That had to have been why he ordered Tobias away after barely a minute. But Tobias had neither the perception nor the understanding to analyze the creature in such a short time. So he was left confused as to why they couldn’t have at least tried, rather than giving up so quickly. And then, just to make things worse, he hadn’t even seen what had actually happened to Master Ral. Some part of Tobias told him that if he’d seen the fight, seen all that the creature was capable of, he would have understood.

But that would have meant seeing Master Ral die.

That would have meant being close enough for the monster to come after him next.

Master Ral had been right.

Tobias didn’t question that anymore. In fact, he didn’t even question himself. There was nothing he could have done. Nothing. The poison in that creature’s tail had been strong enough to nearly kill him within minutes with only a scratch, and it was using its claws and sharp teeth at the same time. And despite being so large, it was impossibly fast. It seemed, to Tobias, that the creature was built to kill Jedi.

It was a terrifying notion, and one he continued to return to. But it did not cause him to feel doubts or fear or even anger. Instead, it solidified his determination to warn the other Jedi. They had to know. Master Ral was right. Tobias had barely had time to see anything of it, but Master Ral was right. Warning the Jedi was the most important thing Tobias had ever been tasked with. If no one knew...if more of those creatures got out into the galaxy...

At that point in Tobias’ thoughts, he realized how long he had been waiting. It was then that worry finally began to grip him. Had Corinna been lost, too? If she had, could he do what had to be done by himself? He would have to. He was a Jedi. It was not a path for those that took the easy route. That he’d learned months before thanks to Master Ral. But he could do it. He could do it alone if he had to. Tobias hadn’t learned everything, but Master Ral had taught him enough to keep him alive. There would be much, much more to learn...but for the moment, at least, his Master had done him well.

Getting to his feet, Tobias headed for the exit to the warehouse. The poison had finally worked itself out of his system, thanks to constant attempts to remorph the area and then even some not-completely-failed uses of the Force. His head still hurt some, but at least he could walk without falling over. He did his best not to think about what might have happened to Corinna, and instead focused on the goal ahead. He needed to get off the planet immediately. She’d suggested stowing away on a ship, but Tobias would at least have a look around the spaceport just in case there was anyone that might actually be willing to help. One never knew, and he couldn’t help but be hopeful on that end. He may have seen many examples of selfish beings, but he truly felt that it wasn’t the dominant attitude in the galaxy. Marix would have yelled at him for that, but Tobias knew that Jyren would have stood back and just smiled proudly until she hit him, too.

Once again, he removed the lightsaber from inside of his jacket, realizing that Corinna must have put it back at some point without him actually noticing. Keeping the hilt in hand, Tobias took a series of deep, calming breaths and then hit the switch to open the door. When it opened, he was greeted with a rush of cool air and some dust, along with a smell unique to Bestine that he couldn’t put a word to...though it definitely wasn’t pleasant.

Stepping outside to head for the spaceport, which he was fairly sure was towards the east and not back where they’d run from, Tobias suddenly found himself face to face with Corinna, nearly walking straight into her. For the first time in his life, Tobias uttered an obscenity so foul that even he wondered where he had learned it. He also felt once of his hearts skip a few beats and almost fell back onto his tail from shock. The fact that he didn’t ignite his lightsaber and impale her out of sheer terror was truly amazing.

Though she didn’t react the same way, Corinna did take a quick step back and turned her head slightly to the side as if trying to look at the side of his face...even though her Force-sight was definitely still on him ‘normally’, “Is that how you normally say hello?”

Shaking his head, Tobias tried to catch his breath again, “Gods, Corinna...is it possible to die for a fraction of a second and then return to life more confused than before?”

Her mouth twisted into an odd line that matched the confusion in her voice, “Not that I know of...you going to be okay?”

“Yeah...” he nodded a few times then waved a hand at her to keep her from trying to help him at all, even though she was keeping a meter or so away, “Just don’t ever do that again. I think I saw my life flash before my eyes.”

“Can you save the melodrama and demands for pity for later? I’ve got us a ship and I uh...got that other thing. Sorry for being late,” she motioned idly to the mostly-empty street around them, “Was just playing it safe. That thing is still out there.”

“Good idea...” finally able to breathe normally again, Tobias put his lightsaber away so that he didn’t accidently kill anyone, “Can we leave now?”

Corinna nodded and then motioned for him to follow, “I don’t want to hear any complaints about the ship. I’m not exactly rich...especially not anymore.”

“Not a word,” Tobias fell into step next to her and tried, but failed, to come up with some witty remark. Instead, he turned to a more serious concern, “Any sign of that thing?”

She shook her head, then lowered her voice just a bit as they passed by a group of Jawas that seemed to be intensely negotiating with a Trandoshan over an old landspeeder, “Nothing...which bothers me, actually. So stay sharp and uh...” Corinna grinned, “...keep those ears open. They can’t be that size just for show, Jedi boy.”

Tobias had almost forgotten that he was back to being an Alraxian, and went a very slight shade of red at her remark, “My ears are not big. Besides, they’re useful. Good and helpful, too.”

“Ah, well then,” Corinna’s smile grew and she patted him on the shoulder before pointing down behind him, “What use do that tail of yours provide other than making me curious as to what you’d do if I pulled it?”


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 599: Monsters*

Tobias didn’t like how far away the spaceport was from the warehouse. He and Corinna had been walking down one of Bestine’s larger streets for nearly ten minutes and he still couldn’t see the damned place. The walk didn’t bother him at all, but it was the fact that the creature was still out in Bestine somewhere. It had to be tracking them. Tobias knew that was how things worked. They didn’t just get to escape so easily. He couldn’t feel it in the Force at all, but it was there, somewhere, following them.

But unlike the street where they’d first encountered it, this part of Bestine was surprisingly populated. It was at least an hour after midnight, local time, and yet there were beings of all types doing business in at street-side markets, discussing things in languages Tobias had never dreamed of, and even enjoying late night meals at some kind of out-door café. Every single time he tried to label Bestine as just a dirty collection of sand-covered buildings, something like that popped up to remind him that it was, in fact, a large city.

Maybe the amount of other beings around was keeping the monster away. There hadn’t been any panic from the citizens of Bestine and at least three Jedi were dead now. If it had killed anyone else, the city would be acting entirely different. No, it didn’t seem to care about anyone but Force-users.

“Are you having problems?” Corinna’s voice casually inserted itself in the middle of his thoughts.

Tobias stepped past a large Gran, glad it wasn’t the one from before, and turned a curious glance to her, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Corinna’s hand motioned at him, “Your tail keeps flicking. I believe that normally implies nervousness of some kind in most feline species.”

She was good. It shouldn’t have surprised him, but it did. Tobias hadn’t even noticed his tail doing that, and was suddenly very self-conscious, “Can’t really help it...that thing is out there and you know its going to find us before we get out of here.”

“I told you to keep your ears open, not be paranoid,” she let out a sigh and shook her head, “The spaceport’s right down the next street and my new ship is the third docking bay down. We’re practically off this rock.”

“See, its things like that,” Tobias raised his hand in an attempt to show that he was making an important point, “Its bad enough to think things like that. But don’t you know how the galaxy works? The second you say it, you’re dead. I mean, now we’re going to have twenty Sith jump out of the ground and attack us thanks to that.”

With no eyes roll at his statement, Corinna just sighed again and sent the feeling through the Force, “That’s why you’re staying alert. If I do that, I’m projecting in the Force too much and that thing will definitely find us. But you can use all those nice senses and those useful big ears to make sure everything’s alright. You just have to turn off that paranoia.”

“Its not paranoia,” he grumbled under his breath, “Its certainty.”

“Do you normally complain this much?”

Tobias didn’t even take a moment to think about his answer before responding, “Only when I have valid reasons for it.”

“If you say one word about the ship, I’m dumping you in the atmosphere,” she sounded worryingly serious.

“Is it really that bad?” Tobias raised an eyebrow, “I wouldn’t think you’d keep threatening that if it wasn’t. I mean...it does have a hull, right? Its nothing like that?”

“Oh, it has a hull,” Corinna stepped motioned with her hand as they reached the turn to head to the spaceport, “Its just...kind of old and not in the uh...well, it was all I could afford.”

Now the spaceport was visible. The collection of various docking bays that lined one side of the sandy street were all well lit, providing a much different atmosphere to the area than the rest of Bestine. There were quite a few more people out, too. Most looked to be coming or going from the docking bays, some looking as if they had just arrived and negotiating with local docking officers.

Tobias’s eyes darted around as he followed Corinna, but found no sign of the creature still, “What’s the ship called?”

“I actually don’t know,” she shrugged then waved a hand to silence and surprised response from him, “I didn’t bother asking. Will come up with a name on my own since its mine, anyway. The model, though, that I can tell you. Old HWK-290...never seen one in person before, and it’ll be a bit cramped, but its fast.”

“Never heard of it,” that didn’t say much. Tobias knew next to nothing about starships beyond the basics. Model numbers were, to him, just random collections of letters and numbers rather than anything that conjured up visions of particular ships. He was too used to ships being individuals with their own names and personalities rather than hunks of lifeless metal.

“Well, you’re about to see it,” Corinna turned to one of the nearby docking bays and put in a quick code into the door panel. The thing slid open to reveal a well-lit, circular docking bay that looked a mess. There were boxes and crates all over in various states of decay, and what had probably once been a fueling station looked...more rust than anything. In the center of the mess was a very interesting looking ship.

It was roughly thirty meters in length with a beak-like nose that reminded Tobias of some kind of predator bird. Its cockpit was carved into the nose, a part of the length of the hull that extended back to four small wing-like structures that looked like miniature X-Wing wings that didn’t actually form an X. It was really like nothing Tobias had ever seen before, though that wasn’t saying much. 

“Wow,” was the best he could manage as the door slid shut behind him.

Corinna headed over to the ship, saying over her shoulder, “That had better be a good ‘wow’.”

“It...” Tobias trailed off as he heard something.

The door had closed, cutting off most of the sounds of the street outside. Some still got in through the open roof of the docking bay, but not much. All he could really hear was Corinna walking across the bay floor and then stopping, his own breathing and...

It was above them.

“Get into the ship now!” he yelled at her, running after her and pushing her forward. Tobias didn’t have to explain, though, as when she turned around to protest, Corinna, too, heard something. It was an angry growl from above like no creature but that monster could make.

Corinna ran for the ship, getting to the underside and hitting the switch to lower the boarding ramp so they could get in. Tobias did not follow her. Instead, he withdrew his lightsaber and spun around, reacting to the sounds he’d heard above.

When he looked up, Tobias saw the massive creature diving straight down at him from the open roof above. Realizing that blocking wasn’t going to work, he hit the ground and rolled away. The creature landed on all its limbs with a such force that the ground shook. And then it was after him.

It dove at him, jaws wide open and front legs attempting to pin him with their goo-covered, very sharp claws. Tobias gave the creature a good cut across its muzzle, one of many from the looks of the scars, and twisted to the side to avoid the claw strikes. Before he’d even planted his feet, though, the tail was whipping around at him. But Tobias was ready, and he ducked under it just in time. Over the top of the creature’s body, he could see Corinna coming back to help him.

But while he managed to jump back and regain strong footing again, he yelled to her, “Get that thing powered up! I’ll hold its attention!”

“You can’t—“ whatever she finished that sentence with, Tobias didn’t hear. The creature growled and charged again. Its attacks were easily dealt with and dodged, but Tobias quickly realized it was being intelligent. There was no way it was really trying to attack him. It was moving too slow, too predictably. Without the Force, he was staying one step ahead of a creature that had killed three very well trained Jedi. No, it was toying with him...

No, no it wasn’t. It was being smart. It was backing Tobias into the wall that was now just a couple of meters away. Then the monster wouldn’t have to do much but pin him and he wouldn’t be able to put up a fight. Tobias suddenly knew he had to react right away before that could happen. So he took a single, small step back to avoid a swipe of a powerful claw and used the backwards momentum, along with the Force, to jump back against the wall.

The creature followed with a pounce, which he hadn’t expected. Still, that did not dissuade Tobias from his course of action. The second his feet hit the wall, he pushed off and flipped just over the top of the beast. He landed awkwardly but held his footing, even swinging his lightsaber around to attack its flank. But it, too, reacted quickly. The tail lashed out again, catching Tobias across his right forearm and cutting much deeper than before. He cried out in pain, but was thankful that it hadn’t gotten his left hand, which was still holding his lightsaber and thus, able to counter the blow by giving the creature a nasty cut in return.

But he was bleeding now, the blue Alraxian blood following the tail as the creature spun around and came at him again. Stumbling backwards, all Tobias could do to keep his footing was back away and weakly swing his lightsaber up to cut across the hard scales on the beast’s forearm as it swung at his face. At least he was backing towards the ship and the boarding ramp...and he could hear the engines warming up, and interesting humming sound that was lower pitched than his lightsaber and doing odd things to his skull...or maybe that was the poison...

Before the creature could pounce again, something odd happened. The air began to feel heavier and Tobias found himself having trouble standing more than before. He would have chalked it up to the cut he’d received, but the monstrous creature was slowing down, too. Senses began to work together, and the hum of the engines began to turn into a familiar whine of a repulsorlift drive. He was right under the ship, too. It had to be the repulsorlift pushing down on him as the ship was slowing rising up...

The ship was rising up!

Using the moment he had, Tobias disengaged from the fight and ran for the boarding ramp which was now a good meter into the air. His lightsaber was deactivated mid-air as he jumped up and grabbed one of the ramp’s support struts. Though he yelled into the ship for Corinna to close the ramp and go, Tobias didn’t even hear his own voice. It was too loud, and his focus was returning to the creature, charging for the ship and opening its jaws wide.

But it didn’t jump up after them. Instead, it stopped and made a noise unlike any other Tobias had ever heard. The creature let out an ear-shattering screech that actually caused Tobias’ vision to go black. His entire head spun, and if not for the fact that Corinna had, in fact, heard him yell and closed the boarding ramp while he was on it, he would have lost his balance and fallen out of the ship.

Instead, he collapsed onto the now-shut boarding ramp within the tight confines of the ship...alive, but unable to hear, see, move, or feel much beyond intense pain.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 600: A New Course*

Tobias did not lose consciousness. Rather, he existed in a state of constant pain and the inability to use any of his senses to figure out the world around him. But his brain was still working overdrive, and even though he couldn’t see, or really hear, or smell things, or feel anything...or taste much beyond an odd, stale nothingness, he was still very much aware. If one could be aware when they only had their thoughts to them.

With only a vague sense of time, Tobias wasn’t really sure when it was that the nothing began to fade into various, uncomfortable somthings. It wasn’t long, though, that much he was sure of. First, his hearing began to return in the form of a high pitched, constant ringing that made him realize that he had a very bad, throbbing headache. Feeling was back. He was on something hard and not at all comfortable, either in a chair of some kind of on a floor, propped up against the wall. The stale taste remained, but that began to make sense as the smell of the air in the starship...

“Where are we?” his voice came out amazingly clear considering how he was doing.

In blurred vision that was slowly and steadily sharpening, Tobias saw a figure in front of him shift slightly and then heard Corinna’s voice through the ringing, “Just in orbit. Glad to have you back...wasn’t sure where to head to from here and I was putting off plotting a course and ending up going the wrong way.”

When he had been left with only his thoughts, Tobias had decided something. He had assumed that they were in hyperspace and long from Tatooine, but apparently that wasn’t true. Good. That would make things easier...somewhat. Not much, really, but it was one little thing that he was going to latch onto as good. It was better than nothing at all.

Tobias vision was finally better, too. He was, indeed, in a chair. It was not at all a comfortable chair, though. Corinna in an identical, high-backed chair not even a half-meter in front of him. Her’s was currently spun around so she was facing him, which put their knees against each other’s simply because of how close the chairs were. It looked to Tobias that they were in the ship’s cockpit. The thing was cramped, almost like a starfighter’s cockpit but with just a bit more room. The seats were oriented with his behind and very slightly above her’s, and there was just enough room on both sides to turn the chairs and get out without too much trouble. Of course, there were still consoles everywhere, but it was nice to see the star-filled sky beyond the canopy.

“That was very stupid what you did down there,” Corinna eventually said, shrugging as she did so and then waving a hand at him, “But I guess it was pretty brave, too. And you did your little miracle healing thing again. I thought you were going to lose that arm before it healed. You’re cleaning up that blood, by the way.”

“Its not really...not really healing,” though Tobias was recovering quickly, his head still hurt and his voice was a bit lower than usual as he got used to using it again. Feeling her curiosity in the Force, Tobias tried to put that aside so they could do something more important, “I promise I’ll explain it all...but later.”

“Tell me where the Jedi are, I’ll get us into hyperspace, then we’ll have time,” Corinna gave him a cheerful smile and started to spin her chair around to get to the ship’s controls.

“Hang on,” Tobias reached out to grab her chair. She turned a curious look at him again with a bit more scrutiny in her Force-sight this time as she both ‘looked’ at him and tried to sense what he was about to say. There was no way she could have seen it coming, though, “We need to go back down there.”

In what Tobias was beginning to find rare, Corinna turned her entire head to face him as if that would somehow focus her vision on him. She waited a few seconds before commenting, “I guess that healing trick of yours doesn’t solve brain deficiency? Or maybe I’m just hearing things. My ears are still ringing, as it is. So why don’t you try that again with a little less crazy and a little more planet very far away from here.”

But Tobias had given it a great deal of thought already. There would be no winning for Corinna unless she took it upon herself to just plot a course on her own. Tobias hoped she wouldn’t, so he was going to do his best to not sound as stubborn as he was, “That thing killed two Jedi Knights and a Jedi Master.”

“More the reason to run,” Corinna shook her head, “I’m useless against that thing because I can’t see it half the time. And you...you may have some surprises up your sleeve with that little trick but this is a bit beyond you, Jedi boy.”

He was beginning to hate that. Hearing her call him that made Tobias think about Jyren. Marix had called Jyren that, and had for as long as Tobias could remember. Hearing that at all was bad enough, but applied to himself by a compete stranger? It just...it hurt.

But he tried to push past that and focus on what had to be done like the Jedi he was supposed to be. That he had to be.

So Tobias took a deep breath, let it out, and spoke as calmly as he could, “Corinna...it killed three Jedi. We’re leaving it down there. What happens when there aren’t any Jedi for it to hunt? What if it kills others? If it does, that blood is on our hands. It has to be dealt with or more people will die.”

“Your Master said to run,” her voice was careful with that, but it had to be said.

The only sign that it affected him was that his ears flattened against his head very slightly, “Yes. And this is not about revenge, which is what he worried about for me. If anyone else dies by that creature and we leave, it is our fault, Corinna. If I have to go down there alone, I will find some way to and you can go tell the Jedi...but I will not leave it down there to prey on innocent people.”

For a long minute, Corinna held his gaze. Out of habit, Tobias was looking at the cloth over where her eyes would have been, even if he could just feel her sight on him rather than see any actual direct source. But eventually, she said, “I can’t do much against that monster...but I won’t let you go down there alone.”

Tobias almost smiled, but somehow it didn’t seem appropriate considering how the day had been and where it was going. Instead, he nodded and tried to sound like he knew what he was doing, “I have a plan.”

He did, actually. He had come up with a good one, too. One that would work. Because now they knew what they were up against. They knew what it could do. It wasn’t just a blind hunt now. No. Now just letting out bait to be attacked wasn’t the plan. Tobias could set a real trap and be ready this time.

“But you don’t have all the facts,” Corinna reached over to one of the consoles to his right and picked up a small datacard that had been resting on it. She lifted it up and held it there for him to see, “If you want to do this, if you’re sure about this...you need to watch what is on this datacard.”

Tobias immediately knew what it was. 

In Corinna’s hand was a tiny piece of technology that held the moment of Master Ral’s death. Something that had not seen. Something Tobias was suddenly terrified of, again. He opened his mouth to say he could handle it, but instead all that came out was, “I...”

The entire thought trailed off into nothingness as Tobias felt a heavy weight setting down on his chest. It was hard to breathe, too. Just thinking about what the creature had done to his Master was worse than seeing it, he knew...gods, he was just imagining the worst, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be bad! It just...he...couldn’t watch it yet...not yet...

And then, in one sudden moment, the weight lifted.

Very gently, Corinna took Tobias hand in hers, turned his palm upward and placed the datacard there. She held his hand between both of hers, emanating a feeling of comfort and support through the Force in a way that Tobias had rarely ever felt before, and said quietly, “When you’re ready, Tobias...put that in the slot next to you. Take your time. I’ll be right here and I’ll do whatever I can...but you have to watch that before going back. Do you understand?”

Tobias nodded. He couldn’t find any words for the moment, and so instead tried to prepare himself as best he could. She was right. He needed to see it. He would see it. In doing that, Tobias would learn more about the creature and know, even better, what it could do and how it fought. That was too vital to hide from. A Jedi could confront his fears and let go of them. Tobias could do that.

He would.

Because he was a Jedi.

His Master had trained him well.

Tobias would not let Master Ral down.

A few minutes passed before Tobias finally removed his hand from Corinna’s. He took one more deep breath as he looked at the tiny datacard and then reached over to put it into the slot she had pointed out.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 601: Up*

The second Marix exited the Vong building, she was face to face with four others. None of them looked like warriors, and they had initially been simply going about their business, whatever that was in such a place. They had, at first, only turned their heads when the door had opened, casually glancing to see who was exiting. Of course, what they saw was not a Yuuzhan Vong as they had clearly expected. Instead, they saw Marix, an Alraxian, carrying an organic-container holding who-knew-what, and a Vong over her shoulder.

In a rather surreal moment, all of them just stood staring at one another. But where the Vong were dealing with confusion, Marix was determining a plan of action. It only took a fraction of a second for her to prioritize the targets and then act. Marix dashed forward, dropping her left shoulder and barreling straight through the smallest of the Vong, who let out a grunt of shock before Marix was past him. That was all she had time to do before the other recovered.

“Cor’sa!” at least two of the other Vong were growling that word at the top of their lungs. Marix didn’t know the exact translation, but the point got across well enough.

Of course, if it meant ‘stop!’, Marix didn’t obey. But she didn’t think that was the translation anyway. The appearance of various Vong from all of the building as she was sprinting away hinted that it might have been a call to action of some kind, which made more sense. Thankfully, as Marix ran towards the other end of the ravine and past the various Vong structures, she noticed that most of the Vong exiting the structures were dressed in robes of various kinds and did not look to be warriors.

Most.

Most, sadly, didn’t mean all.

Marix spotted four warriors exit a building in front of her, and they did not stop and look in surprise before acting. Instead, they came straight for her. Only one of them carried an amphistaff, but the other three looked built in such a way that weapons were optional. Not to mention all of the spikes on their armour and the possibility of those smaller amphistaves hidden away. Of course it wasn’t going to be easy...

Her eyes caught movement in front of her, and quickly began to track an object coming at her head. Marix ducked as one of the Vong’s thrown thud bugs shot past her head, and by the time she was upright again, the four warriors were directly in front of her. Suddenly, carrying the unconscious Vong the entire time was not looking to be a solid plan, and so Marix adapted.

As two of the warriors came at her, she shifted then, using her forward momentum to help, threw her captive Vong at them. The move caught both warriors by surprise, and they were both on their backs a second later, quickly trying to push the other Vong off of them. The Vong with the amphistaff was sweeping it around just as the other two fell, bringing its sharp edge in a long swing meant to open Marix’s stomach.

Drawing the Force to her, Marix jumped up and flipped over the Vong, landing behind him and delivering a backwards kick to his spine. Had the warrior not been wearing such heavy armour, it likely would have done more than just send him stumbling forward a couple of steps. At least the maneuver bought her a few previous seconds, and the fourth Vong was busy spinning around to come at her as she had jumped just as he was swinging one of the dagger-sized amphistaves at her back.

In that brief moment, Marix had a choice to make. It was a simple, basic choice. Fight or run. She could win the fight. There was no doubt in her mind on that. Even with four Vong warriors, she could remorph and she had survived through much, much worse. If others got involved, as they likely would, Marix still knew she could hold her ground. Morphing wasn’t just a tactic for staying alive, there were more offensive applications if necessary and she knew how to apply them. All in all, standing and fighting didn’t seem to be a bad option at all.

But the years had changed Marix in many ways.

She was an assassin and a soldier and an Empress. The first taught her how to quickly deal with targets before they could react. The second taught her how to deal with situations like the one she was currently in. The third...the third, over the years, had taught her that sometimes a fight was unnecessary, even if it could be won. Could she really handle an entire compound of Vong? What about the ships above? They would send more. But even if she could, Marix was not there to fight the war herself. Get in, get the information she needed, get out.

Tucked under her left arm, Marix had the container with the samples she had hastily gathered. Though taking a Vong captive was now out of the picture, perhaps the samples were enough. Rather than fight and allow the situation to grow worse, Marix knew the best option was to use this small moment to her advantage and escape.

Decision made, Marix did not follow up her kick with another strike. Instead, she continued forward, still calling on the Force to help her body move even faster. The Vong were growling and screaming at her as they gave chase, only meters behind despite the Force helping her along. They were surprisingly fast for such large builds.

But she knew that they couldn’t keep up for long.

She took a sharp right turn and then leapt over a new Vong carrying an amphistaff to land on top of an adjacent building. Her footing was unsteady on the odd, coral-like structure, but Marix did nothing but sway slightly as she kept her balance. The Vong were down below, and she could hear buzz in the air of more of those thrown bugs coming at her. But Marix was looking up at her next target, and with the help of the Force, leapt again.

One of the bugs sliced across her ankle as she left the rooftop, but Marix didn’t even cringe. It was barely a scratch and she didn’t even bother to remorph the wound. Instead, with her free hand, she grabbed the rock wall of the canyon, extending her claws to get a good tight grip. She held there for a moment, just long enough for the Vong to readjust their aim, but as they threw more of those damned bugs at her, Marix launched herself up again, pulling up with all of her strength and doing what Jyren had always called cheating: using the Force to move herself much, much further than should have been possible.

She caught another rock a good fifteen meters up and latched on again. One more good push like that and she’d be over. Just to herself, Marix smiled. She didn’t even have to morph to do it. And even that stray thought didn’t break her concentration.

In seconds, she was up and over the canyon wall, pulling herself onto the ground above that was just at the edge of the forest, not far from where she’d been observing the Vong compound earlier. Down on one knee, Marix allowed herself a moment to catch her breath and remorph at least four wounds, most of which she hadn’t noticed in the rush to escape.

[Wake up, Hermes.] he was a long ways away, but Marix could focus enough to get the message through. [Time to g—]

Even her thought was cut off by the sound that Marix’s ears heard. The growl was like nothing she’d ever heard, and it was accompanied by a monstrous beast pouncing out of the trees, six legs, at least, a long, barbed tail, and jaws dripping drool that looked far more dangerous than just normal saliva. It had been waiting for her!

It had been following her the whole time!

Marix rolled to the left, the meter-long monster landing with four sharp-taloned legs right where she’d been. Even as she was moving out of the way, its tail was whipping down at her so fast that she couldn’t see it. The barbed end sliced straight across her hip as she propelled herself away again. The pain was enormous, and Marix found that remorphing the wound was surprisingly difficult. There was a poison, something that was making it difficult for her to morph at all. And she couldn’t feel the beast in the Force, either.

And then, Marix knew what the Vong had been doing on Myrkr. They were breeding these things. Breeding beasts that were specifically designs to kill Alraxians. She could find no other explanation for the poison, as Alraxian physiology was just too unique for it to be random chance. Suddenly, what had been an easy escape from the Vong compound was looking to be a much more dangerous fight.

Just as Marix got to her feet, staying low and ready to react while trying to fight back the pain from the wound, the monstrous thing came at her again, sharp-toothed jaws wide open.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

*Chapter 602: The Brink*

The security holo of Master Ral and that...thing, was not at all a good quality recording. The image was distant, couldn’t be zoomed, and shockingly grainy. Holos were usually crisp and, though they had a hint of blue, weren’t completely that shade. Apparently, the Hutts didn’t care about security enough to upgrade very old security devices. Somehow, that wasn’t surprising.

But even though details were near impossible to make out, Master Ral was hard to miss, standing there with his back to the recording device, lightsaber aglow and ready for that monstrous thing to attack. On the recording, both Tobias and Corinna had just disappeared, and that meant that Toby was tightly gripping the chair’s arm rests as he did his very best to keep his cool and watch what he’d run from.

For a long minute, the recording showed much the same things that Tobias had seen and experience on his own. Fast reflexes, vicious attacks, and no slowing down from the creature as it quickly struck again and again and again, varying between its tail, jaws, and sharp claws randomly. It was a smart fighter. Master Ral held his ground well enough, landing a few glancing blows that somehow did little damage to the creature’s very tough hide. But still, Tobias could see his Master slowing and he knew what was coming. Sadly, it did not come quickly.

Master Ral made a misstep, or simply moved too slowly, and the monster’s claws slashed across his left arm. The details were hard to make out due to the bad holo, but the way Master Ral carried himself after wasn’t lost at all...the arm wasn’t moving and, to Tobias’ horror, looked to be barely attached at all. But Master Ral did not falter, holding his ground for another two minutes, at least, before the creature landed another strike. When the claws raked across Master Ral’s chest, throwing the Omwati Jedi to the ground from the force of it, Tobias felt the fear and anger gripping him.

It was horrifying to watch his Master there on his back as the creature dove in to finish the fight, and Tobias must have been radiating that in the Force, because Corinna caught on easily. Very gently, she put a hand on his shoulder, obviously trying to keep him calm and doing a better job with such a simple action than Tobias would have thought possible. Suddenly the panic at watching the moment he’d felt faded...

And then Master Ral jumped up and flipped away just as the created landed where he’d been. The Jedi Master landed on his feet and immediately called his lightsaber back into his hand with the Force. But then, in that brief moment before the creature was on him again, something surprising happened. Master Ral’s head turned and looked directly at where the holorecorder must have been. The moment lingered for long enough that Tobias felt like, somehow, his Master was looking at him through the recording, and then it passed.

Rather than strike at the creature as it came at him again, Master Ral spun out of the way and began to run the other way...back towards where Tobias and Corinna had gone. He was retreating! Well, running away, but it was the same principle. He was moving so fast that the holo only saw the form as a blur, clearly using the Force to push his body even faster and then...

The beast didn’t give chase. Instead, it turned to face where Master Ral was going, opened its jaws, and spit out something that was unidentifiable. Whatever it was caught Master Ral in the back, and the Jedi Master immediately tumbled to the ground, hitting the sand hard and then rolling out of the holorecorders view. At that point, the creature was moving again, but slower and much more casually, before rearing back and then pouncing out of view.

That was when the recording cut off.

The cramped cockpit of the starship was silent save for the humming of all of the systems for a short time. Then, keeping his voice as steady as he could, Tobias asked, “Any idea what that thing at the end was?”

Corinna shook her head, “Not for sure. Likely some kind of acid, though. It would...fit with everything else that creature can do.”

Tobias nodded. In a way, he was glad that he hadn’t been forced to see Master Ral’s actual death. But still, having felt it...and not very long ago...

“Big, durasteel tough hide, fast, poisoned claws, sharp teeth that are probably also poison laced, a poison tipped, razor sharp tail, a screech that practically knocked me unconscious, and now acidic spit,” Tobias sighed heavily and sat all the way back in his chair, “Does this thing have any guns?”

“None,” Corinna shrugged and sat back herself, facing him but not really looking at him, even through her Force sight, “You still so set on going after that thing?”

For some reason, Tobias nodded and said, “We have to.”

Sanity had clearly left him.

But that didn’t seem to bother Corinna anymore, who just nodded and turned her chair around to take control of the small starship, “You said you have a plan.”

“I did,” Tobias looked around at the consoles on either side of him, wanting to be useful but realizing he had no idea how to help. So he just sat there, uncomfortably watching Tatooine fill the viewport as they flew through the planet’s atmosphere, “I think its viable...we just have to trap the thing.”

One of Corinna’s hands waved at him and he felt her sarcasm through the Force stronger than it was in her voice, “Oh, yes, that’s it. Simple as that. Good plan. You’re quite the strategist.”

Tobias’ ears flattened in annoyance, “I’m serious. We get it in some place like that warehouse we found, seal the building and just blow the damn thing up.”

By the time Tobias had explained that, they were flying over the desert, the dunes hard to see in the night light as they flew towards the distant lights of Bestine once again. Very slowly, Corinna spoke over her shoulder, “I’m going to ignore how well thought out that is and ask you something more important...but just this once. Don’t expect me to be this nice all the time. Now. Here it comes. How do you know explosives will work and where do you plan to get them?”

“That’s two questions,” Tobias grinned proudly at himself, but he was leveled with the equivalent of a bored, narrow-eyed glare in the Force. Biting his lip, Tobias shook his head to get the feeling to go away and didn’t attempt wit again, “If it doesn’t work...we...panic, I guess. But the thing can’t be invulnerable. Everything can be killed no matter how resilient. If the explosives don’t kill it, we get enough that can bring down a building, and if that still doesn’t we use it being trapped to get close and cut its head off or something simple.”

Though he couldn’t see her over the chair in front of him, Tobias felt Corinna nod, “Alright, you get that one. So now to the ‘where do we get explosives’ part.”

He hadn’t really thought of that. But, right away, he had a rather simple idea, “Well uh...before things went all dragon shaped I saw a bunch of weapon shops all over the south end of the city...”

“You couldn’t pitch in to help buy a starship, Toby. Something tells me you don’t have the kind of credits to buy the amount of explosives we’d need...and I sure as hell don’t after buying this.”

She was right.

But...

“Well...” he wanted to put it delicately, but that wasn’t something Tobias was very good at, so he just stumbled through failed sentences instead and hoped she’d get the point, “We could uh...I mean, they’re there. Its not like...well, its night now. People have to sleep. So its good and...well, important. And I can be sneaky if I have to be and uh...”

Corinna finally couldn’t hold it back anymore and just laughed, “Are you suggesting we steal, Jedi boy?”

“Um...” he’d been caught in a truth, “Yes?”

Again, she couldn’t help but laugh, “It seems my very presence has corrupted your poor little mind already. Who knew young Jedi were so impressionable. Not that I’m complaining. Well, no, I am. This still is absolutely insane...but I have to admit, even if you’re a bad salesman it sounds interesting enough.”

“I’m uh...not sure how to take that...” Tobias hadn’t actually meant to say that out loud.

“Ah, uncertainty. You might just be more sane than I thought,” Corinna finally leaned to look around the pilot’s chair and show him the grin on her eyeless face, “I’m going to set us down about a kilometer outside of Bestine. That means we’ve got a little extra time to make your simple plan half-decent. Just remember, I can’t see that damned thing so if things go wrong, I’m playing the damsel in distress and you’re getting my ass back to this ship in one piece. I just paid for this and I’m not going to be killed while on the brink of debt.”


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## aros86

*any news?*

I know its been a while since we've last heard from you and I know you said that you had plenty of things on your plate, but I was wondering how things are coming along and if you think you might get back to posting?

Thanks


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

So yeah...its almost been a year since my last post on these forums, and here. And sadly, I can't really see myself continuing this in its current form. Life hit and I just didn't have time to keep going...I finally graduated from college, got engaged, and now I'm trying to break into the comics business while just surviving so writing to write like this sadly isn't really doable.

However, I have vague plans for this. I'm working on adapting it into a fan comic, of sorts, with a great deal changing to work in the form and such, but the general idea being the same. At the moment, though, its not top priority, as my fiance and I have a few other projects kicking around that need to get done first.

I do feel bad that this won't really get finished in its current form, but hopefully something will come of this. And I'll definitely mention here when things start to happen on a comic end.


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## aros86

From my perspective that is very sad news because I thoroughly enjoyed reading your story and was looking forward to more updates at some point.  However, I understand your need to prioritize.  Good luck!


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

aros86 said:


> From my perspective that is very sad news because I thoroughly enjoyed reading your story and was looking forward to more updates at some point.  However, I understand your need to prioritize.  Good luck!



If it means anything, it makes me sad, too. I really do want to keep writing, and have wanted to since this long delay started, but time just hasn't been kind.

I know I need to direct my energies towards helpful areas rather than just writing to write. But, like i mentioned, that doesn't mean this is entirely dead. Among the comic projects I'm working on with my fiance, a Star Wars one based on this and to-be-heavily-altered is in there. Sadly, its not top priority, but we like to multitask so its there.

Maybe somehow at some point I'll actually continue with this right here, but I'm not sure I can or if it would be worth it. Not being a student anymore is kind of horrible. I liked being able to slack of and get away with it...


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## arun

hopefully one day...


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