Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 215: A Short Stand

Originally, Shadow had found a large group of Knights and Guards in the direction that the Alraxian man had pointed her in. Of course, by the time she got there, they were already moving to a location where another of the ships was setting down. And so, Shadow did her job and took command. It was roundabout trek through half ruined hallways in the large building, which had apparently died in the initial bombardment.

What, exactly, had done the bombardment was unknown, though, as all communications were cut off. Or rather, dulled. Like a heavy shroud placed over the planet, one could feel and extend outward within the immediate area, but any significant distance was impossible to communicate with, be it through the Network, the Force, or more ‘conventional’ means.

And so, they could only do their best to hold off the droids until all the ships were away. It was a miracle that so many escaped before the majority of the attack begun. Some very attentive Knight had caught sight of the first of the arriving ships, and had immediately sounded an alarm. Well over half of the Capital city was alerted by this, and were gone before the first of the droids even set foot on the ground. The others, though, were still on the planet and were the ones now being evacuated in the midst of the chaos.

While the droids were equipped with what seemed to be blaster rifles(or at least something roughly the same), they did little damage to the escaping ships, and none of the landing ships that brought the droids down seemed to have any weapons. Which meant all they had to do was get the people on the ships...but that was much, much harder than it had sounded. With so many hundreds of droids swarming through the city, it was impossible to not turn a corner and run into a group of them.

But now...now everything would be fine. The last transport was just leaving. And Jyren was on it. She couldn’t help a sigh of relief. But that was it. There was barely time for that before a force of droids charged around the corner. With a quick glance to Kyren at her side, and then a word to the Knights with her, they charged to meet the droids.

Blaster fire killed four of the Knights before they got close and then it was chaos. Claws and swords slashed as both droids and Alraxian wove between one another. Only a minute later, it was over. Shadow didn’t even know exactly what it was that had happened. She stood at the back of the pile of corpses...metal and organic. Turning back, Shadow saw that only five of the Knights had survived the insanity...and that was including Kyren. But it wasn’t over yet, not by a long shot.

All around them, more droids appeared. Some from the sky, some climbing up from lower levels, and others from the same direction the first had come from. And in just a second, they were surrounded. Shadow looked to the others, spinning the short sword in her hands as they simply nodded in response. So this was it. Perhaps she should have let Jyren stay. No. No, this wasn’t it. Fight. Fight and live. There were other ways off the planet. And they could get to them. But that meant fighting.

Blaster fire lit up the area. Shadow jumped, the Force aiding her and sending her up and over the droids. She kicked one across the back of the head, sending it stumbling into two others, just as she landed. The second her feet hit the ground, she spun left and her weapon slashed out, taking out legs of the nearest droid and sending it to the ground. Sure, it would remorph them and fight on, but dealing with a small number at a time was better than all at once.

Sliding to the right, Shadow avoided two quick sword slashes before beheading a nearby droid and parrying a strike from another. Two more droids lost their heads to her blade before a sword nearly took her arm off. She managed to pull out of the way, instead feeling the metal graze against her skin...painful enough. But then something went very wrong.

The droids just stopped. She had been anticipating a strike and dodged when nothing came, nearly losing her footing from the surprise. Shadow almost gave into the adrenaline and just started beheading more of the droids, but there was a loud thud that caught her attention.

Kyren’s body was thrown to the ground, unmoving and bleeding from multiple wounds, in front of her. But he had claw marks across his face and armor...not sword strikes. And she looked up just in time to see Nine tilt her head and smile, “And I almost thought I wouldn’t get to see you again, little one.”

Shadow growled before diving forward at Nine, her sword and claws pulling back to strike. But Nine was faster. She sidestepped Shadow’s attack, grabbed her by the skull, and then through her against the ground next to Kyren’s body. Shadow hit hard, and her head was spinning from the fact that Nine’s claws had dug into her. But Shadow wasn’t going to just go down with that. Another growl, and she was getting to her feet in one quick motion. Or at least, she attempted to.

But Nine’s foot caught her in the chest and sent Shadow back into the ground, “Now, now. I’d like to kill you now as much as you wish to die, but there are other priorities at the moment.”

Shadow then got a foot to the face, and everything went black...but Jyren was safe.


((Advice on a SH? Don't update daily...that's only for the stupid, and insanely stupid.))

 

[Angcuru]

He's right. Updates are draining.

I recommend taking one of two methods.

1 - Post every few days with medium-sized update (5-6 pages MS word).

2 - Post once a week with a big ol' update of doom (11+ pages MS word).

Oh, and nooooooooooo!

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Going to try to update later tonight...somehow managed to get sick in the last day so writing requires thought which means more headache.

However, in the meantime, I've got a question for you readers. I'd like to put a new update in the Story Hour Samples thread, however I'm not completely sure which one to put up. Suggestions? Are there any updates that you just love the most? Things that you think define the feel and mood?

 

[trexmaster]

Well, personnaly, one of my favorites is update 178, where Akan completely loses his self-control when shadow's being treated like an animal by her cousin Gawain.

But to tell you the truth I can't choose one installment over any other because they're all so damn good that it becomes impossible to choose.

 

[Angcuru]

I wish you good health for I need my fix.

 

[DethStryke]

Amazing how many addicts you can make when you provide a steady stream of the drug.

A fantastic story, very pulpy in the action. Would be an excellant popcorn movie, I think. AMG, I wish you good health as well. However, I am more interested in you moving back your commitment to perhaps once every two days. If you were to burn out in the middle, you may make many people's head explode!

 

[Angcuru]

Well, it's constant reinforcement. He keeps providing daily updates and we lap it up. When they stop, we wonder "Huh? What happened. Wher'z the updates?" and keep checking back. When someone regularly misses an update we get used to it. AMG is just taking advantage of his incapacitation to write an extra-long update and keep us hooked, you'll see.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

However, I am more interested in you moving back your commitment to perhaps once every two days.

Nope, I'm sticking to my crusade of one update per day. It gets tough sometimes, especially being sick this past weekend, but for well over six months now, I've only missed a small percent of those days. Especially in the early posts, when many were done in the same day. Besides, it may be insane and stupid to do a one update per day schedule...but it seems to have earned me a reputation as an inhuman SH writer. THAT, I am proud of!

Good news is, I'm doing better. Seems the whatever I had was a 2 and a half day illness going around town...other than a mild headache and a little sinus annoyance, I'm back to normal and there shall be an update tonight!

However, a warning. This week already has one day pre-planned that WILL NOT have an update. Can you guess? That's right! Wednesday night/Thursday early early morning. I'll be seeing Revenge of the Sith at midnight, so if you guys want to get your daily Star Wars fix, I suggest also seeing it.

 

[Angcuru]

Mah. Stupid payroll being delayed by a week and I have all of twenty bucks to budget. Do me a favor and telepathically transmit the movie to me when you go see it.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 216: The Redstar

Never in his life would Jyren have ever imagined an assault like had happened to the Capital. It made no tactical sense at all. The bombardment had not been from orbit, as there were only a small amount of ships there, which didn’t even fire on the escaping Kanyaks. Again, it made no sense. Why land thousands of troops to take a huge city and then let everyone go?!

There was more going on. There had to be. Either that, or Ket had gotten a serious decrease in intelligence in a very short amount of time. Of course, Jyren didn’t know many of the details of what had happened, as the ship was in a state of chaos, still.

Despite the fact that a majority of the people in the Capital had escaped alive, there were many, many injuries. Jyren was sitting in the cabin where the guards had dragged him...a large, open area aboard the good sized Kanyak. There were a few chairs here and there, but they were all occupied by the more seriously injured. He sat near the boarding ramp, on the ‘floor’(was it a deck if the ship was alive...? Jyren still couldn’t figure out all the correct terms) his back against the ‘wall’(or bulkhead...). The two guards stood not far from him, keeping an eye on him in a very noticeable way. He was also given a good amount of room on both sides.

Of course, none of this seemed to matter. He sat there...silent, and unmoving. Just staring forward with a blank expression on his face. He had looked like that since the link had gone silent. Redstar medics were moving from person to person, dealing with what they could, though it was obvious even they were taxed at this point. About seven or so minutes after leaving the planet, one of the Redstars made her way to Jyren.

She was probably about his age, a little shorter than he was, with medium length, brown-black hair and tail fur. Like all the Redstars, she emitted a soothing calm about her, and when she reached Jyren, she knelt down in front of him and looked him in the eyes. When he didn’t even blink, a slightly concerned look worked its way onto her features. After a quick look over, she found nothing but a couple small cuts that he hadn’t bothered to remorph for whatever reason. Quietly, she asked, “Are you alright?”

His eyes looked on her. What kind of question was that? Was he alright? Of course not! He was stuck in some hellish corner of the galaxy, Shadow was completely gone from the link despite the basic idea that she was alive, and he couldn’t do a single thing about anything. How could he be alright?!

The Redstar obviously picked up on these thoughts and rested a hand on his shoulder. At the same time, Jyren could feel her using the Force to attempt to calm him a little more, “You cannot always fight.”

That definitely got his attention. She hadn’t just picked up on his thoughts...she’d read them word for word. A mild glare formed on his features as he said a little too harshly, “What would you know about that? You barely know who I am.”

“I know enough,” she said, a smile forming on her face. It was not forced, and very natural, “I’m not here to fight with you.”

Surprisingly, Jyren slowly nodded, realizing he was just trying to let out the annoyance and anger he was keeping inside. Those were, of course, very dangerous to do...but he’d done it for years, what made now any different? The stupidity and arrogance in that was not, however, lost on him. So, realizing the Redstar was wanting him to talk to get his mind off of the situation, he tried changing the subject himself, “Where are we going?”

“A small planet not far from the Capital,” answered the Redstar, with an odd glance back to the two guards before she turned back to face him, “We are to meet with your mother and father, and join them on their ship.”

“We?” again, the subtleties in the Redstar’s word choices was not lost on him. This woman was not just picking words randomly.

She was obviously glad that he wasn’t an idiot, and so nodded with a smile still on her features, “Yes. I will stay with you for as long as I can. Don’t argue it...its not something you can do anything about. Besides, I know you don’t want to be in all of this all by yourself.”

Jyren laughed slightly, “Usually, I get angry when people read me like you’re doing.”

“But you’ve got other things to worry about now?” she read off the second half of that thought.

With a sigh, he just nodded. Sensing this was not a good direction to head things in, the Redstar quickly change things, “Come on, we’ll be there in matter of moments. On your feet.”

She hadn’t used the Force with that. Definitely not. He would have felt it...and yet, somehow, the way she said it, he just reacted. Not Jedi-like...but...but...motherly. That was it. Sure, he’d never truly experienced that, but he’d heard stories and that just felt right. She said it. It happened. Your brain was left wondering why it was ignored by the body. And when he found himself on his feet, with her idly dusting him off and straightening his tunic, he actually felt like his legs had betrayed him.

After a moment, she then reached down and picked up the pack he’d carried with him, eyed it a moment, then handed it to one of the guards who approached. Normally, Jyren would have said something about it. Be careful. Don’t let that out of my sight. Whatever. But he didn’t this time. Did he even need to? The Redstar was reading him like only Shadow could, so he probably didn’t. But then a thought came to mind. Something completely divergent, and only because the pack reminded him of the little one that Toby had carried on their way to the Capital...

Toby.

At that thought, the Redstar’s eyes widened in surprise, and she spoke a little too quickly, betraying a sense of worry, “Your son is safe, don’t worry.”

That was a lie. A blatant, horribly spoken lie. And she knew it when she’d spoken it. With a sudden, almost dangerous look in his eyes, Jyren looked down at the Redstar, “What happened?”

“He was ah...” she paused a moment, and if not for the fact that he could tell she was gathering information through the Alraxian Network he had no access to, he’d have thought she was just stalling, “He is alright. I promise you that...but he was...injured on the planet. He is...ah...unconscious, and will heal fine in the next few days.”

“Where is he?” the words came out before Jyren even knew he was speaking them. There was an urgency in them like he’d never had before. It was vital he saw Toby. He had no idea why...didn’t even think about the why. But he needed to. It was that simple.

Again, the Redstar was silent, and as she started to speak, stuttering slightly as she tried to make sense of things, Jyren couldn’t take it. This time, emotion won over reason. Suddenly, and very roughly, he grabbed her by the collar and forced her hard against the wall, growling loudly, “Where is he?!”

Silence. Not just her, but everyone in the entire cabin. The Redstar’s face was, somehow, amazingly calm, and though Jyren could feel the two guards coming to move him away, they stopped around two steps in. With a deep, calming breath, she looked into his eyes and rested a hand on his shoulder, “He is on the ship with your parents. After you speak with them, you will be able to see him. I understand this is difficult...but you must calm yourself.”

Slowly, the odd rage faded and Jyren nodded. Mumbling an apology, he went silent again. It seemed like it took no time at all before they docked with another Kanyak. The Redstar and guards led him to the ship, and they were immediately greeted by the Empress and Cole. However, after the quick hello and hugs, it was straight to business. And important business it was.

Leading Jyren to the main cabin, the Empress said simply, “We’ve recieved word that Ket is about to speak.”

So here it was. The explanation. The ultimatum. What else could it be? This was it. This was exactly what Ket had been working for. Despite working towards this point the entire time, knowing it would come eventually in some form, Jyren was suddenly terrified of what it actually would mean.