Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 185: Knew All Along...

They were silent as Shadow led the way back to Hermes, still carrying Kyren without much trouble. When they made it back into the dark hangar, Hermes was still there, and Akan mentioned quietly, “He’s probably ready to go. He and I...um...talked some. I did most of the talking, actually.”

“Yes...” Shadow said, nodding and leading the way over to the ship, “Loki always said that he was very good at observing and...ah...blackmail.”

“So I’ve heard,” Akan grumbled as they stepped up the access ramp that was still down. They both greeted Hermes, who seemed rather nervous when compared to his excitement from before they’d arrived. Shadow placed Kyren in the tiny, single quarters behind the cockpit before stepping back into the cockpit and having a seat in the pilot’s chair. Akan plopped down in his usual spot in the co-pilot’s seat just as Shadow took control and brought Hermes out of the near invisible hangar and angled him back towards Alraxia. Once the course was plotted, Hermes took control and had them rocketing through the emptiness of space towards home.

And then Akan decided it was time to bring up the important question, “So...Shadow...what happened to our link?”

Shadow bit her lip and looked down at one of the consoles before sighing slightly, “I’m not sure. I...I did some of it, but not this much. I believe someone has tampered with it.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Akan commented, “Isn’t it a link between you and me because of the whole giving me a body thing? How can that be taken away or altered or whatever?”

“There are...rituals,” Shadow admitted somewhat weakly, “I will look into it when we get back. Things will be much...much different. I am free now. The guards will likely still be as nervous as always but they’ll have to tolerate me for once. I also need to...to do a few other things,” she grinned weakly and looked over to Akan, “I haven’t exactly been the best sister in the galaxy for Alyx.”

Akan nodded, deciding that none of that was really bad. But still, there was a reason they were here, and so that brought up his next question, “What’s going to happen when we get back? Are we going to just sit around more or are we actually going to get to business?”

Shadow sighed and shrugged weakly, “There’s been no new information in the last couple of days. The border is huge and we can’t just go charging off into Mrrakesh space. They’re waiting for something, and we’re going to have to wait, too.”

“What are they waiting for?” Akan asked the next obvious question. But this went unanswered. Shadow just hung her head and looked the other way. That simply confirmed that there was a lot more going on that he wasn’t privy to. Which was becoming annoying, “Shadow, I’ve about had it with this. Its about time you stopped hiding things from me and tell me what’s really going on. I keep getting...told things and winked and such and it doesn’t make any sense. When I ask, everyone always laughs and says you know.”

Turning back to look at him, Shadow blinked with a somewhat blank look on her face, “I um...I’ve been truthful with you. I’ve told you everything.”

What had they told him?! Maybe they...no. No, she’d told him everything. Definitely everything. There wasn’t anything else. She was absolutely sure of it, though for some reason Marix was being quiet. It was that suspicious form of quiet where it was obvious she knew something but was enjoying watching the chaos far too much. And then Akan cut in again, grumbling, “Just ask Hermes.”

She did. She regretted it. In just a few moments, she’d gone from her usual tanned skin tone to a very bright shade of pink. Shadow looked to Akan again, coughed, and mumbled something that wasn’t a word in any language. After realizing this, she bit her lip and then tried again, “Yes...that...well...um...at the time. I mean...there wasn’t time. You were dying and...and there wasn’t a choice...so at the time...I didn’t...I mean...um...I couldn’t think of anything else...”

The way her voice had fallen to a very heated whisper only got her skin to turn a brighter shade of pink. At the same time, Akan could swear she was actually giving off heat. Turning a little red himself, but not so much as she had, he nodded, “I-I understand. I just thought...you know, with everything they said that...that you knew. I’m...I’m sorry...”

Silence. A long one. One that lasted long enough for Shadow to see Alraxian slowly growing in the viewport in front of them. Very slowly, and very calmly, she forced the next words out, “I did know.”

Shadow then coughed again. Akan stared blankly at her. She...she knew?! The whole time, she’d known that he was...and they were...and...she knew?! It’d been nearly a year, probably more even, and the entire time...she knew!! And she didn’t tell him! He opened his mouth, but no words came out. She knew...did that mean she...? No. No. It was the only choice. She just made a decision. But if she knew...then maybe....no! It was just covering a mistake! Nothing more! But she knew...

Inside Shadow’s mind, a discussion had erupted. Or rather, been forced from one side and avoided by the other. It was Marix, of course, who had started it. Its quite rude to ignore him after saying something like that.

The only response that Shadow gave was a mental grumbling of non-words. This went on for a while, and of course, Marix was making perfect sense of it. It wasn’t as if the words really mattered anyway. They were all just thoughts, and as their minds were the same, they were all shared thoughts. The ‘speaking’ of it was all just a way of keeping the ‘both’ of them from going more insane than they already were.

Finally, Marix cut into Shadow’s stream of nothings. By the way, he was a good choice.

Shut. Up. Shadow’s ability to find words had miraculously returned in a second.

Marix just ‘smiled’ at Shadow. We cannot continue on like this for much longer. You know as well as I do that we must be Marix and not Marix and Shadow.

Shadow quickly went right back to the non-words. Marix found it very interesting how it seemed that Shadow continued to fall back to Akan with each of those. She obviously knew about it, but it seemed to be conveniently ignored. Again, Marix cut into Shadow’s wordless thoughts. Its because of the emotions isn’t it? They are...confusing. You will get used to them.

This time, there was no response. It wasn’t a problem. It was probably because Alraxian was now filling the viewport. She smiled openly again as they moved through the atmosphere. Home...really home this time. Home and free. There were so many things she needed to make up for. And then, and the end of it all, was Ket and Nine. It really was amazing how the two of them had become a footnote to her family.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Just wanted to give my excuse for the lack of updates in the last two nights. Last night was Midnight Madness over at Toys R Us and I now have Revenge of the Sith loot. So blame that lack of update on George Lucas.

As for tonight...I'm simply exhausted and can't think straight enough to write. Should have an update tommorrow and then get back into the one per day thing again. Promise.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 186: All the Pieces...

They arrived at the palace and set down in what had to be record time. Shadow complimented Hermes on it and then picked went back and picked up Kyren before stepping out onto the palace ground to see Akan standing there and shuffling his feet. She placed Kyren back on his feet as he was slowly coming back to consciousness.

Upon opening his eyes, they went wide and he stumbled back, slamming the back of his head into Hermes’ hull with a loud thud. Kyren cursed, but used the ship to support himself, “You...Marix...?! What....what happened?”

She grinned proudly and shrugged, “I’ve been freed.”

Kyren gaped. He blinked a couple of times, then mumbled, “F...free?”

“Yes, free,” Shadow’s grin widened, “You hit your head too hard? Or just deaf?”

“You...fr...” he went back to gaping, then suddenly ran up and picked her up, dancing around some and laughing. Suddenly, Kyren became aware of this and immediately dropped her back down with a cough an a shrug.

She just smiled and then glanced off towards the afternoon sun, “Lets go talk.”

And then she jumped up, morphing to a small bird in the process and flying off. Kyren was right behind her, though a little slower when it came to morphing. As the two of them flew off, Akan stood staring blankly.

“I guess I’ll...I’ll just...stay...here...” he trailed off and sighed watching the spot in the blue, afternoon sky. For a long while he just stood there, feeling abandoned for good reason. To add to it, he still couldn’t feel her through the link. Well, not correctly anyway. There was something there, definitely, but it just didn’t feel like the Shadow he was used to. Something was still wrong...and she just...just ran off like that. Not even a word. Not even a glance. Nothing.

Running a hand through his hair, Akan tore his eyes away from the sky and slowly made his way to the palace interior. He quietly wandered the halls, going no where in particular and just trying to ignore the fact that he hurt. Hurt when he shouldn’t be hurting. When nothing made sense...nothing at all and here he was stuck in this damned place all alone. His only connection to the entire section of the galaxy around him was Shadow and she was off doing her own thing...as usual. But she usually at least said something...she usually...

His thoughts were cut off when something in his mind just started blinking. He recognized it as a warning through the Force, but not one in the sense of danger. Immediately, Akan new what it was. Or rather, who.

From behind him, a soft and familiar voice purred, “Mmm...did not see Jedi Boy at breakfast...”

“I was busy,” Akan growled, turning to face Kato, who stood all together too close to him and looked very much like she knew it.

She smiled, idly pulling back some of her lilac hair from out of her eyes, “Mmmhmm...have not seen Jedi Boy at all today. What you have been busy with...hmm?”

Kato slowly reached up towards him and Akan very quickly took a step back and to the side, dodging her hand without any trouble and glaring at her. But, of course, she just took another step forward, smiling anyway but not attempting anything again. Though he felt something...something odd. Through the Force. Yes...or close. No, no it was definitely the Force. Where else would something like that come from? It was the Force. Had to be.

When he didn’t say anything, Kato said slowly, “You no eat breakfast...I think you hungry now, hm? Late for lunch, but food could be arranged...”

He was hungry. In fact, hearing her mention it only made Akan remember he hadn’t eaten anything at all for a very long while. Betraying him, his stomach growled. That got a bigger smile on Kato’s face, but Akan quickly responded, “I’m fine. I don’t need anything.”

Quickly, Akan then turned around and marched off the other direction as fast as he could. After rounding two corners, he realized he was lost. The damn palace was just too big and everything seemed to look exactly the same. Of course, when he turned around to see if there was anyone that spoke Basic who would lead him around, he saw only Kato, who was just turning the corner and smiled to see him.

Casually striding over to him, she tipped her head to the side and asked, “Need you help...?”

“I’m fine,” Akan said again firmly, though his mind was racing with trying to figure out where exactly his...Shadow’s...their room was. But he found nothing, though there was that odd feeling again through the Force.

It was quickly followed by Kato pointing behind her, “I lead you to room?”

He stared at her blankly. Seeing this, she smiled again and took his hand and started walking down the other direction. For some reason he didn’t resist and just let himself be dragged(lightly) along through the long hallways. Kato was radiating something through the Force and it was only annoying him in a very odd way that didn’t make sense. But thankfully, after a few turns and long walks, they stopped in front of a door and Kato motioned to it, “You tired...rest. But need eat later.”

She squeezed his hand before letting go and then sweeping off and out of sight. Akan stared. He couldn’t really help it. She did look...well...female. Sighing and mentally kicking himself, he stepped to the door, which irised open to the familiar, but empty, room. Akan found the bed and collapsed back onto it.

Yes, he was tired. Yes, he was hungry. But something was still very wrong in this place. Something he couldn’t put his finger on. It was getting beyond the point of just being an annoyance, and Akan did his best to use some old Jedi calmly techniques to think straight. There were so many pieces to the puzzle, and Akan didn’t even know half of the pieces...honestly, he didn’t even know the puzzle, but that was just a technicality at this point.

So he calmed himself and thought. What were the pieces he knew? Well, himself and Shadow were two. Kyren was a possibility but Akan wasn’t sure on that. Kato was another possibility, though his instinct was telling him she definitely was a piece in whatever it was. His instinct also told him that the older Alraxian Faban was another piece. Ket and Nine were two more, without a doubt, though they felt so distant lately that it took him time to even think of them. So what else? Was that it? All that he knew...?

Akan sighed. It was. Even if those were all of the pieces, not knowing how they connected made things impossible. But they couldn’t be all of it. There were loose connections at best that he knew of, and there was definitely more going on. Much more. Maybe he should talk to the Empress or Cole...no. Not until he understood more. And to do that he needed Shadow. And she was off with Kyren...off with Kyren and ignoring Akan.

That was obviously not helping the whole situation. Somehow, Akan had a feeling that her being ‘free’ didn’t really change a thing in the grand scheme of things. Whatever the grand scheme of things happened to be. Why couldn’t it just have been Ket and Nine? It was so much easier when there was a clear cut enemy. This was why Akan had never liked politics. And here he was...stuck in the middle of it all, in a place he didn’t understand with people that he understood even less.

And he was alone in it all. Alone when there should have been someone there.

 

[Mirage_Patrick]

<looks around for a new post, sees none, wonders away unhappy>


anway...loving the story...really interested on how it turns out

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 187: Why

Shadow idly hummed to herself as she strolled down the corridors of the palace to find Akan. Kyren was off getting food and would probably be waiting on the two of them to return. At least, Shadow said they’d be back, and she planned to be, but she couldn’t judge what Akan would do. It was...odd. The link just wasn’t there. It should have been, because she’d stopped doing the things she’d done around Faban, but it didn’t come back.

Reaching her room(it was definitely still her’s), the door irised open and she slowly stepped in, looking around for Akan. He was on the bed, and quickly sat up upon the door opening. Akan looked slightly panicked, as if he’d been expecting someone else, and he sighed with relief when the door shut and he saw no one with her. And for some reason, Shadow just stood there.

It was at least five minutes of the two of them staring at each other blankly, not moving at all, before Akan mumbled a stupid question that had no relevance whatsoever, “Have you ah...um...seen Toby since you got back?”

Shadow managed to look confused for a second before shaking her head. There was a question on the tip of her tongue, but it was just as pointless as the one Akan had asked. Instead, a sudden thought that she’d kept back for a while rose up. In a second, she was grinning, but not that worrying grin that Akan was so used to...and that in itself was worrying.

And then, without any warning, Shadow pounced him, laughing and grinning before finally pinning him down, “I did it! Can you believe it?! Free! HA! Now there won’t be any problems! I can do whatever, now! Maybe even start a fam—“

She suddenly cut herself off, not even completely sure why. Akan stared up at her somewhat confused, and again a long silence hung in the air. Eventually, Akan started to notice how uncomfortable it was(not to say a thing about the odd way that Shadow was holding him down), and attempted another somewhat pathetic attempt at conversation, “So...that means we can um...get Ket and Nine now?”

Shadow’s blank expression faded into a sullen one and she slumped slightly, “I don’t know. I will have to...speak with my mother. She is still the one who will decide what we do...and...and...”

“...and?” Akan tilted his head a little as she tried to look away, despite the fact that she was directly over him.

“And nothing,” Shadow finished quickly, a little too quickly and the both of them noticed it. Quickly, a smile developed on her face, something Akan was still getting used to seeing, “But we’ll deal with that when we get there. Now we don’t have to worry about being watched all the time...of course, we will be, but not in that way. So I can show you around the planet!”

She added a short purr at the end of it, which somehow jolted Akan back into the reality of just how close she was. Why that was making him so nervous, he had no idea. But, quickly, he nodded and suggested, “Maybe you should go track down Toby? The little guy would probably like seeing you.”

After raising an eyebrow, Shadow shrugged and hopped off of him to her feet, “Fine, but you’re dealing with the brat.”

Pivoting on one foot, Shadow turned and headed out of the room towards where she figured the little Toby would be. All the while, she couldn’t help plotting what to do with him. Maybe feed him to a Dragon. Nah...that would be cruel...maybe just come really close to feeding him to a Dragon. She grinned. Perfect.

It only took a couple of minutes to walk to the right place, and the door opened up to reveal about fifteen little Alraxians playing in a very large room. Some were playing little games involving grring at each other and pouncing, others had some small blocks that would sprout legs and crawl across the room sometimes, and others were just pawing at the walls and trying to climb up from the look of it. Off to the left was a large, open window where the keepers likely were watching from.

Upon Shadow’s entrance, all of the children stopped and stared up at her with big, curious eyes. Suddenly, from in the middle of one of the larger groups, a familiar voice cried out, “SHADY!!”

Tobias pounced over two of the other children, climbing over another and falling on his face. That didn’t seem to deter him, though, as he quickly got back to his feet and bounded over to he, purring loudly. When he got close, Toby pounced up at her, and Shadow only caught him out of reflex. A second later, all the other children were at her feet, purring and giggling at something.

She raised an eyebrow, but looked down to Toby in her arms, “Come on, lets get out of here.”

“But we not allowed go anywhere,” Toby announced in the drone like voice of a child repeating a rule that he never intended to follow.

Stepping back out into the hallway anyway, Shadow shrugged and said, “Yes, well, you’re allowed now.”

“Why?” was the quick response just as the door behind them shut again.

“Because Akan told me to come and get you,” Shadow said flatly.

At Akan’s name, the little child’s eyes lit up and he smiled, but he only said, “Why?”

“I don’t know,” Shadow grumbled, “He’s an idiot.”

“Why?”

This time, Shadow gave the child a sideways glance, noting that he had a neutral expression on his face. Somewhat annoyed, she answered anyway, “He was probably born that way.”

“Why?”

“Because he asked too many questions as a little child!” Shadow yelled as they turned a corner towards her room again.

Of course, the response from Toby was, “Why?”

“Because!” she snapped as they finally reached the door.

It irised open to reveal Akan standing there looking somewhat nervous. Though when he saw the two of them, he smiled. And, of course, Toby looked up to Shadow and asked simply, “Why?”

“GAH!” she growled and suddenly through Tobias at Akan, “Take the little brat!”

In mid air, the child spun around and clung to Akan, who caught him without trouble. Grinning now, Akan looked down to Tobias, “Why do I get the feeling you’re asking for trouble?”

Tobias looked up to Akan and purred before looking straight over to Shadow, “Why?”

“That’s it!” Shadow yelled, stomping her way over to the two of them, “I’m feeding you to the Dragons! I don’t care what anyone says, you’ll probably taste good, anyway!”

She reached out and grabbing Tobias’s waist, doing her best to wrench him away from Akan. Akan held on for some foolish reason, but at the same time, Tobias’ claws dug into Akan’s chest as he wailed, “Why! Why! Why! Why!”

Somehow, Akan and Tobias managed to save the child from Shadow, and on some random idea, Akan ran past her, laughing as Tobias yelled, “Why!” over and over again.

They charged down the hallway towards where Akan remembered the nearest exit to the outside was. Behind them, Shadow chased as fast as she could, screaming about revenge and pushing anyone that happened to get in the way off to the side. Surprisingly, these Alraxians only grinned, obviously happy to see their Enai’la happy, even if she was screaming about feeding the child to Dragons.

It settled many worries, and word would soon spread quickly. That was one less worry. At least, for most of them. At least one Alraxian that they pushed by just growled in annoyance, but Kato was annoyed easily...especially considering the circumstances of what rushed right passed her.

((Late because of a server problem last night. Things slowed down when I was about to post it and instead of waiting it out I went to bed. Forgive me! ))

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Just wanted to make a note that its going to be another early afternoon update on its way. I've got to get into a better sleeping pattern and will probably be shifting to a different schedule on which to get these things posted. However, big update tommorrow.

Promise.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 188: Parallel Histories

After only a few minutes, Tobias escaped both Akan and Shadow, bounding off into the palace and back to play with the rest of his new friends. Akan couldn’t help but feel at least slightly hurt by this, but it really wasn’t important. The little guy was happy and at least he wasn’t hanging around so much to be impossibly annoying.

And besides, Shadow was already running across the grass covered courtyard in the other direction, yelling back, “Come on, Akan! I’ll show you my world!”

She then jumped, morphed into a bird, and started to fly off. Akan chased after her, yelling up at the small bird, “Wait! Hey! Why can’t...we...just...walk,” he sighed and rolled his eyes, “Not that you can hear me, of course.”

With a sigh, he gave in. A few moments later, a similar looking bird caught up with her. Noticing he’d caught up, Shadow smiled mentally. It was odd normally, but with the link being all strange, it was even worse than usual. So was her ‘voice’, which was obvious projected through the Force instead of their link. [You sound like every other Alraxian! ‘I don’t wanna morph!’ ‘Its too much work!’ Blah blah blah blah!]

[Oh, shut up.] was the only reply he could think of, but he quickly added to it. [So where are we going, anyway?]

[There’s some ancient temples off on an island to the north.] Shadow answered, swerving back and forth through the air and obviously having far too much fun flying around as a bird.

Akan found himself looking down, noticing that the land under them had already faded into a beautiful, blue-green seas. Water that was oddly reminiscent of Akan’s lightsaber. And somehow, that tangential thought brought a question to his mind. [How ancient is ancient to an Alraxian, anyway?]

The Force rippled with a positive feeling from Shadow, one that he interpreted as a smile while she tried to figure it out in ‘galactic’ standard time. [Ooohh...about twenty thousand years ancient.]

[Wow...ancient.] Akan responded lamely, then both of them went quiet.

Keeping up talking like that took far too much effort. While through the link it only required thinking in just the right way to ‘talk’, using the Force meant one had to project your thoughts right at the other person and focus on it so that it was understood. All in all, when mixed with the fact that they were flying hundreds of meters above the ground where predators could be seen, it was just easier to wait until they arrived to do any talking. But the issue of predators brought up something that Shadow would need to talk with him about.

Essentially, everything on the planet had a habit of feeding on Alraxians. The only actual advantage that Alraxians had was their ability to heal wounds through morphing. Beyond that, everything was bigger, faster, stronger, and definitely meaner. While certain ones could be tamed, it wasn’t something that was worth even thinking about when out away from the protected cities. Everyone of the Alraxian’s cities had a powerful energy field around it, meant to keep predators out.

It was lowered and raised constantly as Alraxians and such moved through, but only in certain spots. Like little doorways in a giant, invisible dome. Small enough that larger predators, such as the Dragons, couldn’t get through. Wandering outside the shield was usually considered stupid, and very few did so without a ship. But Shadow being Shadow, she’d always snuck out even if she got scolded by her mother every single time. This time though, she wouldn’t be...hopefully.

After only a few minutes, Shadow started dropping closer to the water, and Akan soon saw why. There was an island. It was small from the altitude they were at, but he realized that the tree covered island was actually close to the size of the gigantic palace they’d left. Jutting out from the green trees, in multiple places, was an obvious structure. Though whatever it was made of, Akan couldn’t figure. At points, he could see a greyish stone, but it would drop below the tree line and there would be a definite shine of metal. Metal! What in the name of the Force was metal doing like that? Most Alraxians could barely stand to touch it, let alone live in a place or build some place made of it.

Shadow led the way down, through the thick trees and to the soft ground below. In a few more moments, they were themselves again, and Akan couldn’t help but be happy to be standing on solid ground again. They were surrounded by trees. Akan could feel the whole place bursting with life, but whatever there was seemed to be keeping its distance. Shadow stretched, grinned, and then led the way forward without a word.

He followed through the trees and the thick vegetation all around them, and it took only a few minutes before his feet were no longer walking on the soft dirt, but instead made an echoing sound that only metal could make. He had been looking down at the dulled silver at his feet and had completely missed the fact that this was the first step into an open ‘cave’ of metal. Akan blinked, then realized that it was just a building and they’d stepped in through a large whole in the wall where trees were growing all around.

“Looks like home...” Akan commented, getting used to the feel of the metal under his feet again as Shadow nodded and led the way across the small room to a set of stairs. She went up. He followed...slightly curious as to why she’d gone so silent all of a sudden. The steps were steep, and went up for a good distance into another half opened room. This one, though, was above the tree line.

Stepping up into the room, Akan could immediately see all the way across the island, the bright green of the tree tops a very welcome sight. It really felt so alive. He then had a look around the room. It looked like a very, very old style of design that you could find in the lower levels of Coruscant. His eyes trailed over the metal walls to where Shadow had walked to. She was grinning and leaning on a computer. It had to be a computer. Sure, it was old...very, very old, but it was an actual computer! There was even a slot or two for datacards! And a holoprojector!

“Thought you’d like it,” Shadow commented with a grin at seeing his surprise, “Not many people know its here...and yes, it still works.”

To prove it, Shadow hit a switch on one of the outstretched consoles. The main screen on the wall flickered, as did the holoprojector, and then both switched on, showing a symbol that Akan knew only from the history holos. And not just any history holos. It had been on the datapads and such that he’d found in the lower levels of Coruscant years and years ago. It was the symbol of the Jedi of the Old Republic. The Jedi. The real Jedi...before the Purge. The Jedi that even Akan dreamed of as heroes and saviors. The people he wished he could be...and knew he wasn’t, no matter how hard he tried.

“Wait a second...” something else hit him. Something else that had been bugging him since arriving at this place. Quickly, he walked over and pointed to it, “That’s...that’s the symbol of the ancient Jedi Order!”

It was a question without being a question. But to his surprise, Shadow didn’t nod like he’d expected. Instead, she gave him a confused look and shook her head, “Noooo....that’s the Empress’ insignia.”

So he’d been right. He had seen it before! It was all over the palace, in fact. Above nearly every entrance, was that design...one he’d seen before years ago on an ancient datapad. And here it was, the symbol of the Empress of the Alraxian Empire out in the Unknown Regions.

Akan said slowly, “It may be...but its also the symbol of the ancient Jedi Order,” he went silent a moment and bit his lip, holding back the question she probably didn’t even have an answer to. But no, it needed to be asked. It was begging to be asked.

“That ancient weapon you’ve got is a lightsaber. It’s the weapon of the Empress, you said,” Akan said, carefully putting down all the pieces, “But again, its also the weapon of the Jedi Knights. The symbol of the old Jedi Order is all over the place here...but it’s the symbol of the Empress. Obviously, there’s a connection...but, how?”

Shadow just shrugged, “I dunno. There are some old stories about Jedi, but they’re just stories. Legend says that the Jedi helped to end the Darkwing Wars thousands of years ago. Its not like our people haven’t ventured to the rest of the galaxy here and there, either, so they could have popped up in one way or another.”

“But look at this place!” Akan said, his voice echoing through the room, “Its like Coruscant...but here on Alraxia! There were Jedi here!”

“You know, Akan, there’s an easier way to do this than speculating,” Shadow said, idly tapping a finger on the wall, having given up on being subtle about it anymore. When he gave her a ‘huh?’ look, she nodded towards the computer, “You could ask it.”

It was so obvious that he’d missed it. In a matter of moments, the computer was speaking in a form of Basic that was definitely ancient. He could understand it, but it was accented and some of the words were pronounced oddly. And the first thing it told them was that it was the history of Jedi Outpost Eight Seven. And as it told of what the place was, how it had been set up, and continued on, Akan stared at that small Jedi symbol in the holoprojector and just listened...amazed at every word, and not even completely sure of what it all meant.

 

[trexmaster]

Wow ! Just read the entire thread (took me a couple days actually) and ... man ... wow ! What a great SH ! And you even update it really often ! Really, really cool !

Loved the part when Akan burst out at the royal table ! Must've felt good to punch at least one of those pompous 4ssh0les' (sorry, had to edit that so it wouldn't be "corrected") But I still wonder if he'll one day be able to admit, both to himself and to Shadow, that he loves her. But please don't answer that and just keep the updates comming

 

[aros]

but what did the computer say!!!! ahhh dont stop now!!!

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 189: News by Moonlight

Truthfully, the reason for the challenge in understanding all of the information that the ancient computer gave was simple. There were gaps. A huge amount of gaps. What was there was mostly things that Akan had known from what Shadow had said about legends and stories. The Sith and the Darkwing Wars, a group of Jedi arriving and ending the war and driving back the Sith. Now he knew, though, what happened to those Jedi. They did not simply go back. They stayed. The outpost was proof of it, and apparently, there were many, many others throughout the Alraxian Empire...and maybe even in the bordering Mrrakesh worlds.

Why the Jedi stayed behind, and even how many did, was one of the gaps. What exactly the Jedi did to end the Darkwing Wars was also broken into pieces. From reports of some of the battles, there had to have been at least two million Sith warriors, not including the Darkwings they had created. How was such a large number stopped when, according to the data, the rest of the Great Hyperspace War, as it was labeled, was being fought on the exact opposite side of the galaxy? How had the Jedi even found the place? How had the Sith? And then there were other things...

Things that got Akan’s attention much more than just the history. Short passages dealing with ‘adapting the species to their new environment’, ‘implications of the species’ genetic similarities’, and even many sections on ‘the true nature of the Force’. The latter all echoed what Shadow had taught him, and what Akan had come to learn was what the Alraxians as a whole believed. No Dark Side and no Light Side. Just the Force. It is the individual that is the darkness or the light. This was not anything new to the Jedi Order, from what Akan had learned...but he couldn’t believe that a group of Jedi Knights so very long ago would have developed the ideas to the point that they were embraced by the Alraxians.

And that just led to what was really bothering him. The connection between the Jedi and the Alraxians. It was something much, much more than just the Jedi ending the Darkwing Wars. It had to be. If it wasn’t, then the Alraxians wouldn’t be using a Jedi symbol for their Empress’ insignia. They wouldn’t have a lightsaber as the Empress’ weapon. He also wouldn’t be hearing the word ‘Jedi’ in the midst of them speaking in Alraxian while they gave him sideways looks. There were no Jedi alive anymore in the Empire, that he was sure of. Yet he didn’t know how long it had been. Perhaps there had been Jedi around for thousands of years...but no, even with a heretical idea like the one the Alraxians believed, the society would have more influences of it. But they were all just simple little things that hinted more than told. Just like the records in the computer.

But then the computer mentioned something else. It said that the Jendari were very close with the ancient Jedi, and were the keepers of the Jedi’s relics and records. The Jendari, essentially, ran a small Jedi Library in the Alraxian Empire. Or at least, twenty thousand years ago they did. But it was still something that caught his interest. Shadow had once told him that the Jendari were the Alraxian’s closest allies. She spoke of them as wise, and a species that had lived in this part of the galaxy long enough to have seen the birth of both the Alraxians and the Mrrakesh. They were old when the Sith arrived. And that meant that they had to know something.

For four hours, they listened to the computer. Night had fallen at least an hour earlier, but with the light that was coming in, it felt more like dusk. Akan took no notice of this. Partially because he had no idea what to expect even after days on the planet, but mostly because he was trying to rewire the computer to fill the gaps in the history and information. Shadow had tried to help, but he was being a little crazy about it and kept her away.

With a sigh, she turned and started to walk towards the stairs to leave, saying over her shoulder, “Come on, we should go...people will probably be worrying now.”

Then she caught sight of something outside the ruined wall. The sky was way too bright. Alraxia’s star should have set long ago. Sure, one of the moons would provide a little light...but not this much. Slowly, she walked over to the edge of the room and looked outside. She couldn’t help a slight gasp at what she saw. All three of Alraxia’s moons hung in different positions in the sky, and all of them were full. Very slowly, Shadow called back, “A-Akan...you should come and see this...”

Though he had passed her off the first time, Akan noticed the change in tone of her voice and turned to see her staring blankly up and out into the sky. He got up and walked over next to her, looking up and his eyes widening in surprise. It wasn’t just how bright they were, but the brilliant colours. One of the moons was a simple grey colour, boring but still radiant. Another looked like a tiny version of Alraxia, blue and green in the blackness. The third was a completely ice blue colour, and was actually hard to look at considering the brightness of it.

Shadow watched him for a moment then heard a noise. It was soft, and she was almost surprised when she didn’t jump and try to kill something. Instead, she looked around, saying quietly, “I think there’s something...”

And then Shadow trailed off upon seeing the source of the sound. From the wall next to them, a lizard about the size of Shadow’s hand worked its way into the moon light. She grinned slightly and looked back up again, “Heh...even the lizard came out to see.”

When he didn’t seem to be responding at all, Shadow turned to glance at him to make sure he was still breathing. He was still there, staring up at the moons, and instead of saying anything, Shadow found herself somewhat lost for words. It was kind of strange...his white hair was a silvery colour from the moonlight, and the blue stripe was gleaming.

She stared for a moment before looking away, embarrassed with herself for thinking it. Though it was true...he did look good.

Akan had been pretty much lost in his own thought, though whatever those thoughts were, even he wasn’t sure. It was just...amazing. He’d seen hundreds of planets and countless more full moons, but nothing ever like this. Suddenly, he realized she’d said something, “Oh! Oh...yes...lizard...yes...”

Trailing off lamely, Akan couldn’t help but feel even more foolish. He couldn’t even figure out completely why...well, no, he had an idea...no, no. But...well...maybe it was the way...the way she was looking at him. It was unnerving. So much so that, for a moment, it felt as if the entire galaxy was staring at him and screaming at him to do something. Knowing his luck, it probably was. Just do something. Anything besides standing there like an idiot after such a stupid sentence.

But he was good at just standing around like an idiot! That’s what one learned to do in the military! Stand there, shut up, and do what you’re told. You don’t think. Why that didn’t work in the rest of his life, Akan didn’t know. It really wasn’t fair.

Giving into the wishes of the galaxy, Akan tried again, “Its...its um...nice.”

Nice. Yes, its nice. Great choice of words. Even an idiot that couldn’t speak Basic could find a better word to describe it than ‘nice’. So, like a good idiot, Akan didn’t just stop there, and continued to attempt making sense, “How often does this happen...?”

Shadow shuffled her feet, looked slightly more embarrassed, then said quietly, “I um...I don’t know...”

Great! Just great! Now he was making her feel stupid, too. That just didn’t seem to help anything. Whatever this ‘anything’ was, of course, he didn’t know. Akan nearly sighed, but instead mumbled, “Oh...I guess that uhh—“

He was silenced when she placed a finger over his lips. His mind had literally gone blank in that second. That little voice that was in the back of his head taunting him had suddenly disappeared, and all he could find in its place was the equivalent of a ‘You’re on your own’ sign. And he sure felt on his own. The galaxy wasn’t saying anything to him anymore, and the Force sure as hell was being eerily silent.

And she was staring at him. She wasn’t trying to hide it, either. It did nothing but heighten his confusion. Yet...she...her hair was shining slightly. And her eyes...he’d never really noticed the way that the silver in them made the violent all that more brilliant. And the way she stood...positioned so that the moonlight made almost all of her shine slightly. Slowly, Akan found himself reaching up and resting a hand on her cheek. To his surprise(more so than the fact that he hadn’t tried to move his arm), she rubbed her cheek against his hand and purred slightly.

This only lasted for a few very long seconds, before the purring quickly came to a stop. Shadow looked up to him at first confused, and then straight on to being utterly lost. Very slightly, she tilted her head up took look at him as though to ask a question.

She didn’t.

He didn’t care.

As she took a small step forward, Akan saw an expression on her face that he’d never seen before. Something he didn’t have a word for. Not that he had words for much at the moment, anyway. Without even realizing it, Akan slowly leaned down towards her, his hand not moving from her cheek. In an instant, their lips met. Both of them held the kiss for what felt like an eternity, though only a few moments later, the both of them slowly pulled back at almost the same time, eyes locked the other’s.

A thousand thoughts that didn’t even make sense raced through both of their minds as they held each other’s gaze. Neither of them broke it, and neither of them knew what to do. Akan’s mind had gone from blank, to sheer insanity, then straight back to blank again. His hand still hadn’t moved, and they were both still very close.

There was an incredibly long moment in Shadow’s mind before thought caught up to action and started screaming. She blinked once. Her lips were tingling as much as her spine was. Still looking up at him, Shadow opened her mouth to say something. No words came out. She had no idea what to say. So, of course, she closed her mouth again and stood there staring.

That was...new... Marix cut into her thoughts, and all Shadow could do was agree.

And then, after another incredibly long pause, both Akan and Shadow, even without the link, came to the same conclusion. It would never, ever be spoken of again. Starting now.

“We should get back,” Shadow said, her voice still shaky, though they both ignored it. Akan just nodded, and seconds later, the two birds were off of the island and flying back to the palace, trying not to think. Neither of them spoke.

* * * *​

From down near the base of the ancient ‘Temple’, two figures emerged. Both were Alraxians. One male and one female. They were still staring up at the second level of the ancient building where the two others had been. Slowly, the male asked, “Did you see that...?”

“Yeah...” the female nodded slowly.

“So what do we do...?” he asked, blinking and taking everything in slightly.

“I’m not sure...” she replied slowly.

A long silence then passed as the two of them passed along what they’d seen through the Network. Then, the female shrugged, “Who’d have thought we’d come all the way out here to stupid the full moons’ effects on reptiles and...”

The male laughed and nodded, “And you said it was boring.”

She smiled and indicated the objects they were carrying, “Come on, lets get back to the lab and put this data in. We can send it when we get there...” she trailed off a moment to look up at the spot one more time, her smile growing, “The Empire is going to get to see their next Enai is safe and happy on her return.”

“Safe?” the male laughed, obviously indicating the descriptions of the Enai’s mate as being slightly unhinged and just a little bit dangerous.

“Oh, hush,” she batted his arm and they started off to get back and spread the news.