Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 114: Last Goodbye

Another day passed without event, and it was quickly decided that they should leave. The planet was getting on everyone’s nerves, and while all the information from Sadrak’s computers had not been analyzed yet, a majority had and Hansen was staying behind. If anything new came up, she could relay the information to them through the Holonet...especially now that they’d rigged up a fairly primitive connection to the galactic communications network within the garrison. In fact, the whole place was finally becoming livable, and all of those in Hansen’s group had decided to stay with her in Haladin. That left Voort, Jen, Akan, and Shadow to prepare for leaving on their own. It didn’t take long, and Loki seemed content to be able to talk with them as they wandered in and out, dropping off supplies and getting everything finished.

At nightfall, the five of them were ready to go, with Loki being the most eager of the group. However, there was still one last thing to do. Something that all of them were avoiding, and it was no longer possible now. A group of twenty stood outside Haladin, a circular formation around a large collection of rocks along the ground. Shadow had gotten a small fire going in the center of the pile, and it burned almost weakly in the fading light of the day. Voort and Jen stood opposite the two Alraxians, all four with very blank and almost emotionless expressions on their faces.

Hansen through a last piece of wood on the fire, and they all watched the flare silently for a moment. Then, the woman said quietly, “I’m not very good at this kind of thing.”

Another long silence. Apparently, no one was. But there was one man in the group that had the most experience with this, and so Voort took a small step forward. One hand was still back, holding Jen’s, as he spoke in very controlled tones, “No one should ever be good at this. But someone has to...and next to you, I knew the best.”

Voort went silent for a moment, taking in a deep breath and then speaking again, “Arik was the best commander I’ve ever known. He was everything an officer should be. Intelligent, aware, charismatic, and not afraid to get his hands dirty. But above all that, he was compassionate...a rare trait to come out of the ranks of the Imperial officers, but he proved it was well worth it. Anyone of us that knew him would have given our lives to complete a task he’d given us...and he gave his in just the same way. He was a good man and a good friend...we’ve all got our own stories to tell. It won’t ever be the same without you, Arik...”

It was short, but it was something. His voice had just trailed off at the end, and words never came. So again, a silence grew. This time, Shadow broke it. She’d been the most controlled the entire time, keeping a straight face and doing her absolute best not to move a muscle, because she was afraid of breaking into tears if she did. But now...she gave Akan a careful glance, glad to see another Alraxian again and almost looking for help. He didn’t seem to notice, lost in his own thoughts and watching that flame. Shadow sighed, and figured she’d have to do this one her own.

Carefully, she took her own step forward, speaking in a slow and somewhat shaky voice, “I did what you asked...I know why you asked it...I...I just wish I was strong enough to bring you back. Instead of listening to you. But its too late now...” she paused, biting her lip and trying to keep a straight face. Her tail was swishing fairly violently, so it was obvious that at least part of her wasn’t keeping emotions bottled up, “Mattau fi cyfa.”

She then stepped back, head hanging and staring down at the sand. Akan gave her a careful look. He didn’t understand Alraxian, but the link between them provided a hint at those words. She’d asked for forgiveness...or something close. More like begging, actually. Akan closed his eyes, knowing what that felt like. He wondered if she’d get an answer, though. He never had...but then again, maybe he’d just never seen it.

They stood in silence until the flame burned out, which was at least another hour. At least another ten minutes they watched the ground, none of them wanting to leave. It was Jen who acted first, gently tugging on Voort’s sleeve but not saying anything. He nodded, and looked to the only two who’d stayed with them, “Come on...we should get going.”

Shadow nodded slowly, and looked to Hansen who had been walking off. There was something unfinished there, but she couldn’t pinpoint it and didn’t really care anyway. Finally, though, they could leave this forsaken and horrible planet. She motioned for them to follow, and walked off towards Loki. The ship had his hatch open already, the small ramp resting in the sands. It was strange to see, but Loki actually looked like a small child ready to jump up and fly off. It was like those little children with boundless amounts of energy who were everywhere at once, but forced to sit down and not move.

Somehow, that attitude radiating off of the ship helped everyone’s spirits at least some. But they still stayed silent, Shadow leading them down the small hallways to the cockpit. There were only two seats, and the humans differed them to the Alraxians. Of course, Akan was just as lost in the ship as Voort and Jen....Titus and Jen. Voort wasn’t going to work much longer, apparently

Shadow had been speaking to Loki, and a moment later she turned to them and said, “So...where to from here?”

“You wanted to go to Coruscant,” Akan responded quickly, not really thinking about it or even where he wanted to go. Honestly, he’d have liked a long break from the galaxy as a whole, but that wasn’t something that he expected to happen...so Akan had no trouble jumping right into ‘act II’ as it were.

But Titus responded with a different answer, “I don’t think that’s a good idea...not yet at least. I think first...if you wouldn’t mind, of course, could you swing by Corellia? Jen and I need to get something done, and I have a few friends there who can help out.”

The two humans exchanged smiles, and Akan couldn’t help a grin. Shadow, however, was lost, but managed a shrug, “Better than sitting around.”

((Story Note on this one: This update could have been longer, but I've edited out a somewhat large part of the funeral that honestly made no sense...even confused us when we were in play(don't remember which of us was GMing at the time). The gist of what happened is that Landau, a completely normal human, pulled a Jedi-thing and appeared to everyone with a final message of sorts. Except he wasn't Force Sensitive, and sometimes eople need to just be dead instead of lingering on.))

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 115: To the Core...

The flight to Corellia was a long one. Thankfully, they weren’t in any rush, so relaxing in the empty nothingness of hyperspace came as a luxury. Jen and Voort...Titus spent most of the trip together, not really avoiding the Alraxians as much as glad to have some form of privacy. The times when Jen did wander out, she found that Akan was still avoiding her. In fact, he wouldn’t even make eye contact with her. She’d even had a short conversation with the humanoid feline equivalent of a durasteel wall until giving up, kicking him in the shin and wandering off. The whole time he’d just stared into space...well, not literally, he’d been literally staring at Loki’s wall and probably talking with the ship to ‘cheat’. He always got that glazed eyed look when he was talking with Shadow through their link, and it seemed to be the same way with Loki.

Shadow had barely moved from her seat in the cockpit, leaning it back so she could get some quiet sleep. But quiet sleep never came to her...in fact, no sleep did. Though that image of her dream returned more than once and that damned voice started up again. The only way she’d found to drown out the voice was to speak with Loki...and that wasn’t a bad thing at all. The little(well, in comparison to full grown Kanyaks at least) ship had been holed up on his own so long that any conversation(especially with her) was nice.

But Titus had been the quietest the entire trip. Or at least, the quietest around the Alraxians. It seemed that Akan had started avoiding him as well as Jen, and Titus couldn’t help but see this as a good thing. Not because he didn’t like the kid, but Titus had a feeling that Akan would go back to their old agreement anytime now. It was in the Alraxian’s eyes and the way his emotions pulsed through the Force like a beacon. He wasn’t happy. Fear was the easier translation, and Titus knew all too well what that could lead to. For him, it had been blind following of the Emperor and the corruption of the Empire itself...for Akan, it was likely going to be more direct, and more violent. Probably directed at Titus.

At least Loki was happy. He’d started by having long conversations with the two humans on board, questioning them on about everything he could think of. It was mostly about what had gone on while he’d be locked away in that warehouse, but a few random things popped in that couldn’t help but get grins on the two human’s faces. They’d seen Shadow and Akan acting like small children and doing things like that before...but the idea of the ship they were in acting the same way was even more amusing. After two straight hours of questioning, Loki had turned his attention on the other newcomer: Akan. Again, he’d mostly questioned about history, but Akan had been just as curious and shot back a hundred questions right back at Loki. Akan learned about Kanyaks and a little more about Alraxians, and Loki learned about Akan and how he’d gotten to this point and how he’d known Shadow and...and...well, pretty much everything. The ship was amazingly curious.

And then, finally, they dropped out of hyperspace. Corellia was a surprisingly beautiful planet considering how urban it was. Unlike Coruscant, the people of Corellia had limited their cities enough that there were large sections of beautiful grasslands and shining oceans. Traffic above the planet was as numerous as usual, with every kind of ship going here and there. It was such a myriad of different ships from different places and even times(some being older than the Empire) that Loki wouldn’t look out of place at all. Following Titus’ direction, Loki set down in one of the smaller docking facilities in the large capital city of Coronet. After having to convince Loki that they would be coming back in a couple of hours and he wouldn’t be left alone again, the four of them started on their way into the city.

Well, that was after a couple of other important things. Such as a long argument with Shadow that Alraxians would be easy to notice on the Core world, and that she and Akan should at least be something more common...human was never said directly, but it was what Akan had chosen and had assisted in the argument from. Three humans against one Alraxians. Well, three humans and a Kanyak. Loki agreed with the others, considering that it was more likely for her to return if she was harder to notice. He’d learned well about that in the past, and wasn’t going to just ignore all that knowledge...especially on Corellia where he’d been left for years. In the end, Shadow did change, but not to human. There was no way she was going to deal with that again...at least not yet. So now, they were three humans and a Falleen. No one mentioned that female Falleen were rare off their home planet, but when she’d disappeared and then reappeared wearing expensive looking robes things changed.

Now, they a female Falleen and her three human attendants. For some reason, no one argued this, deciding that it was at least a good disguise. The reptilian Falleen only ever seemed to leave their home planet if they were nobles traveling the galaxy. After Darth Vader had poisoned the planet and killed most of the species off, the only real survivors were those nobles. So, if one was to see a Falleen, it would be assumed they were a noble and, of course, rich. The flowing blue and gold robes sure made Shadow look rich. This long solving of a simple problem quickly led to a second important trouble before getting into the city. Leaving Loki, they’d been confronted by a docking officer asking(well, demanding but in that polite way that could really make you feel like you had a choice) for them to pay a two hundred credit docking fee. Surprisingly, Shadow had dealt with this without a misstep, giving the young CorSec officer(or at least, the green uniform hinted at him being with CorSec) a look of contempt before speaking very quietly.

“We will only be here for a short time,” Shadow said in the slow, deliberate tones of a ‘true’ snobbish noble. Idly, she ran a green hand through her straight black hair, not even looking at the human, “I believe you can wave the fee.”

Neither Titus or Jen noticed the slight reddish tint to her skin, but Akan did. They all noticed, though, a small and somewhat odd smell in the air. It was...was...pleasant would have been the best word for it. Voort identified it right away, and couldn’t help a grin. Pheromones. Of which Fallen had very strong, and were a rare case in that they could affect other species of similar genetic makeup. That meant most humanoids in the galaxy. So Shadow had picked the reptilian body for a good reason. The docking officer had just nodded in a dazed way, then wandered off. Shadow turned to the three humans and gave a typical grin without saying anything.

[That’s cheating.] Akan had commented before they started going.

Shadow just shrugged and let Titus lead the way as he knew where they were going. [Natural advantages are not cheating.]

[Morphing is.] came Akan’s quick retort.

That just got a bigger grin from Shadow. [Only because you don’t practice enough.]

The two argued ‘silently’ as Voort led them through large crowds among that populated the large streets between the towering skyscrapers. Jen had nearly lost her way going back and forth down street after street. How long that Titus had led them around she didn’t know, but it was at least half an hour, if not even longer. It was odd to be surrounded by so many people and to be ignored. Somehow, the barren emptiness of Arranis had been less unnerving. At least there you weren’t being stared at. At least there you didn’t feel like people should being trying to steal things...sell things...or even acknowledge you existed instead of bumping into you and nearly knocking you over.

And then, finally, Titus led them to a building. It was smaller than the larger skyscrapers that littered Coronet, but then again, this part of the city was generally smaller than where they’d landed. This was actually more rundown, and probably the slums that the nobles and tourists avoided...even the locals probably didn’t venture to this place. Jen wasn’t the only one of them to notice how Akan had changed. He’d been watching every back alley a little too closely, looking around with an odd sense of deja vu on his face. None of them knew that this was the area he’d grown up in, and he was just picking out old spots where he’d slept at night. It was depressing almost, but then again...he’d gone from the little street kid to fighter pilot to Jedi to...well, to a different species. Who else could claim that? But for some reason, that just wasn’t comforting enough. Nothing seemed to be anymore. That damned dream just wouldn’t go away, and he wished he could do something about it. But no...no it was too late and Akan was just going to have to do what he could while he could.

Inside, Titus had a long talk with a young, bald human wearing short brown robes. The talk was fairly calm for a while, but eventually got heated enough that Jen started to wonder if weapons would be drawn. But no, finally, the man nodded and retreated into a small door, leaving the four of them in a small antechamber to give Titus a questioning look.

“Old friend runs the temple here,” he said, answering the unspoken questions, “Seems the new kid around isn’t receptive to visitors.”

“Temple?” Akan asked, knowing what they were here for but not used to a proliferation of religions. They just weren’t all that common even with the Jedi being so small in number. Everyone knew the Force existed, even if they denied it, it was there. All religions seemed to always just be variations on Force worship, so had died out with the Empire’s purge of the Jedi long ago. If one worshiped magic, you worshiped the Force, and that always got the Emperor’s attention...never a good thing.

“Long story,” was Titus’ only answer, and strangely enough, Akan let it go. It probably was a long story. Everything was these days.

Eventually, things were gotten together and the four of them were split up into two groups. Jen and Shadow were ushered off into one direction, with Titus and Akan the other way. Akan, obviously, wasn’t thrilled about this, but Shadow had given him a ‘don’t do anything stupid’ lecture and he wasn’t in the mood to get her angry right now. Too much work involved. He and Titus had been taken into a fairly large chamber with an alter atop a few stairs. Akan recognized the symbols that lined the stone alter as an odd mix of old Corellian dialect and some Jedi symbols. Force worship.

His thoughts were cut off by a couple of women in the same brown robes entered, babbling on about nothing in particular and then doing their best to tidy he and Titus up. Titus took it well, allowing them to mess with his hair and uniform, but Akan fought them all the way. Mainly because they constantly told him he looked like a mess, which he had no problem with, and went after his hair again and again. Each time, he ‘fixed’ it back, and probably got hit more than once for being indignant.

Shadow was lucky. Because of the expensive robes she’d chosen, none of the attendants went after her at all. So she just say back as Jen was attacked. It was almost surprising that Jen struggled against it, obviously liking how she looked just fine and not needing any help. In the back of her mind, she made a mental note to get Titus for this. But then again, it would be worth it. Or should be. If it wasn’t, again, he’d get it.

* * * *​

In another part of the galaxy, sitting at the top of a large skyscraper four times as big as the largest ones in Coronet, a figure sat in a small chair. Every so often, the chair kicked back and rolled across the tiled floor, with a short amused laugh following it. The room itself was huge, with a ceiling of windows and large stone columns at equal intervals along both sides. At one end, was the desk and the chair with its figure seated. Behind, was a small turbolift tube. At the other end, a stairwell. Of course, the other end was about fifty odd meters away, giving anyone who approached a good long walk to do so.

Sitting at the desk in the wheeled chair, idly picking at some odd collection of food, was an Alraxian. He had short, jet black hair, and pale skin. Though pale for an Alraxian was still well tanned for a human. His eyes were a deep silver, and they looked bored as one of his hands poked at the unmoving thing on the plate. Both of his ears were of the usual feline appearance, though both had a few notches and black marks along them. After finally giving up on the food, he kicked back off from the desk and the chair gently rolled back and spun around. Again, the Alraxian laughed to himself before pushing the chair back to the desk with another good kick.

The entire time, a figure had been approaching. He arrived in the chair back to the desk just at the time the figure was done on that long walk. He knew it was, and didn’t have to look up from the desk to speak less formally than he would with anyone else, “These chairs are so fun! Amazing how simple they are! Just wheels on a little leather chair! Why couldn’t we have thought of this before?”

Looking up, he saw another Alraxian. This female was not like Shadow in that her sex was only obvious from the face structure. This female was definitely female. She had long white hair, with a single black stripe down the center, and stood a little over two meters tall. Her tail was a meter long, with the same black stripe as he hair. The female’s face was marred with no scratches or bruises, and the cold silver eyes showed through to the heart of a true killer. She watched him with a different look, though. It wasn’t hate filled, but then again, not all together too friendly either.

When she didn’t answer, he sighed and pushed the plate off to the side, saying, “Fine. Fine. Business it is. What is it?”

“Your pawn is dead,” she said in very flat, emotionless tones.

Sighing heavily, he leaned back in the chair and nearly fell over. Ignoring the grin that grew on his face from the near fall, he said, “Which one, hm?”

“You know perfectly well who I speak of,” she said again, a little more ice in the voice this time.

“It was expected,” was all he said before sitting back up straight and giving her a bored look.

Her expression didn’t change, “Yes, but there was an unexpected turn of events,” there wasn’t a dramatic pause here like most people would use, instead, she just continued speaking without losing a beat, “One of the others was there.”

“Oh?” that got his attention. He knew exactly what she meant, especially from the venom that was in her voice when she said ‘others’. Very interesting. For a moment, he just thought about it. Considering what he knew of the many clones that had been created, only one wasn’t accounted for. Well, not counting this one at least. But the one he knew that had...gotten away to put it best, was Alpha Three. It was the only ‘other’ that Delta Nine could have been referring to. He gave the adult clone of Marix BlueIce designated Delta Nine a long, slow look, “What do you suggest we do?”

“She is young. Weak. I believe we should simply kill her as she will only get in the way.”

Expected. Again, no fun. He’d thought that after two years of ‘freedom’ Nine would have gotten beyond those straightforward and boring ideas. But no, she was too direct. Too programmed. But useful...and...he grinned slightly, and many other things. Shaking his head, he said simply, “Boring. I have a better idea. The child. Is he ready yet?”

It was one of the few times that a surprised look appeared on Nine’s face. Composing herself quickly, the clone of Marix nodded, “The last two we tested him with have been killed.”

“Good,” he smiled and leaned back again, “Let him go. He’ll find her and that should provide some entertainment.”

Nine nearly argued this, but decided it wouldn’t get her anywhere. He would play with the prey instead of just killing it outright. It wasn’t cowardly, but she couldn’t help but be annoyed by it. Without another word, she turned and left. Ket Halpak watched Nine leave, a smile on his face. She was protective of that child, whether she admitted it or not. But the child was a tool, nothing more. Survive long enough, and the Alraxian Empire would be outraged to find that there was a child of such lineage. The mother, a clone of their Empress, a Tam-Day-U. Horrible on both counts. The father, a traitor and also a Tam-Day-U. Even worse. The child of two Tam-Day-U. A true abomination.

Again, Ket grinned and kicked off of the desk. This would be so fun! He’d have to have this chair brought with him when they were finally ready!

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 116: Extremely Mild Panic

An hour passed in the city of Coronet before everything was finally ready. In the large, beautifully carved main chamber of the ‘temple’, Akan stood off to the side watching Voort have a discussion with Magistrate Onan. After having been assaulted by people attempting to tidy him, Akan was feeling much more comfortable just standing against the wall and trying to pretend he still looked scruffy. His hair was not nicely combed back. His clothes were not clean. He didn’t feel like there was an extra layer of dirt on his skin. He felt normal. Scruffy. Dirty. And above all, warm.

The fact that this was all untrue was what he was doing his best to ignore. It wasn’t working. Mainly because he saw how clean and well groomed Voort was. The former Imperial hadn’t resisted the attack as Akan had, and actually seemed comfortable. That black, Imperial dress uniform was far too perfect. Uniforms should be dirty. Messy. Worn. Not...not...Akan looked down at his clothes. Not like this! A few moments later, though, Akan was happy again.

This was because Shadow entered. Sure, she was still in that Falleen body and wearing those expensive looking robes over her now-black morphsuit...but she had a scowl on her face and through the link, he knew that she’d been assaulted at the last moment. When she wandered over next to him, Akan leaned over and whispered quietly, “Aren’t dresses considered appropriate at occasions like this?”

Shadow’s scowl became a sharp glare. The fact that she was still just slightly shorter than him gave it the usual venom. But her voice was calm...probably more from the body than her mood, as expressed by the link, “You’d sooner find yourself in a dress than me.”

Before Akan could prepare a counter to that, the main door opened again. This time, Jen entered. Voort...Titus snapped to attention and the Magistrate also seemed to dust himself off. Jen was wearing her old science uniform, well cleaned and without any insignias on it. Seemed like tearing things off of uniforms was becoming a ritual among them. Now, if only Shadow had insignias to tear off in the first place...but Akan also noticed that Jen wasn’t wearing a dress. Then again, she was probably just as likely to wear one as Shadow was. It was the kind of thing that was once in an eon, and even then, Rancors were more likely to build starships, create a complex language, and enslave the galaxy in a day.

Jen gave Akan a smile, not really having a problem with the two of them standing off to the side instead of sitting down like normal people. They weren’t normal people. Besides, if they were comfortable, it would definitely make things easier on all of them. If only she wasn’t so nervous...didn’t make sense why. All she had to do was answer a simple question that she already knew the answer to in the first place. Yet...yet for some reason there was more to that. More in an odd way that was even beyond what she had come to assume was the Force. With one last deep breath, she looked forward to Titus and the Magistrate and approached.

That had to be the longest walk she’d ever taken. Sure, it was only about twenty paces, but it felt like miles and miles and miles and miles and...well, it really just kept going. When she stopped, she and Titus exchanged equally nervous yet happy smiles. Something not lost on the two observers or the magistrate.

The magistrate didn’t wait any longer. In a voice that was obviously accustomed to speaking with larger groups, he said, “Titus has asked me to skip everything to the important part. Apparently, you are a bit pressed for time.”

Jen grinned. They weren’t pressed for time. But the faster this was over with, the faster that growing nervousness would be gone. In theory. A weak theory. Failing, too...slowly. Jen closed her eyes just a moment to stop that from going on. At least her feet couldn’t move anymore...otherwise she’d have bolted out of this place years ago. Years? Well, it had taken a long time for that walk to reach them..

Thankfully, the Magistrate continued speaking and cut off Jen’s wandering and somewhat panicked mind, “Do you, Titus Voort, take Jen Zaarin as your wife, eternally bound through the Force through good and through ill?”

A pause. It wasn’t because he didn’t know the correct answer, but because, somehow, Titus had lost his voice. His eyes showed none of that momentary panic before he found his voice again, and said in a very calm tone, “Of course.”

Alright, so it wasn’t the traditional answer. This wasn’t exactly traditional at all, anyway, so why not just be natural about things? Even the Magistrate didn’t seem to mind, smiling at the answer and turning to Jen. The eyes of the galaxy now watched poor Jen Zaar, and again she wondered if her legs would bolt her out. Then again, it’d probably take an eternity to escape, anyway...so, straight face. Keep breathing. Ignore brain. Just...answer. Wait! No question yet! Calm down! Wait for the question...then answer. He’s speaking already!! Shut up and wait!

“...through good and through ill?” the Magistrate finished what Jen hadn’t been hearing him saying.

When his mouth stopped moving, her brain stopped working. Answer now! Answer? Answer what?! Already answered before he asked...no! Calm down and answer the damned question! Cheat if you have to! So, she cheated, speaking in the most forced natural sounding voice in the history of the galaxy. So much so that no one, not even Jen, noticed it as anything but perfectly calm and natural, “Yes.”

She didn’t hear the Magistrate’s next words. Some kind of confirmation of what had just happened. What had just happened? Jen Voort. Jen Zaarin Voort. Had that just happened? Could have sworn it was just a...a...wait! The magistrate was still saying something!! And again, everyone’s eyes were on her! What had he said! Think, Jen, think! Dammit, you’re intelligent! What happens next? Her eyes locked with Titus’. Nothing came to mind...well, one thing did. Having no idea if it was the right thing to do and acting out of an extreme form of mild panic, she kissed him.

Apparently, it was the right thing to do, as no one screamed bloody heresy. In fact, the magistrate was smiling. Well, Jen assumed he was. Hoped. Her eyes were closed and finally, the galaxy seemed to have shut off. It was just her. Just her and Titus. Two Voorts, alone in the galaxy...finally.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 117: Darkness and Light

Just half an hour later, Akan and Voort stood in the docking bay next to Loki. They were silent. After leaving the small temple, things had gotten somewhat quieter as their next move was decided. Jen had gone off to find a ship. Akan didn’t take that as her wanting to get rid of the two Alraxians, but more that a little privacy might be nice between her and Titus. Not only that, but Akan had a feeling it might just have something to do with losing her ship on Arranis. He understood. It had been expensive...cost him his dear old Y-Wing, in fact. As for Shadow...well, she’d not been too specific and where she was going. But there was something that he could feel through the link. A familiar feeling...not so much for him, but definitely for her. She wouldn’t respond to any of his questions through the link, so he decided just to listen in and wait to figure it out. But she was hunting...or at least tracking something.

Again, Akan looked to Voort...Titus...the first Voort. That man was ignoring him. Or at least not paying him enough attention to acknowledge Akan was even there. This wouldn’t normally have been a problem if not for those nagging feelings in the back of Akan’s mind. That dream. Connecting with thoughts that were all together rational. Finding excuses. Most would have called it the Dark Side working its way. But it was more than that. Maybe if he was completely human, not just in body(currently), it would be that...but there was something different about Alraxians’ connection to the Force. Not just a philosophy difference as Akan had originally though, but a true difference. Dark and Light really were two parts of a whole, working together to form the main piece. Not like the Jedi taught. Not two opposing forces working against each other. It seemed like such a small difference, yet there were obviously larger effects from it. Perhaps it was his Dark. That part of him had been alive as an individual for long enough to at least be slightly more than just a voice...but no...not there was more to it than simply Dark and Light. Good and Evil. Morality.

No, something in Voort truly repulsed Akan. Disgusted every fiber of his being. It wasn’t just that old hatred for the Empire anymore. That had grown. Changed. The Alraxian in him saw something within Voort that just added to that. It was something that Akan would never have thought about. But he could smell it. Or at least, when in the Alraxian body he could. For a while, he’d wondered what that smell was. Even asked Shadow about it once. Each time, though, she’d just shrugged and ignored him. But as his thoughts ran over that old promise to Voort before encountering Sadrak for the first time, the Alraxian part of him made connections. The smell. An Imperial. Human. No. Not completely human. Something in that man’s blood. Every human, Akan had learned, had roughly the same smell to them. But Voort was different. Even Sadrak wasn’t like this. But that meant nothing to Akan...not the human Akan. To the Alraxian Akan, it was everything. The identity of the smell was ingrained in every Alraxian since the Darkwing Wars. Hardwired in so it could be dealt with.

A question came to Akan’s mind. Something from that older Alraxian part of him...and something he couldn’t seem to not ask, “Where were you born, Titus?”

The almost friendly tone in Akan’s voice caught Titus off guard. The man turned around and gave Akan a curious look, but took a few steps forward and said, “Small world in the Mid Rim. You’ve probably never heard of it.”

Akan nodded. That wouldn’t be a surprise...but that didn’t get his real question answered at all. In fact, it only got his brain working in overdrive as the next obvious question came up. It was amazing that Akan’s voice didn’t sound as prying as the actual questions, “Do you know where you parents were from?”

This didn’t seem to be a strange question to Titus. In fact, it almost looked like he’d been expecting it. A smile...a friendly smile, grew on the man’s face and he just said, “Most of my family lived on that planet.”

“Most.”

That was odd. That wasn’t a question. You could hear that period just sitting in the air during the resulting silence and Titus tried to understand what was really going on. He knew now that this was not just simple questioning. There was a point to this. A dangerous one, too. And this wasn’t the first time these kinds of questions had been asked of him by an Alraxian. Marix had asked the same things...in much the same way, years ago. So, instead of hedging around it, Titus knew exactly the end point. He knew what that lingering annoyance in Akan’s face was.

“Yes,” he said, answering the unasked question that somehow still hung in the air of the docking bay, “I have a trace of Sith blood in me. Real Sith. Not the Dark Jedi. But the true people called the Sith that were killed by the ones who stole their name.”

At hearing those words, Akan suddenly found himself using every single piece of his mind to force himself NOT to morph Alraxian and maul this thing. The Sith were the true evil. Created the Darkwings. Tainted the Alraxians. The Mrrakesh were the current and also long time enemies of the Alraxian people...but the Sith. They were evil itself. Not even the Mrrakesh were crazy or evil enough to create the Drakwings. And then, Akan’s mind just hit a wall. That wall was most literally his humanity. The part of him that wasn’t Alraxian heard all these things that were going through him and stopped them.

As Akan calmed himself, he noticed that Voort was watching him closely. Obviously waiting for a reaction that he already expected. But none came. Well, no. Eventually, Akan blinked a few times before speaking quietly. His voice was back to a sense of normality, and pretty much every single trace of the boy’s previous accusing glance were gone. Now, Voort saw the same Akan he’d known for a while now. But something in the eyes still worried him. No, it wasn’t the eyes. It was a sound. A soft click. Voort’s eyes traveled down to the sound and found its source.

Akan had gotten the lightsaber off of his belt and was now gently holding the weapon as he watched Voort. Quietly, he said, “He’s dead.”

So it came to this. Honestly, Voort had expected it to happen sooner. Much sooner. Letting out a long, heavy sigh, the former Imperial looked Akan straight in the eyes. Human to human. In a disturbingly calm voice, Voort spoke, “Yes. He is.”

“I’m ready to get this over with.”

Voort didn’t wait on that, instead, responded quickly and sharply, “What good will that do?”

“It will keep you from dragging Jen down with you,” Akan growled, a seething anger in his voice, “I’ve seen it, Voort. I’ve seen what you’ve done...what you’ll do.”

“I will never, ever, hurt her,” Voort snapped back, not caring about being nice anymore, “I’m through with this, Akan. Through with this damned war. Its over. Move on with the rest of the galaxy and stop trying to murder everyone who didn’t fight on your side!”

At that, Akan activated his lightsaber. The snap-hiss of the blade cut through the air as sharply as any noise ever could, but even Voort was surprised when the blade was still held at Akan’s side. Through gritted teeth, his body shaking very slightly with something far more deep than simple anger, Akan said, “It isn’t murder to kill a murderer.”

“So that’s it now?!” Voort took a small step forward, ignoring how close he was to that weapon and staring straight into Akan’s eyes, “Murder me. Kill me. What kind of Jedi would that make you, hm? What kind of friend would that make you for Jen? What do you think she would do?!”

Akan took a short step back. Somehow he’d not heard those last two sentences, but the venom with which he yelled back at Voort surprised the both of them, “I’m not a Jedi! I’m not anything, dammit! I’m some cowardly kid trying to find a way to die! You’re a murdering servant of the Emperor! Kill me! I know you want to! You want me dead more than I want to die! Kill me, you bastard!!”

Suddenly, Voort moved. Akan pulled back just slightly, lightsaber up in front of him and ready to defend himself despite those words he’d just spoken. Yes, Voort had gone for his lightsaber. Yes, he’d drawn the weapon from his belt. But to Akan’s astonishment, the man simply through the weapon across the docking bay. Far out of reach. And in the silence, he stared at Akan...finally, in an all too calm voice, Titus said, “I’m through with this. I won’t fight you. I won’t kill you. But if you wish to continue like some petulant child, then finish what you start. Kill me. You’re the one who’s pushed for this...so do it. You hate me so much...and yet you always ignore how similar we are. Maybe if you kill me, you’ll end up just like me. Or maybe...maybe you’ll get what you want. I’ll be dead. That part of you that scares you so much won’t be dead though. It’ll be there stronger than ever. I know what its like, Akan,” slowly, Voort took a single step forward, putting him face to face with the young man, “And I know that its your choice, not mine.”

For a long time, they stood there with the only sound the constant hum of Akan’s lightsaber...help off to his right side, easily able to swing in and cut Voort down in a second. Yet neither moved. Titus watched as Akan’s eyes searched him. He knew what this boy was looking for. He’d looked for it himself, many years ago after the death of his first wife and child. Akan was looking for some way to win this. To win and convince Titus to kill him. But he wasn’t going to find anything. It was far too late for that. All Akan found was himself. And when this realization washed over Akan it was obvious. The lightsaber fell from his hand, dropping to the durasteel plating at their feet and shutting off after another few moments. An impossibly pained expression gripped Akan’s face, and he soon dropped to his knees, burying his face in his hands and shaking with violent sobs.

Voort stood in silence, only letting out a small sigh of relief. For a long while, he’d actually expected that Akan would kill him. Was it over now? Finally over?

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 118: A Familiar Scent

Shadow had, quiet literally, picked up a scent. She hadn’t noticed it until they had returned to Loki and she’d morphed back to her Alraxian form. It had been just before stepping into Loki, having given up on telling Jen it was dangerous to walk around Coronet on her own. But Titus had decided that it was alright, saying he wouldn’t be much help in negotiations involving money. Shadow had given up not because she didn’t think Jen was being stupid, but because of that smell. Without anymore than an “I’ll be back” as explanation, she disappeared into the city again.

Now, nearly an hour later, she stood in the center of one of the larger outdoor parks within the city. Park was a stretch, as it really only contained a huge, elaborate fountain and some plants on top of the usual metallic ground. Metal everywhere. Despite years of living in this part of the galaxy, there was still that primal aversion to it. The idea of walking on it was enough to drive any normal Alraxian crazy. But Shadow had learned. Heavy boots were comforting, as were other heavy clothes. Not only for warmth on the colder(by Alraxian standards) planets, but currently they also assisted with concealing her unusual appearance. Alraxians were easy to spot around here. Well, around anywhere that wasn’t the Empire. The real Empire, in Shadow’s opinion, not one that had taken over in this part of the galaxy and not even lasted a century.

Sniffing the air again, Shadow pushed her way through the crowd and continued the tracking. It was a smell that one didn’t find much in this area. In fact, up until Akan had been the subject of that little accident and got his new body, Shadow had nearly forgotten it. But this wasn’t as simple as just an Alraxian scent. It was more familiar than that. One that worried Shadow. It wouldn’t have only a few months ago, before her knowledge that she was actually a clone of the real Marix. The real Marix probably wouldn’t worry at all. In fact, she’d probably be excited. Okay...so Shadow was a little excited, too, but there was worry masking it.

There. Movement in the scent. It was stronger...her ears twitched under the heavy hood, following an odd noise. No, that was an older ship leaving one of the hangars. Follow the smell. Focusing on some old things she’d been taught, Shadow put her mind on only the smell. Her eyes worked only to move her around the buildings, the crowds, and anything else in the way. Her ears did the same. Smell guided her. It guided her around one corner after another, down many of the main streets that were scattered through the city, and Shadow couldn’t help but notice how the scent seemed to avoid all those back alleys. That only helped to confirm the identity of her ‘prey’.

And then it stopped. She took one step and it was gone. Another step back, it was there again. Hmm...Shadow went back to actually using her eyes and looked around. It didn’t take long. Right there, directly in front of her, was a large building. It was a hotel. Under the hood, she grinned. A fairly cheap one by the look of the sign. Anyone having to put “Best Rooms Within Three Blocks!” was really pushing their luck. And it fit with the relative naivete of her suspected prey in how this galaxy worked. He’d believe it. But the smell didn’t go inside? Why? That didn’t make sense...he wasn’t smart enough for that.

Her ears started working again. When they did, she found out the reason for the end of the scent. There was an air vent just above the entrance, obviously designed to give some kind of odd effect when one entered. When Shadow walked in, she only felt annoyed at the rush of air in her face. When she stepped into the lobby of the hotel, the scent was back. Along with a thousand others that really weren’t worth trying to think about. Ignoring the older looking human behind a desk, she followed the scent straight to the single turbolift. The man probably tried to say something to the mysteriously heavy cloaked humanoid that plodded past, but Shadow didn’t hear it. This was Corellia, if the guy wasn’t used to people ignoring him by that age, he was a hopeless idiot. And so, Shadow stood in the turbolift, wondering which floor to go to.

This was the part where guessing took over. Maybe asking that guy at the desk would have been a good idea...but no, would he really be registered under the same name? Surely, he was dumb enough to actually be registered, but under his real name? Shadow stopped a moment. Yes...yes he would. Sighing, she just pressed a button anyway. A matter of seconds later, the door slid open to reveal a small, boring hallway. The scent was there. Grinning, Shadow followed it. Reaching the door, Shadow took a deep breath. How long had it been? Surely before Marix had left the Empire. So why was he here now? Why hadn’t she thought about this before making it all the way here?! Sometimes, hunting instincts were problematic.

Some part of her would figure out what to do. That part was also already taking over, having gotten control of her left arm and then knocking on the door. There was nothing for a few minutes, and Shadow couldn’t help but wonder if he was really even there. But no, the scent was strong. New. And she could...feel him close. Hopefully, he would notice that, too. Hopefully. But that was pushing it.

The door slid open. When it opened, Shadow was surprised to see no one there. She could see the opposite wall, blank and boring. There seemed to have been a small entrance hallway into the likely equally small room. Step inside? No...a sound. Breathing? Yes. Not her’s. But where was he? These doors usually required one to stand in front of it to hit the switch. A moment later, she caught a hint of movement. Off to the left, inside the door, she saw the slight twitch of movement. It was a tail. Swishing just at the edge of her view. Shadow grinned. That finally confirmed it.

“You’re not hiding very well, Alyx,” she said, doing her best not to laugh instead of speaking.

The tail came into view again. It was a soft white colour, with the hint of an black stripe down it. Second, an ear appeared. Third, a familiar voice, “M...Marix?”

This time, Shadow did laugh. But even though she felt a strange happiness at this, it was decided by a well staffed committee within her mind to hold off on the whole ‘clone’ thing for he moment. So, her answer was, “Yes, Alyx, its me. Do you plan to crouch there all day?”

A head appeared. If anyone else had seen it, they would have sworn it was her’s, just with harder features and his eyes were a soft green instead of her silvery-purple. The two green eyes widened upon seeing her, and he stepped back, motioning inside, “Um...sorry...I uh...um...didn’t know you were...uh...here.”

Grinning still, she stepped inside of the small room. The door closed behind her, and it wasn’t long until she’d pulled the hood down and sat next to Alyx on the only piece of furniture in the entire place. A bed. Or...what passed for a bed in these parts. But that wasn’t important right now. Alyx had oddly mixed expression on his face. She saw the expected excited look, but it was mixed with something she couldn’t read. That was odd enough on Alyx’s face. He wasn’t the secretive type...he also wasn’t the type to be away from home. Alone. Her thoughts were following that path again, and Shadow quickly stopped them. But she’d stopped them too late, saying, “What are you doing out here?”

He gave her a careful look. Obviously, it wasn’t a question he wanted to answer. But just as she couldn’t lie to him very well, he was just as bad with her, “I’m not allowed to come and find you?”

Alright, so it wasn’t a lie. But it really was dodging. Together, they both sighed. One of them was going to have to stop avoiding the issue at hand. Her link with Alyx was not nearly as strong as her link with Akan, but it was still strong enough that base emotions could flow through with a little effort. And she felt it from him. Fear. Fear of what, though? That didn’t help much. He’d always been afraid of the simplest things. Shadow made the choice to be the one to bring it up, “Alyx...I know you’re not here just to see me. Or at least, not in that nice little way that we’re pretending to be true.”

Alyx nodded. His expression became depressed, and Shadow couldn’t help but wish she’d not said anything. Staring down at the floor, Alyx said, “Mom sent me.”

Mom. He never called her that. Well, once...before she...Marix had left. He really was worried. Afraid. Of what? No, calm down...do this slowly. This wasn’t some idiot to interrogate. This was Alyx. Watching him curiously, Shadow spoke quietly, “Something’s happened, hasn’t it?”

Again, he nodded. It was a few moments before he said, in a voice just barely above a whisper, “There have been a lot more Mrrakesh raids on the border since you left...and...and...Kyren...he...”

“What happened to Kyren?!” she snapped violently, grabbing Alyx’s shoulders and staring him straight in the eyes. That look worried Alyx, but thankfully, he knew she wouldn’t hurt him.

“He’s alive...” were the first words out of Alyx’s mouth. They were the smartest, and Shadow’s grip on Alyx loosened enough that he felt like he wasn’t being crushed anymore, “He was working with a group of Jendari on one of the trading worlds. It was...assaulted. The Mrrakesh attacked and took the planet. Kyren got away, but was injured.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Shadow nodded and said, “Kyren isn’t the reason you’re here, though. Has anything happened to mother?”

Alyx shook his head, “No. No, she’s fine. We’re all okay...but...everyone’s afraid of this drastic move. Its been...been...a long time since anything more than border skirmishes!”

And who else would be best to assist there than the future Empress herself? It made sense. So her mother was just using her again. The people of the Empire would only take the lack of her presence for so long...and what better way to bring her back than to show she was a strong leader? The Empress was a healer, not a fighter...but her daughter. The heir. She was a fighter. An assassin. The Empire didn’t know this...they did know she was trained as a warrior, but not that she was a Tam-Day-U. They didn’t know why she was gone. But a story could be spread. One to strengthen the people. The Empress was up to her usual schemes and Shadow had never liked being stuck in them. It was part of the reason she...she...no, part of the reason Marix had left.

Quietly, without completely realizing that she was speaking, Shadow whispered, “I can’t go back.”

“Please...I...you know I wouldn’t have come all the way out here to find you if there wasn’t a choice,” Alyx hung his head and stared down blankly. But in that movement, Shadow caught something in his eyes. In that look. There was another layer to those words. If there wasn’t a choice...interesting words. They were the key. If he’d never said it, Shadow would never have known.

Her expression went cold. The hands on his shoulders just rested there, almost like a droid that had been shut off. This wasn’t lost on either of them, and Alyx knew he’d made a mistake. His head looked up and watched those cold, expressionless eyes for a moment. Now what? He’d screwed up...and...and...cutting off his panicked thoughts, she said quietly, “You know, don’t you? You all know.”

For a few short seconds, Alyx looked like he was going to break down and cry. But instead, he didn’t move, speaking in a completely different voice, one that was very unlike his usual kind and friendly tone, Alyx said, “...yes.”

“How long have you known?” Shadow asked in the same emotionless, droid-like voice. One that was impossibly unnatural for an Alraxian.

Swallowing nervously, almost looking more afraid than before, Alyx tried to look away and said, “Since...since mother tracked you down last time. She...we...I...they told me I should kill you if you knew.”

The way Shadow looked at him, Alyx couldn’t help but look back up into Shadow’s eyes. He saw Marix in them. Obviously, that terrified him. Strangely, though, Shadow felt her own expression soften just slightly, “Why am I not dead yet?”

Alyx sighed and closed his eyes, “I can’t...I can’t do it. You’re....you...you aren’t her. You aren’t my twin, but...but you are. I can see it in you. And I know you’re an abomination to life...everything that is evil. Yet...its...its been so long.”

When he started crying, Shadow panicked. What was she supposed to do? This wasn’t her brother. This was Marix’s brother. He said it himself. Yet...he was right. She couldn’t actually differentiate between her memories and Marix’s, so to her...this truly was her twin brother. Maybe not in every sense of the word, but there was something there that they could both notice. Carefully, she hugged him. As Alyx buried his face in her shoulder, Shadow asked, “How long has it been? How...how old would she be?”

It took a little while until Alyx calmed down enough to speak. His face was still in her shoulder when his muffled voice said, “Twenty cycles...she would be twenty cycles in a month or so.”

“You’ll be grown soon,” Shadow whispered, rubbing her brother’s back and thinking about all of this. She wasn’t that old. In fact, she was much younger than that. What did that mean? No. Think about that later. Talk to him... “Alyx, I still can’t. There are things I have to do here. I have a human...to train. And...” taking a deep breathing, Shadow knew the next words could change the entire exchange. But she said them anything, “And I think the real Marix is still alive. I need to find her.”

“She’ll kill you if she is alive,” mumbled Alyx as he sat back up and watched her closely.

Shadow nodded, “Maybe...but I have to find her anyway,” and then, seeing something in his expression, she changed her next words, “Go back home, Alyx. If I find her...I’ll send her. You know she’ll go. But you can’t stay here,” a grin appeared on her face, “You’re probably having enough trouble already.”

With a weak grin, Alyx nodded. Even for the smartest Alraxians, this place would be daunting. The idea of money was something that would throw anyone off for at least a week. To think of Alyx dealing with all of this couldn’t help but make Shadow grin more.

“I’ll bring you your sister back, Alyx. I promise.”

He nodded slowly, then suddenly shook his head and looked her straight in the eye, “I hope she lets you live...you are...you’re so much like her. I should be appalled. I should be disgusted but...but even if you don’t find her, I know she’s still alive.”

When he hugged her, Shadow couldn’t help but be surprised. In all the Alraxians hatred for clones, it was never imagined that the clone could actually have a similar personality as to the original. Always, it was assumed that the clone would be an evil abomination bent on destroying everything...especially its original. The fact that Shadow showed this to be different had Alyx’s mind in even more of a spin than before. He shouldn’t have been so happy. But like he’d said...his sister was alive in this clone.

They didn’t speak much after that. What else could be said? So, after pointless small talk, Shadow knew she had to go. After making sure he would go home and not follow her around(which he, among all her brothers, was the most known for doing and getting himself into a lot of trouble from it), Shadow left and started on the long trek back to Loki. So now home was in trouble. At least she had an excuse not to run off this time. There was even an excuse not to go straight to finding the real Marix. Jen’s training was more important now. But she couldn’t help shaking the worries that had come from seeing Marix’s twin again. Somehow, Shadow was going to ahve to find a way to force herself to focus on Jen’s training. That wasn’t something to involve oneself in and be distracted in the process. One thing at a time. First: Jen. Then....well...then, things could just go wherever the Force took them. At least, that was the idea. Shadow ignored the rare occurrence with which things actually followed the original idea.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 119: A Happy Beginning to a Dangerous End

Two hours later, and both Jen and Shadow returned. Shadow was quiet, speaking in those short, abrupt tones that she’d been so good at for as long as any of them had known her. Jen, on the other hand, was open, happy, and couldn’t really keep her mouth shut. Apparently, she’d gotten a hold of a nice, and fairly new, ship. The model was one that Akan didn’t recognize, but considering how many types of ships there were in the galaxy, this wasn’t a surprise at all. But she said that all the details were done, and all that needed to be finished now was for her and Titus to go and get it. This got a quick, almost worried look from Akan, who was surprised to see it met by Titus. Jen picked up on this, and raised an eyebrow. Saying nothing about it, though, she decided it was something to talk with Titus about later. But that was what needed to be figured out now. Later.

Akan had to run into Loki to find Shadow, who’d collapsed onto her bed face down. If he hadn’t known any better(in other words, hadn’t had the link with her), Akan would have sworn she’d have died. But the slow breathing was just how she slept, apparently. Dragging her back out to the other two, they all stood in an awkward silence for a couple of minutes. Honestly, Akan wasn’t sure what to do anymore. He couldn’t look at Jen without seeing...those dreams. And Titus...um, Voort...the first Voort was still Voort...Titus. Whatever. Akan now understood why it was good for people to have one name. One. Not two. Though it seemed like that was a common thing among the four of them now. But Akan wasn’t the only one having trouble, as Shadow just plain wasn’t sure what should be done now. Well, overall, she knew...but this whole...marriage thing. It never made sense to her in the first place. Sure, she understood the concept of a mate, especially a single mate for life but...but...it was only on that intellectual level the same way as a human child understood that babies have to come from somewhere. The details were lost. In fact, most of the general picture was.

It was Voort...Titus who broke the silence, “Where are we going from here?”

We. That word wasn’t lost on any of them. No longer was there that antagonistic attitude of ‘you’ and ‘me’. Despite the earlier talk(which was, of course, almost lying even to call it a heated argument) between him and Titus, there was still an underlying problem. Akan had a feeling it was because of those dreams...everything seemed to come back to that. It was going to drive him crazy eventually. Shadow wasn’t one to forget this, and had a feeling it would occur sooner than later. That alone helped her finalize what needed to be done first. With a much more ‘normal’ tone of voice from Shadow, she said, “I’m not...ready to deal with other things yet. And Jen’s...training is more important.”

Titus nodded. It was true. She had a strong potential within her that Akan wasn’t the only one to have noticed, and all of them knew, despite how they might feel about it, that it was very dangerous for someone with her strength to never have any kind of simple training in control. Even Alraxians, who were strongly emotional creatures at heart, knew the necessity in controlling those emotions in individuals strong in the Force. Of course, Shadow’s seemingly lack of emotions was not normal among Alraxians. Akan didn’t mention this to the two humans, but hoped that it wouldn’t have any negative effect on Jen’s training. Something was going to go wrong...and Akan knew that he just had to find it out and stop it. There had to be a way.

[Will you stop that damned doom-saying?] Shadow’s voice interjected into his thoughts like a lightsaber through flesh. It was the kind of thing that Akan knew he had more thoughts, but they’d been literally cut off and fallen somewhere out of reach. Shadow mentally smiled at that. She was good at things like that, and proud of it.

None of them really found it odd when no more words were exchanged. Well, except for a simple yet very important detail of where they were actually going. This was brought up by Jen after already having said the ‘See you there’ when she realized that she had no idea where ‘there’ was. Even Shadow had stopped at that. Biting her lip, her mind raced through a thousand planets. There was one. It was a good one. Also had a nice little poetic justice to it...not that Shadow was any expert on that kind of thing, but the world was the closest she knew to Alraxia in the galaxy. Endor. Barely populated, well forested, and most of all, warm without the evil dry sand on the other ‘warm’ planets. Why did they all end up as deserts around this part of the galaxy, anyway?!

And then they’d parted ways. Akan had found himself trying to point out which ship was theirs upon leaving, but considering how many were coming and going from Coronet, it was near impossible. There were even a large number heading in the same general course as Endor. Major trade routes out that direction. It would be a two day hyperspace jump. How long it would be for the Voorts was unknown, but probably not too much different unless they had an amazing hyperdrive on that ship. During their trip, Akan was actually surprised to find himself busy. Well, made busy. Shadow spent most of the time teaching him about Loki’s controls, with Loki’s help of course. The ship was beyond excited to have a new pilot. Actually, Loki just seemed excited about any kind of contact at all.

The rest of the time had been spent between eating, sleeping, an a long, slightly worrying discussion. It had started with Shadow telling him about her...Marix’s brother. Somehow, it had devolved into the issue of Jen and had nearly come to blows. Or claws. Probably a little of both. Loki had, thankfully, put a few words in after Akan had made a fairly stupid comment about Shadow’s competence(even though he’d not meant it as she had taken it). That had just barely stopped Akan from getting claws to the face. She wouldn’t have killed him. And even though hurting him would cause her some pain, it would have been worth it. It seemed like Akan just wasn’t going to get over his worries no matter what she said or did. Jen was going to be trained. Shadow was going to do it. Shadow was not going to let anything go wrong. Akan could whine and complain all he wanted as long as that didn’t interfere.

Jen and Titus had three days in hyperspace. Three very nice, long, and above all private days. The ship that Jen had gotten was a new take on an older Duros model. It almost looked like a flying bird mixed with the more conventional style designs used among most personal transports. From a distance, many would likely think it was a Lambda shuttle. Inside, there were four main rooms. An open cabin, two quarters of equal size, and the cockpit. This didn’t count the small engine room and other access tubes littered around. It was a rather uneventful trip, consisting mostly of the two of them telling old stories. The war was avoided, but there were many more things to tell beyond just that. Titus mostly told Jen about the real Marix. Though it had only been a month that he’d known her, it was enough to learn a lot. Enough for both of the Voorts to agree that finding the real Marix was somehow important. Titus might have originally discarded this as something that Shadow needed to do herself, but when he noticed that even Jen felt something there...well, he just knew it was important. Something they all had to do. As that odd family Jen had described to him. That thought couldn’t get anything but a smile to him. Two human adults, and two Alraxian children.

(Notes: This is the end of the second adventure. Next post, the start of my favorite of the adventures. Its also the longest, and could arguably be divided into about three different adventures. Hope you readers are all still enjoying this. If you've liked this stuff so far, you ain't seen nothing yet.)

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Part III
Chapter 120: Fifth Time's a Charm

Carefully, Akan opened his eyes. His eyes scanned the small, makeshift hut around him. Two months on Endor and they’d given up living in ships. Making small, boring little huts was no trouble at all. They were only used for sleeping, anyway...even that was becoming rare. Thankfully, there was no sign of Shadow. Good. Akan sat up, slowly and as quietly as he could. Nothing creaked. Nothing moved except him. Once again, his eyes went over the circular, wood hut. Still no sign of Shadow. Almost worrying considering the circumstances. His head was spinning, though. Ugh. So he’d been sick for the last week. Apparently, Alraxian did get sick. It was one of those basic questions one never asked and got annoyed about until it occurred. Shadow had ordered him to sleep until it was gone. There were a few reasons for that, none of them having anything to do with concern for his well being. Jen had been the one who’d taken up that front. Even Titus had. Amazingly enough.

Another minute passed as Akan’s head stopped trying to turn in circles and collapse in on itself. Instead, it just became a pounding headache. That could be dealt with. Anyway, he back hurt. Legs ached. Everything ached from lying in bed so long. Alright, so it’d only been about six hours...but for some reason Akan just couldn’t sit still. Next step was getting to his feet. Last time, Shadow had already caught him at this point and threatened to tie him down by his tail. Somehow, he didn’t doubt she’d do it. With a deep breath, Akan got to his feet, hands still on the bed to assist in balance. He still hadn’t gotten a hang of the tail for balance concept, so old fashioned ways would have to do. Again, his head spun for a few minutes. But again, there was no sign of Shadow. Probably off going through some exercises for Jen. Good.

The next part was the hardest. Walking. He still felt dizzy slightly, and so the short walk to the hut’s doorless exit took much more effort than usual. Even Shadow would have been proud of his unconscious use of his tail for balance. It swished behind him a couple times as he wobbled to the exit of the hut. He reached out and managed to stabilize himself with a hand on the door. Good. Not fallen over yet. Now. Willpower. Just walk out...and...

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Akan didn’t have to look up from his feet to know the source of that voice. He also knew that if he looked up, the glare from Shadow’s eyes would likely burn a hole in his skull. That also wasn’t a rhetorical question. He was going to have to answer that somehow. Doing his best to look straight down and ignore the glare he could feel on the top of his head, which was actually making his ears feel warm, Akan said roughly, “Can’t just lay in bed all day.”

“This is the second time you’ve tried that,” Shadow said flatly, a hint of ice in her voice that was probably just as deadly as a lightsaber, “Why should I believe you this time, hm?”

Realizing how much his throat hurt, Akan wished he didn’t have to talk. Sure, there was the link but...right now, that would be dangerous. He could feel it. She was going to make him realize how sick he still was whether he liked it or not. Or believed it or not. It still didn’t make him believe it. So he had to come up with some reason that he was ‘okay’ now. Inhaling carefully and trying to ignore the raw feeling in his throat, Akan said as normally as he could, “I’m fine. I feel fine. Its just a little headache. I’ve had worse. Let me at least go for a walk.”

The way Shadow was glaring eventually forced Akan to look up. It didn’t even require the Force to make him do that. Even without the link it would have worked. Sheer force of annoyance drove that. When he looked up, he of course wished he’d just closed his eyes. Her silvery-purple eyes dug deep into his very essence and clawed at it a few times just for fun while she spoke in those same, slow tones that would unnerve a Rancor, “You said that last time. And yesterday. Now, getting sick on me once. Fine. Understandable. Twice? Still understandable because you were at least staying in bed. Three times? That was pushing it, but I’ve been feeling nice lately for some reason. But four times?! And after you insist that you’re just fine?! That its only a little headache? You’ve had worse! HA! You want me to risk a fifth time now? How stupid do you think I am?!”

Akan did his best to hold Shadow’s glare, not matching it but at least showing a little resistance to it. He held the gaze for longer than anyone, save Marix herself, could ever manage. Managing to hold back a cough(as Shadow would probably murder him for just that) Akan said simply, “I’m fine. Trust me. Just a walk, then I’ll come back. You don’t even have to follow me.”

Silence. That disturbing silence that was so quiet that made Akan wonder if Shadow was actually screaming at him through the link. Well, she was...in her own way. The silent screaming that unnerved people so much worked much better, especially in Alraxian. His not understanding it just made it even more worrying somehow. And then, Shadow even surprised Akan, “Fine. Last chance. You screw this up and I will break both your legs and make sure you can’t morph back for a very long time.”

Akan nodded. The nod actually made him dizzy again, but he did a good job in hiding that fact. Without missing a beat, Akan started a slow and determined walk. Shadow was right next to him, not actually saying anything and watching him closely. He made it thirty paces. Or, as Shadow counted it, four trees. After that, Akan suddenly found the everything too much, realized what was about to happen and...

“DAMMIT AKAN!!” Shadow screamed a second after he’d gotten sick on her again. He’d collapsed to the ground, groaning and curling up in that position most children did when sick. She glared down at him a long moment before cleaning herself off as best was possible. Any other time, Shadow would have kicked him. Hard. But she didn’t. Rage had gone far beyond that point, and was now into the seething cold stages of simple anger. Reaching down, Shadow grabbed Akan’s right ankle and started dragging him back to the hut. She half considered taking a detour and dragging him through the river that ran near here, but decided against it for the moment.

She only made it halfway to the hut before Jen wandered past. Seeing the situation, she raised an eyebrow and said, “You let him get up again, didn’t you?”

Shadow just gave her a flat look, nodding and not saying anything. That’s about the time that Jen noticed something else. Her features got all screwed up, and she asked, “What is that smell?”

“He was sick,” Shadow grumbled, wrinkling her nose, “On me. Again.”

“Oh...” Jen managed a sympathetic look. Without another word, she assisted in dragging the still groaning Akan back to bed, glaring at him like an annoyed nanny, then walking out with Shadow. Once they were back outside, Jen looked to Shadow and asked, “Anymore training for today?”

“I’d planned on it,” Shadow mumbled, starting a walk towards the river, “But now I’m going to go have a bath. Actually, come with me. You can sit at the river’s edge and work on those levitation exercises again.”

Jen sighed. Those were the ones she couldn’t get a hang of. As they walked off, she looked towards her ship, the Alderaan II, and wondered if Titus was awake yet. It had been a long night, with him teaching her the basics about lightsaber construction. That was the one thing no one really had a problem with him teaching her. It didn’t involved much use of the Force, and wouldn’t endanger her. That was the idea. Of course, only Titus seemed to notice how easily she took to the martial teaching she’d been given.

* * * *​

Titus was awake. He’d actually been awake for about an hour. For a little while he’d watched the trees from the main viewport, remembering the planet from oh so many years ago. He’d been here during that battle, with the second Death Star and the Emperor above. He was not, however, one of the Imperials to surrender at the end of the battle. Instead, he and a small group had hid in the forest until the Rebels had left, taken a small shuttle, and gotten out. So many had died on this planet, Rebel and Imperial alike. It was depressing to think about, so he’d found something else to do. For some reason, he’d been drawn to checking out the latest news in the galaxy. Through some boring reports about planetary disputes and Imperial skirmishes, he found something of interest.

Actually, interest wasn’t the correct word. It was something of worry. For a long time, Titus had expected something like this, but now to have it confirmed was even worse. There was a bounty on his head. An official New Republic bounty. Five hundred thousand credits. There was also a bounty on the other three, each at two hundred thousand. All but his were alive. Titus’ was listed as ‘whatever is most convenient’. A nice way of saying ‘We’ll kill him if you don’t have the time’. He sighed. At least their location was listed as ‘Unknown’. Or at least, it was until you looked closer and it listed possible locations such as ‘Corellia and Coruscant’. There was no mention of Endor, but a few other Outer Rim systems were listed that weren’t too far off. That was unnerving.

Leaning back in the chair, Titus eyed the screen. Only he had a picture. That was one good thing, at least. After closing his eyes, he decided it probably wasn’t anything to worry about. There was nothing to indicate they were on Endor. In fact, there was only one real connection back to one of those listed worlds...Corellia. They’d bought the ship there. Jen had used her name. It wasn’t something they’d thought about at the time. But was there anything to track them to this place? No, they’d checked the ship over. No tracking devices or anything like that. No nothing. It was a dead end. Mentally, Titus rephrased that. It should be a dead end. But for some reason, things like this had a way of going pear shaped at just the wrong time.

 

[Angcuru]

Just got through the first page, and I'm really liking it. Keep it coming.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 121: Heavy Rocks, Weighted Dreams, and Grave News

Jen glared at the rock. Well, it was more like staring intently and trying to force one’s will on an inanimate object, but glaring just felt like the right word. Though it was probably becoming a real glare as the rock wasn’t moving like it should be. Shadow had explained that it was simply a matter of making your will reality. Interesting sounding words, but they didn’t actually explain how she was supposed to get the rock to move without touching it. Jen had tried thinking at the rock. That did nothing. So, she tried thinking around the rock. Despite the paradox in those thoughts, it still didn’t work. Apparently, making no sense didn’t cause the Force to work. Maybe just thinking wasn’t enough?

Behind her, she could feel Shadow’s gaze. It wasn’t prying or even dangerous, just watchful. Waiting. Resisting the urge to turn and look back to the Alraxian, Jen did her best to keep the focus on the rock. Thinking at it wasn’t enough...thinking around it wasn’t enough. Wait. Maybe Jen wasn’t doing the right thing, here. She was thinking about the rock. About it wasn’t at it. Slowly, Jen tried to figure out how to push her thoughts outward. To the rock. She did feel an odd tingle through her spine, but nothing outward reacted. Close. Very close. But not there yet. If forcing her thoughts out to the rock wasn’t enough, maybe trying bringing the rock to her thoughts? Instead of reaching out as it were, Jen attempted to visualize the rock moving to a small circular nothing that represented her thoughts. It was then that she realized her eyes had closed. Trying to hold the focus, she carefully opened one eye.

Just a couple of feet from her face was the rock. It floated at eye level in a somewhat awkward way. A grin came onto her face, and she called over to Shadow, “HA! I did it–OW!”

The break in focus was something Shadow had actually been waiting for. When Jen had yelled out happily, she’d not been ready to divide her focus as much as was necessary. This meant the rock fell. Into her lap. It wasn’t a very lightweight rock, either. Shadow couldn’t help a light smile, walking over to Jen and patting her on the shoulder while the woman manually got the rock off of her, “You figured that one out quickly. Think you’re ready for two yet?”

Jen put the rock down in front of her and looked over her shoulder to Shadow, “And risk more bruises?”

Shadow laughed and had a seat next to the human woman, “You’ll get plenty of those when we get to martial training, might as well get used to them.”

Nodding, Jen looked down at the rock, “I assume it will get easier with practice?”

“Everything does,” Shadow said with a nod, idly playing with the small amount of dirt at the river’s edge behind them.

“So I’m told,” Jen smiled slightly and leaned back a little. Her expression changed and she said quietly, “Something’s bothering you.”

Shadow raised an eyebrow. Jen may not have been catching onto the physical aspect of the Force too well, but she had the more indirect things down almost naturally. She was very good at reading emotions, and that was likely a strong mix of natural aptitude with and without the Force. It was part of the reason that Shadow had focused on teaching Jen the more direct teachings, as Jen was already well versed in the mental. Noticing that Jen was still giving her that motherly ‘You will tell me what’s wrong or else’ look, Shadow shrugged and said, “Its nothing important. What you’re doing now, however, is.”

Jen got the hint. Nodding and not prying anymore, she looked back to the rock that now sat just in front of her. Fine. If she wouldn’t talk, Jen couldn’t force it out. Besides, Shadow was right. This was important. Whatever was bothering Shadow was probably important, too, but at least Akan could deal with that. Well, once he was allowed to move from that bed again. As her focus faded back to trying to move that stupid rock, Jen couldn’t help a grin at thinking about how long Akan would be stuck in that bed. If he’d just stop being so stubborn, it’d be no problem. He was asking for years, though.

* * * *​

Akan had actually fallen asleep this time. It was a good thing, as after getting ill all over Shadow, he still felt like a live womp rat was chewing on his insides. For the last two months, he’d not slept well in the few chances he’d gotten for sleep. At first, he’d continually seen those dreams again...watched Jen fall away. Watched Voort move to kill Shadow...and then the other, seeing Jen killing them all. But those soon got company. Not long after Jen had gotten into a regular training and sleep schedule, Shadow doubled up on her work. As she’d said, she took time to teach Akan in the ‘real’ Force.

Because of his prior knowledge of the Light Side, this was not the focus of the training for him. Instead, Shadow taught him to use(in a controlled manner) the Dark Side. It was more simple exercises to teach him that burying his anger and ‘dark’ emotions was only causing him to tear himself apart from the inside. Shadow taught him to use the emotions to strengthen him. But at the same time, she explained, one must use it in moderation. The Dark Side was not corrupting from the Alraxian point of view. It was not easier, faster, or even stronger. It simply was another side to a coin. In the Alraxian Force tradition, the Light was just as dangerous if one embraced it fully. If you were consumed in Light, Shadow said, it would quiet literally blind you to reality. The Dark was the same, blacking out the real world if you allowed it to be out of balance. That was the key. Balance. With both, true enlightenment would be reached. Not power. Not knowledge. Not anything the Jedi or the Sith associated with the Force. It was strange and horribly foreign to Akan, but he didn’t have much of a choice.

While he had trouble with the balancing act outwardly, the true problems came in his sleep. Dreams that were likely inspired by his own previous fears of the Dark Side. Dreams that just felt like dreams. Not like visions as the ones with Jen did. This, though, did not make them any less worrying. Alraxians didn’t sweat, so he didn’t wake up in a cold sweat. Instead, he woke up in a cold nothing, which was, again, even worse. Nearly half a year as an Alraxian now, and new things were still driving him crazy. Part of him still felt human, and there was always a very strong urge to be human. Yet Shadow had insisted he stick to who he was now. So that also assisted in his sleepless nights. The dreams.

But this time, he didn’t dream. He saw. It was an odd distinction, but one that someone accustomed to such things could understand. It was unique, though, in that he knew it wasn’t real. He knew he’d fallen asleep, and this made Akan feel slightly trapped in this. First, he saw a long, blank landing platform. It would look normal on pretty much any planet, save for the time ‘he’ looked up. Buildings. Thousands of them, stretching up as far as the eye could see. Nearly reaching space, itself. Only one planet ever came anywhere near that. Coruscant. Right. Seeing Coruscant...at this realization, the scene changed slightly. Not in his view, but in the smell. He turned to follow the source of this odd smell but saw nothing. The platform was empty. Had he walked here? There wasn’t a ship...but there was someone near. Or something. Or...well, something.

Something felt wrong, though. He found himself walking down the platform towards the connecting building. The doors opened to reveal a normal receiving room among the large planet’s upper sections. But there wasn’t a docking officer at the small desk right in front of him. Odd. Why was he here? Again, he found himself moving. Walking quickly out to the city itself. When the door to the outside opened, he looked out upon the large, Imperial Plaza. Even after the Empire’s loss of the planet, the name had stayed. At one end, was the gigantic Imperial Palace, now the converted into apartment complexes and officers for higher ranking members in the New Republic. Between where he stood on a large balcony and the Palace, was the gigantic courtyard of the plaza. It was the size of most small cities on other planets. Every single hour of every single day, the plaza was littered with thousands of people moving here and there though the monuments, smaller buildings, and kiosks in that plaza. Every single hour except this one, it seemed. The entire plaza was empty. Unmoving. Dead, as it were.

Slowly, Akan’s ‘eyes’ traveled across all he could see. The Senate building off to the far east, lights still glowing gently in the cloudy sky, but still no movement. Not even an airspeeder in the sky. Nothing at all. No where. As his eyes came back towards the plaza, they locked onto one particular building. It was taller than the towering Palace itself, but shaped more like a great spire in the sky. At the top of the mighty building was a small platform. Somehow, despite the great distance between where he stood and the tower, he could see the details. He could remember it. And then he knew what it was. His eyes went up slightly, looking up at the clouded sky above it and stopping at one point in the sky. Just a minute up after getting into the sky. That was where Mare had been killed. Just in the middle of the cloud blurring his vision.

As the vision itself faded into black, comfortable sleep, Akan felt himself pulled. He needed to go there. Something was there. Even if it wasn’t something tangible, there was something. Shadow had told him more than once that he needed to stop running from that and confront it. What better way than to go there? By the time he’d drifted back into sleep, he’d had a short moment to wonder why the planet was devoid of life. That couldn’t be just for the sake of convenience.

* * * *​

Eyeing the scanners with interest, Titus Voort watched the ship that was coming into orbit. It wasn’t a New Republic ship. Or at least, wasn’t transmitting a NR transponder signal. It could have been a bounty hunter, lucky and stupid to come in so obviously. No, there wasn’t a path to follow here, though. Perhaps a random traveler? Why come to this planet, though? He stopped to think about this. Why were they here? To get away from the galaxy. A good place to hide. Solitude and safety. So this ship could be here for the same reasons. There was a small mining operation somewhere on the other side of the planet, maybe it was a supply ship. They’d seen at least one other in the last month.

He figured there wasn’t really anything to worry about from this ship, but as he’d done with all the others that they had spotted, Titus watched it anyway. Just in case. One couldn’t be too careful, especially when trying to hide from potential bounty hunters and the New Republic military. Something interested him about this YT-2400, though. He was experienced enough to know when the Force was trying to tell him something, and wasn’t the kind to ignore it either. So he watched it even more closely. Not that staring at the screen harder did any good, but at least it made him feel better about it.

And then he got a good reason for his interest. The ship’s course altered just slightly. It was enough for Titus to identify that it was coming their direction. Almost a little too much of a coincidence for his liking. As he considered whether or not to send a signal to the ship, Titus ran through what he knew about the old YT-2400s. Built to replace the older and oddly popular YT-1300. They never caught on for some reason. Smaller, not nearly as much cargo space, and built with only a single top cannon as weaponry. They were fast, yes, but that was about all that they had going for them. If someone didn’t know better, it wouldn’t be hard to confuse the 2400 with the now-famous 1300 model. If not for Han Solo’s YT-1300, the model would likely have fallen into obscurity and been replaced by the YT-2400. But the line was cut short, only a limited number were ever made. So who was this? A lucky bounty hunter was the only explanation that Titus could come up with until the comm beeped.

For a moment, he stared at the gently blinking light off to the side of the co-pilot’s chair to his left. After a moment’s thought, he decided it wasn’t something to ignore. So, Titus reached over and gently flipped the comm switch on. Even before he said anything, he heard a familiar voice, “Took one hell of a time to find you, Titus.”

“Don’t land that thing near us!” Titus growled upon identifying the voice, “And the second you’re down you’ve got some explaining to do, Hansen. First on the list, and had better be answered before you set down, is how you found me. Second, and equally important, is what are you doing here?”

There was a short pause in the transmission. During this time, Titus watched the ship readjust its course to a direction farther north. As the ship entered the atmosphere, Hansen’s voice returned to the comm, “First, Loki’s an easy ship to identify when you know what to look for and I’ve got good instincts. Second, and more important, is that we need to talk,” she paused, and Titus inadvertently looked up out of the cockpit’s canopy. He wouldn’t be able to see the ship coming in, but it was still some odd reaction that most people had when they knew a ship was on its way. The pause ended again and Hansen’s voice sounded a bit more worried, “We finished analyzing all the data from Sadrak’s little base. You’re not going to like most of it.”

“I never expected to,” Titus grumbled to himself, still looking up through the thick canopy of trees. Looked like they were about to lose this nice break from the reality of the galaxy. It was only a matter of time...

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 122: The Past, The Present, and a Small Ship Theft

Everyone but Akan sat in the small ‘lounge’ room on Hansen’s YT-2400, the Starjumper. Yeah, it wasn’t a very imaginative name, but Hansen hadn’t been the one to think of it. Apparently she had ‘acquired’ the ship under circumstances she didn’t want to talk about over on Nar Shadaa. She had been searching for them. How they trail had led her to Nar Shadaa, none of them had any idea. Only Shadow knew the planet well, and the last time she was there was a good many years ago. The ship wasn’t exactly legally Hansen’s and she wasn’t about to tempt fate by rigging a new transponder signal just yet. According to Hansen, the Hutt she stole the ship from wouldn’t realize it was gone until he tried to use the dummy ship. Hopefully, that would be at least another week.

After that, there was a short period of small talk where they all caught up on what had been going on. Well, except for Hansen. She politely waited for the others to finish(well, the Voorts, Shadow didn’t say anything other than ‘Akan keeps getting sick on me’), and then leaned back in the small chair she sat in. With a thoughtful look across the three of them, Hansen said, “I’ll get right to the point. Sadrak was doing some kind of genetic research. That army we fought on the sand were not some strange alien creature we didn’t know about on Arranis. Those were Narani. Obviously, we had an idea this might be what he was doing when...when...” she trailed off a moment, seeing the look on Shadow’s face. When they found Landau. There was a short, awkward silence as all of them filled that in mentally.

The pause gone, Hansen continued as if she’d not stopped speaking in the first place, “It’s the reason we haven’t actually found anymore Narani. They all...died. Whatever he did to them was somehow linked to his own life, and when he was killed, they simply fell to pieces. I’d wager they were already dead.”

“Hold on a second,” Jen said, waving a hand and giving Hansen that scientist look that could make anyone feel completely stupid, “You’re telling me he killed thousands of Narani, grafted extra limbs onto their bodies, and then gave them life again?!”

Hansen stared blankly. Surprisingly, Titus nodded, “It is not beyond the power of the Dark Side to mimic life. As Sadrak was a devoted study of ancient Sith Lore, I wouldn’t put it past him to have found things even worse than what we saw out there. It may have been his compromise for losing...” carefully, Titus glanced to Shadow, who just stared right back, “For losing the Darks. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d wanted to use those two as breeding stock to make a completely different type of army.”

The two other humans stared straight at Titus, suddenly worried about the tone his voice was taking on. It was Jen who said, “You’re speculating a little too much.”

“No,” Titus said solemnly, shaking his head and looking down at the durasteel floor plates, “No, I’m not. Its what...I would have done in his position.”

Silence. It was a long silence, and eventually Shadow said in her usual quiet, emotionless voice, “You are correct. But there’s more to it. He...we know he studied my people’s history very well. I don’t know why he gave up on the Darkwings, but he obviously had something else up his sleeve. The Darks were strong, yet weak enough to stay under his control. The offspring would have been completely his, and after that he would have killed the originals. But there was something else...something I think he knew of and was trying to get out of Dar–me,” not waiting for them to question her, Shadow raised her left arm and focused on it. It still felt horribly wrong, but it wasn’t the first time she’d voluntarily done it. A few seconds later, and her entire hand was the shining silver of a strong metal. The metal started to spread up her arm, but seeing that they got the idea, Shadow focused on it again. It was actually hard to stop, but a after a couple of moments the metal stopped spreading down her arm and it returned to normal, “I...I don’t know how it happened, but I do know that like that, I am...the perfect weapon.”

Titus didn’t look surprised, and nodded slowly, “It was an experimental gene placed in some of the clones. I...I didn’t know which ones they were in. I would have told you if I had. But Sadrak would have known...”

“There’s more,” Hansen cut in, stopping the diverging topic at hand and sitting forward, “We found the list of clones. In fact, the entire project’s records were in the computer system. All of them were labeled as ‘in stasis’ except for two.”

Those words hung in the air for a long moment as the three others comprehended what had just been said. Eventually, all eyes fell on Titus. He would be the one of them to know the details among them. Seeing that he was placed on the spot again, he sighed and said, “I don’t know anything about it. Even your escape was after I left, Shadow,” turning, he looked to Hansen again, “What was the other clone’s designation and when did it...she go missing?”

It. That single word shot a painful knife through Shadow’s mind. It brought back memories that had been repressed long ago, not all that unlike Akan had done. But though Akan had done so almost purposely, forcing himself to forget happy times, Shadow had done something different. Her mind simply placed a large gap between her being Marix BlueIce, captured by the Empire and then everything faded out. When it came back, she was with Max, the old human smuggler who’d assisted her for so very long. But at hearing ‘it’, in that certain tone that Titus probably didn’t even realize he’d used, Shadow’s mind suddenly woke up in a few places. Marix had been an ‘it’ once. For a long time, her family never used her name. She was the Tam-Day-U. Unspeakable. Horrible. Evil. Yet, used in the end and treated as objects. The Empress’ daughter was not even above this treatment. ‘She’ had forgotten even having a name until leaving the Hidden Worlds, when her mother had actually used her real name in saying goodbye. But Shadow had not been above this treatment. To whoever had created her, she was simply a tool to be used for the Empire’s power grabbing and assassinations. It. Nothing but a tool. Not alive. Just a thing.

Hansen’s voice spoke, jolting Shadow back into reality but not wiping the hundred different voices calling her ‘it’ away, “The clone was Delta Nine. And she escaped...not long after Shadow did.”

“Nine...” Titus thought on this for a long moment. When his expression sunk, the three females grew worried, “She was an adult clone. I remember always having trouble with her for some reason. The other adults never rebelled like she did...a scouting mission she’d been sent on to Bothawui ended up as a bloodbath. I still don’t know how we managed to cover it up.”

Another short silence. This time, all eyes ended up on Shadow. Her mind raced. She should go to Coruscant, find the real Marix. She had to be alive...somehow, Shadow could feel a faint twitch from somewhere ‘else’ every so often. It could have easily just been Akan’s mind doing odd things to the link. It wouldn’t have been the first time. Yet, somehow Shadow knew it was more than that. Marix was alive. There was something very important about her. No! Not yet. Realizing how long it had actually been, Shadow’s tail swished noticeably before she said almost harshly, “It has to wait. I won’t stop Jen’s training for my own selfish reasons.”

“It could be important,” Jen offered, just as sympathetic to Shadow’s feelings towards the real Marix as the others were.

But again, Shadow shook her head, “It is important, but it can wait. Some things are more important. This will be dangerous enough as it is, and you’ll need every little advantage possible. We all will.”

* * * *​

Akan was awake and actually feeling better. Every other time he’d woken up feeling like a Star Destroyer was resting on his forehead, but for once, his mind wasn’t weighed down so heavily. The headache was gone. Though his tail ached...that was an odd thing to even think about, even after having a tail for so long. The stupid thing was so sensitive and he’d sat on it so many times that it just wasn’t funny anymore. It hurt. A lot. And now it just ached. Akan had once heard people talking about their hair hurting, and he figured this was about the same sensation.

Sitting up took no effort at all, and his head didn’t spin either. He’d never been good at healing through the Force, but what other explanation was there? And right on cue, Shadow revealed she’d been paying attention to his thoughts, ‘saying’. [No, I already told you, if you just sleep, your body will heal itself naturally. Its almost like involuntary morphing. Really, the only times Alraxians actually get sick like that is from lack of sleep.]

Despite her still sitting in Hansen’s ship and him being in that small hut, Akan knew she was glaring at him. He tried to ignore the feeling by going back to those dreams. That dream. It wasn’t multiple. Coruscant. Getting to his feet and ignoring the wobbly stance while his legs got used to holding him up again, Akan replied to Shadow through the link. [I need a ship.]

[You know...] Shadow’s voice allowed a short moment for him to feel like an idiot before continuing. [...your training isn’t done either. Arguably, you’re even more of a danger right now than Jen could ever be.]

Akan knew that. He didn’t need reminding. However, this didn’t change his mind. As a very stubborn person for so long, he’d learned when it was correct to stick to a course and when to flee...or even wait. In this case, neither of the latter two applied. He needed to be on Coruscant. Shadow felt that, and to Akan’s surprised, understood it. Then she said. [You can’t take Loki. He’s too easy to notice.]

Was she actually suggesting he go on his own? Akan thought about that a moment. Yes. She was. Did she feel that pull, too? Well, of course she did, but perhaps it was more because of her need to find Marix than Akan’s need to confront his demons. But there was still more than just a simple confrontation with his past. That was what drove the need. The need to know what was completely unknown yet horribly important. So his mind searched for a way to get there. The second thought after Loki was to take the Alderaan II. No, neither Jen nor Titus would ever allow that. Not that they didn’t trust him, but it was easily traceable. That left only one option, and Akan knew that Hansen wouldn’t let him take her ship. But...

[Is anyone else there other than you?] Akan asked Shadow as he started a slow walk to the forest, following the feeling through the link to find where Hansen had landed the ship. It felt far away...but then again, mentally far was pretty much impossible to compare with physically far, so he just tried walking without thinking about it.

The break in the time between Akan’s question and Shadow’s answer was enough to tell him she looked through the ship to make sure. [They went to show off their new ship to Hansen. You’ll have to hurry here...] another pause, then [This is really asking for it, Akan.]

Realizing that this was actually going to work, Akan made a detour to Loki. The ship seemed to be asleep or at least resting, as Loki didn’t say anything to Akan as he got his small bag of clothes and then left. When Akan was outside again, he was human. Lately, after all the morph training Shadow had been forcing on him(okay, so he didn’t mind that much....it was kind of fun), he finally felt odd in the human form. And it also taught him that tails obviously didn’t something for balance even if he didn’t know how, as his first few steps in his old human body were shaky and he nearly fell over. Passing Alderaan II, Akan heard voices echoing down the single access ramp located off to the ships port side. He quieted his steps, and at the same time sped up his pace. Try not to act like you’re hiding...Voort...Titus would notice that in a second. Even after passing by the small shuttle without being noticed, Akan kept up his careful approach to Hansen’s new ship.

Akan, thankfully, didn’t get lost in finding Shadow. When he got to the YT-2400, she was standing just at the edge of the boarding ramp. Her tail was twitching constantly, and it didn’t take the link to know she didn’t like this. After giving up on just standing there, Akan said quietly, “I have to.”

Shadow actually nodded at that, though her tail was still swishing across the grass covered ground. Slowly, she took a step to the left to allow him to pass her by and go into the ship itself. When he got right next to her, though, Shadow grabbed his arm tightly and looked him straight in the eyes, “You’d better come back soon.”

Surprised at the obvious concern Shadow was showing, Akan held the gaze. Eventually, he nodded and said quietly, “I promise.”

Then, he walked up the access ramp and looked to the small control panel to his left. Reaching over, he pressed the switch. Over the loud hiss of the ramp moving up into the ship, he heard Shadow say, “Good luck, Akan-jai. Stay safe.”