Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 140: Mos Eisley's Got Nothing on this Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy

There were many places on many planets in the galaxy that could accurately be described as ‘a wretched hive of scum and villainy’. However, there was only one place in the galaxy that this could be applied to an entire planet. Ord Mantell. A haven for bounty hunters, smugglers, assassins, mercenaries, and all the unsavory folk of the galaxy. Yes, Hutt space had many similar places, but the moon of Nar Shaddaa was no where as large as Ord Mantell was. While Coruscant was an planet wide city, Ord Mantell was a planet wide slum. Yes, there were ‘high class’ hotels and buildings, but these were well outnumbered by seedy taverns and stereotypical dark alleys that served as main streets. Putting it simply, Ord Mantell was not the choice vacation spot of the galaxy.

And after Titus had finished negotiating the docking fee and they began their descent into the planet’s atmosphere, Jen began to have second thoughts. Perhaps it was too late, but she couldn’t help it, “Isn’t it a bad idea to be here with...bounties on our collective heads?”

He just shrugged, focusing for a moment on bringing Alderaan down safely. Once they’d set down on a large, open air landing pad at the edge of one of the smaller cities, Titus started to power down the ship and said quietly, “It’s a little late by now, but you’re right. We’ll just keep our heads down and hopefully keep them attached.”

“Comforting,” Jen couldn’t help a slight grin before reaching over and squeezing his arm gently, “You still owe me that nice long vacation away from the universe, you know.”

“Is that a hint?” he smiled and got to his feet, helping her up and heading out of the ship.

But Jen shook her head as she walked with him, “Nope, its just me keeping score. The more I total up, the more you owe me.”

“So what is this total up to now?” Titus raised an eyebrow, ignoring the hiss that the ramp made as it slowly extended to the landing pad below.

She smiled warmly, “A month on some of those wonderful beaches I’ve heard about in the Hapes Cluster.”

“Nice to know you’re keeping a budget in mind,” he commented idly as they stepped out onto the deck. He quietly eyed the man approaching them. Tall, slender, and an interestingly designed bone structure on his forehead. The man wore dirty and beat up clothes that had probably once been a uniform. Glancing off to the other side, Titus could see the X-Wing was set down behind them. Good.

“Iz two hunred an fifty creditz,” the man started speaking before he was even close to the Voorts, extending his hand and making sure to walk in a way that his dulled badge showed, as did the two patches, that had probably been a bright red once, on his shoulders, “An you no tryz anyting funny. I know how deal with trouble maker humanz.”

Titus and Jen exchanged looks, and she let go of his arm so that he could walk over and pay the humanoid. He handed the docking ‘officer’, if he could be called that at least, the credits and started to turn back when the humanoid suddenly spoke up again, “I zaid noting funny! You pay all creditz right now!”

“What are you talking about?” Titus couldn’t held putting his hand just a bit closer to the large lightsaber that was at his belt, “That’s two fifty just like you said!”

“Yez!” the humanoid gave Titus a glare, “I zay two hunred fifty creditz, but you two zhipz!”

Titus rolled his eyes but nodded. It took him a moment to fish out the credits, but he payed the man another two hundred and fifty. Satisfied, the docking officer pocketed the credits and wandered back off away from the landing pad. After a moment of watching the curious creature, Titus turned back and walked over to Jen, who by now had the two Alraxians standing next to her. When he got there, he pointed straight to Akan, “You owe me two hundred and fifty credits.”

“I’ll pay you when I’ve got it,” Akan said with a shrug, glancing to Shadow a moment as if to try to force her to pay it right away. She was in his ship, too...so technically it was half her money. But the discussion ended there, as there were obviously more important things to speak of.

Titus was the one to bring them to the task at hand, “So shall we split up and search around?”

“No,” Jen cut in before anyone else could speak. She spoke very quickly and sternly to get her point through, “Not in this place. We stick together. If we run into trouble it will be easier to deal with that way.”

Surprisingly, the one to agree first was Miss ‘I Work Alone’ herself, Shadow, “Jen is right. We are going to run into trouble here. There isn’t any avoiding it on this planet. If we stay together, Akan and I can look scary and hopefully ward off anything unnecessary.”

“Look scary?” Jen raise an eyebrow, fighting back a grin at the thought of either of them trying to ‘look scary’. It was probably the way Shadow phrased it more than anything. That was an unusual thing that could have almost counted as humour. Very un-Shadow like. But very Marix like...even though Jen didn’t know that. But Shadow only nodded, a neutral expression on her face an no indication that she might demonstrate ‘looking scary’. Akan opened his mouth to say something, but only got out a grunt as Shadow elbowed him in the side, whispered quietly, “Scary, not whiny, dammit.”

To herself, Jen smiled and nodded. Titus also nodded, turning and looking to the tall and beat up buildings that sprawled out in front of them, “Off we go then.”

The next three hours were spent wandering the streets, going from seedy tavern to seedier drinking hole. What they looked for, none of them really knew. Perhaps just to have Shadow noticed. Then, maybe, that would give a hint to Nine’s whereabouts. But their wanderings provided no clues. And other than a near fight because of a comments that a couple of Trandoshan thugs made that Akan took a little too personally, things went well. At least the barkeep hadn’t demanded any kind of payment for damages. But really, how could a small, frail looking Rodian demand that kind of thing from anyone? Especially considering the culprits had thrown the two Trandoshans through two doors and out a window into the street before firing off a quick blaster shot that easily hit the blaster hands of each thug. So what if Akan was showing off? It had worked...and it was kind of fun.

But now they stood on the exact opposite side of the city from where they’d started, in a small square that had probably once been a very beautiful sight. Of course, now the fountain didn’t run, and was being used as a trash dump. There were a couple of old benches around, and the towering buildings reminded them of a miniature Coruscant. It was Shadow who sighed first, watching the groups of aliens and humanoids passing in all directions around them. Ignoring them. Quietly, trying not to draw any attention, she mumbled, “Maybe I made a mistake. Maybe Nine didn’t come here.”

“It was a long shot,” Akan said quietly, and that actually got him a glare from Shadow. He was only voicing what she was thinking, but she had this way of not liking it when he spoke her thoughts. Even if she did it to him. And even if Marix was screaming ‘hypocrite’ at her again. It was her own damn choice to use Shadow’s body in the first place, so Marix was just going to have to deal with things.

“Then we’ve got no leads at all,” Titus spoke up, sighing and looking back the direction they’d come from.

Jen shook her head and tried to be the positive voice, no matter how hard it was, “Why don’t we just head back to Alderaan and get some rest? There’s room for you two if one of you doesn’t mind the floor.”

Shadow looked pointedly to Akan, who rolled his eyes and grumbled something that could have been anything from an acknowledgment of defeat to an oath to fight the decision. But it didn’t matter. Silently, they all agreed it was a good idea and started back, turned around, and started the long walk back. The sun in the sky was setting as they got halfway to the ships, casting dark shadows across the already bleak city. It seemed that as the night began to fall, more and more people flocked to the streets. So many different species that Shadow easily lost count after seventy. And they all ignored the four of them. Two humans and two walking felines, yet even Alraxians were lost in this diverse crowd.

Then why did she still feel watched? Shadow wasn’t alone. Akan felt it, too, as did the Voorts. It was obvious in the way they all would look over their shoulders or up above them every few minutes...just in case. Just in case what? The thought just ended there. Well, not for Titus, but he was trained to be paranoid and always on the lookout for traps. And this stunk of a trap. He didn’t need the Force to tell, though it did help...but not enough.

As they passed through a square similar to the one in which they’d turned around from, Titus began to worry. It was open. Less people. Easier for a sniper to place a shot, or for—

“New Republic not put many non-Imperials on wanted lists, you know,” a nasally sounding voice from behind them spoke quietly. It was another moment before the four of them realized that there were about ten men of various species surrounding them. Ten. All had blasters of various sizes trained on the four of them, and at least two carried weapons that could easily take down an airspeeder with a single shot. They all froze, even the Alraxians. What good was morphing if there was nothing left of your body in the first place?

Titus glanced over his shoulder to see a Rodian holding a small, but very deadly and very illegal disrupter pistol, trained right on Jen’s back. Disrupters were illegal for a very good reason. Even the Empire had outlawed them, as they had a nasty habit of tearing apart the target from the inside first. These boys weren’t just playing around. At seeing Titus’ attention on the weapon, the Rodian smiled as best as a Rodian could smile, “Ahhh, so I is right. You worth very much, yes. So much that even this many of us can split reward and make happy life.”

Very slowly, and without moving anymore than she had to, Jen said over her shoulder, “That bounty is for us alive, you know.”

That got a laugh from all of the men surrounding them, though the Rodian’s was the most annoying, “Oh, yes, it is. But there others who pay little less for you dead. We willing to take price cut if you cause problem. You and you pets understand, yes?”

[Akan...don’t.] that wasn’t Shadow’s voice, as she was just as angry at the ‘pet’ comment as Akan was. But Marix was being the voice of reason, no matter how unconvincing it may have been. The word ‘pet’ was what had sent him off back in that tavern earlier. Not so much the word, really, but the way it was said. Just that way. The wrong way. The one that made him have to fight back a violent growl.

[I will kill the Rodian first.] Akan said to her, doing his best to stay perfectly still so that none of the hunters got itchy trigger fingers before he was ready. [Get the one with heavy weapons. Hopefully the Voorts will at least duck.]

[Akan, sometimes its best to wait for a distinct advantage.] that was Shadow, tempering her anger with intelligence and planning.

But mentally, Akan shook his head. [No one would be stupid enough to act right now. That is an advantage.]

[You’re insane.]

[Insult me after we’re out of this.] Akan’s mental voice took on the same dangerous characteristics of his normal voice. Stubborn, stupid, and idealistic. He was going to act, and Shadow knew it. That meant that she, and Marix along with her, would be stuck trying to keep all of them alive while Akan did his heroic Jedi act. She was going to beat that out of him one day. Hard. And for longer than was necessary just to make sure.

[You’ll get more than insults if we live through this, Jedi boy.]

 

[Mirage_Patrick]

still loving it!!

Keept up the great work, and thanks for the frequent updates

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 141: Heroic Acts of Stupidity

Focus. Calm. Time doesn’t matter. Draw on the Force. Become one with the Force. Calm. Feel. The Rodian suspects nothing. Ignore him. Focus...focus. The Nikto with the repeating cannon is watching too closely. He is ready for a fight. The others. The others are distant...no! Focus! No! No time to focus! Calm. Calm. Time does not matter. Feel. Reach out. Yes. The human to the left. Jumpy and ready to pull the trigger if anyone speaks too quickly. He is the most dangerous. Yes? Focus. Yes. Stay calm and wait. Patience. The Rodian is speaking. They will expect them to act after he goes silent. Act first. Act now? Yes!

The sudden movement from Akan caught everyone except Shadow off guard. She had waited for him to move, knowing he was going to and trying to figure out how to stop them all from getting killed. And in one sudden moment, there was a cry of surprise from two of the bounty hunters that was drowned out by a familiar snap-hiss. There wasn’t any warning before an armored human was cut into two, the Nikto with a heavy rifle next to him had a chance to swing the butt of the gun at Akan’s head, but instead simply hit the lightsaber. The back end sliced off in an explosion of sparks, and a moment later the Nikto was dead, too. At this point, there had been enough time for the Rodian to squeeze the trigger on his small disrupter pistol.

But Shadow’s hand reached the weapon at the same moment, her diving momentum forcing the shot to go low, nearly taking off Jen’s foot in the process. The Rodian managed a quick, surprised look on his face before Shadow’s other hand, claws extended, raked across his neck. Letting go of the disrupter, Shadow allowed her moment to bring her around and deliver a strong kick to the side of the Rodian’s skull. There was a crack, and then a thud as the body hit the metal street below, and Shadow was already moving on to the next target. As she caught the Trandoshan’s wrist, breaking it and bending it back, the creature pulled the trigger. Literally, the bounty hunter shot himself in the face, and it was not a pretty sight for Jen to watch the blaster bolt take the Trandoshan’s face off.

Jen didn’t have much of a chance to see it, though, as a silent nothing yelled at her to just move. Not one to argue with instinct(or the Force, though she still mentally considered it her own instincts), she took a quick step to the side and a blaster bolt went between her and Titus. At the same time, Titus was growling a curse and getting his lightsaber off of his belt. Getting it in one hand, he spun to look at the young looking human who had fired the shot, already starting to move forward as he fingered the activation switch for the blade. Out of the corner of his eye, though, he caught sight of more movement. Time slowed so he could watch an older looking, dull grey skinned Rodian squeeze off a blaster shot from a very large and likely very illegal rifle. Titus even had a chance to watch the blaster bolt streaking right to his undefended left side, knowing it was going to hurt and preparing for the pain. But the pain that he got was not the expected pain.

In a flash, time seemed to speed up and Titus was left trying to figure out exactly what had happened. The blaster bolt never hit, instead literally stopping and impacting nothing just a few centimeters from his side, and a moment later he collided with the human he’d been charging at. His attention focused away, Titus hadn’t realized how close he’d gotten to the younger man, slamming into him hard and nearly running him completely over. Titus came down in a roll over the younger man’s body, getting to his feet and realizing that the lightsaber had taken an arm and a large part of the street with it. On the ground, the kid was screaming in pain, and all that Titus could do to assuage the pain was to simply end the boy’s life with another quick strike. Looking up, he saw that Jen was moving from a surprised position straight to the ground behind where Akan had been, diving for a blaster pistol and getting to her knees. She fired off a barrage at the stunned bounty hunters across from her, and in a moment had to stop for fear of hitting Shadow.

As fast as it had started, it was over. Ten bodies now littered the old square in at least twice that many pieces. Shadow was licking a small scratch that she had deemed pointless to waste energy on, and Jen was getting back up onto her feet. Titus looked straight to Akan who was breathing hard and holding his lightsaber at his side, “Dammit, Akan! That was stupid!”

“It worked, didn’t it?” the young Alraxian half grinned and deactivated his lightsaber.

Titus took a step closer, deactivating his own weapon and pointing up at a random building, “You really think that was all of them?! They weren’t stupid, Akan! And I’d be willing to bet that they’ve got at least one sniper up on the—“

The echoing sound of a blaster shot silenced him. The fact that the shot came from the exact building he’d been pointing at was lost on no one. The shot caught Akan square in the back, getting a loud yelp of pain out of him and a surprised noise out of Shadow, before he hit the ground hard. Cursing, Titus ran over to the downed Alraxian, grabbing him and quickly picking him up. Hearing Shadow growling something, he yelled to the two others, “We’re leaving!”

Then, carrying Akan as best he could, Titus ran. Behind him, Jen followed but not before scooping up Akan’s lightsaber from where it had landed. Staggered blaster fire followed them just before they reached a larger crowd, turning a corner and heading through the populated night streets of Ord Mantell as fast as they could. It took another five minutes to reach the ships, and Titus was actually surprised there weren’t any people shooting at them there. It was the perfect spot for an ambush. By then, Akan was conscious again and Titus just dropped him onto his feet without a word. As they reached the ships, Akan’s body remorphed but still feeling the echoes of the pain, he asked, “Where are we going from here?!”

“Doesn’t matter!” Jen answered as Titus was already moving up Alderaan’s access ramp, and a moment later she was right behind him. Even she knew the stupidity of sticking around. Shadow was already at the X-Wing, glaring at Akan as he started over. When he did make it to the X-Wing, she growled and punched him. Hard. Right across the face. It wasn’t enough to take him down, but there was a distinct crack from his jaw.

Before he had a chance to yell at her, she screamed at him, “Don’t you ever do anything so stupid again! Now get us the hell out of here!”

With that, she shoved him hard into the X-Wing’s ladder. He was up it and in the cockpit a few moments later, with Shadow dropping into the rear seat at the same time. Alderaan was already lifting off the pad, and it took another half minute before Akan could get the X-Wing off the ground. Doing his best to ignore the anger that sat behind him, Akan got the X-Wing moving and followed up right behind Alderaan. Making out of the atmosphere, he started to wonder if he should ask where they were going again. Right on cue, the comm beeped and a staticy voice of Titus sounded in the cockpit, “Shadow, we’ve got trouble. Apparently you just killed three hundred civilians on Obroa-Skai.”

“Nine,” Shadow quietly whispered in a dangerously calm voice.

“My thoughts exactly,” Titus agreed, “Its just around the corner. Set a course there and we’ll see you on the other side...” a pause, then, “...and I’d suggest having a talk with Akan.”

“Yes, I planned on it,” she replied just before the comm clicked off. Silence was left in the X-Wing, which continued to hang there until the jump to hyperspace. Even then, Shadow was silent. Probably for effect. The link told him otherwise, though. Apparently, she was debating what exactly to do. All in all, it just made Akan more worried. He had gotten them out of that, right? Sure, it wasn’t the best but there was going to be trouble either way. Besides, it wasn’t his choice to go to a haven for bounty hunters. It was going to be a long hour and a half.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 142: Step by Step by Step

The first hour of the jump was spent in silence. Or at least, literal silence. Shadow was thinking, and doing so loudly. Akan was doing the same, but more in a worried way. Shadow rarely took time to actually think about what she was going to say. She usually just spoke her thoughts right away and got it over with. But Akan had this horrible feeling that she was actually trying to choose the right words. Why that was a horrible feeling, he wasn’t sure...it just was. Perhaps because it was so new, so very unlike her. Or was it? He sighed again and stared blankly out at the blue tunnel surrounding the cramped X-Wing.

He is still young Marix was saying. She was the reason Shadow was silent, as Marix seemed to be trying to convince her that what Akan did was okay. No. I’m trying to make you understand that I...we are nearly three times his age. We have more experience.

If Shadow could have found a way to glare at herself, she would have. But I...we...you weren’t such a fool at his age!

I could barely speak correctly at his age Marix ‘said’ flatly. And even so, he is not Tam-Day-U. He does not have the same conditioning.

For a moment, Shadow opened her eyes again and looked around the cockpit of the X-Wing. Realizing that it just made this whole thing more confusing, she gave up and closed her eyes again. Its not an excuse. He nearly got himself and the rest of us killed. He is dangerous.

So are we.

A pause. It was a pause that lasted just long enough for Shadow to find herself speaking before she could stop it, “Akan.”

She cursed Marix for doing that, knowing she wasn’t ready to actually speak yet. But it was too late now. Akan had jumped, shaking the seat that was right in front of her noticeably. Very carefully, his voice traveled back to her, “Y...yes?”

“Never do that again,” she responded without any emotion in her voice at all, “Ever.”

Though slightly silenced by the fact that he was facing the other direction, she heard him sigh before asking her, “I don’t understand what the problem is. I got us out of that situation!”

“And nearly got yo—...us killed!” Shadow fixed her words mid-sentence to hope that he got the point through his thick skull. Durasteel. Had to be made of it. No, probably something stronger. Something that even a lightsaber or a turbolaser would have trouble denting.

For a moment, she could feel his mind going crazy trying to think up what to argue back with. The whirling thoughts came to a stop and his voice returned much quieter, “I’m sorry.”

“No!” she snapped, even surprising Marix slightly at the quickness of the response, “Sorry doesn’t cut it. Sorry doesn’t undo things. Sorry is just an excuse for you to go on how you’ve always acted. Whatever happened to all those Jedi ideals you pretended to believe in, hm? Do you just toss them aside when they aren’t convenient? You think you can use that weapon and ignore all the baggage that comes with it as long as you just say that you’re sorry when all is over and done with?”

“Its better than being a heartless killer!” Akan yelled over his shoulder, and for a moment she could see his face moving to look around the headrest.

That comment got her blood boiling. It even angered Marix, but not nearly as much as it had Shadow, as was apparent in her yelled reply, “You are a heartless killer, Akan! Those bounty hunters. Did you even give them a chance? Did you try speaking with them? No. You killed them. Killed them. You didn’t even attempt to simply disable them. That would have been enough! But no, you had to kill them. You always have to kill them! You are much worse and much more dangerous than a heartless killer! You’re a killer who thinks with his heart, and its going to get you and everyone else killed, too! Never, ever fight with your emotions!”

“Oh, yes, wonderful,” she could feel Akan rolling his eyes as he mocked her, “I’ll just be an inhuman, walking droid like you. Never thinking abo—“

”You are not human, Akan!” again, Shadow yelled at him, much too loudly for his ears which were ringing very slightly. In fact, she was beyond yelling, more to the point of roaring at him. She paused a moment, took a deep breath, and spoke more calmly, her voice changing just slightly to indicate that Shadow was not currently in charge, “You will have to learn to accept that one way or another. Alraxians are emotional creatures, even more so than humans, but you cannot fight with them. Not because of any Jedi ideals, but because it will blind you and you will get someone hurt.”

Akan was amazed at the change in tone, and couldn’t help but be amazed at Marix. So much like Shadow, yet so much different. But no, she was not that different at all. It was simply another tone speaking the same words. But was she right? At this point, he had no idea. The whole idea of this Shadow/Marix thing was bad enough, and being lectured by two at once wasn’t making anything better. The next ten minutes were quiet, with Shadow still internally fuming and Marix ignoring her, idly looking over the buttons and switches all around her. Not that she was going to press them, but she at least thought about it.

Then, very quietly so that even Shadow wasn’t sure for a moment if he’d said anything, Akan mumbled, “I don’t mean to mess things up so much. I...I just did what I thought was the right thing to do. Its what I always try to do.”

“Why?” the question was asked slowly, in that way that would force anyone to stop and think about it.

And, of course, Akan did. Why did he always try to do the right thing? It was always causing him trouble in the end...so why did he keep doing it? It didn’t take long before he knew exactly why. Through the link, he felt Shadow...or was it Marix? Well, one of them, latching onto his thought. They knew. Yet he also knew that wasn’t enough. He checked the chrono, but found that there was still another ten minutes left. There was no way to stall that long.

So, taking a deep breath and even closing his eyes(as if that would somehow help), Akan said quietly, “She always said...said that there was more to life than just living. If you did the right thing, even if you were alone in it, it would help someone. That was what mattered. And...the one time I didn’t, when I thought I was too busy to worry about stupid things like that, everything went to hell.”

“Akan, you can’t bring her back from the dead,” Shadow...no, it was Marix. Shadow had no idea how to deal with such situations. Honestly, Marix didn’t either, but she wasn’t angry and therefore figured it was for her to deal with if any good was to come out of it

“Why not?!” Akan was sounding desperate at that point, and she could feel the overall sense of it through their link. There wasn’t too much more time left until they would have to get to actual business. If this wasn’t done and over with than there was going to be much more trouble to deal with. But before she could say anything, he was speaking again, obviously at the brink of tears and, if Shadow knew anything about other things, a mental breakdown, “Why does she have to stay dead but I got to come back? What makes me so much better than her?”

So that was it. Usually, the creation of a Nothlit was a completely consensual process. In fact, it was only ever used when an Alraxian chose a non-Alraxian mate. Technically, Alraxians could breed with any species, but it was dangerous. Though there was always the chance that the child would turn out just fine, there was a much greater chance that it would be a very disgusting and very dead creation. To solve this, either the Alraxian or the other would give up their species. It was surprisingly common. But Shadow’s actions had been to save a life she had accidently taken. To correct a mistake. There hadn’t been time to think of any of the consequences on Akan’s end of things.

Taking a deep breath, Marix reached forward and put a hand on Akan’s shoulder. It was an awkward motion and she wasn’t exactly all that comfortable with it...but at the moment, it was the only way she could see past this problem, “We can’t change the past, Akan, no matter how hard we try. We shouldn’t forget it, either. But you can’t dwell on it. You have to live now. If you don’t, you will make a mistake, and someone else will die. Do you really want that to happen again?”

Though he didn’t say anything, she knew that he shook his head. After closing her eyes a moment, she continued, “Keep your emotions in check. We have to job to do right now. The right thing to do is to see this through and to stop Nine.”

“From what?” Akan’s voice was quiet and slightly distracted, as he had looked to the chrono and was preparing the ship to revert back to realspace.

Shadow just shrugged, “I don’t know. That’s what’s dangerous. But she’s already killed people on Obroa-Skai and blamed it on me, so that’s probably got something to do with it.”

“Framing you...” Akan thought about it a moment, “But why? You...well, we all have big enough bounties on our heads.”

“But she’s putting planet names to my face,” Shadow pointed out, sitting back and glad for the change of conversation. This she understood. This she could deal with.

For a moment, Akan did his best to look back to her again, “Then why are we following? That’s just like walking into another trap all over again.”

“Exactly,” she nodded, “But we don’t have any other choice and she knows it. Hopefully we can catch up with her before she’s gone.”

“Well, lets find out,” Akan mumbled as he pulled the hyperspace levers back and the stars suddenly changed back to normal. In the distance, a small, bright orange star could be seen. Even closer was the blueish glow of Alderaan’s sublight drives. The comm clicked, and Akan hit the switch on it, “Any news?”

“Yes,” that was Titus’ voice, “Tons of it, in fact. But before I give away all the fun why don’t you check your long range scanners.”

Akan raised an eyebrow and did so. At his sharp intake of breath, Shadow couldn’t help but ask, “Do I even want to know?”

“Probably not,” he mumbled back, checking it on more time just to be sure, “Though it looks like the scouts of that fleet have spotted us. They’re going to be after us in a moment. I don’t think many non-New Republic personnel have access to this kind of ship.”

“A fleet? Oh, that’s not problem, just fly right in and blow them all up, Akan,” Shadow said, rolling her eyes.

“We could skip this one. How about I owe you two fleets next time?”

That got a slight grin on her face, “Fine. Two fleets next time. But you’re on your own, then, I’d just like to sit back and watch.”

“Which is exactly why we aren’t sticking around,” Akan added before hitting the comm switch again, “So where are we heading?”

“Jen’s plotted a jump to a small nearby system where we should be able to figure out our next move,” Titus said as Alderaan pulled around to another trajectory, “Transmitting the coordinates to you.”

“Got em,” Akan said with a nod, pulling the X-Wing around with him and tried to ignore the three squadrons of fighters that would likely be in range in a matter of minutes, “Why do I get the feeling we’re going to be dealing with a lot of this?”

“The nature of the game,” Titus responded, “But between me and Shadow back there, we should be able to get a one up on this Nine.”

“You know where she is?” Shadow broke in suddenly, saying exactly what Akan would have but much more urgently.

“She’s not here, I can tell you that,” the comm crackled with Titus’ voice and the Alderaan banked slightly before the last few calculations for the jump were done, “But I’ve got an idea.”

“Where and how?” Akan got that in before Shadow could, though Titus did get a chance to hear Shadow start and stop just as Akan finished ‘where’.

“You think I’d make a detour at a time like this?” he almost sounded insulted, but there was a laugh after that, “It’s a small forested planet that the clones used to use a basic training grounds. They used to...prey on the natives. Lets just say Jen and I have a good feeling about this one.”

“Right,” Akan nodded to himself. But before he could say anything else, Alderaan shot off into hyperspace. Akan waited a moment, then said over his shoulder, “Do you know the place he’s talking about?”

But Shadow said nothing. Yes, she remembered. Very well. Though she hadn’t been one of the ones that had preyed on the locals, she knew the place well. It did feel right. But that brought about a whole knew bunch of troubles. Why go there? There was nothing but trees and a fairly primitive semi-human society. Obroa-Skai made sense. Get attention on Shadow. But why from there to some place the galaxy hadn’t even given a name to? As the hyperspace levers were pulled and the blue extended around them again, part of her wondered if they’d have been safer taking on that fleet.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 143: We Go Two by Two

“Tell me the truth, Titus,” Jen said quietly, watching out the viewport in front of them, “Is it possible, by any random chance in the galaxy, that we’re being set up?”

Titus looked out the viewport. Ahead of them, the green, forest planet floated there, taking up at least half of the view. In fact, that was all they could actually see. But the scanners had much better eyes than they did. They had just arrived in the system a few minutes earlier to find a small battle group heading their direction. It didn’t look New Republic, and it was currently on the other side of the planet’s distant moon. The initial scan had shown four patrol craft, six Y-Wings, and a single, outdated Dreadnaught heavy cruiser. Not the most dangerous fleet in the galaxy, but more than a match for Alderaan.

But Titus had his focus on the planet they were approaching, “Definitely being set up...but we’ve got at least a few minutes before they slingshot around the moon. Should be able to set down on the planet by then.”

“Set down?” Jen raised an eyebrow, then looked over the most recent scan they’d done of the planet. Nothing. Hmm...Titus seemed sure of this. Why? There had to be a reason. She paused and closed her eyes a moment. Reach out. Feel. There. Distant, but definitely on the planet. Jen had no idea how to describe exactly what ‘it’ was, though. She just knew that it was Nine. Or at least, something very similar to Nine. That feeling just radiated it like a hot beacon.

When she opened her eyes, the planet was filling the viewport and he was smiling, “See? Not all that hard to do.”

She nodded and grinned, but it suddenly faded, “Its...nice and all, but...” Jen paused, trying to figure out how to put it right, “...we still don’t know where she is. And that is a planet. You know. Big. Round. Seemingly endless when you’re searching for one tiny, single being.”

The look that Titus gave her was actually worrying, but his voice was calm, “I’ll be able to find her. It won’t be the first time I’ve searched this planet for a single Alraxian.”

Jen mouthed an ‘oh’ just as the comm beeped. Glad for the sudden change, and knowing it had to be Akan(should be...had better be...), Jen turned and hit the switch. Before she could even say a ‘hello’, Akan’s voice crackled through, “Sorry we’re late. Um...” there was a pause, a sharp intake of breath, and then Akan’s tone changed to a mix of worry and sarcasm, “Well, looks like you saved the party until we got here.”

“Yeah,” Jen commented flatly as Alderaan started through the planet’s atmosphere. She looked to Titus, who nodded to her, figuring out her question quickly. Jen smiled, and continued, “Forget the company. Get down here and catch up with us. I have a bad feeling about this place.”

Akan laughed shortly, “On our way. Should be caught up soon. “

The comm then went silent, and Jen leaned back slightly in the chair. By now, she could see a large green mass of trees extending across the planet below. Titus was still angling the Alderaan down, so the trees were growing until they were only a few hundred meters above the tree line. As they flew over the canopy, he ran his fingers over the scanners. Searching. Looking. Even reaching out with the Force. Jen attempted it some, too, and was amazed by the amount of life on the planet. It was so strong that it almost blinded her, like turning on a bright light in a pitch black room. She tried seeing through it but the feeling just didn’t refocus like her eyes would.

Jen did her own scan of the surrounding area, only finding that the X-Wing had caught up considerably and was a half kilometer behind them. She sighed and closed her eyes a moment, just trying to rest a moment. When she opened her eyes again, she caught sight of an odd thing off far too the east near the horizon. Almost black...no...no, maybe just a trick of the eye. Wait. Black. There it is again. Quickly, she grabbed Titus’ shoulder and pointed, “Smoke!”

He turned, immediately saw it, and banked the Alderaan hard in that direction. His voice was still calm, and he managed to hold an emotionless expression still, “That could just be the natives.”

“Oh, really?” she half grinned and leaned forward and over so he had to look at her, “Just don’t want to admit that I saw it first, do you?”

Thankfully, it got a laugh out of him and he leaned forward to kiss her gently, “No, no. You have much better eyes than I do. Though then again, just because they look beautiful doesn’t mean they work very well.”

Scowling, Jen lightly punched his shoulder, “That’s going into the vacation tab, you know.”

“Ouch, just a little joke?” he smiled warmly as they approached the large plume of black smoke, “So what am I stuck with now.”

“Expensive dinner,” she shrugged, “Every single night of those two weeks on Hapes.”

“Thought it was one week.”

She tapped his shoulder gently, “The Force is weak with this one.”

But before Titus had time to respond, they were almost in the thick smoke cloud. They passed over it, Titus tilting the ship so they could look down, and saw a large clearing in the trees. Down below them was a scattered village, small huts across the ground...all burning. Brightly. And just off to the edge of the clearing was a very distinct shape. Loki. Just sitting there. In a rough series of spins and turns, Titus maneuvered the Alderaan down and did his best to get on the ground as quickly as he could. As the shuttle neared the ground, they could see bodies. Hundreds of them scattered across the ground in various conditions. All were dead, and from the looks of it, the death wasn’t pretty. Limbs were removes, heads in some cases, and many had deadly burns scarring them. Humanoid, all. And then, off towards where Loki was set down, they saw movement. Wind caught the smoke to reveal the two meter tall Alraxian just standing there, arms folded across her chest and tapping her foot. They both knew she was grinning.

By the time Alderaan was completely on the ground, Jen was already out of her seat and out of the cockpit. Titus called after her, but at least took the time to take the engines offline before following after her. On her way down the still lowering ramp, Jen got her blaster pistol and charged out, immediately turning straight for Nine. Jen ignored the bodies as she ran towards the very tall Alraxian, raising her blaster pistol. She was about to scream something, when Nine started laughing, “You’re a little late! Typical of a human to be late!”

Jen growled a curse and squeezed the trigger. The blaster bolt was aimed perfectly, and it even hit. It hit Nine square in the chest, but she didn’t stumble back. For a moment, Jen got a chance to see the black scorch mar before the Alraxian remorphed and smiled, “Temper, temper.”

Lazily, Nine raised her hand just as Jen began to squeeze off another shot in anger. But her body stopped moving. Jen let out a whimper and then a yelp of pain as it felt like an invisible hand was crushing her, and as her vision blurred from the pain she realized her feet were no longer on the ground. The painful grip on her body got multiple cracks from bones, but it suddenly eased up and the white hot pain faded out of her vision. It was replaced by Nine, right there in front of her and smiling. Quietly, the Alraxian hissed, “Tell my clone Ket and I will await her on Nar Shaddaa.”

Suddenly, the grip on Jen was let go and she dropped to the ground, gasping for breathing and trying to ignore the pain still wracking through her. Nine returned to her vision, looking over her and still smiling. Faintly, Jen heard, “An interesting toy you could make with that temper.”

And then Nine faded from her vision. Jen heard multiple blaster shots a second later, and immediately knew it was Titus. He had taken time to get a larger rifle out, knowing the need to at least knock the wind out of the clone and sure that only a good rifle could even come close. But the shots didn’t hit, and Titus charged forward firing as Nine casually ran back towards Loki. Titus quickly gave up on firing(as Nine was already up the small ramp and inside of Loki) and just ran to Jen, kneeling down next to her. It took effort, but she gasped, “Nar Shaddaa! Shadow!”

And then Loki started to lift off of the ground. Titus looked up to see Loki already beginning to shoot off out into space. He also caught sight of the X-Wing, looking like it was getting ready to land but quickly changing plans. He was surprised to see the S-Foils on the X-Wing opening as it charged after Loki. Was Akan actually going to fire on Loki?! Knowing that speed was necessary, and seeing that Jen wasn’t in the best of shape, he turned back to her and did his best to get her back to Alderaan. Quickly. Everything had to be quickly these days.

On board the X-Wing, there was a screaming match going on. Currently, it was Shadow’s turn, “Don’t you dare fire on my ship!!”

Akan continued to put more power from the shields to the engines to keep up with the much faster Kanyak, still keeping full power to the weapons, “I can hit his drives! It’s the only way to stop her!”

“You’ll hurt him!” Shadow screamed, nearly to the point of tearing out of the restraints and beating Akan to an inch of their life.

“Nine is going to get away again!” Akan growled, trying to focus as the two ships left the atmosphere...also trying to ignore the fact that the motley battle group was readjusting its course to follow them, “Loki will understand!”

“You think he can understand anything right now?!”

He had a shot. They would be out of the gravity well of the planet in a matter of seconds. If he took the shot, it would stop her from escaping. It would stop all of this chaos. But Loki was his friend. No. Loki would understand. He’d have to. Breathing heavily and knowing time was running out, Akan squeezed the trigger.

Shadow screamed another stream of curses at him, but suddenly went silent. Waiting. Watching. The four laser shots from the cannon extended out all as one, aiming straight for Loki’s main drive. They arced in, quickly coming together at the point where he had aimed...but suddenly, in a blinding speed that could only be possible from a Kanyak, Loki banked to port. It was just enough that the shots missed the drive, instead hitting the underside of Loki. Akan was stunned, and it slowed his chance to take a second shot enough that by the time the thought even crossed his mind, the ship rocketed off into hyperspace.

Gone. Again. So close...he had been so close. It should have hit! But instead...he sighed. [I’m sorry.]

But before anything else could be said, alarms started going off. Akan’s eyes widened and he quickly yanked the X-Wing off to the side, yelling to Shadow, “They’re trying to get a missile lock!”

The X-Wing went into a loop, a tight spin, and through the blur they could see the pilot’s surprised faces within the Y-Wings that had easily caught up, and for a moment Akan even saw one of the pilots in the nearest patrol craft before the X-Wing looped around it and continued in a mad attempt to avoid any shots. Shots which were lighting up the blackness of space. The Dreadnaught was still in the distance, but it was going to catch up soon. The comm beeped. Akan didn’t do anything about it, instead frantically re-diverting power back to the shields before some lucky shot got through...all the while using the Force to assist his reflexes. The comm continued beeping. Akan still didn’t do anything.

Shadow bit her lip and looked around at all the switches and buttons surrounding her. In a mad attempt to avoid looking at the blur outside while trying to figure out what was the right switch, she picked one at random. It was immediately obvious she’d picked the comm, as Titus’ distorted voice yelled through the cockpit, “—Shaddaa! Go after her! We’ll get the attention of these boys and drag them somewhere else!”

“What are you talking about?!” Akan managed to yell through the chaos of his multitasking. The ship shuddered from a fairly good hit from one of the Y-Wings before Voort responded.

“Nine’s going to Nar Shaddaa! Jen says that Ket is there, too!” he called out, “I’d bet you there’s some kind of tracking device planet on Alderaan. You go after Nine and we’ll meet up later.”

“What?! Where are you going?!” that was Shadow, who was at the same time yelling at Akan through the link. [You heard him! Nar Shaddaa! Now now now!!”

Akan quickly pulled up the coordinates to Nar Shaddaa, allowing the computer to do the navigation checks while he tried to get out of the skirmish. Closing the S-Foils for more speed and pumping the weapons power to shields(which were nearly dead from a large amount of shots they were taking), Akan barely heard Titus’ response, “Just get out of here! If we don’t find you in a day, forget us.”

Akan glanced back to check on the Y-Wings’ pursuit, seeing shots going around him and a few shaking them and impacting the rear shields. But then, in a flash, a barrage of green laser fire tore through the nearest of the fighters. It went up in a short flash before the ship split to pieces. A second later, Akan saw the Alderaan jet through the destroyed fighter, its only two laser cannons blazing. All but one of the Y-Wings pulled off their pursuit of Akan, and the one that did was quickly falling behind. The Y-Wings were not designed for speed.

After a quick glance to the small navcomputer screen, Akan said into the comm, “Good luck, Voort.”

And then they were gone.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 144: Compact Spaces

The hyperspace trip to Nar Shaddaa was long. They had spent nearly twelve straight hours sitting in the cramped cockpit of the X-Wing, and it was getting to both of them. Akan had found a way to sit so that he didn’t constantly think of the ache in his tail, while Shadow had just passed out. They didn’t speak much. What was there to say at this point? Yes, Akan still had a thousand questions about the whole Marix thing...but Shadow seemed to still be working that one out herself. Intellectually, he knew that there were currently three of them in the X-Wing. Of course, it was easy to understand something without grasping the concept at all.

Finally, the blue tunnel of hyperspace gave way to the black of space. Far ahead of them, but still visible through the canopy, was the planet Nal Hutta, the homeworld of the Hutts and their crime syndicate. The planet itself was literally a mud whole, and Akan couldn’t help but pity anyone that set foot on the place. Sometimes he thought he could smell the planet’s scent from the moon of Nar Shaddaa. The smuggler’s moon. A city-wide moon, with great valleys between towering buildings and walkways exposed to the sky that criss crossed everywhere. And though the moon was still too small to be seen from this distance, Akan found himself expecting a comm call.

But none came. This was not Coruscant or any of the Core Worlds. This was a place for criminals and smugglers and the unsavory folk of the galaxy to come and drink and do business. They would have to find a spot to set the X-Wing down and then deal with whoever happened to claim the territory. Akan watched the Nal Hutta grow ahead of them, even noting a few other ships in the area. It wasn’t until they got within sight of Nar Shaddaa that Shadow spoke up.

“We’re doing this my way, Akan.”

He nodded, specifically doing that because she couldn’t see it. But then, after a moment, he said over his shoulder, “Awwww....”

She rolled her eyes, knowing that while he couldn’t see it, he could damned well feel that through the link, “This isn’t like Coruscant. And if I know Ket...which one of us does...he’ll be dug in.”

“Seems to me like he wants to be found,” Akan commented almost off hand.

“So you aren’t a complete idiot,” Shadow said calmly, “At least you catch on to some things. The worst possible thing we can do is to hint that there are a couple of Alraxians on Nar Shaddaa. Word gets around. He’ll find out.”

“You’re talking like you actually expect to surprise him!” he grumbled a little louder than was necessary while moving the fighter onto a new course to bring them to the moon that was slowly starting to dominate the canopy, “We don’t even know where he is!”

“Forget about my earlier complement.”

“That was a compliment?!”

Again, Shadow rolled her eyes, “The trick is to let him lead us to him, but only up to a point. When we know where he is, we can back up and go in from a completely different angle.”

“This is assuming a lot, you know.”

“Yes, I do know, thank you very much,” Shadow growled, sighing and leaning as best was possible, “The point is, we’re going to be doing some snooping around. Information gathering. Subtle things. Things you’re bad with. These bodies will get us noticed in a second. Human would blend in fine.”

“Two humans, hm?” Akan shrugged and tried his best to focus on both morphing and piloting into the moon’s atmosphere. He was getting better with the morphing, so it only took a few seconds and he couldn’t help a smile at the lack of tail pains, “I’m assuming since I’m so bad with subtlety, you’ll be doing the talking and I can do the stand around and look dangerous roll?”

“No,” Shadow’s voice sounded different. Higher pitched and quieter. Akan grinned slightly. She probably didn’t even notice that detail as she mentally complained about other human problems...such as lack of tail. But that was only mentally, as she continued speaking anyway, “You’ll be doing the talking. Nine will expect it the other way around...if they are looking, they’ll be looking for two Alraxians, one of them being an intelligent female.”

“Someone’s harsh today,” Akan grumbled under his breath.

“You shot my ship!” Shadow snapped back suddenly. Then, after a deep breath, said more calmly, “We’ll need names and a good cover story. I’d say noble siblings from a somewhat questionable family but we look nothing alike.”

Akan sniffled, speaking like a small, lost child, “But I always wanted a sister.”

“Shut up,” for the third time, Shadow rolled her eyes. This time, even Marix was questioning Akan’s sanity. She knew first hand all humans weren’t like this, so it wasn’t just a species problem. It most definitely was Akan. Ignoring his childish whimper and noting that he was starting to navigate the upper sections of Nar Shaddaa for a good place to set down, Shadow tried again, “Look, there isn’t time for you to play around right now. You’re Aled Kinthrath from Corellia. Noble type. Arrogant and the usual bastard. Just be yourself except try to actually look serious and cut the sarcasm. You’re traveling with your bodyguard and the reason for your trip is your own.”

“I want a better name.”

“Akan.”

“Fine, fine,” he sighed and grumbled, “You never let me have any fun.”

She nearly threw up her hands in frustration as the X-Wing moved through the gigantic buildings before finally settling near a mostly enclosed hangar. It was another moment before they were slowly descending, and Shadow tried to ignore the thousands of lights and ships and everything that were all around.

The X-Wing set down softly in the circular hangar, and above them two doors slowly closed. There were a few humanoids of various species heading out towards them, with one in particular stepping out in front. He was human, tall, and had a datapad. Obviously the leader. Before they climbed out, Akan made sure to button up his jacket and quickly ‘fixed’ his hair to look more...more...whatever the word for trying to be better than the galaxy as a whole was. Just before hitting the switch to bring the canopy up, something very important struck Akan.

“How exactly are we paying for this?”

He was up enough to see Shadow grin, “You’re a noble. The bodyguard handles those details.”

“That’s not comforting,” Akan said quietly as the canopy lifted up. He pulled the small ladder out from its section inside the cockpit and hooked it onto the edge before climbing down. A moment later, as the canopy closed again, Shadow followed. She stepped in front of him and waited as the group approached them.

The tall human looked up from his datapad, speaking in a slow and almost bored voice, “These hangars are the property of Halpak Industries. If you wish to keep your ship here the fee is three hundred and fifty credits per day.”

Shadow didn’t even flinch. It was amazing to Akan how she held her focus despite things. She carefully watched the tall human, a dangerous look about her despite the smaller human body, and said simply, “Two hundred.”

“I’m sorry,” the man said with not even the slightly hint of apology in his voice, “But the price is non negotiable.”

“My Lord Kinthrath will pay two hundred and fifty,” Shadow said in the same simply tones that were statements of fact more than suggestions.

For a moment, the man looked to his datapad, then to a Duros to his left, then to Akan, then back to Shadow, “Two fifty it is.”

Shadow allowed herself the slightest of smiles and a nod. One hand went for an unseen pocket and she retrieved a small chip, “Seven fifty. Three day’s worth.”

Taking a mental cue from Shadow, Akan started walking past them without a word or even looking to them. Shadow nodded to them and followed him to the exit. As they stepped out into the packed, twilight lit streets and picked a random direction, Akan ‘spoke’ up. [Halpak Industries?]

[He always had an ego.]

Akan smiled slightly as they passed by a large group of Mon Calamari. He was looking around curiously, amazed at how much was packed onto this small moon. [Where to from here?]

“We’ll find a place to dig in, ourselves,” Shadow said quietly, the crowd having forced them against each other. She figured it wasn’t any trouble to actually speak at this point, “There are some upscale hotels around here somewhere. Find one, get a place, then we’ll do some snooping.”

“Do I want to know where you’re getting all this money from?” he asked with a raised eyebrow, narrowly avoiding toppling over a small Chadra-Fan.

Shadow waited until they got to a less packed area, a walkway between two of the larger collections of buildings, before grinning, “Probably not.”

((Sorry for the short update...not feeling all well, today.))

 

[aros]

sick

feel better

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 145: High Collars, High Towers

When they found a ‘suitable place to stay’, as Shadow put it at least, Akan was surprised to find her jerking him back from actually entering. She gave him a sharp look, as much as she could without the ability to growl as Alraxians could, and said quietly, “I thought you did some covert work!”

“I did!” he grumbled as she started to push him away and back into the crowd, “And that’s why we get the place there, scout it out...then more exploring to get the lay of the area.”

She rolled her eyes and pushed him along the streets, “You’re a noble, remember? Look at what you’re wearing.”

Akan stopped and looked down at the dull, dirty brown jacket and trousers he wore. A weak grin appeared on his face, “...oh.”

Of course, Shadow still pushed him along, and thankfully it didn’t take long before they...well, she...found a suitable place. He was pushed in, then made to stand around like a lost child as Shadow figured out what was best for their current identities. Akan made sure to keep quiet the comments of how comfortable she seemed to be surrounded by all of this...this...stuff. If he dared make that sarcastic ‘Wow, so you really are female’ comment, he’d likely end up as red as the walls in the place. Hmm...maybe that’s why they were such a dark red colour? How many poor saps had made that comment at just the wrong time and become wallpaper?

It took ten or so minutes before Shadow stepped over to him, thrusting a grey coloured...thing at him in the way that he couldn’t actually fight. Sighing, he grumbled something under his breath, and she motioned to a room near the back. One, simple word came out, “Change.”

Fighting a whimper, Akan sulked off. He reluctantly changed into the high collared tunic, which was thankfully just a flat grey colour with green trimming. At least she didn’t force him into bright colours. He liked being boring. After pulling on the trousers and finding himself looking for a tail hole for the tenth time, he sighed and grumbled about humans, lack of tails, and general confusion before stepping out to see Shadow waiting. And wearing the same thing she was wearing before. The morphsuit. That cheating little...

“And you don’t have to change?!” he grumbled, distinctly omitting the word ‘little’. Yes, she was shorter as a human, but she was touchy about the height anyway...it was another one of those things that was hazardous to one’s health.

She smiled that devious smile and snatched his old clothes out from under his arm. She pulled on the trousers, ignoring the fact that they were much too large(rolling up the legs fixed that simply enough), then casually slid into his dirtied and old jacket. It was also much bigger, but she wasn’t going to let that ruin the satisfaction she was getting from his horrified look. After a few long moments of stammering, Akan managed to say, “You...but those are...and I...they’re comfortable...this is...and you...I hate you.”

The smile held on her face and her patted his shoulder, “Good, you’re learning to be better than everyone already. Now, lets go.”

So they walked back to the expensive place to stay. This time, though, Shadow didn’t push him the entire way. In fact, she stayed in front just a couple of steps. From the link, he could tell she was back into business mode, so Akan kept his complaints about the tight collar, the itchy tunic, and the way the sleeves pulled on his arms oddly to himself. He could just complain in detail later. Would. Definitely. But later. Right now...

He nearly walked into the window next to the open door of the place, but Shadow thankfully pulled him in. That got an odd look from a Rodian behind a desk, but nothing was said. A few other people passed them by without a word and Shadow stepped over to the desk, putting on her formal voice again, “My lord Kinthrath will require your best accommodations.”

Short, simple, and straight to the point. As Akan did his best to look aloof and better-than-the-galaxy, the Rodian tilted his head, asking in strongly accented Basic, “The great Janrra does not lease his private chambers to...outsiders.”

Shadow paused. Janrra...hmm...she couldn’t place the name, but it was likely a Hutt. Though that seemed odd that a Hutt would own a place like this, it wasn’t too surprising. Likely this place made some good money, and that’s all that a Hutt really needed anyway. She reached under the jacket and to the small pocket within her morphsuit. Carefully and slowly, she pulled out three small objects that had been waiting for just such an occasion. Reaching over the desk and making sure no one else was close enough to see, she opened her hand to reveal three small, bright, and perfectly shaped Corusca gems.

The Rodian’s eyes widened as much as a Rodian’s eyes could. It made a strange ‘ooooh’ sound before the creature’s snout curled up in an almost-smile, “But...since Janrra is currently away, I believe that exceptions can be made.”

The long, green fingers took the gems carefully and then handed Shadow a small datacard, “The codes to the room. It is on the top floor. How long do you plan to stay?...not that there will be problem, of course.”

“Lord Kinthrath has not decided yet,” Shadow said with a nod, taking up the card and placing it the small chest pocket of the jacket. She then nodded politely to the Rodian, turned, and started for the turbolift. Akan fell into step next to her and was actually intelligent enough to wait until the door slid shut to say anything.

“What did you pay with?” he asked, and that was actually a question she hadn’t expected. She’d been expecting a complaint about the clothes...especially since he’d been tugging at the collar every few minutes. Didn’t he know it could actually be adjusted? Bah.

“I didn’t threaten them, if that’s what you mean.”

He raised an eyebrow, “You mean you have other methods?”

“I do understand the concept of money, thankyouverymuch,” she glared slightly at him and then the turbolift came to a stop. It opened up to a short hallway that went forward only for about ten meters before a door stopped it. Shadow stepped out first, getting the small datacard out of the pocket and looking around the door. It took her a few moments, but she found a small switch that opened up a section of the wall. There, amongst a few lights and a small screen, was a space for the card. She slipped it in, and on the screen a small image appeared. Some kind of company logo that didn’t matter. What did matter was that the door slid open.

Akan took that moment to walk in, looking around in a slightly dazed moment. Off to the left, was a small hallway that led to two doors. But other than that was only this one central room. It was huge, and lined on all sides(except for where the hallway was) by glasteel windows, providing an expansive view of Nar Shaddaa. From the look of things, this was definitely a Hutt’s place, as the halls and other such things were designed to a more slug-like proportion. But there were still many normal sized chairs and such strewn about the huge chamber. He managed a long whistle.

But Shadow just walked past him, eyes on something outside. She stepped down a small incline to the main section of the huge room before walking right over to the window directly across from the entrance. Leaning on a short railing there, she looked up at a nearby building. Akan stepped over, looking up and wondering what it was. The building she was looking at was the only other one that towered the one they currently occupied. It went up at least five more levels, ending in a large spire next to a flat surface that could have easily been used to set a good sized ship down on. Just below that, a few balconies could be seen next to a large series of black tinted metal. Glasteel, like this building, probably.

None of that was what had gotten Shadow’s attention. What had her attention(and Akan’s now), was a very large, glowing sign that was against the top level. In a bright, shimmering green colour, it read “Halpak Industries”.

((Another short update...feeling better, but its tough getting past some of this stuff. This is all setting up for the big payoff and it can't really be avoided. I'll probably try to get a bigger update tommorrow that gets most of it together so we can get right on to the good action and the parts I've been waiting to get to.))

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 146: Always and Forever

It seemed that the name Alderaan was simply cursed. First, the planet was destroyed, then Jen’s shuttle was shot down on that horrible desert planet Arranis, and now the Alderaan II was also a wreck. But it was still in one piece...mostly. Enough that Titus had been able to get the ship into a short hyperspace jump before limping to a nondescript and empty section of space. There were no planets, stars, or any other celestial bodies within a thousand light years...which was a good thing. Getting away from those damned bounty hunters, as they’d called themselves on a very arrogant transmission not long after Akan and Shadow left, was hard enough.

The first thing Titus had done was to check on Jen. It seemed like she was having as much trouble as the ship, always ending up in that small, makeshift infirmary. This time it was with three broken ribs and an uncountable number of bruises and scratches. The latter he was able to treat easily, but the broken ribs were a bit too technical for the basic combat medpac use he’d been trained in. As she was conscious, he’d left her suggesting she attempt to use the Force to heal herself. It would be slow, yes, but faster than anything he could do for her. It seemed to make her content, and that gave Titus a chance to go check on the damage systems of the ship. Two of the back rooms had to be sealed off because of a hull breach, but thankfully the ship’s automatic systems had done that.

It left the badly damaged hyperdrive to Titus’ amateur touch. From what he could tell, it was leaking coolant or something similar. But he did managed to patch up a few other sections with Jen’s help...despite the awkward way of doing it. Simply yelling across the ship and describing things, with Jen asking questions and yelling back the answers. Apparently, the yelling didn’t hurt her...but he didn’t really believe it all that much. She’d insisted on helping, and the last thing he was going to do was to make her feel useless. But that didn’t get the repairs far, and he decided it was best to just leave it to her when she was better. Whenever that ended up being.

Besides, there was something else he needed to do. Something he’d avoided out of worry that bringing it up would simply cause trouble. But ignoring it would likely make everything worse. So, after allowing Jen to sleep for a few more hours, he quietly slipped into the room and sat in a small seat next to the medical bed. Her eyes half opened, Jen smiled slightly and said tiredly, “Hey.”

“Hey,” he returned the smile and reached over to take her hand in his, “Any better?”

She shrugged as best as anyone laying down with a complete body ache could, “Somewhat...” her voice trailed off and her expression changed a moment. She could feel something...distant, but still close. After a moment, she asked quietly, “What’s wrong?”

Titus’ smile weakened slightly. He was glad she could recognize emotions well, but that didn’t alleviate the trouble he was having in finding the right words. Find the right words? It sounded like he was attempting to lie to her. No. No, just use the truth. After a deep breath and gently squeezing her hand, Titus said, “I’m worried about you, Jen. Ever since we left Coruscant you’ve been...more aggressive. Especially down there with Nine. Its dangerous to do that, I know that better than anyone.”

He was surprised when Jen simply looked confused, “You, Akan, and Shadow fight. You’re all aggressive. You get things done when it’s the only choice left, just like you should. There’s no difference...”

Titus found himself nodding, but then stopped himself, “No, I’m sorry, its not that simple and I shouldn’t be so evasive about it,” pausing, he took a deep breath, “Its not your actions that worry me. It’s the feelings. Of all people, you know I can tell.”

“You’re starting to sound like Akan,” she mumbled, a grin tugging at her face. It was almost as if she didn’t think he was being serious. Maybe she didn’t.

“I mean it, Jen. This is serious.”

She sighed, “Nine killed all those people just to get our attention! She murdered all of them! I don’t understand how the rest of you can just pass that over like its nothing!”

“We don’t,” Titus said, keeping his voice as calm as he could, hoping she would follow his example, “And you’re right, she did murder them. She had no right to, but she did. But you can’t fight with that clouding your mind. You know that...and now I think you’re finally learning how hard it is to do.”

Jen’s expression was neutral, but her voice had calmed down, “I’m just angry. What was done to Sh...Marix was bad enough, especially to see it first hand...but now...Nine is killing people just to get attention.”

“Anger is natural, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Not even the most perfect Jedi can be without it. Its part of being human,” he took a breath an gently rested his other hand over hers, “But you can control it. You must. I don’t want to lose you, Jen. I can’t. You’ve brought light back into my life, and I don’t ever want to lose it again.”

She managed a smile, “I’ll always stand by your side.”

Nodding slowly, Titus let out a last stress-releasing sigh, “I know that. I just wish we could leave right now and never worry about any of this again.”

“But we can’t,” Jen said, shaking her head, “Our friends are out there and knowing them they’re in over their heads. They’re family, Titus, as much as you and I are.”

Again, he nodded, “Of course. But they’re going to have to learn to do things on their own...we can’t always be there to jump in at the last minute.”

“We can try,” she grinned.

That finally got a smile out of him, “I guess we can do that, though.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 147: Relative Sanity

“That’s stupid, Akan,” Shadow said, standing there with her hands on her hips and looking about as annoyed as she sounded. Of course, Akan was trying to fight a grin back at her higher pitched voice. Why he found it funny to see her stuck as a human, he wasn’t sure...but it was. He didn’t mind being human...obviously. He’d grown up human. Lived most of his life human. But Shadow hadn’t, and it was obvious.

“Its not stupid!” he replied, wandering over to a very comfortable chair but not actually sitting in it. Instead he just leaned over the back, looking past the shorter Shadow and out into the skyline of the late afternoon of Nar Shaddaa. There was a soft orange glow to everything, and he was doing his best to ignore the blue glow of the ‘Halpak Industries’ sign. Closing his eyes, Akan grumbled, “Its intelligent. The last thing he would expect is for us to walk right into the lobby and ask to meet him. He’ll never know it was us.”

“Yes. He. Will. How many times do I have to tell you that?!” she threw up her arms in frustration and stormed over to the wall to glare at it, knowing she might have to throw something at Akan if she kept her focus on him, “He will smell us! That doesn’t change!”

“It should.”

“It doesn’t!”

Akan sighed. Alright. New strategy, “Even if it doesn’t change, how could he notice the smell if we’re just in the lobby?”

“He could have his office right there,” she said, glancing over her shoulder a moment before the feeling to harm Akan returned and she had to look away again.

Rolling his eyes, Akan said, “A guy that puts his name on everything would have his office at the very top so he could be above the galaxy.”

“Sounds like you have some experience with that,” Shadow grinned slightly and walked back towards Akan, getting bored with just glaring a hole in the wall.

“It’s a pilot thing,” he said with a shrug, not in the mood to argue anymore than he had to at this point. At least he’d been able to take that damned tunic off. The high collar had been far too high and he felt like he couldn’t breathe in it. Shadow, on the other hand, seemed quiet comfortable in his clothes...even though they were big on her. She was probably just doing that out of spite. Probably? Nah. Definitely. Seeing that she wasn’t going to bend at all(neither was he, of course, but sometimes you just had to move on), Akan tried a completely different approach, “So what was your idea, then?”

Shadow wandered around a large couch before plopping down on it and laying back. She idly rested her head off the side and stared at the currently upside-down world while she said, “Well, we know where he is, so searching for him isn’t necessary anymore. I figured we could find some places near the building and see what they know. Just general things to work with until the Voorts get here.”

Why so cautious all of a sudden? Marix’s voice slipping into her thoughts in that usual annoying way.

Shadow mentally rolled her eyes. Ket isn’t a fool and you know it. The more careful we are, the better chance we’ll have.

It’s a trap and you know it.

Exactly why we should take our time Shadow sat up straight and looked over to Akan again, “We have to do this slowly, Akan. This is a trap. Ket loves traps and he’s good with them. And just because we know that this is a trap doesn’t mean we can do anything about it. If we take this slowly, there’s more a chance that we’ll succeed and...and make it out alive...and with Loki.”

To her surprise, Akan nodded. The sun had set now, leaving the smuggler’s moon to b e lit only by the many smaller lights across the countless buildings. Looking off into the darker sections, Akan asked idly, “So what do we do now?”

“First off,” Shadow said rising her hand and getting to her feet, “You put that tunic on and tidy yourself up to look more important. Then, we go and ask some questions.”

It took Akan a good long time do ‘tidy himself up’, as his version of tidy was very different from that of the rest of the galaxy. Even Shadow understood the concept, at least. His constant ‘better yet?’ question was eventually only countered by Shadow yelling back ‘Cut your hair!’. Which he should. No self respecting noble would look that scruffy. But that seemed to be the one thing he wasn’t going to do. Ah well...she’d cut it while he was asleep if it came to that.

So finally, they took to the streets of Nar Shaddaa. Shadow led the way through the maze of catwalks and balconies, around buildings and up at least three before they could finally see the Halpak building again. Of course, reaching anywhere near that was going to take more time...it took an hour. Amazingly, Akan didn’t complain the entire time, and had remained silent and done a very good job in his current role. They passed by a countless number of bars, clubs, and really anything else one could imagine. They passed at least twice that many different species, to the point where even Shadow had given up figuring them out.

Now they walked towards the base of the Halpak tower. It was three blocks away from the look of things, and Shadow had decided that they would take a left...now. She made sure Akan knew this by giving him a sharp look over her shoulder and the usual order through their link. Weaving through the crowd, Shadow walked over to a fairly interesting looking bar. Passing by an older looking male Twi’lek at the door, Shadow glanced over her shoulder to check on Akan. He wasn’t there. She stopped and looked around. Nothing.

[Dammit, Akan!] she growled through the link and then charged back after him. No wonder he was so quiet. Keep his thoughts quiet and she’d not detect his plan to go ahead with his original idea. Idiot! Again, she made a mental note to beat him sane...but flagged the note as ‘urgent’ this time.