Story HourPost your ongoing tales from your campaigns, and read those from others for inspiration. Lots of other RPG boards post "Story Hours", but this is where it started!
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?”
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Crazy amount of updating, but thats just keeping me more and more hooked!
Goood...goood. My evil plot continues.
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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.
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Please please please keep more of this coming!
Working on today's update right now. Glad you like it.
“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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
“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.”
Linear Mode
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