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!
The sun had finally set, and the city of Haladin had its few lights to illuminate the streets. But neither Shadow nor Akan could tell. The dim light was much brighter for their Alraxian eyes, and the sliver of a moon above provided more light than the previous night had held. All in all, they barely noticed that it was night, save for the orange sunset that had just passed. Shadow had finished with what she called the ‘important stuff’, and was actually much calmer now. It wasn’t easy for Akan to continually take orders from her, as she spoke more like a slave owner than a teacher, but he’d gotten used to it. Now though, he stood looking a bit lost. After running him through a battle preparation ritual just as the sun set, Shadow had gone silent. Not really knowing what he was supposed to do, Akan just stood there and tried not to look as awkward as he felt.
[Bored yet?] Shadow’s ‘voice’ made Akan jump, as he had finally gotten used to the silence around them.
Letting out a deep breath and slowing down his breathing, Akan shrugged, “A little.”
“Well then,” she turned to face him, holding that old grin on her face. The one that meant she was planning on getting into trouble. Well, that or she was going to maul you. Sometimes those were so similar it wasn’t worth picking out a distinction. After stretching some, Shadow said, “How about we get to the fun stuff?”
“Fun stuff?” that sounded both interesting and worrying. Probably more of the latter than of the former. But the way she spoke had that happy little child tone to it. If Shadow could ever be described as a ‘happy little child’, of course. Literally being a child didn’t count for her, either.
At his question, Shadow’s grin only got bigger, “Well...its been a while, and I know you’re probably still touchy about it since last time. But then again, its something that’s always good and you enjoy it as much as I do. Besides, with a week or so to prepare, we’ve got lots of time...”
“It’s a lot easier to just say what you mean instead of all those hints,” Akan grumbled, his ears flattening a bit and showing his annoyance.
Seeing the gesture, Shadow couldn’t help a quiet laugh, “How about a little sparring match?”
“When you say ‘little’, you mean ‘dangerous’, yes?” Akan’s voice hadn’t changed, though he did look interested. Sure, she’d killed him last time, but now he had the same advantage that she did. And he knew how she fought. And...and...of course he couldn’t resist.
“Dangerous, little...same thing in the end,” was all Shadow said. She could tell he wanted to do it, but raised a hand suddenly, “One little thing this time. I need to go back to Loki for it, though. You mind waiting here?”
“Don’t take long.”
She grinned, “I’ll just make sure he’s alright and get what I need then be right back!”
Akan didn’t bother to mention that neither of them were completely sure where Loki had gone down. Even when she’d gone out of his sight, he knew that warning her of this was still possible through the link. Yet, Akan stayed silent for some reason. Perhaps she already knew about his thoughts...in fact, she probably did. He was still getting used to the link again, and getting used to the strength of it was bringing that same odd feeling from before. So he waited. At first, he’d just stood there, but that got even more boring quickly. After half an hour, though, he decided that standing around was just wasting time.
Sitting down in the sand(and trying to ignore all of that sand that was all through his tail fur), Akan calmed his mind. It had been too long since he’d simply allowed the Force to flow through him. Yet it felt odd. Different. How, he didn’t know, and it was something he wished to blame on the planet itself. Why that was the first thing to mind, Akan didn’t think about. It just felt right. Something was simply wrong with this planet. Wrong in more ways than the obvious ones. If one didn’t look closely, it would be easy to assume that Sadrak had done something to the very fabric of the planet. Yet in his calm, Akan could feel that Arranis had always been this way. Or similar. Sadrak’s presence was having some effect, yet, but it was not the true reason. But did reason matter? This planet was not right. The Force itself did not flow correctly here. And then Sadrak...in Akan’s brief encounter with the dark robed figure, he knew something was wrong. Perhaps the planet itself had changed Sadrak? Just speculation...or was it? Sometimes it was hard to tell what were thoughts and what was the Force speaking. From that old book he’d found, Akan always remembered one statement. True wisdom came from knowing when it was the Force speaking. The Dark Side was the other path, the path in which one told themselves that every thought was the Force to simply justify their own power.
A sudden tremor caused Akan’s mind to revert quickly to the present. His eyes opened and he saw Shadow. The moon was higher up...how long had it been?! Slowly, Akan traced the tremor back through the link to Shadow. A sort of ‘wake up’ push that was not at all gentle. With everything finally bringing itself back into the moment, Akan started to stand up. Shadow waved for him to stay seated though, and sat in front of him. In her hands, she held a small box. It was wooden, with amazingly intricate carvings all along it. Akan knew the runes that were carved along the top to be the Alraxian language, though he did not know what they said.
Shadow was holding the box very carefully, as if it would break if handled wrong. After tracing her hand across a few of the runes over the top, she said quietly, “Despite what you’ve seen, our people are not war like. I...we are exceptions to the norm. Our Empire is a peaceful one, with only the Mrrakesh to worry about. The have not probed our borders in hundreds of cycles, though. The one dark secret of the Empire are the Tam’day’u. Children born with silver eyes. They are taken away and trained as assassins from a young age. To speak the word in even a private setting is enough to have you cast out of someone’s home forever. But we do have a standing army. It is more a peace keeping force than a true army. They settle border disputes and deal with pirates, both are rare but do occur. But it wasn’t always that way. The Empress once wielded a powerful weapon as a symbol. This was so many cycles ago that even my mother’s grandmother would not have known this time. Yet...we still keep the symbol. Passing it down from mother to daughter, to each heir to protect. My mother...is a healer. She does not care for weapons, so she gave it to me before I left.”
Pausing, Shadow looked to make sure he was paying attention. He was. In fact, Akan looked very caught up in all of this. Ever since she’d chastised him earlier that day, Akan had found himself nearly begging for more information about the Alraxians. Here she was, finally giving some explanation. Shadow couldn’t help a small smile at seeing and feeling his enthusiasm. It was needed, as things would not be easy for him as time went on. But that wasn’t important now.
Forcing those thoughts away, she slid open the top of the box. Akan noticed that it truly was made of wood, then, as even artificial wood plating didn’t splinter like this had in places. Amazing. This box was a relic of an ancient time from a planet that survived in a hidden section of the galaxy. Akan almost didn’t notice when Shadow reached in and pulled out the contents. It was shape he knew well. Cylindrical, shining metal despite its obvious age, and a even more runes inscribed along it.
“A lightsaber...” Akan said quietly, surprise obvious in his eyes. The design was so similar, yet so foreign. It didn’t look as old as it was. Still well polished and shining in the dim light. It was a beautiful weapon, constructed with obvious care and even love. An artist’s work, truly.
When Akan reached for it, Shadow pulled back and shook her head, “It is only for the Empress. I should not even be touching it, but mother told me to use it if the time came. I feel it has.”
“Shadow...” he trailed off, not sure what to say. After unhooking his own lightsaber from his belt, he looked at his own weapon in a way he never had before. In it, he saw the same care and love in the design. So similar...strangely similar. What artist had crafted this one? His mother? Father? Or perhaps that was all just some illusion he’d cooked up and it was stolen. No...that didn’t feel right. It was in his family somewhere...questions, questions.
She didn’t seem to here him, slowly putting the box off to the side in the sand. Shadow then got to her feet, and looked down to Akan, “I am not very...proficient with this weapon, but I believe I can provide some challenge.”
Akan grinned and also got to his feet, “That’s the first time I’ve heard even a hint of modesty from you.”
“Fine!” Shadow grinned, suddenly her old playful self again, “We’ll do this the hard way! Best of fifteen, then!”
Both of them took a few steps back and got ready. Akan knew not to expect the usual duel with her. In fact, he had a feeling that the lightsaber would be more of a diversion than actual attack. Either way, it would be fun. Even if they didn’t have a stated prize, the idea of being the winner was just too good to ignore. Planting his feet, Akan thumbed the activation switch on his lightsaber. The usual snap-hiss was accompanied by the same old blue-green blade, illuminating his face and the area around him. It was only a moment later that the same noise sounded from Shadow’s blade, which bathed her in a soft violet light. Ha! Finally, something that wasn’t blue! This was going to be good...
By the time Landau had walked out to see what the two Alraxians were doing, they had already finished five ‘rounds’. He’d caught them during a short break, which he soon realized only lasted a minute or so. But at seeing him, both Shadow and Akan had allowed themselves a slightly longer rest. This was provoked by Landau questioning the amount of blue liquid that he’d learned to be blood that was now fairly thick across the sand. Despite this, both Alraxians looked just fine, if not a little tired. They had just laughed and when he realized that he was in the way, Landau stepped back and found a comfortable spot to lean against on Haladin’s wall. And he watched.
To him, it was mostly a series of blue-green and violet lights colliding after bouts of quick motion. As the moon rose in the sky, though, it provided more light and allowed Landau a better view of what was happening. From what he could tell, Shadow was just using the lightsaber to keep Akan occupied, while her free hand(or claw) lashed out at him. The first few ‘rounds’ that Landau watched saw Akan getting beaten fairly quickly, but that didn’t seem to last too long. It wasn’t long at all before the lightsabers were held away or deactivated all together and the fight devolved into old fashioned hand to hand combat. Landau saw that Akan was not nearly as adept at this as Shadow, but he was doing a good job of moving out of the way and taking a few hits without trouble. Of course, through all of this, Landau still wasn’t sure how the two of them were keeping score.
In fact, neither Shadow nor Akan really knew. Every so often, both of them just knew who had lost. That was mostly from a mix of the link feeding emotions between them and the occasional loss of a body part. How long this lasted, even Landau had lost track of. But it was enough for the moon to now be high above them and shining straight down. Both Akan and Shadow were breathing heavily, exhausted but not even thinking of giving up. There was sand all over them, along with the blueish blood and a good amount of bruises and smaller scratches that neither of them bothered to remorph. The original target number had long sense passed.
“Ten all...” Akan said as he calmed his breathing and planted his feet again, “One more?”
Shadow nodded, bringing her own lightsaber up in front of her and looking at him past it, “One more.”
Nothing else needed to be said. Boasting and taunting wasn’t necessary anymore, as they could both feel each other’s thoughts more clearly. Amazing how this fighting had cleared up the link and gotten them both used to the strength of it again. But they just stood there for a few moments, waiting to see if the other would make the first move. Waiting...
Shadow broke first, not able to simply stand there and allow him the chance to catch his breath any longer. With her left foot, she kicked up some sand at Akan, and then pushed off towards him with her right foot. Though the sand bothered his vision somewhat, the lightsaber she held gave away her position. His eyes following the violet blade, Akan easily brought his own weapon to block the strike aimed at his left side. But even as the two blades met in a crash, he still saw movement. This was not the first time she’d done this. As Shadow held their blades up and to the side, she arced inwards and delivered a strong kick towards Akan’s other side.
Having seen this before, Akan had already learned how to hold the blades away and move. This meant he had little trouble slipped to the side, away from her foot, and at the same time batted her lightsaber away. Using his momentum, Akan spun around on one foot, swinging the lightsaber in a long, low arc. Shadow saw this out of the corner of her eye, and quickly leaped up and over Akan and his strike. Landing behind him, she lashed out with her free hand, backhanding him hard across the back of his head. Akan stumbled forward for only a half second, then recovered his footing and reacted to the sudden spark through the Force. His lightsaber went left and low, barely catching Shadow’s blade before it lopped off his ankle. However, he was still facing the other direction and reaching across his own body to hold the blade there, and the awkward angle made it extremely difficult to hold her blade where it was.
Seeing this, Shadow grinned and suddenly pulled her lightsaber away. The force with which Akan had been using to hold the blades steady no longer had any resistance, and Akan’s arm, along with his lightsaber, went high before he could compensate. This provided an easy opening for Shadow, and she took advantage of it by sweeping his feet out from under him. Akan hit the ground face first, but the fall didn’t seem to phase him or slow down his reaction. A forward roll avoided a follow up strike from Shadow’s foot, and easily got him to his feet again, though he was still facing the wrong way. Shadow made an attempt at a similar attack as before, swinging his towards his other side and a little higher with her lightsaber. This time, Akan reacted differently.
Instead of using his own lightsaber to deflect her attack, Akan spun to the side enough to put them only inches apart. The move sent Shadow’s strike past him, and he batted her arm away with his free hand. It also surprised Shadow just enough to give Akan another opening. Pulling around again, he planted a strong kick of his own to her stomach. This time, it was Shadow who ended up on the ground, but Akan didn’t attempt to follow up with a strike. Mainly because Shadow had landed on her hands, and easily flipped up to her feet again, facing him with a grin. He didn’t even notice the same grin on his face as he planted his feet again.
She’d almost won there...almost, though, didn’t cut it. The mental equivalents of taunts flowed through the link, wordless but in no way difficult to translate. It had only been a half second before Shadow dove at him again. Akan sidestepped her charge, avoiding a combined vertical lightsaber strike and high claw slashing. That would have been his face even if he’d blocked the lightsaber. The speed of Shadow’s charge had sent her barreling past him when he’d moved, and Akan had spun around and his arm swept out towards her. In a slightly off balanced spin, Akan’s lightsaber left his hand and flew at Shadow. She had noticed this just as her charge was stopped, and ducked under the flying blade just in time, feeling a few hairs get singed by the weapon. Seeing he was without a weapon, Shadow grinned and went after Akan again. Only a few steps out of reach, she heard the wobbling sound of a spinning lightsaber coming at her.
Her eyes then noticed that while both of Akan’s hands were held in a defensive position, his left hand looked to be directing something. Shadow’s mind realized what was going on just in time. Again, she ducked. This time, she lost a few more hairs and nearly part of her ear. Easily, Akan caught the weapon he’d called back to him, stepping forward and striking down at Shadow. Already coming back up, Shadow didn’t have much trouble getting her own lightsaber above her head to block Akan’s blue-green blade. For a short half-second, the two put all their strength into winning that lightsaber grapple. And then Akan used Shadow’s trick, only altered slightly. She didn’t see him thumb the switch of the lightsaber, but she did have time to watch the blue-green blade of energy sink back into the hilt of the weapon. The energy that Shadow had been using to hold his blade still was suddenly released, and her lightsaber arm went high and out of the way. She wasn’t an idiot, though, and knew how to counter her own trick. Lashing out with her free hand, Shadow’s fist slammed into Akan’s face. Her surprise came when, just as her fist hit him, a knee drove into her gut.
Akan stumbled back from the blow, while Shadow bent forward. Neither of them had a chance to counter, as both had been sent into a short shock from receiving a blow so in time with their own attack. They recovered at the same time, however, and dove at each other. Shadow hadn’t even heard Akan’s lightsaber reactivating. It was a blur of motion as the fight became a swift series of lightsaber strike followed by lightsaber strike, each parried and followed by a series of vicious attacks. Akan was amazed at how fast Shadow was, and despite her lack of intense training with the weapon, her improvising and other skills made up for that. An elbow caught Akan in the cheek, and as the pain shot through him he wondered if it had actually been broken. But no. This wasn’t the time to think. Just react. He did just in time, as Shadow had been spinning around to deliver a lightsaber strike aimed to slice off his legs. Akan’s blade batted her’s away easily, and then he slashed at her with his claws extended. Because she was moving, the sent long gashes across her shoulder and back, and he quickly recieved another fist to the chest as a response. Somehow, Akan didn’t lose his breath, swinging low with his lightsaber.
The blade was caught by Shadow, and they were frozen again in that grapple of strength. Even. So cheating was necessary. So close together, Shadow had no trouble head butting Akan. This got a cry of surprise out of him along with him taking a few unsteady steps back. After letting go of her lightsaber, Shadow charged at Akan again. This time, though, Akan got a new surprise. He’d brought his lightsaber up in an unstable parry to an attack that never came. Instead, Shadow was at his leg, taking him down after biting hard into his leg. The teeth dug in deep, and Akan was brought down by that large panther like creature that he knew was Shadow.
Just as he hit the ground, Akan kicked at her with his other leg. His foot hit Shadow’s torso, getting a pained yelp out of her before she dove to pounce on his chest. Being almost larger than he was, this wasn’t going to take long. Shadow pounced, diving on his chest and holding his body down with heavy clawed paws. Her head dove in for his neck, but she held back, simply resting her teeth on his neck.
[HA!] was all she ‘said’ to him, a strangely loud purring noise emitting from the creature’s throat.
Akan didn’t dare speak, as it would be just the kind of movement to get his neck torn apart. Sure, he could fix it...but it would still hurt. So he replied through the link. [Ha...?]
The way he said it seemed to kick in the rest of Shadow’s senses. Her ears twitched and one turned back towards the low hum that had to be a lightsaber. Still keeping a careful ‘hold’ on his neck, Shadow tilted her head to look back towards the sound. Just over her tail, and positioned in a way to cleave her in two, was Akan’s lightsaber. The purring stopped. For what seemed like an eternity, both of them just waited to see who would give in first. It was Shadow.
She flopped down on him, nearly crushing Akan in the process. Fatigue washed over both of them, and Akan just lay back, deactivating his lightsaber and letting his arm fall down to the sand. By the Force it felt good to just lay down...even though she was laying on him like he was some kind of pillow. Akan then noticed that she was breathing heavily, almost like a panting sound from the feline throat. He didn’t seem to realize he sounded even more winded, but Shadow did.
[...draw?] sounded Shadow’s suddenly exhausted ‘voice’ through the link.
Closing his eyes, Akan felt the adrenaline rush of the fight fade. [Draw.]
Akan didn’t completely remember how he got back into the garrison. All he could be sure of was that there had been movement, his legs hurt(well, everything hurt, but legs more so), and he had been placed in an uncomfortable chair before being handed a cup of hot liquid. It took him a few moments to drink some of it, but was glad for the caffeine heavy drink. After a couple more minutes, he saw Landau enter the room, doing his best to carry Shadow. He was half dragging her in the process, and the way her legs scrapped across the ground gave Akan an idea of why his legs hurt. Landau placed her in a chair next to Akan, and the two of them just sat in dazed exhaustion. When Shadow was handed a similar cup of liquid, she didn’t seem to have the energy to pick it up. Her arm reached to the small table in front of them, but never made it. Instead, her head fell to the side, resting on Akan’s shoulder before closing her eyes and going quiet.
Landau couldn’t help a slight smile. He got himself another drink of his own from the food processor before stepping over to Akan, “You alive in there?”
Still not all aware, Akan turned his head to look up at Landau in an awkward motion, but managed a slow nod before taking another sip of his drink. His movements were taking into account the weight on his shoulder, which made them even more awkward as he barely looked like he had the strength to hold himself up. He didn’t even look capable of opening his mouth to speak. Lifting the cup and drinking was the extent of it at this point. Landau had a seat across from the Alraxians, deciding that it was a good idea to at least keep an eye on them.
After a half hour, Akan seemed more awake and had managed a short worded conversation with Landau. Shadow was still asleep. Well, Landau assumed she was asleep, as it looked like she was just unconscious. If not for the soft movement caused by the slow breathing, he’d have figured her to be dead. The conversation was more questions from Landau, all along the lines of ‘why’ and ‘what were you doing?’ and ‘what were you thinking?’ and even a ‘you call that practice?!’. All of Akan’s answers were simple one or two words, usually yeses and nos, but sometimes more detailed. It seemed like the poor kid’s mind had just left without him. Or maybe he was talking in his sleep.
When the door behind him opened suddenly, Landau nearly jumped out of his skin. Akan just tilted his head to look around the man, and said in that dazed, half-awake voice, “Hi, Jen.”
Jen walked into the room with a smile on her face and a generally happy demeanor all over. Her hair was tied back again, and she wore a lose-fitting tunic that looked to have been scrounged from one of the old lockers. She nodded to Akan, but noticed the completely exhausted features of the two Alraxians. Idly stepping over next to Landau, she raised an eyebrow, “What’s with them?”
“The children were playing,” Landau responded with a grin, “Though Akan swears it was practice, looked to me like they were trying to kill each other.”
Jen laughed, “It wouldn’t be the first time.”
Akan seemed to be ‘waking up’ more, though he didn’t say anything. Jen stepped around the table and passed by the two Alraxians to the food processor. She waited a few moments for some kind of dish that Landau didn’t recognize, then walked back towards the door. On her way, she reached over to Akan and ruffled his hair playfully. His feeble attempt at defense got a laugh out of the two humans, and then Jen was gone. As Akan was grumbling to himself and attempting to ‘fix’ his hair without letting Shadow fall and hit the floor like a brick, Landau grinned.
“That was interesting,” was all he said, and he hadn’t even realized it had been out loud.
Landau realized that, though, when Akan raised an eyebrow, “What...?”
That got a short laugh out of Landau, and he leaned back in the chair. For a moment, he seemed to be making sure that Jen was gone, then just said, “I’d say they did it.”
“Huh...?” Akan’s mind didn’t exactly have the capability to catch the subtleties in any speech just yet. When Landau didn’t respond, it left the poor Alraxian to think for himself. That only took a few moments before realization washed over his tired face, and his eyes widened, “Oh...um...oh!”
* * * *
The next week passed without any surprises. Scouts left and returned, Topsiders slowly filtered in to show that Trker-Hon was having success, and the two Alraxians continued their ‘practice’ on a near daily basis. When Trker-Hon finally returned, though, things changed. Near five hundred Topsiders had already arrived, and Trker-Hon promised that five times that many were still on their was. Twenty five hundred Topsider warriors. This would have been comforting news if not for the more recent scout reports.
As the days went by, more and more reports came in of defenses being gathered at that desert facility. The amount of creatures that had been seen was impossibly large, and worried the five of them that had gone in there before. Especially considering they’d seen so little within those corridors. Where were all these creatures coming from? But that wasn’t the only question. Another was more basic. What were they? Each scout reported that they were humanoid in general shape, but with four arms and a disfigured body. Heads were more oval shaped with larger eyes than that of a normal human. The curious part was that no Narani were seen at all. It was as if they had simply disappeared into the desert. No one thought that likely, and rumors were spreading about the ‘true’ origin of the creatures. These rumors only flourished when reports of the number of these creatures filtered in. Upwards of ten thousand, possibly even twice that many. It seemed like someone had told Sadrak that there was a ground battle coming, and he wasn’t about to take any chances.
It was the third day before the planned briefing to decide on a planned attack when Landau, Voort, and Jen decided to do their own scouting. They took one of the working airspeeders out, but were forced to set it down farther than they’d originally planned. Patrols were out a good distance, and the three of them couldn’t even get in close enough to see the actual facility. Looking over a dune, though, it wasn’t too much trouble to see the extent of the defenses.
“They’ve built up five or six large walls...” Jen said quietly, noting the large, metal things that stuck out of the sand like unfinished buildings.
Voort nodded, “Break up troop formations and bottle them up to get around. They’re obviously getting ready for a head on attack. I don’t recognize the weapons though.”
“Narani slugthrowers,” Landau responded quietly, pointed to a larger tower that looked like a turret, “Though some of them seem to be on a much larger scale.”
“Horrible weapons,” mumbled Jen, more to herself than anyone else. The other two heard it, and couldn’t help agreeing. It was hard to call a weapon more civilized than another, but most of the galaxy agreed on the brutal nature of slugthrowers. One didn’t have to have an Alraxian aversion to metal to be disgusted and worried by such weapons.
“We should get out of here before we’re spotted,” Landau said, breaking the momentary silence. Voort and Jen nodded in agreement, and they started to sneak back to the airspeeder. When they finally got far enough away to walk upright, Jen caught something odd in Landau’s eye. She wasn’t sure that it was a sight as much as a feeling. One day she’d figure out how to explain these Force things to herself...but it was something. It was odd...wrong...and then...she didn’t know. Voort didn’t seem to notice anything, so Jen decided to ignore it for the moment.
Once they arrived back at the speeder, Voort climbed straight in and started to power up the speeder. As Jen was getting in, she heard Landau’s voice behind her. It was forced, stilted, and not right, “Do not move.”
Jen moved only to turn around and see Landau standing in a strangely forced position with his blaster aimed at her. Though his body was still, she noticed his eyes were darting around, and got this feeling of someone trapped. Trapped?! What was that?
“Arik, what are you–“ Voort went silent when he saw the situation. He was looking around Jen, and obviously did not like this. Knowing Landau for as long as he had though, it was easy for Voort to tell something was wrong. The details were the key...Landau wasn’t left handed, and he knew how to aim a blaster at someone. Why was he holding the weapon in his left hand and looking like he was going to fire from the hip?
“Do. Not. Move.” the voice was even more forced this time, and suddenly something clicked in Jen’s mind. She’d heard that sound before. It was more in an echo in her mind, but that sounded like Sadrak. Similar at least...hidden within Landau’s normal voice. Voort’s mind was also racing, though he was smart enough not to move. This was just like the descriptions he’d heard from Hansen a few days earlier. Men not acting themselves and attempting to kill her.
“Landau...what’s wrong?” Jen was the one to ask that, though it was obvious in the way she said it that Jen already had an idea of her own.
At her words, Landau just stepped closer, an almost droid-like motion without any bending of the knee. This put the blaster barely a half meter from Jen’s stomach. His eyes showed fear and even looked to be pleading, but his voice continued in that wrong way, “You will. You will return to me.”
Me? That wasn’t Landau. If anything confirmed it was Sadrak, those words did. If Jen and Voort could have exchanged knowing looks, they would have. Both of them, though, knew the danger in attempting anything. Neither of them knew enough yet, and even though Landau’s movements were so forced, it was likely he wouldn’t have trouble squeezing the trigger on that blaster pistol.
When neither of them responded to Landau’s words, he turned slightly. It was just enough to move the blaster from aiming at Jen’s stomach to Voort’s face, “You are not necessary.”
Somehow, Jen saw Landau’s finger making that small motion to pull the trigger on the blaster pistol. Voort was about to dive out of the way, but before he could Jen was reacting. With a strength that amazed all of them, she batted Landau’s wrist to the side, slamming his hand against the speeder. The blaster shot went high, flying off into the sky before Landau could drop the weapon. Landau’s eyes showed panic and fear, but Jen was still reacting. With her free hand, she’d drawn her own blaster and placed it against Landau’s chest.
Voort had just enough time to yell ‘NO!’ before she pulled the trigger. The proximity of the blaster pistol to Landau’s body caused more than just the usual burning scorch mark. Instead, the blaster bolt went straight through him before darting skyward. A horrible smell of ozone and burned flesh covered the area suddenly, and Landau’s body hit the ground face first. Jen’s hand was shaking now, as her mind caught up with her actions. Even Voort was frozen in surprise. That is, until yelling and other voices could be heard in the distance.
They creatures had seen and heard the blaster fire! Damn! Grabbing Jen’s arm, Voort yanked her into the speeder and got them into the sky. Neither of them spoke. Jen sat next to Voort, shaking slightly and staring off into no where. She’d murdered him...no...no it was self defense! Protecting Voort! Landau would have killed him! But...but why had she killed him? Why had she shot?! He had dropped the weapon! He couldn’t have done anything else! Slowly, Jen leaned into Voort’s shoulder, buried her face and wept.
Voort carefully wrapped an arm around her as he piloted the speeder away. He’d lost friends before. He’d lost family. But never like that. Jen had done the right thing...yet, Voort couldn’t help worrying about her. It was possible that he was having more of a dangerous influence on her than he’d have liked. Perhaps she would have been better of with Akan...but no...no it was too late for those thoughts. Just get back. Think then. Talk then. He wouldn’t grieve yet, but Voort wasn’t one to stop Jen. It was her first time really killing someone and seeing their face. That was always a horrible moment, and even worse when that face was a trusted friend.
“No! We have to go back!” Shadow yelled, trying to claw out of Akan’s grip to barrel past Voort and Jen, probably mauling them in the process. Akan nearly lost his grip on her, but switch to her arms and did his best to ignore the claws that were now digging into his wrists.
Jen couldn’t speak. She just stayed close to Voort, eyes red from tears. Voort just slowly shook his head, “He’s gone.”
“NO!” again, Shadow wrenched violently against Akan’s hold. That odd glazed expression passed over her face, and Jen knew that Akan had ‘said’ something to her. This was even more evident when Shadow just slumped forward. Akan didn’t let go of her arms, but wasn’t sure what to do. It didn’t look like she was going to murder anyone anymore. Carefully, he let go.
Shadow just brought her arms down and stared blankly at the floor in a state of shock. Akan watched her for a moment, not knowing what to think. He turned to look back to the two humans, and got the same helpless look from Jen. Voort though...he seemed strangely stoic. Akan recognized that, though. He’d been like that himself for a good three years. He also knew that Voort was better at handling himself than Akan was. It was just how Voort dealt with this kind of thing.
They’d arrived about ten minutes earlier. Hansen had been told first, and she’d tried to stay with them to get some kind of plan together afterwards, but had to leave to ‘think’ as she’d said. After that, Jen and Voort went to find the two Alraxians. Obviously, Shadow hadn’t taken it well. They didn’t have to explain it in any detail, as both Akan and Shadow seemed to pick up on the actual events with only a few words having been spoken. Akan had just gone silent, looking like he wanted to say something but never really finding any words. Shadow, on the other hand, had immediately launched into accusations. At first, she blamed Voort, then upon getting the ‘minor’ detail that Jen was the one who’d shot Landau, had nearly pounced the woman and torn her to pieces. That was when Akan had grabbed her, picking Shadow out of the air and dragging her back to the ground.
Now they just stood in silence. What was there to say? What was there to do? This planet was such a horrible place. Damn Sadrak. He’d done this, and they all knew it. Even Shadow didn’t truly blame Jen for it. Slowly, the Alraxian girl got to her feet, that old emotionless look on her face. In that quietly calm and controlled voice, she said, “There’s no time to wait anymore.”
On that, they all agreed.
* * * *
In less than a day, they were all in the old briefing room of the garrison building. Sitting and standing around the large circular table with an older model holoprojector in the center, were Voort, Jen, Akan, Shadow, Hansen, and Trker-Hon. From what Akan could tell, Voort, Hansen, and the Topsider had spent the day refining their plan with the smaller number of warriors at their disposal. How many, exactly, only they new at the moment. Not for long, though, and the three others truly wished that they’d kept the bad news to themselves.
“Fifteen hundred,” Hansen announced quietly, almost trying to hide how badly outnumbered they were.
Voort was getting ready to say something, but Jen waved her hand to get some attention. Something had been bothering her, and Jen felt like she had finally figured it out. Through all of this, she felt like there wasn’t any place for her. Sure, she could go in alongside Voort or Akan or Shadow and help out there...but no. She was extra weight too often. Now, she was sure of what to do, distantly encouraged on by that part of her mind that wasn’t all Jen, “I don’t know what you’re planning to do, but I’m not going.”
“What do you mean?” asked Hansen, a confused look crossing not only her face, but all the others. Well, except Shadow. She seemed emotionless ever since Landau had died. Much like when Jen had first met the Alraxian.
Closing her eyes a moment, Jen attempted to confirm if she was going to do the right thing. That confirmation came twice. Once from herself, and the second from that non-Jen that she still didn’t have figured out completely. All she really was sure of is that it was to be trusted. Opening her eyes again, Jen said, “I need to go behind the lines and confront Him.”
Silence. Voort broke it, “Are you crazy?”
“Maybe,” Jen answered with a shrug, but her eyes then locked with his and she hoped he’d understand somehow, “But I have to do this,” she paused, searching for that key to understanding in Voort’s eyes, and then just said, “Trust me. Please.”
“Well I’ll go with you,” said Voort, almost too quickly and looking to both Trker-Hon and Hansen for some kind of support. He got it from neither.
Instead, Hansen said, “You know we need you out there.”
Another silence. Voort didn’t break it this time, instead stuck going over the conflicting situations. Allow Jen to run into Sadrak’s base behind enemy lines on her own? But going with her would force them to rework the entire attack plan. It was too late for that now...unless they were going to wait yet another long day. Thankfully, Voort didn’t have to make a choice. Instead, Shadow spoke, “I can get her in. I will go with her.”
[No revenge.] Akan’s voice sounded through her mind not a half second after she’d finished speaking.
She simply shot him a sideways glance, responding only with emotion. She may not get that revenge herself, but Jen was obviously up to something. If Jen killed him, so be it. As long as he died and Shadow was there to make sure of it. Jen was even surprised to see Voort nod at Shadow’s words. Hansen seemed reluctant to accept it, and the Topsider seemed to be waiting on the actual discussion to begin.
“Well...we can...talk about this afterwards,” Voort said slowly, motioning to the holoprojector. It activated, showing a flickering and faint image of the outlying dunes around the facility. Very old holoprojector...a few colored points appeared all along the inner section. They were red, and it was easy to tell from their position that they were Sadrak forces. It was a mass of red over the sand. So many...and it was only an estimate. A moment later, three green sections appeared, one to the center, one to the left, and one to the right. Then the image cut off.
Voort cursed and kicked the table. The holo image flickered on for a half second and then shut off again. When Voort got ready to beat the piece of junk, Hansen got to her feet and put a hand on his shoulder, saying, “You at least got a short look at it. We’ll divide the forces into three five hundred troop divisions. I will lead the right flank, Trker-Hon will take the left, and Akan the center.”
“I’ll what?!” Akan asked, leaning forwards and genuinely surprised at not having been notified of this beforehand. Really, leading a suicide mission was one thing...but a ground assault down the center of a suicide mission? He was a pilot! A special forces soldier! He wasn’t a grunt trooper! The only ground experience he had was sneaking around!
Voort couldn’t help a slight grin at Akan’s reaction. It was expected. Having a seat, the man said, “The groups on each side will be more diversionary forces than anything. Split the defenses to leave a hole. Your group needs to get inside the facility and clear it out. And...meet up with Jen and Shadow if you can.”
“You want me to just plow through the strongest point in their defenses?” Akan was asking honestly, no sarcasm in his voice at all for once, “I’m no officer, and never was, but isn’t that...well, stupid?”
“If that was the only part, yes,” responded Voort with a nod. He raised a hand to stop any comment and continued speaking, “But it isn’t. It seems that the armory here had a nice model sharpshooter rifle. I’ll be sitting back on a dune behind you and clearing a path.”
“How comforting,” grumbled Akan under his breath, looking down to the table and then over to the emotionless Shadow.
Hansen smiled, “Since this will be your first time doing anything like this, Voort and I figured you’d need a briefing in general tactics.”
“You mean I can’t just run in and chop things up until I get inside?” the sarcasm returned so quickly to Akan’s voice that even Jen grinned a little.
“Interestingly enough,” Voort said while leaning back in the chair, “That’s the extent of it. The tactics part is more, don’t get shot or stabbed. The usual. But there is something we all need to learn about,” he then motioned to Trker-Hon, “Topsiders. Specifically, the more useful words in their native tongue for this. Most of the Topsiders don’t understand Basic, so we’ll need to learn the words ‘charge’, ‘stop’, etc. The basics, really.”
“Can we learn curse words?” Akan’s sarcasm continued. It got Jen wondering how he ever lived through any kind of military briefing. She’d only been involved in one or two, and even the most arrogant fighter pilots she’d met wouldn’t continually make comments like that. But it was levity that they all needed, so perhaps he was doing it on purpose. Hopefully. Jen didn’t really hear the rest of the briefing. Most of the time, she found herself studying Shadow. With that morphing technique, getting into Sadrak’s base wouldn’t be too much trouble. But then what?
‘Then I will assist you.’
Oh. Great. So the voices in her head were going to save the day. One hell of a way to tell if someone was crazy, but it didn’t seem like there was any other option anymore.
((Bit of a late update...at parent's house for the holidays, but should be able to keep up daily updates except for this Monday-Thursday. Will still try, of course, but no promises. ))
Chapter 99: Calm Before the Storm
As the troops were organized and readied to head out on that long trek out to the facility across the sands, Shadow and Jen also prepared to leave. Obviously, it didn’t take the two of them nearly as long to prepare, and it was soon time for them to leave. Voort and Jen had embraced, kissed, then exchanged some quiet words. Neither Akan nor Shadow could hear, but then again they weren’t particularly trying. Instead, Akan was getting lectured. Mostly being told to not do anything stupid, and being given a few pointless reminders.
They had performed some kind of battle preparation ritual only half an hour earlier. Though Akan wasn’t against this, he still didn’t feel all to comfortable with such things. But Shadow was dangerously insistent that he do those things. She’d also said something in Alraxian, but it was quiet and something was odd. No matter how much he pressed it, she wouldn’t explain what she’d said. That worried Akan, but then again, maybe this wasn’t the time to deal with such things.
“Good luck,” he said finally, patting Shadow on the shoulder.
She just raised an eyebrow, but eventually nodded slowly, “You too.”
And then Shadow stepped over to Jen, indicating that it was time to go. Jen nodded and they walked out to the sand, with Jen wondering exactly what they planned to do. They obviously weren’t taking an airspeeder, and Shadow was thinking of something. The solution to the transportation problems became apparent, as Shadow’s body changed. A few seconds later, Jen was standing next to a large, winged...thing. The first word she wanted to use to describe the creature that was three times her size was flying lizard. But then Shadow’s head spun around and gave Jen a toothy grin. Alright, there was another word for it. The creature Shadow had become looked very similar to the larger Krayt Dragons, except with wings and a more reddish color.
Leaning in, Shadow nudged Jen gently with a snout that was bigger than the largest humans. She then motioned up towards the scaled back, and Jen finally got the idea. Though it took a little work, Jen finally managed to climb up onto Shadow’s back. A few more moments passed, and they were in the air and flying off.
“Flashy,” Voort commented. Hansen just grinned, but turned and walked off to finish getting ready.
Akan shrugged, “She said it was fun. Is fun...whatever. But I don’t think she’s crazy enough to fly in too close.”
“I’d hope not,” grumbled Voort before following Hansen. Akan watched as Shadow slowly faded away into the distance. Sighing, he stepped off to follow the other two. Something was still bothering him. That dream was still there...and it was more than a dream. He knew it. Felt it. Even if Shadow didn’t believe him. But no. This wasn’t the time.
After everything was organized and ready, Voort gave Akan a last set of ‘advice’, as he called it. Akan felt like it was more of a lecture, but there was at least a good reason for it. As Akan had never really been involved in any kind of large ground operation like this, it was good to have advice from someone with experience. Especially considering that Voort was going to be shooting right over Akan’s head. Amazingly enough, this didn’t worry Akan. Previous experience had shown that Voort was a good shot. Voort was mostly making sure that Akan wouldn’t get caught up in a fight. Like it or not, the kid was the only one who could get inside to catch up with Jen and Shadow. Voort would be needed outside, as would Hansen and Trker-Hon.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long before they all left. Akan met with the troops he was meant to lead, and then they were off. The traveling was slow, and it was impossible to wonder if they’d be too late.
* * * *
So what if she’d picked a Dragon? It’d been so long since Shadow had seen Falla and Jara that she was finding herself missing them more and more. What better to way to remember her two friends than being like them? It was fun, too...she felt so strong and fast. This nearly became a problem, as Shadow almost flew in too close. A Dragon would have been such an easy thing to spot in the empty skies of Arranis. Setting down a good distance away from the facility, Shadow flexed her large wings to indicate that Jen should get off. This took a few minutes, as Jen was windswept and slightly dazed from the quick flight.
Once Jen was down, though, Shadow changed again. This time, though, she didn’t return to her Alraxian form. It worried Jen when she saw that there was now a slightly disturbing creature standing next to her. It was one of those four-armed humanoids, relatively Shadow looking. Mostly in the black hair. Shadow managed a weak grin and shrugged, “Don’t ask. Just...c’mon, I don’t like this.”
“Neither do I,” Jen admitted. That’s when two of Shadow’s hand grabbed onto Jen in a not-so-gentle way. Alright, no more playing around. Though the details of the plan weren’t explained, Jen had a good idea of it now. Just play the captive and let Shadow do the talking...though hopefully talking wouldn’t be required all that much. It was no trouble at all as they passed through the defenses that had been placed. Those strange creatures walked here and there but took no notice of either of them. Jen just hoped it stayed that way...though there was a growing worry that was impossible to shake off. What if this was the wrong choice?
‘Be strong.’
Somehow, that was enough. She didn’t understand the source of that, but it was right. She had to be strong. It was too late to turn back now. Hopefully, Voort and Akan would get here soon. The sooner Sadrak was gone, the sooner they could go home. She smiled...and the sooner she could go through with that promise to Titus.
It was a five hour march before they could see anything. Amazingly, none of them were exhausted. In fact, it seemed that the closer they got, the more energized all of them became. Now, they waited. Akan stood on top of one of the larger dunes, looking down across the sands and seeing for the first time the defenses that they were up against. So many thousands of figures littered the sands below, not to mention the towers and walls of metal that would definitely slow them down. The worst part, though, was that Akan couldn’t see the entrance to the facility. If he was going to head for that, it would be helpful to know exactly the right direction to be going. Well, forward, obviously, but something more specific than that would become important.
Looking to the left, Akan took in the sights of the lines of Topsiders and the former Imperials standing behind the distant figure he knew to be Hansen. For a moment, he looked the other direction, but knew it was pointless. Even though Akan stood on top of the dune, Trker-Hon and his group were out of sight, being behind an ever larger dune. Sighing, he turned back to look at the sands in front of him. Waiting. Those creatures were moving, though, forming up in makeshift lines, about as unorganized looking as the one behind Akan.
With a slight grin, the Alraxian turned around to face the Topsiders behind him. They were a diverse group, all with scales ranging from browns to soft reds. Some even had crests. Their ‘armor’ was even more diverse, and some of them simply wore cloth. What caught Akan’s eye were the weapons, though. While some of the Topsiders held large, interestingly designed rifles, all of them had at least one bladed weapon. Many had large, metal swords, shining in the rising sun. Some even had a series of ornately carved and sharply curving knives. Long knives. In fact, they were large enough to be considered swords. Akan made a note to be careful of them. The whole metal aversion was still a new thing to him, but having felt the phantom pain from Shadow..err, Light, had proved to him that it wasn’t something to ignore.
“Sssir...” one of the Topsiders spoke up. His name Akan didn’t remember, but he thought of the creature as ‘Red Tail’. This was because his tail was spotted with soft red spots...an obvious name, but it was easy to remember. Red Tail, as Akan had found out, was one of the leaders of a much larger tribes, and Trker-Hon’s younger sibling(of course, Akan had to take their word on the younger part, they all looked about the same age to him).
Snapping back into the moment, Akan turned to Red Tail, “I already said, don’t call me that.”
“I apologize,” Red Tail bowed his head in a gesture Akan was still getting used to, then spoke in a forced Basic, “Ssshould we wait here ssstill?”
Ah. Well, it was only something he could delay so long. Akan looked back to the forming lines of the creatures below, then back to Red Tail, “You’re right. Tell them to get ready.”
As Akan turned back to face the force ahead of them, he heard Red Tail yell something in the Topsider’s native language. There was the sound of movement, and as the order echoed across the sands, Akan knew that the other two groups would likely be preparing themselves also. They were waiting on him. All of the Topsiders were waiting on him. Voort was waiting on him. Hansen was waiting. Even those four creatures that were still forming up were waiting on him. And somewhere beyond his vision, Shadow and Jen were there...Shadow wasn’t dead, but the silence he’d gotten through the link for the last few hours was unnerving. He hoped she was just ignoring him.
But delaying was over. Everything waited on Akan. They had come to this planet to finish a job. Each for their own personal reasons, but all ending with the same thing. Sadrak. And now, it all rested on Akan. Even the calming techniques couldn’t lessen this burden. It was something he couldn’t stop thinking about. But waiting was the worst part. He closed his eyes a moment, then turned back to look over the large amount of troops that he could see. How many of them would survive? They were outnumbered at least five to one. That was even being generous. It was likely to be twice that many. Now Akan knew how his superiors always felt. So few would survive, and all of it depended on one person. Waiting. Always waiting. There was movement behind him, and Akan knew that the Topsiders were wondering why he still stood there.
No more waiting. Akan reached to his belt and unhooked the lightsaber. He sighed and looked down at the hilt of the weapon for a short moment. It looked so similar to Shadow’s weapon. There were no carvings, but the general feel of it was oddly similar. Why? Was this really the connection to his family that he’d always assumed it was? Perhaps it was something completely different. Just a lucky thing to have appeared in his hands. If he died today, out on these endless sands on a backwater world, Akan would never know. It wasn’t the first time he’d wanted to know the real origin of that weapon. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be the last. Wasting time with thoughts like these again. Carefully, he thumbed the activation switch on the blade. The snap-hiss was a loud noise that seemed to cut through the empty air. Watching the shimmering blade for a moment, he held it up. Hopefully, Trker-Hon had a scout up on the dune watching.
The blue-green blade shimmered above his head for a long moment, and Akan noticed that even the displaced lines of creatures below had frozen. This was it. There was no turning back now. This was all going to end here, one way or another. Akan sent a short mental message to Shadow, knowing it wouldn’t be responded to. He simply wanted her to know they had arrived. He lowered the lightsaber to a more comfortable position, then turned around to give the Topsiders behind him a last look. The second seemed to linger for an eternity as he saw the determination on all of their lizard-like faces. They all had their own reasons to fight. No one was forced here.
As Akan turned back to face the enemy, holding his lightsaber at hip level to his side, Akan wished those thoughts would have given him comfort. For the last time, Akan cleared his mind of all thoughts. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. The first step Akan took forward seemed like it was the hardest he’d ever taken. The second followed much easier, and his heavy feet lightened as he started to a run. Behind him, the sound of the Topsiders following him was nearly deafening. It wasn’t long before a loud roar came from the Topsiders, and this was soon followed by similar roars to the left and right. For how many would that be the last sound to be heard? Even for Voort, sitting back with his rifle on one of the distant dunes, couldn’t help but wonder if this was it.
It wasn’t that Shadow didn’t hear Akan, simply that she was having to keep her attention on the moment. She’d avoided a few of those four armed monstrosities who’d tried to ask questions in a language she didn’t understand, and was getting worried that the luck wasn’t going to last. Jen was doing a good job of being difficult, struggling against Shadow’s grip every time someone came into view. Other than that, they didn’t really speak. Honestly, there wasn’t much to say. Thankfully, it hadn’t take very long to finally reach the entrance. That did, however, bring more difficulties.
Three well armed guards(each of the four arms holding a weapon, though the pun was not lost on Jen), flanked the entrance and assaulted Shadow with a barrage of questions. Jen picked up on the general feel of the language, noticing that it was similar to an older form of Durese. This didn’t mean she understood it, though. Shadow, also not able to understand, did her best to look menacing without speaking. Hopefully, the strong silent type was a common stereotype among these...things. At first, they got weapons pointed at them, and Jen had the worst feeling that they got very close to being shot. Shadow had then thrust Jen forward as a sort of human shield, which had caused Jen to yelp suddenly. This managed to get the attention of the guards, and the three quickly moved to the side to let them pass.
Now...to navigate the halls. Jen could vaguely remember the way she’d gone to reach that domed chamber before, so she helped to direct Shadow. The corridors were packed with creatures, though, so Jen had to do this by shrugging a shoulder when they came to turns. At first, Shadow hadn’t picked up on this, and wondered what was wrong with Jen, but when Jen’s mind started feeling frantic, Shadow finally caught on. All of the creatures they passed by stopped and pressed themselves against the walls to let the two pass. Jen started to worry that they were expected. Shadow, though, already was sure of this. It was all too easy. The fact that she didn’t speak their language should have tipped off at least one guard.
Because of the time it had taken to walk across the sands and then Shadow having gotten them lost in the maze of corridors, the two of them were wandering for hours. This is what worried Shadow the most. No one took notice of the fact that they were going in circle aimlessly. Yet as time passed, there were fewer and fewer guards around. Both Shadow and Jen got the impression that the creatures were preparing for something. That something was obvious enough. Voort and Akan were on their way, and would likely be arriving anytime now. Maybe this taking so long would actually do some good, synchronizing the attack outside with whatever Jen was going to o with Sadrak.
And then, finally, they found the chamber. Empty. No guards. Lights were still on, but provided only a soft glow to illuminate the circular room. Near the center of the room was the same chair as before, up the few steps and below the brighter sections of lights. From what Shadow and Jen could tell, it was empty. Again, too easy. Shadow risked a glance behind them again, then finally let go of Jen. She then took a deep breath, and then morphed back to her own body. Sighing with relief to finally be herself again, Shadow swished her tail around in annoyance, “I don’t like this.”
“He’s watching,” Jen said quietly, suddenly realizing that she’d not even told her mouth to say that. Strange...those weren’t her words at all. In fact, she’d planned on just agreeing with Shadow and commenting on being glad to see her as an Alraxian again.
Shadow gave Jen a surprised look. Jen’s voice had sounded off. Shrugging, the Alraxian took a few steps over to the chair. Just as she got to the foot of the steps, the chair spun around and sitting there, in typical egotistical maniac style, was the robed Sadrak. He was even doing that horrible laugh. Jen wondered why they hadn’t just left the guy on this sandy planet, especially considering that he’d seen far too many holodramas for his own good. All he’d do to the galaxy as a whole would be to cause a good amount of annoyed sighs at all of his cliches. And if his ‘look’ wasn’t enough, his words were even worse.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” the voice sounded from inside the dark hood.
Really, there were a thousand other things he could have said. But no. He picked that one. Shadow sighed, though neither of them actually said anything. Despite how stupid Sadrak seemed, he still radiated a strong aura of power. It was obvious he was still someone to take seriously...even more so, as something felt wrong about him. The voice was Sadrak, yet different.
As Shadow took a few step back and Jen stepped forward, Sadrak stood up. Though they couldn’t see his face within that hood, both Jen and Shadow could feel his eyes looking over them in that dangerous way. Studying them in some amused fashion as a child with a new toy. Neither of them could find any words to speak, and though that ‘other’ in Jen’s mind was feeling stronger, she couldn’t find any words at all. They could feel Sadrak’s smile beneath his hood, “I believe you finally understand me.”
How did Jen know He was talking to her? He was...but without being able to see his face, it was odd to realize this. And then Jen’s mouth opened, yet again speaking words that weren’t hers, “Leave them out of this.”
Sadrak laughed. It was an odd laugh that they’d never heard before, hauntingly familiar and alien at the same time, “It has been a long time, Shinai.”
Something clicked in Jen, and she found herself responding to that name. No...Jen didn’t respond. Instead, it was that non-Jen part of her mind that did. And now it had a name. Not it. She. Jen found that she wasn’t completely in control of her body at this point, and watched helplessly as she took a step forward, speaking words that yet again were not her own, “You die today, Sadrak.”
Another laugh from the hooded figure, and he reached out with his hand off to the left, signaling something. This wasn’t what Shadow and Jen noticed, though. What they saw was Sadrak’s hand, clearly extending out of the heavy robe. Three brownish colored and claw-shaped fingers attached to a very thin looking wrist. Yet this was Sadrak. It had to be. What did this mean?!
But this question was simply answered with another. Out from one of the darker areas of the chamber came a figure. It had four arms, and looked much like all of those guards, except that it was twice their size. The figure was twisted and broken, with odd scales grafted across the chest and legs. But that was not what got a gasp out of Shadow. The face did that. It was impossible not to recognize, especially for Shadow. The eyes, nose, shape, and even the slightly burnt hair were still the same. Landau. This...thing, standing there and looking out of dead eyes was Landau.
The thing stepped forward, a slow and hulking pace that made it even more painful to watch. Sadrak simply laughed again, and said from under the hood, “Now now, little cat, I did not forget you. We have business to take care of. In the mean time, you may enjoy yourself,” the hood turned to face the Landau-thing, “Kill her.”
Akan had crashed into the enemy lines in a blur. The details of everything that was occurring were lost on him for those first few minutes. All he truly knew was moving, swinging, ducking, and swinging again. Again and again and again his lightsaber cut down the four armed creatures. Worry came when his mind caught up with the insanity, and he realized that two of the four arms carried metal blades. The other two had slugthrower type weapons that weren’t getting much use. Or rather, not much use on him. Akan could still hear the weapons firing behind him, but he never took the time to turn around.
He simply pushed forward. And it was soon apparent he was not alone. Red Tail was not a half step behind him, cleaving through the enemy with only slightly more trouble. This was only because Akan’s blade cut through the enemy’s weapons, while Red Tail had to actually find an opening to attack. But the Topsider kept up, eventually making it right to Akan’s side as they continued plowing through the impossibly huge mass of creatures. It was impossible to tell how far they’d gone, and turning around was simply a stupid act. The only way Akan wasn’t chopping up Red Tail was through keeping tabs on the Topsider with the Force. He would have said something, but no sound could be heard above the loud roar of the thousand sounds of the battle.
To the sides, Akan knew that both Trker-Hon and Hansen were also just getting into the thick of things. But they were going to stand and fight, while Akan had to simply cut a path through and get into the distant facility. This meant that both he and Red Tail had put some significant distance between themselves and the majority of the other Topsiders, who’d also stood and taken the attention of the enemies. No sound that Akan’s Alraxian ears could hear indicated that Voort was doing his job, but the blaster bolt that would shoot past him every few seconds and drop an enemy was enough to prove it. The man was a damned good shot, each time the blaster making a head shot from the half glances Akan could manage.
From Voort’s view in the distance, he could see Akan and Red Tail as a small moving hole in the seemingly never ending mass of troops. They had gotten far, so much that the enemy was having trouble deciding what they should do. Attack these two mad warriors just plowing through the center without stopping or move forward and get rid of the actual troops they were facing? The confusion was obvious to Voort, and was an advantage he’d hoped on having. It made it easier for him to find targets, and obviously gave an edge to Akan while he cut a path through. Voort only wished that he could be the one to get to Jen. No. No, his place was out here. He could do the most good here.
“Sir!” that was one of the few Imperials who’d stayed back with him.
Voort didn’t look back to the man, but simply continued to take shots at creatures that Akan wasn’t looking at, speaking over his shoulder, “What is it?”
“Artillery is in place, but we’ve taken too long,” the man was having to nearly yell even though the battle was so distant, “The enemy platforms are already raining fire on the right and left flanks.”
“Take them out anyway!” Voort growled after letting off another quick shot, “Then pound the deep sections of the enemy troops and make us some weak points,” he paused a moment to quickly reload a new power pack into the weapon. In the short few minutes that had already passed, Voort had expended two of the packs. After resting the weapon down again and finding the blue-green blade that easily identified Akan in the distance, Voort continued what he was saying, “Tell the airspeeders to move in now. Forget waiting. Have them use their own judgement as to where to set down, but make sure they keep at least two gunners onboard each to give us some air support.”
“Understood,” and then the man was gone again. Thankfully, though, Voort was not the only sniper. He may have been the best skilled, but he was joined by at least twenty others, some Imperial, some Topsider. All had an array of various weapons, but all were doing a very good job. Only Voort fired towards Akan, though, as the shot was very dangerous from this angle, and it reached farther and farther off to push the range of the weapon itself. He’d soon be useless. By then, though, Akan should have made it over the first hill and be able to see the actual facility.
Of course, Voort still couldn’t help wondering what was behind those large metal walls that were scattered about and causing havoc with the sniper fire. It could be nothing, but Voort knew that if he was in charge, those things would have some heavy artillery behind them. Sadrak(or whoever was in charge) must not have thought the same way, as there was no evidence of anything but more troops. A waste of a good strategy, Voort thought to himself as he picked off the head of another enemy, the shot going right over Akan’s shoulder. The boy would probably have felt the heat on that one.
And then there were three loud booms. Voort didn’t flinch or look away, knowing that it was the artillery. Projectiles. Old, yes, but they still worked. A few loud explosions soon echoed across the sands, and he could hear some small talk amongst the others around him. No point in quieting them, as they were all still intelligent enough to continue with their jobs. The booms continued, and Voort couldn’t help being slightly curious as to how well they were doing. They weren’t going to be firing in front of his line of fire(that was made sure of before hand), so he really had no way of knowing the damage they’d done. Hopefully, the gunners would take out those metal barricades and other defenses along with the weapon’s towers that should have been the first to go.
Quickly switching another power pack into his very hot weapon, Voort turned back to firing straight across the sands. Akan had moved enough now that he was nearly on an even level with the sniper’s hill. Voort got four more shots off before the boy and his Topsider companion disappeared among that sea of troops. The farther the two had gotten, the more they’d been swarmed, yet they still were making it. And now it was out of Voort’s hands. Akan had made it over the dune, out of the valley. How many troops were beyond that, none of them truly knew except Akan and that Topsider. If the two of them survived, none of them would know either. Voort sat back a short moment to take in the whole of the situation now that his original focus was gone.
To the far left, Hansen’s group was having a lot of trouble. Though there were five or six large smoking ‘holes’ in the enemy lines from the artillery, the troops just continued to push forward. No longer did they just stand and wait, having no trouble pushing back after being pushed against. The majority of Hansen’s force was lost in the sea of enemies, and the only way Voort could tell this at the distance they were at(without the rifle’s scope at least), was through the slight coloration differences that were scattered around. Divided and easily being exterminated. He didn’t even take time to look over towards the other two groups before the sounds of the airspeeders joined the continued barrage of artillery. Voort watched the flying ships streak over the lines, taking a few shots from the slugthrowers below without trouble. Blaster fire along with slugthrower fire was rained down, doing little but put tiny holes in the endless lines of troops.
And then, two of the larger airspeeders dropped almost to ground level, nearly landing directly in the enemy lines. An insanely chaotic barrage of fire could be seen through Voort’s rifle scope(to which he even added a few shots), and in a few moments there were twenty more troops on the ground, trying to tear the lines apart little by little from the center. A desperate tactic, but with a little help from the snipers it would keep them alive for a short time. Not only that, but when the airspeeders got up into the sky again, they also helped. So far, things were going according to plan.
In other words, the enemy was winning. It was expected, and they’d need to fall back soon. But sadly, Voort knew how hard it would be to get that kind of order to the forces in the thick of it. Not only that, but half of the troops were surrounded and fighting for their lives. Voort suddenly found himself wondering if this had been such a good idea. They were outnumbered by so many more than had been expected. But it was too late now. Jen was already in the rancor’s den, along with Shadow. Akan was on his way there. Somewhere in that mass of fighting to his left was Hansen, and Voort would be damned if he didn’t at least try to help someone out. So, he continued to take shots at the enemies, one by one lessening their numbers as his scope searched for Hansen.
Passing over that dune was not nearly as easy for Akan and Red Tail as it had looked to Voort. And truly, neither of the two truly were thinking of the dangerous task. There was simply no time at all. With so many creatures all around them each having four arms each and swords in two of those arms, there was no chance to stop moving. Far too many close calls and near misses occurred, and while Akan knew that it was both the Force and the faster Alraxian reflexes that were keeping him alive, he was truly amazed at Red Tail. Sure, Akan had a couple new scratches along some arms and had lost a few hairs and nearly his tail a couple of times, but Red Tail hadn’t been touched yet. The Topsider was a blur of movement, spinning and ducking and jumping around with such speed that Akan couldn’t help but wonder if this creature was at least somewhat Force sensitive. But nothing supported that idea...which would mean that this Red Tail was just extremely skilled. To Akan, this was even more admirable. Even he knew that sometimes the Force was used as a crutch.
Working together and sticking close, the two of them continued their push. It was once they got out of sight of Voort that the real trouble kicked in. There, the lines of troops were nonexistent. Instead, there was just a crazy mass of creatures in all directions. Even more chaotic, and forced even more attention to be divided. This ended up causing the two of them to slow down. It was all the worse for Akan because now he could see that entrance to Sadrak’s facility. It was just across the sands. Probably a hundred or so meters away from them. But now that there was no need for the enemy to divide their focus between the two crazy warriors plowing forward and the lines of troops ahead. On this side of things, with no opposition beyond Akan and Red Tail, they became the prime targets.
And to add to this, fatigue was setting in. Even for an Alraxian, this constant fighting and moving and fighting was tiring without any kind of break. This showed itself in Akan’s ignoring of minor cuts and bruises, not even bothering to remorph them. While Akan had learned how to morph efficiently, it was still impossibly taxing on his body and energy level. The more he had tried remorphing, the harder it became to do anything else. Even the minor cuts had gotten to the point of taking massive amounts of energy to deal with. Of course, Akan was smart enough to pick up on this and go back to that old fail safe of not getting hit in the first place.
Then something odd occurred. Akan’s lightsaber cleaved through two different creatures, and he found himself continuing to move and readying another attack...but there was nothing there. He stopped in his tracks, more out of reflex from surprise than anything, having gotten so used to being constantly surrounded. When he looked around, it was quickly apparent that Red Tail had also noticed this problem. The creatures weren’t just throwing themselves onto the weapons anymore. They had now set up a large circle around the two of them, not yet closing it in but that was the obvious result.
As Akan finally allowed himself a moment to catch his breath, he exchanged a look with the Topsider he was back to back with, “Should have seen this one coming...”
“Yesss...” Red Tail responded with a nod of his head, and a somewhat interesting looking flaring of the small crest on his head, “I do not expect that it will be easssy to reach the entrance anymore...”
Akan also nodded, raising his lightsaber in a more general defensive position but still looking to the Topsider, “Not much else we can do but try, yes?”
That got a smile on Red Tail’s face. It was a toothy, almost dangerous looking smile, but that was more from the lizard-like appearance. For some reason, reptiles always looked sinister and dangerous no matter how friendly and helpful they actually were, “You are correct,” Red Tail turned to look Akan in the eyes, that smile becoming an almost grin, “Forward it isss then.”
Akan even grinned. It was the way that Red Tail said that. You could tell he was actually enjoying himself in all of this. Not that Akan wasn’t...but...well, there were still other things on his mind. Currently, the largest being why Shadow was hiding from him. But no, that wasn’t important right yet. That would be something to worry about if he got inside. It was a good thing that Akan didn’t dwell on these thoughts, too, as Red Tail let out a fierce roar and suddenly charged forward. Raising his lightsaber, Akan was only a few steps behind the Topsider. It looked like the creatures had been surprised at the sudden charge, and this made it fairly easy to cleave through four of them before actually having any real trouble. And then the chaos of battle erupted around them again.
Akan was staying low, moving in all directions as he let the Force guide his blade and his movement to avoid the assault of an uncountable number of blades. These creatures were not unskilled, either, and Akan was having far too many close calls.. After quickly lopping off two arms from the left side of one creature, he was bringin his sword across to take its head off. But his blade never met with its target. Instead, a sudden and very violent pang shot through the him from the Force. Danger. No. Not just any danger. Immediate danger. Allowing his strike to fall short, Akan tried to jump back. His eyes caught sight of two blades where he was moving towards, and knew it was too late to stop the backwards jump. But when he reached the point where the two blades should have dug into his back, nothing happened. Well, no...something did. Instead, he slammed into the back of a heavy body.
At the same time, there was an awkward and pained sound that Akan could recognize in a haunting way. Risking a short glance to the creature he had fallen back against, he saw a what that small voice in the back of his head had worried about. Red Tail. That sound was coming from the Topsider’s throat. Akan spun around, taking down two enemies with his lightsaber in the process, and soon found himself side by side with his companion. A horrified look passed over Akan’s face as imagination and speculation on what had happened collided head on with reality.
The two swords Akan had been falling into were now dug deep into the Topsider’s chest and stomach. Blood dripped onto the sand below, and there was a strangely calm moment where everything seemed to stop. Akan just looked at this Topsider who he now considered a friend, with the reptilian creature focusing its anger and attention on the stunned abominations around them. No one moved. Akan wanted to say something. Anything. Through the Force, he could feel the Topsider’s life was dwindling into nothing. Yet he could do nothing about it.
Slowly, Red Tail turned to look to his Alraxian companion. Presenting his brother in arms with a smile, Red Tail spoke in a quiet voice, though it was not at all weakened by his state, “Go. Find your friendsss.”
“I won’t leave you here,” Akan said quietly, wondering why their enemies weren’t simply finishing the job. Was it shock? Or perhaps mere curiosity? Or possibly even something more dangerous...
Red Tail shook his head, “I do my duty. I ssserve my family. Ssserve yours,” the Topsider then turned back to the creatures who watched him with stunned looks on their faces, though still spoke to Akan, “We will meet again when the time isss right.”
And then, only a second later, all of the chaos returned in a flash. Despite the two swords dug deep into the Topsider’s body, Red Tail took a heavy step forward, and swung his sword at the wielder of the two weapons. In the moment that the creature’s head left its body, Akan started moving forward. He didn’t risk another glance back to Red Tail as he cut and stabbed his way to make himself a path through, but could hear the sounds that easily showed a fierce fight. That was one Topsider who would not die without a fight.
But it wasn’t over yet. Akan still had a good distance to go. Though the number of enemy creatures was lessening as he got farther, that fatigue continued to grow as muscles in his body began to ache. With just four more heavy steps and strong swings of his lightsaber, Akan was within a few meters of the entrance. His eyes fell on one of the enemy creatures that was moving towards him. It wasn’t any trouble to duck under the horizontal swing from its first arm, but the spin to avoid the second strike was ore complicated and even more tiring. Akan managed to sweep his lightsaber around with his spin, taking the creature’s life before another attack could be made. Two more were already at him, though, diving in recklessly with swords swinging down at the tired Alraxian.
Quickly jumping over a low strike towards his legs, Akan kicked out at the first attacker. His leg caught the creature across the side of the face, stunning it for a half second and enough time for Akan to land. His lightsaber was following up with a violent follow up blow to finish the creature off when a shock of impossibly intense pain rocked through his hand. He looked to the side to see that other enemy he’d ignored for some reason, and also took in the horrible sight of the missing right hand. The sword did not cut cleanly like a lightsaber, and instead left a blue bloodied and disturbingly grotesque image of Akan’s arm ending at the wrist. It wasn’t a second later that another shock of pain rocked through him, this time from behind. His eyes opened wide with pain, and somehow he avoided yelling out from the intense pain. When he had a chance to look down, he could easily see nearly a fourth of the metal blade extending out from his chest. He didn’t know what to think. In fact, the only thing that really crossed his mind was the realization that the weapons were metal. Such a stupid thing at a moment like this, as he could feel at least two of his internal organs had been punctured if not completely destroyed. Even if it wasn’t a metal weapon, he didn’t have nearly enough energy to remorph the tiny cuts along his body, much less his hand and internal organs.
It was in those moments that Akan found his mind race back towards the first time he’d lost his life. A thousand thoughts tried to get through, but the one that actually was clear as his eyes closed was an odd one. In a bright flash, he felt himself lying down in a warm bed. He felt warm, comfortable, and impossibly happy. It wasn’t long at all before he noticed some weight on his shoulder, and glanced down to see a head there resting. No...sleeping. A smile crept onto his face, but it was odd to not be able to pick out anything beyond that being a figure. And then it flashed away as quickly as it had came, but Akan was not sent back to the painful reality. Instead, he saw one last thing. Children. Three young children. They were playing some kind of game, laughing and obviously enjoying themselves. It took only a second before one of them saw him, grinned and pounced. The next thing Akan knew, he was on his back, tackled by three happy children who were trying to ‘kill’ him.
There was no flash back to reality. There was no last sight. The only thing Akan got that could have been considered close was confusion. What had those been? Why see things like that? Especially at a time like this! What could have been, perhaps? Or maybe it was the way of the Force to show one a last comforting sight before death. Akan didn’t find out, and he never actually felt himself hit the sand.
Shadow took a few careful steps back, eyeing this...this...thing that was approaching her. It wasn’t Landau. It couldn’t be. It was some beast that had stolen his likeness. A familiar face grafted onto a horrible body. This hulking beast could never have even resembled the man who had been her friend. Yet Shadow still felt it was Landau. Despite everything she tried to convince herself of, this beast was Landau. The dead friend brought back as a disgusting monstrosity. Though this had the chance of revealing the origin of the creatures which fought against the Topsiders outside, Shadow didn’t think of it. Instead, her mind raced about what to do.
It had been ordered to kill her and was looking intent on following through with this. The obvious course of action was to defend herself and defeat her enemy. Yet...yet it was Landau. How could she kill him? Fight him even? He had been the one human who she’d learned to trust, possibly even care about, since the death of Max so many years before. It had been so long that she’d nearly forgotten it. And then her thoughts crashed into reality. Or rather, reality crashed into her.
This came in the form of Landau’s fist. One of the four arms of that thing hit Shadow hard across the face, sending Shadow skidding across the well polished floor of the chamber. With only her natural instincts guiding her at this point, Shadow got to her feet the second after her body had stopped moving. Landau was already upon her again, reaching in for another heavy strike. This time, Shadow wasn’t there to be hit. She ducked low under the strike, then spun to the side and jumped back, looking to Landau with a pleading look on her face.
“Please don’t do this...” Shadow said quietly, not even realizing that she was speaking her thoughts aloud. Of course, this wasn’t the only thing she had lost focus on. Her attention was on this Landau-thing, and even Jen and the robed Sadrak were no longer within her attention. It was as if they were all in a different world entirely as Shadow tried to figure out what to do.
But no answer came from Landau. He only approached again. This time much faster, and dove in swinging three of his four arms. Shadow had trouble dodging, but managed to get back and out of his reach in an awkward series of rolling and twisting. Her body was moving without even attempting to ask the brain what to do. This was because the brain was lost. She couldn’t kill a friend. It was unthinkable. No matter how much training she had gone through, Shadow couldn’t kill someone like Landau. He was a good human...a friend...and...and he should be dead from what they had been told. Jen had killed him. Shot him in the stomach. Yet there was no blaster mark on this creature’s twisted body. Only that haunting face. Closing in...getting ready for another strike at Shadow and obviously taking advantage of her indecisiveness.
And then something else happened that Shadow had not expected. She had quieted the link between herself and Akan to make it easier to focus on what she was doing. It wasn’t gone, but just weakened slightly so that all those surface thoughts and other things wouldn’t pass through and distract either of them. But the link suddenly came back, flowing in like an ocean crashing through a weak dam. In only a second, a thousand thoughts and images raced back and forth between Shadow and Akan. Just as these did, Shadow felt a sudden, extremely sharp and vivid pain in her right hand. For a panicked half second, she thought she’d lost her hand and tried to remorph it. That action soon proved impossible, as her hand was still there. Yet...yet...pain! So much pain, and it didn’t feel like a phantom pain that usually flowed through the link. It was so real...so...
Shadow’s thoughts were cut short again, this time not from the link, but from Landau. Two arms grabbed her shoulders, picked her up, and then through her across the chamber. Shadow hit the ground hard, gripping her right hand and trying to fight back the new pains streaking through her spine from the fall. Again, she slid across the floor until her body hit the wall. She stopped just in time for another, even more vivid pain wracked her body. With her mind still racing to understand why her hand was so pained, Shadow suddenly felt a stabbing pain through her back, then up through her chest. Involuntarily, Shadow let out a loud cry of pain. Her eyes closed for a half second before she looked down for the reason for the pain. No wounds. Nothing. No...hand was still there. Chest was still in one piece...yet it hurt. So much. Like...like...and then she traced it back to Akan. This wasn’t a conscious effort, but occurred because of a feeling that ran through the link. Shadow saw Akan’s vision of...children?! What the hell kind of thing was he doing?! Akan was nearly dead and the damn idiot was seeing kids!
Another pain shot through Shadow’s body, and she immediately knew its source. Again, it was Akan. The direct pain from whatever it was in his chest was suddenly pulled away, but not without one last horrible damage. Her second heart suddenly felt a violent pain and nearly stopped in the process. He’d lost his second heart...hand...and there was still a phantom pain from his chest. And his mind was fading...Shadow connected these and forced herself to ignore the pain. Eyes opening just in time to see Landau reaching down for her again, Shadow started moving. With the speed only desperation could provide, Shadow ran. She ran past Landau. She ran out of that chamber. She ran through the corridors that led to the exit of this underground maze.
Her mind had locked onto the fading light of Akan, and she just ran to it. Nothing else mattered anymore. Not Jen, or Sadrak, or even what had occurred to Landau. All that mattered to Shadow was Akan. He was dying. In fact, he was already unconscious and slipping away. There were only a precious few moments left before she would follow. And in a flash, Shadow was outside again, getting out those last steps and seeing a sight she’d never imagined.
All across the sands, she saw those creatures. Thankfully, none of them had Landau’s face, and they were all half his size. But still, they sent a pang of remembrance of what was inside...her mind focused through it to the next sight. Bodies. Hundreds of them were littered across the sand, leading to a point where her senses met with the link. Surrounded by a small number of those horrible four armed creatures, Shadow saw Akan. He lay face down in the sand and unmoving, a blood coat of blood around him and over his back. Those around his body had obviously not expected anyone to come from behind, and this gave Shadow an easy approach. The ancient lightsaber of her family was drawn and ignited only a step away from the first of the creatures. They heard the snap-hiss, and spun around just in time for the first to lose its head. Two more fell in one clean, horizontal strike at chest level. Then, as Shadow’s body started to feel the pains of Akan’s fading life, she saw sword swing her direction. It did not shine in the light, and Shadow barely managed to raise her lightsaber in defense.
The metal blade was sliced in half, and Shadow watched the blood-stained blade fall into two clean pieces. That was the sword that had dug into the wound Shadow could see in Akan’s back. The one still leaking a large amount of blood. Her eyes locked with this creature, and a free hand reached out to her left. Her mind had acted without notify the rest of Shadow, and the Force called Akan’s own lightsaber(minus the hand that held it) to Shadow’s free hand. She caught it in mid thrust with her own purple-bladed weapon towards the creature in front of her. As her weapon thrust straight into the upper chest of the thing, a second snap-hiss was followed by a short and swift strike to lop off the thing’s head. Now holding two blades, Shadow made quick work of the two remaining enemies before turning her attention to Akan’s body. The two lightsabers were deactivated and at her side just as she knelt next to the dying Alraxian.
But she didn’t pick him up. He was going to be dead in a matter of seconds, and she would follow. There was no way for her to force a morph on him to stop the bleeding and heal the internal wounds. At least his mind had allowed him to lose consciousness to avoid feeling the pain that Shadow could feel. There was an option. There always was, even if sometimes it meant heavy sacrifices. Last time, she’d given up a life as an individual and much more than Akan still didn’t know about. This time, at least, little would change. It was a good thing he was face down, as it made things much easier and took less time. Her hands came to rest on Akan’s shoulders, and Shadow allowed their bodies to merge. With Akan’s body and mind s subdued and silent, it wasn’t a challenge at all. In fact, it felt strangely good to take back part of herself again. It was odd, though, because she could still feel Akan’s mind. It was faded, distant, and on the brink of nothing.
As Shadow stood up, her body whole for the first time in a long while, she couldn’t believe that it felt wrong. Shouldn’t she feel good being whole again? No, this wasn’t the time. She allowed a part of herself to keep Akan’s mind alive, which was a difficult task as it was trying to do the natural thing and simply merge with hers. While she planned to give him his own body again, if his mind merged with hers, that would be impossible. So she kept him ‘alive’ in a sense that couldn’t be described in Basic. Even Alraxian had trouble detailing what she did, as it was not a common occurrence. Not yet, though. Ignoring the hundreds of creatures that were already converging on her, Shadow started running again. This time, back. Back into the facility below. Back down those corridors. Back to Jen...Sadrak...and Landau. No longer alone this time, though. And despite Akan’s current state, somehow it helped to give Shadow the determination that was needed to deal with what was there. She would fight. There was no other choice. If she didn’t, the thing that Landau had become would kill her. But that wasn’t what bothered her. Akan would die. She was responsible for his life. It wasn’t something she took lightly, and later she would no doubt question the choice of going back to that chamber to deal with Landau...no, not to deal with him. To free him from whatever that bastard Sadrak had done. And then...then Shadow didn’t know. There was too much going on now to think too far ahead anyway. Because of this, she wasn’t even sure that she would live through the day. At least Shadow wasn’t having to explain that to Akan anymore. Whatever was left of his consciousness was lost in other things.
Jen took only one glance to the monstrous Landau, but found that she was unable to react. That part of her that had been growing was taking control, and finding a focus. This was not in a malevolent way, which both surprised and comforted Jen. She allowed this Shinai to take ‘control’ as it were, leaving Jen as more a passenger in her own body. Her voice was no longer her own, taking on an oddly ethereal quality as Jen found herself speaking words she’d never imagined before. Most of this was banter between Shinai and Sadrak, very snide and sarcastic, which Jen found funny. It was obvious that there was something between the two of them, and that this Shinai ‘woman’ (as far as Jen could figure) was not in a good mood.
Slowly, Jen raised her left hand, palm outward, to the robed Sadrak, “Why do you hide from view? Locked between life and death are you, Sadrak? Too stupid to completely die, but too cowardly to truly live?”
Again, Jen was laughing inside at those words. Shinai had a good point. Why WAS Sadrak hiding? She’d seen the hands...inhuman and almost insect like. Sadrak, though, did not feel amused. Odd that Jen noticed it that way. He seemed to radiate an aura of both annoyance and surprise. Though he earlier had seemed to have known that Shinai was ‘within’ Jen, it was becoming obvious that he wasn’t truly ready for it. His voice shaking just slightly, Sadrak snapped back, “Ha! Twice you have failed in your attempts to kill me! This time shall be no different, woman!”
Jen...er, Shinai, laughed, truly sounding amused by his words, “Now, now. I only failed once. The second time, this woman succeeded. You simply cheated fate.”
“And you have not?’ Sadrak again snapped back, though this time he actually took a very small step backwards, It was only noticeable in a small reversed swish of the heavy cloth.
Jen’s face formed a devious smile, “It is the will of the Force that I survive in this woman. It seems that she was fated to assist me in dealing with you once and for all. We have both failed once. Together, we shall not fail again.”
Strangely, Jen found herself actually helping to ‘speak’ those last words. Perhaps it was because she was starting to get a small picture of the true events. Not only from the words of the two, but from a few images of ideas that Shinai had fed to her. From what Jen could tell, Shinai had escaped the Jedi Purge as a child, grown, and by a series of events driven into conflict with Sadrak. She had killed him...or tried. Instead, he had taken her life. Or at least, Sadrak had assumed that. In fact, he had only taken her body, with Shinai’s true spirit merging with the Force itself until the time was right. And it seemed that this time came through in Jen.
After Jen had connected these events to form a loose idea of what was going on around and within her, she suddenly realized that Sadrak had not responded. In fact, that aura of fear had grown, and he’d even taken another step back. That got a true smile to Jen’s face as she placed her foot on the first of those few steps up to his level next to the throne. With her hand still extended towards him, Jen noticed that there was a small light gathering within it. And then Shinai spoke through her again, “We can feel you are no longer human. Perhaps you will show us what kind of demon you have become?”
Shinai/Jen did not give Sadrak a chance to respond. Just as her words ended, a strong blast of light extended out from her outstretched hand. Sadrak let out a yell of surprise and at least some pain, then flailed about as the light consumed that pitch black robe that he wore. It was dissolved as if by an acid. Piece by piece, the black faded to reveal Sadrak’s body. He was gaunt, and almost stick-like. The long, three-clawed hands were matched by two similarly thin and also backwards bent clawed feet. His head was nearly human, almost a mockery of the species more than anything. As a whole, his body looked to be some horrible mix of a giant insect with a human figure. It also reminded Jen of those creatures that were fighting for him. Images created to look like him?
But Jen did not ask this, instead, she found herself laughing again. Shinai spoke through the laugh, “Amazing what you’ve done to stay alive! The Emperor would be proud to have such a creature in his entourage! I cannot help but asking though...where did you steal this body from, hm? Who was its owner before you killed them and took their body?”
The Force imbued those words so strongly that Sadrak could not stop himself from answering. It was hilarious to see him realize mid sentence that he’d started to speak and couldn’t stop. Also, it was funny to watch how his mouth opened in four direction to produce a sound so similar to his old voice yet not completely alien, “There was no mind! Simply an empty shell! I stole nothing but this body from Halpak!”
Why Shinai did not ask about that name, or even seem to hear Sadrak speak it, Jen had no idea of. She desperately wanted to ask who this Halpak was. More information. With such power in the Force she could ask any question and get an answer! This was what Voort and Akan could do! How did they stop themselves?! Jen could barely contain the excitement from this. Distantly, this caused a short worry for Shinai. She was, however, more focused on the current events. No more questions were asked, and instead she raised her other hand, speaking through Jen again, “You cannot run from me anymore. This Alderaanian woman is as strong as I was, and together you know you cannot fight us. Give in. Accept your fate and allow us both our final rest.”
“NO!” Sadrak suddenly cried out. At the same time, he seemed to fight back some invisible force holding him still and dove for Jen, those three claws extending out to rip her to pieces.
* * * *
Come on, Akan! Wake up! Shadow’s inner voice called to that small spark of consciousness that was the last remaining piece of Akan in the galaxy. Despite constant prodding, she seemed to only be able to keep him aware enough to remain just barely separate from her. If only there was time to give him a body now! But there wasn’t. So she did what she could to try forcing him into the awkward form of ‘awake’ that he needed to rise into. If he didn’t, then he’d fade into her for good, two minds as one forever. But he fought. She could tell, somehow, that despite his ‘weak’ condition, he was trying. Of course, she had no idea how he felt. What was one to do when they realized they were just a voice in one’s head? At least he wasn’t awake enough for that yet...but he was going to have to be soon. Soon...everything soon.
Soon, she’d returned to that chamber, catching a half glance towards Jen, a blinding light exploding from the woman. This sent Landau, who had been sneaking up behind her, flying back towards Shadow. Perfect. Landau was getting to his feet when he saw that Shadow was returned. A deranged smile grew on that haunting face, and he started another approach towards her. Yet this time, something different happened. Something that broke the resolve Shadow had built up. Landau spoke.
“Kill me...”
It was forced, painfully forced. A scratchy whisper seeping out of an unmoving mouth as the monster came towards her. The words were the real Landau’s. Shadow could feel it. And it nearly brought tears to her eyes. No, it did. But she stopped them the only way she knew how. Shadow morphed. Keeping only a small part of her mind back to continually prod Akan, the rest of her focused on the task at hand. Currently, this was finding a way to stop those tears. To stop emotion. She knew of only one way. Only one morph that couldn’t cry. And at the same time, it was the one thing that should never, ever have been possible for any Alraxian.
Her form did not change. Her body did not grow or shrink. Instead, she remained Alraxian. Except that she no longer had flesh. No more bones. No more organic material. It was impossible by all Alraxian lore(except for one obscure prophecy that Shadow was not privy to), but standing in front of that huge Landau was a metal Alraxian. Through some strange force of will and fear, Shadow broke all the rules. Droids couldn’t cry. Droids couldn’t feel. Droids just were. And so, this metal Shadow just was, any emotional feelings and misgivings faded away into that tiny part of her keeping Akan alive.
Landau froze. Even a monster would be surprised by the new image. Her body was now shining like the well polished floor below them. Her eyes no longer held those silvery-purple eyes, instead they were just black, angular spots in the metallic head. Ears the same. Mouth, unmoving. A small open slit. If it had not been done in such a desperate fashion to hide tears and emotion, Shadow would have been amazed. But then again, such a thing was likely impossible in any other circumstance. Now, though, this droid watched Landau. The old friend. The enemy. He had asked for death. A final request. She would honor it.
Taking advantage of the momentary pause of Landau, Shadow attacked. For a droid, or anything of such metal construction, the movement was impossibly swift and clean. It was only a half second before her fist hit Landau, but this did not send him back. Instead, her stronger arm dug into him, probably close to reaching the other side and exiting. Landau tried hitting back, though that pained face looked like it was trying to fight the body. Landau’s punches and slams only dinted the strong metal. With another heavy punch, Landau was on his back. Shadow was right after him, the quick metal body pouncing and damaging the monster even more on landing. And then, in a swift motion that Shadow didn’t even see herself, Landau’s head was removed from his body. It could have been from her arm. It could have been from a lightsaber. It could have been anything. Perhaps it was good that she never truly saw or felt it. But she did notice that Landau’s mouth was half open, and he had been about to say something. She had cut him off. Literally. Her friend. The one human she’d called that for so many cycles. She’d killed him. Saved him. But it had killed him. What had she done?!
Droids didn’t cry. Droids didn’t feel. This one did. This one felt pain. This droid hurt. With a metallic and disturbingly almost-Shadow voice, the droid pounded its fists into the monstrous body below her, beating it into an unrecognizable mass of flesh and bone. Droids didn’t feel!! Droids didn’t cry!! Alraxians didn’t kill friends!! Her mind went crazy, wracked with pain and confusion and grief. This overloaded all of Shadow’s senses, and the metal boy fell to the side, hitting the polished floor with a loud, unearthly clank. Droids didn’t dream either.
Chapter 106: Beginning of the End [No Foreshadowing Here...We Promise]
It was odd to feel no pain when injured. Jen knew that Sadrak’s claws had raked across her left side as she(well, technically it was Shinai) spun to the side. Despite this knowledge, and despite the fact that she even felt the claws themselves, there was no actual pain sensation. It was obvious that Shinai had done something to either divert or simply erase the feeling of pain that should have been there. Thankfully, Jen could not see the injury, so that even though she knew it was there intellectually, there was no literal way for her brain to interpret this as anything more than imagination.
All the while, though, Jen’s body was still moving with her as a passenger. Shinai had control, and currently, this didn’t bother Jen one bit. She wasn’t even sure her body was even capable of moving in the ways it was. Fluid and very quick turns and sidesteps at just the right moment. The first strike from Sadrak’s inhuman claw was the only one to land. From then on, each time the swipe was just barely off in time, so little that Jen could have sworn she’d been hit even without the feeling. Her mental questions to Shinai were unanswered, though considering how focused this ‘other’ within Jen’s mind was, it was no surprise.
Two more violent slashes were met with two simple steps from Jen’s body. Left. Right. Both also taking her back ever so slightly. But just enough that Jen caught on to what Shinai was doing. Shinai was not tiring Sadrak out. She was leading him. Back. Back to where? Another step back from a diving jab and Jen figured it out. She would have grinned if she’d had more control over her own body, but a mental grin was strangely satisfying. Though, honestly, everything was strange at this point.
But Jen was caught off guard when her body stopped moving. It took her a moment to realize that Sadrak had not followed his usual pattern of dive after thrust after swipe after dive. He’d stopped. Hunched down in a pose all too fitting for that insect-like body, Sadrak’s two large and alien eyes started up into hers. Studying. Searching. For what? He didn’t speak, but the oddly shaped mouth opened very slightly as if an attempt at some kind of taunt or even pleading would be made. No noise came out, though. Jen felt her body take a short step to the side, more shifting to stand up straight from Sadrak’s view. But for Jen, this confirmed her thoughts of what Shinai was doing.
It was in that frozen moment that Jen finally was able to take notice of the other two in the room. Off towards the entrance to the chamber, she saw Shadow. Or...no...it didn’t look like Shadow. The shape was right, as was the height. But Shadow was not a uniform shiny metallic silver. She also didn’t look like an Alraxian droid. What was that at her feet, though? A large, skeletal and monstrous body. It was somewhat similar to Sadrak’s, but more humanlike in appearance. It looked more like it was just larger and had extra, gaunt arms when compared to Sadrak’s completely alien body. There wasn’t time to truly study this, though, and Jen was rocketed back into the moment at the loud metal clang that echoed through the hall as Shadow’s body collapsed to the shining floor.
That sound was the trigger for everything. Before the loud sound had even finished its first short echo, Sadrak lunged. This time, Jen had no idea who moved her body. She had reacted naturally, feeling an odd pushing in her mind to just MOVE, and had done it. Or had Shinai just reacted? It didn’t matter. Not yet, at least. What did matter was the result. The movement to the side had not been nearly as fluid or closely timed with the attack as before. Instead, Jen was out of the way a good half second early. This gave Sadrak the chance to look surprised before he slammed head on with the heavy throne that Jen had been positioned in front of. The crash of Sadrak’s impact was nearly as loud as that of Shadow’s simply collapse.
A loud cry of pain and surprise sounded from Sadrak as he hit the ground, surrounded by the rubble of his large throne. From the sound of it, that thing was made of metal. It spoke a lot of Sadrak’s body(and skull) that he didn’t just bounce off and collapse in a heap of pain. And then, Jen found that she’d made that dodge all on her own(ignoring, of course, the assistance of the Force). This became suddenly obvious to her with the sight of a new figure within the room. Standing on the other side of Sadrak’s currently unmoving body, was an odd image that was made even worse by the fact that Jen immediately knew who it was. The figure was that of a young looking human woman. She had short hair and angular features to her face that somehow showed a strong, yet very kind woman. All of the colors were indistinct. Well, no, they were there. Instead, all of the colors faded to a soft blue that was also vaguely transparent in its nature.
“Shinai...” Jen said quietly, taking a couple of steps over towards the now ruined throne.
The image smiled warmly, an almost predatory look on the woman’s angular face, “I can do no more here. My time is over, and my task is done...” she paused, her soft and powerful voice echoing without really being effected by any actual laws of physics. When Shinai spoke again, her figure seemed to glide past Sadrak’s body to Jen, “You have great strength, but I cannot guide it. You were given your strength to do with as you will. Trust the Force. Trust yourself. Destiny is not set, as this wretched creature has proven. Never forget that.”
Jen opened her mouth to say something, but by the time the first words came out, the spirit had simply faded away. Both visually and in another way that Jen still wasn’t sure how to describe. It was the Force, obviously, but the word to use wasn’t something she knew of. But Jen didn’t dwell on this. This was still unfinished, and it had been left in her hands. In her trust. Jen stepped around the ruined throne to the body of Sadrak. He had moved now, only slightly. Just enough to be on his back, facing up at her as she approached. There was a feeble attempt to raise a clawed hand towards her, but Sadrak’s battered body could barely move. For a long, silent moment, Jen just looked down at him. Broken. Alien. He had become everything he had stood against as such a high ranking member of the Empire, and it was obvious that he hated it. Perhaps he should simply live to suffer like this, then?
“...mercy...”
The word came out slowly. The mouth had only half opened and Jen had not been sure she’d heard anything for a half second. The two alien eyes stared up towards hers, but Jen couldn’t read them. The black in black held no emotion. It was impossible to sympathize even with this broken and beaten wreck. And that word had just made it all worse. Mercy. So disgusting that this monster would ask for mercy after all he had done. Jen didn’t say anything. Her eyes showed no emotion. But she did move. Slowly, she knelt down next to the barely moving Sadrak, placing herself close to his face.
Again, Jen watched as Sadrak obviously hunted for some kind of emotion in her. Some kind of weakness to feed off of. Something. Anything. Anything so he could stay alive. Nothing was found. And even if he’d had more that half a minute, Sadrak would not have found anything. In a simple motion, Jen reached down and took hold of the monster’s head. No time was given for her to see a reaction from him. Quickly, violently, and coldly, Jen snapped his neck. The crack was loud in the silent chamber, echoing back and forth many times before finally fading into nothing.
Sadrak recieved no final scream. No final anything. He did not die a warrior. He did not die an Imperial. He did not even die a monster. He died a coward. This time, he did not escape fate. As Jen got to her feet, looking over towards where Shadow had fallen, the only ‘last’ that she felt Sadrak recieved was a pulse. It rocked through the Force very gently, outward from his body. What it meant, she didn’t know. She didn’t care. He was dead. Finally dead. And now...now they could leave this hell forever.
Through all of this, the chaos outside had not subsided. As was expected, the battle was not going well. The center group that Akan had left from was suffering the worst, its numbers down in the double digits and likely to be completely wiped out soon. This put Voort’s focus back on the center, trying to slow them down as much as possible. Once that group was down, there was an open pathway to his position, and also to surround the other two groups. As for them, it was going as well as could be expected. Voort had never found Hansen, but had at least taken down a considerable number of shots. The airspeeders were still doing a few strafing runs, but they were just as insignificant as the snipers were.
As Voort fired off two more shots over the shoulders of a few Topsiders, something odd happened. He sat up slightly to look across the other snipers on either side of him. None of them seemed to have noticed anything. Voort closed his eyes a moment, allowing his mind to flow out and find what that was...Jen? No. No...close to her. The source at least. When his eyes opened again, the sands in front of him looked odd. No, not the sand. The things on the sand. It was about another minute before others started sitting up and looking confused. The blaster fire from their rifles had stopped. Down below, on the sands, the Topsiders continued to cut through those monstrous creatures...but only for another couple of minutes. They, too, then stopped, staring closely at the blank features on the now-unmoving enemies.
Or at least, unmoving for a moment. It wasn’t long before the bodies started to simply collapse, falling to pieces in the process. The airspeeders flew over a couple more times through the frozen astonishment that permeated the air. It didn’t make sense...one of the other snipers was on his feet, looking to Voort. But the former Imperial could only shrug. It wasn’t long before whispers started among the small group on the dune. Voort ignored them, though, trying to reach out again and find something to explain this. All he found was Jen. A bright fire in the Force, burning strongly next to a weaker light that he soon identified as Shadow. Or something like that. Had they done it, then? Was Sadrak dead? But why would his army fall apart so literally? Questions, questions.
Holding the rifle up, Voort ignored the others around him and started down the dune. He didn’t head down to the center, though, but headed left, off towards Hansen’s group. From the look of it, they were still in a mostly stunned state. It was a ten minute walk. Ten long minutes of passing by hundreds of corpses. Mostly Topsiders. But there were also limbs of other creatures that Voort didn’t attempt to identify. The sand was bloodstained. Red color stretched out across the everywhere he set his feet. It was like someone had attempted to create an ocean on this desert world and had nearly succeeded.
Upon finally reaching the outer edges of the group, he found a Topsider and said, “Where’s your commander?”
The reptilian creature tilted its head for a moment, trying to think obviously. It made a ‘sss’ing sound before tipping its long head off towards the real body pile out there. It said nothing, though. Voort just nodded, then stepped off in that direction. He was almost having to climb across bodies now, at the same time as he wove through the small collection of remaining Topsiders that still stood. Hansen was easy to find, though, being a human in this group of reptiles. She was just as bloodstained as the ground was, her hair even taking on a disturbingly reddish tint. Her face had a few scratches and bruises, and there was at least one long cut across her that was still bleeding.
Upon seeing Voort(who looked out of place looking so clean), a weak smile grew on her face. Honestly, she looked about ready to just pass out and join these piles of corpses that littered the ground. Carefully, Hansen stepped over to him and spoke in a hoarse, tired voice, “Nice shot...”
That got a smile to Voort’s face. When she collapsed forward, he caught her and held her up carefully. It was an odd feeling, holding Hansen up like that, and brought back a thousand memories of times long gone. What was he to say? She’d been in the thick of the fight. He’d been up on the hill just taking shots for free. Sure, he knew what it was like to be involved in such a chaotic ground fight, but it was somehow impossible for him to speak up. So Voort just stayed silent, looking up beyond all of those corpses to that last dune. Past that was Jen...
“I hate this place...” she said quietly, and Voort noticed she was shaking slightly. Not a surprise. Even experienced soldiers such as Hansen could still be affected by shock. With such a sudden stop to the fight that was obviously intense, it was just one more thing to add to all the stress. It was also obvious to Voort that Hansen was clinging to him slightly...and it was uncomfortable. Maybe only a year ago it would have been fine...but now.
Slowly, he pulled Hansen away and looked down to her, a hard look returning to his face, “Get everyone together and work out our losses.”
He then carefully let go of her so she wouldn’t fall over, then stepped past. It was almost cruel to do, but Voort knew he had to. Taking a deep breath, Voort put Hansen behind him and started the walk to pass the dune. To the facility. To where Akan had gone. To Jen and his promise. He couldn’t help a smile.
* * * *
Jen had only dwelled on the empty corpse of Sadrak for a short moment. It was easy to look away from that empty shell, and she never even thought of turning back. Slowly but still with a very determined look on her face, Jen walked over towards the two other bodies that were across the chamber. As she approached, she could only see one large hulking thing...headless, with four arms and a disgusting look about it. Jen did not see the head that was off to the side, and that was likely a good thing.
But upon getting closer, she did see an Alraxian. Or at least...she thought it was an Alraxian. The thing was about the right height to be Shadow, with the same genderless type of build that only hinted at the person being female through the way the limbs were constructed. Except the entire body was metal. Even the hair, which looked more like a long extension to the head, almost as if it was a Twi’lek with only one lekku. Somehow, though, Jen knew it was Shadow. It couldn’t be anyone else...and then, very slowly, something changed. The metal seemed to fade away, almost as if it was folding inside with another body folding out from it. It was the first time Jen had really seen an Alraxian morph, and she decided that it was not something she ever wanted to see again. It wasn’t natural. It looked painful even, especially with that metal. But, thankfully, it wasn’t long before the body was Shadow’s, her eyes closed and chest rising only slowly. Unconscious.
When Jen knelt down next to the Alraxian, she was caught off guard by a second change. This was one that was arguably worse than before, and Jen quickly forced her eyes shut. There was no sound to indicate when the change had finished, so Jen had to guess. Carefully, she opened one eye. When she saw a blurry but stable figure, Jen decided to open both eyes completely. Laying there where Shadow had been was Akan. His hair a mess(as usual), his eyes half open, and his body only slightly bigger than Shadow’s had been. After blinking a few times, his eyes seemed to refocus and actually catch onto Jen. A weak smile grew on his face when the blurry image of Jen came into focus.
She couldn’t help but return the smile, bringing an arm down under him to help him sit up slightly. Waiting a few moments for him to at least get his bearings, Jen finally asked the necessary question, “What...what happened?”
Akan blinked a few more times and looked up to Jen. His voice wasn’t as weak as it was exhausted and at least slightly lost, “I...not completely sure...I...she...”
When he trailed off, Jen rubbed his back gently and decided to give him a little more time. Her eyes idly wandered across the room, taking in the nearby area. She looked at that body for a long moment, not sure what to make of it, before finally seeing the head. Or rather, the face. A face she knew well. A face holding the expression that still haunted her. Landau...dead again. Eyes wide open and just staring into her. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she couldn’t seem to turn away.
Thankfully, Akan spoke and Jen was torn away from that haunting face, “He begged her to kill him...”
It was amazing how so few words could explain so much. Jen didn’t ask for any clarification or any details. It was all understood now. Or at least, all but one little thing...well, two. But both were connected. Jen looked down to Akan, her eyes searching him for the right way to ask. The right words. The right anything.
Again, she was thankful when Akan spoke, seemingly knowing what she wanted to say, “We are both here...” he carefully raised a hand and pointed to himself, and a half grin appeared on his face, “Don’t know details or how...Alraxian things. She is...is...” Akan paused to try and find the words, then waved a hand vaguely in a motion that was oddly Shadow-like, “...asleep. Best word I can think of.”
Another pause, this time his eyes locked onto her’s and he seemed to look deep into her. Jen suddenly felt naked with no way to hide herself from him. Even her natural reactions couldn’t break off that feeling that Akan was sifting through her thoughts...and then, it faded away, with Akan’s tone changing completely, sounding worried and horribly afraid, “Sadrak is...”
“Dead,” Jen finished in a strangely sharp and harsh way. It was very unlike her to speak like that, and even Jen caught herself. Softening her voice and returning to her normal tone, Jen explained a little more, “I had a little...a little help. But he’s gone now. Finally. And we can go home now.”
Home. That word truly meant nothing to Akan, but he forced a smile to at least help Jen feel better. He slowly sat up all the way, stubbornly batting her arm away from helping him before looking beyond her to that broken throne. Something in her terrified him, now. Something he’d dreamed of before, and convinced himself that it was just that...a dream. But now, feeling the air within the room and the strong echoes of the Force throughout it, Akan felt that fear growing real. And because of it, he couldn’t seem to look at her anymore. His voice was even distant and Jen could tell something was wrong, “I should be dead. Again.”
A smile grew on Jen’s face and she didn’t even think about any of those problems anymore, “You’ve got good friends to keep you alive.”
“I can’t keep cheating fate,” Akan said, looking down to the floor and seeing his reflection. Looking into his own eyes and seeing that Alraxian face, realizing for the first time he still thought of himself as a human. His mental image of himself was not this. A sigh was let out and he whispered, “I can’t keep risking everyone else...”
This time, Jen reached down and lifted his head up to look Akan in the eyes, “Maybe you aren’t cheating fate. Maybe you’re supposed to be here right now,” her hand slowly moved up to his cheek, “Maybe, you’re not allowed to die yet. Maybe...just maybe, some of us still need you here.”
Akan looked into the woman’s eyes, finding none of the comfort she was trying to provide. He saw only death. Only that dream again. He closed his eyes, then, and tried to blank it all out. Tried to ignore it. And in that, he found Shadow. She had retreated in a way not unlike the state he’d been in. Distant, but conscious and still there. She was hiding from what had happened. Still, mentally, that emotionless droid. The one that couldn’t cry. The one that couldn’t feel. The one that couldn’t hurt after killing a friend. Akan found her easily, knowing ‘their’ mind in a way that anyone strong in the Force should. And now, there was no link. Instead, two equally strong minds, thinking on their own with nothing able to hide from the other, no matter how hard one tried.
And quietly, he pushed her. Thought at her was the only way to describe it. Speaking without speaking. Talking to oneself when the voice in your head really was someone else, ‘Droids don’t cry,’ he said to her, knowing she couldn’t hide from him this time, ‘Droids don’t feel. But droids don’t live either. Droids don’t do anything...they just are. And you’re not like that anymore, remember? You’re alive now. No one’s droid. No one’s weapon. You are free. Don’t lock yourself up again...don’t be like me.’
There was that odd feeling of being looked at from within, and Akan knew he’d at least gotten through to her. She didn’t ‘speak’ back, but instead a series of thoughts came together. Loki. Coruscant. Home. The others...others? Yes. Sadrak was gone, but that just opened up even more things that had to be done. Shadow needed to know more about her past. She needed to know who Marix really was. And now there was time to find out.
“Something Sadrak said, though,” Jen spoke quietly, noticing something was odd about Akan’s expression. Both Shadow and Akan ‘heard’ Jen, and the way she spoke got their undivided attention all of a sudden, “He said he got that...that horrible body from someone named Halpak.”
Halpak. A pang of everything hit Shadow all over again, a thousand things she’d never had to think of before. In that moment, with that one small word, seemingly insignificant, there was a whole new reason to find Marix. The real Marix. Halpak. Just when it all should have been over, a new variable was added. One that only Shadow understood. Even with their shared consciousness, even Akan couldn’t grasp it all. Too much of the thoughts were in Alraxian, anyway. The emotions, though, he did grasp. And it simply made everything worse. Slowly, he turned his head to look to Jen. His voice was shaky, but he managed to speak, “Shadow will...have to explain that later...lets just...just get out of here.”
As they both got to their feet, all three of them were overcome with a horrible feeling that yet again, this wasn’t over. Jen was the only one not actually sure of this. But Akan and Shadow knew that there was still more to be done. Shadow was the one who knew that everything was about to get a lot worse. At least...for her it was. Hopefully she could find the real Marix. She would know what to do. That is, if she didn’t just kill Shadow for being the abomination that she was...but that was a risk they had to take. Especially now that Halpak was involved.
By the time the Alraxian(currently, it was still Akan) and Jen had gotten through the majority of the corridors leading towards the exit, they ran into Voort. It was nearly a literal running into, but Jen managed to stop before being barreled over. There was a pause, an awkward silence, then a laugh from both humans before they embraced tightly. Akan stood back, feeling out of place and not just slightly lonely. Sure, Shadow was in there, but she was currently caught up in some odd thoughts that he didn’t understand. He knew this wasn’t over. Even though Shadow’s was doing her best to think in Alraxian, the general feel did get through. While vague, it was still clear to Akan there was much more to be done. No rest. No time to think. He’d even lost track of how long they’d been on Arranis. At least a day, yes...but beyond that, it just all blurred together.
He was jolted back into the moment when Voort asked the inevitable question, “Where’s Shadow?”
Akan had at first expected Voort to be asking Jen, but he quickly noticed that both of the humans were watching him. Jen giving Akan that ‘This is your job’ look, and Voort actually looking almost...almost...worried? Interesting. Unexpected. It shouldn’t have been, but it was. And that look wasn’t going away. Akan quickly realized he’d been standing there looking blank for at least half a minute, and spoke in a voice that was almost too rushed for the actual control there was in the situation(even if Akan didn’t know it), “She’s...um...here.”
Again, he pointed to himself. Before any more questions along those lines, Akan waved them off and said, “Not important just yet. We’re both alive and...I think we’re okay. I think there’s also a consensus that this place needs to be destroyed.”
Voort and Jen exchanged a careful glance before Voort shook his head, “Hansen and what’s left of her people will need to go through here and find out everything they can. This place is obviously much bigger than we’ve explored.”
The way that Voort said that got him a near glare from both Akan and Jen. He’d sounded about like he was suggesting they should do the exploring. Now. Right away. Just them. HA! Jen, her arm around him, started to push Voort around and back towards the way out, “Let Hansen do that. A lot has happened, Titus...and I think we all need some sleep.”
As they got back to the walk out, Akan noticed something tugging at him. Something...something. It was Shadow. She was tired, still, and very weak, but something was bugging her. And she needed that addressed. So, Akan asked her question, “What happened out there, Voort?”
And then, again, they stopped. Voort paused and turned around, looking back to the Alraxian with a solemn look. He seemed to be thinking over what to say, and allowed himself a sigh before speaking, “Everything went as expected. We were losing. Horribly. In fact, it was going to be getting very bad very soon...then. Well, I just don’t know. They just all fell apart.”
It took both Akan and Jen a moment to realize that he was speaking literally. When he’d finished, the two gave each other long looks. At the same time, Akan was getting a mental ‘hmmm’ from Shadow. Her...his...their mind was racing with a thousand thoughts and Shadow actually seemed to be making sense out of them. In fact, that worried Akan. It worried him enough that he did his absolute best to avoid any kind of questions or speaking for that matter. He had taken an odd move in just walking right past the two humans without another word, and left Voort to give Jen a raised eyebrow.
She tilted her head towards the departing Alraxian and spoke quietly to Voort, “He’s...well, not just him. They both have been through a lot,” Jen went silent a moment then looked up into his eyes, “All of us have.”
They finally retreated out, finding the Topsiders and remainder of the Imperials had begun to set up a small camp. As the sun was starting its drop in the sky, this had been a good idea. A long march back so soon would have just been far too much for everyone. It took a few hours to set up the large collection of tents and equipment that had been carried across the sands from Haladin. Another hour an Shadow had assisted Akan in splitting them again. Two bodies. Two minds. One life. It was odd to be apart again, but at the same time, comforting to have some kind of solitude and privacy. Both of them were still weak, though, mentally and physically.
And after a short rest, Shadow spoke up. Her voice was still tired, but there was a strength that Akan hadn’t heard in a while, “I have to go to Coruscant as soon as possible.”
“You know I’ll come with you,” Akan responded quickly, turning to look over to her. He studied her tired face a moment and smiled slightly, “Its as important to me as it is to you, now.”
Shadow nodded slowly, idly fixing her tail fur and picking out some of the sand. When she didn’t say anything else, Akan figured he was going to have to speak up on his own. After thinking of how to word it, he said carefully, “What...what happened in there?”
That got her attention. It wasn’t the best way to put it, but it was enough. Shadow’s eyes seemed to freeze in an unblinking daze while she tried to find some way to not have to think about what had happened. When it became obvious that there wasn’t any way for her to avoid answering, she sighed and slumped down slightly, speaking to the tent’s floor, “I don’t really know. I...you were there. You felt it. You were it. I...we...metal. It shouldn’t be possible. It isn’t. It...”
She trailed off, a hand shaking slightly as her voice was. Akan gave her a careful look and wished he could do something. Not really able to think of anything else useful, he instead just nodded and said quietly, “You did it once. It did happen. Can you do it again?”
For a moment, Akan saw a quick glint of excitement in Shadow’s eyes. It was gone as quickly as it had appeared, and Shadow then shook her head, “Not now. It isn’t right. Its...its unnatural.”
Somehow, it was odd to hear an Alraxian say that word, especially when it came to speaking of morphing. So that in itself was worrying. Shadow could feel through the link that Akan was going to press the issue further. In fact, he’d likely succeed. But it wasn’t something she could deal with now. There was too much else. Which meant she was going to have to deflect his mind somehow.
Looking up to him, Shadow spoke carefully, “Ket Halpak. He is...was...no, is a madman. He was exiled from the Hidden Worlds years before I...before Marix left. Exiled for heresy. We do have strong knowledge about living things, but we never create life. Never copy it...that is...is an evil mockery of the true Force. Its why clones are so horrible...” Shadow went silent for a moment, trying to direct her thoughts to the places they needed to be instead of along those other paths, “He was Tam-Day-U like Marix. Even worked with her more than once...but he...he did horrible things. I can feel his touch here. Those things....they were...were Narani once. And Sadrak. Even he was just another pawn for Ket...I always thought he was dead,” she mumbled, burying her face in her hands. After that, Shadow’s voice was left in a whisper, and Akan could tell she was fighting back tears, “He should have been dead. Marix was supposed to find him and finally kill him...but...but the Empire...Akan, Halpak is the greatest threat to our people since the Sith. We have to find him. We have to finish what Marix should have done...”
Her eyes were begging him as much as her voice was. That scared Akan, and also showed that this was only the bare bones version of who this Halpak was. There was obviously too much going on right now to paint a clear picture, and Akan could wait. Shadow had made sure of one thing before they’d separated into their individual bodies again. She’d made him swear an oath. It was not, she said, a true oath to anyone but her, but it would do for now. Akan had sworn(very reluctantly) to protect his people. Alraxians. No matter what. It was under that condition that he was given this body, and that wasn’t something Akan was going to forget. If only he knew the position that really put him in. But even if Shadow had told him, he’d probably not understand. Not yet, at least.
Not long after, Shadow had left to be alone. The stars were out, as was one of the planet’s moons. The soft greenish glow of the moon reminded her of home. She’d never been homesick before, but now...for some reason, she just wanted to go home. But that wasn’t possible. Even if they didn’t already know she was a clone, it would be easy to discover that and then she would be killed. Akan wouldn’t die, as there were ways to transfer his connection to her to another. He would never actually live a life alone anymore, but he could still live. Shadow stopped her thoughts there. Why even consider that? It wasn’t something that was going to happen.
Shouldn’t she feel better now that Sadrak was gone? But no...with Halpak somewhere out there, there wasn’t any reason to feel better. And Landau was dead. By her hand. No. Not by her hand. Shadow looked down at her hand a moment, studying it. The claws extended, and she looked closer. No. Something else killed Landau. For a moment, just after the claws retracted again, she could see that metallic sheen from the skin. A trick of the eye. It had to be, as before she had felt the metal. Yes, she could bring that back. Could feel it there within her. An alien presence. No. Not it wasn’t alien. It was her.
The ability to morph metal was not some fluke of randomness. It was another of Sadrak’s little toys. Playing on the ancient myths of the Alraxian people, he helped to create their greatest fears. First, the Darkwings. Second...metal. Though the Darkwing Wars were a true part of Alraxian history and never thought of as myth, the ability to morph metal was unclear. It could easily have been made up...but the distinction didn’t matter. The fear was there from childhood. Every Alraxian knew the danger of metal, and most Alraxians never actually harnessed their innate ability to morph. Morphing was seen as a talent that few had, and one that was no longer necessary in the times of peace. Combine the almost mystic idea of morphing among the general population of the Alraxian Empire with the fears of metal and there was a story nearly as terrifying as the Darkwings. An Alraxian that was essentially invulnerable. One individual with such power in a strongly pluralistic society truly was the worst thing that could ever happen. And the stories simply grew.
And here Shadow was, a true outsider among her species. She was the clone of the Empress’ daughter. The daughter a Tam-Day-U, the disgraceful group of assassins that were hidden away from their kind and usually died before reaching adulthood. The black mark on the Empire. And now...now she was even more than that. A Darkwing. Only for a moment, maybe, but that part of her would always be a separate entity, buried deep within and waiting for any possible chance to ‘live’ again. Only months after that incident, she now knew that the ability to morph metal was not a myth. And she had it. Another outcast. Another reason for her people to fear her. Another reason she could never go home.
Suddenly, Shadow found herself wondering why she even cared about Halpak or the real Marix. But the real Marix. That was something Shadow had to deal with. She was a clone. And perhaps it was just something that clones did, yearning to meet the original and discover how similar they were. Was Shadow really just that? A shadow of Marix? Almost the Empress’ daughter, but not. Would the real Marix have made the same choices in life? Would she have lived among smugglers for so many years? And after Max died...would Marix have found another life? Would she have given Akan his life back? Shadow also couldn’t help but wonder why that thought kept coming up. Okay, so it wasn’t that hard to figure out. Having one’s life suddenly depend on another in all the literal meanings of the word was a defining experience that one couldn’t just ignore. So yes...there were reasons to find Marix. Even if she had to kill Shadow, it was something that had to be done.
But there was still Halpak. He was only a threat to the Alraxian Empire, not this part of the galaxy. If she knew him well enough(and Shadow had a good idea that she did), he wouldn’t care about the workings of these worlds. Sure, he’d know what was going on, but it would only be to further whatever his own goals were. And those goals would definitely be one of two things. Revenge on the Empire who had banished him...or simply returning to it. The latter was wishful thinking. But wait...why? The Empire wouldn’t care about her. Yet in the end, no matter what Shadow tried. Even if she was a clone. Even if she was everything that her people feared...she was still an Alraxian, and she simply couldn’t ignore that and allow her people to be killed.
A smile found its way onto her face. Eventually, Akan was going to have to accept the same things. It would be harder for him, and he would have plenty of time. But eventually. Of course, there were probably a hundred or so other things that Akan would have to accept one way or another. The smile faded away when she had to think about what some of those consequences would be for herself. But then again, pretty much all of those wouldn’t be anything to worry about unless they went to the Hidden Worlds...or her ‘mother’ found her again. Shadow refused to think of the odds of either of those happening, as both were likely to be very high numbers considering their luck in the last months.
“Shadow...” Voort’s voice said from behind her. It didn’t make Shadow jump, but her ears did twist around slightly. Though she didn’t respond in any other way, Voort figure that the ear-shift was enough of an acknowledgment, so he spoke up again, “I’d like to...to ask you something.”
That did get Shadow’s interest. Perhaps part of it was the connection Voort had with Marix. Speaking with him was almost like getting a small view into who Marix was...turning around and raising an eyebrow slightly, Shadow spoke quietly, “Hmm?”
Alright, so it wasn’t a real word, but Voort couldn’t help a grin at that. So much like Marix. He’d never thought the clones could ever be so much like the original...or maybe it was just Shadow. Either way, it was comforting to hear her speak in such a similar tone to his old friend. He took a few steps over to her, idly looking up to the moon above. Instead of trying to avoid the point, Voort just spoke directly. He expected that Shadow would be like Marix in hating it when people avoiding the subject, “Would you be willing to teach Jen about the Force?”
Shadow was silent a moment. Thinking about it. Sure, she was clone, but now Shadow was truly an individual. This choice was proof of it. Marix wasn’t here to decide what to do. Shadow was. But she didn’t answer right away. Instead, she asked an obvious question, “Why not you?”
Voort turned down from the sky and looked to the young Alraxian, “You should know that without asking. And don’t even try the second question. Akan isn’t old enough, and he’s got far too much else on his mind to ever attempt something so important.”
Shadow half grinned at that, giving Voort a sideways glance. Of course, she didn’t mention the fact that she likely had even more on her mind that Akan did. Voort had a point, though. Obviously, he wanted Jen to learn the basics, and at least some rudimentary knowledge of the light side. The Force as the Jedi and Sith of the galaxy knew it...not as the Alraxians did. But thankfully, Shadow knew a little of both, and could do what was asked. The grin faded into a more neutral expression, and she nodded, “I guess I’ll have to do it, then,” so, the grin returned at that, her tail swishing slightly in an odd gesture, “I will do my best.”
Smiling warmly, Voort rested an arm on the Alraxian’s shoulder, “I know you will. That’s why I came to you.”
A week passed. In that week, it seemed like a thousand things happened. Sadrak’s base was finally mapped and its contents were removed. The computer systems were being sliced into currently, with the small number of Hansen’s group that were left trying to find what they could that was useful. Artifacts from the base were also gathered for study. Most were alien to everyone. Well, except for Shadow. It scared her that nearly every ‘unique’ item that was brought out actually ended up being of Alraxian origin, simply further proving the connection of Halpak. Also, the Topsiders had left. Or at least, about half of them did. The other half had decided that Haladin was a nice place, and were busy molding a large section of the city to better suit them and their families. The process was aided only by two of Hansen’s troops, mostly providing maps of the underground areas and a little consulting so that the Topsiders didn’t blow the city to pieces. Shadow had also dragged Akan across the desert to find Loki. It wasn’t too much trouble, and they found him in a mostly conscious state, feeling weak and confused. Once the ship was calmed down, he was righted and checked for serious wounds. After it was finally decided that Loki was going to be alright, Shadow piloted him the short distance to Haladin, setting him down just outside. This actually put him within ‘range’ of the thought-speech, for lack of a better term.
But there was one thing that occurred in the last day of this week that topped all of that. The water supply was fixed. Running water now existed in Haladin again. This meant that, of course, every available room with a bath was taken immediately. Jen, Voort, Shadow, Hansen, and Akan had been the first ones to get a hold of the baths. Not because they were ranked higher or anything like that. Simply, the five of them were intelligent enough to run like hell the second the baths were available.
Akan spent an hour just comfortably lounging in the wonderful water. He was in his old human body again, the exact reason for which he wasn’t even sure of. It had just felt right...and he was getting tired of all those stares from everyone. Besides, he still was human at heart. Finally climbing out of the bath, Akan wandered into the connecting room that had been assigned to him. He rummaged through the small pack he’d brought from Loki that contained his things and got out the only clothes he owned beyond that morphsuit. The beat up old pair of grey trousers with more than one hole in them, the once-grey shirt he’d had since his days in the New Republic that had somehow turned to a strange off white color, and his old jacket. It was brown, with a high collar and five faded sections. Two were on each shoulder, where the old Zephyr insignia had once been. Another was on the right side of the collar, a faded circle with a few rips along it. That had been the New Republic patch. On the left breast was a torn rectangular patch that had been where his rank markings had gone. Just below that was his the small, triangular fade mark that had held the medal he’d been given for saving the Duros Rulae Nok in their first mission. And then...just above those two, was the only remaining patch. It was a black color, and the writing on it was impossible to read without close inspection: ‘Cpt. Raan Maxwell’
Sighing, Akan just tossed the jacket back to the pack. He missed. Badly. Bah. Voort was the marksman. Turning, Akan wandered out to have a walk through Haladin again. He wasn’t completely sure why, but then again, somehow it felt better that just sitting around...even if the water amazingly good.
* * * *
Not long after Jen had climbed out of the wonderful bath, there was a knock at the door. Not moving from her comfortable place laying on the bed in the towel, she just said, “Yes?”
“Its me,” Voort’s voice sounded muffled through the door.
Smiling, Jen rolled over and tried to throw one of her shoes at the door panel. It missed, nearly locking the door in the process. With a grin at her horrible aim, Jen id it the easy way, “Its not locked.”
The door slid open and Voort stepped in. He was wearing that old slate grey Imperial uniform, though it looked like he’d done his best to get rid of all the things that gave any hint at its origin. The door closed behind him after a couple of steps, and somehow that normal sound seemed to surprise him as he turned to look at it. That’s when he noticed the shoe. Turning back to Jen, he just raised an eyebrow, “Problems?”
She laughed and sat up, “If you count laziness after a battle as a problem...then, no.”
Chuckling a little, Voort nodded and had a seat next to her on the bed. She quickly leaned into him, resting a head on his shoulder and closing his eyes. Voort moved a little so that her wet hair wasn’t in his eyes, and then said quietly, “We made it...”
Nodding, Jen closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax. So that was what was on his mind. Sure, it had been on her’s too, but that wasn’t the point. Jen was silent for a while, not sure what to say but at the same time not wanting to put Voort off. So, finally gathering her thoughts, she whispered, “Jen Voort does have a certain ring to it.”
“You’re sure?” Voort asked, turning to look at her as best he could. There was obvious worry in his voice, and Jen sat up and smiled warmly.
She rested a hand on his cheek and nodded, “It was a promise.”
They sat in silence for a long moment, smiles tugging at both of their faces. Eventually, Voort said something that even Jen didn’t hear. Before she could ask him what he’d said, the former Imperial leaned down and kissed her. It was the second time that one of them quietly called out the word “Lights” to the room.
* * * *
Akan wasn’t out wandering long, finding that there was too much going on outside for it to be peaceful. Sure there was Loki to talk with, but the ship was resting again, and they’d had a few long talks in the last couple of days anyway. Not much else was left to be said for the time being. He passed by a few doors that he knew of as the quarters for his friends before stopping at one. He looked at the door a moment, then knocked. Nothing.
[You alive...?] Akan tried ‘cheating’.
Again. Nothing. He took a deep breath before hitting the switch to open the door. There wasn’t anything to show any form of habitation within the first room except for a couple of ruffles across the bed sheets. Carefully stepping in, Akan looked to the second door in the room. It was only half open, looking like it had broken in the process of closing. Akan slowly crept over to it, using those old skills he’d picked up in Spec Force as a commando to keep quiet. He then tilted his head to look inside. He saw the side of Shadow’s head, half submerged in the water of a large bathtub. Akan grinned, suddenly realizing that she was sleeping. Alright...so this was a bad time.
Retreating just as quietly as he’d entered, Akan didn’t actually notice the tiny twitching of one of Shadow’s ears. It was more a reflex than anything, but it still would have worried him for some reason. After closing the door again, he found his way back to his own room. Akan yawned on entering and wandered over to the pack on his bed, not paying any attention to the jacket draped across the other side.
Out of the pack, he pulled two familiar items. Two datapads. Sitting down on the floor, back rested against the bed, Akan activated the first one. For a long time, he just looked down at the small holo of Raan and Mare. He could almost hear her laugh again, and reached down to touch the picture gently. But no...he couldn’t feel anything except the screen of the datapad, whatever that was made of. Not her soft skin or hair. Not even that rough flight orange flight suit.
“One more battle down,” Akan found himself saying, “And still I’m stuck here. I was so close to you again, Liz. So close to seeing you again. But every single time I get close, I get pulled away from you again. Its not fair. I’ve done enough. Fought enough. I should be allowed to rest...” for a moment, Akan went silent, almost as if he was waiting for the picture to say something back. Then, “I miss you more than ever. I’m so sorry for what I did...trying to just forget you and ignoring everything. It was childish and stupid. But...but now I want to forget you again. It hurts too much, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. I can fight every bastard in the galaxy without any trouble and survive, but I can’t even think about you without wishing for some way to be with you. I don’t care how anymore. I just can’t stand this all...fighting on again and again, coming so close...almost able to see you there again, and then to be yanked back into reality.”
As Akan’s fell into another fit of tears, he didn’t hear the knocking at his door.
just wanted to post in and say I have been lurking and reading this story and absolutely love it. I look forward to more.
Out of curiosity, how "far behind" the actual game are you?
Glad you're enjoying it. This has definitely got some lurkers, as the view count keeps jumping up a good amount after every update. I know you people are out there.
As for time. This is about two years ago real time. Closer to three, actually(almost forgot its nearly 2005). The game slowed down a bit in the past year, but its still going slowly...heck, my favorite moment in the entire campaign occurred back in January. At the rate that I'm writing these, should actually catch up to that in a few months. Maybe sooner depending. The next few updates are fairly combat light for a while. Lots of reflections, planning, gearing up for more insanity to come. Reaching adventure number 3, which is still my favorite among them all.
For a last little judge as to where the campaign actually is now: There's a new generation running around...in the literal sense
If anyone had needed Shadow, she was, as Akan had later found, submerged in water. At first, she had cleaned the sand out of her tail fur and hair, but eventually decided that was far too much work. The water felt too good to have to work. So, Shadow sank down, leaving her nose just above the water for breathing. Sure, morphing gills was a possibility. But yet again, that took work. It was just easier to not drown the old fashioned way. It wasn’t long at all before she’d fallen asleep, and that was the state Akan had found her in. She had been so exhausted, both mentally and physically, that she didn’t even feel his mental prodding of a hint of his sneaking in.
But the sleep was not as refreshing as it could have been. As her sleep had been for the last weeks on this planet, it was disturbed by dreams. Dreams that were too real to be dreams, and yet at the same time, too fantastic to be anything but dreams. She saw things that Trade(the Alraxian term for Basic, though the two languages were not completely similar, which was the reason for Shadow’s trouble with sarcasm) had no words to describe. Even Alraxian had no words for them. Emotions didn’t exist in a very definable state, and most of her dreams were feelings and emotions personified. But there were some things she could pin down. Death. Fear. Much fear...who’s fear? Perhaps no one’s and everyone’s. The one true thing she ‘saw’ was Alraxia. The beautiful jungle-green planet orbited by its three moons. Two of which were the same green, the other an odd silver color. One by one, though, the planet and her moons were consumed by a deep red-orange flame. Starting on the opposite sides, and spreading across to meet in the center of her view. Only black remained.
And a voice. Distant...ethereal, and one of those voices that made a person wonder if they ever actually heard the voice in the first place, ‘You are the Fire.
The view of the planets expanded, until she could see all the worlds within the Alraxian Empire. One by one, they burned. Each brighter than the first. Each giving off a horrible feeling of pain as they burned. A thousand worlds dying before her eyes. And that voice...
‘You are the Fire.’
One thing did not escape her view. The neighboring worlds. The large collection of planets bordering the ‘east’ of the Empire. Those worlds seemed to grow...change...they looked dead. Dead with small glowing candles riddling the surfaces. The lights simply grew more numerous, the planets slowly taking on a look that were only comparable to one other planet in the galaxy. Coruscant. But these were not Coruscant. These were the systems of the Mrrakesh. Upon mentally naming the planets, Shadow watched as the small lights an that unnatural color spread through the Alraxian worlds. Infecting them like a plague. Killing them after they’d already been burned...
‘You are the Fire.’
Shadow had not awoken from that by rocketing up out of the water. Simply, her eyes opened as they did every time she woke up. Slowly. Tiredly. Lazily. For the first few minutes after she awoke, anyone seeing her would have had no idea of the dreams. She yawned and stretched with a distinctly feline back arch that made her back pop. After cringing at the noise and rubbing her back weakly. It hadn’t hurt, but that noise always got a whimper or similar reaction out of her. One day, Shadow swore she would break.
Without a thought on the dreams, Shadow climbed out of the bath, lazily said, “Drain bath”, and wandered over to her morphsuit which was dangling on a small bar next to the bath. After much complaining about the cold, Shadow quickly put the morphsuit on and just curled up on the bed for a while, enjoying the relative warmth. Yet she was still cold...not the kind of cold that was fatal to an Alraxian, but definitely uncomfortable. If only she’d had one of those damned little chips. A wonderful bio-technology created by her people. A small, almost mechanical looking chip that was placed carefully on the back of one’s neck. It would regulate body temperature and keep an Alraxian alive in much colder enviroments beyond the limited ability that morphsuits had to do this. They even worked for non-Alraxians on Alraxia, which usually found the planet far too humid and hot.
Finally almost comfortable again, Shadow got back up and wandered around the room. Finding a mirror, she busied herself with fixing her tail fur. One thing about water is that it always caused the fur to go frazzled. Not that Shadow cared how it looked, but it just plain felt itchy...and wrong...and...well, that was about it, really. And then she noticed something was wrong with that image. Shadow carefully examined herself in the mirror, noting the long scar across her face. Left alone too long...now permanent. But no, that had been there for so long, now. But there...there it was. She found what was wrong near that scar. In her eyes. The usual silvery-purple color was fading into...orange. Orange and red. Fire.
‘You are the Fire.’
Shadow idly held her tail in one hand and looked at her image in the mirror. The Force was silent. Everything was silent...and yet...yet something felt wrong. That voice should have been gone. Dream or vision, they were supposed to stop and not bother her when she was awake. For a moment, Shadow nearly growled at the mirror. No, she wasn’t as bad as Akan. He would yell at a holodrama if he didn’t agree with it. So she just stared at the thing that was wrong with her eyes. Using a glare that could melt ice and turn the water into durasteel in a matter of seconds. But no. It stayed...in fact, it got worse. It almost looked as if there was an odd glow coming out from her. Shadow looked down at her hand not from the mirror. Nothing. But in the mirror...she was like a walking flame...
‘You are the Fire.’
“Alright! Alright!!” Shadow suddenly yelled, kicking the wall and shaking the mirror, “I get the damned point!! Leave me alone!”
Silence.
Shadow waited for another few minutes just in case.
Still nothing. The image of her in the mirror was back to normal. Then she grinned proudly, a predatory look with those feline fangs, and said to her reflection, “That’s what I thought.”
Finally letting go of her tail and turning to wander out and find something to do, Shadow felt proud of herself. Then she reached the door and stopped dead in her tracks. Standing there in silence for a long moment, her ears swiveling around as if to make sure no one was around, she cursed in Alraxian suddenly. Stupid Akan had her talking to walls and air now!
* * * *
For the third time, Jen knocked at Akan’s door. She’d left Voort asleep after something odd had been nagging at her. It was what she’d once called instinct, and now knew as the Force. Or at least, intellectually knew as the Force. She still considered it odd and wasn’t always sure what to do. But this time...this time she just felt like she needed to go and speak with Akan. Whether for herself, or for him, she didn’t know. But that wasn’t going to do a damned thing if he never opened the door. It was locked, so he had to be in there. They didn’t have any access keys and they could only be locked from the inside.
Jen tried one more time, knocking fairly loudly this time. She waited only half a minute before sighing and looking at the small panel next to the door. Leaning against the door, Jen said, “Akan? You alive?”
Nothing. But she’d not expected anything. So even after finishing those words, Jen was already finding an alternative way in and not listening for an answer. Something...just told her to get in that room. It was an urgent push, and she didn’t have any reason to disbelieve that it was important. Which meant that she felt no guilt in pulling the cover off of the panel. Jen also felt no guilt in hot-wiring the door. Sure she was going to have to learn some new skills soon...and had been learning a lot on this planet. But the old technical knowledge always came in handy, and Jen was proud that she never forgot.
But when the door slid open, Jen’s mood changed from pride. It was obviously apparent why that need to get in there had been pushed on her by...by...whatever the hell made the galaxy what it was. The first things she noticed was the air of the room itself. She hadn’t even stepped inside, and felt like a heavy wall of...what was that? Thick something...she wasn’t experienced enough in empathetic uses of the Force to identify it as anything more than ‘bad’ or ‘negative’, but that was enough. Especially when she saw Akan. The first surprise was that Akan was human again. She’d expected to see a tail, darker skin, more muscles in places that humans simply didn’t have them, and at least a little more height to him...but no. Sitting down there on the floor, back to the bed was the boy who’d gotten her off of Endor months ago. No...not boy. He wasn’t a kid, no matter the age difference. Young man, at least, man at best. That didn’t matter right now. What did was the remainder of the situation her eyes took in.
Akan’s head was tilted down, looking at something that was resting in his lap. Jen knew the galaxy’s technology well enough to easily identify it as a datapad. In his right hand, was that old blaster pistol she remembered from all those months ago. Probably closer to half a standard year now, and it looked even more beat up than before. Jen knew Akan well enough to notice the slight shaking in his hand. It worried her even more than the fact that his lightsaber was not on that usual position in his belt, and she couldn’t see his left hand. Taking in the situation, Jen allowed herself a last deep breath before knowing that she had to do something and stealing herself to it.
After a few careful steps into the room, the door slid closed behind her. Akan didn’t seem to take any notice of her, and she wished for a moment that he was in his Alraxian body. At least then, she could tell if he was paying attention through the unconscious ear-twitches she’d gotten used to seeing. Kneeling down not far from him, she looked at his face. So he was awake. His eyes were open, staring down blankly at that datapad. Tears covered his face though he didn’t move. It was obvious to Jen what that datapad showed.
When she saw his right hand move slightly, Jen gave up on trying to figure things out. Waiting was probably going to make things worse. So, in a somewhat shaky voice from worry, she said, “Hey, Akan...its okay...”
She had actually meant to say more, expecting him to ignore her. But instead, at hearing his name, Akan had moved. Very slowly, looking up through that messy brown hair that got in the way of the right side of his face, Akan’s eyes searched for something. Jen knew what it was and wished she could provide it. She could at least get close. Allowing herself a soft smile, she reached down to put a hand on his(pulling the blaster to the ground carefully in the process), “You know...the rest of us were sane enough to immerse ourselves in water.”
Sadly, that didn’t get the effect Jen had wanted. Akan only stared at her, an almost glare appearing on his face. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse and tired, “What do you want?”
“To help a friend,” Jen said, moving closer to him and squeezing his hand gently.
Again, the wrong effect. Akan’s glare just intensified and he yanked his hand away from her and said coldly, “Voort’s not here.”
So he knew. No surprise, really, and it wasn’t a bad thing. But she hadn’t come here for that, and didn’t let his mood or words effect her. Still persisting, this time her hand rested on his knee, “I do know that...but you’re here.”
“And...?” his head had turned back to looking at that datapad, voice sounding distant like he wasn’t even paying all that much attention.
Jen was silent a moment, this time. She leaned a little closer to have a look at that image on the datapad. Quietly, she studied the two young pilots, noting the differences in Akan now. She couldn’t help a small smile, but spoke very softly as to not upset up, “I guess we’ve all lost good friends.”
Akan turned his head slightly to look at her, tried to speak but couldn’t find the words. He sighed heavily and looked back down at the datapad, speaking in a voice that revealed a lot about him. It was full of fear, very shaken, and sounded almost like a child telling their nightmare to a parent. Maybe that wasn’t so inaccurate, “That doesn’t bring them back.”
“No...” Jen shook her head slowly, feeling horrible that she had to be the one to do this. Yet...yet she knew someone had to, and somewhere in there, Akan trusted her, “No, it doesn’t bring them back.”
Again, silence. Jen simply watched Akan for this time, trying to think what to say next. She’d not thought this through, and it was obvious...though not a bad thing. It was impossible to plan for such things, especially when he was holding two weapons a little too close to himself and probably wasn’t all that mentally stable. But letting the silence last too long would only give him more time to dwell on those thoughts...so she tried just speaking some thoughts, “You know...I never thought about it until now, but have you looked at all of us? Two feline shapechangers, a former Imperial sniper with the ear of the Emperor himself, and a New Republic scientist who always avoided picking up a weapon,” Jen allowed herself a short laugh at that, noting the small hint of a smile creeping onto Akan’s face, “Its been so long since my family was killed on Alderaan. It feels like lifetime ago...perhaps it was. But you know...I think that for the first time since then, I feel like I have a family again. A strange one, yes...but...family none the less.”
That got the effect she’d wanted. Akan had turned away from the datapad and looked over to her. There was a surprised look on his face, which was odd considering the tears and general mess of his appearance at the moment. After a couple of minutes, Jen brought a hand up to rest on Akan’s cheek and said quietly, “Family looks out for each other. Family cares for each other. Shadow cares about you, Hansen cares...hell, even Voort cares in his own special way,” that got a smile on Akan’s face finally, which caused Jen to grin, “And I care. I always will. Don’t ever forget us. Any of us...” she sighed a moment, not sure if her next words should really be spoken at a time like this. But...if not now, when?
Instead of just speaking, though, Jen moved slightly. Leaning in, she surprised Akan by kissing him full on the lips. After holding it for a few moments, she pulled back and said quietly, “You’re going to have to learn to live with the fact that we count you as a friend and we care. And that...that at least some of us couldn’t bear to lose you...perhaps, if we’d never gone into that New Republic ship and broken out Voort...perhaps, I’d have fallen in love with you.”
And then Jen got to her feet. She walked over to the door, reached for the panel and stopped herself. Before leaving the room, Jen said quietly, “Would you put us through what you go through right now? Would you want me to be that way? Would you want Shadow to die...?” she paused, took a deep breath, and played the trump card, “What would Mare do?”
But Jen didn’t wait for an answer, she simply exited the room, leaving a very confused Akan to nearly confuse Shadow with the half-feeling seeping through the link from his uncontrolled mind. One day...one day he’d figure out what it was that made females of any species insane. Obviously, today was not going to be that day. Later, it was going to confuse him even more, and somehow, even without needing the Force, Akan knew this.
Akan sat alone in the room for a long time. Thinking. Or rather, trying to think through the chaos his mind was currently engulfed in. What would Mare do? It was a good question, and one that he couldn’t seem to answer. Or at least, not answer just once. She’d probably do a lot of things...but...no, no this wasn’t helping anyone. Getting to his feet and putt the datapad back into his pack, Akan decided to take another walk.
He went outside, finding that night had fallen and the stars were out. Bright, shining wonderfully, and somehow drowning out the shine of the moon. Finding a nice spot on top of one of the garrison buildings, Akan watched the sky. He was suddenly surprised by a familiar voice off to his left.
“Its beautiful, really,” Jen said. Akan turned and saw she was facing the other direction, but still looking up. What was she doing out here? An odd sense of deja vu washed over Akan and he couldn’t help but wonder if he had felt this was a good place to go from a little ‘trick’ in the Force. It wouldn’t have been the first time. Probably wouldn’t be the last, either.
“Yeah...it is,” he agreed, picking out a couple of planets and wondering what they were. It was far too much of a distance to see Corellia or even Endor from here...but maybe that was a planet he knew. Had walked on before...or even just flown over.
“You have wonderful memories of her,” Jen said, breaking Akan’s thoughts and surprising him. She’d picked up on those buried thoughts he was trying to hide, and somehow that annoyed him. It was hard enough getting used to Shadow knowing his thoughts, but now Jen did too. Very strong, even without training, it seemed. But apparently, she wasn’t done, “Don’t forget her, Akan.”
He sighed, but kept his attention on the stars above, “Why? It only drives me insane...or worse.”
“It strengthens you,” she responded quickly, no longer looking to the stars but now at the sands below, “Whether you see it that way or not...we have. Remember the good times. There were some...weren’t there?”
Somehow, Akan couldn’t fight back that smile, looking over to Jen and nodding slowly, “Of course...but there would have been more...should have been.”
“Perhaps,” Jen’s voice sounded a bit distant, as if she was off thinking about something else entirely, “But you can’t bring her back. I had to learn that, too. It isn’t easy...and it isn’t fun, but it’s the truth. And you shouldn’t worry so much about it. You’ll fall in love again.”
Something about those words hit Akan deeply. It was like she was still reading his thoughts, no matter how deep or buried they were...even from himself. In fact, he’d nearly spoke the first thoughts that came to mind, and stopped himself halfway through. Somehow, that didn’t seem like the right thing to say right now. She’d probably assume the wrong thing. But she was right...he would fall in love again. It might already have happened, even. But those thoughts faded into the dream again.
Or at least, a similar dream. Instead of watching as Jen fell away and he fought with Voort, Akan saw Jen. She stood facing himself, Voort, and Shadow. In her hand was Voort’s lightsaber, shining brightly and causing a horrible glow across the dangerous look on her face. Akan watched helplessly as Jen charged forward, first cleaving through Voort with her lightsaber, the man’s yell cut off in a short second of violent pain. But Akan couldn’t move. Frozen in shock and...no, it was more than shock. Stronger, at least. It didn’t stop him from seeing Jen move on both him and Shadow. Frantically, his mind tried to force his hand to get the lightsaber out...or just to move. Or anything! But nothing happened...well, no, something did. The lightsaber cut through his chest, across and then through what he assumed would have been Shadow. He didn’t see that, though, as his vision blacked out from the intense pain.
And then he was back. Back to sitting on the roof of the garrison watching the stars. He looked to Jen and couldn’t stop seeing both of those dreams together again. This was wrong. Akan knew that Shadow had agreed to train Jen. No matter the state of his mind, he could still feel Shadow’s thoughts. Now more than ever, it worried him. Terrified him. And he couldn’t look at Jen anymore. Quickly, he got to his feet and jumped down to the ground below, moving back into the garrison to find Shadow.
Jen watched him go. Strange. She had thought that everything was working, and then he just tore off with a panicked look on his face. Maybe she’d crossed the line with what she’d said. Maybe he wasn’t ready to move on just yet. It had taken her nearly five years before accepting that her younger sister Mera wasn’t coming back. She tried to imagine how she would feel about Voort if she had been in Akan’s situation. How long would it take her to come to terms with reality? Probably never. Jen stretched and rested back to watch the stars above. Definitely never. But as things looked now, it wouldn’t ever have to be something she had to think about again.
* * * *
Shadow found nothing interesting to do. Jen was no where to be found, Voort was asleep with some stupid grin on his face, Akan was...was...where was he, anyway? Thinking about it, she decided to try an old trick that she...no, Marix had known. Looking into the mirror again, she half expected to see those damned flames again. But thankfully, none. No voice either. Good. The thing had learned its lesson at least.
Focusing, Shadow reached out to the mirror and touched it gently, speaking Alraxian, “Addran fi sew Akan-jai.”
The mirror rippled slightly like water, and a faint image appeared over her own reflection. She could see Akan, walking down a corridor that didn’t look to be too far away. The thing that caught her eye was that he was human. Odd. Shadow had thought he’d gotten over...that, but now. She couldn’t help a grin at seeing that odd overlay image in the mirror. There was something to do! Something to alleviate the boredom!
Grinning, Shadow left the mirror as it was and ran off to hunt down her prey. Following the feeling through the link, she dimmed the predatory instincts so he wouldn’t notice, and stalked. Corner after corner, she expected to have jumped out at him, but each time he wasn’t there. Hmmm...needed to focus better. So she did. And she found him! Quickly quieting that excitement so Akan wouldn’t catch it, she ran off in the other direction(silently).
And then, she waited at the edge of a corner. He was close. Very close. Shadow was grinning a lot, trying her best not to dance around while waiting on him to get close enough...it wasn’t long before she heard his footsteps approaching. Or at least, some footsteps, but Shadow knew they were his. The link gave that away. It was like angst just walking her way. Perfect prey! Patience...patience...the smell of Akan started to get to her. But no, WAIT! Perfect timing...don’t jump the gun yet. It’d been so long since she’d hunted like this that all the excitement was starting to get the best of her. And then...then she pounced around the corner suddenly at him!
“Oof!” was Shadow’s cry as she hit head first into a running Akan. She’d not thought he’d have been moving faster than a walk.
“AH!” was Akan’s cry as he jumped back and stumbled away from the heavy impact of Shadow against his chest. She had a thick skull...but now Shadow lay on her back, down on the floor with her head spinning. A moment later, Akan’s apologetic face appeared over her, “Sorry...”
“You should be...” Shadow grumbled, taking his outstretched hand and allowing him to help her to her feet. Once up, she poked him hard in the chest, “That was mean.”
“Oh it was?” Akan couldn’t help a slight grin, “And you trying to murder me is any better?”
“Of course! Humans are viable prey at all times,” she grinned and then noticed that it probably hadn’t been the best thing to say. Akan’s expression had changed, and she knew the emotions that went with that look. Sighing, she managed a short apology, “Sorry...um...you were looking for me?”
So she’d picked up on his thoughts. Good, made things easier. Composing himself, Akan nodded and said simply, “Don’t train her.”
“Huh?” Shadow raised her eyebrow, then started connecting thoughts with words. One day he’d have to learn that the link was nice for sharing info, but sometimes words were actually helpful. Figuring it out, Shadow gave him a strange look, “Why not? No, wait...don’t tell me. Its that stupid dream of yours again.”
“It wasn’t just a dream,” Akan growled, not so threatening from a human as it was from an Alraxian, “Just don’t do it.”
Shadow stood back and gave him that ‘you’re an idiot’ look before saying, “There is too much potential to just waste in her!”
“Sometimes it has to be waste!” Akan snapped back suddenly, catching Shadow off guard.
She shook her head, “I’m going to do it,” and then the images of his dream started to seep through the link. So that was the problem, now. Sighing, she spoke more calmly this time, “Listen to me, Akan-jai, it will be okay. Those are just dreams...they aren’t the here and now. We have to live in the present, not the future...or the past.”
“You’ll just ignore everything I say, won’t you?” asked Akan, sounding as defeated as he felt.
But again, she shook her head, “No, Akan-jai. I will train her to the best of my ability. If I am not supposed to do that, then the Force would stop me. Things will happen as they happen, and we must use our visions as a guide...not a straight jacket. But I have to try...if I don’t, and she falls anyway, then it will be even worse. To see the light before the darkness opens up the possibility of returning, but if she only ever knows the dark...”
As Shadow trailed off, she noticed that Akan was nodding. So he at least understood, even though it was obvious he didn’t agree. But he didn’t seem to be protesting anymore. Then what was that lingering thought through the link? Something still there...with a careful glance over his features to try to read him better, Shadow said, “There’s something else, isn’t there?”
“No,” Akan said far too quickly.
Anyone, even if they hadn’t known him, would know that was a lie from both the voice and the speed of the response. So instead of backing off, Shadow took a step closer and looked him straight in the eyes. It wasn’t until he dodged the look that she picked up on it. That girl, again...Mare. So that was the real problem here. This wasn’t her area of expertise, but then again, no one could really understand Akan any better. Quietly, she said, “When I lost my brother Tobias, I felt the same way. He was...was the only one who ever really understood me in the family. The only one who didn’t condemn me for who I was...and...and the Mrrakesh murdered him. I still miss him so much, but there’s no way to bring him back. I’ve tried...but nothing ever worked.”
It was the first time Akan had ever seen Shadow like that. She actually looked scared...even vulnerable. Everything Shadow wasn’t. He opened his mouth to speak, but took longer than he’d expected to find any words, “There has to be some way...I...I can’t just forget about her.”
“Then don’t,” Shadow said with a smile, “But you have to move on. You have to or you’re going to get yourself killed...get us killed.”
He nodded slowly, a depressed look on his face with tears doing their best to come back again, “I just want it all to end...”
“Don’t cry Akan-jai,” she carefully and awkwardly reached up to wipe away the first tears, then surprised them both and hugged him. His head went to her shoulder, and in a few moments she felt her shoulder getting slightly damp, “Please don’t cry...come on...you’re making me feel useless...”
He did stop, or at least did his best, and stood back slightly. There was a short silence before Shadow turned his face to her and wiped the rest of the tears away, brushed his hair as tiddly as was possible to one side, and in a very feline gesture, rubbed her cheek against his gently. Quietly, she said again, “We will meet everyone we’ve lost one day. You still have them...in your memories. Its not nearly as good as them being right there, but its better than nothing. But they’re...I’m babbling, sorry...”
She went quiet.
The quiet felt too awkward, so she attempted speaking again, “I’m so very bad at this comforting thing...maybe you should go talk to Hansen or even Voort, because I’m really bad at this...and I’m babbling again.”
Akan didn’t say anything, but didn’t move either. Finally, he said, “Thank you...”
Shadow had started to say something else, but her ear twitched to the side. Footsteps. Someone was coming. She didn’t have to say anything, as Akan noticed the movement both through the link and the moving of her ear. Quickly, he pulled back from her and did his best to look ‘normal’. A moment later, Hansen rounded the corner and nearly toppled over the two of them. After a moment, she said, “Voort wanted me to ask you when the ship would be ready.”
Ah. Business. Good, that made things easier. Shadow’s mind was back on track, and she said, “About a day or so...Loki still needs some rest. But tell me, why didn’t Voort just ask himself?”
Hansen managed a weak grin, “He’s ah...um...busy with Jen.”
))
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