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<blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 4479828" data-attributes="member: 10079"><p><strong>Chapter 599: Monsters</strong></p><p></p><p>Tobias didn’t like how far away the spaceport was from the warehouse. He and Corinna had been walking down one of Bestine’s larger streets for nearly ten minutes and he still couldn’t see the damned place. The walk didn’t bother him at all, but it was the fact that the creature was still out in Bestine somewhere. It had to be tracking them. Tobias knew that was how things worked. They didn’t just get to escape so easily. He couldn’t feel it in the Force at all, but it was there, somewhere, following them.</p><p> </p><p>But unlike the street where they’d first encountered it, this part of Bestine was surprisingly populated. It was at least an hour after midnight, local time, and yet there were beings of all types doing business in at street-side markets, discussing things in languages Tobias had never dreamed of, and even enjoying late night meals at some kind of out-door café. Every single time he tried to label Bestine as just a dirty collection of sand-covered buildings, something like that popped up to remind him that it was, in fact, a large city.</p><p> </p><p>Maybe the amount of other beings around was keeping the monster away. There hadn’t been any panic from the citizens of Bestine and at least three Jedi were dead now. If it had killed anyone else, the city would be acting entirely different. No, it didn’t seem to care about anyone but Force-users.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you having problems?” Corinna’s voice casually inserted itself in the middle of his thoughts.</p><p> </p><p>Tobias stepped past a large Gran, glad it wasn’t the one from before, and turned a curious glance to her, “What’s that supposed to mean?”</p><p> </p><p>Corinna’s hand motioned at him, “Your tail keeps flicking. I believe that normally implies nervousness of some kind in most feline species.”</p><p> </p><p>She was good. It shouldn’t have surprised him, but it did. Tobias hadn’t even noticed his tail doing that, and was suddenly very self-conscious, “Can’t really help it...that thing is out there and you know its going to find us before we get out of here.”</p><p> </p><p>“I told you to keep your ears open, not be paranoid,” she let out a sigh and shook her head, “The spaceport’s right down the next street and my new ship is the third docking bay down. We’re practically off this rock.”</p><p> </p><p>“See, its things like that,” Tobias raised his hand in an attempt to show that he was making an important point, “Its bad enough to think things like that. But don’t you know how the galaxy works? The second you say it, you’re dead. I mean, now we’re going to have twenty Sith jump out of the ground and attack us thanks to that.”</p><p> </p><p>With no eyes roll at his statement, Corinna just sighed again and sent the feeling through the Force, “That’s why you’re staying alert. If I do that, I’m projecting in the Force too much and that thing will definitely find us. But you can use all those nice senses and those useful big ears to make sure everything’s alright. You just have to turn off that paranoia.”</p><p> </p><p>“Its not paranoia,” he grumbled under his breath, “Its certainty.”</p><p> </p><p>“Do you normally complain this much?”</p><p></p><p>Tobias didn’t even take a moment to think about his answer before responding, “Only when I have valid reasons for it.”</p><p> </p><p>“If you say one word about the ship, I’m dumping you in the atmosphere,” she sounded worryingly serious.</p><p> </p><p>“Is it really that bad?” Tobias raised an eyebrow, “I wouldn’t think you’d keep threatening that if it wasn’t. I mean...it does have a hull, right? Its nothing like that?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, it has a hull,” Corinna stepped motioned with her hand as they reached the turn to head to the spaceport, “Its just...kind of old and not in the uh...well, it was all I could afford.”</p><p> </p><p>Now the spaceport was visible. The collection of various docking bays that lined one side of the sandy street were all well lit, providing a much different atmosphere to the area than the rest of Bestine. There were quite a few more people out, too. Most looked to be coming or going from the docking bays, some looking as if they had just arrived and negotiating with local docking officers.</p><p> </p><p>Tobias’s eyes darted around as he followed Corinna, but found no sign of the creature still, “What’s the ship called?”</p><p> </p><p>“I actually don’t know,” she shrugged then waved a hand to silence and surprised response from him, “I didn’t bother asking. Will come up with a name on my own since its mine, anyway. The model, though, that I can tell you. Old HWK-290...never seen one in person before, and it’ll be a bit cramped, but its fast.”</p><p> </p><p>“Never heard of it,” that didn’t say much. Tobias knew next to nothing about starships beyond the basics. Model numbers were, to him, just random collections of letters and numbers rather than anything that conjured up visions of particular ships. He was too used to ships being individuals with their own names and personalities rather than hunks of lifeless metal.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, you’re about to see it,” Corinna turned to one of the nearby docking bays and put in a quick code into the door panel. The thing slid open to reveal a well-lit, circular docking bay that looked a mess. There were boxes and crates all over in various states of decay, and what had probably once been a fueling station looked...more rust than anything. In the center of the mess was a very interesting looking ship.</p><p> </p><p>It was roughly thirty meters in length with a beak-like nose that reminded Tobias of some kind of predator bird. Its cockpit was carved into the nose, a part of the length of the hull that extended back to four small wing-like structures that looked like miniature X-Wing wings that didn’t actually form an X. It was really like nothing Tobias had ever seen before, though that wasn’t saying much. </p><p> </p><p>“Wow,” was the best he could manage as the door slid shut behind him.</p><p> </p><p>Corinna headed over to the ship, saying over her shoulder, “That had better be a good ‘wow’.”</p><p> </p><p>“It...” Tobias trailed off as he heard something.</p><p> </p><p>The door had closed, cutting off most of the sounds of the street outside. Some still got in through the open roof of the docking bay, but not much. All he could really hear was Corinna walking across the bay floor and then stopping, his own breathing and...</p><p> </p><p>It was above them.</p><p> </p><p>“Get into the ship now!” he yelled at her, running after her and pushing her forward. Tobias didn’t have to explain, though, as when she turned around to protest, Corinna, too, heard something. It was an angry growl from above like no creature but that monster could make.</p><p> </p><p>Corinna ran for the ship, getting to the underside and hitting the switch to lower the boarding ramp so they could get in. Tobias did not follow her. Instead, he withdrew his lightsaber and spun around, reacting to the sounds he’d heard above.</p><p> </p><p>When he looked up, Tobias saw the massive creature diving straight down at him from the open roof above. Realizing that blocking wasn’t going to work, he hit the ground and rolled away. The creature landed on all its limbs with a such force that the ground shook. And then it was after him.</p><p> </p><p>It dove at him, jaws wide open and front legs attempting to pin him with their goo-covered, very sharp claws. Tobias gave the creature a good cut across its muzzle, one of many from the looks of the scars, and twisted to the side to avoid the claw strikes. Before he’d even planted his feet, though, the tail was whipping around at him. But Tobias was ready, and he ducked under it just in time. Over the top of the creature’s body, he could see Corinna coming back to help him.</p><p> </p><p>But while he managed to jump back and regain strong footing again, he yelled to her, “Get that thing powered up! I’ll hold its attention!”</p><p> </p><p>“You can’t—“ whatever she finished that sentence with, Tobias didn’t hear. The creature growled and charged again. Its attacks were easily dealt with and dodged, but Tobias quickly realized it was being intelligent. There was no way it was really trying to attack him. It was moving too slow, too predictably. Without the Force, he was staying one step ahead of a creature that had killed three very well trained Jedi. No, it was toying with him...</p><p> </p><p>No, no it wasn’t. It was being smart. It was backing Tobias into the wall that was now just a couple of meters away. Then the monster wouldn’t have to do much but pin him and he wouldn’t be able to put up a fight. Tobias suddenly knew he had to react right away before that could happen. So he took a single, small step back to avoid a swipe of a powerful claw and used the backwards momentum, along with the Force, to jump back against the wall.</p><p></p><p>The creature followed with a pounce, which he hadn’t expected. Still, that did not dissuade Tobias from his course of action. The second his feet hit the wall, he pushed off and flipped just over the top of the beast. He landed awkwardly but held his footing, even swinging his lightsaber around to attack its flank. But it, too, reacted quickly. The tail lashed out again, catching Tobias across his right forearm and cutting much deeper than before. He cried out in pain, but was thankful that it hadn’t gotten his left hand, which was still holding his lightsaber and thus, able to counter the blow by giving the creature a nasty cut in return.</p><p> </p><p>But he was bleeding now, the blue Alraxian blood following the tail as the creature spun around and came at him again. Stumbling backwards, all Tobias could do to keep his footing was back away and weakly swing his lightsaber up to cut across the hard scales on the beast’s forearm as it swung at his face. At least he was backing towards the ship and the boarding ramp...and he could hear the engines warming up, and interesting humming sound that was lower pitched than his lightsaber and doing odd things to his skull...or maybe that was the poison...</p><p> </p><p>Before the creature could pounce again, something odd happened. The air began to feel heavier and Tobias found himself having trouble standing more than before. He would have chalked it up to the cut he’d received, but the monstrous creature was slowing down, too. Senses began to work together, and the hum of the engines began to turn into a familiar whine of a repulsorlift drive. He was right under the ship, too. It had to be the repulsorlift pushing down on him as the ship was slowing rising up...</p><p> </p><p>The ship was rising up!</p><p> </p><p>Using the moment he had, Tobias disengaged from the fight and ran for the boarding ramp which was now a good meter into the air. His lightsaber was deactivated mid-air as he jumped up and grabbed one of the ramp’s support struts. Though he yelled into the ship for Corinna to close the ramp and go, Tobias didn’t even hear his own voice. It was too loud, and his focus was returning to the creature, charging for the ship and opening its jaws wide.</p><p></p><p>But it didn’t jump up after them. Instead, it stopped and made a noise unlike any other Tobias had ever heard. The creature let out an ear-shattering screech that actually caused Tobias’ vision to go black. His entire head spun, and if not for the fact that Corinna had, in fact, heard him yell and closed the boarding ramp while he was on it, he would have lost his balance and fallen out of the ship.</p><p> </p><p>Instead, he collapsed onto the now-shut boarding ramp within the tight confines of the ship...alive, but unable to hear, see, move, or feel much beyond intense pain.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ankh-Morpork Guard, post: 4479828, member: 10079"] [b]Chapter 599: Monsters[/b] Tobias didn’t like how far away the spaceport was from the warehouse. He and Corinna had been walking down one of Bestine’s larger streets for nearly ten minutes and he still couldn’t see the damned place. The walk didn’t bother him at all, but it was the fact that the creature was still out in Bestine somewhere. It had to be tracking them. Tobias knew that was how things worked. They didn’t just get to escape so easily. He couldn’t feel it in the Force at all, but it was there, somewhere, following them. But unlike the street where they’d first encountered it, this part of Bestine was surprisingly populated. It was at least an hour after midnight, local time, and yet there were beings of all types doing business in at street-side markets, discussing things in languages Tobias had never dreamed of, and even enjoying late night meals at some kind of out-door café. Every single time he tried to label Bestine as just a dirty collection of sand-covered buildings, something like that popped up to remind him that it was, in fact, a large city. Maybe the amount of other beings around was keeping the monster away. There hadn’t been any panic from the citizens of Bestine and at least three Jedi were dead now. If it had killed anyone else, the city would be acting entirely different. No, it didn’t seem to care about anyone but Force-users. “Are you having problems?” Corinna’s voice casually inserted itself in the middle of his thoughts. Tobias stepped past a large Gran, glad it wasn’t the one from before, and turned a curious glance to her, “What’s that supposed to mean?” Corinna’s hand motioned at him, “Your tail keeps flicking. I believe that normally implies nervousness of some kind in most feline species.” She was good. It shouldn’t have surprised him, but it did. Tobias hadn’t even noticed his tail doing that, and was suddenly very self-conscious, “Can’t really help it...that thing is out there and you know its going to find us before we get out of here.” “I told you to keep your ears open, not be paranoid,” she let out a sigh and shook her head, “The spaceport’s right down the next street and my new ship is the third docking bay down. We’re practically off this rock.” “See, its things like that,” Tobias raised his hand in an attempt to show that he was making an important point, “Its bad enough to think things like that. But don’t you know how the galaxy works? The second you say it, you’re dead. I mean, now we’re going to have twenty Sith jump out of the ground and attack us thanks to that.” With no eyes roll at his statement, Corinna just sighed again and sent the feeling through the Force, “That’s why you’re staying alert. If I do that, I’m projecting in the Force too much and that thing will definitely find us. But you can use all those nice senses and those useful big ears to make sure everything’s alright. You just have to turn off that paranoia.” “Its not paranoia,” he grumbled under his breath, “Its certainty.” “Do you normally complain this much?” Tobias didn’t even take a moment to think about his answer before responding, “Only when I have valid reasons for it.” “If you say one word about the ship, I’m dumping you in the atmosphere,” she sounded worryingly serious. “Is it really that bad?” Tobias raised an eyebrow, “I wouldn’t think you’d keep threatening that if it wasn’t. I mean...it does have a hull, right? Its nothing like that?” “Oh, it has a hull,” Corinna stepped motioned with her hand as they reached the turn to head to the spaceport, “Its just...kind of old and not in the uh...well, it was all I could afford.” Now the spaceport was visible. The collection of various docking bays that lined one side of the sandy street were all well lit, providing a much different atmosphere to the area than the rest of Bestine. There were quite a few more people out, too. Most looked to be coming or going from the docking bays, some looking as if they had just arrived and negotiating with local docking officers. Tobias’s eyes darted around as he followed Corinna, but found no sign of the creature still, “What’s the ship called?” “I actually don’t know,” she shrugged then waved a hand to silence and surprised response from him, “I didn’t bother asking. Will come up with a name on my own since its mine, anyway. The model, though, that I can tell you. Old HWK-290...never seen one in person before, and it’ll be a bit cramped, but its fast.” “Never heard of it,” that didn’t say much. Tobias knew next to nothing about starships beyond the basics. Model numbers were, to him, just random collections of letters and numbers rather than anything that conjured up visions of particular ships. He was too used to ships being individuals with their own names and personalities rather than hunks of lifeless metal. “Well, you’re about to see it,” Corinna turned to one of the nearby docking bays and put in a quick code into the door panel. The thing slid open to reveal a well-lit, circular docking bay that looked a mess. There were boxes and crates all over in various states of decay, and what had probably once been a fueling station looked...more rust than anything. In the center of the mess was a very interesting looking ship. It was roughly thirty meters in length with a beak-like nose that reminded Tobias of some kind of predator bird. Its cockpit was carved into the nose, a part of the length of the hull that extended back to four small wing-like structures that looked like miniature X-Wing wings that didn’t actually form an X. It was really like nothing Tobias had ever seen before, though that wasn’t saying much. “Wow,” was the best he could manage as the door slid shut behind him. Corinna headed over to the ship, saying over her shoulder, “That had better be a good ‘wow’.” “It...” Tobias trailed off as he heard something. The door had closed, cutting off most of the sounds of the street outside. Some still got in through the open roof of the docking bay, but not much. All he could really hear was Corinna walking across the bay floor and then stopping, his own breathing and... It was above them. “Get into the ship now!” he yelled at her, running after her and pushing her forward. Tobias didn’t have to explain, though, as when she turned around to protest, Corinna, too, heard something. It was an angry growl from above like no creature but that monster could make. Corinna ran for the ship, getting to the underside and hitting the switch to lower the boarding ramp so they could get in. Tobias did not follow her. Instead, he withdrew his lightsaber and spun around, reacting to the sounds he’d heard above. When he looked up, Tobias saw the massive creature diving straight down at him from the open roof above. Realizing that blocking wasn’t going to work, he hit the ground and rolled away. The creature landed on all its limbs with a such force that the ground shook. And then it was after him. It dove at him, jaws wide open and front legs attempting to pin him with their goo-covered, very sharp claws. Tobias gave the creature a good cut across its muzzle, one of many from the looks of the scars, and twisted to the side to avoid the claw strikes. Before he’d even planted his feet, though, the tail was whipping around at him. But Tobias was ready, and he ducked under it just in time. Over the top of the creature’s body, he could see Corinna coming back to help him. But while he managed to jump back and regain strong footing again, he yelled to her, “Get that thing powered up! I’ll hold its attention!” “You can’t—“ whatever she finished that sentence with, Tobias didn’t hear. The creature growled and charged again. Its attacks were easily dealt with and dodged, but Tobias quickly realized it was being intelligent. There was no way it was really trying to attack him. It was moving too slow, too predictably. Without the Force, he was staying one step ahead of a creature that had killed three very well trained Jedi. No, it was toying with him... No, no it wasn’t. It was being smart. It was backing Tobias into the wall that was now just a couple of meters away. Then the monster wouldn’t have to do much but pin him and he wouldn’t be able to put up a fight. Tobias suddenly knew he had to react right away before that could happen. So he took a single, small step back to avoid a swipe of a powerful claw and used the backwards momentum, along with the Force, to jump back against the wall. The creature followed with a pounce, which he hadn’t expected. Still, that did not dissuade Tobias from his course of action. The second his feet hit the wall, he pushed off and flipped just over the top of the beast. He landed awkwardly but held his footing, even swinging his lightsaber around to attack its flank. But it, too, reacted quickly. The tail lashed out again, catching Tobias across his right forearm and cutting much deeper than before. He cried out in pain, but was thankful that it hadn’t gotten his left hand, which was still holding his lightsaber and thus, able to counter the blow by giving the creature a nasty cut in return. But he was bleeding now, the blue Alraxian blood following the tail as the creature spun around and came at him again. Stumbling backwards, all Tobias could do to keep his footing was back away and weakly swing his lightsaber up to cut across the hard scales on the beast’s forearm as it swung at his face. At least he was backing towards the ship and the boarding ramp...and he could hear the engines warming up, and interesting humming sound that was lower pitched than his lightsaber and doing odd things to his skull...or maybe that was the poison... Before the creature could pounce again, something odd happened. The air began to feel heavier and Tobias found himself having trouble standing more than before. He would have chalked it up to the cut he’d received, but the monstrous creature was slowing down, too. Senses began to work together, and the hum of the engines began to turn into a familiar whine of a repulsorlift drive. He was right under the ship, too. It had to be the repulsorlift pushing down on him as the ship was slowing rising up... The ship was rising up! Using the moment he had, Tobias disengaged from the fight and ran for the boarding ramp which was now a good meter into the air. His lightsaber was deactivated mid-air as he jumped up and grabbed one of the ramp’s support struts. Though he yelled into the ship for Corinna to close the ramp and go, Tobias didn’t even hear his own voice. It was too loud, and his focus was returning to the creature, charging for the ship and opening its jaws wide. But it didn’t jump up after them. Instead, it stopped and made a noise unlike any other Tobias had ever heard. The creature let out an ear-shattering screech that actually caused Tobias’ vision to go black. His entire head spun, and if not for the fact that Corinna had, in fact, heard him yell and closed the boarding ramp while he was on it, he would have lost his balance and fallen out of the ship. Instead, he collapsed onto the now-shut boarding ramp within the tight confines of the ship...alive, but unable to hear, see, move, or feel much beyond intense pain. [/QUOTE]
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